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!