February 2018

Well here it is September and I'm just getting around to actually posting our February blog update.  I always take pretty good notes of what I am going to include in each blog post, but then I just have to make the time to sit down and the computer and actually type out the blog and pair it with pictures.  This takes more time than making my little notes on what to post.  I have started working on getting caught up several times, but each time I have it feels so lacking without a picture of Pop and the kids to share...each month I always try to include a mixture of pictures to show what we have done and I ALWAYS try to include any pictures at all (even if they're just silly pictures) that we may have take of the kids with their grandparents.  I have thousands of pictures of the kids, but I always try to be mindful to take pictures of them with others too.  Anyway, I'm thankful that I have done this because we have LOTS of pictures of the kids with Pop (and their other grandparents), but when I sit down to actually post these I always am reminded of the pictures we can't take anymore...but I need to keep going and keep posting these anyways, because even if no one ever reads these, I enjoy looking back and reading these to remind myself of what our lives were like at different stages with the kids.  

So, enough of that, and on to "the great blog catch up"-I'm hoping that over the next month, I can get it caught all the way up to present.  Thank goodness I've taken notes or I would never remember what to blog about for each post! Hah!

So, February....

Nora Kate has been requesting that I French braid her hair regularly now, and she always wants me to take pictures of her with her hair like this.  Love it!  It's hard to braid her curls, so we have to do it when it's wet.

Nora Kate always does this pose where she crosses one leg over and asks me to take a picture of her.  She says it's a fancy way to stand.

Although we have had some snow, we have also had plenty of days pleasant for playing outside...so we have taken advantage!

The boys finished reading their book for One Book Blitz (a program where the whole school-and now really the whole city- reads the same book).  This year the book was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  On this dress up day they were supposed to dress up as characters from the book.  Dawson was Grandpa Joe and Carter was Mike Teevee.

To wrap up one book blitz the school's Winter Blast was on the first Friday night of February.  I was the chairperson for this school carnival again this year.  It's a lot of fun, but sadly because I was busy organizing I only got these two pictures.  BUT more importantly the event went amazingly well AND the kids had a blast! 

The boys were digging through "snow" for one of the games.

one Saturday after both boys' basketball games we took them to starbucks for a special treat-cake pops!

Saturdays in January and February were filled with basketball.  Dawson and Carter were on separate teams and John coached both teams.  Grandad was the assistant coach for Carter's team, so it was super special for Carter to have Grandad and Daddy as coaches his first year of basketball.

Happy days

As I mentioned in Nora Kate's 4.5 year old update, she got her hair cut for the first time ever this month!  This was her "before" picture.

And after

Kelli, who does my hair gave her her first haircut.  Nora Kate thought this was so great to go to this salon, sit in the chair, and be so big.

Look at that pose!  Can you tell she's totally loving this salon experience.

one more after picture

Cold February days are perfect for making forts in the sunroom and wearing pajamas.

When the snow melts, and you just have to get outside and RUN!

This day was sooo special!  I took Nora Kate to her first play in February.  We had a Mommy-Daughter date, and it was SO fun!  We went to see the Primary Players' production of Beauty and the Beast at the Clayton Center, and it was WONDERFUL!

Nora Kate and Cogsworth

Nora Kate with the wardrobe

Nora Kate with Lumiere

Nora Kate with Belle, the beast, and the prince

We are in full swing with potty training which means Clayton is usually in underwear and a longsleeve shirt when we are home.  He's also really gotten into looking at his books again lately. Love!

On Valentine's Day, Lolly gave Dawson's class these hilarious suckers with mustaches and lips attached.

The boys celebrating silly sock day!

oWhen you still have on your pajamas and a bedhead, but are jealous of the boys getting their silly sock picture taken before school...you throw on some shoes and a coat and pose and request to have your picture taken too!

I've been teaching Dawson to cut things using a sharp knife.

It's nice to be able to get outside and play in February.

Dawson started putting these big limbs and branches between these three trees and calling it a treehouse which officially started treehouse planning for this exact spot. 

oAs I mentioned earlier, between both boys games, practices, and John coaching, it feels like we have lived in the church gym for upward basketball.  Nora Kate has been so responsible and packed her own bag or suitcase full of entertainment for the games.  She and her friend Harper just sit in this corner and play (sometimes allowing Clayton to join in) during their big brothers' games  Sweet friends.

This month we said a sad goodbye to the crib/toddler bed we used for all four kids!  Clayton has been sleeping in it as a toddler bed for a while now, and since we have a extra twin bed we figured it was time to upgrade him.

Clayton's new big boy bed.

The same day we transitioned Clayton's bed, Carter had a friends birthday party to attend at an indoor pool.  Perfect idea for a February party-everyone was so excited to swim!

Look at that sweet excited face going to bed in his big bed for the first time.

Remember how Dawson asked for a treehouse...John delivered!  I was so impressed, John designed and built the whole thing!

Visiting the baby chicks at Rural King

The kids had a random day off school and the weather was oddly pleasant for February, so we went to the zoo!

I taught Carter how to play war...and he's obsessed now!

(see how we are in shorts-February weather was so oddly warm this year) Clayton had a sweet playdate with his buddy Griffin this month.

