February Fun

So, I sit writing this in the hospital waiting room while Scott is having surgery on his knee. All seems to be going very well.

Even with Scott's gimpy knee, the kids and I have had some good fun in February. It really has turned out to be a lot better than January. It's warmed up, the sun is shining and we are out having fun again.

Swimming

The day Scott hurt his knee in basketball, we had already invited our good friend Jeni and her kids to come down from Ogden to swim with us and do dinner at our house. We were trying to give them a fun, relaxing outing since Jeni's husband has been deployed for the last 6 months. The four hours in the pool were heavenly. The water was warm and the kids played and swam and had such a good time together.

 Ava's "George Washington hair".

 It was fun to swim together, but it turned out to not be so relaxing for poor Jeni. The day ended with her back at our house feeding, bathing and watching her kids AND ours while I took Scott to InstaCare. Thank you Jeni!!!

Children's Museum

Brielle had the day off of school, but none of the other school districts did. Sweet! Perfect day to go to the Children's Museum. And it really was the perfect day. The kids are old enough now that they ran and played together. I just helped Kate around, but the others played free and had the best time!!

 Checking out at the grocery store.

 Kate kept climbing into "the garden". Doesn't look like the easiest place to crawl, does it? 

 These guys played at the water area FOREVER. Loved it!

 Ava picking flowers.

 With a little bit of construction work on the side.

 Look at those drooping pants and his spidey undies. So cute.

 They put on a play of, well I can't remember, but something very dramatic where Brielle was a flying fairy and Zachary and Ava were scary monsters. Typical.

 I loved watching Kate at this piano. She was SO excited. She sat here for a long time and screamed and threw a fit when I took her away. She LOVED playing it and had her little legs kicking in excitement the whole time. 

 Kate taking the farm hands for a ride.

Ice Skating

Brielle and Ava have been wanting to try ice skating. I decided to take them to the rec center ice rink on a Saturday afternoon. We strapped on our skates, walked confidently out on to the ice and immediately clamored onto the wall holding on for dear life. I thought for sure we would never let go of our death grip to the side, but I took Brielle around the rink once holding on to me and then Ava. After that, they both got a little bit braver until they were skating all on their own. Ava still wanted to hold on to my hand tight, but really, she was good. She was really fast. Brielle took off going around and around. She kept saying, "Look Mom, when we got here it was so slippery and now I'm a pro!" We had a blast together.

 After skating we went for hot chocolate and some birthday shopping for Kate. 

Snow Day

Our friend's play group has started up again. Hallelujah! Jen hosted a snow day for the playgroup kids. I don't usually think of going to play at the park when it's snowy, but she taught me different. It was such a good day. We went with our sleds, snow clothes, hot chocolate, cookies and just let the kids play. They loved it!!! 

They went sledding on a little hill (that they could walk up themselves) and then painted the snow with spray bottles. 

Jen even prepared a treasure hunt for them to go find "jewels"  buried in the snow around the park. Here they are studying the map before they take off on in search of the treasure.

It was kind of windy, so we even got out Ava and Zachary's kites. 

Even with all the friends and fun, you won't be a bit surprised to hear that all Zachary cared about were the cookies on the table. He didn't sled, he just stood close by the snack table, eyeing those cookies and then begging for them. The kid is completely obsessed! At this very moment he is laying on the floor in front of me crying and whining for a treat.

The treats definitely kept baby Cakers happy! She was double fisting two suckers!

Surprise from Aunt Jessica
Jessica heard Zachary and Ava fighting while we were on the phone together. She also heard that they often fight when I go try to take a shower and then end up waking up Kate. This usually leads to everyone crying and mad. It's a good time around here. So, one day a package came from Amazon. It was these fantastic mosaic art kits. One for Zachary and one for Ava. To keep them busy while I shower. Thank you to a genius aunt! They worked on these for over an hour - happy and quiet.