February in a Crunch

It's that time of year again where my blog gets ignored quite frequently. I haven't figured out yet if it's because we're stuck indoors much so I'm not out taking pictures to post, or if we're just so busy with school/life that I don't have time to sit and write everything down. Maybe both. Who knows? It doesn't really matter. But for journaling purposes I need to go back and record all the things we've been doing -- you know, why I've been too busy to blog :)

For starters, on February 8th I took the girls to a Relief Society class. We've decided our "weird" thing we're doing this year is to give only handmade gifts. I had intended this to apply only to Christmas, but the girls got a little carried away with it, so I told them they can do it for whatever they want. So, I've been feeling some pressure to learn some skills so that they can make gifts. That's exactly what we did at this activity. I would post more details about it, but I know that Chloe and Sophie are planning to give theirs as gifts to people who read my blog so I'm going to keep hush.

I made an appointment for Sophie to go visit the orthodontist. I don't think I mentioned what a goofball she was at her last appointment in October. It was time for her to get her expander off, and the doctor said she was ready, but I mentioned that Sophie was a little nervous about it. Well, he decided that meant Sophie got to choose if it came off or not. She tried to look at me for guidance, but he wouldn't let her. It had to be all her decision. She chose to keep in on. He told me to come back in 6 months, but only 3 months later it was really bothering her and she wanted it off. I made her suffer a little bit, since she made the choice to keep it on, but I finally gave in and made the appointment to go get it off. The doctor said Sophie's probably going to need some more work done in the near future, but we're not sure what that means. We'll go back in a few months and see what he thinks.

We had a family outing to a high school production of Grease. I love this show, and was happy to find a somewhat censored version to share with my kids. Here's a really terrible camera photo to show we were there:

Then I took Sophie on a date this month. After going out to lunch we were talking about all our options and we decided to take a drive to Tooele to visit some family. She was pretty cute on the drive out, talking about her cousins who will be starting kindergarten this year. She sounded so mature as she said, "When did they grow up so fast?" Yes, Sophie, tell me -- when did you grow up so fast?

I read "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" to the girls this month. Again, it felt totally inspired. I couldn't have asked for a more appropriate story for the girls at this time. There's a strong focus on math and astronomy in it, and about being self-taught. I mentioned our math incentives I was giving them last time. Well, Sophie came to me and said she didn't really want a reward any more. I asked her if that was her way of saying she just wasn't motivated to do her math. No, it wasn't. She honestly felt like the reward was not appropriate, so we've moved on to other things. Wow! She truly is maturing, isn't she? Then to help matters out, she finished her level of math. I didn't let on to her that she was near the end, so it was a big surprise on the final lesson. She was so ecstatic! It was like Christmas morning when I got to go pull out the books for the next level and show her what she would get to be doing. She was so excited she went to work right away. She's been doing two lessons a day, since the beginning is always a review so it's pretty simple. Chloe's still chugging along as well. It's been fun to watch the two of them get excited and work together.

Much to my children's dismay (mostly Chloe, I'm not sure Sophie even knew what was going on), I did not take them to a Valentine's Day party. They did a lot at home to make up for it. They set up decorations, and went a little overboard with gifts for everyone. Chloe gave me a coupon for a 3 minute backrub, good once a day for the rest of my life, as well as a coupon to declutter her room once every two months! Lucky me :) I splurged on dinner and did a homemade version of fast-food. Since we no longer eat that stuff this was quite a treat. I made Boca burgers, french fries, and milkshakes with coconut milk ice cream. I believe I heard a "this is the best meal ever!"

This has been a very busy week. Tuesday we went to another Astro Camp. This one had an astronomy theme, so I couldn't pass that up. It was pretty basic, so I don't think Chloe really got anything out of it, but it was fun and always good to get out of the house and go interact with others.

Wednesday we went to Tracy Aviary with some neighbors. It was only supposed to be 45 degrees that day, which sounds very cold to me, but it was surprisingly very pleasant. It was nice to be outdoors again. Sophie was super excited to get to the Owl Forest. She saw a saw-whet owl, and was finally content. I'm not sure she bothered to look at much else. I do have pictures from this outing, but they will have to be posted later. I'm too lazy to get them off my camera just now.

We have some big projects going on at our house. Rooms are getting moved around, paint is going up on walls (and other places), accessories are being splurged on. You're just gonna have to wait for the big reveal, but I have to use it as one of my excuses as to why I'm so busy.

I think that should about cover things for now. Oh, by the way, we're now reading "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank. She's giving me a little prompting to record events better.