Instant Memory

Last night while we were reading scriptures I looked up and saw this.  It was one of those things that I knew I'd never forget seeing.  Lane with her hair in a towel, sunshine PJ's on.  All while Ryan's arm is resting on the dog and him trying hard to focus on what he was reading instead of the distraction of that cute and squirrly 8 year old.  Loved it.

New Beginnings

When a girl at church is turning 12 that year, she gets to attend an activity called New Beginnings.  Always held in February, it basically introduces to the girls what the Young Women's and Personal Progress programs are all about.  The girls(7 total girls this year) are all pretty excited, but I'm wondering if it's mainly because they want to be done with Primary!  I'm grateful that I got called to 2nd counselor in YW because that means I'm over the group of girls that are 12-13, called the Beehives.  They are at such a great age and really just fun to chat with.  I'm proud of Addyson and am excited of what's ahead of her! 

Sledding

Instead of sitting inside and being sad that I miss the sun and Summer, I thought it'd be fun to go sledding for President's Day on Monday.  Ryan wasn't working and the girls had off of school.  There was plenty of snow which made for some great sledding.  We have a hill we like to go to, Allardale, and it's normally not very busy.  We bundled up, grabbed our sleds and off we went.  Everyone had a blast, and apparently it's pretty funny each time Mom would wipe out, ha.  Such a fun way to spend a Winter day.

Snow Days

So far this school year we've had two snow days, way less than we've had at this point the past few years.  We had one last week and one yesterday and they were both fun for the girls.  We have some neighbor's across the street, the Pawlaks, that are only living here temporarily until their house gets built.  They have two girls the same ages as Addyson and Lane.  It's been nice having them here, especially for snow days.  These girls will play for hours out in the snow and they get along great.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day weekends started with the girls school parties.  They're always fun and this party was especially sweet for Addyson since its her last school party ever.  Sad!  The moms in her and her friends class went above and beyond to try and make it fun and it was a success for sure.  I made chocolate dipped cookies with sprinkles, red velvet cake balls and Ryan made a candy pizza for Addyson's class.  It was all pretty yummy.

Valentine's Day was on a Sunday this year so that was nice to get to spend the day with my three Valentines.  I got Ryan some chocolate and the girls got a book each, a stuffed animal and chocolate.  After church Ryan made us all lunch and it was so good.  We figured out that the girls love fried shrimp!  

It was a nice, low key day and I enjoyed every second.

A Challenge

Addyson's teacher, Miss Lawson, emailed last week in regards to starting a reading program that would challenge her and another girl in her class.  Addyson is a great reader and she flies through pretty much any book that she finds interesting.  The books she and her class read sound like they're not challenging her enough, so her teacher wants her to read more books to get her really thinking, and that may not be as easy for her.  I loved this idea and I'm happy her teacher chose her to participate.  Our oldest is truly something special, and I am so proud of her desire to achieve such great things!

Annual Brandy Visit

Brandy made her usual late January/early February visit this past week.  She likes to come during the Winter so she can get he snow fix, but no such luck this year!  We've had a mild Winter and not much snow to speak of.  Last week was no exception, in fact one day she was here it reached 60 degrees.  Kind of crazy for February in Cleveland.  We had lots of fun together though.  We shopped, ate lunch and some dinners out, talked, laughed, she basically lived my Mom life with me for a wee.  Ryan traveled most of the week she was here, so it was nice to have her here for the company.  The last night she was here we took her to a restaurant called Melt that has grilled cheese sandwiches stuffed with pretty much anything you can imagine.  The sandwiches are huge, it's definitely not a place anyone needs to visit all that often! I think she had a good time while she was here, I know that we all sure did!  Until next year..