I love February for it's school holidays. We have had a lot of days to just laze about and not do much. Towards the beginning of the month we had the rare treat of no school
and incredible weather so naturally we headed downtown to enjoy it. We took a long walk down the mall and ended up at the Museum of American History. They have moved one of their most popular displays to a better area and it was finally open - we saw the witch's costume from The Wizard of Oz as well as Judy Garland's Ruby Slippers. Kermit the Frog's display has been redone and we saw the sunstone from the Nauvoo temple as well.
However I was most excited to see this...the exact computer that my family had when I was little. An Apple IIe. My kids didn't understand. Oh how I miss those enormous floppy discs.
And so glad to know that I am old enough for my childhood memorabilia to be considered "vintage Americana".
I love my little people. And they love each other (at least their
little brother...some days, I question whether or not the older ones
know how to peacefully coexist.)
Just in case you were wondering, this is not a repeat picture from the last time we were downtown. Abby was still interested in pursuing the squirrels. She got awfully close to this particular fellow. I assume that if she actually caught one it would be like the time in high school that our yellow lab finally got one in her clutches after years of stake-outs at the window and hours upon hours of sitting under trees. She held it in her mouth with a stunned look on her face while the squirrel screamed.
Thankfully, Abby did not succeed in catching any squirrels on this particular day.
We ended up at the Jefferson Memorial where the girls practiced all their One Direction dancing skillz. I'm so glad they have an appreciation and reverence for American History.
Another sister that adores her brother...sporting extremely chapped lips.
Token "Mom was there too" shot.
This is what happens when I ask Hazel if I can take a cute picture of her. I spared you the attempts at trying to take them of Haley...it was like Martin Short in the movie Clifford, trying to act like a normal little boy. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.
Jonah had his second haircut. So far he is following quite closely in his sisters' footsteps of rapid, luscious hair growth. This time, we broke out the clippers.
Then in a moment of true generosity, Clark made it possible for me to go to Utah for a few days to visit the fam. I took Hazel and Jonah so that Clark could still get some work in while the older kids were in school each day. An 8 month old that puts his mouth on everything is the most fun ever to hold on your lap for several hours in a confined space...said no one, ever.
But we made it there and were overjoyed to spend time with my siblings and parents. We stayed at Carrie's house in hopes that I could maybe help re-organize and rearrange a little...a task that really wasn't that feasible when squeezed in between Carrie's work days and 2 baby nap schedules.
I love Carrie and I love that her platinum reacher has its own hook in the family room for easy toy pick up access.
And I love cousins...how in the world did I not take more pictures of all the cousins? They were everywhere, and adorable and fun.
I had the special treat while there, to meet up with a long time "blog buddy". I have been reading
Maleen's blog for almost 5 years! I discovered her blog through a mutual friend and immediately found her family darling and fun since we were both expecting our 4th girls at the same time. She is even nicer in person - and didn't think we were weird at all (even though I discovered I had been saying her name wrong for 5 years.)
Auntie love.
My brother came to Carrie's for dinner one night and it was lovely to visit and chat. Have I already said how much I love my family? and their spouses? and their children? Delightful, all, simply delightful.
I also forgot to mention that I came to help Carrie but ended up being hardly any help at all because I have a baby that wouldn't sleep through the night, and I was 2 hours later meaning that by 9pm when I should have been rearing and ready to work hard, I was pooped. Sisters Amy and Sarah came over one night to knock out as much as we could. We chatted for along time, laughed some, then worked for a little while. Also I held my adorable nephew for a spell.
Mo played an elaborate game of prisoner/escapee/mop-light saber fight. Hazel was in heaven.
Thank you Carrie for hosting me and feeding us delicious food and letting us play with adorable nephews (and for letting one of us barf in your toilets, again. It seems a trip to Utah isn't a trip to Utah unless someone barfs. Thanks Hazel for making that possible. We would hate to mess with tradition. Lucky for me this time, no one else got the barfs in our party, making the trip home nice and uneventful.)
Papa holding babies makes me happy.
Darling nephews that reach out and spontaneously grab crying cousin's hands makes me happy.
Skyping with Japan makes me happy...especially when we say "Hey Spencer, eat Sho's head" and he does.
Spending time with my 87 year old Grandma who is as spry as ever makes me happy.
We had a couple of hours to kill on a layover on the way home so I let Hazel be in charge. We rode a lot of moving walkways.
And honorable mention has to go to beautiful Mia who started piano lessons this month. She is excited enough to still be practicing with minimal persuasion. Way to go Mimi.
And we also had a couple of visits with these folks this month. I love these friends too. I don't have pictures of the rest of them but we love them just the same. Their older son looks like a young Daniel Craig but he won't let me take his picture while posing like 007. Someday. I am holding him in reserve for one of our girls...even though Abby used his BB gun to shoot Hazel in the face last week. We know it wasn't your fault Ben :) Abby just shouldn't point guns at sisters and pull the trigger really, for any reason. Lashing out for the sister-inflicted-Starburst-candy scar on her own face? Maybe. But she was lashing out at the wrong sister.
And these two. I don't believe in little kids and talking up crushes and whatnot (even though I kind of just did that above...though not really, arranged marriages are totally different.) These two really are just the bestest of friends. That makes me happy. Mark is just about the sweetest 4 year old boy I know. Jonah, take note.
And that is all for February. Except for Jonah's 8 month picture which I haven't taken yet. January may have crept by but February has flown. Here's to a warmer March.
