Since the kids had a four day weekend for President's Day, we tried to squeeze in a bunch of fun activities. We're all about the staycation.

Thursday night, Hannah had her first sleepover with her best friend and neighbor Chloe. It was Chloe's first sleepover too, so both girls were SO excited (and matching!).

Ellie wasn't to be left out of the sleepover fun! 

 

Friday afternoon, Hannah went to a tea party birthday party for her friend and classmate Charlotte. 

Hannah came home so excited to tell me about all the goodies they got to eat, the hats they got to wear, and even the manners they learned.

 While Hannah was enjoying an elegant afternoon sipping tea, Joey had a friend come over. They played basketball with some neighbor friends for a long time and played video games.

Valentine's Day morning the kids woke up to the yearly scavenger hunt Andy makes for us. The kids had been looking forward to it all week. Andy's opening clue had us find the next clue under his pillow so that he would be sure to wake up for the fun.

The clues led us all over the house and even into our garage to find little gifts and candy. What a fun tradition!

 

 Joey and Hannah gave Ellie her favorite Valentine's gift, a fever. Seriously. She was over the moon. Joey and Hannah both had a fever earlier in the week, and Ellie was SO excited to finally get it.  She was actually beaming after I took her temperature. I guess she was a little envious of all the lounging around and watching TV that her brother and sister got to enjoy. 

Now that all three of the kids have been sick in the span of a week, I've decided that Hannah is my favorite kid to be sick because three of her top movie picks are Annie, Mary Poppins, and Pirates of Penzance. Now I just need to introduce her to Newsies, and we'll be set!

Joey had a basketball game and a baseball practice in the morning, and then we didn't have any plans for the rest of the day, which is just how we like it. For dinner, we topped our Valentine's Day off with everyone's favorite: Taco Night!

After we completed the "Great Room Switch" Joey and Hannah loved inviting their neighborhood friends over to see their new rooms. Ellie caught on to their enthusiasm and asked a nine year-old boy from down the street, "Do you want to see my room? It's really special."


 Hannah sometimes likes to wear one of my hats...
Joey (to Hannah): Do you really like that hat?
Hannah: Yes, I want it to be mine!
Joey: Well, I don't think that's going to happen.
Hannah: It will! When mom dies.
Joey (indignantly): Don't you dare talk about your mother like that.
There was a brief pause, and then we all started cracking up.


One morning Ellie asked for "a puffy egg with sprinkles." Translation: a poached egg with black pepper.

On Saturday, Ellie joined the ranks of our three year-olds who learned to ride a two-wheeler.

 I tell you what, a small balance bike (we just take the pedals off of our 12-inch bike) + a little pratice pedaling a two-wheeler with training wheels = an easy time learning to ride a bike!

 Ellie had been alternating between coasting on a pedal-less bike and pedaling on our neighbor's training wheel bike, so I knew it was time to put her pedals back on and have her try her two-wheeler.

 It took one afternoon and now she can ride up and down the street pretty well. We're still working on her learning to use her brakes, starting herself, and turning without putting her feet on the ground, but all of those skills seem to happen pretty automatically over time.

The hardest part was getting some pictures of her riding. It took three attempts and some unexplicable tears (on her part, not mine), but we finally got some bloggable pictures. (On a completely unrelated note, I am looking for places I can send three year-olds until they turn four, in case you hear of any openings.)

On Sunday, we were outside practicing, and Ellie's best friend Cameron came out. Cameron is also three and has also been practicing on a balance bike and a training wheel bike. We needed Ellie to practice braking a little more, so I asked Cameron if we could switch bikes for a few minutes. Ellie practiced braking on Cameron's training wheel bike, and Cameron hopped on Ellie's two-wheeler. I gave Cameron a little boost, and off she went riding down the street with no problem. I quickly yelled to her brothers to go get their parents. I've never accidentally taught a kid how to ride a bike before. Thankfully her parents were thrilled, and now the girls can ride their two-wheelers together!

 We had a nice, quiet January with not much going on, so my brother asked if I would do another Camera Dump. I love that he asked, so this Camera Dump is especially for him!

 This was actually from a couple of months ago. Ellie and her best friend, Cameron, found a little "emergency" pack I keep in the back of the car. When Cameron's mom found them they told her they were playing "doctor." Of course this happened on our driveway for all the neighborhood to see. They were quite proud.

 

 Over New Years when Benjamin and Christina were here, we got out my wedding dress for the first time in 12 1/2 years. I'm sad to say I couldn't quite zip it up again, but these girls had fun dressing up in it!

 Andy was not a fan of seeing his little girls in a wedding dress.

 Our Legoland passes expired this month, so Ellie and I got in one more trip. She's finally three and was able to ride these cars. Last time we tried these, she was a little shy of three and could not figure out how to operate it. What a difference a couple of months makes because she did great and absolutely loved riding it around. She was not smiling for the camera, she was really just that happy!

