February was a wild month with winter weather, more schedule changes at school, and lots of things to celebrate, including Brooklyn’s 8th birthday! I will write about all her birthday festivities in a separate post, and this one will cover everything else that happened that month. Here’s the recap:
February 1st was the 100th day of school, which is always a big deal for the youngest kids at Mill Creek. Mrs. Curry told the class that they could dress up as 100 year olds if they wanted to, and Savannah agreed that she would. We found a cute granny wig and glasses at Party City and borrowed a dress from Sarah…I thought her costume turned out great!
Even though Savannah had tried the wig on several times before this particular morning, it only took about 10 minutes of wearing it before she decided she didn’t want to wear it to school after all. It was too itchy!! ;) I’m pretty sure she still wore the glasses, but ended up leaving the wig at home. At least we got some pictures with her wearing it!
Mrs. Curry told the kids they would have a special visitor that day, and they ended up having “Granny Curry” as their substitute…haha. Sounded like the kids had a fun day!
Savannah was so excited when she came out of school that afternoon to tell me that her 2nd loose tooth came out during snack time!! She said she was eating her apple and it kept getting looser and looser until she “touched” it and it came out…haha. (Because her permanent teeth were already so big before the baby teeth came out, there wasn’t really a gap there.) She also got to present her 100th day project (a monster with 100 teeth). She did the whole project by herself the previous week on Monday after school while I was taking Brooklyn to art class. We got home and she was holding it at the door waiting to show it to me. Such a go-getter! She was proud to tell me that one of the kids in the class said her monster was his favorite project out of all of them ;)
100 days smarter…and cuter! :)
I got a picture of Savannah with her tooth fairy jar that night before bed. Brooklyn and Savannah each lost a tooth at the end of January, so the tooth fairy ended up coming 3 out of 4 nights in a row!! Whew!!
Lunchtime with my sidekick on February 2nd…
Brooklyn’s class celebrated the 102nd day of school (since she was in 2nd grade), so that day fell on February 3rd.
Brooklyn wore the same wig and glasses, but didn’t want to wear the fancy granny dress ;) If I live to be 102, I’ll probably be wearing comfy sweatpants too…haha
Brooklyn actually wore her wig to school and left it on at least part of the day!
Mrs. Borys was looking good in her bathrobe and gray hair ;)
102 days brighter!
Mrs. Borys had the kids fill out a worksheet about all the things they’ll do when they are 102 ;)
Emily and her girls came over to play with us outside for a few minutes after school. It was a nice day and not too cold.
Savannah said all 50 of her sight words for Mrs. Curry on February 4th and earned her “sight word eyes” :) She was so proud to tell me right after school!
Well, we made it one full week in January with the girls going to school 5 days/week in person before we had yet another schedule change due to the pandemic. For the first 2 weeks in February, the girls went to school Monday-Thursday and did virtual school at home on Friday. Abigail joined Savannah and watched videos with her on Friday, February 5th :)
It actually wasn’t a great day for all 3 girls to be home because Travis had a big interview (over the computer) during lunch. His office is definitely not soundproof, so it’s been interesting having him working from home. I try to keep the noise down to a dull roar as much as possible, but for the interview, he needed it to be super quiet. So we decided to have a picnic lunch in Mommy and Daddy’s room where we could close the doors and keep the noise down. It worked out really well, and he said he didn’t hear us at all!
One advantage of interviewing virtually is that you can wear your slippers with your suit and no one knows…haha! :) He ended up getting the job (same job he’d been doing on a temporary basis)…we were proud of him!
February 8th was Rock Your School Day, and the girls were supposed to dress up like rock stars :)
I loved seeing this sign when I dropped the girls off that morning!
Mrs. Borys took lots of pictures of the fun they had that day. This is Brooklyn with her friend, Sydney.
Rock Your School Day is supposed to be all about making learning fun and teaching ordinary concepts in out-of-the-box ways. It’s not just a Mill Creek thing…I’ve heard that schools all over the world participate in it on the same day…pretty cool!
I thought Mrs. Borys’ wild hair was perfect!
