February

FEBRUARY!

Leah has been adding a lot of new words and two word phrases this month. She also loves to mimic things we say. When you give her something, she usually says "you're welcome" rather than "thank you." She joins the kids on the couch when they watch shows and now says "Sofia," "Wild Kratts," and "George." 

She had a couple weeks where she was throwing some wicked tantrums. There wasn't a lot I could do except let it play out. They have pretty much stopped for the time being, but I imagine they will reappear in the near future. Leah says "hold you" (meaning she wants me to hold her) probably 50 times a day. She doesn't like to be too far from me. We had a few sleep struggles this month, but at the moment I lay her in her crib and she happily calls out "bye!" as I leave the room. 

It's probably from excessive time (mommy fail) on the Starfall app, but Leah is very interested in letters and recognizes about 8 of them. She's also very intrigued by exclamation points and questions marks she sees when we read.

Jansen and Natalie didn't have actual Valentine's Day parties at school, but they were allowed to bring boxes and valentines to give out. I wrapped Natalie's in gift wrap and then let her have at it. I am particularly fond of her use of office supplies.

Jansen's box was supposed to represent his personality. Difficult (for a 5th grader) math problems, basketball, football, and origami made up the majority of his box. Jansen loves watching amazing football catches on YouTube and also loves to try and reenact them. One of his favorite things to do is catch passes while he is jumping on the tramp.

I found this note on the kitchen floor from his teacher. We have loved Mrs. Martinez - she has been a wonderful teacher for Jansen.

We received a Valentine's box from Grandma Kim full of the most delicious (and beautiful!) cake pops and cookies.

Emmy asks to have friends over all the time. She loves her friend Story, and they play happily together for hours. Emmy must be in a silly face stage - two pictures in a row with this face.

Nate and I went on a date to the Tower of the Americas, which has some similarities to the Space Needle. This place seemed to have a lot of potential, but fell flat in so many areas. It seems poorly managed. We still had a great time together.

It was SO windy up there! I was laughing hysterically. 

The guy who took this picture was probably a little inebriated. We later saw him again at the elevator as we were trying to get down from the top. The elevator was so slow, and for some reason we decided to join him in taking the stairs down - which is not allowed. I am usually a very strict rule follower, but I honestly had no idea when the elevator would come again and felt justified in our choice. We got stopped by someone working in the restaurant a couple flights down and after our intoxicated friend rattled off something incoherent and untruthful we were led to another elevator (which still took forever). We eventually made it down.

 I can't remember why, but Nate had the kids one Saturday afternoon. This is usually how those kinds of afternoons end: with McDonalds.

I pretty much have to just throw away Leah's clothes when she spends a few hours with daddy, but hey I'm not complaining.

We had a beautiful Sunday afternoon walk in February on the trail near our house. There have been some wild boars spotted there lately. 

Leah lost yogurt privileges for a little while after this. It was the second day in a row that she had done it. She loves noodles right now.

Natalie has been enjoying Activity Days at the church on Tuesday evenings while I'm at Cub Scouts with Jansen. The girls learned some hip hop dancing this night.

Emmy continues to love to put together interesting outfits. 

I ordered all the Little House on the Prairie books from ebay (cheapest option) for Natalie. 

Leah still uses bottles and loves them. I just don't feel like messing with it, but I will probably need to make some changes soon since she bit a huge hole in one the other day.

February was a month of sickness for us. There was a stomach bug that hit everyone but Leah, and there would be several days to a week between each case, so it seemed to drag on forever! I was so tired. 

One day at the end of the sickness palooza I kept everyone home just to make sure we were all the way better. We had a pet show featuring many accessorized stuffed animals.

Leah loves to play in Nate's car after he gets home from work.

Nate built a beautiful little garden where we have some strawberries, 3 kinds of tomatoes, and some peppers growing. We also recently bought a grapefruit and an apple tree.

I love this curious little nugget who continues to love making messes. 

We went to Pedernales State Park on President's Day, and for some reason I mostly only have pictures of Leah.

This was a really fun place to explore.