Baby Shower

It's hard to believe that my lil sister is going to be having a baby soon. She's due in April and knows that it will be a boy. It was fun to plan a baby shower for her with my mom and aunt. We spent many hours working on the perfect menu, decorations, cups, etc. I think it went off quite well. We had a great turnout, the food was tasty, and Bree got loads of baby clothes to help her get started. My present to her was a diaper cake that had toys and other baby supplies attached to it. It was pretty fun to make. I also surprised myself with my craftiness and made a super cute banner to hang with "baby Lincoln" on it. Several people wanted the recipe for the spinach bars that I made. So here is a link.

http://www.puffpastry.com/recipe/24084/spinach-pastry-diamonds

Valentines

Valentines Day was perfect this year! I taught my last preschool lesson of the year, woohoo, all about bears and love. We ate pink frosted cupcakes and exchanged valentines. Claire had a great day at school, and brought home a huge envelope full of cards and candy. Chris came home a bit early from work and surprised us with flowers and all the necessities to make us an amazing steak dinner. Claire and Grace loved their own bouquets of red flowers. I remember my own Dad always giving me a special valentine each year, and I think it really is quite special. My own flowers were beautiful too, but the dinner he cooked us was AMAZING! Tender steak, grilled asparagus, roasted rosemary potatoes, salad, and sparkling cider. Mmmm, so tasty! Thank you sweetheart for making Valentine's Day special for all of us!

Game Night

It's the little things that count, and tonight I am thankful for a husband who likes to have fun with our kids. Whenever there is a day off of school, my girls start asking Daddy if they can stay up late with him. This week was no exception. Thursday night was set aside as "game night". They made kettle corn, ate licorice, and played several games. Even though Grace ended up going to bed early, Claire had a great time spending some quality time with Dad. They just love these date nights with him. Whether it is camping in the living room, watching a movie, going for a hike, or playing games, I know they are having a great time. They are already talking about their next night up.

Little Baker

I've been really busy lately with planning and teaching Grace's preschool group this month. She is really loving having preschool with all of her friends. It's great to see her really catching on and learning her numbers and letters. The only downside is that they only meet once a week. Poor Grace would like to go everyday! She just loves it.

One of the really fun things we do is have field trips that relate to lessons that are taught. Recently we were able to tour the Costco Bakery, which was a big hit! The kids had to wear hair nets, and were quite excited to get employee name tags. We saw the big ovens, fridges, and packaging machines. We watched them make one of their famous chocolate cakes, and then had a yummy freshly baked chocolate chip cookie for a snack. Grace loved it! The funniest part was that she kept the hat and name tag under her pillow and wore them everyday for almost a week straight.

Snow

This last weekend we had a brief run in with the fluffy white stuff. It teased us for days with cold temps and a rain/snow mix. On Sunday morning there was a dusting of snow, but not much to speak of. After Church it started really coming down and actually sticking. I got the girls dressed up as fast as I could and off they went to frolic. It was a good thing that we were speedy because within an hour the sun came out and everything melted. At least they got to play for a bit.

18 Months

Woohoo! Neil turned 18 months this last week. Hooray for being old enough for nursery! On Sunday Chris took him to his class and dropped him off. Miraculously he stayed without tears and had a great time playing with the other kids. We were fully prepared for another horrific expeirience like we had with Grace, but so far (knock on wood), he is doing great!

I took him in for his check up on Monday, and he weighed in at 29 1/2lbs (88%), and is 33 1/2 in. tall (81%). He is a big boy and is getting more and more grown up everyday. It just melts my heart when I hear Chris go get him in the morning and he happily says Dadda, dadda. He is the sweetest little man, and his smile is the best. He can go up and down the stairs quite well now on his own. He likes to eat with utensils, and he is still mostly a vegetarian. Neil loves playing with cellphones and all toys that make noise. He especially loves his sisters and follows them around all day. So far they are good about letting him play with them. He is just on the verge of saying more words. In the last week he has started doing a lot of new things. Saying "night, night", "uh oh", "cracker", and signing milk, bath, all done, and up. I'm sure this is only the beginning. My only wish is for him to stay my baby for a little longer. These kids get bigger way too fast!

Feeding Time

My family has a tradition of going out to the Jewell/Mist Wildlife Preservation area each year to help feed the herds of elk. Apparently, winter is a tough time for them to find enough food to eat. Because of this they (the dept. of fish & wildlife) supplement their diets with bales of hay/alfalfa. You can ride along in the tractor and help distribute the hay. It's actually pretty neato to get so close to these giant animals.
This year Chris took the girls. I stayed home in my warm bed while the baby slept in. It was interesting to hear that they sometimes relocate a few elk each year in order to start new herds around Oregon and even as far as Alaska. I think the girls had a really great time seeing all the elk. Afterwards, they headed to Camp 18 for a tasty brunch.