If January was for Jedis, February was for Pirates and Princesses. On the 10th of the month, Alexa attended her first Daddy-Daughter Dance. She looked so grown up and I tried not to think about the days when she would be going to a dance with someone other than her Daddy. She was so excited for the event and the evening was a hit - I was quite impressed to hear when she arrived home that evening that even her Daddy had participated in the dancing! ;) She told me that some of the girls were having fun dancing by themselves, but she too embarrassed to go out there alone and only wanted to dance if Daddy came too. :)
While Billy and Alexa attended the dinner and dance, Brody and I used the opportunity for a Mommy-Son outing and I let him pick the agenda. First up was dinner at Wendy's followed by dessert at the newly opened Tim Horton's/Cold Stone Creamery. Brody has never been a big french fry fan, but he decided to give them a try that evening, resulting in the following conversation:
Brody (after taking his first bite): What are these?
Me: French fries are
made from potatoes (supposedly)
Brody: WHAT??? This is a potato? It doesn’t taste like a potato. Potatoes are smushy and this is crunchy. Kind of like a cracker…
After dinner, we went to Cold Stone for ice cream. I asked Brody to pick out a place for us to sit while I paid and saw he had selected one of four lounge chairs by the fireplace. What I didn't notice until walking around the corner is that there was already another couple (probably on a date) in the two chairs closest to the fireplace! After unsuccessfully trying to convince Brody that we should maybe move to a table, I took my spot in the last open chair and enjoyed my ice cream. After a few minutes, the couple had finished their ice cream and left. As soon as they left, Brody let out a sigh (sounding like relief!) and immediately moved into the chair closer to the fireplace and invited me to move to the other recently vacated chair! I think he had that planned out all along!
The kids had winter break in February and we planned a Pirate themed craft night for the neighborhood kids on the Thursday of winter break. Unfortunately, my camera batteries were dead that evening so I don't have any photos of the evening's activities! In preparation for the craft night, I had gone shopping the previous week and found a pirate costume on a clearance rack. Brody decided that would be his ONLY attire for winter break! He was a pirate when we met up with his classmates for a play date at a local Kids Club...
He was a pirate at dinner....
(Saavy??)
...and he was even a pirate when we went to the YMCA's Safari day!
The YMCA did a great job planning activities to keep the kids busy during Winter break and Safari day was no exception! They opened up the climbing wall, had a Tarzan yelling contest, an obstacle course, and a couple of crafts. Both kids loved the climbing all, and Alexa flew up it! Once that seemed too easy for her, I challenged her to traverse the wall and she accomplished that with ease as well. I hope we can find a climbing gym at our next duty station - I think Alexa would love it!
They also had a group that rescues reptiles come in and talk to the kids about some of the animals. At the end, they kids had an opportunity to touch some of the animals. I was quite impressed when my oldest asked if she could 'meet' the giant snake!!
The next day, the YMCA's theme was Pirates (thankfully!) so Brody was actually able to wear his costume to an appropriate event and Alexa was able to wear the pirate bandana she had made at the craft night the previous evening.
These last few photos are from an afternoon when the kids were playing prince and princess. Brody wanted 'prince clothes' so I let him wear the suit he was handed down from some friends. He loved it so much, he even wore it to church the next Sunday. :)
We also celebrated Billy's birthday in February...but I don't have any photos. A neighbor kept the kids for us so I could take him out to lunch and a movie one afternoon, and then we celebrated as a family on his actual birthday with a birthday dinner and fruit pizza for dessert.
