Blue & Gold banquet

This year it was on Valentine's Day. And there weren't very many people there at all. Of course. But we went, and Noah & Colby made a cake. The theme was 'Sports' so they made a baseball. Since you can't really get red frosting from food coloring, Noah chose green. I have been horrible at taking pictures lately, so these are all I have. Disappointing!

They really did do it all on their own! Noah did every part of making the actual cake himself! Except pour it into the pans, and take them out of the oven. And they both decorated it. I just showed them what to do. Then I left. I'm picky and I want to be in control, so I figured it was best that I leave and let them do it. So I did!

They did an awesome job!!

And it won 'Roundest Cake' award.

Valentine's day

The actual day was pretty crazy-hectic at our house. Most of our preparations for the day started a couple of days early.

First off...

We had to convince Noah to do something easy for his box. Sadly, I'm not very creative, and we didn't have a lot of time. So we made a football field. I thought it turned out pretty cool. [not cute!] And I think he kinda liked it :)

Before I knew it, it was time to take Lexie to dance. I was super worried that she would notice the boys taking Valentine's to school and their teachers, and she would want to, too. But luckily she didn't say a word about it.

After dance, she wanted to play with her little bestie, Sydnee. So I dropped her off and Cutler & I headed home to make sugar cookies. Every year this is what we give all the neighbor kids. And the Cahoons.

Mr. Cahoon's favorite cookie, is a sugar cookie!

Doesn't he look like a good little helper?!

The cookies pretty much took up my whole afternoon.

While Noah was at baseball practice, and Cutler had wandered off to who knows where, Lexie delivered the neighbor's Valentines.

As soon as we were done, we all jumped in the car, picked Noah up from practice and headed to pack meeting. It was the Blue & Gold banquet. Where the scout and their dad make a cake!

From there, we ran back home, and while I got the grandma's and grandpa's valentines ready, the kids opened theirs from us!

[just remember...it's late in the day. which is why my kids do NOT look picture ready! and the pictures are from my phone]

 Once they had opened their gifts, we drove around to the grandparent's and dropped their Valentine's off.

It was quick.

But it was late.

And it was a crazy-busy day.

New house

Well, it smells like one anyway. And looks nicer too!!
We didn't actually get a new home, but while the kids & I were in Texas, we had our house painted and got new carpet. Our paint is just barely darker than it was before, but it's new. We had all the trim painted, the whole house, and the ceilings the same color as the walls. And we only have carpet in our bedrooms, so all the bedrooms got new carpet!!
It's so nice!! I loved coming home and smelling the fresh newness. [that sounds funny- I know]

This is our bedroom before, actually the day we left. We basically had to move out of our house.

And the hallway - after

And about a week after we got home, we got our new bedroom set.

We upgraded from a queen to a king...FINALLY!!

I searched for what felt like forever to find this.

I love it!

And I love that my house feels [and smells] new again!!

The 'Spinny Park'

Back in January I had to bribe Cutler & Lexie to stay in their own beds all night. If they did I would take them to the park. Whichever park they wanted. That particular night, it worked!! So Cutler chose the 'Spinny Park'.

After about 15 minutes, everyone else left so we had the whole place to ourselves.

Lexie wasn't so sure about the spinny toys

We ate some lunch and then played some more.

It was such a fun day at the park,

I think I'll have to start bribing them more often!!

Texas

Jan. 24-28

I braved taking the kids to visit Reagan, Stef, and their kids all by myself. I was SO worried I would lose one of them in the airport, but we did good. On the way there, the only problem was the plane wouldn't fly fast enough for Cutler & Lexie. They were so excited to play with Smith, Jones & Reese!!

(these are from my phone) 

 When we landed, it was raining. Ok, pouring! While we were waiting to be picked up, Noah said "I thought it doesn't rain in Texas?!" And when we got in the car, Stefanie said "It never rains in Texas! Just when you guys come." The weather the whole time wasn't the greatest. It rained the next two days and night, and was cold. But the kids didn't care.
We didn't do anything spectacular, and that was just fine. Stefanie took the boys out of school on Thursday & Friday, so they all just played. All day long. And the night too!
And I honestly only took these pictures.

The first night, the boys had a Beyblade battle.

On Wednesday, while her boys went to school, we ran a couple of errands since we only had 4 kids. Like 4 is any different than 6! But 2 boys, is different than 4 boys. Craziness when they're all together.

They all have so much energy, and were just so excited to play with each other. It was so much fun watching them.

Thursday night we rented Mr. Poppers Penguins

and had a movie night. It was so cold that day so they pretty much just played inside.

And out a little bit too. They're boys and don't care about the weather I guess.

Oh and we had Chick-fil-A for dinner.

I LOVE that place.

And I love that you can trade your kids toy back in for an ice cream cone!!

I heard we're getting one.

Can't wait.

On Friday we braved the cold wind and went to the park. We couldn't keep them cooped up anymore.

My boys loved this pyramid

 Noah wanted to take a picture of my hair blowing in the wind. So we could tell dad how bad it was blowing.

The boys found a plaque by this tree and were trying to figure out why it was there.

They decided the guy was buried under the tree.

And these two...

they played SO GOOD together

the.whole.time!!

After the park, we got a babysitter so Stef & I could do a little shopping. It was nice:)

We got a Costco pizza for dinner, and not much after it was gone, drove out to the airport to pick up Gramma Sherie!

She says she came out to babysit so Stef & I could shop.

I think it was a good excuse for her to come play!

We're glad she did. Stef & I shopped pretty much all day on Saturday.

And since Chick-fil-A is her favorite place to eat when she visits Stef, we went again!

After dinner, we got to sort of witness the Angry Birds of Texas!

I didn't get very good pictures.

But it's Crazy!

Then we went back to the house and packed our stuff up.

We flew to Vegas that night.

This was while we were waiting for our luggage to come.

Poor kid.

Colby had his JJ convention for the next 3 days so we all stayed there that night and he stayed til Wed.

But he left this stuff for us when we got home...

We had such a good time!!

The kids were in heaven playing and seeing Texas!

We hope we get to come again!!

Thank you!!

The rest of the pictures that were taken, were by the boys. They had snuck my camera and were playing around.



Pep Assembly

Back in January Colby did a Pep Assembly at Desert Hills HS. He told me they have a lot of fun doing them and I should come watch. So Cutler, Lexie & I went to see for ourselves.

Wow. Watching the high school kids totally took me back to the good ol' days.

It was crazy. And fun.

Cutler loved it. Lexie was nervous with all those people around.

We had a good time watching them.

And watching the 3 girls and 1 boy see who could eat a Jimmy John's sandwich the fastest.

The boy totally let a girl win.

Random pictures

I just love when my kids get a hold of the camera!!