life in february

Our after-school play date with Brooks was so good!! Listening to them talk as they ate a snack and browsed through yearbooks was adorable, but the real highlight for Colby was the hour or so spent at the park playing Nerf guns 😂 Brooke didn’t want to get hit, so she came up with a creative way to include herself. She started out being the supplier of the bullets, but it evolved into her grouping bullets together and hiding them throughout the park for the boys to find as they needed ammunition. Love that they’ve been friends since they were literally babies.

Colby is now 54 inches and can ride everything at Six Flags 🙌🏻 We rode Batman together, Mr. Freeze, and the Riddler. My stomach felt awful after all that, so Kevin and I just watched the kids as they rode El Diablo at least 4 times 🤢

Brooke surprised me and wanted a picture with the characters, then when we later passed Bugs Bunny, Kevin wanted a picture by himself 😂 That was his favorite show as a kid, so it was a nostalgic moment I guess!

He did let the kids get in one as well, haha. 

On the way home, we stopped at a few stores to look for cowboy boots for Kevin.  Brooke and I were wandering, and it turned into a whole photo shoot outside the dressing rooms 🩷 She fell in love with the boots and is now convinced that she wants to be a cowgirl for Halloween 😜

Lunch date with my buddy 💙  I honestly love these little lunch dates so much.  Although it's only 30 minutes, it's such a great way to connect!

Brooke participated in her first Whiz Quiz match 🧡 It’s basically a trivia team that competes against other intermediate schools in our district. They’ve been practicing for the past 6 weeks, and were victorious against their rival, Asa Lowe! I was super impressed with all the kids and I learned a lot of random stuff I didn’t know before.

Colby was especially excited because the school was right next to the skate park, so he was able to skateboard for 20 minutes before we headed home for dinner.

This old guy has survived 101 days of school 💙 Fun fact: the shirt was one of Kevin’s when he was a kid!

I met Daleth for lunch one day, which was a good opportunity to catch up.  Her and Andre's divorce has been super rough, which is hard to see.  It's especially hard since we are hearing things from both sides, but Kevin and I have agreed that they are always welcome in our home and we love them each individually. 

Things are still going well for my Activity Day Girls :) I can't remember if I was working with Debbie at this time or if Shawna was already called, but either way, the girls loved this string art activity. 

Brooke was SO excited to show us the cockatoo she’d been working on as part of a math project 🩷 Her group had spent an unreal amount of time planning their design, wrapping boxes, calculating area, and adding the finishing details. But she was thrilled with how it turned out and she loved having it showcased at Math and Science Night.

One of my old Young Women, Allie Jarrett, planned to receive her endowment in the temple in order to serve a mission in Bolivia.  A week before her appointment, her mom Pam texted me to ask if I would be her escort.  She was having a lot of health problems and wasn't sure that she would be able to go and didn't want Allie to postpone.  I was happy to be her escort, but I really didn't want her mom to miss this opportunity.  I told Pam that I would plan on it, but that hopefully she could also attend.  I offered to drive them both to make it as easy as possible.  The night before, Pam let me know that she thought she would be able to attend, which was a huge answer to prayers. It was a beautiful experience and I'm so grateful that I was a part of it. 

 I would've liked to take them to lunch or something, but Pam felt like she needed to get home, so I took them straight home after the temple.  She later told me that she felt really good inside the temple, which was a tender mercy since she didn't feel well going to or from. 

Street hockey with “The Lillard Five” 🖤 These girls played the entire night and held their own against all the other boys and a few dads. 

And I had to include a pic of Brooke and her little bestie, Beverly 🩷

Our HOA hosted a Polar Plunge one weekend and although it wasn’t as cold as usual for February, it was 54 outside and raining 🐻‍❄️ Colby flipped into the pool and the kids convinced me to jump twice 😂

We warmed up with cocoa and donuts and left with the softest t-shirts and embroidered Mira Lagos bath towels 🙌🏻

The Daulton PTA rented out the Arlington Skatium and as usual, it was well attended.  I wasn’t planning on skating, but since Brooke really wanted a buddy until her friends arrived, I rented myself some rollerblades.  Colby was speed skating around the rink with a bunch of random kids, but he even asked me to skate with him at the end.

Brooke and Marlie Hawkins :)

I can't even remember what I bought the kids for Valentine's Day, but the wrapping was very festive :)

I tried to recreate a pic from when they were 3 and 5, but it was far from a pleasant experience and we were all annoyed as we drove to school. But Colby wanted to please me and asked for another pic once we parked at the school 😜

Around Valentine's Day, Grandma and Papa planned lunch dates with the kids. I always love getting their pics and seeing their cute smiling faces. 

We had a fun "Galentines" party for Activity Days and I made the yummiest chocolate-covered brownie bites. 

Finally used our Epic Waters tickets 💦 It was a little cold walking to and from attractions, but it was pretty fun to go to a water park when it was in the 50’s outside 😜

Kevin even joined us after work and they had a blast on the Flow Rider...

We stayed until closing, then had to make the freezing walk back to the car 🥶

I can't remember the details of this outing, but I do know that we stayed until dark so Kevin could help Colby with his skateboarding skills. 

Sunday selfie with my girl, who had a mouth full of candy 😂

Ninja Kidz with the triplets 🙌🏻 The place was packed since it was President’s Day, but the kids still had a blast!! Just wish it wasn’t 45 minutes away! (We were dying laughing when Brooke had her first attempt at the trapeze…there was definitely a learning curve!)

Brooke’s favorite teacher came to watch her Whiz Quiz match.  She loves my girl and tells me frequently how much Brooke has positively impacted her year.

Early morning Dashers and a yearbook picture of the club members...

Saturday afternoon science experiments 🧪 They worked SO well together on Colby’s “brain”, “blood cell”, and “eyeball” experiments. 

Kevin brought a bunch of wood home from work to cut into firewood and Colby decided to turn it into a Jenga-looking stack, haha. 

Colby was killing it at the batting cages at the end of the month.  It was seriously so fun to watch him smack nearly every ball thrown at him. The boys have all improved a since last season, which is good since they moved up to AA. Can’t wait for the games to start!!

Lunch date with my girl!  I said it earlier in this post, but these lunch dates are so very special to me. 

We played Scripture Jeopardy with my Activity Day girls. It wasn’t easy, especially since they all wanted 500-600 point questions, but they learned a lot about how to search the scriptures for answers and how to look up the given reference.

At the end of the month, we went to Multi-Cultural Night at Daulton. It was VERY well-attended, meaning the school was packed, but the kids enjoyed all of the activities. 

It was another busy month, but so many good things are happening over here!