Pictures Finally On My Computer: February in Pictures

I don't like when I go this long without writing about our family happenings, but I have been stalling because I wanted to post precious pictures from my phone. So this post will share some precious photos that I may or may not have posted before.

Before that, here's a quick update about what we are experiencing now:

It is literally freezing outside. Last Saturday, I ran outside in shorts and a long-sleeve t-shirt, and wished I'd worn a short-sleeved t-shirt. Then, all this week, it snowed and we experiences subzero temperatures. We are not used to this in November. 

Update for Doug: he likes his new job, and had fun taking the kids sledding this weekend. He's happy his poor Cougars won this weekend.

Me: I have been busy teaching an English class, supervising teachers, teaching an evaluation course (where candidates who want to teach online for BYU-I engage in a two-week course to prove that they would be incredible assets to the university) and now a certification course, where the new teachers get trained prior to teaching for the school. I just started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone again, and it has been a pure pleasure. I am only a chapter or two in (because I have almost no down time) but I will take what I can get. My happy news is that I finally lost my baby weight.

Isaac: He just finished up swim team for the first time. He thought it was fun, especially because they played games at the end of every practice. At the meet, he pulled down his underwear and sweats in the pool area and was ready to change into his swim suit there. I frantically pulled up his clothes and ordered him to the men's locker room. It was pretty funny. Isaac just finished Diary of a Wimpy Kid and thought it was awesome.  He loves the snow and could play outside for hours.

Lucy: She can now read scriptures with us during our family scripture study, but reading is still a challenge for her. Numbers are also a stumbling block, although she can, at times, count to 100 and beyond. Her big news was that she passed off her Blue Book (which houses all the skills sets kindergartners should have by the end of the year). She did it within a week of when Isaac passed it off as a kindergartner, and she loved that. She has her first dance recital this week.

Brooklyn: What to say about this girl. . . She has an opinion about absolutely everything on earth, from the spoon, bowl, bib, chair, and cereal she will have in the morning to which outfit and hairstyle she will wear every day. Everything is a big deal to her, and we don't want her to grow up spoiled and entitled. But, um, for "a quiet life," we let her pick many things and remind her that, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit" when we choose something without first consulting her. It's not a great stage. She is adorable and precious--we just don't know the best way to let her make choices but not tantrum when someone else makes a choice without her direction. Any suggestions are welcome. For now, we try to be consistent and firm.

Cason: "most precious baby on the face of the planet" still rolls off the tongue when I think about him. He really is incredible. He is joyful, active, he loves our family, and he is my little cuddle bug. He can army crawl like a champ, and he and I lieterally race to the kitchen floor every morning so he can eat anything that got left there, and i can frantically sweep it away. He races the broom, or cuts off my sweeping and finds the goodies first. I don't remember this with any other kid, and it is pretty funny. We call him "Bonnie Knickers", "Snicker Knickers," "Cason Basin," and Doug says we call him "Boo Boo" (although I don't, personally). He is amazing.

So, without further updates, here are some precious pictures from when Cason was born. My plan is to move through time from that point to the present and post pictures so my kids have a record of the moments we captured up to now.

My mom or Peanut took this one on his second day of life.

Cason's first bath at home was about two minutes long and he screamed the whole time while we laughed.

After that, he passed out. You can see his fun pirate bedding and the beautiful blanket my mom made him.

This is how Cason' slept at our house. We rolled a blanket (this one was made by Kayla for Isaac), and then he slept on a soft blanket (this one was made by Allison, my friend and colleague at BYU-Idaho), and then I'd press a snuggly blanket across him (this one is the one my mom made him).

So that's it for round 1! Wahoo for making it through February. I'm getting somewhere!