and the beginning of Feb....

February was...well...full...  We had LOTS of basketball, LOTS of scouts, LOTS of fun, LOTS of travel for Mike (gone about two weeks of the month), LOTS of sickness, and LOTS of snow (for us ;) ).  But we loved it!

Pictures:

These two are sometimes the best of friends and sometimes, well, just the opposite!  LOL

 I love that A is trying to kiss him, and J is trying to do rabbit ears!  hahaaa

Little S was sick from school today. We had pb&j for lunch and she LOVED the heart shaped sandwich cutter.  She staged this shot for me.

After having the first sunny day for a LONG time and all the kids rode their scooters on the deck D decided he needed one too.  So we ran out and got him his first scooter and helmet.  He is so excited.

Here he is "scootering" on the deck. :)  He is pretty dang good!

I forgot to take the camera to S's basketball game.  So I took one after.  They are so cute at this age playing basketball.

I love this picture.  My sweet A plays her sports still a little timidly.  She is too nice on the court.  So Mike was giving her some advice about getting in and grabbing rebounds and NOT passing the ball every time she gets it.  

And the result...She made this shot!  She just got better and better as the season went on.

I'd like to say this in Mike's "blue steel" look to me, but no.  Really this was his, "Get that camera out of my face" look. :)

J begged us to let him stay up as late as we do one night.  So we did.  We signed his note, and he has to sign ours...which includes, "no dating or kissing girls until I am 21 years old"  Sweet!!

The kids wanted to do some crafty Valentine Treats.  Here is day one of our mess.

Here are treats bagged.

This little ham is shooting me with his imaginary bow and arrow.

J is posing for his Valentine's Day card. (There is a shot of the finished product a little ways down.) 

S's favorite place to make a mess, or should I say, get crafty.  These are the two steps from the dining room down to the living room.  And they are constantly covered in her mess of papers, scissor snips, crayons, pencils, markers, glue sticks, etc.

Hi mom!

These next few pictures are of Mike's birthday.  It was full of things he REALLY wanted to do. LOL!! (that is sarcastic, by the way.)

He got to coach A's basketball team.

We watched S's basketball game.  She is intense. LOL!

 Mike and I had a 2 hour church leadership meeting (no pictures of that)

 and then we got home to THIS...

Our most awesome babysitter that night was charged with the challenged of getting these two princesses ready for their Daddy/Daughter dance.  They have been planning this event for about a month, and they were beyond excited!  Makenzie did a fabulous job and they both felt about as beautiful as they possibly could.  We got home and I snapped a few pictures and then Mike and the girls left.

They got home around 8:30 and we quickly did cake and ice-cream.

It was a full day, but we got it all done! Happy Birthday, my Love!

Here is the finished product of J's Valentine cards.

This is how we spent Valentine's Day night!  We had heart shaped waffles with whipped cream and strawberries, and then hung out playing games on the ipad and itouch.  I think I probably read while Mike entertained the kids with youtube and Fruit Ninja. 

J stayed home from school "sick" but this day, I think he was mostly playing hooky.  We used the day to do about 1.5 hours of scouts and finished up MOST of his requirements for his Arrow of Light.

D kept himself occupied at the Church during scouts and Activity Days coloring.

Just a blue bird!

And this is just until the 17th of Feb... Coming soon, a trip to seaside, lots of sickness, arrow of light, and snow. :)