Joey found a couple of pieces of wood in the garage that he asked if he could use. He nailed the boards together and then the neighborhood helped him paint his new creation.

This is now upstairs in our hallway. He uses it as a vendor's booth to sell rocks. Kids are funny.

This happened today!

I hate to be a tattletale, but we had a Tooth Fairy FAIL in our house.

Hannah was so excited to lose her tooth, and right away I got out our official "Tooth Fairy Pillow" that the kids put their tooth in to go under their pillow (Andy actually made it when he was in kindergarten!) Except the Tooth Fairy never came. She, uh, must have been busy visiting other kids that night. (Because we all know she would never simply forget.) 

I would have felt worse about the Tooth Fairy's oversight, but Hannah, being the sweetest child in the world wasn't really disappointed. In fact, she said, "This gives me an extra day with my tooth!" Seriously. Her sweetness is just ridiculous. So, the Tooth Fairy had a second chance and nailed it. The end.

 

 Friday night we drove to Phoenix because Uncle Timmy, Aunt Sarah and Baby Hank were in town! We couldn't have been more excited to meet our new nephew/cousin.

Our first day there the guys went to a car show while the girls and kids went to a children's museum. This huge play structure was the first thing we saw when we got there so we knew we were in for a fun time!

The kids loved this little tricycle area.

The older two kids also really liked these little contraptions.

Ellie was pretty enthralled with this big system of pipes. You put in scarves, and they blow around all the pipes and then pop out and float down to the ground.

Hank's first trip to a children's museum! Clearly he was a fan.

These two were so cute together chatting.

Hank's first trip to In-N-Out! Such a big day for him!

More cuddling!

Our first night in Phoenix, we had a Lanzone Christmas, take two! The kids couldn't believe they got to open MORE presents!

The kids could not get enough of this little cutie pie. The biggest bummer for me is that I came down with a nasty cold the day before we got to Phoenix. I was so disappointed that I didn't get to snuggle with Hank like I wanted to, but I certainly didn't want to get him sick so I tried to stay a safe distance away.

Pancakes and morning cartoons, what could be better?

Of course we had to take advantage of the beautiful weather, and go swimming.

Another first for Hank!

And this might be my favorite picture of the weekend.

For the past month or so, we have been gearing up to switch the kids' rooms around. It was finally time for Ellie to get out of her crib and sleep in the bunk beds with Hannah, and Joey would get his own room.

Everyone was very excited about the change, but I knew it was going to take a lot of steps to actually make it happen. Thankfully, I got a huge rush of motivation that felt very similar to nesting (nope, not pregnant), and I started working like a mad woman getting everything ready. I even started skipping my daily nap time. For those who know me well, this is evidence that I was clearly out of my mind. :-)

After three trips to IKEA, assembling fourteen pieces of furniture (okay, that includes a dining table and seven chairs that we've been meaning to buy for over a year), buying three new mattresses, rearranging closets, hanging new posters and picture frames, making up the new beds, and getting rid of a bunch of stuff on Craig's List, we are officially switched!

This is Joey's room. We went with a sports theme because we figure he won't grow out of it any time soon. Andy still hasn't grown out of it. We wanted to have a queen bed in Joey's room so that it can also serve as a guest room. We gave him our old mattress and bought ourselves a new one since we were due for one anyway. His room is fairly small so we put shelves in his closet for all his clothes, and bought him this bed from IKEA that has drawers underneath it. Now he has plenty of storage and as much floor space as possible.

 I was also excited to finally be able to get out all of the chapter books I saved from my teaching days. We had several boxes in the garage but no where to put them. Now they fill up four shelves and Joey still has room to display his Lego creations.

 Other than the shelf with the turquoise baskets, the girl's room didn't need any new furniture. However, those bunk beds are from when I was a kid and the mattresses were really old, so we got them each a new twin mattress. Just like Joey, the girls got all new bedding for Christmas. Hannah did a great job picking out the comforters. The only two rules I gave her were 1) no characters and 2) I had to like it too.

 We didn't think of it at the time, but the colors in the comforters work perfectly for a Frozen theme for their room. So, while the bedding will last them many, many years, all their other room decorations that can be easily changed (posters, pictures, nightlight, and rug) are from Frozen.

Our downstairs study also got a makeover in the process because we needed a better storage system for Legos and Lego creations and because the bookshelves that used to be in there were moved up to Joey's room. The three tower shelves are from IKEA, and Andy built the little white shelf under the window so that we could make it the exact size we wanted.

It has been so much fun working on switching the rooms over the past few weeks. Now that it's over, I'm a little antsy to find another project. Maybe that's why this morning I organized my pantry and painted my wooden knife block turquoise. What can I say...Pinterest told me to!