Brenson started off the month strong by reaching a personal goal he had set for himself. He made the 100 point AR club! That means he's read over 200 books so far this school year, which is pretty remarkable for a first grader. Brenson takes his school work seriously, and has been very motivated by AR.
He and the other little guy in the photo below had been competing to see who would make it first, and they made it on the same day!
My Aunt Cindy is very thoughtful and often sends little cards to my kids for various holidays. This month, she sent them all a Valentine's Day card, so I took this photo of them and texted it to her to say thank you.
It seems like someone is always reading in this house (which makes us happy!), and I loved randomly walking into the living room to see Brenson reading to his sisters.
I also caught him reading by the fire one night.
I loved seeing my little firefighter (Brooke) reading one of Brianna's school books.
And, Brianna received special recognition this month on Top Reader Tuesday for being the top reader in her class!
She has become such a great little reader. Below, she's pictured with the school librarian (it was also crazy hair/hat day!).
I mentioned this in Brenson's birthday post, but he was sick for about a week toward the beginning of the month. He missed Monday through Thursday of school that week, and came home feeling terrible after I sent him back to school on Friday. I'm pretty sure he had the flu although we didn't have him tested for it.
I love that he's still young enough to want Momma's snuggles to help him feel better!
On Thursday of the week Bren was sick, Chris and Russ headed to Missouri early in the morning to help my dad pack up and move his shop. The weather was very cold, and we had gotten some ice during the night. I was honestly surprised that school wasn't canceled because our driveway and sidewalk were slick! On the way to take Brianna to school, I noticed the van driving funny and sounding odd. At first I thought it was the ice on the road, but quickly realized I had a flat tire. Of course, the two guys I would normally call to rescue me were both almost to Missouri! I ended up driving the van back to our house and calling our roadside assistance to come change the tire for me.
In the meantime, I called Joy Lin and asked her if she would take Bri to school for me. She graciously agreed. While the fellow was changing the tire on the van, it started to snow and the little girls couldn't wait to get out in it!
You can't really see the snow in these pics, but you can see how icy the ground was.
They were both very interested in what dude-bro was doing to our van, haha!
They wanted to run and run in the snow - and that was fine on the grass - but Brecklyn hit the concrete and fell pretty hard on the ice. There were lots of tears :-(.
That evening, I had parent/teacher conferences at the school. When I scheduled them, I didn't realize Chris would be out of town at my parents' house. I had to take all the kids with me (which was an adventure), but we made it work. While at the school, I saw some photos and a letter my parents had sent to Bren's class on behalf of Flat Stanley.
The little girls have been very into playing wedding lately. I'm not too sure where this came from, but it's really cute. They have been asking me lots of questions about our wedding, so one morning I showed them some of the keepsakes I have from my wedding day. I even let them try on my veil and dress!
Brecklyn
Brooke
Brenson had a Valentine's Day party at school, but the girls and I decided not to go this time. I love that other moms take photos and send them to me, and I adore this one of him holding a cute little personalized mailbox one of the moms made for each student.
We have had a lot of very cold and wet weather recently, so when the weather was somewhat warm and sunny on Valentine's Day, we took advantage of the opportunity to play outside!
It got cold again the very next day, but we enjoyed the sun while we could!
The kids get quite a bit of mail during the month of February because of their birthdays. They were thrilled to receive a package from Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Shawna with some gifts and cash!
I mentioned in Brianna's birthday post that I took Bren to a birthday party for his school friend, Zack. It was a Nerf gun party at an indoor gym, so Bren was loving it!
Speaking of Nerf guns, since Bren has acquired a few new ones lately I'm finding Nerf bullets everywhere. One day, I found one in the dryer and had to send Chris a pic.
My kids all love to do crafts, so we try to do some activities a few times a week. Brecklyn and Brooke both love to paint!
It's always interesting to me to watch how different they are . . . even with their artwork.
I took the twins to have their teeth cleaned this month. They were both feeling very brave, and I wanted Brecklyn to go first so she didn't have time to change her mind. She walked right into the room, but as soon as she did she decided maybe she wasn't so brave after all. It took some convincing, but I finally got her to sit in the chair. Once she got in the chair, she did great!
And YAY for no cavities!
Brooke also had her teeth cleaned, but for some reason I missed out on taking pics of her!
Brianna also hit a big personal goal this month when she earned her 100 mile running medal! I was so proud of both my kids for working hard and reaching goals! Brianna's goal was to run 100 miles before her birthday, and she hit it. However, due to some communication issues between her teacher and the PE teacher, she didn't actually receive her medal until the end of the following week. We didn't care, though! She had crushed her goal and that's what mattered to us!
Once Bri high-fived Mrs. S, she had to hug her, of course!
Earning her 100 mile medal is a pretty big deal. She was the third student in the school to earn it this year!
And, she got to lead the victory lap!
Brianna is so inspired by this special teacher.
We're so grateful for teachers that care so much about their students!
We were also so grateful we were able to be there to see her get that medal!
Yay for ONE HUNDRED MILES!
The day Brianna received her medal was a special day at the school. There was a surprise reveal of a dad that had been deployed for nine months with the military, and I'm pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the place! Because of that, the district superintendent was present during Rise and Shine, so I was able to visit with him for a bit. He had some very encouraging words for Brianna, and it was special that he was able to see her get her medal.
That evening, Chris went to a Thunder basketball game with Ross. It went into double overtime and was a super exciting game to attend!
While he was out, I let the girls have a slumber party in Brianna's room. I thought they'd never settle down and go to sleep, but they eventually did!
Even though the pic below is super dark, I had to include it in this post. The twins used to sleep together all the time, but it pretty much never happens anymore. I found them one night snuggled together in my bed, and I just had to take a pic. Love these girlies!
It's not super unusual for me to get calls from the school for one reason or another. Some of them are due to behavior incidents and about half are regarding injuries the kids sustain. Most of the time the injuries are no big deal and not things I feel are worthy of a phone call. Last week, however, I received a call as I was walking out the door to pick the kids up, and I was definitely surprised by what Ms. Rachel (the secretary) had to say. She started by saying there had been an incident with Brenson in music class (???). In that classroom, there are tables that have holes in them for cords. Well, Bren decided to put his arm (elbow first) into one of the holes. He stuffed his arm into the hole until it was stuck almost up to his wrist, and then couldn't get it out! Mr. J was pretty shaken and told me he almost called the fire department for help. Thankfully, with the counselor's help, Mr. J was able to push Bren's arm from underneath the table and get it out. His arm was scraped and bruised, but I was so thankful the fire department wasn't called!
Finally, as I've mentioned several times before, my parents are in the process of moving to Oklahoma from Missouri. My mom retired from her job at the pharmacy this month. She and Dad went out for a celebratory dinner, and Dad sent all of us this photo in a text message with the caption "Your retired mother". Retirement looks good on her!
This past Monday, I let the big kids skip school and we went to Missouri to help Mom and Dad pack up some last few boxes in their house. We all worked hard and were bushed by the time we were done, but we helped them get a lot finished! I wasn't emotional about driving away from their Missouri house for the last time, but I did feel a little nostalgic about it. There were many good memories made in that space!
We are so excited that they will be closer!
It's going to be a big transition, for sure, but we hope and pray it will be a good one!
They closed on their Missouri house today, and are officially homeless for tonight. If everything goes as planned, they will close on their Oklahoma house tomorrow and begin moving in. Their giant U-haul is in our driveway, and they are staying the night at our place tonight. We are looking forward to the changes this next month brings!
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