February 2016

February 1st--here I am doing my riot workout class at the indoor soccer field we have been meeting at.

The 2nd was Groundhog Day, of course so we had to make it awesome! Christian went out with a paper groundhog to test if he could see his shadow.

Sure did! Guess spring will have to wait.

We made pancake muffin "hills" with sausage groundhogs for breakfast,

and Christian made his own groundhog sandwich for lunch,

He was excited to see birds enjoying the feeder he made from supplies received at This is the Place Candlelight Christmas.

On the 3rd we went to my sweet grandma Quinn's funeral.

My mom spoke & each of us grandkids (Derek and Ryan were not there) spoke about some memories of her. In thinking about this, I realized how much my personality is like hers!

I love her Pioneer Days Rodeo Attendant pictures,

especially this one with Abbott & Costello.

We will sure miss her, but she has been ready to join grandpa since he left us, so we are happy for their reunion 💗

Here are my Riot gals flexing in red for heart health on the 5th.

We finally got around to assembling our groundhog cupcakes, and I think they were worth the wait!

February 6th we had a 50th anniversary party for Larry & Lana at the Timbermine.

  It was wonderful and all thanks to Tammy's extensive planning and hard work.

On the 7th we had a last minute super bowl party. Hot wings and chocolate fountain!!

For Mardi Gras/Pancake Tuesday on the 9th I made some silver dollar pancakes for breakfast 

and dirty rice with red beans & sausage for dinner.

 

Licorice necklaces for dessert.

On the 10th I dropped a weight and snapped it in half! To be fair, the metal was freezing cold and brittle.

February 11th was Christian's Chinese fair at school. He did a few activities including painting some characters. They had a back drop for this cool photo opportunity.

On the 12th but he brought his valentines to exchange with his class. He found them online and cut them out by himself 😊

I signed up to be the room mother of the Valentines party. I brought heart shaped sugar cookies, cream cheese frosting and fruit for the kids to make valentine fruit pizza!

The other activity stations were fun too.

As I was leaving, I couldn't resist a picture of the neat Chinese decorations hanging in the halls.

On the 13th (insert spooky music here) Christian accidentally stapled his thumbs. It wasn't too bad, luckily.

Tammy and Lana doorbell ditched the kids, keeping with tradition.

And on the 14th I made heart shaped egg in a nest for breakfast.

Tony had gotten us chocolate hearts and suckers from See's!

 

On February 19th I got to go out with the ladies from Riot on a snowshoeing expedition weekend. We got to stay at the infamous Barrus cabin & it was beautiful!

 

On the 20th we headed out into the snowy wilderness.

The snow was slushy and Rachel and I just kept sinking in instead of staying on top of the snow. This made it so, so difficult but I thought it times they would have to helicopter me off the mountain!

It was so hard!

It was beautiful and a lot of fun hanging out with great friends!

  

At the end, we went back to the cabin and ate sweet potato soup.

On the 21st I just had to get a pic of my cute kids at church 😊

I loved this meme:

 

February 27 we went out to Texas Roadhouse for a delicious dinner.

The next day was beautiful weather, so we headed to the park where Christian played with his drone.

January 2016

Before we saw the new Star Wars movie, we wanted to see the old ones. We watched the original trilogy as a family, then the kids watched episodes 1, 2 & 3.

Watching The Empire Strikes Back, I was reminded of a favorite family story:

When I was young, my mom was teaching primary and was telling the scripture story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego with flannel board figures. She got to the part where they were in the fiery furnace and King Nebuchadnezzar saw four people instead of the three he had thrown in. She

asked, "Who do you think was in there, keeping them safe?" and added the bearded, dressed in white, almost luminescent angel figure. One little boy raised his hand excitedly and shouted out, "Obi Wan Kinobi!"

On January 2nd we saw the new one and it didn't disappoint. The kids even got special shirts for the occasion.

And stopped by for some fro-yo afterward.

  

Took some phone pictures of Sarah's gorgeous family pictures at mom and dad's.

 

  On the 11th I took Christian to S EP conferences. Here he is posing with his classes in version art. His is the one on the top row third from the left.

 

  January 17th I took a selfie because I thought my make up looks good that day. It's hilarious how dirty my bathroom mirror is!

 

that afternoon Christian sewed a Jawa character from Star Wars. Just for fun. By himself! Turned out great!!

 

  The 18th was Martin Luther King day, and we went all out! We started off with a lesson about brown and white eggs. They look different on the outside,

but are the same on the inside!

We mixed them into crêpe batter, cooked them up and filled them with cookie butter! I figured they had a good combination of skin colors and topped with some hearts for love and racial equality. Yes, I know sometimes it's a stretch!

As an activity, I gave the kids some of these "splat balls." They are kind of egg shape to begin with, but made of very thin silicone material so that when you throw them on a smooth surface, they splat and you can see the yellow yolk rubber ball inside.

Later that afternoon we watched Selma (about Dr. King in 1965 leading a campaign to get equal voting rights) and cooked up a soul food lunch of chicken & waffle sliders and fried okra.

I made a paper peace dove, but the kids weren't interested in doing this craft.

They did, however, like making splatter paint peace signs and playing with an MLK paper sack puppet.

For dessert that night I took many colors of fruit and blended them harmoniously into a smoothie!

The kids were tired of my crap and just played video games instead of posing for my last picture 😂

 

  On the 19th, Christian played with a pack of confetti shooters and became confetti hair man.

Here is his sidekick, confetti hair dog.

 

That afternoon I took the kids ice skating at station park.

Afterward, we treated ourselves at Harmons bakery and are upstairs.

 

January 26th was Australia Day, and it was time for more celebrating! I didn't actually do shrimp on the barbie because our barbecue was out of propane, so I tried this lemon garlic shrimp recipe instead. (Poor Faithie Lynn has still not been feeling well and hasn't been to school since mid December 😥)

We had fairy bread appetizers and beef pies for dinner.

We topped the night off with a pavlova shaped like the country of Australia!

 

A few days later we finally got around to the craft – – a plastic cup wrapped with paper to look like a kangaroo with Joey in the pouch. You poke four holes in the bottom of the cup and tie to cut rubber bands through them to form an X. To make it jumped, you push it down on top of another cup and release!

  

I was going through some of Tony's family photos, making a slideshow for Larry and Lana's 50th anniversary party, when I came across this gem! (Tony with his sisters, Tina and Tammy in the mid-eighties)

 

I love Mr. Rogers and superduper love this quote!

 

  I was so excited that Faith finally felt well enough to attend church on the 31st then I took a picture of them! Unfortunately, it was just a good couple of hours ☹️