We kicked off February with the boys both having strep throat, which was lovely. Jack actually felt pretty crummy, but the only reason we knew Charlie was sick was because of a slight fever. I took him to the doctor because of the fever and the fact that Jack had already been diagnosed with strep, but as you can see, he didn't feel bad while we were waiting for the doctor...
The boys had some fun trying on Daddy's shoes....
And Nora tried on some Build-A-Bear shoes....
For Valentine's Day we did little notebooks and mechanical pencils from Dollar Tree with the saying "Valentine, You've got the WRITE stuff." I bought a Cricut machine several months ago but hadn't gotten it out of the box yet. I decided to try to use it for these Valentines, which ended up being kind of a hassle. They turned out cute, but....
For the teachers we bought notebooks that were a little larger:
My friend Rebecca has become a master embroiderer, so she made these adorable Valentine's Day shirts for the kids. So sweet!! We went to Stefanina's for a romantic family dinner that night and it was very nice. Thanks to a little snow/ice, the restaurant wasn't crowded at all.
The boys have been doing Reading Eggs, which is an online learning website, and both have been loving it. We got the login info for Jack first and he was asking to "play" every night, so finally Charlie needed his own login info. The first step is to take a quiz so it knows what level to start you on, and I was quite impressed with Charlie's "sounding it out" skills...
Just before Valentine's Day, I emailed Jack's teacher to see if she needed help with their Friendship Party, or any other time, since my maternity leave was coming to an end. She said she needed a parent volunteer to screen the children on CAPS, which was basic early reading skills. I happily agreed, and it was so fun! I got to pull each child in Jack's class out to the hallway two times to ask them questions about a book. It was fun to put faces with the names I've been hearing and get to know their personalities a little bit.
I also got to stay and have lunch with Jack. They had indoor recess that day because of rain, so I watched them play Heads Up Seven Up before we headed to the cafeteria to eat.
And I got to check out some of his work hanging in the hallway. This was a little project he brought home. He was instructed to decorate the snowman however he wanted, and he chose a Marine. It was a fun little project. I didn't know they wrote a story about their "Snow Pal" until I saw it hanging in the hallway. So cute!
This is one of Jack's weekly spelling assessments. They have to spell three words and then use one in a sentence. I will never get tired of seeing his writing as he sounds words out...
The same afternoon, we took Charlie on a fun outing. We've been using a baseball-themed reward chart for the boys where they earn hits and runs for good behavior and strikes and outs for bad. Charlie was the first to make it to his goal (a certain number of runs), so he earned a trip to Play Time Party Center. We told him he could invite a friend, and he chose his buddy (our neighbor) Logan. We picked Logan up from his day care and off we went. These boys had a blast!!
One Thursday my friend Angie invited us to go with her and Brooks to watch the demolition of the old Boone Bridge. Charlie happened to be home with us that day because my parents were visiting my sister, so we went along. Charlie and Brooks had fun, but the bridge demo was rather anti-climactic if you ask me. I had Nora in the carrier and ended up having to lift Charlie up so he could see over all the people so I have a before and after picture, but no video.
Before:
After (the bride on the right...):
And some other miscellaneous pictures from our month...
Before Nora was born, we got the nursery ready by adding a fresh coat of gray paint to the walls and getting the furniture out of the basement. I also bought a new gray rocking chair, since we sold ours a few years ago. Other than that, we just left the room a kind of blank slate because I wanted to do a gender-specific theme after baby was born.
After she arrived, I decided on a hot pink / navy blue / gray theme, and I'm really happy with how it turned out!!
Nora LOVES looking at the picture above her changing table. The minute we lay her down, she looks up at it and smiles and coos. It's the cutest thing.
