February 2015

After spending the first part of the month in frigid Virginia, it was a treat to come back to Utah and enjoy 60 degree perfection. Just to rub it in my momma's face (I'm such a good daughter), I took this picture while playing fetch with Roxy at the park. 

My sweet sister Lindsey let Roxy go stay with her while we were in Virginia. Thank you! Thank you! Vacations become so much trickier when you have a dog. It definitely helps when you have awesome family close by.

60 degree afternoons call for brothers, backyards and bare feet. And if you are Camden, crocheted Ninja Turtle masks.

Since the beginning of the year I had been trying to transition Camden to one nap a day. He kept insisting on two. One morning I thought I'd keep him up by keeping us busy. After dropping the older boys at school, I decided to take him on a walk. My plan backfired and it was another double nap day for Camden.

Valentine's day was on a Saturday this year- which I LOVED! I got the idea from a friend on Facebook to make the day into an official "We love being a family day". It's something that I hope to do every year around Valentine's Day. I came up with 9 different activities that we could do as a family and made a little road map for the day. The kids took turns taking the hearts off and revealing what the next activity would be. Some of the highlights were "Group Hug", "Make/eat heart shaped pancakes", "Play at the park", "Play Uno" and "Eat a picnic". We ended the map by watching a  new Ninjago movie together. The kids loved it and we are looking forward to doing it again next year. I loved that it took minimal effort on my part and it gave structure to the day. It seems like we often let our time on Saturdays just waste away so it was fun to have a plan and to spend time together.

I bought these little plastic hearts to use each year for Valentine's Day. I figured if I kept my gifts in the hearts I would keep from going overboard. But, just like every other year, the present I picked didn't actually fit in the heart and I had to use an overflow bag. I got each of the older boys some candy and a pack of Pokemon cards in the heart and then a Pikachu stuffed animal. The Pikachus were a hit! They still play with them almost every day and sleep with them every night. I guess the overflow bags were well worth it in the end!

Ryan was super attached to his Pikachu for the first week or so. I loved watching him. One night at dinner he took two apples. It wasn't until later in the evening that I spotted his little stuffed animal on the windowsill with one of the apples. So cute.

For Christmas, Camden got a fun ride-on motorcycle from my mom. It was such a treat to have some warm days in February where he could actually ride it outside. He loved it!

Camden continues to love on the stuffed penguin that Pam and Doug got him last year for his birthday. He also loves Zach's homemade chocolate chip cookies. Don't we all. :)

One morning, after a crazy time of getting the kids ready and dropped off to school, I pulled into the garage only to look in the backseat and see this. My feelings exactly.

Ryan's school had character day where they had the kids dress up as their favorite literary character. Although we've never actually read Harry Potter with Ryan we couldn't pass up the opportunity to put my mom's old costume to good use!

Ryan's friend, Lukas, dressed up like Flat Stanley. Ryan was so funny- when we were picking Lukas up in the morning for school, Lukas came to the front door and Ryan said, "He really did look like Flat Stanley. He even looked flat and everything!"

Camden is now big enough to get himself into the tub on his own. I found that one out the hard way. I had the water running and ran out to grab the soap from my bathroom only to return and find Camden, fully clothed, playing in the water.

Ryan wore camo pants to school one day. As we were hustling to get out of the house he grabbed the closest jacket which happened to also be camo. He looked awesome. And even though we were already running a few minutes late I made him pose for a picture on our way out the door. He's such a good sport.

Like I mentioned earlier, I had been trying to get Camden adjusted to one nap a day. My goal was for him to make it until after lunch before taking a nap. This was him one morning while I was making lunch. Sweet little guy.