No winter February (and some pics from the end of January)

We have had zero winter here in Valdosta so far. February has been beautiful topping out in the high 70s most afternoons. The azaleas here are already in full bloom. Although, I love warm weather, I really missed winter this year. I had several projects to accomplish that I thought would be good to do with the kids in the winter because, even though  it's not a long winter, we usually have a few weeks that are just too cold to get outside and play. Not this year. We've all been in shorts since the end of January. The kids have been begging to get into the pool. Unfortunately for them, the night temps keep the pool just cool enough that it's not quite comfortable enough to get in yet. However, if I gave the nod, they would still probably jump in in a heartbeat.

We've been busy (a common theme for my blog, sorry.) Ellie just finished up her basketball season. Her team finished 3rd in the league. They learned so much and played so hard. Ellie did better and better each game. She got really good at defense and has her plan together for what to work on for next year. Emma didn't play this year, but is in love with the sport. She has practiced way more than Ellie, and has actually gotten very good at dribbling. Mack got his dribble as well, but he has a couple of more years before I will even consider letting him play.

The girls went to the daddy/daughter dance at our country club here. They had a blast, and had a large share of candy and dancing while there. We've had school Valentine's parties, Grey Berryman's baptism, and lots of family and outside time. We are also in the process of turning our guest bedroom into a room for Emma. The girls have shared a room since Emma was 18 months old, and Emma has recently expressed interest in having her own space. Once we get it all together, I will post the pictures on here. She is so excited and has helped me come up with design and color scheme. She knew exactly what she wanted.

Emma had to dress up as one of the 101 dalmations for the 101st day of school. She was very frustrated that I wanted her picture and was refusing to pose for me.  After I saw the costume that I made on her, I realized that she looked more like a cow than a dalmatian. I had looked at a picture of the dog online while making the costume, and thought I had matched it perfectly. 😆

Freddie snuck in and got on our bed. I seemed to have interrupted his nap when I walked in taking his picture. 

Emma got busy with Worth one rainy, stormy tornado afternoon and worked some magic with her easy bake oven.  We had an F1 tornado touch down just outside our neighborhood gates. It did some serious damage to the homes across the street from our neighborhood, but thankfully no one was hurt. A few miles away in the next county, however, more tornadoes hit and caused terrible devastation and many lost lives. It was so scary. You can't see in this picture, but we had the kids bike helmets sitting in the kitchen ready to go on their heads, and for us to go into our safe area if needed. We just had the news going all day to know when and if we needed to hunker down. It felt like living in Alabama all over again. 

This is slowly becoming a new normal. I hear the girls screaming to turn around  and find my son with his pants down, fertilizing the bushes. 

I turned 39 on February 1st. It was an easy going day that I got to spend the last half of with my babies (and Worth.) That was the best gift I could have gotten. 

I have let Mack take gymnastics mainly because I'm exhausted trying to keep up with him while I sit there watching the girls take. I put him in the preschool class, and all I can say is that I feel really sorry for his teacher. 

Emma ready for the daddy daughter dance at VCC

Ellie had a basketball game at the same time the daddy/daughter dance started. I had to bring her to the dance after the game. She dressed in the car, and we threw a bow in her sweaty head. She refused to miss out on this night with her daddy. 

They served blue candy to all these sweet little girls in nice dresses.

Emma on the dance floor. 

This is all I've got so far for group shots. There was a photographer there , and Worth got a picture with the girls. Once they sent him the link to buy pictures it was $50 to download 1 digital picture. I thought that was ludacris, so I'm boycotting. 

Dancing with friends

My closest friends here in Valdosta took me out to dinner for my birthday. We try to  get together on our birthdays. Sadly, we all live right here in the same town, but rarely have time to get together. I have known these girls for 20+ years (Mille, 2nd from left, has been a friend since 10th grade.)

This is my 6:00am (or earlier) wake up call. "The morning takes too long to come" is his usual excuse. He comes into my bathroom, goes potty, and talks to me non stop while I get ready for the day.  

Ellie on the court

Shooting her free throws

Getting a pep talk from the coach. 

Getting a talk at the end of a game. Coach Young was awesome! He taught them so much, not only about basketball, but about character. He would never let them complain about the other team, and he always kept them grounded when they won. I appreciated that so much. 

These 5 played the final playoff game. It was during winter break, so we were missing 2 girls to vacations. They played so hard all 40 minutes and did so good, but came up with a loss (8-4) to put us in 3rd for the season. 

Westside Silver finished the season with 6 wins and 4 losses. 

I was very impressed with the mothers that set up this Valentine's party for Mack's class. Obviously, it wasn't me.  It was so cute. 

Lots of cute little boys in this class. Grandma bought Mack a pink shirt to wear for Valentine's Day and it was quite a fight trying to get him to wear it that morning. He said, "That's a pink shirt, pink is for girls!!" 

He didn't hold back wearing the heart sunglasses he got at the party. 

Or the the yellow heart glasses. 

Emma looks so grown up at her Valentine's party. This is her friend Madison.

The chaos after opening Valentines cards and gifts at home. 

Mack was pumped about his peep heart pop. 

Ellie was just showing off her jump rope for heart moves. Thanks to all the family members that donated for the girls. They LOVE jump rope for heart. 

High tea in the playroom

The girls dressed themselves AND Mack. They told me they were going to teach him how to not burp at the table and how to use his fork and spoon properly. I wished them good luck. 

Sweet Grey was baptized at First United Methodist Church in Tifton. 

Bo jumped in his mom's arms for a better look. 

They had a kid's sermon during the service. All the  kids had to sit down front and listen to the  sermon given. Banks just stayed back a little and observed. I couldn't get a great picture from where I was sitting, but it was so funny. He couldn't fully commit to the children's time. He wanted to make sure he kept a safe distance from them and from mom at the same time, all while maintaining his stink eye on anyone that came near. 

Tuesday night selfie. Ellie requests these all the time now.  Excuse my sweaty, little make up appearance. 

Mack fishing in the driveway. He dressed himself, as I hoped you would have guessed. He carries something around at all times. This weekend, it was an old phone case of Worth's (the thing attached to Mack's shorts.) He has slept with it for the past 2 nights. Other objects he's obsessed over include an old pair of Worth's glasses, old cell phones, toy cars/airplanes, Optimus Prime (transformer,) the list goes on and on. He usually carries his object around everywhere, and sleeps with it every night until he finds a new object to carry around. It has never been one specific blanket or lovey like most normal kids.

Some videos I've taken:

I apologize that this next video is so long, but it is hysterical. The kids are convinced there is going to be a talent contest on our big UAB beach trip this year and have been coming up with all kinds of dances and talents to perform.  Ellie and Emma choreographed this yesterday and performed for me. They asked me to film it for Lily and all the Alabama beach girls. As a disclaimer, I do not let Ellie dress like that outside of our home! This is her "hip hop" attire🙄: