Mother Daughter Valentine's Day Party

At the beginning of January, I sat down to plan out the rest of the school year's Activity Days for my group of church girls and decided to try doing something a little different.  We normally meet at my house twice a month and check off a single goal in the Faith In God booklet each time.  However, I decided to choose a more extensive goal in the "Serving Others" section which asks the girls to plan and hold a parent-child activity which would take a few Activity Days in a row.  Since Valentine's Day was coming up, I thought that it would be fun to host a Mother-Daughter Valentine's Day Party at my house.  I proposed the idea to the girls and they were very excited to do it.  For the first meeting in January, we planned out all of the details of the party and the girls made invitations to give to their moms.  For the second meeting of the month, we reviewed our party plans and then the girls made crowns for their mothers to wear since we decided that they wanted to treat them like "queens" for the evening.
We held the actual event tonight at our house and it was such a success!  Lia helped me decorate the tables in the kitchen after she got home from school today and it looked so cute. We used Valentine's Day themed decor and decorated in pink and red.  We also bought balloons and I pulled out my grandma's huge, tissue poms to hang from the ceiling that are probably forty years old!  All of the mothers and daughters arrived on time tonight at 6:30 wearing Sunday clothes and everyone remembered to bring their food assignment.  We had such a fun time eating all of the delicious finger foods that people brought before moving into the family room for the program.  I had the girls sing two primary songs before reading a note that they had written about their mothers one at a time.  We then finished up by playing a game that tested the girls on how well they knew their mothers.  I think that everyone had a great time and I am so glad that we were able to host this fun event for the girls and their mothers.
  

We managed to squeeze 22 people into our kitchen thanks to two extra tables that I borrowed from our neighbors up the street.  Here are all of the mothers and their daughters enjoying the food after arriving at the party.

A shot of the delicious food that everyone contributed.

The "head table" smiling at the camera.

Lia and me enjoying our table time together.

Lia's good friend, Isabel, from her primary class and her mom, Jen.

Lia's good friend, Bella, and her mom, Alisa, who live up the hill form us.

Lia's other close, neighborhood friend, Alyssa, and her mom, Sheri.

Lia reading her note to me after we started the program.

The girls working on answering the questions about their mothers.

Lia making a funny face after getting stuck on one of the game questions.  I am proud to say that she actually won the game by getting 14 out of the 15 questions correct!  She's always been good with details. :-)

Super Bowl Snow Storm

We have not had a decent snow storm since January of 2012 when I was 36 weeks pregnant with Logan.  I have yearned and yearned for another snow storm every winter since then, but it has never happened!  I remember having a big snow storm at least once every other winter my entire childhood and it has made me sad that my kids are not growing up with the same experience.  So, you can imagine my delight when it finally happened yesterday!
Although we have had several little snow flurries this winter, they have never panned out to be more than an inch or so on the ground.  When it started snowing before church yesterday, I thought that it was going to be more of the same.  But the snow kept on coming.  It snowed all during church and by the time we got home a little after four o'clock there was already two inches on the ground.  While Ron and I were getting our Super Bowl snacks warmed up and ready to eat, the kids went outside to play in it.  Then everyone came back inside when Ron and I were ready to start watching the football game.  We set the kids up with a movie upstairs and retired down to the basement to watch the game on the big TV.  Every once and awhile, I would venture upstairs to check on the children and I was always shocked when I would look out the window to see the snow still falling.  Lia and I ran out at one point to measure it with a ruler (which I told her was something that Uncle Eric and I always did as children) and were shocked to find 3.5 inches on the deck.  After we finished watching the game after nine o'clock, I went back outside and was even more shocked to find 5 inches on the deck!  So, you can imagine my surprise when we woke up this morning to find 8.5 inches of the most glorious and beautiful snow in our yard!  School was cancelled and the fun began!  We bundled up and went outside to play all morning long.  We had so much fun running all over the backyard, throwing snowballs, building a snowman, and sledding down our hill for the first time since we moved here.  Sadly, Ron had to go into work even though his school was cancelled, but he was able to come home early and take the kids back out for a second round of play before it got dark this evening.  It was such a fun day and I am so glad that the kids finally have a made a memory of what it is like to really play in snow in their own yard!

Logan and Lia playing with the sleds in our backyard yesterday after church when just a few inches of snow had fallen on the ground.

Lia and Logan posing for me.

All three kiddos eating snow!

The amount of snow we found on our deck this morning!

Our beautiful and pristine backyard before we went out to play in it.

Another shot of our yard.

The kids all bundled up and ready to play!

Let the fun begin!  The kids immediately ran out to the play set after I snapped the previous picture.  Please notice how high the snow is on Ella's legs as she slowly tried to walk through it.

Logan pushing down the huge pile of snow that had fallen on our slide.

Ella stuck in the snow.

Ella eating a gigantic snowball!

My boy playing in the snow.

Lia getting ready to try out the monkey bars in the snow.

Logan making a snow angel on the sport's court.

Lia joining him.

We ventured out to the front of our house after playing in the backyard for quite some time.  Here are the kids heading out to the street.

Lia trying out sledding down our hill for the first time.

Logan and Ella actually sledded down the hill a few times while I ran down the hill behind them.  Here they are before I pushed them off.

Our neighbors from school came down and joined us on the sledding hill for a few minutes.  Here are Lia and Mollie going down together.

Ella and me taking a turn.

After we finished sledding, we found our next door neighbor completing a giant snowman.  We couldn't resist taking a picture with his two daughters.

