February

The month of February is quickly leaving my memory so I thought I'd better sit down and write out all of the fun and exciting things that we did.  First off, I am very aware that February is a month that a lot of people would like to take out of the calendar because it is a bit of a dreary month but ours was a lot of fun!!

Carson had a dentist appointment at the beginning of the month.  I was really dreading this appointment because he is so scared of anything dentist related (kind of like me, only he doesn't have that filter that tells him "don't make a scene in public" so he just freely yells, screams, hits, cries, kicks...whatever makes him feel better.)  We walked in and as we were headed back to the crying room (lest he scare all of the other children) one of the hygienist said to the one assigned to Carson "yell if you need me..." That is never a good sign.  Anyway...he walked into the room, climbed up into the chair, let them lay it ALL the way back, accepted their Batman blanket, wore the sunglasses, watched the movie, laughed when they "tickled" his teeth, didn't mind "Mr. Thirsty" (the mouth sucker thingy), laughed when they squirted cold water and was just generally a MODEL patient!!  We were all so surprised we didn't know what to do.  The dentist came in and said "well...I think we've turned a corner" which meant "Yay!!  I didn't get kicked in the face this visit!!"  You think I'm joking but he has managed to kick a few doctors in the face with his awesome ninja (or neeenja, as Gary would say) skills!!  He had no cavities (I even got praised for my awesome home care skills...I didn't confess that we are not the best at that...I just took the compliment).  He did say that Carson probably should have ortho work and I can only imagine how Carson will go for that but maybe he'll be okay.

Not the clearest picture but look at that laid-back kid with the smile on his face!!

Kinsey officially entered the MTC (Missionary Training Center) on February 4.  I got to talk to her for a few minutes before she went in.  She was mostly excited but also nervous.   Her roommates and friends took her since I couldn't.  Here are some pictures:

Emily went on her first date.  They went to see the musical that the middle school was putting on.  Her date doesn't have his license yet so she had to drive.  He didn't have money to pay for the tickets so I paid for them.  He got really annoyed with her when she clapped and told her to clap softly with her hands together...just tapping her fingers!  He was a pretty quirky date but all the girls love him and she was pretty lucky that he was free to go with her so she didn't mind putting up with his weird behavior. 

Admit it...you'd put up with his quirks if you had a chance to go out with him!!

Gary and I got to chaperone the youth temple trip to San Antonio.  That's one of my favorite things to do.  We had a bit of a tense situation when we pulled into the parking lot.  Carson had been pretty happy the entire 2 hour drive but I learned that was because he was expecting us to stop for donuts first.  When we got to the temple without having eaten a single donut...duh.duh.duh...he was a teensy bit annoyed and refused to get out of the car.  We promised him a hamburger on the way home so that calmed the donut beast.  Other than that, it was a perfect day.

Jared did something that none of our other kids have ever done...he got a job while still in high school.  He started working at Main Event.  He is enjoying it and I think it is a great learning opportunity for him but he doesn't get home until after midnight on Friday nights and my imagination takes on a life of it's own after midnight.  I have imagined all sorts of awful things happening to him while he's driving home.  There's something to be said for kids who don't drive until their 20 but I'm glad that he has this opportunity.

Emily went to the Sadie Hawkins dance put on by our church youth group.  She didn't know what a Sadie Hawkins dance was so when I explained to her that she was supposed to ask a boy to the dance, she freaked out a bit and decided to go with her 2 friends instead.  That problem with that plan, though, was that all of the boys were there with their dates so she didn't dance very much except with her friends.  On the bright side...she looked pretty cute all dressed up for the occasion.

On the Friday before my sister's birthday, Emily went to a thing at the school where the boys dress up like girls and pretend they're on a fashion runway...Tiaras and something.  She enjoyed it.  Jared was working so Gary and I decided to order dinner from Olive Garden, put Carson to bed early and celebrate Lori's birthday by watching a movie (Return to Me) that I remember her telling me she loved.  I had seen it before and Gary thought that he had seen in but we are getting old and can't remember what we've seen and what we haven't so...it's just like watching something we've never seen before!!  We shared a piece of Black Tie Mousse Cake even though I didn't want to share. :)

Carson had to do Valentines for all of his friends at school because they were having a big party.  He was assigned to bring chipdip (that's what he calls it).  He was very focused on writing out the names.  He had the list and every time he got to a new name he would say "My friend!!!  That's my friennnnnnd!!"  He was so cute, I was forced to do a video but I'm going to spare you because it's probably something only his mother will love.  He loved it!!  See...

He was just annoyed that I had the camera

"Mom...I'm trying to concentrate...give me some space!"

The Valentines turned out pretty cute but one of my children who shall remain nameless looked at them and told me that all the kids would hate them because they weren't candy.  Carson was pretty thrilled with them though.

 

We celebrated Valentine's day with Round Rock donuts.  Carson helped me make the table all fancy for our breakfast.

 

Carson thought that his bag would have a toy inside so he was pretty disappointed when he opened it up and it was a box of Swiss Cake Rolls.  He wanted a do-over!!

