Artist!

Norah has been working on this poster all day long!  She started yesterday and continued today in hopes of finishing up before Monday!  She had to come up with an analogy for an organelle and chose a city. She then had to compare each part of the organelle with its corresponding city part and finally illustrate and title!  She ended up getting 70/75, but I bet her poster was the best in the grade!!  Look at all detail and creativity!  She was actually docked 5 points because it wasn’t “creative enough,” but the amount of effort that went into this project should have overruled the “lack of creativity!”

Ice Skating Again!

After Ben’s activity last Monday, I got an invitation to attend an open house at the Weber State Ice Sheet for a friend who opened a new realtor firm. I jumped on the invite and took Ava and Ben while Kyle and Norah attended volleyball practice and Jack went with the Varsity team to help cheer them in the State playoffs. It was a great experience. We all left wanted to come back, even Ben!!

He’s Back!

With Kyle’ arrival back home, I decided to make this hot chocolate Bundt cake and top it with a fun flag in honor of his return!  We love Kyle and miss him dearly when he is gone!!

Mint Cake!!

With so much time on our hands today, the kids and I found a recipe in one of our books and each made a part of this three layer chocolate cake filled with mint and covered with chocolate buttercream!  It was a beautiful cake, so glad we did it!

 

Pizza Girl!

Norah was tossing dough today and after the flour dust settled she had baked this super deep dish sausage and pepperoni pizza!!

Surfers!!

These guys all improved their skills this time!  Last year Ben barely got up while Norah and Jack had just started getting up.  Today, Norah was getting herself out and trying to land 180’s!

Ben was able to land a 180 today before falling!

Jack made it all the way around and landed a 360 after powering through some turns!

Party Time!

Even though last night was filled with busyness and upset due to Kyle and Ava leaving, I still went ahead with scheduling a surf session at flowrider for today after Jack’s kids camp and lunch. 

Super Dad!

Kyle was able to make it to all of Ava’s games this weekend in spite of the enormous amount of work he is under right now and the impending trip to MI tomorrow.  These kids are so blessed to have such an involved dad; we sure love him!!

AZ Tourney!!

Kyle and Ava left for a tournament in AZ today. Ava will be playing Saturday and Monday and will come home Tuesday while Kyle will fly to MI on Sunday and come home on Thursday!

Ava got to set most of Saturday but was put in the back row on Monday.  She loved spending time with nana and papa in between game days and even got a ride from them to the airport on Tuesday after Kyle was gone.

 

Jacob was the only other family who went to some of Ava’s tournament in spite of how close it was to so much family.  Ava felt a little hurt at everyone’s disinterest, and truly loved Jacob for making the effort to come watch!  The venue on the first day was the Cardinal’s football stadium; pretty cool place for volleyball!

Salon!!

Ben got a haircut today and was feeling cold with his wet hair, so I suggested sitting under this dryer-so cute!!

42!

Jack has really grown as a player during this difficult Hugh school season!  He has learned patience and to work hard without promise of reward!  He even lost 10 pounds and is looking kind of ripped!  He can do chin ups too, way to go Jack!!

Finished Product!!

Jack asked a nice girl to be his valentine and then he came up with the idea to 3D print a heart for the cookies and a plaque with her favorite quote!  This girl was so lucky, and I was lucky to have Jack’s help driving all over the valley delivering this and the other goodies to some girls!!

Ice Skater!!

Ben was not interested in ice skating a few years ago when we were on a cruise ship, but today during the 5th grade Valentine’s Day Party at the Huntsville Ice Sheet with the help of a helmet and a chair to push around, he completely loved it!!  It was so fun to be outside skating!  Cold, but fun!

Valentines!!

Ava made some chocolate covered Oreos for valentines for her friends this year and topped the bags with this perfectly lettered topper!! 

Ben hand drew 6 cars, then I scanned them in and colored them on the computer while Ben came up with some killer car valentine slogans.  He attached heart chocolates to the back and was super proud of his accomplishment!

Jack must have felt inspired by the all the valentine creativity, because he asked Kyle to help him figure out a festive cookie he could give to some friends. Kyle found this gem, cherry almond Chocolate chip cookies. They tasted as amazing as they looked!

Super Bowl LVI

We traditionally watch the super bowl each year and usually have a little birthday celebration at the same time.  This year the two holidays didn’t coincide, so we made this amazing mint brownie and just watched fun commercials all day long!

 

Sick Again!!

