Charlie has been getting a lot of petting lately and getting to come inside more. He loves it and sometimes just waits by the door so he can dash inside.
We were invited by our friends Mandy and David to attend their church's Valentine Banquet. We ate a delicious meal of homemade enchiladas, side dishes, and desserts. Then we split into table groups and had a "Nailed It" contest. "Nailed It" is a show where people try to recreate something that they see in a picture. In each of the following challenges we could use our phones to Google ideas.
Our first challenge was to create a 4 course meal using cupcakes, icing, and candy pieces. Below is our creation, a piece of fried chicken, peas and carrots, mashed potatoes with butter, and cherry pie with a lattice crust. We definitely "Nailed It" on this one!
Moving on to the second challenge we had to pair up and create something of our choosing, starting with a heart shaped sugar cookie, icing, and candy pieces. I came up with the fish idea and Eric made it happen.
Our fish was picked as one of the top 4 and we moved on to the final challenge.
Lastly 4 groups of 2 were given a package of graham crackers, a container of icing, and candy pieces again. We had 5 - 10 minutes to create a "Love Shack". I thought of a van. Yes folks, a van...down by the river... There were a lot of jokes and laughs about our "Love Shack Van", but we tied for first place!
It was a very fun night with our friends and we were so glad we attended this event with them.
Phoebe had to create a valentine box again this year for the annual valentine card exchange at school. She and I looked through some pictures on Pinterest and she decided on an Owl. This was actually pretty easy, by far the easiest valentine box I have made with my kids to date. We used an old cereal box and cut the top off to leave a large opening to get the cards and candy in and out easily.
We used colored cardstock, sticker letters, ribbon, large googly eyes, foam sticker hearts, and some scrapbook papers. To glue we used hot melt glue/glue gun, and Elmer's bottle glue.
Grandma Sharon came to visit us in mid-February for 5 days. She arrived on a Wednesday and left to go back to Texas the following Monday afternoon. She got to go to Sarah's middle school conferences with us and hear all of Sarah's teachers talk about how great of a student Sarah is. She also got a personal tour of the school from Sarah.
On Friday evening we went to a high school basketball game. We sat with some of our friends.
The girls game was a blow away. Below, Sarah and Abigail with Kennedy Brown, a local stand-out player who already signed a letter to play for a college team on the west coast. She is 6'5' and towers above Abigail and Sarah! The boys game was much more fun to watch and close to the end.
Saturday, Grandma got to watch all 3 kids' Upward basketball games.
On Sunday we went to a WSU Lady Shockers basketball game with Grandma and our friends. After the game some of the Shockers players and coaches ran an hour long basketball clinic for any kid who wanted to stay and participate. Below, Abigail, Phoebe, Sarah, and Silas headed down to the court to work on their basketball skills.
Before Grandma Sharon left to head back to Texas we were able to squeeze in some pedicures. The girls always look forward to this when we get to see Grandma in Texas and in Kansas.
Our toes all looked really pretty! Thanks Grandma Sharon.
