Cute kid

Me: finish your ice cream before you come inside
Zachery: I did, it's gone. I shared it with the sun. Now the sun is happy and I'm happy, cause it's nice to share

Zachery: twilight ( our cat) is almost my age!
Savannah: no she's not, she is 1 and you are 4!
Zachery: yes, she is! I can stand her up like a human and she is almost as big as me!
Savannah: oh Zac, you are so silly
Zachery: no I'm not, I'm cool! Because I a 4, duh!

Valentine's Celebration

This year we decided to forgo the store bought valentine's and get a little creative; but not too creative. I still wanted to keep it simple. So after looking at cute pinterest valentine ideas we decided on these cute, yet simple, fish bowl valentines.

I made sure all the kids agreed on the same valentine to make the simpleness of the holiday continue. So on Monday night we put our valentine's together and RJ created a robot Valentine mail box to collect his valentines in.

For Valentine's Day the kids each got a new book and a box of chocolates from us.

I was surprised with some chocolate covered strawberries and a love note for my sweet husband.

Then it was off to school. The kids had fun celebrating at their schools. Zach had joy school at our house and we had a fun valentine's party with all his friends. We played games and decorated cookies and Valentines bags. And then passed out our valentines.

At the end of the day we hopped in the car and took off for D.C. to pick Grandma up from the airport.

February 13th

February 13th was my Grandfather's birthday. Grandfather had a ceramic jar that my Grandmother had made and it sat on top of his dresser. Throughout the year he would collect loose change and fill the jar. As his birthday got closer, he would lace his collection with larger coins such as fifty cent pieces and dollar coins. Each year as the family gathered together to celebrate his birthday, as part of tradition, Grandfather would gather his grandchildren together and we would each get a turn at reaching into the jar and pulling out as much money as we could collect in one handful. It got harder as we got older as our hand would be so full of money that it would get stuck in the jar unless we let some change slip out. We were each allowed to collect and keep whatever we could pull out with one hand.

Now that Grandfather has passed away his jar wasn't forgotten. Three years ago Grandmother gifted the jar to Jared in hopes that he would keep the tradition alive. After talking about it, we decided the only date we felt appropriate to pull out the money jar was on February 13th. Our first year of doing this, we shared the family tree with the kids and talked about who their Great Grandparents are and where their Great Grandfather Bartley fell on their family tree. Then we proceeded to share the money jar tradition with them.

This year was our second year. It was a busy day as we rushed through dinner and pulled out the money jar just before cub scouts, hence the scout shirts. But RJ and Savannah had remembered the jar from the previous year and their eye's lit up. Who wouldn't when you were about to get a handful of change. I am so excited that I can share a special memory and tradition from my childhood with my kids. 

We have a lot of pennies and nickels in our jar, but I did go to the bank and got $10 in quarters to help generate some excitement. This year Savannah collected the most with $3.64, RJ got $3.35, and Zachery held onto $2.04. 

I remember as a child getting above $10. We are going to have to start lacing our jar with bigger coins as well if we want to each higher numbers. But for now the kids don't mind.

FINALLY!

After months of wiggling and gently twisting, Savannah came home from school with a surprise in a little treasure box and a big toothless grin. Tooth #3 is finally out!

Aunt Margaret's Visit

Aunt Margaret moved to TN the first of November and we finally found some time to visit with her. She is living six hours away (much better then across the country). She was having a rough time and needed a getaway so we drove the six hours down to her place. Stayed the night, went to her family ward, and drove her back to our place the next day. She stayed with us three days and then Zachery and I drove her back. He LOVED her dogs and kept asking for one.

 

While Margaret was visiting we started a painting project that is still not finished 

 

tired Fried Green Tomatoes for the first time, which weren't as bad as I thought 

and did a blind folded taste test on the kids. 

Margaret made them a Spinach and Bacon Grilled Cheese sandwich. I have extremely picking kids, RJ is the worst. Anything green is gross and it is very hard to get them to even taste something new. With the blindfolds on we first gave them a piece of banana bread to throw them off since they knew something "bad" was coming. After they gobbled up the bread we gave them a slice of  sandwich.

Savannah guessed there was salad in it, RJ thought it was just grilled cheese with bacon and said it was pretty good. Zachery peaked before he tried it said "eww, it's green", which caused RJ to rip his blindfold off. 

RJ was done after that and refused to eat another bite. We convinced him it was just green cheese, Savannah and Zachery both finished theirs, but RJ wouldn't touch it again after knowing it was "green" cheese. Later we explained that it was spinach and Savannah was pretty proud of herself for eating spinach. It was a fun night full of some good laughter. 

Here is my buddy driving back home with me after dropping Margaret back off in TN. He was a good travel complaining. He watched a few movies, took a nap, and let me enjoy some talks on tape. We made good timing home.