Ulli managed ok while Cass was here, but has been sick now that she’s gone!!  Last night was the worst of it, hopefully he is all cleaned up and the sickness is behind us!  Kyle’s best Valentine’s Day gift to me this year was giving Ulli a bath tonight!!

 

Hoop Box!!

Ben found a picture of a valentine box online that seemed doable, so we found a hoop that attached to a garbage and made up the rest as we went!!

The laminated wood flooring was probably the most impressive followed by t three point line!!  Everything about this box was impressive!  So fun having creative kids!!

Good-Byes!

It was so fun having Cass here, even though we got off to a rocky start with Kyle and I leaving only 12 hours after she arrived.  She managed the kids ok and was able to really spend some time with each of them!  These guys were lucky to have such an attentive caregiver!!

Cass was able to hang out when there was downtime as well as join me in the craziness of our busy week!!  Love her, loved seeing her, so glad she came and Kyle planned this fun reunion!!

This Guy!!

With all of Ben’s half days this week and general lack of  busyness, he spent by far the most time with Cassie!  So glad he also joined us for an afternoon walk around the hood with Ulli!

So Big!!

Ava jumped on the back of Jack while at Norah’s tournament tonight and she literally looked she was a child!!  Love this big guy and small girl!

Sister Time!!

Kyle brought Cass in for my birthday without realizing this week was one of the busiest for me!!  A chemical peel, haircut, grooming for Ulli, 2 away games for Jack, a service project, 3 half days for Ben, parent teacher conference with Ben’s teacher, a volleyball tournament for Norah, all our usual practices and art class!

Cass was happy to tag along for most things and happy to stay home for some!  We squeezed in some walking and snow shoeing in between appointments!

Love having Cass around!  She is so funny and really has so much insight and support to offer!!

Last Meal!

We packed in one more meal at our favorite Chuy’s before heading to the airport. There was even time for some T-shirt shopping for the kids and Cass!  Kyle was missing his favorite meal, but the chips, queso and salsa really hit the spot!!

Lambo

When on our way to breakfast we came across an exotic and had to take a picture of the Lamborghini Hurucan!!

Rental Car!

Since rental cars have been so scarce lately, we’ve really enjoyed renting fun cars through Turo for a comparable price!  This one has been a dream car for me for awhile!  It was fun to drive, but it was a little unnerving to drive such a nice car!  This was the best photo we got of me and the car and Kyle even went across the street and was able to capture some of the Adolphus in the background!

“Suite” Room!

The time away, the room, the show, seeing old friends, the sleep and all the wonderful meals we didn’t have cook or clean up after made for a fun couple of days!

Cass visiting was two fold, to both help with the kids while we were gone and to hang out with me when we returned!

A quick workout in the morning and breakfast at our favorite Bread Winners gave way to a short shopping trip to replace some jeans that I ripped on our trip.

10 Story Screen!

Right outside our room was this giant screen whose picture changed throughout the day!  It was fun to see this one at night after coming home from visiting with some old friends in Allen. 

Nate!

Our 10th row center seats for the Nate Bargatze show were amazing after a tasty Italian dinner in Uptown!  I ate too much cheese, and all the laughter was a little uncomfortable, but the show was so funny and the company was super fun!  Not wearing a mask while laughing for over an hour straight made the trip to TX over downtown SLC so worth it!!!

Cake!!

It was a fun day and fun game once I asked the Weber High School security guard to announce that a Range Rover had blocked me in and I needed to leave!  Once home, there was a knock on the door and to my surprise it was Cass!!  I had a feeling something was a foot when I received an email addressed to Cassandra saying it was time to check in for a flight!  What was in store I couldn’t have imagined!

Once we had dinner, everyone but Ben and Cass went skiing.  The few runs we did were chilly but fun and then we headed down to the mountain to pick up Jack from his game and eat some amazing cake and caramel truffle ice cream!!

Kyle had planned a trip to TX that we would leave for in the morning!  Kyle booked us a few nights in a familiar hotel in downtown and once we got off the plane and found our rental car, a Mercedes G Wagon, we headed straight there and took a nap!!

Birthday Presents!!

Today has been super fun!  Kyle let me sleep in and took all the kids to school!  I hung out in bed and then got up and went snow shoeing with Kyle before heading to a friend’s house for a fun lunch!

Jack had his first home game on a Friday night tonight that I was able to go to by myself while kyle made me an amazing filet and mushroom risotto dinner and an unreal chocolate caramel cake!!!