Basketball Season

Basketball season started up towards the end of last December. We actually only have three more games left of the season. It's been going pretty good this year. Clifford scored for his team in their first game (of course I wasn't taking video at the time...bummer!). He has a few areas to work on, such as keeping his head up when playing. But otherwise he's doing good and the games have been fun for us to watch!

Two Less Baby Teeth...

Poor Kristjan. He just got back from the dentist. He had to have two teeth pulled out. Kristjan's baby teeth were taking longer than expected to fall out, and it was impeding on the orthodontics side of things. 

Valentine's Day

 I was recently gifted these cute Valentine plates. What better way to show them off than by using them to serve delicious sugar cookies!

 Kristjan decorated a bag to use for his class Valentine's party. Some jewels, stickers and puff paint completed the project.

 I made these teacher Valentine's a few years ago. They're one of my favorites so I made them again. 

 Peter's Valentine gift from me. I found the idea for the scratch-off tickets on Pinterest and I was gifted the box of candy from my Buy Nothing group, which happens to be one of Peter's favorite candies!

 Clifford and Kristjan after school, showing off their loot.

 Peter and I celebrated Valentine's Day early by going to see Deadpool on Friday. The movie was AWESOME! Deadpool even made an appearance at our showing.

 Dinner and Dessert to celebrate 

(Shirley Temples, French Bread Pizza, Salad, and Cookies 'n Cream Dirt)

Skate Night

The PTA at the boys' school were putting on a skate night tonight. For Clifford's birthday, he'd been given a gift card for Cold Stone and had been bugging us to take him. So I figured we'd make it an evening of fun by going out for dessert AND roller skating. Peter and I shared our dessert while the boys each picked out a huge waffle-cone bowl full of ice cream and candy pieces. They managed a few bites each before realizing their eyes were bigger than their bellies. We made a quick stop at home so they could put the leftovers in the freezer before making our way to the skating rink.

 This was the only picture I was able to capture of the both of them before they ditched us to be with their friends

 Peter and I shared a snack to pass the time

 Kristjan lasted about an hour before he had to take his skates off due to a blister. By this time, Peter was more than ready to leave, but I told him they hadn't done "fast skate" yet, which was the whole reason Clifford wanted to come. Sure enough, when Peter went to tell Clifford it was time to go, Clifford wasn't having it! So we stayed long enough for him to race. He came in first place!

Super Bowl Fun

 Appetizers + Friends + Nacho Bar + Super Bowl 

= 

AN AWESOME SUNDAY!

My "cheese" platter 

(cream cheese, butter and crushed oreos)

Our friends Mel & James joined us!

A Second Car!

After about 10 years of juggling around with having only one vehicle, we FINALLY have a second car! It's something we've talked about doing for a while now, but we'd find some reason as to why we couldn't (increase in insurance, increase in gas money, etc). A few weeks ago I finally said "you know, we're never going to be "ready". We just need to do it." And so we did. We spent the morning and afternoon looking at car lots in the area, even test driving one. Nothing felt right, especially for the amount of money people wanted (that was within our price range) for what I thought were junkers. Feeling defeated, we went home. I was in the middle of making lunch for the boys when Peter contacted a guy on Craigslist about a '99 Saab. Long story short, Peter bought the car! It does need a few things fixed up on it (car parts are currently sitting in boxes in my living room). Hopefully this next weekend or two it will all be done, and he'll be able to start driving his car to work!

Well-Child Check Ups

This year for the boys' well-child check up appointments, I scheduled them later in the day so Peter could be the one to take them (one less thing on my to-do list!). Clifford had his appointment on Monday and Kristjan had his today. This is what happens when I let Peter be the one to fill out paperwork......good thing our doctor has a sense of humor!

"Washington, the Evergreen State"

We attended Kristjan's music performance. The theme this year for the 4th grade class was Washington, the Evergreen State. Kristjan looked very handsome and he participated in singing every song.

Happy Birthday Clifford!

Clifford's birthday was on Wednesday. He turned 11!!! 

 We started celebrating right after the boys got home from school. Clifford had earned a "no homework night" pass in his class, so he saved it to cash in on his birthday. So instead of having to do homework, he went straight to opening his presents.

 Not to shabby.....money from Grandma and Grandma Jane, and from us: a new Lego set, his very own Xbox controller with new skin, and his very own Xbox Live membership.

 For dinner, Clifford requested sweet 'n sour meatballs. Peter was having some big issues getting the Xbox Live membership to work, so he ended up being online with tech support for almost two hours(!!). This was all happening when dinner was ready. I really wanted us to eat as a family, so we dished up and ate downstairs.

 Showing off his new controller

 For dessert, Clifford requested an ice cream cake. So per his request, I made a homemade vanilla cake with a layer of strawberry ice cream in the middle. Yum!

Then on Friday night we invited his friends over for a sleepover. We had 10 boys in the house!!! Peter and I loved the sound of silence once we went to bed and closed our door! All in all, it was a great party and Clifford had tons of fun!

I surprised Clifford with a Terraria cake. I made the cake topper using perler beads. A bit time-consuming, but the effects were well worth it!

Showing off the birthday decor! I spent 3 hours cleaning, reorganizing and decorating the basement. Looked good!

 Friends started to arrive and everyone flocked to the video games. With the exception of a quick Nerf gun battle outside later that night, in front the tv they stayed!

 Cake and Present Time!