February 2013

My mind doesn’t believe that it’s really April already, so it feels like February just barely happened.

Tristan and Oliver had a lot of basketball games in February.  They were on different teams, and played a lot of games at the same time in different locations, so there was some driving back and forth and juggling schedules to try to watch them play. 

Tristan’s below in white (#3), and Oliver’s in the gray (#4).  Wearing black church socks, I just noticed.  Not sure who let him out of the house like that:


The cheering section:

Rachel working on her backbend:                                               


Melted crayon Valentine hearts hanging on the windows:            


Rachel and Cynthia on Valentine’s Day:

Rachel sharing with Cynthia.  She is such a good big sister:                  

Rachel with big eyes because Cynthia has a death grip on the sucker and is stealing it right out of Rachel’s mouth:                                                


Lizza sorting through all her Valentines after school. 


Also in February, some bonding time with Lucy the snake.  And if you’re wondering if Cindy wears her Avengers shirt almost every day, the answer is yes.  Even if she’s already dressed in something else, she’ll still manage to find it, and then tell me she’ll just wear it “on top of.” 


The kids all had fun not going to school on President’s Day. 

Tristan and Oliver tried to teach Henry some football skills on the xbox:

Rachel and Lizza went outside to jump rope in the rain:


And Cindy celebrated by dressing up with a Darth Vader mask, her Captain America shield, and one cowboy boot.  She clearly knows what President’s Day is all about.


When she’s not dressing up, she still spends a lot of time on puzzles. 


She wanted to move up to some of the “big kid” puzzles, so Henry decided to be her puzzle tutor and teach her how.  He would get so excited whenever she found a piece – he was making the best faces, and acting all “older-brotherly” with his arm around her shoulders and everything.  I love watching my kids try to teach my other kids things.  They snap into “helpful mode”, and act all kind and gentle.  I wish they stayed in that mode always.  (they don't).     


These two are great at working/playing side by side:                                      


And when Henry is gone at playgroup, Captain America fills in as Cindy’s puzzle buddy.  She has such a crush on Captain America.  She has stolen Henry’s action figure for her own (even Henry accepts that it’s basically hers now), and she loves to take him everywhere.  The other day she was telling me that Captain America really likes her and he is her friend, and then she did a big sigh and said, “Captain America is just so awesome.”  Then she did an even bigger sigh and added, “And mom, he’s just so handsome!!” 


She also likes to sneak in some time with Henry’s legos whenever he’s gone.  She knew she was busted here. 


Once in a while they do take a break from puzzles and legos.  I’m not sure what they were doing here with Cindy’s old push cars, but it reminded me of how we used to always turn our big-wheels upside down when we were little and pretend they were ice-cream machines, and we made the ice-cream by turning the pedals with our hands. 


Also in February – Rachel and Lizza started soccer.  This is Lizza’s first year.  She loves it.

She has practice once a week, and the other kids (minus Tristan and Oliver, who are usually at baseball practice) love playing at the park nearby.                                                   


Then twice a week Rachel has her soccer practice at a different park, so Lizza gets a chance to play, too.  It’s actually been really nice, because I’m not great at taking my kids to the park very often, and this way they get to go three times a week.  And in between giving lots of underdogs, I even get in some reading time once in awhile, so it works out great for everyone.                      



Have you ever seen a cuter little tie-dyed belly? When her regular Avengers shirt is in the laundry, she loves wearing this one, because she says it makes her look like Captain America and Ironman, and what could be better than that?  I seriously can’t get over her cuteness sometimes.  I usually think that I’m ready for my family to start growing up, but then lots of times I wish I could just freeze her in this stage forever:


The first day of soccer season was also the first day of baseball season, so it was a pretty wild day.  Early in the morning Daniel took the older boys to their baseball opening ceremony, and then they met up with the rest of us  at the soccer fields for Lizza’s first game. 

This girl was born to be a soccer player.             


Everyone cheering her on. 


And also catching bugs:                                                                 


Lizza scoring her first goal.  Since it’s her first year and we didn’t know how well she would do, Daniel told her he would pay her $2 for any goals she makes this season (thinking maybe she would get one).  She’s already scored 10, and we’re not even halfway through the season.  She’s going to be an expensive little soccer player.

She was so funny to watch on the bench after she scored.  Before that point, she had been acting really intense and serious, and then here she is after – non-stop talking.  I’m sure she was replaying the whole thing to her friends:                                                           


After Lizza’s game we had time for a short lunch break, and then it was time for Rachel’s game.  This is her 3rd year playing, but the last two years neither of her coaches had ever coached before, and her teams never won a single game, so she still has no idea what she’s doing.  This year she’s with a much more experienced coach, so hopefully she’ll learn a little bit.  She’s just too nice and mellow to ever want to go kick the ball away from anyone.  We’ve tried telling her it’s okay to get a little aggressive out there, but it just doesn’t come naturally to her (which is just fine with me – it’s why she’s such an easy kid). 


After both soccer games were done, we all drove over to the baseball fields.  There was still an hour before the boys’ games started, so the little kids played at the playground while we waited:


Tristan and Oliver’s first games both started at the same time, on different fields.  Daniel is coaching Tristan’s team again this year, so he and Tristan headed over to their game, and the rest of us walked across the complex to watch Oliver play. 


Oliver’s game finished a lot earlier than Tristan’s, so we walked back over and were able to watch the end of Tristan’s game, too.                                                              


It was a long day, and everyone was pretty worn out by the time we finally got home that evening.  After I got all the kids fed and bathed and jammied, I found Henry and Cynthia reading together at the table.  Because there’s nothing like a good book (or Lego magazine, in Henry’s case) when you’ve been out all day watching soccer and baseball:

And speaking of reading, Henry has been having so much fun with his new skill.  He reads everything he can get his hands on:

Another night, some more readers, all cozy on the couch (with gloves on, even!  It must have been pretty chilly). 


At the end of February, Rachel and Lizza finished their latest gymnastics session at the rec center.  They’ve had a lot of fun doing it, and I love that it’s close, inexpensive, and they can be in the same class as each other.


But I’m pretty sure their favorite part is that they get a special medal after the last class. 


The end.