February Little Things

And just like that, February has already come to an end.  Things have picked up a bit over here at the Baxter household.

We started the month with both kids kicking off spring soccer.  Emily is once again on the Doodlebugs team.  Evan has started with a new team this season.  We were able to get him on the neighborhood team, the Bulldogs.  The assistant coach for Emily's team, is the coach of Evan's team.  It's nice that he's getting to know some other boys that will go to Kindergarten with him

We've had some crazy warm weather this month and so we've been spending lots of time outside enjoying it.

Shawn walked Em to school one day.

Evan has been working hard in Pre-K to get ready for Kindergarten.  We register him for Kindergarten in April!

Shawn got the flu.  Luckily the rest of us were spared.  We've all been taking some extra vitamin C so we all stay healthy now.

We went to KK's house to celebrate Shawn's birthday.  While we were there, Shawn's Granny asked to purchase Em's picture from the art show.  Em was pretty excited to sell it.  :)

We got our magic bands in the mail for Disney World.  We surprised the kids with the trip towards the end of the month.

Emily had a girl scout outing at Lowe's.  They learned all about different flowers and growing vegetables.

One Saturday, Emily and I went shopping while the boys went and got haircuts and went out to lunch.  Then they went out to one of Evan's favorite restaurants, Chili's.  He loves to kids menus there!

After 4 years, Evan has finally figured out how to open the baby gate at the top of the stairs.  Now this means he just goes downstairs when he wakes up instead of coming to wake us up.  Normally this would be a good thing except Evan just helps himself to whatever he wants downstairs.  I heard lots of commotion one Sunday morning and could only imagine what he was doing.  When I went downstairs I found out that Evan "made" us all breakfast.  I thought it was so sweet.  He had put out granola bars, fruit bars, banana's and craisens for us all to eat.  :)

Disney World Trip Reveal

Last June we booked a trip to Disney World.  Emily had been asking for a couple years when we could go, but once we booked it, I knew I wanted to wait to tell them until right before we left.  It's been a super hard secret to keep and there were quite a few times we almost slipped up by mistake.  But I'm so glad we were able to hold out.  I think I may have been just as excited about telling them about the trip, as the actual trip itself.

I had ordered the Disney planning DVD back in the summer and the kids have watched it a few times.  I just told them it would be fun to watch in hopes that one day we could go.  I wanted them to really understand what Disney World was before we told them.  Originally I had hoped to wait until the day before we left to tell them, but with 2 soccer games and a hair appt. that day,  there was just too much going on to do it then.  So we decided to tell them a week before we left.  I searched all over for ideas on how to tell them and finally settled on a scavenger hunt.  We just told them we had a fun surprise for them. There were 6 clues and each of the first 5 clues led them to an envelope.  The last clue led them to a box.  I made the kids wait and open all the envelopes at once followed by the box instead of opening them along the way.  Here is what they said:

Envelope 1:  WHAT: We're going on a family vacation
Envelope 2:  WHEN: We leave next Sunday.
Envelope 3:  WHO: Daddy, Mommy, Emily and Evan
Envelope 4:  HOW: We're flying on an airplane
Envelope 5:  WHY: Because we love you!

And then came the box: WHERE: Disney World!

Emily's reaction was priceless!  She got excited as soon as she opened the first envelope, but once she opened the box she started screaming.  She really had no idea.  Evan was excited because Emily was excited, but a couple minutes after opening the box he was ready to move on to a different activity.  Emily's reaction alone made waiting all this time to tell them, so worth it!  She was ready to start packing that night.  I'm hoping the anticipation and excitement will just continue to grow as we countdown until Sunday.

Evan had told Em that he'd let Em open them all, since you know, he can't read.  :)

Finding out we're going on a trip.

And we're leaving in a week!

Realizing we're going to Disney World.

Trying hard to contain her excitement!

Happy Valentine's Day

Since Valentine's Day fell on a Tuesday this year we had a pretty low-key day.  The week before each of the kids decided what kind of Valentine's they wanted to pass out to their class and helped me put them together.  The kids really enjoyed their class Valentine's Day parties and passing out Valentine's to all of their friends.