Misc. February

We went Mini Glo-golfing on Friday and had a great time! Eric really liked the gorilla, as did Brooklyn. Sadie kept her hands full with her ball and golf club. She'd put the ball in the hole and climb on all cinder block dividers, falling a couple times.

Brooklyn will actually hit the ball with her golf club and hit it into the hole. Your typical push the ball with the club, then she'd help everyone by putting their ball in the hole as well. This was definitely a speed golf activity. We were done with all 18 holes and did some of them several times in less than half an hour. It helps when you have the place to yourself!

We got to go rollerskating with Elmo! This was our first time rollerskating. Brooklyn had a ball! She would just hold onto your arms and you'd walk her around. Sadie liked to be wheeled around but didn't last nearly as long as Brooklyn did.

Getting the skates on was a challenge. The only sizes they had left were a little big for both girls and they gave Sadie these lace up skates. Whoever invented lace up skates for toddlers, obviously never tried to put them on anybody.

Brooklyn got velcro skates! Hurray for velcro! I had a lot of fun just spending some time out with the girls. Thanks to the help from our friend Stefanie this rollerskating activity would not have been possible. I don't know how I could have managed two kids on rollerskates by myself!
Making Valentine's day cookies. Brooklyn is one of the best cookie makers I know. She loves to cut out cookies and then frost them. These ones she decided to leave her mark and poked her finger into each one multiple times and made them really flat. She loves to frost them and top them with sprinkles and of course eat them! She loves the frosting the most.

We've had a busy February! But a fun one! I can't wait to see what March will bring!

The Sixth Challenge

Here are the rules:
1. Go to the photo folder in your computer
2. Go to the 6th folder of photos.
3. Go to the sixth picture.
4. Put the picture on your blog and description of it.
5. Invite six friends to join the challenge.

I saw this on my friends blog, and she was right, I couldn't resist not checking out my folder and seeing what my picture was. So here it is.
This is a picture of my grandparents holding Sadie right after she was born. I'm so thankful to have such a close extended family. There is nothing that brings a stronger feeling of love than the entrance of a beautiful new baby into the world. I love watching both my grandma and grandpa interact with my dear children. The sweet expression of love just warms my heart and makes me smile. Sadie is their 2nd great-grandchild and Brooklyn is their 1st. Sadie will be 2 years old in a few weeks and I can't believe it! How quickly the time passes.

Consistency of Change

Many things have been changing around me lately. Some of the changes I've been experiencing lately have been dear friends moving, flowers blooming, children growing, dog actually being obedient, snow melting, snow falling, weight changing, sometimes sleeping sometimes not, freezing temperatures to 60's, to name just a few.

The older I get the more I realize the only consistent thing around me is change. I was thinking about the beauty of my gardenia plant and how if it wasn't constantly changing I would never appreciate the moments when it is blossoming out in all it's glory. Then I began to compare that to life. Without change I wouldn't grow, I wouldn't blossom, I wouldn't thrive. I cannot stay in the same place, if I did I'd die. I am like my plants, I am constantly changing whether I'm out in full bloom or preparing for winter. I don't think I've realized how subtly the change occurs especially in myself. I look at where I am now compared to 6 months ago and yes I am a different person, I have changed. For better or worse it has yet to be determined. As I go from day to day life rearing my children you see how quickly their little bodies and minds are growing and changing. Each day there is something new, some new discovery, a new word, a new physical ability, a new challenge to master.

Where would I be without change? I don't know. I guess as the world changes, as people touch my life for good and then move I learn that I need to take advantage of every day as if it were my last and make sure I listen and try to say the things in my heart. The hardest part is expressing it. I feel like I am preparing to blossom, that I've been weathering the hard harsh winter and spring is around the corner. I'm ready for spring. My roots are deeper, I've being watered and am constantly being sprinkled with love through family and friends I'm being strengthened and I've grown and am preparing to blossom, meaning there is still a lot of room to grow! I just hope it happens soon! I'm ready for Spring. Ready to move beyond this winter that has lasted inside me for more than a year. Bring on the sunshine!

The Smell of Beautiful

Recently I found a gardenia plant at my local grocery store and immediately picked one and placed it in my shopping cart. I think one of my favorite flower essences is that of a gardenia. The plant I bought had several buds on it already and has a deep healthy green color. As I've been caring for it the last few days the buds have gotten bigger. One was really close to opening yesterday morning. By afternoon Eric commented that it had opened. Can I just tell you I can hardly keep my nose out of it. To have that beautiful aroma wafting through my house has been an absolute delight. If only there were some way that I could get a gardenia plant to bloom year round it would be heavenly. I can hardly wait for the other buds to blossom out. Happy Valentine's Day to myself! : ) Sometimes you've got to do those things for yourself that way you're not disappointed.

Family Out Evening

This week for FHE we went out to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and then went bowling at MSU's union center. Eric had a test and only 1 lecture on Monday so we had a nice day off for the most part. Brooklyn and Sadie were all fired up to bowl. All throughout dinner Brooklyn kept on asking to go bowling. Finally we finished up and headed to the bowling alley. If you ever go bowling and want a quiet place that's empty, the union building at MSU is the place to go. I've yet to see anyone there, it's a no smoking facility, they don't even have automated scoring. You have to keep your own score. But they do have 2 lanes with bumpers which is a plus with kids.

Brooklyn got big into helping keep score over the bowling part initially but warmed up to it when she figured she could actually "throw" the ball down the lane. I guess pushing it off the little track wasn't fun enough. It wasn't very steep and really didn't get the ball rolling very fast at all. My favorite part was after she'd drop the ball down the lane she'd run to write down her "score" even before the ball was half way to the pins. As she'd skip back to the score table she'd give us all high five's followed by a thumbs-up and a big wink. Her big wink consisted of one hand closing one eye and the other still shining at us. Which she did because she only knows how to wink the other eye and apparently she wants to be able to wink both. I love Brooklyn.

Sadie was all excited about bowling and then refused to come anywhere near our lane with a ball for a few minutes, probably because she took off down on of the lanes and slipped! Ooops! She did help push a few down the lane and gave us high fives but she wasn't too interested. in bowling she'd much rather explore and terrorize the place. Fortunately no one was there. She took off down one of the gutters, mind this is after she'd already slipped and fallen in the lane. She was crawling through all the tunnels (under all the benches), walking up and down all the ramps, turning on and off all the score table lights, getting her fingers pinched bu the bowling balls when the previously used one would return to the rack, finding pencils on the floor, competing with Brooklyn to keep score, going in and out of the women's restroom and turning on and off the light, etc.

Needless to say after all of this Eric and I were lucky we even got to bowl 10 frames. If I did the score correctly I bowled a 118 and Eric a 133. He always beats me! Except in Boggle and Boxing on the Wii. Those are two games that I consistently win. Phew! Overall we had a fun family home evening out on the town.