frebruarry

And then there was February. Here's what I remember most about February: we got the flu. And it hit us hard. I was down for the count on Presidents' Day. Thankfully, there was no school so my wonderful mother-in-law and sister-in-law and mom and neighbor helped me out with the kids while I barfed/tried to sleep. And Nate came home early to help too. And Kate and Gray threw up in random places all over the house making lovely messes for Nate to clean up. And the poop, oh the poop. That was fun too. But we survived, and Nate and Colin didn't get hit too bad, which was great. The kids had a great Valentine's Day. They loved taking cards to kindergarten/preschool. I loved making hilarious cookies with my brother. And now, the pictures.

This boy loves a good mustache picture. And he also loves a good smoothie.

Jude, sporting one of Gray's outfits. I love how fat his little face looks with the hood up.

He looks so much like Nate. I love it.

Gray loves his Angry Birds hat/scarf/gloves combo that he got for Christmas from his Papa.

One afternoon I just needed the kids to play nicely and be quiet for a minute. Just for a minute. So I decided to hold the Silvey Lego Challenge. (Which you have to say in a powerful, echoing, voice.) Colin wrote the sign.

I divided out three identical piles of Legos. I told the kids to be creative, do their best work, and at the end we would decide on a winner.

Thankfully, they all forgot about choosing a winner at the end.

Also, Gray decided he needed more than the allotted Legos, so he helped himself to additional ones.

This is what Colin came up with. And apparently he moonlights as a doughnut chef.

This is a sideways picture of my brother Grant. No, it's actually a sideways picture of my Uncle Sherrill. But it looks just like Grant. Just Like Grant. It's weird. It also looks a lot like my niece, Maggie.

This is a picture of my sweet niece. I hope her mom doesn't mind that I stole it from Facebook.

Colin and Kate discovered a new chore they love to do. Peeling vegetables! There's a fight now over whose turn it is to help during dinner. If only they felt this way about everything I asked them to do.

Jude is now too big for his bouncer. It makes me sad that he's growing up so fast.

So, one day in early February I had a rough day. Like really rough. And I was not dealing with it with my usual grace and charm. I was being mean to my kids. And I was not happy with myself. I sent Nate a text letting him know a little of what was going on, and when he came home he gathered up the children, took them to Reams, let them each pick out a little treat, and brought a package of cookies home for me. I got some quiet time to calm myself down and finish making dinner, and I got some cookies that I love and don't have to share because Nate doesn't like coconut. I have the best husband. He does so many things that show just how awesome he is. This is one of many.

A stack of books I checked out at the library one day. I made it through the top three in three days. I never got to the bottom one. It's over 1,000 pages long! I couldn't hold it in one hand to read it while I nurse Jude in the middle of the night, so I never got to read it. I'll try again some day though.

Gray refuses to cooperate most mornings when it's time to take Colin to school. I try and try to get him to put on clothes, but even if I do get them on him, he just takes them back off. Some days I just give up the fight and let him do as he pleases. That's when he winds up in the car looking like this.

Or this. 

Jude loves the exersaucer! I think he's the first one of my kids who didn't cry the first time I put him in.

However, I know that he is the fourth of my kids to spit all over the exersaucer. Gross.

I love making rude Valentine cookies. The juxtaposition of the sweet, lovey cookie with terrible, mean words written on it just makes me laugh. So hard. Ethan and I have made these cookies together the last three years. This was the first year I attempted royal icing. It turned out okay. They looked pretty good in person. And they tasted fantastic, because even though I am a bit mean spirited, I am also a great cook.

Gray has given up naps. But if we go somewhere in the car at 4:00 pm then he just crashes. I have a hard time waking him up for dinner after these naps.

Jude is crawling. He is a crawler. He is my last little baby and he is already crawling. On his hands and knees. Like a big baby. But he is a little baby. (Can you tell that I'm not emotionally ready for my baby to be reaching these milestones?)

He can also sit up pretty well on his own. He is also devilishly handsome.

I love my little Hulk. And the awesome poses he does to show off his muscles. Two is such a fun age.