Please...no pictures of this lame gift!

In honor of Lori's birthday, my sister, Beth, posted some pictures that I like to call "Shanon...the ugly years..."  Lori would have been 45 this year.  The surprising thing from these pictures was all of the nice comments on Facebook from people we have had the pleasure of knowing over the years.  Heavenly Father has blessed us with lots of wonderful memories of great people.

Gary and the kids had the day off for President's day so he took Carson and his mom to see the movie Big Hero 6.  Emily went with her friends to see the same movie only at an earlier time so she wouldn't have to be seen with her family and Jared went to a Magic thing (it's some sort of card game that I don't get) at a friend's house.  I stayed home and tried to get Emily's new room cleaned out so I could get it painted.  I finally got it painted later that week.  It seemed to take forever!!  I spent most of one day sitting on a shelf in the closet painting the ceiling and walls.  That was quite the feat!!  We are still working on getting it decorated and all of the furniture moved in.

That night was Family Home Evening night.  (this is a typical FHE at our house...I am sharing this so that you will feel better about your own FHEs)  We all seemed to have a meltdown at the same time.  Emily was late getting home and missed most of FHE, then she yelled at Gary for not getting the fire pit set up (she was having a party at our house on Saturday night..I found out about it when they announced it at a meeting at church...nice, huh?!), Carson had a crying-screaming-hitting-the-wall fit because Gary told him to go potty before bed then he peed all over the bathroom and his shorts and got mad when I told him he had to find new clothes to wear, Jared pestered every one at FHE, refused to say prayer (he was sick, so I guess that's kind of a good excuse) and thankfully went to bed without further incident, I had been trying to get a letter written for Kinsey but my phone wouldn't send my pictures to me and my computer was being uncooperative so I was annoyed, and Gary...I think he was just fed up with the lot of us and just wanted to go to sleep.  So...life as usual around here.

Kinsey left for Washington that week.  Carson and I got to talk to her before her plane took off.  She met a man on the plane that had served a mission on Deseret Ranch and knew her Uncle Steve and Aunt Lori and her Grannie and Papa.  He let her borrow his phone so she could call home.  She was excited to tell me that the sun was shining in Washington (one of her biggest worries was the lack of sunshine in Washington...it has been sunny most days since she got there).

Talking to Kinsey

Kinsey with her Mission President and his wife

Kinsey and her new companion, Sister Harris

That Saturday night Emily had her get together for the 16-18 year old youth from church.  Gary finally got the fire pit out of the box (after about 5 years of it being in the garage).  He worried and fretted about the smoky smell all night long so I don't think we'll use it very much. ;)  I think the kids all had a fun time.

Sunday was my birthday.  Gary made crepes with Nutella and strawberries/bananas for breakfast.  They were yummy.  I was feeling a little under the weather all day (probably the unhealthy breakfast) but it was a nice day.  They spoiled me with nice gifts.  I also had tons of birthday wishes at church and on Facebook.  I loved hearing from all my friends.

We also took a family picture:

Head shots are soooo overdone!!

To carry on the tradition, Beth (my sister) posted pictures for my birthday.  More "Shanon...the ugly years..."

I actually love this one.

I got to celebrate my birthday a little longer because a few of my friends invited me out to lunch.  My friend asked me where I wanted to go and I told her I HAD to pick Chuy's (a popular Mexican restaurant here in Texas) or I would be in danger of getting kicked out of Texas so that's where we went.  They spoiled me with lunch, gifts, and cards that said nice things that I probably don't deserve being said about me.

Carson has started to get a bit more homework.  He is supposed to do it on his own but I have no idea how to do that.  I read him the story and then read him the questions that he was supposed to answer in a complete sentence and he just looked at me like I was out of my mind.  I finally just told him what to write.  Then I had to spell it all for him.  Then he sighed and said things like "oh!my!gosh!, Mom!!" and "I tired!!" and "sigh........!!!" It was a fun as you imagine it was.

Early on a Saturday at the end of the month, we went and helped with a service project at the church spreading mulch around.  It was about 31 degrees outside and raining.  They had so many people there that they sent me inside to deep clean the kitchen.  The morning cleaning crew had already been there and had mopped the kitchen so the floor was still wet.  I was in there filling the sink with soapy water when the man that had mopped the kitchen came in a told me the kitchen floor had just been mopped so I wasn't allowed to walk on the floor or get anything out or breathe the clean air.  I looked at him and said "I'm sorry...I saw the floor was wet and I felt really bad about walking on it but I got an assignment from my bishop to deep clean the kitchen so I will re-mop the floor when I am finished, put everything away, and hold my breath the whole time I'm in here!!"  Then he laughed at me and went on his merry way to mop the bathroom. Phew!! ;)

Later that night we went to a church meeting and then out to dinner with friends.  They even paid for our dinner to celebrate my birthday!!  I feel like I got spoiled rotten this month.  Gary and I are not social butterflies and stay home a lot of the time so this was quite the treat.  It made us want to go out with friends more often!!

Phew...that was our month of February!!  Lots of stuff going on but it was a great month!!