February 2012

 Here's a glimpse of February. We had a lot of fun celebrating Valentine's Day, taking a pottery class at the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, painting, shopping, dressing up and losing a tooth.

Scott getting sleepy after filling up on a yummy dinner.

 Super Scott saving the world one milk jug at a time.

 Playing in the kitchen at the Children's Museum.

 Sammi dressing up in the Pioneer room at the Children's Museum.

 Elli dressing up in the Pioneer room at the Children's Museum.

 Sammi lost tooth number 3. She worked a long time on loosening it and finally letting Mom pull it out. The Tooth Fairy knew how hard she worked and how patient she was and rewarded her with 2 dollars!

 Scott discovering fingerpaints. He loved squishing it through his fingers. By the end it was all over his head.

Wearing hearts for Valentine's Day. They picked different shirts with hearts every day for the week before Valentine's Day. Sammi is making a heart with her arms.

 On a shopping trip to Hobby Lobby. These three are such cuties all together when we are out.

I went through a box of papers from graduate school and found this paper where I doodled my name and Brent's. I think this was before we were engaged. It even has Scott up there in the top right corner. 

February went by so quickly and I can hardly believe it's April already. The children are growing fast and learning so quickly. Sammi is starting to read more fluently. She's moved into first grade math. She's learning to roller skate at our homeschool co-op. Elli is also learning to roller skate. She writes her name. She knows all her letters and tells me frequently that she'll learn to read tomorrow (already a procrastinator!) Her favorite song is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Scott loves all sorts of balls. He loves for me to bounce a ball off his forehead. He's started stacking blocks instead of knocking them over.

Last Pics from Halloween

These were from my camera that I took before we headed to our friends. If you look closely you can see the sparkles on Elli's eyelids.

Dress-Up Day!

Elizabeth's first dress-up! Isn't she cute?

Baby M, the superhero cowboy!

Sammi Sam: I did it myself!

What's Your Name?

This is my 100th post! In celebration I will send 100 "memories" from the blog to the first person to comment. Oh what fun!

Sammi is going through this adorable phase of naming everything. She's really grasping the idea of names (like Sammi, Bob, Betty, Tyler, etc.) instead of just the name of a type of object (baby, kid, dog, boy, girl, etc.) As a result, she's been asking everyone we walk by, "What's your name?" Everyone has been very kind and answered her with their name and then said, "What's your name?" to which she replies, "Sammi" as she's already five feet away and onto her next introduction.

The other night Brent found his old wig and put it on in the bathroom. As he came out, Sammi took one look at him and said, "What's your name?" "I'm Daddy," Brent said a little sad that she hadn't recognized him. But I thought it was adorable. A much better reaction than being scared because he looked different. So we tried it on her, too. What a cutie!

Baby Contest Results

Summerfest was last weekend and we entered Sammi in the Baby Contest. At first I was really hoping for first place, but then I realized that meant we would ride in the parade and that didn't seem like much of a prize to me! In the end, Sammi won Third Place which was some recognition, but most importantly came with a package of fruit snacks and a package of gold fish crackers. That, I believe, was Sammi's highlight of the day!

We ended the day by watching the parade from our driveway. I love the floats. Sammi loved the helicopter and the firetrucks. Brent loved the cars, probably. I forgot to ask him... We sipped Brazilian Lemonade while we watched. It was delicious!

Note on the recipe: I used sweet and condensed milk instead of the heavy cream and sugar. It's a little tart without the extra sugar, but so delicious.

Getting Ready for Halloween

Sammi had a fun morning getting ready for Halloween. I was really worried about putting the make-up on her face because I didn't know if she would sit still for me. I figured it would be like my hair where she squirms and wiggles and I have to distract her with hair spray, spray bottles, cups, whatever works!

I looked up some images online to find out how rodeo clowns do their make-up. After I found a picture of one that I thought I could do on Sammi, I set her down in a chair next to the computer and crossed my fingers. The only mishap was that her boot started to fall off, "Oh, no!" Sammi said until I put the boot back on. Then I started with the make-up. She seemed to love it without even know what exactly it was. She leaned into my hand and the make-up stick. She closed her eyes and just looked perfectly pleased with the experience. The first side turned out great! Unfortunately, the second side was more difficult for me and she got a little restless. But, they were fairly symmetrical and I was quite pleased. When she looked in the mirror, she was all smiles:) I wish I could have taken a picture while I was applying her make-up because she was enjoying it so much. But I don't have that many hands, so we'll have to do with out.

After her make-up was on and her costume was completed by the addition of her cowboy hat. She seemed to know that she was in "special" clothes because she just glowed as she walked around the room. She almost strutted! (Now, I'm not sure if that was her attitude, or the fact that her boots were 4 sizes too big.) After all the prep, she was ready for the day.

We went to the grocery store and purchased pumpkins for my ESL program's party, then we went to story time at the Orem Public Library, then we took the pumpkins to UVSC then she fell asleep on the way home. All that performing sure wore her out! After her nap we went to UVSC to go to the Halloween party and see my students. She had fun, most of the time. She got a little overwhelmed when every one wanted to say hi and hold her and take pictures, but with the smaller groups she seemed quite pleased to be the center of their attention.

That sums up Sammi's day in preparation for the big Halloween night!