February 2013

February is one of my favorite month of course my birthday has a lot to do with that.  We had a great month, with many fun celebrations (not all for me), though I was spoiled on my special day.

 

 

 

Decorating my cake

Putting on the finishing touches

Ready to go

Told you I was spoiled gifts from friend and family

After my birthday we had fun celebrating the Chinese New Year, thank you Grandma and Grandpa for sending all the fun stuff.

Year of the Snake

Then it was on to our "tradition" of Jambalaya and The Princess and the Frog for Mardi Gras.

Tiana even joined us this year

 

Next it was time to start preparing for Valentine's Day.  Annabelle got to exchange with her class and wanted to make her valentines so we got started early.

Working hard

The front

The back

 

We also made a few special Valentine's Day snacks and crafts just for us.

Valentine snack mix

Flowers by Annabelle

 

I forgot to get a good picture, but Annabelle and I made the

button and candy hearts in the background as well

 

I try not to go too over the top for Valentine's Day, but like to make it fun and special for the kids.  They came down to the table set up for breakfast, we had a tea party lunch, and a heart themed dinner.  They each got a balloon, a small box of candy, and a small gift (Annabelle got a My Little Pony bubble bath set, and Hudson got bath color tabs).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love Her

Love Him

 

Tea Party and outfit change for Annabelle

Our Tea Party Food

Dinner

 

While we had lots of fun celebrating different things this month, the kids know how to have all sorts of fun any day of the year.  Here are a few pictures from everyday life around here.

 

Hudson building a "train"

The train in action

Our Ballerina

 

Playdate and Dress Up

Don't know what this is

In their "airplane" headed to Spokane

Still enjoys doing some school time at home

Hudson taking part in school time

Watching all the trucks

(One advantage to living in a new neighborhood)

We also managed to get another item crossed off our house list: fill the hole in the wall.

Before

After

 

 

Even with everything that came before it the highlight of the month (especially for the kids) was Oma and Opa visiting for a long weekend.  

 

 

Oma and Opa never come empty handed this visit they came with gifts from the Tuinstras as well.

 

Soccer tether for Huddy

Barbie Doll with pink hair just like Serenity

 



Despite the cold, Oma and Opa can't visit without a trip or two or three to our neighborhood park. 

Headed to the park

 

 

We all got the chance to check out Eagle Island State Park for the first time on this visit.  A place I hope we will spend a lot more time at, especially in the summer.

 



Oma and Opa getting in on the action at the Playground

 

 

 

Checking out the beach

 

Oma had the chance to pick up Annabelle from school before we headed to another classmate's birthday party. 

Excited to see Oma

Annabelle and her self-portrait on her class quilt

Puppy party and jump house

Pin the nose on the puppy

Adopting her puppy at the party

 

 And just like that it was time to say good-bye to Oma, Opa, and February.

January 2013

Lucky for us Sam still had a few more days of vacation, and while Annabelle did have to go back to school only going three days a week for a few hours we still had plenty of time together.

We started off by enjoying the fact that most everyone else was back to work and school and headed to the bowling alley.  This was the kids first time bowling (that didn't involve the Wii).  We had a lot of fun.

Daddy helping her at first

Doing it on her own

(we had to wait a long time for that ball to reach the pins)

Hudson's turn

(had to get the ramp to speed things up)

 

 

While I enjoy having Sam home for these two weeks each year and I know he enjoys being home, he does get a little stir crazy.  This means that he comes up with a project for himself and this vacation it was painting the kids' rooms.

 

The Before

 

 

The kids enjoyed spending the night in the other's room while their own was being painted

The during

Sam and Annabelle painting in her room

 

 Hudson's room after

Annabelle's room after

 

 We were getting ready for Sam to return to work, but not before we got to celebrate his birthday.  After breakfast at McDonalds and going for a drive we headed home and celebrated with cake.

 

The "kids" in the McDonald's Play Place

 

 

Helping make the cake and clean up after

 

Happy 32!

 

With Sam back at work and Annabelle back at school we got back to our normal schedule, pretty much.  Annabelle started "lunch bunch" at her preschool, staying an extra two hours each Wednesday.  Other fun things for her included being her class' first student of the week, pajama day at school and attending her first "school friend" birthday party.

Ready to go with her new lunch box

All about Annabelle Mae

Pajama Day

Off to Princess Party

 

Hudson....needed his picture taken too

Just a random one of Annabelle's style

 

 

We got a lot more snow in January, we even had a snow day.  It was a crazy winter for the Treasure Valley, but normal for us after our winters in Washington and Connecticut.

 



 

 

A great way to warm up after playing in the snow, is swimming in the bathtub. 

 

 

 

Annabelle had been talking about tea parties, and has held her pretend ones since she could walk.  We surprised her with a real teapot and a tea party to go with it.