February

Found Rachel's endangered species project hanging in the hallway at school.

 I made 10 chick hats for Katie's Spanish dance at the school Culture Night.

 And made about a million leaves and then put them on a tree in Rachel's classroom for Culture Night.

 Brian installed can lights in our bedroom! It took a few weekends to finish, Hayden climbed up there to try to "fix" the hole that Daddy left!

 I am now Hayden's sunbeam teacher! It's fun having this time with him as he gets comfortable with going to church and being a big boy. Although, sometimes it's hard to keep your eyes open, at church! He lay down on the floor, put his blanket over his head and fell totally asleep. He slept through the rest of sharing time (despite some kicking from other kids), and through the transfer to our classroom, and then slept through the entire class hour! He must have needed that nap!

 Hayden always wants to join Brian and me on our errands. It was a cold evening and they decided they needed their hoods. These are blurry, but I just love Hayden giving his dad that adorable smile!

 Maliya made a "prayer" pillowcase at activity days. Right before our ward was split and we had to say goodbye to so many wonderful and amazing friends!!

 Play date with Austin! They were "saving the day!" It's so fun to make new friends!

 Culture Night!!

 The kids have discovered video games and became slightly addicted for a little while. They've been playing a lot of Zelda and little bit of Mario Cart. Hayden wants to be either playing on a phone or playing Zelda pretty much all day every day.

 But, I did pull him away long enough to attack some bad guys. Look at that scary/intimidating face!...while wearing a tutu...

 And playing with Cael is always a win!

 Rachel making some Mac and Cheese! This girl loves to help make meals!

 When mom says it's time to turn Zelda off...Hayden cries and the girls just pose for the picture!

 Watching Studio C together?? I'm not sure what they are looking at on that phone, but they've both got jammies on and hot packs on their bellies. Some days are like that.

 When the sun is out, staying and playing outside sounds so much better than going home from school and doing homework!

 Hayden and I went to the park and had a picnic to meet some new friends in our new ward.

 Katie is finally starting to write things on her own! "You are my BFF, have a happy happy valentines day, You are my BFF. Mia"

 Valentine boxes! Hayden was feeling left out already, so when I told them to pose with their boxes for a picture, he grabbed Rachel's lunch box and jumped in!

 Notice Maliya's watermelon costume from her Arabic Dance at Culture Night.

 Valentine's breakfast: heart shaped French Toast

 Sporting their Valentine's Day shirts (and glasses) from Scott and Lisa.

Katie's Valentine for me:

Katie's Valentine for Brian:

Rachel's Valentine for me, I love that she describes me as "embarrassing" Haha

 Maliya asked how to spell "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", so I just said it to Siri to see how she would write it out. Her response: "Is that you, Mary?"

 I went bowling with my sisters! We used Pride and Prejudice sister names :) Our scores were laughable, but it was a good time.

 Maliya's second Ballroom competition! It was a qualifying competition. They didn't have enough boys, so they were automatically disqualified, but Maliya did great! She got 7's and up and even got one 10 on her chacha!

 SNOW!!! They girls made some great tunnels and caves!

 And got cakes in snow!

 I went to the curiosity Museum with Hayden.

 And he got something in his eye that was hurting him for a like 24 hours! Poor guy! As I pushed him around Smith's I told him to stop rubbing it and just keep his eyes closed. What do you do when you can't open your eyes? Fall asleep.

 One of Brian's friends from work invited us to go sledding near his house. It was a lot of fun! I think the kids were going down backwards more than they were going frontwards! There were a lot of spills! It was good times all around!

 Katie made this awesome Cat in the Hat mask for Dr Seuss week.

 And we took the kids to the theater to watch The Greatest Showman. Towards the end, when the actors from the circus are telling Mr Barnum that even their mothers had been ashamed of them and that he had given them a family, Maliya started full on bawling. I moved over and put my arm around her and asked if she was crying because it was so sad. She responded with "No. It's just SO BEAUTIFUL!F" That girl is the sweetest, most tenderhearted, little thing...