St. Patty's Day

I wasn't feeling terribly Irish this St. Patty's day, so I just took green food coloring to everything I could get my hands on.  At the top o' the mornin', we had green oatmeal and green milk.  The kids were mad - they wanted Lucky Charms or something, but it was a school day, so I wouldn't let them.  Mean, I know.

This little fella dropped by to wish me a happy day and leave an Irish blessing on our home. I was not pleased.  I was unable to verify that he actually died, because he was swept down the drain, but I haven't seen him again, so I think he took the hint.

Dinner was pretty green - peas, food coloered yellow death (mac n' cheese), green apple sauce, limeade, and chicken (which isn't green at all, is it? My kids said it was the gold at the end of the rainbow).

Speaking of rainbows, we had a lovely fruit rainbow with a fruit dip cloud for our meal.  Isn't it darling? Yes, I know black isn't a color of the rainbow - I was going for purple.

And for dessert, we ate rainbow cupcakes (even the cake inside the wrapper was rainbow)  and little pots of gold.  

Nicki's School Play

Creekside Elementary proudly presented "Alice In Wonderland" this year for its school play.  It is an incredible, insanely huge production with over 125 kids participating and hours (and months) of rehearsals - 100% produced by parent volunteers.   Seriously - it's crazy!  I didn't volunteer to do costumes, choreography, or make up.  Those aren't where my talents lie.  Instead, I volunteered by selling tickets, sending treats to one rehearsal, and working at the concession stand for one performance.  That's more my speed right now.

Nicole was a darling bumble bee in the scene with the caterpillar.  

I thought she was pretty adorable!

The whole cast stayed on the stage the whole time, acting as the chorus whenever they weren't directly involved in a scene.  I think that's a good idea.

They had SIX total performances over the course of a few days.  It was a very busy week!

But Nicki really loved it!  She's already looking forward to next year's play.  

Can you find Nicki? She's on the front row.  I thin I saw the play three times.  David and Alison both went as well.  I didn't bring the boys this time - they'll have to watch the video when she gets it.  Both sets of grandparents came to see Nicki perform.  Can you believe Grandma and Grandpa Gee drove all the way down from Idaho to see it?  That was mega-cool of them and it made her feel pretty special (which, of course, she is).  

Quinton's Birthday

So, we officially don't have a baby in our house anymore - Quinton is a big boy!!  He turned two on February 24th.  It breaks my heart (and warms it a little too - is that weird?) to watch all these little milestones pass us by for the last time.

Here's our cute little birthday boy in the morning!  

Bronson, Joshua, and Nicole helped him open his presents.  They were just about as excited as he was.

After all the big kids went to school, Bronson and I took the birthday boy on an excursion.  We started out at a pet shop, looking at the rodents, reptiles, fish, birds, and cats.  It's like a zoo, only free!  I forgot to take any pictures there.  But afterwards, we went to the fountains and playground at Station Park in Farmington.

Quin loved the water, but was a little bit frightened of the dancing fountain show.  

He shows no sign of fear at playgrounds (both a good thing and a bad thing).

He climbs right up and slides right down everything the older kids do.

We ate lunch at Chick-Fil-A. Since he can't really tell me his favorite place to eat, I just assumed it was the same as my favorite place to eat.  After he ate, he was able to play on more toys.

After a few normal hours, filled with nap times and picking up siblings from school, he had the best afternoon ever!  Nicki took him outside and played with him for a couple of hours!  

Her neighbor friend, Charly came out to play too.  So did our two older boys.  They played for a long time without any injuries or fighting.  It was a birthday miracle!  

They played a hide-and-seek type game with Quinton in his stroller for a while.  My favorite thing they did (which I didn't get any pictures of) was sitting on the side of the road, getting cars to honk for them.  Quin LOVES cars.  He squealed in delight the whole time.  A couple of my friends in the neighborhood even pulled over and wished him a happy birthday.  

Quin's birthday dinner was chili and cornbread.  

He loves it!  

I bought him a cute marbled birthday cake while we were out-and-about earlier that day. We also bought some crazy ice cream in "play dough" flavor.  It was sure....bright.   

Look how excited he was!  

Oh, how we love our little Quinton!  You can sure tell he is the family's baby.  We all giggle and coo over virtually every move he makes. 

Valentines Day 2016

Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday this year.  So, we started the celebration a day early.  I spent the morning cooking the most delicious raspberry rolls ever (like cinnamon rolls, but with raspberries instead) and two different kinds of valentine cookies.  Then, we delivered many of them to our neighborhood valentines.  My parents came over to visit and we exchanged Valentines gifts.  That was fun!

That afternoon, we received word that my brother-in-law's father had passed away.  Malcolm had been put on hospice a month or two before, but he was doing well.  He was just leaving a restaurant after having lunch with his daughter and sister when he fell, hit his head, and was dead within a few hours.  We were surprised and sad.  Malcolm was such a nice man. Kristen and Brian had plans to leave for an overnight-er on Valentine's day after church - my parents were going to take their kids.  Obviously, those plans changed. I felt so bad for them and wished there was something I could do.  I was glad that I had a whole pan of raspberry rolls to give to Kristin.  Mom was making a batch of spaghetti sauce, so between the two of us, (mostly Mom) we put together a dinner for her family that night.

We had big evening plans, starting with eating heart-shaped pizza's from Papa Murphy's.  Then, we loaded everyone in the van and went to the annual Layton City Family Valentine's Dance!  We'd been once before - years ago, and I forced David to take us again.  However, when we got to the dance, there WAS no dance!  I had misread the date - it had been the night before. Bummer!  But, determined to have a fun family night, we went to FIIZ for some fancy drinks.  I ordered a couple of "Sour Shots" which are just what they sound like - little teeny cups of straight sour syrup.   Here are some picture of our reactions:

Worst picture ever of me - but you get the idea of how sour that stuff was!

Ali died!

For a long time!

Nicki was tough!

Josh decided to share his with the baby.  Nice brother, eh? He tightened up his whole body, shook his head, and said, "No!" as a reaction.

He was a pretty good sport about it.  And he had a super sugary drink to get the taste out of his mouth.

We had a fun time crowding into a booth and drinking our fancy drinks as a family.

After the kids were in bed, David watched a romantic movie with me - the best valentine gift ever!

The next morning, our kids woke up to small Valentines from their parents.

Valentines Day just wouldn't be the same without a Mylar balloon from Dad.

Throughout the day, the kids performed little acts of kindness and made us special works of art - like this Lego rose.

Dinner was delicious - Talapia, wild rice, a beautiful salad, etc.  Yum!

And here are the beautiful roses my valentine gave me!  (I gave him a book - super romantic, right?)