It's Been a While

It's been a while, but we've been busy trying to survive/enjoy the winter.  January was extra busy because Daniel and I each took separate trips to California to spend time with family and Daniel also had a busy work month.  February slowed down but after accidently deleting the pictures from a couple of the blog posts, I told myself I wasn't going to blog until I fixed the ones I deleted and that took a while.  Anyway...here are some pictures from the last month and a half.  I never did a yearly update so I'll get to that soon.



This picture was from the middle of January.  There have been cold days and snowy days and nice days.  The weather is all over the place.  Today I think it hit 77 degrees! It was beautiful.



The girls and I tried to go to the zoo on new years day while the boys went bowling.  We got to the zoo and it was closed so we went to the art museum instead.  They gave us some things to find for a scavenger hunt and this was one of them so Hannah was pointing it out.

Outside the art museum...being the great mother I am I left Eliza's coat in the car on this freezing day, but I remembered the hot chocolate! 

This picture makes my heart happy

This picture makes my heart happy also.  Hannah loves reading scriptures!



This is at the science center but it is what he does for much of his time at home also.  He loves animals!

Andrew and Hannah are on the case

Drinking smoothies



Rachel and Eliza





Andrew is a good big brother



Sledding with the neighbors

There wasn't a ton of snow...as you can tell...but enough

These two were having so much fun together so I had to take a picture to remember the details.  Andrew was sincerely complimenting Hannah on how well she could throw a ball and it made her so happy.  That's all it took for them to enjoy an evening of ball games together.  I'd love to say this is a common occurrence but I think it helps to record these moments and remind them of their love for each other when needed.

Ethan and Layla enjoying the snow



This was another sweet moment I wanted to remember. For scripture time Andrew and Hannah both shared a scripture they liked. Ethan asked if he could share a song. He turned "armies of helaman" on and sang along while holding a hymn book. It was super sweet.

I loved getting to go stay with Kelsy and her family for a few days. Riah and Mason are both so super sweet!  I miss them all!

Building a pinewood derby car

He built himself this maze

Ethan with his valentine's from preschool



I love this picture of Ethan. 

We went to the frozen pond one day and had fun trying to crack the ice.

 

We were told to come to the zoo when there was snow to see the red panda and the polar bear.  The red panda wasn't doing anything but there wasn't a lot of snow.  It was super cold...20 degrees.

The seals were following the map and the kids were getting them to do tricks.  It was very entertaining.

After our quick trip to the zoo we met the Fassmans at the history museum. Rachel and Eliza are great friends, I love it!

The girls dressed up to look like girls who came to the St Louis world fair.



My friend Niki offered to watch our kids the night before Valentine's day, and we were very grateful.  I ended up not feeling too well but Daniel made a delicious dinner and dessert, we watched a movie, and it was very nice. I love my wonderful husband!

New snow on Valentine's Day

We had fun playing Ratuki together (it is like speed)

Chocolate fondue for dessert

Look who's in a big girl bed! It was kind of a sad moment for me...my last baby giving up her last baby thing :(

Sarah and I started doing a little preschool with these two.  It has been a lot of fun. Sarah did this fun project with them.

I've never worked with Eliza on letters but she loves it!

This picture turned out funny but it was something else I wanted to remember.  Daniel normally gets them off to school but he was gone for work so I was going to do it.  Andrew normally sets his alarm and then wakes us up but on this morning when the alarm went off they got themselves all ready, ate breakfast and then woke me up before they left.  They had gotten all their stuff ready the night before and planned it out.  I'm so grateful for them and that they let me sleep in!