February, Part 1

Go Pro at Vail!  Michael experiment with the new camera on his early birthday trip this week to our beloved Colorado.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efetUteuVWA

With the Olympics on this week in Sochi, Russia and Michael skiing in Vail, it was natural for Andrew to ask, "Did Daddy do the Olympics?  He went skiing, you know." 

This week's "Out of the blue at dinner Moment" provided by Andrew:
"Someday I wanna be rich...because then I can go to the store and buy things for other people.  I like sharing with them...like gifts." Of course it's a different story when it comes to sharing with your sister!  Guess she doesn't qualify as "other people". 

No matter how I rotate this picture, it comes out this way:( But the sentiment is still there.  Dody visited one night to hand-deliver precious Valentine's books and left a note for Andrew (it had been a rough week for Andrew at school.  He read every bit of it by himself---clearly it wasn't memorized! 

And just in time for her visit, Mom's delightful armarylis finally bloomed. Gorgeous, and a beautiful reminder of her all day.

Strike a pose!

I can't get enough of the Bitty Baby pics. 

The cuddling each night is just priceless.

Melts your heart when your kids can write you their own Valentine's...and it was completely his idea.  Not a school project or "independent time" activity.

Sarah and Abby came to stay the night and Sarah loved helping Margaret keep her momentum on her new big girl bike.

Sometimes, even a cookie isn't worth staying awake for when Mom's been lugging you around all morning.

Ready for school!  The "ABCD dress", as Margaret refers to the precious jumper, was hand made by Dody #1 (MY grandmother) and "Bama" (my great-grandmother), who was actually Lena Margaret.  To be honest, I didn't realize there was a Margaret in the family when we named our little girl (named years before she arrived), but it certainly seems fitting now:) Originally stitched for Kate, it's been worn by every little girl since (Anne, Emily and me, then Sarah, Abby, and now Little Miss Margaret). 


Watching them on the monitor---priceless comments and hugs are abundant.

Andrew and I happened to notice Matthew take a step or two from the coffee table to the train table in the playroom.  Who knows how many times we've missed it.  We failed miserably at our attempts to capture it on video, which was our attempt to get him to try a few more steps.