February Randomness

February was a very busy, very crazy month for us! 

We started out the month with a big scare from Kevin. He was experiencing a LOT of chest pain for a few days and when it got so bad he could hardly breathe, we decided it was time to go to the hospital. After many tests and some very funny looks (as doctors tried to figure out how someone as healthy as Kevin could be having heart problems) we learned that Kevin had an infection in his lung sack called Pleurisy. They sent him home with a BIG bill and instructions to stop working out for a few days and take some Ibuprofen. It was a little frustrating that they couldn't do anything else for him, but he managed.

The funniest part of the whole experience was that Kevin is SO healthy and has such a healthy heart, that he kept setting off the heart monitor alarm because his resting heart rate is so low. They actually had to send someone in to recalibrate the machine so it would stop beeping! And every nurse and doctor that walked in the room and looked at Kevin's vitals immediately asked him if he works out! It was pretty awesome!

A more fun thing that happened in February was that Brooklyn learned how to read! With the help of some phonics books that Grandma sent out and some fun new apps on the iPod, she picked it up in no time and now enjoys reading stories to US at bedtime instead of us reading to her :)

And remember our pet rats? Yeah, they've taken over our home! I have woken up many times to find two little girls and a rat sharing my pillow and have even turned around in the shower to find a little rat bathing around my ankles! Sometimes Kevin even lets them pretend to be Ratatouille and cook with him :) And the girls...well they have napped with the rats, taken them on walks, spent hours climbing trees and watching TV with them, dressed the rats in Barbie clothes, and shared many unwanted meals with the little creatures. Needless to say, they are quickly becoming a part of our family and the day they step into little rat heaven will be a difficult day indeed!

Ummm... and this picture is just random!

February 12th was Lily's birthday and she received an animal towel just like Brooklyn did on her birthday. Post-bath time has now turned into an amazing animal adventure, every time!

For Valentines day we fed our ward missionaries who had no where to go on the day of love :) The next day Kevin and I were able to get a babysitter and go out for dinner at Carrabba's! It was so nice to have  a little adult conversation FREE from long stories about ponies and butterflies taking over the world and painting rainbows on every building.

February also welcomed into our family 2 new nieces! One from Kevin's side of the family, and one from mine! We are so excited for the new additions and hope that it won't be long before we can see them face to face!

Our local grocery store had a stellar deal this February where if you bought a chest freezer from them, they would give you the price of the freezer in FREE food! We needed the freezer anyway so we jumped on the deal and are now up to our ears in frozen pizza and microwavable taquitos! Woohoo!

February also marked the start of a new tradition...MOVIE NIGHT! Every weekend, Kevin picks one night where we build up forts and fun little beds and watch movies with the girls whilst eating popcorn and other unhealthy goodies :) Best. Idea. EVER!

Brooklyn has recently shown an incredible desire to serve. A few days after Lily's birthday I was trying to do laundry but did not have enough time to fold it after it came out of the dryer. Several hours into the day I finally went up to get it done and found Brooklyn, happily singing to herself while she worked hard to fold all our clothes and put them away :) I sure love that girl!

Many of you know that Kevin bikes to and from work every day. Most of the winter last year and this year was so mild that biking was totally possible. But toward the end of February the snow finally started to come down and Kevin could no longer bike to work. Solution? He left 30 minutes earlier and WALKED instead...in the freezing snow! It will come as no surprise to those who know Kevin well that, he LOVED it, and even found some interesting things on his journey, including a squirrel who was running around with his tail ripped off. YIKES!

The snow also meant the Brooklyn and daddy were finally able to build a snow man in our front yard for all the world to see. I don't think Brooklyn is ever happier than when she gets to build snowmen. Incidentally, she rarely cries so hard as she does when said snowmen begin to melt!

Last but not least, with all the stress of birthday parties, preschool, and just raising children, Kevin decided to start giving me more frequent breaks by taking the girls out on daddy daughter dates. I relished in the hours of silence that followed, and Kevin and the girls had a BLAST spending quality time together and eating delicious cheeseburgers at good ol' McDonald's!

Lily's 3rd Birthday Party!

February 12th, 2013 marked Lily's 3rd birthday, and because we had thrown Brooklyn her first big party when she was three, we thought it only fair to ask Lily if she would like a big party as well. I have to admit though, I really didn't think she would say yes since pretty much the only communication that went on between us during that time was a series of meows and miniature cat seizures from her while I tried to convince her to act like a human! To my surprise however, she said yes... and then she proceeded to tell me that she would like a kitty party with a pink kitty cake and she wanted me to crochet kitty dolls for the 10 friends she invited (I didn't even know she knew that many kids!). She was so specific (and so cute) that we just couldn't resist giving her exactly what she wanted. Thus...

We started preparing! Kevin helped by making an AMAZING pink kitty cake for Lily with fondant and butter cream frosting. It turned out great and tasted good too!

I busied myself with decorations and a LOT of crocheting! I made little kitties for the girls and some puppies for the boys. Nothing too extreme, but it was still a bit time consuming.

When the big day rolled around and the kiddos started trickling in, we sent them downstairs to play in the playroom until all the guests arrived.

Once everyone was accounted for we let them "adopt" a pet that would help them with the rest of the games for the day.

When every child was paired with a pet, we sent them to the table to make collars for their little friends.

I was surprised at how focused and excited the kids were about making the collars. They all worked so hard and the end result was quite adorable!

Then the kids took their pets with them to go on a mouse hunt where they found mouse suckers all over the house to put in their bags. (Tutorial can be found HERE.) After the mouse hunt, we let the kitties help us toss bean bag fishes back into their bowls. It mostly involved the little kids walking up to the bowls and dropping the fish in, but the older kids really got into it and had some pretty good shots! (Tutorial for fish bean bags can be found HERE.)

After games we served pizza and grapes while the kids watched Aristocats.

This little boy had a sucker stuck to his foot while he was eating lunch and I thought the picture really showcased the fun chaos that we experienced throughout the day :)

After lunch Lily got to open her presents. It was fun to see her excitement over her new gifts, but even more fun to see her pour out gratitude to all her little friends.

Once all the presents were opened and stashed away, we busted into the beautiful cake that Kevin made.

The cake was a huge hit and a great way to end the party!

And just for fun, here is a video of Lily blowing out her candles: