Colby is finally walking! His 14 month mark came and went with still no first steps, but shortly after, sure enough, he started walking. The earliest video we have of steps is on Justin's phone on the 10th. My phone's earliest video is on the 13th - he's been hard to capture! Now of course he's walking all over the place, preferring it over crawling. It makes me wonder when I'll see him crawl for the last time. Precious boy!!
This month we finally got THE snow storm we've been waiting for. It was the perfect snow for building a snowman, fort, you name it. The kids played all day and Justin even snuck out of work to build their annual igloo together. Pure joy - these are the moments of childhood that last. I was feeling so much joy and gratitude thinking of the memories we all were making. Unfortunately, the county road guy decided to try to plow our driveway with a grater and he totally destroyed the sod/edging in three different places. More fixing up to do this spring!
Another homeschool mom organized a Valentine's Day exchange for several homeschool families that my kids got to participate in. It was lovely and made me wish we would gather more often. I'll have to try for something more consistently next year when I'm homeschooling both boys. I'll keep praying about it and see where the Lord leads me. Logan also did his kindergarten exchange and had a special valentine picked out for his classmate Zoe. That boy is smitten. One day he told me, "That's why I want to marry her: she's nice and she's beautiful. That's why." Oh my heart - bless him! Then I overheard him playing with Emmett and Emmett said to him, "Zoe is your true love." He's a smitten kitten.
Logan also lost his second of his two front teeth and said, "I wonder if the tooth fairy goes to tooth fairy church?" One time we forgot to put a dollar for one of his lost teeth and he was super upset, but luckily it was a Sunday so we bluffed that the tooth fairy doesn't work on Sunday. That night we made sure to leave two dollars to make up for it. So this time around losing his tooth on a Saturday he was worried she would be keeping the Sabbath day holy once more. She made it before midnight so he was good to go.
The kids have started a wrestling club that meets once a week. They hate it, but I'm forcing them to see it through. Sorry kids! I was able to snag a couple videos of them wrestling each other that cracked me up. They will start basketball this week.
I finally took the two big kids skiing. I opted to go to Cherry Creek since I had such a good experience a few weeks ago. It wasn't as good this time because it was horribly busy and the ski instructor started a half an hour late...but they enjoyed themselves. I took them to the Polar Bear in Preston on the way home to pass on some childhood memories to them. Mom and Dad took us to the Polar Bear in downtown Preston when we would go for the annual Hart reunion. Someone started it up again in a new location so it wasn't quite the same but hey, I tried.
Justin and I enjoyed watching the boys basketball team play in the district tournament. They finally won first place and are going to state for the first time in years! We are actually going to head to Boise next week to watch them play just the two of us. The kids participated in their first pinewood derby the same day as the championship. Justin did the pinewood derby with the two big kids while I went to the game with a friend. Logan ended up winning "best design" and got a candy bar and certificate. What a great experience that I hope they will continue to do every year for the kids.
Aside from that, we are enjoying regular life over here. Emmett and I finished up one of his writing units. He learned all about sea mammals, then chose one to write in detail about. I was impressed with what he came up with! I wrote down his words verbatim and then he copied it back onto his paper. Logan started level one reading and he is doing SO well. Justin and I have been locked in with our fitness/nutrition goals and I am still teaching High Low once a week. Aside from that it is regular life over here: our regular, simple, beautiful little life with these precious kiddos.
