February

Either I didn't find the photos from February or I lost them, or put them in a folder somewhere in the computer....

We kicked off February with an Eight is Great night for Aidan.  The stake does a special night to introduce the kids that will be turning eight this year to what will happen on their baptism day.  We can't believe he will be getting baptized this year.  He has been reading the Book of Mormon trying to be on track to finish it before he gets baptized.  We tried to grow some sugar crystals, but we weren't too successful.  He is posting something about it in Cuz Chron, so if you try it and are successful, let us know your tips!  He was able to take a geode to school and show the kids and he has been trying to lose a tooth --at school--because they get a little treasure box to put the tooth in.  He is such a sweet sensitive boy.  For Valentine's Day, he made each person in his class a personalized valentine.  He made each member of the family a valentine as well, and really put thought and hard work into what he did to make others happy. 

Weston also made a personalized valentine for each person--even writing or drawing something that the person liked (one girl liked One Direction, so he wrote 1D, and someone else liked moustaches, so he drew a moustache).  Those are real valentines!  He received quite a valentine from an admirer in his class as well.  Who wouldn't love this boy!?  He has also worked extra hard and finished his Bear!  He was able to get all of his requirements for the Bear done 3 months early!  He also earned 4 arrow points.  We are so proud of him for taking this seriously.  He is ready for the snow to melt so he can get out there playing soccer. 

We are all ready for some sunshine--and ready to get into gardening.  I was able to get some branches from the trees in Omi's old house (from where she grew up) and graft them into our apple tree!  We planted the biggest tree we could find (it was very small) in the fall and now that it is almost spring the time came to graft in the branches.  We found a wonderful arborist, James Batton, who happens to live close by and he drove up with us to Omi's house and cute off several branches.  Our tree is a bit small for grafting, but he is hopeful that they will take.  The lady that lives in Omi's old house (Carol Cramer--it happens that her mother is the one who bought the house from Gerbie and once her mother passed away she has lived there.  So really, the house has only belonged to two families.  Pretty cool.)  Anyway, she let us go up and check it all out and she was so nice about it all.  She says if they don't work then we can try again next year.  I feel like this has all fallen into place so well, I am very optimistic that it will work out.  I wish I could have known my grandfather, but hopefully he is happy I have a part of him in my yard (that sounds just a litttle strange...).  I will keep you all updated on how the tree does.

Scott is now teaching the 10 and 11 year old boys at church and I am having lots of fun in Young Women (we have such a good group of girls).  We had a Valentine Party with some friends from the neighborhood and it was great fun getting to know new people.  We also went out with some friends from our old neighborhood--we miss them! 

Brennan loved his first Valentine's Day with a girlfriend (Leah) who doted lots of pictures on him.  He came home from preschool very happy and very full of sugar!  I am proud of him for writing all of the names of the kids in his class on valentines and writing his name.  That is quite a lot of writing.  But, he seems to really love to write and he loves to copy what is written--often in church he will copy words --from the hymnbook or scriptures, etc.  He is working hard on trying to reach a goal of sleeping through the night--staying in his bed.  He does well when he has a goal and I am amazed at the determination he has to reach his goal.  He is definitely a morning person--wakes up so early and isn't tired throughout the day.  What a kid.  One of my favorite things he does is put on his shirt backwards every day!  Even though he knows it is wrong, he still does it--just for fun!

Speaking of silly little kids, our Elise takes the cake!  Wow, what a riot.  She makes the silliest faces.  I love her facial expressions when she is surprised, happy, sad, and every other face!  I want to pinch it!!!  I love how much she loves her brothers and us--Everyone is her best friend.  She said the other day, "I want to be with mom, she is my best friend."  Then again, she also said to me, "Mom, your hair is weird."  One of her jobs is to get out the scriptures for family scripture study and she takes it very seriously and gets angry when others try to help.  She also HAS to open the front door when someone comes to visit and if someone else gets the door, she wants them to go back outside and she will then open the door.  We adore her!

One thing we are doing as a family right now is memorizing "The Living Christ."  I am trying to do it for a YW project and Weston will use it for a Faith in God project.  It has been eye opening--not only because of all the great conversations we have had about Jesus Christ, but also how smart our children are --and how well they memorize!  We are also going to begin our lessons from "Preach My Gospel" to help prepare Aidan for baptism.  We did this with Weston and it was a great reminder for our entire family about the basics of the gospel.