Colin's class did a unit on the USA. When he brought this paper home I could not stop laughing. The things they are teaching in public schools these days! (To Colin's credit, he did notice that he spelled horse wrong when he read it back to me.)

A typical laundry day. Which typically occurs every 2-3 days.

Park day! I'm unofficially in charge of my ward's play group. And I'm often the only one who shows up. But at least it was warm enough to play without coats and my boys had a good time. (The big kids were at school.)

Baby's Jude's first baby oatmeal experience. He was not a fan.

I was trying to take a video of Jude crawling toward me, but as soon as I switched to video he put his head down on the floor and sobbed.

And that's the end of February.

what's the haps?

Well, I'll tell you. January was good. We had fun, living the dream.

Kate loves to hold Jude. It's getting to be a bit of a problem now, when she thinks she is big enough to pick him up and hold him on her own. But she isn't.

Gray loves Jude too. He is always telling me, "I want to give him a hug and a tiss."

Big boy Jude, chillin' out max and relaxin' all cool.

He did NOT like having that mustache on his face. But I couldn't stop laughing.

This is what I got when I asked for a princess pose.

When I went to Colin's SEP in January, he showed me this story that was hanging up on the wall in his school. He explained that the snowman was rainbow colored because he had eaten all the food in the refrigerator.

Just a cute, happy face.

Sometimes I am the worst mom. I totally  forgot to take a picture of Colin when he actually lost his first tooth. He lost it Christmas Eve. I believe Hannah yanked it out for him. I also forgot to be the Tooth Fairy (there was a lot going on!) so I snuck a dollar under his pillow Christmas morning and reminded him to look. There was so much Christmas stuff going on that he didn't even care about his tooth money. I should have just saved myself a dollar and not done anything, I guess. Anyway, here he is a couple weeks later.

Colin left this note for me with his breakfast demands on it. (He did not get any of this that morning.)

Pretty Kate and Handsome Jude posing in their matching stripes.

I thought I would do something awesome for Colin and take him to a special Lego event at the library. I left the other kids with my mom and prepared to spend some quality time with Colin. He liked the demonstrations that were done, and at the end they dumped billions of Legos around the room and let the kid play. Colin tried for a couple of minutes, but I think it was a little overwhelming for him because he told me he wanted to go home. Then he told Granny and Dad and everyone that it was boring and he hated the whole thing. Guess that one doesn't go in the win column.

This is almost 4-month-old Jude wearing a 3-6 month outfit that is supposed to be long sleeves and long pants. Ha.

Another winner Colin brought home. U is for underpants.

V is for vest and volcano.

And on the back, V is also for Volcano of Doom!

Gray loves the puzzles we got for Christmas from Lenna and Scott's family. They are still one of his favorite things to do. When he gets in trouble, the first privilege he loses is the puzzles, because that makes the biggest impact.

Nate's birthday! I would have made him something homemade, but he prefers Marie Calendars Razzleberry. So I just carved his age into it and called it good.

Y is for yo-yo. And yeloo (yellow). And mom yell.

Kate modeling some pioneer clothes. I was digging through our old trek clothes looking for something she could wear to a pioneer/little house on the prairie birthday party.

The bonnet was a little big.

I found this sweet Hulk costume at DI. It's been a hit.

Even Hulks need to read their scriptures.

Colin and Kate all dressed up for their pioneer/little house on the prairie birthday party. I found their shirts and Kate's skirt at DI. I think I spend a total of $5 on everything. The apron and bonnet are mine.

Love him.

Jude is obsessed with the corners of my bed. He loves to roll/scoot/crawl over to them and swat at the blanket.

Photobombed by Princess Kate.

Jude also loves to read.

Kate dressed up her brother. He looked so ridiculous, but he was so proud of himself! I love how the scarf made him look like he had Rapunzel hair. I also love how the tutu bunched up in the back and looked like a bustle.

That's my bootylicious boy!

Here are some videos I found. I can't vouch for the content, because I don't remember anything about them.

And that sums up January!