February

Now here was a fun month! I found an incredible deal on airline tickets last fall, so for my birthday and Christmas, I arranged to take a trip home to Arizona. It just happened to be my Mother's 60th birthday, so that was a great excuse. Adam was a pretty super traveler, especially on the leg where we had an extra seat.

My Mom's sisters also came out for part of the time we were there and I hadn't seen them in years, so that was a treat as well. They are a hoot! We ate and laughed and shopped and laughed some more!

Jane loved the attention and has since been asking if she can be "Gama Smyf's yittle girl because she doesn't have a yittle girl at her house anymore". I told her I would miss her too much--and that's the truth:)

Happy Birhday Mom-love you!!!

Then we came home to more party for our amazing Daddy. Aaron is such an awesome husband and father! He takes time each night to do something with the kids, whether it's playing a game or having them help him with a fix-it project or watch one of their beloved 'universe' or 'How it's Made' shows. They always love this time with Dad. He is also a tremendous help to me by surprising me with cleaning up the dishes or getting the kids to pick up the house before bed. I love how he works humor into any situation to diffuse the tension, especially with the kids. When someone starts whining or getting emotional over something small like not getting to sit by who they want to at dinner, we like to name all the things that would be good to whine or cry about like if a dinosaur sat on our house or if all we could eat for a year were slimy potatoes:) Happy 33rd Daddy!

And randomly, here is Porter's 3rd grade flamingo project, completely his idea and work...

...and how we found Jane asleep one night in the hallway upstairs. She's been a bit obsessed with play money lately...hmm maybe too obsessed.