February 2021

Before we knew it February rolled in fast and strong and our house was in a Valentine's craze from the very beginning. Our theme for dance class (the last before baby sister gets here) was Love Bugs, and I think that helped keep Valentine's on the forefront of Rory's mind. She kept coming up with ideas for fun things to do like decorate cards, paint hearts, frost Valentine's cookies, etc and so I told her that she could have a special Valentine's playdate with Rebecca and Naomi. Rebecca and Naomi shared her enthusiasm, and each had many great party ideas of their own and before I knew it I was throwing the play date of the century. 

First the girls decorated heart butterfly placemats (as found in a Fancy Nancy book). While I set up lunch, they exchanged valentines that they had brought for each other and squealed with delight at each one. 

For lunch we had Nutella sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries, cucumbers, french fries, wontons, cake and italian sodas. As you can see, it was very fancy and official. 

After lunch they played for a bit while we set up the next activity- cookie decorating! I had a bunch of leftover frosting from a cake I had made for book group, so I made a couple of sugar cookies for each girl and let them have at it. I love seeing their serious focused expressions as each cookie turns into the same gloopy, sprinkle covered mess. Ada finally woke up from her nap and was pretty stoked about the chocolate covered strawberries that were waiting for her. 

Once the cookies were decorated we moved on to Barbie movie time while the girls dug into their boxes of chocolate. They didn't last the whole movie, but we had more things on our party agenda, so it was actually a good thing they lost focus. Before moms came for pick up the girls did a treasure hunt outside looking for a sparkly heart ring for each of them. They had a little free play time and then went home. I will not be able to host another play date for a long time now because I have set the bar too high. 

Shortly after our play date, Rory came down with a bit of a cold, and in Covid days kid colds mean you can't really go anywhere or do anything. In an effort to pass the time I let Rory do a makeover and photoshoot on herself and it did not disappoint. She's gotten really in to putting glitter gel on her eyebrows and it cracks me up. There were about 50 pictures just like this on my camera roll when she was done. 

The primary did a heart attacking activity and they had the kids come out after church and decorate some hearts to leave on peoples' doors. Rory asked me to write things like "I love you as big as the world" on her hearts and they were the cutest. They also asked each kid to write their name on this poster and I was one proud mama seeing her looking so grown up and writing her name. 

Our dance classes this month have been going really well, and it I weren't getting so large I would be much more sad to see them go. This month I had three little boys in the second class and it was hard to keep up with them, but they loved it! I had to snap this little picture because of every time they put these animal masks on it cracks me up. 

Rory was very excited to make her own valentines for her preschool class this year, so I sucked it up and handed over control. I had bought these little bracelets at Walmart and then Rory brought me white paper and asked me to draw hearts all over it. I was very impressed with how well she cut them, she loves scissors so much that we often have to restrict her scissors use and so I was genuinely surprised by her dexterity. She drew a picture on each one and decorated them with hearts and stickers leftover from her play date. They turned out so cute and she was so so proud of them. 

Right before Valentine's day, John and Lucina were able to come up for a quick three day visit and it was the best. First they watched the girls while I went and got my eyelash extensions done, which was a weight off of my shoulders. Then Lucina took Ada out for both dance classes on Wednesday and it was amazing how smoothly they ran when I wasn't also battling her the whole time. They took them to the aquarium and out for ice cream. While John was out golfing we took the girls to Joann's to pick out fabric for the fleece tie blankets Rory wanted to make and the girls loved it. Ada even got to pick her own fabric. We had yummy food and got to hang out. Before they left we took them to our beloved Legoland where Lucina helped Rory build a dinosaur which she proudly displayed on the makers table. Rory was most excited to show them the princess ride and she rode it with Pop pop and Grandma. They left from Legoland in order to try to miss traffic on their drive home, and I cried and cried and cried seeing them go. It was so nice to have the help and company during busy season, plus I am super pregnant. I actually couldn't get my emotions in check, and so I told the girls it was time to go home. The overeager Legoland worker that Rory is obsessed with noticed me crying and gave Rory and I both a special button to take home. It was equal parts kind and humiliating. 

I don't think they did it every year, but I remember growing up there were a few Valentine's days where my siblings and I woke up with some Valentine chocolates on the end of our beds and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I have done that the last two years, and my girls think it is just as cool as I did. I could hear them over the monitor wake up and get so excited. I was slow to get to their room and Rory had opened treats for both Ada and herself, which totally cracked me up to walk in to Ada helping herself to chunk of chocolate in bed. 

With dance class getting ready to end for a little while I have been a little more lenient with Rory playing with our class props and she is taking full advantage of it. This ensemble cracked me up and you could tell she was feeling herself. 

When John and Lucina were in town I made some extra Valentine's chocolate bombs to send with them for our cousins. Kenzie liked them so much that she requested more for her birthday, and I was more than happy to oblige. I did some flavor experimenting with this batch and it was so much fun. I'm not sure whether they made it in one piece but here's hoping!

Rory has had a lot of chances for playdates this month, which has been super helpful for me. When we had Paige over in return, the girls spent a good majority of the day putting on dance shows and then begging to watch the videos. Paige is terrified of Coco, but also can't leave her alone so she spent the whole time asking, "Where's your dog?" 

We've been trying to get everything we can ready for baby sister as her due date gets closer and we just received the best package in the mail. Mama Rodney sent us another gorgeous crocheted blanket for the new baby and Rory and Ada are already fighting over who gets it. 

I wasn't there to celebrate with her, but my grandma turned 95 this month! After her fall on her birthday last year I am genuinely surprised, but super grateful that she is around to see 95. We love this lady so much. 

For our dance treat this month I made these love bug treats with my mini cocoa bomb molds I accidentally bought on Amazon and they were so stinking cute. Instead of making them cocoa bombs like I originally planned I filled them with Mini M&M's and they were a major hit. 

Ada was either losing her mind screaming during class, or insisting on being a part of the class with the big girls. She loved stretching time and the Hello song. Her most favorite part was when we worked on tumbling, particularly forward rolls. Most of the time I had to stick her in the high chair and just keep the Mini M&M's and Dum Dums coming, but I had to snap these pictures of her getting her own "magic rug". I think she is going to really love being in dance class someday. 

We made another trip to Legoland and on the way Rory said she hoped she could build something for Noah. Noah is the overeager worker who gave me the button when I cried and Rory loves him. He always gives her special mini-figures to go with her builds. She decided to make a racecar this time and her special mini-figure was a wolf. After she built it and raced it with me, she spent a solid 5-10 minutes waiting for Noah to finish helping another family so that she could show him her car. He was very nice and was so impressed with what she had done. She said the best part of her day was when Noah told her she did a good job. 

This girl has gotten really good at playing on her own these last few months and it is pretty wonderful. She loves playing outside and now she and Coco even share the backyard pretty cordially. She likes to make "potions" and now "cakes" which I love. Well, I don't love the mess. And sometimes Coco eats all the grass and plants Rory has pulled up and then it makes her throw up. But the process is still pretty darling. 

This doggy is growing on me by the day and she has been so so good. My favorite time of day is in the evening when she is nice and calm and we watch shows together. She cuddles and sleeps in the funniest positions. I usually try to keep her off the furniture, but she's claimed this chair as her own and it's hard to be mad about it when she looks this happy.