Living the Dream

 I died when Jeff sent this to me.  Hahahaha.

And then there was the winter day that Mom let us make this really awesome fort at the bottom of the stairs where everyone walks...complete with Valentine card crafties...everywhere!

 Grace is skiing!!!

The boys chose Get Air for their fun outing, since they couldn't go skiing...lots of energy spent!

Date night!  Kaitlyn spoiled us by letting Jeff and I go see LaLaLand (loved it!) while she took the kids (in their jams!) to see Moana at the Garland (they loved it, too!).  These soundtracks saturated our house over the next two months...

#seniorslideshowpic

 The kids and I grabbed Mod Pizza with Kaitlyn and her roommate before going the Refugee Rally at Gonzaga.  Jeff was at a church meeting, but then he joined us.  Loved hearing the refugees' stories and was encouraged to see such great support in Spokane!

 #jeffsleeping

Linnea passed on Grace some of her notebooks to use...I found this open in her room to a page with Linnea's notes...Grace said she couldn't tear it out because it had Linnea's handwriting on it!

 "Have a good day at work, Daddy!"

 "What color's my tongue, Mom?"

 Missing our Linnea!

My Valentine Trio

 

 

 

February Fun

We took two sessions of swimming lessons this year at the YMCA--it was just great to give us a reason to work out.  The kids were fish!  Micah loved his first lessons, and Grace's teacher was a past student of mine:  Ari!

 Goggles are my favorite kid accessory.  

 And then, one day, Joshy had an idea...

 We love Kaitlyn!!!  This was a fun scene to walk upstairs to...

THE SCOOP!  Jeff treated the kids to Ice Cream for Breakfast on February 4.  Like we needed a reason to do this...

And the annual Daddy/Daughter Dance happened!  Grace was so excited.  She and Daddy went to Twigs beforehand with the basketball team dads and daughters.  She said it was a fun night!

This also meant that it was Mother/Son Movie Night! We went out to dinner at a really nice place...Carl's Jr!  It was all fun and games until Micah had a huge, messy, sick poop.  It was so bad.  I'm scarred for life, so I'm sure he was, too.  He had to sit in it all the way home...I had no way of cleaning him up!

Baths helped, and then the boys got to play on the iPad instead of a movie.  Let's hope for a better showing next year, boys!

Linnea is LA-Bound!!!

Ugh.  We knew this day was coming, but the reality was quite sad.  Linnea took off to Portland with Jeff on Sunday, January 29.  She was then going to take a week to pack up Portland things before going on to LA...and Jeff drove her, because the roads were a little questionable.  He rode the train back!

Micah thought if we didn't look at her stuff, she might not go.  We were all so sad!!!

And that sneaky 'Nea surprised the kids with their very own STAR WARS plushes: Ewoks and a Chewbacca!  Lots of love in this house for that lady...  We even used her chopsticks with our grilled cheese and tomato soup in her honor...

January Endings

Granny had a birthday on 1/26, and we stopped by for dinner with her on our way to swimming lessons.  Birthdays are not as fun without your spouse...but Granny gave lots of hugs.

These were pics we took because we found a huge leak in the basement bedroom, a WEEK before Linnea was leaving us.  The pics were for insurance purposes.  They checked it out, but insurance doesn't cover cracks in foundations, which is what we thought was happening.  Lots of snow melted, so we thought it was snow coming in...

The Jan/Feb Birthday Peeps celebrated at the end of January!  Look at those ages!

Linnea got Josh his birthday present QUITE EARLY, since she was leaving and wouldn't be back in time for birthday fun.  Josh really, really liked it...and Micah loved it!

Linnea and Kaitlyn wanted to take me out for pottery as a birthday treat before they left...Linnea and I made houses (hers said 304 on it!) and Kaitlyn made a Spokane bowl.  Very fitting momentos.

Alex turned 12!  A dozen years of fun with this girl!  She celebrated with a trip to LASER QUEST!  We were happy to wear black and shoot guns in her honor.  :)

And then a sleepover followed!  Brave Auntie Heidi and Uncle Matt...the boys were OUT and the girls lasted a bit later...

And THIS happened...!...Micah donated THE POTTY to Other Mothers!  We are 100% an Undies Family!