AND Nora Kate got her first bike! 

She loves it, and I'm so impressed at how well she does riding it.

Always my yogurt-lover

Nora Kate had a couple playdates with her sweet friend, Finley.

Dawson had Market Day at school.  He decided to make and sell (for tickets) balloon animals.  This was a sweet project because he and John worked on it together.

We enjoyed several bike rides through the park now that NK has a new bike!

Dawson's booth set up for market day!

Hopscotch with my girl

Dawson's scout troop had a group hike, and the weather was AMAZING!  Our whole family decided to go on the 3 mile hike and we took Dawson's buddy Carson with us too.  Clayton rode on my back and did great!

Take a hike

The boys sang in church

Dawson's basketball team.

Carter's basketball team.

Dawson's scout troop designed this flag, and then they asked a parent to turn this design into a real flag.  John volunteered me.  I sewed the flag and then used my vinyl machine to make the design.  I was pleased with how it turned out...but Dawson was VERY excited to take it to scouts and give to his scout troop.

Nora Kate is Four AND A HALF

Our darling girl is FOUR AND A HALF as of Valentine's Day!

We had some beautiful snowfall right before her official 4.5 day so I took this opportunity to get pictures of our girl outside in the snowfall in this adorable coat and hat.

We could not love our sweet Nora Kate anymore!  She is so fun.  I love her sweet, silly, sassy, fun-loving personality.  I watch her play and run around without a care and thing that she's totally our free spirited child, but then I watch her meticulously line up her Barbie dolls or arrange her room just the neat and tidy way she likes it and I realize that she may be a free spirit, but she also knows the exact way she wants things done...and she's not afraid to put her big brothers in their place if they're not doing something "right" by her standards.

Nora Kate continues to do well in her preschool which is two mornings a week for 3 hours both days.  She seems to make friends easily and is always excited to tell me what she has learned or done at school.  If they do any type of artwork, then it's always a great day for her.  This girl loves her art!

Nora Kate also loves playing with her Barbie dolls in the new Barbie house she got for Christmas.  She also loves playing using her imagination.  She and Carter come up with the most imaginative games and pretend play together...sometimes I can't follow their silly storylines, and they love that even more.  Their favorite imaginary play together is something they made up called ostrich...somehow it involves dumping a mix of all kinds of toys in a corner of the playroom (this is, obviously, the ostrich cage) one of them (usually Carter-since NK obviously takes the role of "boss") is the ostrich and the other tells the ostrich what to do, feeds it, and then tries to catch it when it gets loose.  I'm not really sure what is so fun about this game, but it's pretty funny to watch!

Clayton always loves it when Nora Kate will stop and play with him, and she does this a lot!  She's a really good big sister.  She still loves to call him Mr. Baby, and she's constantly talking to him, showing him things, or building things for him (although she doesn't always love how he loves to knock down her creations).  Nora Kate also has a sweet relationship with Dawson.  She looks up to him and will usually do things the way Dawson suggests when they're playing a game.  

Nora Kate is a Daddy's girl, and would be with him every minute if given the choice.  During church she will still always go do John and ask him to pick her up when we are standing and singing.  It's so funny how different girls are because at 4.5 years old neither of the boys would have asked us to pick them up and hold them.  Sweet girl.

Although Nora Kate is a total Daddy's girl, she also loves doing anything fancy or "girlish" (as she calls it) with me.  Instead of Mommy (like the boys have always called me) Nora Kate still calls me Momma.  I love that she named me herself, and of course her "Momma" is much like how she says "Carter"...very southern sounding.  One time Grandad called Nora Kate a "Southern Lady" (the boys always tell me this), and I think that's just about perfect for Nora Kate...she says words and names so Southern sounding sometimes, she's feisty and sassy, can hold her own with her brothers, catches bugs and grasshoppers and crickets outside in the yard with the boys for fun, but also loves everything fancy-jewlery, dresses, fancy hair, ballet, nail polish, etc.  I love Nora Kate's personality.  I love that she knows what she wants (unless she wants something different from me-HAH!).  I think that her strong personality and being used to standing up to two big brothers all the time will hopefully make her strong and confident and she gets older and comes in contact other kids as she gets older.

Nora Kate has been doing great in ballet this  year.  She really loves ballet.  One of her best friends, Finley, is in her ballet class so she is always thrilled to see Finley there too.

Nora Kate has been doing a great job singing in church choir for the past month.  She wasn't old enough to be in choir before Christmas, but now she is and she's SO excited to be a part of it like the boys.

Last week Nora Kate had her very first hair cut of her life!  The boys couldn't believe that she had never had a haircut before, but I've never wanted to cut her curls.  She had the tiniest trim off the bottom of her curls just to clip the baby fuzz/hair off the ends so the ends didn't tangle now that her hair has gotten so long.  She went to Kelli who cuts my hair, and she thought she was such a big girl getting a hair cut.  So sweet!

I could go on and on about our girly girl 4.5 year old Nora Kate and how she loves to bake, polish her nails, do art, teach Clayton things, and play with her big brothers, but I'll end with these adorable pictures of my four and a half year old in the snow!