Another Trip Around the Sun

 I turned 36. How blessed I am to have gotten to celebrate my birthday with my family and friends. My ministering sister took me out to lunch; we had pizza. Then I made enchiladas for dinner and Stephen made me a strawberry pavlova cake. I had another friend and her husband come over for a visit and eat cake with us, and then we had Alissa and her family stay the night with us. It was awesome.

I love that my kids will get me gifts for my birthday. They will usually save something they got from school like a treat to share with me or they'll run to their rooms real fast and find a toy they don't want anymore and wrap it up for me, haha. 

This one is a little unicorn toy from McDonalds that the kids got a week ago. Lucas ran downstairs to put it in a bag for me. So sweet, lol. I told him I loved it and Hannah's eyes lit up and she says, "If you like that then you'll really like what I got you!"....I wonder what it was....

Hannah had a few things in her box for me including her McDonald's unicorn toy. She made me a cute card and an ice cream cone filled with marshmallows that she got from school that day. She wanted to share it with me. I also got a smooth, flat rock that she found outside, and a dime.

And Grayson didn't want to feel left out so he also made me a card saying I was the best mom ever, and wrapped one of his Pokémon cards for me. He was so proud, and I so grateful to have such loving kids and an amazing husband who love me. Stephen got me a new griddle, cake turn table with other cake decorating utensils, some phone camera lenses (so I can take pictures of animals and bugs), and a mason jar vacuum sealer. 

Daddy Daughter Dance

 Hannah has been waiting a whole year for this day to come! She missed out on last years dance because Dad was out of town for work. She had been anxiously waiting for the day to come and on the day of the dance she was so excited she made herself sick, haha! This year's theme was luau. I got her a grass skirt and some leis and Stephen a new shirt so they both fit in. When I got home and found the kids after school, Hannah had already changed into shorts and a colorful skirt and her bikini top all ready to go. I told her she had to wear a shirt over her top. Dad came home to pick her up, and Hannah gave him a lei and they headed out the door! Meanwhile the rest of us were stuck outside on the soccer field watching Lucas play in the freezing cold. It was blowing like crazy which made it even worse. Hannah and Dad had a good time at the dance. Dad had to convince Hannah to dance with him because she was too shy, and she was too shy to go and talk to or play with her friends too, but overall they had a great night.

Brrrrrrr!!!!

Girl's Night Out

 Most of the Washburn girls went out for the day. We had lunch at an Italian pizzeria and then went the Hale Center Theater to watch 'Clue'. It was one of the best plays I've been to. It was nonstop laughs and silliness and just what we needed. It was so nice to get together with my sisters-in-law and nieces. I love them.

Off to Work

 I love him.

Mom and Son's School Dance

 Yay! We got to have a dance this year instead of doing a movie night. I was really looking forward to this night with the boys, but also kind of nervous because I'm not that great of a dancer, but I like to have fun anyway. It was so fun to see all the moms on the dance floor embarrassing their kids, haha! Zander was super into it and determined to win the dance contest. I probably messed that up for him, but we had a an absolute BLAST! We painted our faces because it was a glow party. The kids got to eat pizza and have treats. We had a dance contest with each grade and their moms and the rest of the time we just danced the night away. Lucas was having fun with his friends and Zander stayed with me the whole night and danced. I got to teach him a few line dances too.

February Happenings

 100 Days of school for Hannah. She actually let me dress her up a bit!

Grayson has gotten into a big crafting mood lately and it's the funniest thing to hear him ask me if he can do crafts because he can't pronounce a lot of letter sounds so it sounds like this, "Mom, I made crap for you!" or "Can I get in your crap table?" and it cracks me up every time.

One day Stephen and I were both in the kitchen cleaning up. I was getting the vacuum out to vacuum the tile and he was washing dishes. He was washing a frying pan when I here a "thunk" and I look up and see Stephen go down to the floor. I started laughing because I knew he had just, somehow, hit himself with the frying pan in the head. And my mind immediately went to the Rapunzel movie. Anyway, after I started laughing I saw that I was the only one, so I went to him to see if he was alright and he was holding his eye and there was blood on his hand, so it was a lot more serious than I thought. He ended up cutting his eye open with the edge of the pan. I didn't realize he had hit it that hard. He was scrubbing the pan really hard and it slipped from his hand like a push and pull situation with his hands and it conked him on the head, haha! I can laugh freely about it now.

Valentines Day! 

My kids are so awesome! Valentine's Day morning Lucas got up early to make me, and everyone else, heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. They were pretty and delicious. Everyone wanted a turn making a pancake, but instead of making themselves one they made one and gave it to someone else to eat. It was the sweetest thing. I love my kids so much.

 Hannah was so excited to dress up for Valentine's Day and look pretty. She really wanted to wear her new red polka dot skirt and orange shirt that has a heart on it. She even let me do her hair! But it was last minute and I'm not that great at doing hair, but it turned out really cute for getting it done in a few minutes.

Lucas made a big vending machine for his Valentine's Day box. He did everything all by himself.

This was Stephen's Valentine's Day card from Lucas. He is so funny! It says: Happy Valentine's Day. You are a kind dad to me. You are like a king and I am your servant. I Love You Dad. Love Lucas. 

He even taped a blow pop to the front of it.

One night Lucas was having a hard time because he didn't want to go to bed. He was throwing a fit, so I gently took him by the hand and led him downstairs to the empty bedroom that has my old rocking chair in it. I sat him on my lap, rocked him, and sang to him. Then I quietly tucked him into bed. He's asked me since then to rock him to sleep at night when he needs some extra snuggles. My mind immediately went to the book 'I'll Love you Forever' and it just felt so right and peaceful. My kids will always be my babies and I will always be there for them. 

Lastly, Elizabeth returned home from her mission last weekend from Missouri, so we got to listen to her speak in sacrament meeting. It was so good to see her and give her a big hug. When we left Miriam's house the boys didn't want to leave because they were having so much fun with their cousins, so we invited them over for a sleepover since we didn't have school the next day. They had lots of fun playing late into the night, and the next day I took them to the park to get their energy out and had a picnic. I'm so glad these cousins are so close.

Mom Time

 One day last week I felt like I needed to spend the whole day with Grayson. I had been busy doing my own thing and running errands and just keeping busy that I felt like he was getting neglected with mom time. So I took the whole day and did what he wanted to do. We did my exercise video together, read library books and played games in the morning. The fishing game is one of his favorites to play with me, and I like to play matching games with him. We ate lunch and then he asked me if we could go for a walk. It was cold and threatening to rain so I didn't necessarily want to go outside, but I did. He wanted to practice riding his balance bike. By the time we got our coats on and went outside it was spitting rain, but we had fun anyway. 

Then we came inside and made M&M cookies for our afterschool snack. He was sitting on top of the counter; as we put our dough together Grayson looked up at me and said, "Today was a good day. I like today. I'm glad the kids are in school so I can spend time with you Mom." I have never heard him speak in such a grown up manner and it made my heart sing. I gave him a great big hug and he even let me have the beaters because "I always have the beaters, so it's your turn Mom. I'll have the spoon and bowl." I love you my baby boy! I am so glad I listened to that prompting and spent some much needed time with him to make him feel special.