finishing out february

Wow, I know that February is a short month, but I still can't believe it's almost over already! I guess it's true what they say... time flies when you're having fun!

On the 18th, the 5 of us went to a Valentine Family Dance at Nick's school. The kids all complained at first that we were going, but I'm pretty sure they ended up enjoying themselves. :)

George and Emm: The boys, hanging out by the wall at first:
Then Ben decided to do some break-dancing!
Emm even managed to get Nick out on the dance floor:
Ben danced with his big sister, too:
Emm, doing a line dance:
Over Presidents' Day weekend, Emmalie decided she wanted to make us a Japanese meal. She found recipes online, and then George took her shopping for ingredients. She didn't really want me taking pictures because the foods weren't turning out "perfect", but I thought she did a great job for her first time! The red (and one green) balls are mochi, a Japanese dessert. The big rice balls are onigiri (with pickled plum inside).
And she also made some sushi/California rolls, including some without seafood for me. We were all surprised that picky Ben chose to try the sushi... and that he liked it, too!
On the 24th, Ben and I drove up to see our friends Karen and David, and to meet little Timothy, born on the 4th. He is SO little and SO cute:
I held him ALL afternoon long... what a sweet, snuggly little guy!
Karen and Timothy:
On the 26th, I spent most of the day at church for our annual Women's Retreat. Pastor Trish was the guest speaker, and talked about "A Bold Life of Faith" and Katie Luther:
Chef Tom and White Oak Gourmet catered the event:
The food was delicious!

We also had many lively discussions about being bold women:

february fun

School was cancelled for 3 days due to all the snow we got during the snowpocalypse. Students were not allowed to go to the school over the weekend, either, for set-building. Because of this, the choir director "brought the mountain to Mohammed". :) Emmalie had already made one gargoyle out of chicken wire and plaster, for the Phantom of the Opera set, and then was asked to make 2 more. She had started on this one at school, and then Mr. Hain brought it to our house so Emm could work on it some more. It was a messy project to do in her bedroom, but oh, so cool!

I forgot to take more pictures before Mr. Hain lugged it back to school last week, but it now has very menacing claws on its hands and feet!

On the 5th, Benjamin was invited to his buddy Ben's birthday party. It had a carnival theme, and Ben's mom hired Emm and Nick to help run the games. They all had a great time! :) The treats were so cute ~ cupcakes decorated to look like ice cream cones: Emm helping the birthday boy with Pin the Tail on the Donkey:

Our Ben, trying to throw balls in the buckets:
Nick was in charge of the bean bag toss:
The kids won "coins" playing the games, and then got to use the coins to "buy" prizes at the end of the party! Very fun idea!

I didn't mention it on my blog last month, but Prism, the fish Nick got for his birthday, only lived for 17 days after we brought him home. :( We're not really sure what happened, but maybe he was already sick when we bought him.

On the 9th, I took Nick to PetSmart to pick out another fish. This time he chose a female betta, and named her Cellophane (Cella, for short), because you can see through her body. She's very little, compared to all the other bettas we've had, and very cute, for a fish. :)
I took some more pictures of the triops to show how big they've gotten. This is Leviathan:
Leviathan, again, but Silver Bell can also be seen, on the bottom of the tank, on the far left.
On the 11th, the kids helped me bake some valentine cookies. We didn't have time to decorate them that day, however:


On the 12th, I spent the day with some good friends! :) I met Jeanne and Glenna at the IKEA in Bolingbrook, and we had a great time shopping! We went to Bed, Bath & Beyond, as well, and then to Panera for lunch, yum! After that, we went to Mimi's house where she hosted a card-making workshop. It was fun, and we each got to bring home the 16 cards that we made there.

Glenna doesn't like getting her picture taken:

Jeanne and me:
Glenna and Mimi:
That night, Emm and I helped Ben finish up the valentines for his classmates. He decided to make "Love Bugs", and we used my Cricut machine, punchies, and stickers to complete them. I think they turned out super cute! On the back, they each said, "Just flying by with a valentine hi!"


Nick made use of my Cricut and punchies for his valentines, as well. I can't believe this was his last year to give out valentines to all his classmates....

On the back, they said, "Wishing you a PURRfect Valentine's Day!"
On Sunday, the 13th, we finally got around to decorating the cookies we'd made. Yum!


Unfortunately, George was sick on Valentine's Day. We had planned to go out for dinner, but ended up postponing until he feels better. It was still a nice day for the rest of us, though. I did not wake up early to watch Emmalie open her gifts before school, but did take this photo the night before:
And then I took this one when she got back from school. We gave her the shirt she's wearing, some fun socks, the vase and silk flowers, a mini easel that she'd wanted, and candy:
We gave Nick plastic animals (and I managed to find ones he didn't already have!!), a spiral bamboo plant, and candy:
He especially loves the bamboo! :)
We gave Ben a Hot Wheels set, a small Lego set, candy, and a snake finger puppet which he's named Oscar. :)
Trying out his new Hot Wheels loop:
George gave me this lovely orchid plant:
And I gave him a DVD of The Princess Bride, which we all watched after supper.

Ben had a great time at his preschool valentine party! (He received the stickers on his shirt for winning some of the games they played.) Here he is with the crown he made and his bag full of cards and candy:
My funny valentines: