A Farewell to February...07/52 and 08/52

I don't think I've ever been so happy to turn the page on our little family calendar. 

February was a challenging month for us, but we survived! 

A fresh start. 

Only a few days in and we are already loving March. We are looking forward to a little vacation with friends in a couple of weeks, celebrating Eli's birthday at the end of the month, and a few other fun celebrations along the way. 

Before we move on though...I finally cleared my memory card and wanted to document some of our February happenings...

Valentine's Day

Just realized this is actually a random picture of Julian's birthday cake...it was yummy. 

So far Eli is the only one with enough patience for ukulele lessons. 

Flowers from my boys.

Valentine's Day was a quiet, restful day for us this year. It happened to fall on an off Friday, so Julian was home the whole day and we took the opportunity to be a bit lazy. It felt like a mid-month breather sandwiched between 4 very tiring weeks. 

Julian made me some of my favorite cookies because I wasn't feeling very well, and the boys got me flowers. We had a few treats and talked about the reasons we love each other. 

It was definitely a sweet day filled with love. 

Earlier in the week, Max had his first Valentine's Day party at school, and he was so proud that he could sign them all by himself. 

He's growing up quick. 

07/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014."

Max: The following conversation took place on Valentine's Day...

Max- "I want to get Mommy another present."

Julian- "I think Mommy would like some peace and quiet."

Max- Walks over to me, offers me the piece of chicken he was just chewing, and says, "Here Mommy, here's a piece of chicken I chewed quietly."

That's love. 

Eli: Is a big Lumineers fan, and he gets all of the "ho's" and hey's"  right when Ho Hey comes on. 

Jump!

We've made a couple trips to our local Jumpstreet and it's a new favorite for the boys. 

I spent a substantial portion of my childhood out on our trampoline in the backyard, so it's fun to see the boys enjoying the same activity. 

08/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014."

Eli: Sometimes he comes over to me (or Max, or Julian), lifts up his shirt, points to his belly and asks to be tickled. He laughs like you've caught him by surprise, a hearty belly laugh, and always begs for more as soon as you stop. 

Max: He's working hard on phonics and reading at school and getting good at guessing what letters/sounds words start and end with. I find myself trying to explain to him why "one" doesn't start with "w" and why "cereal" doesn't start with "s"...both of us are a bit frustrated with the English language at the moment. 

Boulder/Planetarium Trip

We took a little day trip up to Boulder to meet friends a couple of weeks ago and the boys had their first visit to a planetarium. 

It's always fun to visit our old stomping grounds and reminisce about our days as graduate students. 

Boulder!

Playing with moon rovers and such. 

Experimenting with orbiting marbles. 

The first part of the show was the good old science based planetarium experience and the kids were loving it. Then, in true Boulder fashion, it took a turn into some sort of trippy "laser show".

This was a bit frightening for the little ones (and us adults too), so we headed out. 

We grabbed pizza for lunch and walked up and down Pearl street, making a stop at a classic toy store. 

I think Eli liked the Boulder energy. 

It was a fun little day trip...we may need to visit a regular planetarium at some point though, Max is now terrified of lasers. 

FoCo Trip

Not many pictures to share from this trip, but we had another little day trip up to Fort Collins last week, it was a great little get away and a little celebration that Julian's big Gate Review projects were finally over. 

We met my Mom for breakfast at one of my favorite breakfast spots, The Silver Grill Cafe, and we all shared one of their divine cinnamon rolls. 

Bliss.

We also had a sweet dinner with Natalie, Jared, and their girls. Natalie is an amazing hostess and already had the table ready to go when we arrived...this picture is for me to reference in the future! 

We did a quick family photo swap and I look forward to sharing those pictures soon...

Finally, a random picture of the boys wearing matching outfits to music class one day. These two have been troopers this month in the midst of Daddy working long hours, and Mommy not feeling so well and disappearing nearly every evening to go to tutoring. 

I continue to be grateful for my camera. I barely used it the past few weeks, but as I look back at these pictures I am reminded of the good times we had, we got by with a little help from our friends/family. 

Farewell, February!

March, we welcome you with open arms.