February 20 to 26

02.23.12  Esther was being too quiet today and so I went to find out what she was doing.  I found her climbing in and out of the toy pack and play.  She was putting the blankets and dollies in and the climbing in herself.  Isn't she the cutest?  She is really learning how to get in, out, up and down from all types of things in our house.  She also has figured out how to drink out of a regular cup.  She can even get the ones you leave on the dining room table.  She climbs up on the chair and then up on to the table.  NOTHING and NOWHERE is safe from her.  She wears me out just trying to keep her from hurting herself.  The other day we were getting ready to go somewhere and out of the corner of my eye I watched her roll down the three stairs into the family room.  She climbs those stairs over and over again.  It was probably a combination of the shoes and an error in judgment for her.

02.25.12  It snowed really good on Friday but the kids didn't get out and make a snowman.  By Saturday the nice slushy snow had turned into icy crunchy snow, and making a snowman was not very easy.  I forgot to take the picture that day but this is the next day.  It was a mini snowman, I thought I would show it in perspective to the house.  I love that they put a scarf on it and used a baby carrot for the nose.



02.26.12  Someone gave us a Book of Mormon challenge board game.  It had never been used although the box was broken.  We were trying to learn how to play it.  Our goal was to get to the Celestial kingdom.  Kirsten and Peter didn't like the spots where you had to sing songs.  After awhile I didn't even make them sing.  Kirsten won the game.  It was pretty fun.  We didn't follow the rules exactly, since we were playing with children who have a limited knowledge of the Book of Mormon.

Feb 13 thru 19

02.13.12  Tonight Kirsten's friends mom brought us some strawberries and I just had bought some at the store.  So we had an over abundance of strawberries and I had to figure out what to do with them.  I decided to make waffles with strawberries.  As I was cutting the strawberries, Esther was "helping" me by handing them to me.  Which worked for a little bit until she decided to put a whole one in her mouth - stem and all.  It was cute but it took a little convincing to let me take the stem out of her mouth.  After that I decided to not let her have any with stems.  Breakfast for dinner is always great.  Everyone seemed to like it.

02.14.12  Happy Valentine's day.  The started off with a little humor when the UPS man dropped off a huge box of diapers and said, "This is the worst Valentine's gift I've ever said."  I laughed and said - the baby will like it.  And seemed to like it - okay it is a box - what's not to like. 
Peter had a Pajama and Ice cream party at school for Valentine's.  Peter got a bunch of cards and candy and he barely got in the door before he dumped it all out on the floor.  It took a little persuasion to get him to pick it all back up. 
Later Kirsten brought her stash home and did much the same - except it was on the dining room table.  She read each card and put all the candy in a mailbox I bought for her. 
And if we didn't have enough sugar floating around our house we made sugar cookies with conversation hearts on top.  Peter got to lick the frosting off the beaters  He left it on the table and Esther thought it was a good idea and began licking it herself.  Yum, Yum!
Dave and I ended the night with an evening at the temple doing sealings and dinner at Portillos.  Not a bad day for me and all my Valentines.

02.17.12  We still had some strawberries and they were going to go bad soon.  I decided to try a recipe I found online for Strawberries.  They were YUMMY!  The kids practically licked their plates clean.  Here is a link to the recipe I adapted for our family.  Strawberry Pancakes

February 6 to 12

02.07.12 - Today at school was the 100th day.  Kirsten had to bring 100 pieces of popcorn to school and also decided to make a necklace with 100 cheerios - well about 49 cheerios mixed with 50 honey nut O's and 1 fruit O in the middle of the necklace.  Esther was "helping" in her usual way.  She thought it was a pretty good deal when all the cereal was all over the table.  This was happening just before we ran out the door for school.  Kirsten came home with a trail mix with different things that everyone brought to school.  She also had a sticker that said she was 100 days smarter.  I think she is right.

02.08.12  We had craftgroup today and although I didn't make all of these today, we discussed using our Cricut machines.  We made the darling card on the bottom corner.  I have been working lately on making these things.  I have found that since I am limiting my time on the computer, that I am getting so much more done.  I was so excited to finish these and be able to display some of them in my home.
(Clockwise from the top - Princess - daughter of a Heavenly King, All dolled up - a bow hanger for the girls, my 4th of July subway art, an I Love You card we made in the class, and the XOXOXO sign that I made.)

