Fun in February!

We kicked off February in style at Coronado with Uncle Bruce and Nancy.  It was a beautiful February day and we had the best afternoon jumping in between the pool and the hot tub.  So nice to spend time with Bruce and Nancy, too.  

After hanging with them for the afternoon we made our way to Village Pizzeria on the bay side and then for ice cream.  It was a great day, even despite the bad service at Village Pizzeria that the kids still talk about today!

Lucky Charlotte got to go back to Coronado later that week with Nani and Finn.  They were as happy as could be swimming with Uncle Bruce and was such a treat!

We celebrated the Kansas City Chiefs Superbowl win at the Tirado's house with the Cawlfields which was a super fun afternoon!  I ran 20 miles that morning so it was nice to be able to sit for the afternoon and relax and the kids had such a great time together.  

In January, Ella and one of her soccer buddies, Arya, started practicing once a week at the Westwood Club with a highschool student, Coach Jade.  We figured this would be good to do in between seasons and she loved it!  A few of the sessions, Julia and the other girl's brother joined, too, and they did great, too.  The girls adore Coach Jade and Arya's mom even took the girls to her last soccer game at the high school one night, too.  That was really fun for Ella!

Joseph cracking us up one night as he got out of the bath...definitely wasn't expecting him to come out like this!

Julia and Ella were invited to a painting birthday party one rainy Sunday afternoon and they had such a great time painting on canvases.  Joseph actually came along, too, since he is friends with the brother so Rich and Charlotte had some quality time at home together.  

I LOVE Valentine's Day...not so much for it being the commercial Hallmark holiday but more of it being an excuse for us to show one another how much we love these sweet kids and to celebrate that!  Such a fun holiday to show everyone how much we love one another.  The table was decorated that morning and the kids woke up to small treats which started the morning off right.  Even though Rich and I didn't go out that night, it was fun that Valentine's Day was on a Friday this year since it started the weekend off right.  Even better that we had the entire week off the following week so it started February break off right.  The kids all had Valentine's Day celebrations at school and we made heart pizza that night so it was full of heart shaped everything and lots of love!

Off to school with their Valentine's Day boxes and bags and new scarves and Army hat, which were their Valentine's Day presents from us!

Making our very own heart shaped pizza that they loved!

We've been doing hearts on the wall since the beginning of February documenting whenever they show love towards others and I always catch them reading them.  My other favorite Febraruary tradition is that I put a heart on their door starting Febrauary 1st leading up to Valentine's Day and each heart says oen thing that I love about them.  The kids leave them on theri doors pretty much all year and always look forward to reading what their new heart says in the morning.  

February break was from February 17th-21st and we spent the first few days in Big Bear which was amazing and there will be a separate post about that and the rest of the week was spent hanging around here whcih was great, too.  Since I am in full training mode for the marathon I had to get creative with the kids being home with me each day so we went to the local highschool track two of the days so I could get my runs in.  On Wedensday we went to Poway High and Joseph ran 4 miles with me!!  Well, he was a little behind me ;) but he did great and was so determined to complete it.  

While Joseph ran, the girls played in the middle of the track. They were great!

We met up with Finn and Linz at the beach one afternoon and ended up staying until almost sunset.  It was a beautiful February beach day!

Oh, sweet, baby Charlotte, who has been coming in our bed every night to sleep.  I know you're only this age once and I just want to eat you up but I also am tired of being kicked in the back.  Good thing she looks so sweet in the mornings!

We kicked off Lent with our first Friday Fish Fry at church...the kids look forward to this every year, especially the face painting!  

We brought Isabella with us which was fun for everyone!

Isabella spent the night after the fish fry because Libby was in San Francisco for the weekend and the girls were just so excited to have her over!  And, since the girls had Isabella over, Joseph had Jeremy over so it was a full house but lots of fun!

I do love breaks for when we travel or spend the days with friends or checking out what San Diego has to offer but I also love the breaks just to have downtime at home, too.  During the school year it is just so much on the go that the kids really don't have a lot of downtime just to play and hang out so I love this time to be able to do all that.  These next few pictures are exactly that... 

Hair done by Charlotte! 

Lots of good times with Nani, Poppa and Finn this month!  

Fort building at Nani and Poppa's is a favorite!

On Fridays Gyminny kids has an open gym for an hour so we went twice this month-once with friends and once with Nani and Finn.  It is from 12:30-1:30 so works out perfectly right after Julia's pickup before having to get the other kids and has been a fun way to end the week.

This next one is from Charlotte's actual gymnastics class but I was pretty impressed when I caught her in this backbend!  

The biggest news from February is that pool construction has begun!!!  It is quite the entertainment during the day!  It is hard to believe that we are really going through with all of this and although we will miss having our backyard these next few months, it will all be worth it come summertime.  We can't wait!!