February 2016

 1. Sickness - After Russ came home sick from his business trip in Canada, EVERYONE else (except Mom) got sick as well. Pretty awesome.

Sunday: Russ & Kaylee stayed home from Church. When the other girls and I returned from Church the three of them all claimed not to be feeling well and took themselves off to their beds.

Monday: Everyone home from work and school.

Tuesday: Everyone home from work and school.

Wednesday: Brenna and Ashlyn returned to school.

Thursday: Everyone returned to work and school, but then the school nurse called because Ashlyn was running a fever, so she came home.

Friday: Ashlyn home, again.

So, these were the foods and drinks of choice in our house for about a week:

2. Movie Party - For Christmas my brother Nate's family gave us all the supplies needed for a Movie Party (including the movie!) We finally got around to having our party after all our sick days were over!

The movie was "The Muppets" and our packages had decorations, snacks, a joke book, a puzzle, a cool circuit set, and even a pinata! It was such a fun gift.

 3. Mini Kaylee - Apparently some of Kaylee's friends at school call Brenna "mini Kaylee". One Sunday I snapped this picture of Russ and Brenna napping together. I posted it online somewhere Russ's family would see it. We happened to have a group call with the Burnetts that evening, and Russ and I were pretty shocked to learn how many of his family members had mistaken Brenna for Kaylee in the picture! I guess they look more alike than we thought. What do you think?

4. School Stuff - McKell and I got to go to Ashlyn's class Valentine's party; McKell was particularly excited about the slice of pizza the size of her own head.

Kaylee made it through the 4th round of the regional spelling bee.

The 3rd graders did a musical performance called "Where the Wild Things Are".

Kaylee made a model of the solar system with candy planets and a grapefruit sun.

McKell sorted M&Ms during preschool on the day we learned all about Letter M.

5. Stake Activity Day Girls - The girls and I got to attend a church event themed around "Sweet is the Work". Whomever was in charge spent A LOT of time on decorations. They were amazing. And the girls had a great time at the activity - decorating cupcakes, playing games, singing songs, learning about scriptures, and doing service.

6. Miscellaneous - I made a little book nook in the corner of our piano/computer room. It's pretty adorable when McKell finds her way over there.

One of Brenna's birthday gifts was a date with Dad to a U-Paint-It studio. She chose a princess figurine and they had a great time painting it together.

Birthday Brenna

"Baby Brenna" turned SIX on Thursday, January 28th. Russ was finishing up a business trip in Canada that day, so we planned to do most of our celebrating the following day when he returned. 

McKell and I did bring cupcakes over to the elementary school for Brenna to share with her class that day though. Several of the kids were confused by the cupcakes. Apparently some children have only ever eaten store bought cupcakes. Sad. I was carrying the cupcakes on a cookie sheet, and they wondered why they weren't in those little plastic trays. They asked me lots of questions about how to make cupcakes, where I got the liners, and what store I found the sprinkles at. These were just average, made from a box of cake mix cupcakes, but the kindergarten was pretty impressed with my mad baking skills. 

Russ flew home Friday morning. The first text he sent me when he touched down ended with, "I should warn you I'm not feeling very well." That was putting it mildly. When he got home he crashed on his bed. I think it was like 5 days before he had enough energy to even unpack his suitcase. When Brenna found out he was sick she ran to her room crying. She had to wait an extra day for her cake and presents, and now sick Daddy was ruining her special day. Rude. 

So, we ate the birthday dinner without Russ. But we did bring all the gifts to his bedroom and wake him long enough so he could watch her open everything. Then we went back to the kitchen without him to sing the birthday song and enjoy the cake. 

Brenna requested a Sofia the First birthday cake this year.
I bought a music box to put on top, and decorated the cake part to look like Sofia's skirt.

This little lady ate some of her cake. And squished up the rest of it.

Russ traditionally takes each girl out for donuts on the morning of her birthday. We planned to have him take Brenna Saturday morning, but since he was still conked out in bed the duty fell to me this time. (I didn't mind at all!)

Happy Birthday, BRENNA!

New Year

I thought I was doing so well to get all the holiday stuff documented here . . . and now 2 months later I'm going to play catch up again!

So, as was mentioned in a previous post, Ashlyn and Russ got to ring in the New Year in Chicago, where they visited with Doug, Emily and Baby Isaac, and also got to spend time with Russ's sister Nikki and her family.

Since I wasn't part of the trip. I can't give many details, but here are a few pictures they took:

They got to swim in the indoor pool at Doug's apartment complex.

True Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Jealous.

On the train out to Crystal Lake to see Nikki's fam.

Ashlyn with her cousin Bekah.
Apparently the bonded over a shared love of all things Harry Potter.

And Russ and JJ bonded over some Sunday afternoon warfare.

The other girls and I had a fun New Years Day movie marathon.

MORNING
Movie: Despicable Me 2
Breakfast: shaped pancakes
Snack: Minion Cheese Nips, Minions cereal

AFTERNOON

Movie: Inside Out

Lunch: Pizza & Broccoli

Snack: Inside Out fruit snacks, jelly beans

EVENING
Movie: Cinderella
Dinner: pumpkin muffins & eggs
Snack: Midnight Milky Way

Not quite as fun as visiting family in Chicago, but we still managed to have a good time. :)