The Barbour Shop: February 2011

February 1- school, baked brownies with cailey, discovered ephram is deathly afraid of spaghetti playdoh and worms (and he learned the word scared), listened to braden read, made a new recipe with the kiddos for dinner, and got lots of hugs.

February 2- school, heard more screaming from e with play doh, played with it with kinsey for hours, listened to piano lessons, read the bible with cailey, played math games with k, did lots of listening to reading, ran to the Y to sign c up for swimming lessons, made an HT run, sent the kiddos to awana, and went outside with the kiddos while they played in the 75 degree weather.

February 3- school with the kiddos, games with kinsey, listened to k read 'go dog go' (with help), made a picnic lunch for the kiddos to have outside in the 30's, watched them play outside in wagons and cars, had a great talk with cailey, played with braden, read lots of books to e (who sits for them now!), and got a great package from mom.

February 4- woke to cold and rain, went to co op for the first time and had a great time teaching with kelly, listened to tales of co op stories from the kiddos, watched them march in rain boots with umbrellas while cooking them soup, breadsticks, and making pudding for their lunch, did a devotional with cailey, read with kinsey, played with the boys, and sent the big kids off to a magic show while e stayed home and played with me:).

February 5- all woke up to another wet cold day, spent the day inside building huge forts, playing games, reading books, playing piano, reading devotions, making yummy food, playing old maid, playing wii, chasing, laughing, talking, and taking LONG baths.

February 6- woke to sunshine, church, cleaning day, lots of outside play, choir, super bowl get together at the williams, laughing, talking, watching, hugging, late bedtimes, and football cake.

February 7- ran three with beth and kelly (SUPER hard for me after so much time off), school, cleaned, read with the kiddos, did teamwork getting dinner cooked, had a molar teething boy, listened to kinsey read, play word problem games with the biggest kids, had a blast helping harrison, and had the williams over for dinner.

February 8- school, ran 3 with beth, played lots of peek a boo, head/shoulders, and ring around the rosie, enjoyed watching kinsey have a blast in the sand box, remembered meeting my sweet baby a year ago today, heard sweet words from cailey, found out i was turning 34 instead of 33 when kinsey told me (seriously...TOTALLY convinced i was 33), and went out for a nice dinner with the girls for my birthday.

February 9- got an early wake up call, breakfast in bed, a necklace, and a banner from cailey, heard lots of little voices sing "happy birthday" to me all day, did school, took K to the doctor for an impromptu appointment b/c she couldn't breathe, picked up medicine, did three breathing treatments for her, got sweet calls from my friends, read tons of books to kinsey and sick (same virus as kinsey) ephram while the big kids had a blast at crazy hair night at AWANAS, and watched homecoming videos of baby ephram.

February 10- woke to a snow dusted ground, celebrated ephram's gotcha day ALL DAY LONG, did school, watched the big kids have a gumball 'picking up' contest, took pics of ephram with his monkey hat...but the snow had melted, did play doh, do a dots, stickers, and heart crafts with the littlest two while the oldest two did school work, watched ephram eat off the B plate, sang lots, watched all the kids adoption/baby videos, had a great talk with braden, and felt a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders (shamrock).

February 11- had fun at co op, baked with the kiddos, watched them ride bikes, curled the girls hair and got them 'fancy' for their dinner out and daddy/daughter dance, took lots of pictures, went on a double date with braden, ephram, kelly, and her boys, listened to tales of a great night of dancing, and had a super fun time with the boys and kell at Jason's Deli and Target:).

February 12- ran 5 with beth (YAY!), cleaned the closet, had the three big kids playing outside in the sunshine all day, sent braden off to a go see it to the Veterinarian with brian, loved hearing all about Braden's field trip...he learned SO much! enjoyed girl scouts cookies with the fam, ephram was a sad teething boy (getting 4 eye teeth and two molars), had baked potato and salad bar (one of the kids fav's) for dinner, and had wii night!

February 13- went to crossroads and had cailey try out a new class with emily, went out to lunch with the speiers, had a grump-a-lump of a baby :(, played outside with the WHOLE fam, loved playing baseball, soccer, watching them ride bikes, etc, went out on a date to the mall with Brian and ephram while the biggest kids were at bib st./choir, loved hearing ephram talk so much in his sweet, sweet voice, and saw some cute crafts made at bible study!

February 14- ran 3 miles with cailey:), made red velvet pancakes and pink milk, watched them be consumed joyfully, did some school, met the klicks at the park to play and picnic, more school, made lots of crafts with the kiddos for V day, had a parade around the house, went to Amante for make your own pizza night, had great family play/bible time, gave a small gift to each one, and got sweet cards and a surprise from Brian.

February 15- ran 3, had a super tough school day...worst to date:(, prayed, prayed, tutored a friend, prayed, had a grumpy baby, rejoiced when brian came home, hugged, sang, rocked, sat with kinsey in the spud bag, listened to reading, found pencil marks on the walls and furniture, prayed, hugged, spent hours late at night getting ready for a MUCH needed grocery trip/stock up for super doubles.

February 16- woke to an encouraging phone call from kelly, sang 'this is the day' with the kiddos, had a GREAT and fun school day, worked on hearts...a lot, prayed, went to HT for a quick SD run, read, made a word wall for kinsey, played fun 'learning' games with the oldest two, still had a grumpy baby:(, served at awanas, and made a late night run to HT.

February 17- busy day starting with school, grocery store, cooking, playdate with the hileman's, watched the kids play for hours (happily digging for 'chocolate and dark chocolate') in our tiny backyard, cheered on obstacle course racers, sang songs for musical chairs, baked cookies, didn't tutor A, played math games with kinsey, more outside play, had klicks over for dinner, heard lots of giggling, watched all the girls 'camp' in the living room, had a talk with cailey, and wrote my biggest girl a poem and letter to surprise her under her pillow at bedtime.

