FEBRUARY 2012

2/8 CJ made this picture at school. It is a picture of "a fairy, her house with a slide and some flowers, a sun, a cloud, and a rainbow" :). It is proudly displayed on our fridge

2/10 Since we were heading over to Seattle for our nephew, Zack's, birthday party anyway, we decided to head out to the restaurant, Purple, for an early Valentine's Day celebration. It was an enjoyable evening...until Paige got food poisoning (just a mild case, but still - kinda tainted Purple for her)

2/12 Another great pic of Mattie that CJ took

2/12 The kids LOVED jumping on the tramp with Kels while she was living here!

2/13 Bryce's parents gave him a new suit for his birthday. He opted to go with a three piece - something new to his wardrobe. Doesn't it look smokin'?!

Valentine's Day

2/13 CJ's preschool had a Valentine's Day party and CJ brought these cupcakes. His class is small enough that we thought we'd do something more personal for Valentine's, so we made monogrammed cookies for each of his classmates. Then CJ came home with a great valentines box and a special card he made for Mommy and Daddy

2/14 The kids woke to their own Valentine goodies from Mommy and Daddy, and then Mommy made heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast 

(enough of a Valentine for Mommy, if you ask her :)

While Daddy was at work, Mommy and the kids heart-attacked his car (covered them with these hearts) so he walked out to a big surprise

After going to dinner and coming home for our traditional chocolate covered strawberries, Bryce gave Paige this sweet note. It was a wonderful end to a great day

Shhh! Don't tell Bryce that this guy was Paige's secret Valentine :)

 2/17 The Mackay Men :)

2/19 Paige got called as the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society Presidency at the beginning of the year, and, as the counselor over RS meetings (otherwise known as Enrichment), her first big task was planning the RS Birthday dinner. Thanks to Paige's wonderful mother-in-law, who lent Paige her Cricut, Paige was able to make these fabulous save-the-date invitations (that's a magnet in the middle of those flowers)

2/21 CJ just keeps collecting these things, but that's ok, because he actually plays with them all the time. He especially likes to line the cars up in one big line, or sometimes, circles like this

2/21 Brothers...buddies (did you notice that CJ is holding Powell's hand? :)

2/21 We signed CJ up for Fire Tots again at the beginning of the year. It was a good refresher for him, but we think he's definitely ready to get out on the field and play a real soccer game. That's why we signed him up for fall soccer through Wenatchee Youth Soccer, and CJ is super pumped about it!

2/22 CJ and his aunt, Kelsey

2/23 CJ apparently decided to document his chicken-nugget-eating. Lol!

Gonzaga vs. BYU Basketball Game

2/23 For Christmas, Paige gave Bryce two very-hard-to-come-by tickets to the Gonzaga vs. BYU basketball game. So Daddy took CJ to his first real basketball game. They had BYU shirts to wear, but after assessing the crowd around them, Bryce decided they better keep their BYU fanhood to themselves :)

Since the game was an evening game, we decided to get a hotel and spend the night in Spokane. So after getting dinner all together, CJ and Daddy were dropped off at the game, and Mommy, Mattie, and Powell went shopping downtown and then got dessert back at the hotel

 Everyone stayed up WAY past their bedtimes (in fact, Mattie had a meltdown like we have never seen before, or since, because it was so late), but we got up early the next morning anyway to head back to Wenatchee and get CJ to school. We couldn't leave Spokane without stopping at Donut Parade on our way out though. Ok, so it was a sugar overload for this trip, but it was worth it! :)

2/24 Doesn't she just look like a little angel?

2/26 Mattie reinvented an old necklace of Mommy's. Now her Princess Kitty is totally  bling-ed out :)

2/28 Daddy-daughter fun

 2/29 Mattie and Powell are becoming such good friends. This morning she shared her precious Gray Horse and played with Powell for some time, and he loved it!

2/29 Happy Leap Day!!

Some Monday Night Musings from February:

- Mattie's doing better with pooping on the toilet....we're starting to see some light at the end of this LONG, dark tunnel. She still poops in her undies, but it's gone down from every time to about 50% of the time. One time she even told me she needed to go (usually, I just catch her before she goes and take her to the toilet). I figure the more she goes on the toilet, the more she'll be comfortable with it, so the best way to catch her before she poops in her undies is to have her wear no undies at all. Unfortunately, we have had some very unpleasant poop-on-the-floor experiences, but overall, it seems to be working. The downside is that half the neighborhood has seen Mattie in just a shirt and I worry that we're not teaching her the importance of modesty :).

- CJ's been doing awesome at school! He hasn't had any problems for a few weeks now! Again, I want to reiterate that CJ is in no way a problem child. His teacher has told us that all the kids have their things that they do. I expected that and am not worried about him. We just want to make sure that he is learning how to listen and follow instructions, how to respect his classmates/friends/belongings, and how to learn from his mistakes. So we're very proud that his teacher has only had great things to report every time we've picked him up for the last few weeks.

- 2/16 Mattie got herself dressed today. She put some pink comfy pants on all by herself. Granted, she tried to put some leggings on her head because she thought they were a shirt :), but once we got the actual shirt on her head, she was able to put her arms in the sleeves all by herself. What a big girl!

- 2/13 When CJ got out of the car to go to preschool today he said, "Goodbye Mattie. I won't forget about you!"

- Mattie, and especially CJ, are dance fiends! They love to play "Just Dance 3" on the wii and carry those move over to other times as well :)

- 2/23 Mattie finally learned to climb a ladder all by herself...all the way to the top bunk!

- 2/23 CJ went to his first basketball game with Daddy today - Gonzaga vs. BYU! He got to stay up late, eat treats, get a Gonzaga flag, and enjoy one-on-one time with his dad. He pretty much loved it!

- Mattie is always complaining about her leg hurting. We're hoping it's just growing pains and nothing more serious.