V-day

I was able to help with both Greydon's and Leila"s Valentine's Day parties.  I love being able to volunteer in their classrooms, its so fun to get to know the other kids and see my kids interact with their friends.  Greydon got to make friendship snack mix, pass out his valentines, make a bracelet and read a book.  

Leila's party completely fell on my shoulders this time around, which is fine, I love helping in her classroom.  It's just really stressful and I always worry that the kids will have fun  plus the classroom has multiple allergies to work around.  So the party involved passing out Valentines, reading Valentines Day books, playing Bingo, playing Don't eat Pete, making flowers and frosting cookies.  In the end I think the kids had fun, at least Leila did but I was exhausted.  Leila decorated her Valentines box all on her own, I was a little surprised that she didn't add more to it but it still turned out cute.  

Valentines day morning involved some heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes and new sticker books for all the kids.  

That afternoon we received a box of yummy chocolates from Connie and then Paul and I were able to go out to dinner without the kids.  One of the surgery interns volunteered to watch our kids.  She was so great and had the kids playing all kinds of games when we got home. 

7 years old

Leila turned 7 this year!  We decided as a family that we were only going to have big friend birthday parties on the even birthday years.  But we will still spend the whole day celebrating their birthday. The day before her birthday I picked Leila up from school and took her out for lunch, she picked Wendy's.  Leila really wanted to go out to dinner on her birthday and ice skating.  The ice skating thing had to be put on hold because the weather was to cold (like single digits) and the indoor rink was closed.

She started out the morning with a room filled with balloons and streamers.  The boys and I then sang to her and gave her a doughnut cake.  She then opened one present, I made her wait to open the rest when Paul got home (he was just finishing a 24+ hour call shift).  We relaxed and watched movies until Paul got home and then she opened her gifts.  We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with her new things and talking with grandparents on the phone and then she picked to go to dinner at Jethro's BBQ.  After dinner we came home and had cake and sang to her some more.

Trying out her new gymnastics leotard.  

Ready for her birthday dinner, its not very often that our kids get to go out to eat at a sit down restaurant, so she  made sure to get all dressed up for this special occasion.  

I know I always say this but I can't believe how big she has gotten.  Leila is turning into such a responsible little lady.  She does very well in school, she is always on task, organized and respectful.  Her teacher told me that the other day a bunch of kids were crowded around her desk admiring how organized it was, i wish that organization bug would come home with her and help with her bedroom.   Leila works so very hard in gymnastics, she now spends 7 hours a week in the gym,  her coaches always comment on what a hard worker she is and say she is very focused.  Leila definitely has a stubborn streak in her and when she gets something on her mind its hard to change it. But this stubborn streak is what makes her so successful in all she tries to do.  She loves her little brothers and is very good at taking care of them and playing with them.  They still fight like siblings do but she is so great at creating games and activities for them.  We love you Leila and think you are the best 7 year old around.  We couldn't imagine our family without you, you are spunky and always keep us on our toes.     

 Birthday Quiz
1. What is your favorite color? Pink and purple
2.  What is your favorite toy? American girl doll
3. What is your favorite fruit? apples and pears
4 What is your favorite TV show? She doesn't watch much TV so I asked what her favorite movie is and she said, Matilda, Mckenna and Saige.
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? grilled cheese
6. What is your favorite outfit? skinny jeans and any pink shirt
7. What is you favorite game? Sorry
8. What is your favorite snack? granola bites
9.  What is your favorite animal? I don't know
10.  What is your favorite song? "Let it Go" and "In Summer" (Frozen songs)
11.  What is your favorite book? Matilda
12.  Who is your best friend? Leah and Madi
13.  What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms
14.  What is your favorite thing to do outside?  building a snowman or go sledding
15. What is your favorite drink? water
16.  What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas
17.  What do you like to take to bed with you?  my favorite blanket
18.  What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  waffles or pancakes
19.  What is your favorite thing for dinner? Indian Butter Chicken
20.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  a teacher
21.  What is your favorite treat? Nene's chocolate mints

January

January was one long bitter cold month.  We spent most of the month couped up in our house.  We had lots of no school days or delayed starts because of the cold.  Leila and Grey's winter vacation was extended due to the freezing cold.  Anytime we needed to go anywhere we had to completely cover ourselves, no skin exposed.  Trying to bundle up 3 kids is a chore so most days we stayed in and only ventured out to go grocery shopping, get kids to school or get Leila to gymnastics. We couldn't even enjoy all the snow we were getting it was just to cold to be outside.   Its pretty sad when we are excited to see a 20 degree day in the forecast.   We also had some trouble with the water line to our fridge,  if the temperature drops into the negatives it freezes and I can't figure out a way to prevent it, I can't leave it dripping and its connected to all the water in our kitchen so I can't turn the line off.  Luckily the line hasn't broken it thaws out when the temperature rises.  Unfortunately we had some other trouble with it and thought the pipe broke (which it hadn't) but we had leaking water,  after all  the  stress we ended up with a  unneeded hole in our basement ceiling and a new connection to the fridge.  

Over New Years we all got sick and were pretty miserable.  Lots of movies and cuddling on the couch.

We did venture over to our neighbors house on New Years Eve for snacks and I'm  pretty sure my kids didn't even make it to 9 o'clock, they crashed out on the couch.  

The kids spent lots of time sitting by the fire reading ad playing games.  I'm so thankfully for our fireplace we had it running most of the month of January.  

These two boys get to spend a lot of time together and seem to finally be enjoying each others company.  I find them cuddled together a lot!  We actually moved their rooms all around.  Leila is now in her own bedroom and loving it.  The boys cant get into her things and she can stay up late reading and it doesn't bug anyone.  The boys are now together in the big room.  At first they were bugging each other and keeping one another up but now they are pretty good about just going to sleep.  

Leila celebrated the 100th day of school.  They got to dress up like they were 100 years old and the participate in a bunch of 100 themed activities.  She has been talking about this day for months and had so much fun!  I was lucky enough to be volunteering that day at school and got to help with some of the activities and see all the kids dressed up.  

 The bus stop is so very cold in the morning, thankfully her bus driver is almost always on time and so we are only out there for a minute or two.  

They boys found entertainment playing hockey with a roll of wrapping paper.  They keep asking if they can ride bikes or set up their soccer net.  Occasionally I let them bring their bikes inside to ride and every Friday we go to the church and ride bikes and scooters in the gym.  Little boys just have to many wiggles for a cold Iowa winter.  

One morning Greydon wasn't feeling well and was watching cartoons on the couch, when I came downstairs Asher had climbed up and was cuddling a sleeping Greydon.  They really are sweet brothers some of the time.  

I'm sure there is more we did during the month but it is all kind of a big blur or cabin fever.