02.10.12  Today I over came a fear and took 3 kids downtown to Chicago.  We rode the train from the Belmont station into Union Station.  Then we walked from Union Station to a couple of blocks to Dave's building.  There we met up with Dave and went to lunch.  With all of the possibilities for lunch downtown, we ended up at McDonalds.  McDonalds - we could have just gone around the corner to Janes and had a playland to go in.  Dave let the kids decide which place to go, and I didn't argue with them.  They thought it was pretty cool to eat at McDonalds downtown. 
Peter was in heaven as we got onto the train.  He was pretty disappointed that he didn't need a ticket and Kirsten did.  I figured since we were buying two one way tickets that I could save one for both kids.  But when we arrived in the city the conductor took Kirsten's ticket before I realized what was happening.  Lucky for me the conductor on the way home saw how excited Peter was to give him my ticket that before we got off he punched a "ticket" for the kids with the fish shaped punch a bunch of times.  He also let Kirsten keep her ticket.  Peter held that ticket like he had won the lottery.  The whole day was pretty fun.  The train ride in was good.  The kids were amazing.  I kept telling them that they were awesome and so the second time I said that Peter chimed in, "You told us that on the train."  Well they were really awesome on the train.  I had only one time I had to warn Peter for being loud, and he wasn't all that loud.  I could just see how it could have escalated into something more.
After we got out of Union Station we were near the river and Peter thought that was very cool.  It was even more cool when we crossed over the Chicago River at the bridge on Monroe Street.  We were all excited to see the "L" train go over our heads and to see that the Willis tower (Sears) disappearing into the clouds.  Just as we arrived in the city it began to snow.  Not anything too bad, just large flakes.  By the time we were finishing lunch it was snowing harder.  When we got back to Belmont station the snow was coming down really good.  As we got off the train we were bombarded by the wind blowing the snow right in our face.  Only bad part was we needed to walk into the blowing snow toward our car in the parking lot.  Poor Esther was just being pelted in the stroller.  Once we got up the hill, I turned the stroller around and dragged her to the car.  She seemed okay with the snow and everytime we talked about the snow on the train she would point to her nose.  You see she says 'Nos' when she points to her nose and so I guess she thought we were saying nose instead of snow.  By the time we got back to the car she was able to distinguish between nose and snow.  Although they sound pretty similiar when she says it.

A random collection of pictures from Peter.  Some are good, others - well - you can see.

Feb 1 to 5

Check below this post for the end of January pictures.

02.01.12  Here are the three amigos at breakfast one morning.  I think it is funny to try and take a picture of them.  One of them is always doing something funny or making a face.

02.02.12  Kirsten and Peter were working together with all of the blocks to build this creation.  Then they brought up all the cars to finish it off.  Kirsten said they were building a tower and that the cars and other things were there to add color. 

02.05.12  Our family spent Saturday afternoon bowling.  It was fun to watch the kids try and to get the ball down the lane.  Dave and I like the extra help of the bumpers.  Our first couple of frames we used them to help us get better scores.  It has been years since either of us have played and we needed a little help.  Both Dave and I got ONE strike.  It was a pretty fun night.  After bowling we went and got pizza at Pizza Hut.  A fun night for our family.

January 22 to 31

01.23.12 Peter has been an engineer lately.  He has built numerous train tracks in the family.  He builds many of them with bridges that go over other tracks and around and around.  This day he had his friend Mark over and I notice that they had placed all the trees and people inbetween the tracks.

01.29.12  Today when we got home from Church, the front door was open and the screen door was closed, but the window was not.  I guess in our hurrying out the door we forgot to check if the door was completely closed.  Only bad thing was it was maybe 25 degrees outside and so our main floor was very cold and the upstairs was like a sauna.  The poor heater was working against the cool air and would not win.  I thought it was pretty funny that Dave had on his shorts when I got home from choir practice.  Later that day we played games with the kids.  But it was still cold in the house.

01.31.12  Peter and Esther were both busy playing with our electronic devices.  Esther has figured out how to slide her finger across the I-pod and open it up.  Many times I find it on the search screen with something like mmmmffffffjjjjhkjhkjhkjhhh  on the screen.  She is one smart cookie.