February wrap-up

February has been freezing. We keep thinking there will be some sort of reprieve from this weather, and then it turns worse again. Even parts of the river were frozen over!

Jane finished a crochet succulent:

We had a great family dinner at Lauren's, were able to celebrate Eric's birthday with him, and these kids played for hours on the stairs!

Ben acting like a "grown up" putting his towel around his waist after the shower, hah!

Jane had some fun birthday parties - one where she got to go see The Wizard of Oz at the historic Byrd Theater in Richmond with organ accompaniment! Then they had Mellow Mushroom and Menchies.

Gaby came to the kids' basketball games on her birthday and then Chris and Rob took her out to Sal's for dinner.

Ben doing a word search at the ophthalmologist:

Yearbook covers were due for the annual contest. Ben and Jane entered this year.

Jane, Ben, and Rosie made TWO Jeopardy games for us while we were at Eleanor's basketball game one night. It was very fun!

Jane has been hard at work on her science experiment - required for 5th graders this year. She decided to mix solutes into water and see which solution froze fastest.

Valentine's Day cookies (at a red light).

"Watching" siblings' basketball games:

Eleanor got a very sweet pearl necklace from a friend where you had to open the clam yourself and find the pearl. It was a very fun/cool gift!

Eleanor finished her National History Day project (much to all of our relief).

Jane had a glow day fractions party at school - we love her creative teacher!

Playing with cousins at the park (and Rosie up in a tree!):

Rosie has been busy with hair chalk this month:

Dress up time!

Overall February was a great month, but I am tired of the constant cold, wind, and rain. We had several anticipated snows that mainly became straight ice and had ice on the ground for well over half the month without melting - much longer than I've ever experienced living here! We also had our 8th snow day this month. Spring sports all started this past week and next week and those fields have been cold!

Kid Dates 18

I've been meaning to catch up on these...Eleanor and Chris had a movie night up in the bonus room. They watched Spirited, ate popcorn, and ice cream. Eleanor has been picking movie nights more frequently because there are some movies we are starting to let her watch that the younger three just aren't ready for. I forgot to get a picture!

Jane and I went out for a shopping trip and looked for Christmas gifts.

Ben's favorite dates always include ice cream. We went to Menchies and then hit the library.

Chris and Rosie went out to lunch at McDonalds. Not sure why she loves McDonalds so much but it is definitely one of her favorites!

Valentine's VIP dance

Chris and I were able to go to the elementary school Valentine's VIP dance with Jane, Rosie, and Ben! It was so much fun!

Jane with some of her buddies (Lilah and Penny, and then in the lower one Addie and Ashley):

Rosie and me waiting for her face painting.

Snack time:

Lots of dancing!

Overall we had a great time!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was lovely again this year - not super eventful, but sweet! The kids decided to make cookies as their school Valentines, so that was quite the project. We made hundreds of heart-shaped sugar cookies. The kids flooded them with white and pink icing and wrote names, initials, or just decorated them. They came out great!

Valentine's morning the kids woke up to notes and some candy. This year they had found some cardboard and made Chris and I mailboxes, too! It was very sweet.

Dressed in pink!

We had french toast for dinner per our tradition...this year with pink whipped cream!

And then Chris and I actually walked down the street to do appetizers with some of our neighbors while the kids watched a movie. Happy Valentine's Day!!