February

 Life continues to go well for us. :)  

The kids and I have a pretty good routine going right now.  We start the day with breakfast, then exercising (for me) and playing (for them) in the basement.  When we are all showered (every day for me) and bathed (every two or three days for them) we get to work.  When our chores are done, we do school, reading, lunch, park/play, naps, and dinner.  

Lucy is a great help with the laundry folding and putting away.  She folds full batches of towels by herself and recently became proficient at sock folding.  She likes to have "courage like Nephi" (doing things even if you don't want to or they are hard) when she needs to clean up the toy room.  

Sam is good to do chores as long as he is given one at a time with pretty specific instructions.  Today for example:  "Sam go put this stack of books on a shelf in the toy room."  He got frustrated when he tried the whole stack and dropped it. "Sam, take two books to the shelf, then come get more."  He was done in no time.  He loves to bring things to me--something I am hoping continues when I am on the couch all day with a new baby. :)  This morning I asked him to go downstairs and get two bags out of the pantry.  He brought one.  I asked him to go get another.  He came back with two.  I had plenty of bags. :)  

February is Eric's busy time of year at work so he has been working every Friday.  Fridays are my favorite.  We sleep in a little, and Eric goes to work an hour later than the norm.  Usually he leaves work at least an hour early, so we have two extra hours with him home.  

These are good days.  Not too short, not too long. :)

Any down time I have is pretty much taken with dreaming of the day that I will see my yet unborn baby boy.  I think the reason this has seemed like the eternal pregnancy is his movement.  It seems he never stops. Nor does my back pain.  So I am constantly reminded of the sweetness growing inside of me, and I cannot wait to hold and cuddle him!  January and February inched along, pregnancy-wise, and I am just now feeling like the end MIGHT be approaching.

Right after exercising, the kids and I attempted to build a carnotaurus out of the duplo legos.  Carnotaurs are Sam's second favorite dinosaur.  We also built a house for Lucy afterward.

The children love to watch a half hour movie "Room on the Broom"--it's about a kind witch and her cat that pick up all sorts of lonely animals and make, of course, room on the broom.  It is a book written by the same author as "The Gruffalo" and "The Gruffalo's Child."  All three videos are favorites on Netflix.  We watch one of the three every Wednesday night while Dad is at scouts.  Here, the kids are playing "Room on the Broom."  Sam likes to be the dragon and Lucy is always the dog.  No surprise there. :)   The bubble wrap is the fire base and the crayons and pens are the sticks.  Sam breathes the fire to life and away they go in their imaginations!

I am never lacking for kitchen helpers.  It's the possibility of snitching that is so alluring I believe.  Lucy usually asks before she takes, but Sam has got some sneaky fast fingers.  Besides the normal cake batter and cookie dough, he has eaten the stemmed tops of strawberries (several times) and raw meat from the meatball mixing bowl (once or twice).  YUM!

These kids love to play together.  They get along well, mostly because Sam doesn't mind being bossed around too much. :)  The  most popular game is "People" where "you can be anything," says Lucy.  Endless possibilities!  At least one child is usually an animal and sometimes they both are.  Now and then, Sam is the child and Lucy is the mom.  Sam lays in bed with his favorite toys nearby and moans, "I'm scared, I'm scared!"  And Lucy hushes and reassures him over and over.

Lucy is loving her "Joy School."  Three other neighborhood girls join her at each others houses once a week for an hour and a half of playtime and learning.  The first time we had the girls over to our house, we learned a little about the weather and seasons.  The kids thought it was pretty great to take their windsocks outside and change their weather dials.

We had a lot of good times decorating the house around Valentine's Day.  We did several crafts and made a few holiday goodies.  Lucy thought it was awesome that she had accidentally bitten a heart into her cupcake.  My favorite project was the conversation heart wall where we displayed some of the fun things we say in our family.  Some favorites are Toodles!, Nosies, "Hi, Pancake!", T-Rex and Let's do this!

We had some awesome visitors on Valentine's Day.  Jake and Brittany came just to see us!  We played a little at the playground and on the tennis court.  They stayed for our dinner of Hawaiian pizza and strawberry pizza dessert.  It was so fun visiting with them for a few hours!  

We made this valentine to send to grandparents and a couple other loved ones. :)

February always ends with a joyful celebration of course!  My birthday was fun--filled with crafting, scrap booking, shortcake making, strawberry eating, story time, chicken enchiladas and a tiny bit of snow.  Eric gave me a gift card to Bath and Body Works (excited face!) and a beautiful frying pan with a gorgeously unscratched non-stick bottom.  AWE-SOME.
A Few of Betsy's Favorite Blessings:
 Jesus Christ
Eric
Lucy, Sam, Sweet Baby Boy
All Other Family
Springtime
Freedom (Every Freedom I Have)
Strawberries and Oranges
Sunshine
Mormon Mom Planner (the most wonderful, beautiful, helpful planner ever!)

Quotes of the Month:

Lucy said she needed to go get something and she would be right back.  When she got back, I couldn't tell at first glance what had changed.  I asked, "What did you go get?"  She replied, "You're lookin' at it!"  Then I saw she now had shoes.  (Apparently a quote from Boxcar Children.)

Another new saying she has, "Look at it this way..."  Usually she is trying to explain something to Sam when she uses this one.  I think it must be another television influence.  I have yet to discover exactly where she picked that one up.

Sam didn't want to go to nursery.  "Can I hang wis you, Mom?"