The Pollard Place: February: 90's Day and Weathermen

We did a very Midway thing this month and went cross country skiing at Soldier Hollow for the first time ever! And turns out, I think it's actually pretty dang fun. I could get into this I think! If it wasn't so stinking expensive. Henry really loved it, Della was less sure about it. I got a good discount for it for the homeschool sports group so we went with Larissa, Carissa, and another mom named Liz. It was a good time!

One night we were playing this Disney Trivia game, and Rusty and I came to the horrifying conclusion that our children simply did not know enough about classic 90's Disney movies. So we (me, it was me) decided that we needed to rectify that by cancelling a day of school and doing a 90s day! We ate toaster streudels and poptarts and nesquik for breakfast, pizza rolls, taquitos, and microwave burritos for lunch, and pizza for diinner. We had fun candy and popcorn and just had a great day. We started out watching Fox and the Hound (so sad), then we did The Goofy Movie, The Sword in the Stone, and ended with Bambi. Solid day.

Valentine's Day! Rusty took me out to dinner at Ruth's Chris! The last time we went was for my birthday last year, so it has been a while. But it's so expensive it is a really special treat to get to go! I had delicious crab legs this time and was SO happy with my choice.

The week of Valentine's Day I was picking my kids and Larissa's kids up from the art class and I stopped at Walmart and had Thomas and Miles pick out some flowers to take to Larissa, Alora and Lilah, and Henry to get some for me, Della and Amelia. It was pretty cute. The girls felt really loved and special and I hope that it helps Henry learn how to treat the women that he loves!

Rusty did so good this year and surprised me! For about three years I have been sending him the information for a "Valentine's Day Ball" that is held at Thanksgiving Point. I think it would be so stinking cool. And every year he declines, because he really does not think it would be cool at all. But this year I came home and saw the cutest little invitation with a rose and my favorite treats from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Luckily he did give me like a week in advance so that I could find a cool dress!

Rusty got the kids new bikes! Henry was ready for a new one, and we got another size one for the girls to share as they get older. Rusty was pretty psyched about it, and we set up a cool surprise for Henry to find them on his birthday!

It was time for Henry's birthday!! We put the bikes in the garage and then tied a string for him to follow out there. He opened his other presents, which included some gear for riding, and then went out to find the bike. He was so excited! That was one of my favorite presents I've even given someone. He was so happy!

Then we packed everyone up and went to the Bartons' house. Bryndee and Kyle had to work, so I took all three of their kids out to breakfast with us and then to Kangaroo Zoo. We got to Tru Religion for breakfast and Everett wasn't feeling good. He ended up puking all over me and some of the food and the floor. I didn't know what to do because Bryndee and Kyle were gone and I didn't want to miss Henry's birthday party, but my dad offered to stay home with Everett. He just put him to bed and then stuck around until Kyle could make it home. Other than that little incident, the breakfast was great! And then we went to Kangaroo Zoo and they had a great time!

Della and Kade!

Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Kirk got Henry a pellet gun for his birthday. I was unsure if that was a wise choice or not, but we will see. He was pretty stoked about if!

Chocolate peanut butter cake!

We had a cute Valentines exchange with our co-op friends and so I took the kids to the dollar store and they picked out things to make their bags! I'm trying to be better about letting them create things themselves instead of just buying a kit because that's easier for me to do. They did a great job this year and made some real beauts!

Della made a new friend because OF COURSE SHE DID. She's so fun and sweet and everyone loves Della.

The kids have been working really hard in jiu jitsu, and they have earned their first stripe! This was a really big accomplishment for them and we are so proud of them. They were also very proud of themselves, which was so rewarding to see. Both Henry and Della have worked their tails off trying to earn this stripe!

More Skiing!!

We met my parents at the resort at the end of our day so that they could take Della with them on a date! They decided they wanted to do grandparent dates, so they took Della to see Cinderella and then they stayed in a hotel with a pool. She was in absolute heaven!

We left Amelia's coat at the Ice Skating Rink so we had to borrow this from the Cowleys. Sheesh.

It was finally time for the Valentine's Dance! We doubled with Larissa and Wes, which was so much fun. But the dance ended up being kind of a dud. The dinner was fine, but they did not play a single slow song. At a VALENTINE'S DAY DANCE. Not one slow song. It wasn't really fitting the vibes I was hoping for. But we still had fun, it just felt more like a middle school dance haha!

Impossible to take a nice picture when Weston is the one taking it

Larissa and I just dancing our hearts out

Rusty went skiing on his own once because he had a conference call and just put his earbuds in while he snowboarded (hard life). He saw a moose right from the chair lift!

For our end of unit project, I asked the kids to be weathermen and do a weather forecast. We've been studying weather, so they know about cold and warm fronts, some extreme weather, the water cycle, etc. But I didn't have a lot of requriements for this one because they had already written a paper as if they were a raindrop going through the water cycle; so this one was mostly for creativity and fun. They made their boards and then we watched some weather shows so they would know what that even was (we don't see that anymore nowadays!) and then they practiced what they would say. It was so fun to see them be creative! Della wanted it to be like we were watching TV flipping through the channels and decided to watch the weather and then there she was! Amelia wanted to wear her rain coat and rain boots because a huge rainstorm came! And Henry had every single possible natural disaster happen at least five times, and some that he made up haha.

We all had tons of fun on the new bikes! I particularly liked Henry's, which I don't think he liked at all haha. I told him we could trade, but he didn't seem interested.

I made sourdough english muffins! That might not be that big of an accomplishment but man I was so proud of myself! And they turned out delicious! I was pumped!!

Rusty had a work trip to Kansas City for two days and a night, and he thought it would be a really great way to spend some quality time with Henry. I'm so grateful that Rusty looks for opportunities to spend time with the kids! Henry went with him and Rusty said he did great! Henry told me that he learned a lot and that he loved spending so much one on one time with Daddy.

We girls stayed home, but we fit some fun girls activities into our two days! We went to a tea party at a friend's house, got manicures at the cute new place in Midway, and went out to dinner at the Blue Boar (very fancy). I loved spending time with them! But I sure missed Rusty and Henry!

Henry's Highlights:

Fell through the ice at the duck pond
Becoming a wonderful, thoughtful big brother
I showed the kids a movie about William Tyndale, and it was a little bit intense. I told him I was sorry and I shouldn't have shown that to them and he said, "It was actually quite informative."
I was joking with Rusty and said that if he didn't stop doing something I was going to punch him. Henry yelled from the backseat, "Can you punch him now Mom? It's kind of exciting!"

Adeline's Adventures:

"Della, it's your turn to pray. But remember we are trying to say more things we are grateful for instead of only asking for blessings." "Ok Mom. Dear Heavenly Father, we are so blessed with all the blessings that you have given us. We are so grateful. And now I would like to ask you for some favors. Please help Porter..."
Miles and Della had a day where they decided that they loved each other and spent the entire play date writing love notes to each other. After they left, I talked to Della about it and she felt like she didn't want to do anything like that but she didn't want to hurt Miles' feelings. I told her that I know it is hard but she was going to have to do it and we'd have to go talk to him the next day. She really didn't want to hurt his feelings but said that she would do it. The next day, Miles came to our house and told her that he just wanted to be friends. When he left Della was not stoked about him being the one to say it first haha

Amelia's Updates: