February

 

February kicked off with the Honor Roll assembly. Diana won an award from the PE teacher, it was fun to see her recognized for her energy output :)

 

This quarter everyone got the A Honor Roll. Hard to do and might not happen again, but we were happy for the kids' effort paying off. Diana really gets the connection between working hard to be good and getting a good grade.

 

Jacob

 

Nicole

 

Michael

 

During the Pinewood Derby, I had fun with the girls doing nails and having hot chocolate while playing some Scene It.

 

Mike and his Pinewood Derby car

 

Jake went with him and was thrilled with a sneak peek at scouts.

 

Playtime with daddy. John had his 18 month checkup and he's 25lb (44th%) and is 34 in tall (87th%).

 

We got a new trampoline...er, couch.

 

The return of the Pokémon. I got some figures to help them with piano practice and they really love memorizing all of the moves and having pretend battles.

 

Mike's class made notes for Veterans Day.

 

Daniel and Janell came to NC and we had fun spending a little time with them.

 

Katy loves her uncle Daniel!

 

Jim took the kids on a bike ride and they found some great puddles to bike through.

 

And discovered just what happens when you do!

 

Adventures with Dad always yield a fun time!

 

Decorating sugar cookies with the kids- Mike is working on a Pokeball.

 

Diana studiously making her own pokeball. I was impressed at how they were actually making a design.

 

Little Katy is so observant, she put some frosting down, then used a toothpick like she's seen me use to make her "design."

 

I told Mike he was too big to ride the big wheel. So he laid on the ground pretending to ride the bike. haha.

 

Katy with her Valentines Day loot from preschool.

 

Jim was out of town so we had a fun Vday family party. Katy won the first bingo!

 

Dancy party

 

Hot/cold game

 

We also celebrated Chinese New Year with some stir fried rice, Mulan, drawing our names in Chinese, and coloring some dragons!

 

John got into Jacob's homework folder. I was able to repair the folder with a lot of packing tape. But John had literally ripped the signature page to shreds. He was on quite a mission.

 

Showing Nicole how to make Paint Your Own Pokémon cookies.

 

I had fun experimenting to make these cookies.

 

Nicole earned two big snakes for her good behavior at school. Her class has been quite the adventure. Someone broke their leg at recess one day, then the next day another kid had a severe asthma attack and they had to clear the classroom. Two of her teachers have left- one to teach at Duke (can't blame that upgrade!) and another to teach high school (her favorite place). Only 3 of 60+ staff have left the school in this first year which is pretty good. It's crazy that two were Nicole's teachers though! Fortunately, the school board anticipated that there is usually (much higher) turnover in any school's first year so they hired "teachers in residence" who provided support to the classrooms and were able to step right in, already knowing the kids, when those teachers left.

 

Eagle Service project planting pine trees.

 

Jim texted me that the Del Bianco team got the first tree in the ground. I'm guessing that making it a competition really helped move things along for the kids.

 

Family night painting cookies.

 

Nicole, Mike and Jake at Sweet Spoons.

 

Nutella cake for Brandon's birthday

 

Gratitude cookie platter for Jim's work

 

We had some crazy fog this last week! I felt like I could breathe the vapor of the clouds.

 

Dr. Seuss cookies for the kids teachers for Read Across America week. I've enjoyed learning some new baking techniques.

 

John is full of attempts at words, loud screaming if we don't respond quickly enough, and animated gestures.

 

Spring has sprung! I love seeing the trees come to life. Walking the kids to school I've been able to see the smallest changes from morning to afternoon and I have really enjoyed pointing everything out to Katy.

 

Crazy sock day! Diana's were so cool, they had unicorn hair streaming down the back of the sock. Mike and Jake switched one sock so they had half Sonic the Hedgehog and half lobster socks.

 

Double Chocolate Nutella Brownies with Caramel Drizzle for Jim's work

 

 

We hosted a basketball get together on Friday with friends. We did drills, fun games and then we ended with scrimmaging. I think their favorite part was that I let them do a real jump ball for most jump balls.

 

For Jake's birthday party on Saturday, we played 5 songs as a family band. It was fun to play at a good volume for everyone.

 

I made PYO pokemon cookie party favors for the boys at the party of their favorite pokemon to take home.

 

They had a pokeball hunt in the backyard. Katy and I made these cute pokeballs out of little vending machine containers. Mike helped me hide them all through the backyard.

 

We did a word search, guess how many caterpie in the jar, and had hot dogs with "charmeleon chips" and "gulpin grapes."

 

I was only going to make one cake, but realized we might have more people (we had 23+ people so it was good I did!)

 

We had a wonderful time celebrating. Michael invited a friend to help with the paper airplane game, Nicole invited Kiersten to help run the Pin the smile on the Pikachu, and Marian came to help along with Evelyn and Easton to play with Diana and Katy. My friend Robin brought her other two boys besides the one at the party to join in the fun and provide much needed help setting up band equipment, keeping John from too much mischief and taking video of the band. I felt so blessed to have such sweet friends and family to help Jacob have a fun time.

 

The cakes had a pokeball in every slice, it was fun to see the boys enjoy the cake.

 

Jake couldn't wait to color his pokemon after everyone left and he did a great job! We are so excited for his baptism next month!