February Fun

Some of the fun going on around our house over these last few weeks...

Kendall, John, Caroline and Merritt came to visit one weekend.  We love spending time with them!  The three "big girls" have a blast playing together, and I could just hold sweet little Merritt all day.  Look at those cheeks!  We went to the Aquarium on Saturday afternoon which was lots of fun.  The dolphin show was a big hit.  We're so thankful for this time with family!

 We were all so pumped for the Super Bowl this year!  The Smiths came over which is always fun.  We couldn't believe our Falcons were going to the big game.  Everything looked good until that 4th quarter, and we saw the Patriots win in overtime.  It was heartbreaking.  Honestly, we're still a little hurt.  Hey, we ended up with the 2nd best team in the NFL, and there's always next season, right?

 We decided to have a little fun with our Valentine's dinner this year.  I made some heart-shaped pastries with raspberries which were delicious.  The (attempted) heart-shaped bacon was fun as was the red-dyed scrambled eggs.  Pineapple, well, that's just always tasty.

 We had one of our favorite desserts afterwards!

 Each morning from February 1 through 14, the girls woke up to find a different heart on their mirrors.  This is such a fun way to pour a little encouragement and love into them.  Such a fun tradition.

 I love this girl.  She was sitting next to me doing her 39 Story Treehouse game book one evening, and I snapped a picture.  No reason other than I love her.

 Mia and Eliana had a fun time playing together at the school's babysitting fundraiser evening.  $10 for 4 hours of babysitting while the parents hit the Square.  We went to Two Birds Taphouse with the Mauszs and then met up with the Paynes for ice cream afterwards.  Fun evening all around! 

 I love this girl too.  We went to visit Meme one afternoon, and she put on a 30 minute concert for Meme and her roommate.  They both seemed to enjoy it a lot.  Lily is such a talented musician, and I love that she uses her talent to bring joy to others.

 Ryan made homemade maniesh one afternoon, and it was delicious!  This is one of his favorite Middle Eastern foods from his travels.  One of our overseas' friends sent him the recipe, he order zatar spices online, and he found the right cheese at the Jerusalem Bakery.  We're all asking him to make this again soon!

 I love that Lily still loves playing with Legos.  I snapped these two pictures because I love when she sets up whole imaginary cities.  This one is of the amusement park with all its rides, food stands and fun.

 This creation uses lots of the Elves sets, but she had different people playing games everywhere.  Some were playing Red Rover, some Hide and Seek, some Statues in the Park, etc.  I love when her creativity comes out!

 Last weekend we took the girls to see Ringling Brothers and Barnun and Bailey Circus.  They are on their farewell tour.  It's hard to believe this institution is closing after over a hundred years of performing.  We all had a fantastic time.  The tigers, poodles and camels were of course big hits, as were the incredible acrobats.  The snowcones were fun too!  At one point, before being told that the circus was closing, Mia looked up at me with big eyes and said "I'm never going to forget the circus!  I'm going to dream about this every night!"  She later decided she no longer wants to be an iFly instructor; now she wants to be a tiger tamer!

Lily was super excited to make the Cambridge House team for the Geography Bee (Grades 2-4).  She was even more excited when they won!  This was her 3rd year in a row to compete, though the last two years have been as an individual; this was the first team competition.  In 2nd grade, she placed 3rd.  In 3rd grade, she placed 2nd.  Now, in 4th grade, her team placed 1st!  They did a great job!

 Last night Ryan and I had a great date night going to dinner at Bistro Niko and then going to the Tony Bennett concert.  The man's a legend!  He's the last of his kind, so we were glad to have this opportunity.  It's hard to believe he's 90 years old!  It was a very fun show at Symphony Hall.