February 18- ran 7 miles with beth (YAY!), watched alex:), playdate with kelly, park date with friends, LOTS of outside play today, lots of 'teachable moments' for ephram with sharing, hitting, and NOT screaming (way more everyday), heard, "NO" when i asked ephram to do something...for the first time (terrible 2's beginning??), surprised the kiddos when auntie anne came after dinner (and they ATTACKED her:), kiddos had wii night with her, organized the closet w/ help from anne, and caught up..oh...and cailey got a slumber party with her too!

February 19- woke up to an early 'frantic' phone call, gave the kiddos cinnamon rolls for breakfast, did an ht run with anne, went to shelley lake with the everyone to feed the ducks/geese and play in the beautiful weather, took the three oldest roller skating for the first time (with anne) and had a BLAST!!, came home to an awesome dinner of baked ziti, bread, and meatballs thanks to brian who also made our sauce for two months, hung out with the kiddos and anne more, ate together, said goodbye, and crashed with lots of snuggles.

February 20- church, lots of outside play, choir, shopping, reading, snuggling, lots of poems and songs with the littlest, bible study, found out cailey got a speaking part and solo in her musical, tickles, and hugs.

February 21- ran 3 miles, brian had the day off...had fun plans that got canceled b/c of a rough never ending school day, awesome frozen deals at target, lots of outside play, awesome reading from kinsey, date with kinsey, busy big kids, prayed, had a sad baby who loved books, and crashed.

February 22- drove to hang out with the welch's!, kiddos went to a homeschool PE class, ephram had a MAJOR blowout diaper and had to be changed in a parking lot:(, ran 3 miles faster than ever (PR), chatted with laura all day, had a sick boy who went through many diapers and had to have a bath, kiddos played outside pretty much all day...happily!, LOVED my time with L...and loved the conversation with cailey on the way home while braden and kinsey slept.

February 23- did normal life. (games, school, talked, prayed, awana, looked for lost awana books, baked) cleaned up fish food...100's of wipes....cd's, stickers on walls and furniture....crayons...and lots of other naughty things kinsey got into during her playtime with ephram. yep. she's five. we should be done with this by now. did play doh with ephram, read lots of books to e, laced beads and sorted w/ e.

February 24- school, watched Alex playdate at borders and Moe's with 5 ladies and 15 kids (so much fun!), more school, cut out lots of clown parts, baked brian's favorite cheesecake for his birthday tomorrow, played LOTS, tutored A, gave brian his gifts from us since we'll be out tomorrow night, and went to Golden Corral (his fav) with the fam.

February 25- ran 7 EARLY with beth in the warm WIND, brought brian cfa for his birthday breakfast, sang lots with the kiddos, did circus at co op, dropped braden off for a playdate with jackson, played outside with the kiddos, made them 'fruit on a cloud' and pizza rolls for lunch (per cailey's request), helped cailey get ready for her talent show performance (including outfit and hair:), talked with my big girl, watched them all play outside, went to the talent show with the fam, cheered on my biggest girl, surprised cailey with a unicorn she had been wanting:) (after her performance), watched ephram steal the show up on stage with the juggler, surprised brian with his favorite birthday cheesecake, and loved watching the kiddos tackle him with birthday tickles.

February 26- had a sunny, lazy, laundry, clean the house, get packed for GWL kind of day. went to braden's blue and gold banquet for scouts where we ate a yummy dinner, took pics of the the kiddos with a parrot, celebrated the scouts, and watched a magic show.

February 27- surprised the kids by going to Great Wolf Lodge when they thought we were going to church (never lied...just didn't say anything:), LOVED seeing the looks on their faces (confused, excited, etc.), played dj on the way and made everyone happy, had a super fun time with the fam and klicks going down slides, swimming, climbing, taking pics, pj story time, did relay races and 20 questions in the room while we were waiting, and surprised the oldest two again by letting them go to the arcade LATE:)! FUN day!

February 28- didn't get a lot of sleep b/c of sweet baby boy in our hotel room, another day filled with water park fun, no lines, had great one on one time with all by taking them on slides by themselves, got to snuggle with a sleeping baby on me, watched ephram go down the baby slides over and over (without screaming), surprised the kiddos one more time by meeting their cousins and Leigh at CFA for dinner:), and drove home in the pouring rain with four children who slept from 6 on.

cailey and kinsey...so cute! ephram and carter had so much fun on the sit n spin together:)!

we had a week off of co op so we went to the klick's house for a playdate then on to the park for a picnic and some play time!

snack break...we had lots of kiddos there!

after playing inside at the klicks for a while we went to a 'new to us' park nearby and the kiddos had a blast playing on the equipment! it was pretty warm out and there was no shade so this park is perfect for cooler days...not so much on hot days. we met molly, liz, and amy (from co op) there so the kiddos had tons of friends to play with. since cailey was the oldest she spent most of her time following Charlotte (amy's sweet blonde 19 month old) around helping her on the swings and slide. She keeps saying she wants to be a mothers helper but is particularly drawn to little girls. the boys GREATLY outnumbered the girls so ephram and braden had a blast!

for some reason they were fascinated with the broken picnic table and liked climbing and sitting on it.

check out all those boys!

kinsey loved the monkey bars, flipping on the bars, and the 'repelling' bar! ephram loved the sand toys.

ephram kept trying to run out of the picture:)

after playing outside for most of the day at the park and friends houses the kiddos came home and played outside some more! they are really loving this warm weather in February.