February Fun

February was another very cold month that was spent almost entirely indoors, but it went by more quickly than January did. It is usually one of the worst months of the year for me, coming at the end of winter when the lack of fresh air and time outdoors really start to have an effect and I'm more disorganized, unfocused, tired, and emotional. I call it the "Winter Blues" and my "February Funk." I had a perpetually stuffy nose for almost the whole month and I ate too much sugar which didn't help my energy. I gave in and started wearing fleecy house pants out in public. John got round two of a nasty ear infection that required an incredibly expensive antibiotic to treat it because amoxicillin didn't wipe it out. Even one of our cats got sick with a respiratory infection (and is still sick with it, unfortunately). There was not one week in February (or January) in which there was a full week of school for the boys due to freezing cold temperatures or snow.
Those were the downsides of February.
Now here are some of the fun things we did in February!

We started the month out with Peter's annual company party. As we were driving out of our neighborhood on our way there, the evening sky was so pretty:

I bought a pretty royal blue dress from Shabby Apple for the party and I even got it tailored to fit just right, but when I put it on that evening I didn't like it as much as I thought I did. It just didn't feel right. I ended up wearing my standard classic Little Black Dress and Jacket instead. What a waste of 100 bucks! We had fun and I felt comfortable and looked fine, but I hope I'll have something to wear that dress to in the future!

A sweet kindness-between-brothers moment. They do sometimes happen!

 John got a new pair of Nikes. The blue pair on the left were starting to fall apart, even though they weren't that old (he got them at the beginning of the school year). Kids wear shoes out so fast! The black pair are his first that have shoelaces instead of Velcro straps. I like straps much better for their convenience but I figured that it was time for John to learn how to tie shoes. He was only about to turn 9 years old!

Valentine's Day.
I mentioned some things about it in an earlier post, but here are a few more pictures.
I tried to make heart-shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast, but the heart shapes didn't work out so well!

I made yummy Valentine's brownies. (Do you like my staged picture?)

Cute "Be Mine" banner

The roses Peter got for me bloomed beautifully.

A pretty snowstorm.

Forts were constructed and major messes were made.

I like how Sam's peeking out of this one.

I found Brody hiding out in this one. 

Are you actually comfortable, Brode? Funny cat!

Sam made himself a bed on the nice hard floor. Comfy, right?


Our Relief Society activity in February was a Service Auction. I saved up all of my points so that I'd be sure to get this adorable Iowa plaque that my talented friend Brooke made. I may commission her to make me one for Massachusetts too!

Pretty flowers against winter's freezing cold backdrop.

For many reasons I think February is the month that I eat the most unhealthy food. 

I ate this whole box of "Caramel DeLites" (Samoas) Girl Scout cookies in about a day. They're so addictive and I'm truly glad they're only available once a year! 

This cupcake was my treat for the night the ladies figure-skating kicked off at the Olympics.

I tried to counteract the sugary junk by eating virtuously sometimes.

I love veggie stir-fries!

Crockpot veggies are delicious too.

This was supposed to be a mushroom and spinach omelet but it turned into scrambled eggs. Omelets are tricky and I admire anyone who can make them! 

It was too cold and wintry out for Sam to ride his tricycle outside so he got to ride one in a gym instead, which he had so much fun doing. 

We had fun with bubbles from the bubble machine.

 Sam made tons of Lego trains (and asked me to take pictures of almost all of them, but in the interest of interest, I'll just post this one!). 

Hello Mr. Bird. You must be very cold out there, but thank you for the photo op!

P.S. You're cute and chubby! How are you managing to keep yourself so well-fed during this brutal winter!?

There was a pretty sunset one evening when we were out and about. I took this through the front windshield of my car when we were stopped at a red light. 

We watched YouTube videos of a guy playing with toys from the movie Planes. Sam was hooked.

Sam pretended to eat Cheerios like a puppy dog.

 Peter and I went to see the Jupiter String Quartet perform. The music was beautiful and it was a very nice way to spend an evening. 

Did I mention that it was an unusually cold month? Note the "RealFeel" of -28!

Things that happened in February:

-John started piano lessons.

-I got a new calling at church (my first stake calling) and tried to adjust to not being in Primary anymore. I miss it!

-We went to Disney on Ice! (more on that in another post)

-Peter and I watched only one movie: Mission Impossible 3 (a few years old, I know). It was our next movie from Netflix, and ironically we saw it the weekend after Philip Seymour Hoffman died (he plays the villain in the movie really well. He was great as Plutarch Heavensbee in Catching Fire too, and I liked him in other movies. It's so sad that he died.).

-Best TV I watched: Downton Abbey, When Calls the Heart, and the Winter Olympics

-Best discoveries: That there's going to be a second Planes movie coming out this summer! Sam is very excited (maybe I am too). And I discovered Blog2Print and started getting my blog printed into books, something I've been wanting to do for awhile.

And that, in a blog post, was February! 

Five Things for Friday

1. This is my first time posting in March, and the month is nearly over! For many reasons, it turned out to be a really busy month. There was one week in which the kids or I had appointments of some sort every single day. Then Spring Break was last week, and now there are only a few days left until April. March has sped by, which I'm glad about--the sooner spring really and truly arrives, the better!

2. Spring. It hasn't really sprung yet. There was a day earlier this week when it was so cold out that I could barely stand to be outside (it was in the 20s but it was windy and felt much colder. I should be used to that by now, but it's the end of March, for crying out loud!). 

This winter has defeated me in the fashion department. I've started wearing my black yoga pants and fleecy warm "house pants" out in public (usually for shopping and errands), something I wouldn't have usually done in the past. I just don't care anymore! I want to be warm and comfortable. The plus side to this, aside from being warm and comfortable, is that according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, a study from Harvard found that people who wear sweatpants out in public can be perceived as being wealthier and more respectable. (You can read the article here if you want.) That makes me feel a bit less defeated, I suppose. Of course, this is the Midwest and I live in a college town where almost everyone seems to dress casually most of the time, so maybe it's not as big of a deal to wear my "house pants" out in public as I think.

Anyway, with all that said, it's supposed to get into the 60s this Sunday! 

3. I like having a different candle to burn each month. This month it's been Yankee Candle's "Whiskers on Kittens." It's from their now discontinued Sound of Music line. It has a nice sweet scent that I really like.

There are so many good Yankee Candle scents that it doesn't really matter that much when they discontinue one because there are so many others to choose from!

4. I saw these cool jelly sandals online and immediately liked them. I have such fond memories of wearing jellies as a girl. I would totally wear these this summer and only feel mildly self-conscious about it.

But then I saw the price. $193 for plastic shoes?! Granted, they have a leather bed, but still, that is way overpriced. So they will not be finding their way into my closet and onto my feet after all. (Perhaps that's a good thing!)

5.  Tomorrow I'm going to get a massage and then I'm going to take myself to the movies to see Divergent. I read the trilogy by Veronica Roth last year and I really enjoyed it. I found it to be very thought-provoking and surprisingly deep. I was catching up on my Wall Street Journal reading yesterday and their review of the movie was not good, but it was the #1 movie last weekend and fans of the book seem to really like it. So I'm excited to see it myself. I say it all the time, but I love reading a book and then seeing the movie of that book.

Also tomorrow is the first-ever "General Women's Meeting" of the Church. They're saying that it may be the largest gathering of LDS women ever. I'm honestly not a big fan of this change in the meetings for women and young women, but I trust that the Church leadership knows what it's doing. It will be interesting to watch.

Have a great weekend!