Other February Happenings...

Jace just chillaxin' with a library book-

lunch at school with the kids-

for some reason Jace did NOT want his picture taken! 

The 2nd grade presented a "Presidential Wax Museum" in honor of Presidents Day...

 Eli was Franklin Pierce-

 We had to come up with some facts about their chosen president, including what they were most famous for... what do you say about a president who was pro-slavery and one of the most unpopular presidents in history??  Franklin Pierce was the only president to be arrested while in office (for running over a lady with his horse) and was the first president to have a Christmas tree in the White House.

Jace was more than happy to crash multiple Valentines Day parties at school:

The kids were all playing "Avengers" one evening- Hailee, taking her role as Nick Fury very seriously, gave herself some facial hair-

 This was the best I could get it washed off that night *sigh*

My poor dad has had such a battle with kidney stones- it's been particularly bad the past 2 years.  He had a laser procedure done this past month that left him septic- it's been tough to see how weak he is from it.  It's amazing how positive and optimistic he remains despite it all.  Since he was kinda down and out, Hailee and Jace enjoyed watching Maters Tall Tales with him one afternoon...

Bryson's 6th grade "Math Is Cool" team took FIRST PLACE at the competition!  He was beyond thrilled...

Brotherly tech time bonding:

Jace's new thing is wanting me to roll down his window- I love seeing his little hand out the window in my mirror...

Considering that I have a son who is alive today because of blood transfusions, you'd think I'd be a regular donor... but I've been either pregnant or nursing for so long that I haven't been able to!  We had a blood drive after women's conference this year and I was happy to contribute...

Co-sleeping

A few weeks ago, I was surprised to find Hailee's bed empty when I went to wake her up one morning.  I went back downstairs expecting to find her snuggled on the couch or next to my bed, but couldn't find her!  Back upstairs, I finally found her snuggled up with Jace in his bed...

It's becoming a regular occurrence that after mom and dad go to bed, they decide to have a sleep over 😏  I don't mind, so long as they actually go to sleep rather than keep each other up...  and I love that they're such good buddies.

It's Great to be Eight!

8 years old!  The long anticipated day for Eli finally arrived- he had pretty much been counting down since the first of the year...  

For his birthday we decided on a Star Wars theme:

Bless the internet and the ability that it affords to steal other peoples creativity *wink*
  

The food was all very Star Wars themed-

 R2-D2 cups, Vader-Ade, Yoda Soda, light saber napkins and a reminder by Yoda to "use the forks, Luke"

 2 varieties of light sabers, Obi-Wan Kebab-ies, Vader veggies and Emporer Pickletine

Chewbacca chips, Princess Lea buns, thermal detonators and Padawan popcorn 

The birthday boy and his cake:

My mom and I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to make some basic Jedi robes- after scrapping the idea several times during the process, we finally just made them into tunics with a belt- they turned out lame but kids thought they were awesome.  Each kid got a foam light saber to battle the storm troopers lurking in the basement- they spent the majority of the time down there whacking the balloons (and each other)...

After a game of "pin the light saber on Yoda" and making some R2-D2's, we finished the night by watching Return of the Jedi (and popping all of the storm trooper balloons).

We actually had the party on the Friday before he turned 8 since his birthday fell on a Sunday this year.  As usual, he requested heavenly syrup and french toast for his birthday breakfast...

Since I am unreasonable and limit heavenly syrup to one meal per day, he settled on having pizza for his birthday dinner. 

Jacob turning 18 and Eli turning 8 meant 26 candles on their birthday cake that night *grin*

They think it's pretty cool that they share a birthday!

Eli's favorites at age eight:



Favorite Color: Yellow
Favorite Restaurant: D'Lish Hamburgers
Favorite Food: French Toast and Heavenly Syrup
Favorite Drink: Sprite
Favorite thing to do: play with my puppies
Best Friend: Emerson Lippoldt and Carter Munck and Josiah Bersise
Favorite Movie: Star Wars Return of the Jedi
Favorite TV Show: Angry Birds Toons
Favorite Toy: Cars
Favorite Animal: cheetah
Favorite Book: Diary of a Wimpy Kid 
What he wants to be when he grows up: I don't really know yet

Most of the answers haven't changed much since last year!!

The Things They Say...

We're just starting birthday season around here, so obviously it's on the kids brains....

Hailee:  Mom, I want to have my birthday party on a Wednesday.

Me: Okaaaay?

Hailee: Like this Wednesday.

Sunday Morning Game

Nothing like waking up Sunday morning to a riveting game of football... in your bedroom *sigh*

Though not your typical 'girly-girl', Hailee does love to play dress up...  Here's her current get-up:

She's a football player, can't you tell?

Bandanna + Headband = Helmet, and a Cinderella top doubles as a jersey.  Obviously.

Co-Merica

Hailee has a certain fascination with geography and countries right now.  It is just my favorite how she calls America "Co-merica"- I don't have the heart to correct her yet because I love it so much!  Not really sure where it all came from, but she often makes statements and asks questions mostly about Africa and "Co-merica" right now...

Today she told/asked me: Did you know South Co-merica and Afwica are just the same?  Why don't they call Afwica "South Afwica" then?

Wha?  I'm thinking she might be confused between America (ie: USA), South America, Africa and the country South Africa...