Perler Beads, Sharpie Markers& Other Things

Penelope had her 6 months appointment this week and I can't believe how much she is growing. She's gained 2 pounds since her last appointment at the end of December! She now weighs 15 pounds 7 ounces and she is 26 inches long. I blame the growth on all her late night feedings- she still typically wakes up twice a night :( 

This week Penelope also started rolling over- both tummy to back and back to tummy. Whenever she rolls onto her tummy she immediately starts fussing, she absolutely hates being on her tummy. Also this week, Penny discovered that she enjoys the taste of her feet: 

As for Steven and Ben, they developed an obsession with Perler Beads this week:

They discovered Perler Beads when they went to our neighbor's house last weekend. They had so much fun with them there that I decided to buy some for our house. T'm glad I did because it keeps them very entertained on these cold days (yes- it's still ridiculously cold outside!). 

However, the only thing entertaining about Perler Beads to Lucy is how "pretty" they look when she throws them everywhere. She is not to be trusted with them. But we do trust her with pencils, see:

Benjamin had quite a week. He practiced writing his name a lot:

He also practiced drawing with Sharpie on the bathroom counter, the toilet and the walls in his bathroom and his room:

You can't see any of it in this picture but trust me, it was there. It was EVERYWHERE! I had a major flip out and thought for sure our Land Lord was going to kick us out but thanks to Google, I discovered the miraculous power of hand sanitizer and all was well.

Ben also went to a birthday party this week (a son of someone I visit teach). I think it's safe to say he had a good time:

On a totally random note, how chubby does Lucy look in this picture!?:

And as we end this week, we have to say goodbye to Grams. We have been so blessed to have her here this whole month and life is going to be tough without her. She has been a huge help and a friend to me. BUT I know she is super excited to be warm again and I know she can't stay with us forever so...So long, farewell! We love you Grams! 

Bone Chillin' Cold

And the adjective for this last week *drum roll please* was:

COLD!

Poor Grams has had to deal with all sorts of record setting cold temperatures this week. We're talking negative to the -teenth degree temperatures with plenty of windchill, should probably at least have a shirt on kind of cold (Oh Lucy!): 

We're talking you best wear a hat that Grams made you when you go outside or you might lose your ears kind of cold:

 We're talking sit by the heater vent and still feel cold kind of cold:

 We're talking no school because we don't want little ones to die of frost bite so you best take some silly selfies instead kind of cold: 

 We're talking your last front tooth falls out because your gums froze over kind of cold:

(OK, slight exaggeration, his tooth did not fall out because of the cold...or did it...?)

We're talking there's not much else to do beside stay inside and play obnoxious tunes on your keyboard kind of cold:

(Have I mentioned that I'm beginning to regret my decision to buy this for Steven for his birthday)

We're talking...OK, that's enough of that but suffice to say it was cold this week and that meant we stayed inside a lot and cabin fever was definitely felt at moments but somehow we kept our cool through it all :)

Can you see her cute pie teethers?

Will you be my Valentine?

Well I am relieved to say that this week was a lot less challenging than last week, mostly because Penelope decided to be better behaved. We did discover the reason for all her crankiness and sleepless nights last week though- teeth! She's got two little bottom teeth breaking through. They're quite cute, if only they weren't such a pain for all parties involved!

This week consisted of running errands (way too many trips to Walmart), haircuts(I got bangs!), Steven's actual birthday (he got a to go on a dinner date to Subway with Grandma), making primary teacher gifts ("Happy Burst Day!"), visiting teaching (Lucy threw a royal tantrum because the lady I visit taught wanted her to have her snack at the table and she DID NOT want too), and Valentine's Day festivities (I got to go into Steven's class for their Valentine's Day party and I was so impressed by how well behaved 46 first graders were!).

And here are our bazillion Valentine's Day Pictures.We did our traditional heart cookie making, decorating and eating for Valentine's Day:

We got lots of snow Valentine's Day Morning and then the rest of the day was freezing cold:

I gave each of the kids a little something for Valentine's Day because I love them so much:

Tyler got me this beautiful bouquet, along with yummy candy:

Since Tyler lost his wedding ring (for the third time) I got him 2 wedding rings. Now he has a back up ring in cases he loses one again:

For our Valentine's Day date we did a session at the Detroit Temple. The sun is pretty bright when reflecting off snow, hence major squinty eyes:

And random silliness and cuteness:

Steven's 7th Birthday Celebrations

For our kids' birthdays we used to just have big parties with all the extended family. Now that we are far away from our extended family we have to change things up. For Steven's birthday this year we decided to let him pick one activity for us to do as a family and then we'd have cake and ice cream with the neighbors. We also decided to celebrate Steven's birthday the weekend before his birthday since Tyler will be up North on his actual birthday.

The activity he picked was to go to the Michigan Science Center. That was such a great choice. It finally got us out of the house and everyone had a great time. The kids never wanted to leave any of the exhibits, we kept having to drag them onto the next ones. We got a membership so we will definitely be going back there.

Steven & Ben inside a "furnace":

Lucy helping to make roads:

Penny was actually super the content the whole time. The center had lots of lights and noises and I think that kept her entertained:

'

Grandma & Lucy crossing the "Mackinac bridge":

Oh no! My family is turning into couch potatoes!:

Lucy the Pig, Benny the Fish & Steven the Frog:

 '

I love that Ben picked up this Pineapple and then requested that I take his picture. SUCH a poser!:

In this room our shadows changed colors!:

Sunday night we had cake and ice cream with the neighbors. Steven really hasn't had much to do with "Star Wars," he hasn't even seen the movies but has seen seen LEGO movies that have Star Wars characters and for his birthday he requested a Darth Vader cake. Tyler complied and the cake turned out pretty awesome:

I told the neighbors not to bring gifts but they didn't listen. He got an awesome remote control truck from our German neighbors and some Hot Wheels and candy from our neighbors next door.

His big gift from us and Grandma and Grandpa Brady was an electronic keyboard. He was pretty happy with it, though not surprised since he had seen it in the back of the van when we bought it...

He also got a Minecraft Calendar from us and his Grandma Brady made him a Ninjago Pillow Case cover. He is one lucky kid! Here he is cutting the cake

And here is everyone pigging out! Fun times!

I'm still in shock that Steven turns 7 this week! I forget sometimes that he's not my little boy anymore. He is reading whole books, adding double digit numbers, spouting off facts about tornadoes, attending Boy Scout events, helping me with Penny, playing Video Games like a champ, drawing awesome detailed pictures and basically just being a 7 year old. One more year and this kid gets baptized. Pure craziness!