January felt like a long and slow month, but February is nearly over and is zooming by. Our weather has been relatively mild, which has been both good and bad--bad for the expensive ski passes that Michael bought for the boys and has only used once, good for less school cancelled and less ice on the roads. I've been tremendously grateful that despite some small illnesses, we have been healthy thus far this year.
Trying to teach the scriptures or anything spiritual to kids is a challenge. Actually, I feel like it's a lot easier teaching other kids than my own. Robbie and Henry get together and just are so silly and wild and have a tough time sitting and paying attention. I know they're better for other teachers, so I am hopeful they are at least getting something by osmosis. And it's challenging finding things on everyone's level--Clara, Robbie, and Henry (devos work best when Benjy is in bed as everyone wants to play with him and is distracted!).
This was one of my attempts to teach the tree of life--see the iron rod(s?)
A few weeks ago I "tricked" the kids with bittersweet and Hershey's chocolate, talking about Isaiah in 2 Nephi 15:20 and how the Lord's ways and the world's ways are different.
Not sure if the message came through but they enjoyed it.
Thought I'd share one of the thousands of selfies taken on my phone...
Benjy loves the cozy coupe that our neighbors, the Zopps, own.
This boy is so stinking cute. New words these days are "hot," "book" (onto which he often adds another syllable, "book-uh"), "bada" (diaper), "mana" for banana, and "yep."
Testing the soil for the garden, hoping for a better crop this year . . .
A super sweet model of the Salt Lake temple, built mostly by Daddy but with some helpers.
Our (18th?) heart-shaped pizza for Valentine's--this year we made six pizzas (only one heart) and invited Banita Teixeira and her four daughters over, her cousin and son, boyfriend, and the missionaries over. They had a lesson afterwards for her cousin and boyfriend.
Also, I love decorating the study we re-modeled last fall for the holidays. This banner I made turned out well, and I had Henry help me make the little heart art in the middle. So fun for me, even though I recognize it isn't that important.
Michael and I saw Spotswood High School's production of Newsies this year (they did an amazing job!) and were thrilled to see Clara's artwork displayed--hers is lower left, orange, green, and purple.
Took a chilly winter walk at the arboretum with Henry and Benjy. Sticks + boys = happiness.
Love these cuties!
Exploring.
Balancing.
A fallen tree more Benjy's size.
Benjy is so busy these days. So busy. One of his current favorite things to do is to slide a black stool over to "help" me bake, which either includes getting into ingredients, tasting them, or just getting out all of my cooking utensils and rattling them around on top of the stove.
Robbie and I went to his first grade JMU-sponsored STEM night this past week--here a JMU teacher is freezing marshmallows on contact with liquid nitrogen (did you know it's -232 degrees F?!). They also had ice cream, made slime, played with Wiki stix, and more. I really enjoyed watching him interact with his friends, building and creating.
Henry came home as George Washington yesterday from preschool, which I thought was pretty much the cutest thing ever.