The kids also worked on decorating their Valentine bags that day :)
These Valentine window clings were a big hit with Abigail! She liked putting them up and rearranging them over and over again.
Mill Creek had different dress up days every day that week, and February 9th was tie-dye day!
Brooklyn brought home this sweet note from Mrs. Borys…we’ve still got it hanging on our fridge!
February 10th was animal print day. We realized we had two sweatshirts that were very similar in the right sizes, and the girls enjoyed matching for the day!
Brooklyn was allowed to bring her favorite stuffed animal to school that day, and she chose Simba :)
Ready for the Valentine exchange the next day!
After school, Brooklyn’s friend Sydney came over to play outside with us for a little while. She had recently fractured her back (I know…so awful!) and was wearing a back brace and was limited in what she could do, so we had to get creative :) Brooklyn brought all kinds of art supplies and books outside, and they played catch with a ball too for a while.
It was really nice weather that afternoon, which worked out well.
They ended the playdate by drawing with chalk in the driveway. Hunter, the big lion, joined us too :) Sydney lives in our neighborhood, so we walked her home afterward.
February 11th was the last day of school in person for the week, so the kids were supposed to wear red or pink for Valentine’s day. (Brooklyn wore both…haha).
Brooklyn came home with a full bag of candy and treats!
Meanwhile, Abigail decided she wanted to take a nap on the floor instead of her bed :)
We picked up the girls from school in carline that day because of the rainy, cold weather.
Savannah was excited about her first valentine exchange at school!
They had fun checking out all the goodies once we got home :)
All three girls wanted to help stir the soup for dinner that night.
Friday, February 12th was a virtual day of school, and both girls finished up by morning. It was technically supposed to be a half day, so less work than normal!
Savannah told me she wanted to buy Brooklyn a chapter book for her birthday, so I took her to a used bookstore called 2nd and Charles to pick one out. Savannah was so sweet looking for the perfect book. She eventually found one called “The Magic Puppy” and said, “I think she’ll like this one because I know that Brooklyn likes magic.” It was fun to have a little one-on-one time with my Pookie!
Early on February 15th, I came out to the living room to find Abigail “reading” in the dark. She had propped up a flashlight to help her see ;) She is definitely an early riser–and usually the first one up each day!
That day was President’s Day, so the girls had the day off from school. We spent it inside because there was an ice storm warning due to the threat of freezing rain that would turn the roads icy. We stayed home all day (it was cold and rainy ALL day), but it never really got icy near us.
Hanging out near the fireplace felt really good on such a cold day!
We were surprised to wake up on Tuesday (2/16) with a little bit of snow on the ground!! (We had the day off of school due to the weather). It was SUPER cold outside…I think the low was 11 or 12 degrees. The girls wanted to go out and play in it, but I decided it would be better to wait a little later in the morning to let it warm up a bit. We went out at 10:30 AM, and it was 19 degrees (felt like 9 degrees) outside. BRRR!
We walked over to Sarah’s house and stayed about 30 minutes. It was the coldest I’ve ever been that I can remember. Bitterly cold. It didn’t matter how many layers we had on. Brooklyn didn’t care too much and had a blast throwing snowballs with Kate and Olive.
Savannah had fun too, but after a few minutes, she was too cold and ready to be done. Abigail continues to NOT like snow…I don’t think she’s ever actually touched it other than standing in it. She just stands there or wants me to hold her and doesn’t actually play.
Despite the cold, we had fun for the few minutes we were there.
By the time we walked home, we were all frozen!! Brooklyn would have stayed out longer, but I told her to come on in after she went down the slide a couple of times in our backyard ;)
Once we got in, we warmed up by the fire and the girls drank some hot chocolate…and we stayed in the rest of the day!
Brooklyn declared that the rest of the day was “Sister Day”…a day to do nice things for your sisters :) I was so proud of her—she decided to give her robot “Botley” to Savannah because she doesn’t play with Botley much anymore. She was so sweet to carry all of Botley’s accessories and set them up on Savannah’s shelf…and she has been so patient to teach Savannah how to use it and answer her questions. I told Brooklyn how proud I was of her for having a caring heart, and she just beamed.
