February Fun

Most of the month of February was spent snowed in at our house, trying to stay warm. It was a crazy month, but we still managed to have a little fun.

The kids have been back at karate for a couple of months, although it's been hit and miss with COVID and the bad weather. They're all happy to be back though. 

We had a double birthday party Saturday at the beginning of February. The kids were excited to go to Cade's roller skating party that morning. We hadn't been roller skating in several months, so they were ready for some fun. 

Samuel showed off his prizes from the arcade. 

We had a little Pre-K reunion at the party. Even though Elisabeth's pre-k year got cut short, it's still full of fond memories. They had the sweetest class. 

That same afternoon while Samuel played basketball, the girls and I celebrated Sarah's birthday with Elsa and Anna. We can't get enough of all these princess parties. 

The girls listened to stories, sang songs, and got their nails painted. 

Katherine loved seeing Elsa and Anna. As they were leaving, she ran up to them yelling, "Bye, see you at my birthday party!" 😂 We'll see if she changes her mind in the next seven months, ha!

We had some record low temperatures combined with an ice storm followed by a snow storm for two weeks in February. Matt took the kids to the pond to see if it had frozen over. I stayed home inside my warm house, ha!

The next week we had a couple of days of snow. It was still bitterly cold, so I took a couple pictures through the window of the kids playing outside. 

One evening, they decided to build an inside beach. I think they are tired of winter, ha!

I think the cold scared them away from wanting to play outside in the snow, because even after it warmed up some, they didn't want to play outside. I sent Samuel outside to fill up a giant tub of snow and we brought it inside to play with it. That was a hit! They played for over an hour making and serving snow cones and other creations. 

After most of the snow melted, we celebrated my 36th birthday. Matt surprised me with a beautiful and delicious cake!

And I got some really great gifts including a crazy expensive blender I've had my eyes on for years. Matt took the kids to Dollar Tree and they picked out some very thoughtful gifts. 

Elisabeth even made me an "I Love You Because Box" filled with notes about things she loves about me. She came up with the idea and did it all by herself (with maybe a little spelling help from Nathan). She's such a thoughtful, sweet girl.

We celebrated the rest of the weekend with a date night to a great new Mexican restaurant and a family lunch at Hideaway. 

Our Sunday school class had a roller skating night the day after my birthday. It was perfect timing, because everyone was ready to get out of their house and the kids needed to burn off energy after being stuck inside with the bad weather. They had a lot of fun skating with their friends. 

We've been trying to get together with the Dalmans for several weeks and always end up having to reschedule for one reason or another, but it finally worked out for them to join us for an after school play date and dinner, and we were all so happy to spend a few hours with them. 

Our kids get along so well. I can't believe they've all been friends since they were babies. 

These girls have been on a Barbie kick lately. I bought a giant pack of Barbie clothes for them and it's renewed a love of playing for them. 

We celebrated Addisyn's sixth birthday at the end of February. She's one of Elisabeth's best friends. 

The big siblings brought their Nintendos to stay entertained during the JoJo Siwa party. 

And Samuel brought a book, ha! I had just picked up a new book for him from the library, and he couldn't wait to start reading it. 

These four girls were all in Pre-K together and they got to have a sleepover to help celebrate Addisyn. It turned out to be Elisabeth's first successful sleepover, yay! 

She tried last year, but asked to come home at bedtime, and we've been a little gun shy about sleepovers since then, but she did great and had the best time. She kept thanking me for letting her sleepover. She's certainly growing up, and I'm so very, very thankful for all the sweet friendships she has.

February contained a good amount of stress for me and Matt in deciding some new career decisions for him. After a lot of prayer and discussion, it all got resolved with a promotion to a management position at FlightSafety. We splurged and went to a fancy restaurant to celebrate his promotion. 

Matt works so hard with so much integrity and determination at his job. He provides so well for all of us. I'm a proud and thankful wife.

This last weekend, the Evetts came to spend the weekend with us. The kids played all weekend, and the adults played games and visited all weekend too. It was the best. Our families all get along well together and everyone had a wonderful time. 

On Saturday evening, we were in the middle of a game when it was dinner time, so I put the boys in charge of cooking. They did a great job but were eager to be relieved of their kitchen duties when I had time to take over. 

The weekend flew by, and we all hated to say goodbye. We can't wait to get together again soon.