{iPhone Rewind} :: February

The men's ministry hosted a chili cook-off, and Mike was excited to submit an entry!

I don't know how he's comfortable, but he sits like this ALL the time...

41: birthday signs, cookie cake, homemade cards, vouchers for mommy getaways, brunch with sweet ministry women, lunch at McAlister's, ice cream samplers, birthday messages, adorable handmade gifts from talented friends

Family game night started with Jenga :)

The girl is obsessed with bacon

Enjoying the warm up before another round of snow

Celebrating Chinese New Year!

We had the good kind of snow- enough to build a giant snowman!

Valentine Love

I love that our kids love Valentine's Day, and that they get excited about celebrating each other. They are starting to take more ownership of making their own cards, writing their own notes for Mike and I, as well as each other. And it's just the sweetest thing.

We don't do a ton for Valentine's Day, but I do try to find them small things to tell them how much we love them. It usually includes chocolate and Dollar Tree finds. I love that that they still get excited about coloring books and simple crafts {and Yoto cards are still a big win for us!}  :)

The kids made sweet cards for me and Mike, and they even made cards for each other. Mike surprised me with another pair of Celtic knot earrings from Brighton, and we enjoyed breakfast-for-dinner as a special way to wrap up our Valentine's Day as a family.

I'm so thankful for ALL of my sweet Valentines :)

{iPhone Rewind} :: January

Maddie made us a "New Year" sign

Enjoying chocolate covered pretzels leftover from our Community Group New Year's Eve party :)

Our friend C had a birthday party at Pinot's Palette, and we got to enjoy a morning of painting!

We had McCullough Christmas over Zoom, and all the cousins got to open presents while wearing matching sweatshirts that Aunt Lindsay made them!

Aiden got an orb for Christmas, and it has been zooming around our house {and getting stuck on the tops of bookshelves} all throughout the month.

We have started some computer adventures! Eli and Madde are learning to type, starting with the basics.

These are the days...

Granny brought some fun Bible books, and Aiden spent hours working on them :)

Miss Scarlett went on a mission trip to Jamaica and brought back some Jamaican money for the kids!

Waiting for fresh-baked cookies!

We got a little snow teaser early in the month

We had just finished reading about how Joseph had experienced repeated bad things in his life. Our next subject was cursive handwriting, and Aiden said that "this was the baddest thing he had experienced in his life." Haha. Tough life as a 2nd grader.

We also got a cold temp teaser...

Our church had a family game night, and the kids had a blast!

I will never get tired of this view...

Working hard :)

A little chess on a cold day

And some pretty flowers on a cold day :)

Snow Days 2026!

We got our first big snow of the year! We had a couple of days of snow earlier in the season {in December and January}, but nothing has actually stuck. So when we heard that this weather system was coming, we were excited that we might get some good snow days.

On Sunday, we woke up to a few inches of snow, and it continued all day long. But we knew we needed to enjoy it early, because the snow quickly turned to sleet. But also not too early...we had to hold the kids back so the neighbors could sleep haha!

The snow plow came pretty early too, and the kids LOVE that it dumps the cul-de-sac snow right in front of our house. It just means more snow to play in! We spent the morning sledding in the front yard, shoveling it {for fun}, and trying to stay warm.

Proof that Mommy played in the snow for a little bit too ;)

It was fun to have neighbors come over and play, too!

Mike took the kids out sledding at a bigger hill later in the afternoon, so they had their fill of snow for the day. And is tradition, we were able to warm up inside with hot chocolate and a warm fire :)

On Monday, the snow and sleet had stopped, so the kids were able to play out in the snow again! But it also meant we had to spend the day shoveling {the not so fun part of snow}. We are so thankful for our neighbors, as it became a whole cul-de-sac effort to clear driveways and dig out cars. 

The temperatures are not supposed to get above freezing until next week sometime, and they are even talking about the possibility of more snow this coming weekend. So this snow/ice is going to stick around for awhile. The kids certainly don't mind...they have been out every day this week, and it is giving them just a little extra motivation to get their schoolwork done, so they can go out and play!

Granny Comes to Town

This past week, we got a fun visit from Granny! She came prepared with fun activities for each holiday of the year. So we celebrated Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, all in one week. The kids really looked forward to celebrating the next holiday each day :)

It was pretty cold while she was here, so we didn't get to do much outside, but the kids were content to play games all day. I'm pretty sure it will be too soon before Granny sees another game of Labyrinth or Carcassonne, considering how many rounds she patiently played while she was here! :)

We did throw in a few random, new games

There was also lots of coloring :)

We loved having Granny here, and we look forward to the next trip!