February Fun

I realize that it has been quite awhile since a post, but nothing really happened in the month of January. Sort of a post holiday, get back to normal month. However, activities have started to pick up a bit more in February!

Joe and the kids on a lazy weekend morning. Those are the best kinds!

Ethan and his train table. We are now in the middle of potty training, which explains the no pants in many pictures. In the house, we have him in underpants and no pants since he is not yet able to pull down the pants quickly enough when the need arises. We just need to invest in a lot of sweatpants! However, it has now been 10 days, and he has had ZERO accidents of any kind. In our home, this concept just seems to have clicked with him. However, when we leave the house he is still in diapers and does not ask to go potty in public. Time to focus on that area!

Olivia and her table-mates at her school's Valentine's Day party. Being a room parent, I helped to chaperone. Whew! Twenty one kids on a sugar high is exhausting!

Olivia and good friend Sarah. They were a match in the puzzle game.

I was the assistant at the candy hearts game table - helping kids to pick them up with chopsticks (a very novel concept for the majority of the kids) and to see who could build the highest tower with the hearts (17 hearts was the winner in case you were wondering).

This past Friday was a no school day for Lincoln's birthday. Springfield really loves Lincoln! Anyway, a group of Olivia's friends had signed up for a Pom Clinic at the local high school, so we decided to have Olivia give it a try. The girls were at the school all day practicing different routines, making a "snack craft", playing silly games, etc. At the end of the practice the routines were then demonstrated to the parents. (Olivia is in the purple pants, and her good friend Ava is to the right).

The entire Pom Clinic doing their group dance. They ranged from kindergarten to fifth grade.

The evening of the Pom Clinic, Olivia's group performed at halftime of the boys' JV basketball game. Olivia had a great time performing in front of the crowds!

Olivia with friends Marina, Ava, and Julia after their performance.

And Ethan with his friends Liam and Jack. Both will most likely be going to preschool with him in the fall, so we will be seeing more of them in the future.

On Saturday I took the kids to the PBS Funtime Station at the fairgrounds. It is basically a crazy way to spend a morning. Joe was working the overnight shift so he was home asleep, or I would have definitely had him come along to help! Here are the kids meeting Curious George.

Both kids were able to explore a fire truck. I guess that that never gets old to kids, no matter how many times they have done it already.

Olivia making "snow" sculptures.

Ethan experimenting with scissors.

There was a cute obstacle course that each kid did twice. They really loved the end when they would crash into a block tower head first from a skateboard! Certainly not an activity I would have thought up for them at home!

Due to Joe working overnights this week, I took the kids to Litchfield to stay with grandma and grandpa. They received quite a bit of snow over the weekend, which led to some outdoor fun. Here Olivia discovers that Daisy likes to catch snowballs with her mouth!

Two snowball fights - grandpa and Ethan and Olivia with Daisy, while Marigold just watches the fun.

Ethan, Olivia, and Grandma posing with the snowman they made with grandpa. Carrot nose, cracker eyes (that the dogs kept eating), and peanut shell buttons!

The main reason we traveled to Litchfield was to go to my parents' church Valentines dinner/dance. I had planned to stay the entire dance and take many pictures, but the snow began to come down so heavy that I had to leave (to go back to Springfield) after the band had only played 3 songs. So, no decent pictures were taken. However, the kids did have a good time during our short time there, and I believe they did a good job entertaining the crowd before the band started playing!

Today I hosted a "Pinkalicious" Tea Party for Olivia and 3 friends from school. Pink cupcakes, pink frosting, pink M&Ms, pink strawberries, pink sprinkles, and pink lemonade. I am happy to report that none of the girls turned pink (read the book "Pinkalicious" to learn more - one of Olivia's favorite books).

Olivia with Marina, Sarah, and Abby, frosting their cupcakes.

We celebrated our Valentine's Day one day late due to the trip to Litchfield. Here is Olivia showing off her present - "Princess and the Frog" figurines.

Ethan with more Super Hero Squad figures. He is now completely obsessed with super heroes (definitely from Joe!). He receives a figure every time he "poo-poos" on the potty, and it is a true incentive for him. He couldn't believe that he didn't have to "earn" these figures! If ever in doubt of a gift for Ethan, anything super heroes will be a big hit!

Our traditional "make your own pizza and ice cream sundae" Valentine's Day meal. Olivia made a face from her pizza toppings this year.

Ethan with his pizza creation.

Is it done yet?

A habit picked up from grandpa over the weekend! Squirting the whipped cream directly into one's mouth. Was this ever allowed when I was a child? Nooooo. Because we were never allowed to buy the whipped cream in a can, that's why! Ah, one (distant!) day what will I allow my grandkids to get away with?

And one final picture, here is Olivia reading a stack of books to Ethan. Olivia has become an excellent reader in a very short amount of time. Around Thanksgiving, she began to read simple books. But now she has completely taken off, reading chapter books (although she still much prefers to listen much of the time) and correctly sounding out difficult words like "sorcerer" (that one was from tonight). Her school tested her as reading one grade level above her class. That is amazing to me since she has been reading for only 4 months! We are very proud of her!