Ella Asleep on the Floor

Since I enrolled Logan at the YMCA this past fall for swim lessons and toddler gym, we have had access to their swimming pool for the first time in several years.  As a result, I have started taking the kids there for "open swim" on any random evening when Ron has to work late and when we don't have anything on the calendar.  We have a great time splashing and playing around in the toddler pool and the big kid pool for a good hour and a half before coming home for bed time.  It is a fun way to pass the evening when Ron is not home.  Tonight was such a night and after returning home and putting the kids to bed, I decided to hop in the shower since I am not the biggest fan of going to bed smelling like chlorine. While I was in the shower, Ron returned home, got ready for bed, and then shut our bedroom door before going to bed.  During this time, Ella decided to get out of bed and come and find me, but apparently wasn't able to get past our closed door which I am not sure why as the door was unlocked and she can easily open a closed door.  Since I was in the shower with the fan on and Ron was fast asleep, no one was able to hear her pleas to open the door and let her in.  As a result, she must have laid down on the floor, carefully laid her blanket on top of her, and fell fast asleep.  After I got out of the shower and got ready for bed, I went to check on all of the sleeping kids before I went to bed.  Much to my surprise, I almost stepped on Ella after opening our bedroom door and walking out into the hallway in the dark!  I was so shocked to find her there as she has never done anything like this before.  In fact, none of our kids have ever done this before.  Ron and I are such routine-driven parents when it comes to the bedtime routine that we have never had kids who fall asleep in random places throughout the house.  It just doesn't happen.  As a result, this was totally surprising to me, but also totally hilarious!  Ella looked so dang cute bundled up in her little, pink blanket asleep on the floor.  I couldn't resist taking a few pictures before scooping her up and carefully putting her back in her crib.  Oh, how I just love this baby girl of mine!

Ella sleeping peacefully outside our door.

I tried to get a picture of her sleeping face, but it didn't turn out that great since her hair was covering most of it. :-)

Lia's District Reflection Night

Since Lia advanced to the district level of the Reflections contest in November, we were invited to attend a ceremony in the Pioneer Park Pavillion tonight.  We got dressed up and headed down without Ron since he had a work obligation, but were excited to learn on the drive there that he was able to get out early and could meet us there.  We were able to go on a "gallery walk" around the building admiring all of the paintings, photographs, and stories before sitting down for the program portion of the evening.  One at a time, the different schools presented their district winners and announced any students moving on to the state level.  Although Lia did not move on to the next level, I am proud of her for her excitement to enter this contest and for working so hard to complete her story and illustrations in the final hours before the submission deadline way back in October!

During the gallery walk, we found Lia's entry at the table with all of the other students' stories.  Here she is holding up her story with sweet Ella at her side.

Lia walking up onto the stage after her name was announced for her school.

Lia walking to the middle of the stage after receiving her certificate.

Lia standing in line with the other students being recognized from her school.

My cute girl smiling at me.

Lia holding up her certificate and ribbon in front of the "story table" after the program was over.

Lia's First Basketball Game of the Season

Lia finished off her first basketball season last March definitely wanting to return to the sport again this year.  She had a great coach last year (a mother of a girl who was in Lia's preK class) and really enjoyed learning the sport and bonding with her teammates.  Lia then went on to play softball with this same coach and several of the same girls.  There was just one little problem with Lia's former basketball team.  One of the girls was a bit of a basketball phenom for her age and dominated the ball for the majority of the games.  As a result, Lia barely ever got to touch the ball at most games last year.  So, we decided to not put Lia on the same team again this year even though it meant not playing with the same girls she had played with in two different sports back to back January through June 2016 and not being coached by the same mom.  Ron and I felt like it was the right decision even though it required Lia to make some sacrifices.
Lia is now on a small team this year with just five other girls.  Two of them are her good friends Sienna and Mollie and Mollie's dad is the coach.  Lia has really started to progress in the sport this year since she is not just trying to figure out the basic rules of the game.  She is getting more confident and aggressive and is going to have way more game time this season since there are so few girls on her team.  I think that we made the right decision to move here.
Today was her first game and ironically Lia's team played against her old coach and old teammates.  It sure felt strange to sit at the other end of the gym from so many parents who we rooted and cheered with last year!  But the girls fought a good fight til the bitter end even though they didn't win.  Here are some pictures of the game.

Lia trying to get the ball.

Lia guarding her girl.

Running down the court with her teammates.

Lia got to play point guard this game and was able to bring the ball down court several times.

Lia looking for a teammate to pass the ball to.

Lia throwing the ball.

Getting ready to catch the ball from Mollie.

Lia chasing after the ball.

Snow at Home!

After returning home from a winter wonderland last night, we woke up to snow in our own yard this morning.  I was so surprised when I got out of bed and looked out the window and saw snow everywhere!  For a moment, I actually thought that we might get the first day back to school after winter break cancelled, but it doesn't look like that is now going to happen.  Oh well.  The kids and I did however manage to get our snow clothes on one more time this week and head out for a morning romp in the snow before church.  Although we have been playing in over a foot of snow this past week at Priest Lake, it was still fun to run around in our own backyard throwing snowballs at each other and building miniature snowmen.  I don't think that this white stuff will ever lose its excitement when it comes to town...

Lia armed with several snowballs ready to go.

One of the miniature snowmen that Ella helped me make complete with a carrot nose and chocolate chip eyes and buttons.

The cutest boy ever getting ready to throw his giant snowball.

Sisterly love!

Sweet Ella framed in by the two little snowmen we made together.

Logan insisted on dragging our inner tube off the snow and into the play set.  I think that his original plan was to ride it down the slide, but that didn't work out so well since it's too wide to even fit through the opening to the top of the slide.  Oh well.  He still had fun sitting on it from atop his perch.

Lia tackling poor Ella.

A close-up of Ella being smothered by her older sister.