Shakespear Shuffle

February 2016

     

 

February was the month we went dairy free to see if Hyrum's hives would clear up & especially Dallen's tummy trouble.  Well it was inconclusive - it didn't really help that much so we are happily back to eating dairy again.  Dallen was such a great trooper!  I couldn't believe how willing he was to not drink milk, eat cheese or ice cream or yogurt.  We got some coconut yogurt to make smoothies so he was a happy camper still. The whole family participated to make it a little easier on the guy.

Double rainbow!

 

The top two pictures are of our troops pinewood derby race.  Hunter was excited to be able to make a car & participate this year as well.  He actually came in first place with Hyrum at second! They both qualified to go to regionals at the KOA & had a lot of fun with Jeremy camping out in the cabin the night before.  They ate out, got ice cream, went swimming at their pool & stayed up late playing games & reading.  The other kids & I joined them the following morning for a long day of racing.

Hunter worked very hard at school & was able to get his self manager badge.  With that come certain privileges for the kids.  He is a good kid & I think he means to listen/follow directions but he does get pretty distracted a lot so he had to work hard to show he could be responsible enough etc. to get the badge.  It was a happy day to see his work pay off!

Dallen & I spent a happy couple of hours one nice morning at the beach.  We haven't done that in a long time!  I haven't been up to many outdoor adventures.  We needed to collect sticks, shells & rocks for our octopus project & decided to stay & play until he was done.  What a nice date.

 

 

My last few weeks of teaching preschool were fun.  We did O is for octopus one week so we went on a field trip to the aquarium to see a real one!  If you call & say you're part of a school & want to do a field trip then it's only a dollar a person - so cheap!  We also went with our preschool friends to the bounce house in Astoria.  Dallen made a giant block tower.

Beautiful!

One Saturday we finally put together the dresser for baby E & one day later on I organized & put all the baby clothes etc. inside.  I'm starting to feel a little more prepared for her arrival.  We also bought NB diapers, desitin, nursing pads etc. at the store the other day.

I think I figured out that we did like 110 Valentine's or something crazy this year!  Whew!  I didn't want to contribute to the sugar rush so we opted to give glow sticks instead.  The key in kindergarten is for them to sign their name but to not put who it is to.  Since they are all the same it doesn't matter & it makes distributing them a thousand times easier.  I helped out in their classroom assisting 5-6 of them at a time distributing their Valentine's in their classmates bags.  I kind of forgot that most of them cannot read so it was a very frustrating experience!

 

Emma & Jeremy continued with their tradition - 3rd year in a row now - of going to a Daddy/daughter dance around Valentine's day.  It is put on by the community & they always have a great time taking pictures, dancing, eating snacks & seeing friends.  Some day baby E can go too :)

 

This smarty pants finished his preschool workbook, started his Kindergarten workbook & finished reading the first box of BOB books to me!  All before turning 4 years old.  I've never had a kid be so interested in learning & reading at such a young age.  It seriously impresses & baffles me at the same time.  Hopefully his love of learning will continue throughout life :)

    

I was excited about the spice jars we bought at IKEA & it was fun to reorganize the spice cupboard.  I can find things so much easier now!

I took Dallen & Tommy to the prom to ride bikes one gorgeously sunny day - it ended up like 70 degrees!  Dallen did awesome on his bike.  He has really taken to it.

 

 

  

Dallen turns 4 on March 1st but we decided to celebrate mid February because he wanted my parents to be there & that's when they could come.  His friend Tommy has these rescue bots that he is obsessed with & loves so we surprised him with buying all the same ones.  He also has been asking me to make my strawberry jam again because he doesn't like the store bought kind.  I finally made some & wrapped one up as a present.  IT was a cold, wet day but he wanted to go to the castle park, go for a bike ride, go to the arcade, eat crumble cake, have a yellow snake cake & eat spaghetti.  All his birthday dreams came true :)  Can't believe how big this kid has become :(

It ended up being a double fun weekend with Pa & Darlin because the next day was Valentine's day so they were able to celebrate with us!  It is the one holiday we make cards for everyone else in our family & that is my favorite part - to see what everyone says to & draws for one another.  We had our traditional heart shaped pancakes with lots of red berries.

This is what happens for hours after we go on a library spree!

Playdoh mustache!