Moving into a Month of Love . . .

I have declared February a month where we are going to shower each other with love. Out of desperation, and thinking rather quickly on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa's, I decided that we are going to cut out a bunch of hearts. Every time someone does something nice for someone else, they get to put a heart with their name on it in a jar. At the end of the month, I will draw names for prizes. I just feel we all need to work on being nicer to each other. However, I have to hand it to Grace, who consistently thanks me for having babies in my tummy so she could be here. She also tells me often how good I am doing at feeding her healthy foods and taking care of her. She may be a pill, but she is a grateful and sweet one to swallow.




This is love, sisters . . .





Having "Mommy" time at King's English



Family Night at Trolley Square

I actually feel caught up for the first time in a long time. The house, the laundry, the endless stacks of papers, the photos. It feels good to breathe a bit as we glide into February. January was crazy and did not stop, or even slow down like molasses. Somehow we managed to pack in lots of fun, though. Like playing with Susan and Ben's new pasta maker (the first experiment was butternut squash ravioli - yum!)

The weather was definitely off this month. I got a nasty cold, the first in years it seems that couldn't be zapped away with vitamins. It lasted about two weeks, exactly during the time when the air quality was horrific. I am grateful the kids handled it better than I did. I praised the rain, which eventually turned into snow. My children took the 40-50 degree weather as an invitation to play in fountains (Gateway) and put on their summer clothes.

That rainy weekend, my dad decided to take us up to Park City so Olivia and I could go night skiing. We had a great time, until the last minute of our last run. Olivia was turning and her skis got tangled. The next thing we knew, she was strapped to a toboggan, being snowmobiled down to the mountain patrol station. We ended up in the ER at Primary's, just to make sure she didn't break anything, since she couldn't walk. Nothing broken or torn, thankfully. Just a week of Olivia with a leg brace and crutches for those stretched ligaments around her knee. She tired of it by Friday night, and by Saturday (one week after the accident) she was running and jumping as

usual.

Grace was ecstatic about celebrating her 1/2 birthday in Kindergarten (January 20), and got to give a book to her class. She also got 5 1/2 special high fives from her teacher, Mrs. B.C. She dressed up for the occasion, and couldn't stop talking about it. Unfortunately, she also can't stop talking about a boy named Jacob in her class.

The last piece of news, which actually happened today, is that Olivia now has bangs. She begged. She even cut a few herself one day at Youth City. I finally gave in and cut a sturdy set for her this morning. I'm not sure what I think, but she likes the change.