Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

This cute guy (Rhys, not the 3 week old pig) was recognized at Falcon of the Month at his elementary school! Way to go, kiddo!

Win-Win

Julius Kraus, my dad's mom's dad, and my great-grandfather. His wife and daughter reported he wasn't all that great.

Tonight was cool! The kids and I took turns--I told them about their ancestors and answered questions, they told me about their Pokemon characters and answered my questions.

President's Day

We celebrated President's Day by touring important historical buildings and landmarks that represent our country's freedoms and values--Lego style!

Washington Monument

 

Statue of Liberty

Liberty Bell

Capital Building

Independence Hall

Fun way to get some steps in but the treat of See's Candies that followed ruined that--totally worth it though.

Hockey Weekend

Thank you Jack Henry & Associates, Inc for providing Neal with hockey tickets! We were able to invite friends to Friday evening's game and had a blast. Good game too! Allen Americans' goalie, Gill, had his 6th shut out.

On Saturday, our family got to go again and it went into overtime but we lost when they blocked the goalie and no penalty was called. It got more than a little mean after that. Rough game.

Valentine's Day Celebrations

It just so happens that the weekend before Valentine's Day was Sophie and Neal's Father/Daughter winter camping--which looked not a thing like winter.  Neal and Sophie enjoyed time with the Huffs and Sophie even got in the lake up to her thighs. They also tried something new--Samoa cookie s'mores.

Rhys and I invited several girls and boys over for a cookie exchange and service project, in which we made plates of cookies and loving cards to give to those each family thought could use a lift. Following that we were off to see the Lego Batman movie on opening night with all-you-can-eat popcorn for dinner.

The next day we went to the library and ate at McDonald's (both his request) and then were off to a Lego Batman Movie Lego Build at Toys R Us.

For Valentine's Day, at breakfast we served our usual peanut butter oatmeal but with a heart jam a top and added a drop of red food coloring to the milk to make it pink. We had goodies waiting at their place settings--candy, notepads, pens, and other love themed trinkets. 

At school, they did not have kids parties but still handed out valentines. For some reason they wanted to have one of the district's food days on Field Day near the end of  the year. It works out for me because I can treat my own kids with goodies and they still got plenty candy from classmates' valentines. When they get home, I like to look at all their valentines with them. For an after school I made frozen yogurt heart pops.

We like to celebrate love and kindness as a family rather than focus on the romantic aspects of the holiday. We like to have our "fancy" dinner. This year it was chicken burgers from the freezer dressed with ketchup hearts and a celery-apple salad. For dessert I made a strawberry trifle to enjoy. 

We didn't send out cards this year but we hope you enjoyed being with those you love and care about!

Hear ye, hear ye!

Sophie, is in the drama club at school and decided to be a back stage cast member when the play was announced. She had never seen Alice in Wonderland, let alone Alice in Wonderland Junior, so we encouraged her to consider participating in singing and speaking parts and checked out Disney's animated Alice in Wonderland from our library.

She and a friend said they wanted to be Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and with much enthusiasm during try outs they got the parts. Sophie will be acting as Tweedle Dum in May. Congratulations, Sophie!