February started out with a lot of rain and snow melt which created a river in our yard/driveway
We are so proud of Elijah's accomplishments in school so far. Cora is very smart too, and we think Elijah has gotten a boost academically by following along with what she has been learning, partly motivated by a desire to copy his big sister, and partly by their sibling competitive spirit. He's definitely more than ready for kindergarten, at least academically - socially and emotionally, he's still learning - which is the main reason we wanted him in Pre-K to begin with.
Friday night tradition - movie and air-popped popcorn! We all look forward to Fridays.
This year Lunar New Year, aka Tet, aka Chinese New Year, falls in February. I wanted to try to teach the kids a little about the culture so we tried to make it kind of a big deal this year. We each decorated a dragon to hang up. (Elijah's hair is the coolest ever - he was being a lion that morning and needed a mane)
Our completed garland of dragons, plus our red lanterns.
Just some cute kids after church one Sunday.
Elijah showing Betty the cute picture he drew for her after church.
Such a sweet big brother.
Cora and Elijah long ago assigned Betty the monkey to be her favorite animal so he drew her a monkey picture. Betty hasn't yet shown any inclination to like monkeys over any other animal, but that's ok. ;)
That Sunday was Superbowl Sunday so even though we're really not into the NFL, I decided to be a little festive and make some football-ish food, wings, chili and cornbread.
Still preparing for Tet, I decided to try to sew Betty an "ao dai", a Vietmanese style long split side raglan dress. I omitted the stand up collar and also ran out of time to make blousy white trousers, which is traditional, instead of jeggings. It's hard to see but it does have the traditional side snap closure. I'd love to make one for Cora too but this was not the year.
The kids love their good luck money envelopes from Great-Grandma.
Homemade "takeout" for dinner for Lunar New Year - egg drop soup, fried rice and egg rolls. Overall it was pretty good and it was fun to start some new traditions with the kids, while educating them a little about their background.
The next big holiday (they just come one after another in the winter) was Valentine's day! The kids picked cute but rather labor intensive cards to make this year which took them several afternoons to finish. These were Elijah's, individually colored heart cards with chocolates for each classmate.
And these were Cora's: individually written and decorated beary punny notes with gummy bears.
Here's Betty showing off her new bloomers I sewed for her - maybe kind of a dorky look but I love it. She has a lot of tights so I figured they should get used more than just on Sundays.
Pre-Valentine's day Costco trip with some little stinkers.
Elijah helping me decorate. Valentine's Day is really one of our family's favorite holidays.
See my flowers from Ryan?
Valentine's breakfast.
A little Cosmic Kids yoga
Some more pics of Valentine's breakfast.
Valentine's FHE game/lesson - scripture race game with conversation hearts. I had made this game (after seeing inspiration for it online) for my Activity Day girls and then re-used it for FHE for our family.
Games with candy are a big hit with the kids.
Valentine's day dinner.
Valentine's treats from my love - flowers and chocolate! That chocolate cake is ginormous, lasted us all week - I got the kids to eat some really good things at dinner that whole week with such a good dessert for a bribe.
Chocolate faces.
More snow days.
Betty has been cracking us up lately. trying to sit on her dollhouse furniture. It's especially funny because we remember Cora doing this exact same thing at about this age.
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