On February 17th, we ended up having to do a day of virtual school at home because of the continued icy road conditions. I guess that’s the downside (or upside?) of having a virtual school option…you don’t just get a snow day when you can’t get to school! I felt for the teachers having to throw virtual lessons together at the last second.
Brooklyn stayed busy making a big poster all about lions. She did it all on her own just for fun (lions are her favorite animal), and I loved all the detail she put into it. She actually took it to school the next week and presented it to the class!
Brooklyn and Savannah also made their own library upstairs in the playroom. They organized all the books into different sections and put out a basket for books to be returned after you finished reading them :)
There was another threat of winter weather that evening, but it was borderline whether we would actually get any snow where we live. Our Wednesday night bible study was changed to a Zoom meeting instead, and during the course of that Zoom meeting, the snow fell like crazy. When we looked outside at 8 PM, there were already 2-3 inches on the ground!
I felt torn because I knew it was supposed to get warmer overnight, and I was afraid the snow might melt by the morning, but it also seemed crazy to let the kids go out and play in it at bedtime. It is a big process to get everyone all dressed and undressed when it snows! So we put them to bed, but after a few minutes when it started to rain, I had a change of heart and decided to see if Brooklyn and Savannah wanted to go out and play for a few minutes in case the snow wasn’t there in the morning. Savannah was sound asleep and I couldn’t wake her up, but Brooklyn was still half awake and woke right up when I mentioned going out to play.
Travis was working late so he couldn’t join us, so it was just me and B. We only stayed out for about 15 minutes, but we had fun throwing snowballs and Brooklyn liked going down the slide with snow on it.
It was raining pretty much the whole time we were out there. I think that was my first time to play in the snow while it was raining…haha. We were pretty wet when we came in.
I was glad we did it just in case it wasn’t around in the morning, and Brooklyn had a blast!
Surprise! We were all excited to see that the snow was still around the next morning (February 18th)…and we didn’t have to do virtual school! The rain had made small indentions in the snow, but there was definitely plenty to play with. Abigail saw our footprints from the night before and asked, “Why are there holes in the blizzard?” :)
Sarah and her girls came over and played for a few minutes. The girls threw snowballs, played on the swingset, and Brooklyn even asked some of the girls to bury her in the snow…haha. They dumped a little bit of snow, but it wasn’t a complete burial ;)
After Sarah and her girls went home, we stayed out a while longer and had several snowball fights and made a snowman. Savannah was really interested in helping build the snowman…I think this was her first real time to make one. She helped me smooth and shape his body and get it all ready for the face and scarf.
Brooklyn and Abigail got interested at that point and wanted to help put everything on. We used raisins for the eyes, a cooked baby carrots for his nose (it was all we had as far as a carrot…haha), Oreos for the buttons, and a scarf from my closet. He turned out cute and was about the same height as Abigail.
Abigail loved the snowman and kept giving him hugs and kisses after he was finished!! It was so cute and sweet!
Brooklyn and Savannah named him Blizzard Snowy Grant :) The snow was SO much better than Tuesday’s snow….that snow was so powdery that you couldn’t even form a snowball very well. This snow was wet and perfect for making snowballs and snowmen!
We had a blast!! It was also so nice that it wasn’t nearly as cold as Tuesday. The temp was around 34 degrees I think…much more comfortable!! We stayed out for about 1.5 hours!! This was also the first time Abigail has actually played in and enjoyed the snow. She actually threw snowballs and loved the snowman. Usually she just stands there and watches the other girls have fun. I was glad she had so much fun this morning!
After we came in and warmed up with some hot chocolate, we ate lunch and then tried to make snow cream. I think we used too much snow and not enough milk/sugar/vanilla…it was my first time…but it was fun and the girls enjoyed trying it. We even added some sprinkles on top for fun!
That afternoon I played the card game Old Maid with Brooklyn and Savannah, and the girls worked on a carnival upstairs in the playroom for us to go to after dinner. They worked really hard getting the playroom all cleaned up, making signs, and getting some games planned.
