February....still winter.

Winter is in full swing here in Ogden. I think February might be one of the hardest months for moms. Thank goodness for Valentines.

 Activity time with PlayDoh.

 And thank goodness for the Treehouse museum. Even though I have SO many pictures of these girls on these horses (and the bull), I still can't help myself.

 I pulled out the girls' Valentine's mailboxes so they could leave notes for one another. Here's one that Hazel left in Charlotte's mailbox.

(These are my fancy new heels my mom gave me for Christmas. They happen to be Mary Janes. She found them!)

As a REALLY nice surprise to me, my husband got a babysitter for literally half the day and took me out to a play called The 39 Steps. After the play, we stopped by City Creek since I still have never been! I really love shopping with David, even though we didn't spend a dime. We love the exact same things and it's so nice to be married to a man with a good eye.

 My sweet girls have been working really hard on doing their morning order routine every morning, for which they get paid one "chore coin" that equals a dollar. They also have been doing their zones on Saturday and so they had acquired a nice little savings. After setting aside their tithing and savings, I took them to Walmart to put their spending money to good use.

Charlotte bought a small gumball machine and a Valentine's bear for Eloise. Hazel bought a little doll.

 I really enjoyed making our Valentines for Hazel's kindergarten class this year. I wanted to do something that she could mostly do on her own with my help. I saw these constellation tubes online and decided that we could make tiny versions that said "You are STELLAR."

 Is this girl used to posing for the camera or what?

 This sweet boy has started waving, he'll start singing along with you if you sing, he dances every time I press the lion's nose, and he's a little bit of a drama queen when he doesn't get his way. He signs "all done" when he's finished eating and tries to say, "all done!" He follows me everywhere and prefers me over his dad :). He is tough. He loves hairbrushes, toothbrushes, and anything silky. I even had to tie Hazel's pink silk cape into a knot so that he could carry it along with him and not get it caught under his legs. I love him.

 Valentine's Day letter bugs! We did this sorting activity with colors, size, and uppercase/lowercase letters.

 Eloise is such a wonderful two year old. I mean she does the typical two year old things like write on my couch with a hot pink permanent marker she found in my desk and write on the walls with crayon. But she loves to pick up, place things carefully in a neat row, help me unload the dishwasher, and communicate as clearly as possible with you. She is turning into a lovely little lady.

 We love activity time. I know I'll miss these mornings.

Yep, I got attacked by the V-day bugs too.

Phippsite Nite

On Monday night, we started a new tradition that is part of our family goal of being "obedient." On the last Monday of every month, we will act out the Book of Mormon story that we read together throughout the month. We've been stuck on the story of King Noah and Abinadi for a few months now, so our kids knew it quite well!

Wicked King Noah

A wickedly cute priest in King Noah's court. She was in charge of bringing Abinadi in to the king, which she did dutifully.

Abinadi, with attitude.

Alma, the repentant priest.

King Noah and his priest Alma drinking and being merry.

 King Noah's priest escorting Abinadi into the court (with a curious onlooker in the background).

And the whole clan together!

We thought we'd try a new idea to inspire our girls to be kind, obedient, and brave (our motto). I found these trophies online and had them engraved to match the values we're trying to instill in these little ones...

 Charlotte wasn't happy with the eagle tonight.

 After two weeks, our idea is working well with this little one. She is being extra good to her sisters and I believe it's because she's had our eye on this Obedient trophy.

A good week

Well it's official folks. We are Costco members. We held out as long as we could but we could no longer resist the cheaper diapers,  free samples, and huge hotdogs.

I love this picture of me and my girls.

On Wednesday, my friend Marilyn let me know that our local flower shop, Jimmy's Floral, was giving away a free rose to anyone named Charlotte. So we went! Charlotte was so excited. Poor Hazel was of course a bit jealous but quickly noticed the large selection of chocolates in the front of the store. But as she leaned in to get a closer she look, she slammed her nose into the glass, really hard. Really made for a difficult afternoon.

Isn't this little lady growing up fast? She looks like she's five here to me.

These two are a lot of fun lately. Eloise will start building a tower or putting a puzzle together and Edison will come crawling over to knock it down or tear it apart.

Edison now knows what it means when we say, "I'm going to get you!" He smiles and then crawls away from you, looking over his shoulder. So cute.

This is what my house looks like when it's clean! We're loving this trampoline.

On Sunday morning, Hazel made these masks for everyone in the family.

Ellie has started to read on her own. I love that.

Pigtails + static electricity from the trampoline = wild woman.

10 Months

Ten months old, this boy.

Crawling, playing "chase," signing "all done," and clapping his hands.

I never knew I could love red hair so much.

Oh and he points now. The girls thought that was awesome.

He was so wiggly during this little photo shoot! And that tongue would not stay in his mouth.

We are really enjoying having a little boy.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

On Sunday we celebrated Bradley's sweet 16, which is actually Wednesday. I was in charge of the cake and so I decided to take Costco's yummy chocolate Matilda cake up a notch with some crushed Toblerone on top, Bradley's favorite candy bar.

And he ate the biggest piece I've ever seen.

Happy Birthday to my cute and wonderful little brother.

My mom and Bradley stayed on Monday to go skiing and snowboarding with us! The first half of the day, we took the girls skiing and Hazel even went up the lift and on the big hill with us. Charlotte stuck to the bunny hill and even went all the way down by herself for the first time. Kind of scary, but luckily she slowed down and turned at the bottom, just in time.

While the girls were on the bunny hill, Grandma Lyn pulled the babies on this sled. Edison quickly fell asleep and Eloise (luckily) was okay with him lying in her lap while she enjoyed the scenery. They lasted much longer than I anticipated!

It was a lovely three day weekend and one that made me grateful to live in Utah.