February Fun

Don't you just love how I frequently take a whole month's events and lump them into one post.  I'm glad you like it because here's another one.  :)

With all the frozen yogurt places going up, there's no wonder we've found a favorite. It's close by, it's colorful (which is great to chase away the blahs that winter can bring) and has all kinds of fun seating options which I think my kids like the most about it.  Yogotogo . . . we love you!

 These 3 love the "high seats."

We loved the warm weather that set in mid-month.  The sun was so good for me and I loved watching my kids play outside.  There is something wonderful about watching your children use their imaginations and hearing the delightful shrieks of friends playing.  

Two years ago, JayDee built a barricade to cover the access the to the top level of our playset to keep the myriad of small children in the neighborhood from getting up there and then falling down.  As you can see from the picture below it's not a very safe place for little ones.  Well during our little indian summer, Isaac decided that he was big enough and told Dad it was time for the "white wood" (the barricade was not stained to match the rest of the playset) to come down.  He told us he needed to get up there so he could spy.  How can you say no to that logic? Isaac immediately scaled to the top and began spying.

Watch out neighbors.  You may just want to keep your blinds shut.

Also during our warm weather stint, we got word from Grandpa Gunnell that Newt and Lady (his dogs) had a new litter of puppies.  Puppies! Well nothing calls for a visit to the farm like puppies.  We loaded up and headed up to Idaho to meet the new ones.  7 in all. . .4 girls and 3 boys. Can you tell by looking at these pups what their mom and dad look like?

 

Another plus about visiting the farm is the trip down into the fields to feed the cows.  My kids get a good lesson about life every time they see cows.  There always seems to be a new calf or two every time we visit and this trip was no exception.  But the lesson they got this time was a bit different than most, 2 new calves had been born the day before we came and Grandpa was excited to show the kids, unfortunately when we found them they had died.  Sad.  And apparently it has always been JayDee's job (when he was young and now when he's around) to take care of the dead animals. So off he went, with Hannah and Isaac in tow, to the "bone yard."  I had no idea until then that Grandpa had any sort of thing but he does.  Isaac was quite effected by it and I think Hannah had some nightmares about it later.  When they came back Isaac couldn't stop telling me about the dead babies and the cow fossils down by the river. Like I said, life lessons learned on the farm.

Next was Valentine's Day!!  I really like this holiday.  I love a day all about loving.  We didn't do anything terribly special but I had fun doing little things for my love bugs.

 The Saturday before Valentine's Day I secretly slipped away to break into JayDee's office and give it a little makeover.  I love surprises and wished I could have been in JayDee's office when he came in on Monday (Valentine's).  

Here's the view coming through the door.

 Head on

 Inside

 Half the candy I had for decorating purposes got left in the hiding spot under the bed at home. I was in a hurry to sneak out and didn't make sure I had everything. Next time I'm going to double check my loot.  So picture this with a ton more candy. . . like a candy explosion!

The best part about this little gift is that JayDee hates this kind of thing.  He gets so embarrassed.  But JayDee works with great people and they think it's great so I don't feel bad.  He called me when he got in and asked me how he was supposed to get any work done with his office in this condition.  I told him he'd figure it out.  He also told me he felt very loved and embarrassed at the same time.  Yay me!  Last time I did this, about 5 years ago, he only felt embarrassed so we're making progress.

Valentine's morning I got up and made my kids pink heart pancakes.  This is monumental. . .my kids usually get the choice between cold cereal, eggo waffles or an occasional egg on school days, so pancakes made them feel special.

Yeah I could use a little practice.  

And I promise the batter was very pink.

This is what my kiddos found when they got home from school.

Cupcakes, conversation hearts, chocolate, heart cups and Caffeine Free Mountain Dew.

My kids think they love Mountain Dew because that is Aunt Jana's favorite drink so I indulged them. 

It was Valentine's Day after all.

After Valentine's came the snow.  Knowing Utah as well as I do, I knew the nice weather would not last.  With the snow came the snowball fights.  JayDee can't contain himself.  The kids love it when they are caught unaware and are bombarded by flying snow.  Snowball fights have escalated around here, JayDee decided he needed to be able to throw more snow so out came the shovel.  Ethan and his friends loved it.  They'd scream and shriek and hide behind their sled shields but they didn't want it to stop.  Whenever JayDee came inside they would come in ask him to come back out and throw more snow.  Boys! :)

 

 

We closed out the month with a school project.   In 4th grade social studies they have been doing a unit on pioneers.  All the 4th graders had to do an at home pioneer project.  There was  a list of possible projects, one of which was bread making.  I immediately tried to talk Ethan into doing this one because it is a skill I want to master.  He wasn't sure and said he'd think about it.  Well glory be to procrastination! Thanks to his indecisiveness he ran out of time to do anything else, so bread making it was!  I was excited and nervous about this because my track record for making anything with yeast is awful.  I can never get yeast to work.  My brother actually coined a term for my ONE attempt at making rolls for Thanksgiving dinner, he called them Thanksgiving crackers.  (It's still talked about with fondness at every Thanksgiving dinner.) Yep, that about sums up my yeast skills.  Well I wasn't going to let it get the best of me. Together Ethan and I were going to make bread and it was going to be great!  (I firmly believe in positive affirmations.) 

Step 1:  Wheat

 Step 2: Grind the wheat

Step 3: 1 1/2 hours later. . .flour.  Yeah, not doing that again.

Step 4:  The infamous yeast.  Those positive affirmations worked. . .just look at those bubbles.

Step 5:  Greasing pans while the yeast "spounges."

  
Step 6: Mixing in the flour

Step 7: Kneading the dough

Step 8: Placing in the oven after dough rises.

  
Step 9:  Viola! Finished product

Success!!  It feels good to be a pioneer.  I'm just not sure I'll be able to move my arms tomorrow after all that wheat grinding.  No wonder pioneers were so tough.