We had no idea what to expect other than we had to pay a quarter for each game we played…and the first game was “dodge the Beanie Babies” where they threw beanie babies at us and we had to try not to get hit. We were both laughing so hard at the absurdity of it all. Another game was “read as many books as you can in 1 minute”. We also had a wrestling match, pretend cake eating, and a ball toss. Travis and I were exhausted when we left the carnival…haha! I was so proud of their creativity this week…making animal posters, designing carnivals, and a library among many other things. We’ve been stuck inside and haven’t gone anywhere other than out to play in the snow twice since Sunday, but they have found ways to have fun and stay busy ;)
By the time Friday (February 19th) rolled around, the girls hadn’t been to school in person the entire week!! And because the roads were still icy, we ended up doing another virtual school day that day. What a crazy week of winter weather. Mrs. Curry had her class do an alphabet scavenger hunt that day as part of their learning, and we had to send her a picture of all the things Savannah found. It was a fun alternative to sitting in front of the computer, and Savannah enjoyed making the labels for each item she found.
That month, Abigail was loving the combo of eating apples with peanut butter. It was a messy lunch!
No joke…by February 21st, it was warm enough that Brooklyn was playing outside in shorts!!
On February 22nd, Alison and her kids came over after school, and the kids played together in the backyard on our swingset.
Brooklyn was always in a hurry to get to her classroom because she loved 2nd grade so much, so she and Savannah would speed walk from the van to the door ;)
We went to the playground after school on February 23rd, and the girls enjoyed that.
February 24th was Mrs. Curry’s birthday, and another mom helped me organize a birthday gift for her from the class. We gave her a big bouquet of flowers and a gift certificate to her favorite nail salon. Mrs. Curry dealt with a lot of family health issues over the course of the school year on top of the craziness of teaching during a pandemic, so we wanted to make sure she felt extra loved on her birthday.
It worked out that I was able to take the flowers and card up to the school and meet Mrs. Curry outside the front door for a few minutes during the middle of the day. It was so good to see her in person for the first time since the first day of school. Abigail even got to go with me and see her too!
Loved how Savannah spelled “Mrs.” :) I agree…Mrs. Curry is the BEST!
Abigail has gotten really good at pedaling her little tricycle!
On February 25th, Abigail and I went over to Alisha’s house, and we walked around her neighborhood while the kids rode their bikes/scooters. Abigail loves to play with Luke and Barrett :)
That evening, I took Brooklyn and Savannah to a free soccer clinic at Dublin Park. It lasted for an hour, and the girls enjoyed running around and practicing their soccer skills.
Friday, February 26th was another virtual school day at home. Savannah drew this duckling and wrote two sentences about it :)
The girls spent Friday afternoon making a circus for us to come to, and we attended on Saturday morning ;) We got to see different animals doing tricks and even ride a dragon! Haha! It was cute.
Savannah spent a long time working on this detailed drawing of Brooklyn, Carter, and her :) The three amigos!
Abigail loves to do everything her big sisters do! If she sees them grab a book and start reading, she will do the same.
Notes and Quotes for February 2021:
- 2/2/21 – I was shaving my legs when Abigail came into the bathroom. She thought the shaving gel looked “eww-ie” and asked what I was doing. When I told her, she asked, “Does that help your bones feel better?”
- 2/5/21 – Abigail was giving me a checkup and looking in my ears. I asked her what she saw in my ears. Her reply: “Something that looks like rock things” in one ear and “looks like Elsa” in the other…haha
- 2/15/21 – We played Uno as a family, and Abigail was on my team. We somehow won the first 2 games even though Abigail kept giving away our hand. Brooklyn would ask, “What colors do you have?” and Abigail would excitedly tell her…haha. The last round, Savannah won…and Abigail started bawling immediately. I thought she was crying because we were done playing and it was time for bed, but when we asked her why she was crying, she sobbed, “Because we didn’t win!!!!” I guess we have another little competitor on our hands!
Thanks for reading!
