February Is Over

February is over. The days went by slowly and the month went by quickly!

We love to celebrate Valentine's day in February, we feel lots of love in our home!

It makes me so happy to see these two have fun together. They truly love each other. Here they are dancing. We have a Vtech toy on the fridge that is for learning to make matches, but Creighton and Macey Jo prefer to push the buttons and dance to the music. (In fact Macey Jo carries it around like a 90's boom box.)

Creighton was spoiled this Valentine's Day. Not only does he have a mommy and daddy and grandma's and grandpa's who love him but he has some special Valentine's in our ward (some older women) who brought him over some special treats.

I certainly understand why they have a thing for my handsome guy! He is such a sweetheart.

Recently he has been going the extra mile to be extremely helpful, saying such things as,

"Mom, when you need help driving the car, just holler back at me." (When he is sitting in the back seat of the car.)

or he likes to always make sure I am ok.

"Mom, let me feel your forehead.... (feeling) Uh-oh. It feels warm. You must be sick. Lay down and I will take care of you."

February means our daddy's birthday. Unfortunately he is not much for a big to-do and really likes to lay low. But we did our best to make it special. The morning of his birthday we went and picked him up balloons and took them to his work. I am sure it was more exciting for Creighton than for daddy! Than we took him to Costa Vida for lunch.

Dad had class the night of his birthday. Sometimes being an adult is so responsible! But afterwards we had a pizza dinner and toasted pecan cake!

Happy Birthday Cason!

"27 Feels Like Heaven!"

All of that happened in the middle and the end of February... but at the very beginning of February we did do something pretty fun! We headed to Salt Lake City for a mini-vacation! Cason went to a Jazz game with his brothers and some friends so we headed down as well. We took the kids to the Gateway Discovery Museum, which of course- was a hit! Creighton keeps asking, "Do you want to go to my museum again?"

The most fun of all was "the Beehive" or what our family called the ball pit.

 

The kids also found fun pretending like they were riding a horse and grocery shopping...

Or rock climbing and pretending to be an Indian or a pioneer.

Overall it was a fun time spent Saturday afternoon at the Gateway Children's Museum.

When daddy headed off to the Jazz game the kids and I headed to the swimming pool at the hotel.

My water babies loved the swimming pool until it got too chilly. A little hot tub action made us feel more cozy though. Then we headed to our room and had a much better time than our daddy snuggled in a warm bed watching the Olympics. All until... Creighton got a sick tummy! We were planning on seeing our Grandma and Papa the next day but decided to leave early the next morning for home.

A lot of our February was spent sick. Someone in the family was sick at each point in February and Macey Jo went to the doctor twice in 2 weeks. I think that is what I have heard from most families.

When Macey Jo is not sick she is either exploring future occupations...

 like nurse or doctor

 or perhaps seamstress.

She could just be accessorizing however.

And she is beginning to take care of her babies.

Now it is March!!

And Big Daddy has arrived for the blessing of his new grandson, Renner.

He is also here to help celebrate Creighton's 4th birthday on Friday!

Creighton has been anticipating his birthday for months now, I hope it meets his expectations! We have a fun weekend planned!



Our January

Well, certainly the highlight of our January was Macey Jo's 1st birthday! However, we did do other things. But what's a good blog post without pictures of it? As I reviewed the pictures on my camera I discovered most of them are of my sweetie eating sweets!

Homemade cookies are always on the menu at our house. And how good can a cookie possibly be without a glass (or sippy cup) of cold milk? This big girl now drinks milk!

This is what happens when you give a 12 month old a spoonful of peanut butter and Nutella. (Yeah, that's right.)

I think she was eating M&M's in this one. Whatever it was- she is happy!

A good portion of my children's photos when they are young are taken in this high chair. I wish it made a better backdrop...

Well, we don't always load our kids up with sugar, sometimes we do play games!

This is the "Hook" game. Creighton's new obsession. He asks to play it every day. And he has learned how to properly ask questions when he wants something... For example: "Mom, can we play the Hook game? Is it a yes or a no?" He doesn't like when I respond with a "Well, maybe later, I am doing the dishes right now." He just wants you to give it to him straight!

Daddy also took Creighton to the Dollar Store and they bought a piggy bank for Creighton to put all of his "pennies" in. He has quite a bit of change (and loves to pick up any coin he sees and put it in his pocket). They are all pennies however, don't try to tell him otherwise. But he is learning that the toys at the mall require quarters and not pennies...

 Creighton likes to create one large toy from many smaller ones and gives them very practical names like, "the remote control car puller with necklace".

 We love Ariel car.  But rarely is this how it is actually played with.

Normally Macey Jo sits on it backwards and uses her bum to push the buttons and make music.

We love music around here. Creighton is always asking us to dance. Likely that if a video was ever made of me dancing our family could win the grand prize on America's Funniest Home Videos.

 

Creighton likes to make his sister "hiding places" or "pillow houses" or whatever name he decides to come up with which means "take all of the pillows off of the couches, plus the blankets from the bed and create a huge mess in the living room for us to play on". I convinced him one day to pull out the Jake pirate ship from Christmas-past and it would be a good hiding place for sister.

 

Sometimes we take a break from eating sugar and playing do something extraordinary... like sit in the hospital waiting room and wait for our baby cousin to be born!

My sister Whitney had a baby boy, Renner, on January 16th. It was a very special day because it isn't just Renner's birthday, but my mom's too! She was a happy grandma on her birthday! I'm afraid that our birthday gift of a book just didn't really quite measure up to the gift she got from my sister...

Our new little cousin, in the words of Creighton, "is so cute!" But right now he isn't old enough to play with us, so we like when other cousins that can play come to visit!

cousin Tyler

But we may not see Tyler too often if we can't teach Macey Jo to give him some space! She just loves to be in his "bubble". This visit she was de-pantsing him as his parents tried to lift him up high where she couldn't reach him. But Macey Jo is persistent and always get what she wants...

like when she is wrestling her big brother. She really makes him work hard for a win!

 

Oh, February! I love the month of love! Valentine bows have been worn for weeks now with our red and pink outfits! Valentine treats have already been made and cards bought! (And the decorations have been up since the 1st of January...)

Bye-bye January... HELLO February!!

(more posts below)

 



Macey Jo 1 Year Pictures

When Macey Jo wakes up in the morning I often say to her, "Good morning beauty queen!" These pictures give evidence to that statement. Our sweet baby girl is beautiful.

 

 

 

Our photographer really surprised me with this set of pictures. Though it doesn't appear it- Macey Jo was less than cooperative. She even peed on me during the session! I will never forget her 1 year old photo session.

Photos by Adrianne Vaughan

(cupcake smash pictures below)



Cupcake Smash Pictures

Macey Jo wasn't interested at first in the cupcakes. Then she learned the frosting was yummy. It was also really fun to play with! But uh-oh... it was super messy and then she was done!

 Photos by Adrianne Vaughan