Our Little Valentines

It's February!  The groundhog did NOT see his shadow, so we are planning on winter leaving soon.  Fingers crossed.

Syd has chosen to start leaving her door open at night in hopes the cats will sleep with her.  Sometimes she gets her wish, if only for a few minutes.  I had to snap a pic to prove it to her.

Millie's hat that she made when her class was stranded on an island to protect her from the elements.  Video: Millie's special hat

Mills has been working hard on not distracting her friends at school.  She's never really in trouble, but she does tend to talk too much.  She's been working on it though and doing a great job!

Don't you want to kiss these cheeks?!  I took this picture because one of Millie's friends told Syd she looked like a nun in this dress. Hahaha, Syd didn't know what a nun was...

It's time to fill out the valentines!  It's a bit frustrating at this age because they mess up a lot and want to scrap the cards and start over.  But we only have so many...

You're a gem, love Syd <3

Oh dear.  The friday before valentines day was the girls' parties at school.  Millie came down with a fever the night before, so she had to miss.  Syd woke up on the wrong side of the bed, so everything was difficult this morning.  Her headband was too poke-y, her feet too itchy... a lot of the usual morning complaints x 100.

She was also very upset with her box.  It was too big.  *sigh*

Somehow, we got her out the door in time to go to Donuts with Dad at school!  That saved the morning...turns out that headband wasn't too poke-y, I guess.

But the day wasn't over yet.  We received a call from the school nurse that Syd had come to her office TWICE throughout the day to complain of a neck crick.  By the time I got the school at 1:30 for her party, she wasn't moving her head...it was glued to her left shoulder and stayed there throughout the party.  I couldn't quit laughing.  She is so stubborn and dramatic.

I know her neck hurt, but she was really playing it up!

I mean...look at this child.  Oh Syd...

Poor Millie had to stay home and miss her party.  Thankfully, JKK dropped off her cute whoopee cushion valentines that morning and I was able to pick up the ones she received from her classmates. All was not lost!

Check out their super cool valentines dab shirts

Since Millie was sick, we couldn't go on our annual date to the wine opener together.  JKK decided to stay with Millie and I took my friend Emily as my date.  We met the Cruiks and had way too much wine and some groovy dancing. 

I was sort of in a pitiful state after my night out, so it worked out well that the girls wanted to lounge all weekend.  Millie still had a fever and Syd was propped up on the heating pad for her neck.  It was kind of nice to snuggle down and watch movies all day; we never get to do that!

By Monday, we all had cabin fever.  Millie was on the mend, so the three of us went to the Amazeum for the day! PS - the girls are off school for this entire week.

There are some really tall leaves at the Amazeum for kids to climb up and town and through a long tunnel way up high.  It's super safe, but Syd has been scared of it.  She went through it on this day and came out at the end saying "I faced my fears!". It was cute.

Fresh new cut for Mills!  This time she wanted a mohawk.  We compromised on shaving a bit more but leaving one side. It suits her!  She loves it, and she's so confident about it.  

Syd is confident in these glasses ;)  Her catch phrase lately: so satisfying.  It makes us laugh every time.

She is soooo good on the hoverboard now!  She's on it more than Mills

Gymnastics update: we took a month off and the girls missed it.  So we're back!  Except we're back at our original place because the other one was too far.  The girls love it here and it seems to be a better fit.

Millie has been working on her back kickover, and she's done it on her own several times lately!

Syd has been working on landing her cartwheel on her feet.  She's also managed to land it several times lately.  Nice to see some progress!  They sort of plateued at the last place.  I think they've had a big confidence boost here in the past couple of weeks!

Big news: Millie is finally old enough for sleepovers!  Since they were on school break, she invited her bestie Dylan to sleepover on Valentines Day!  First stop was sushi for lunch!  I wish I had a video of Millie shoveling that sushi roll in her mouth at warp speed.  She kept saying how much she loved it.  It was hilarious.  She had tasted some of JKK's sushi before - but never her own roll.  Guess she's a true fan!

Then we invited some friends over for a little V-day party!  We played bingo and set up an ice cream sundae bar.  It was really lovely!

Oh really? Sad.  The sleepover went well!  It was adorable when I overheard them in the bathroom before bed when Millie said "I feel like we're such big girls...like 10 or 11!". ;)  Poor Syd had a tough time understanding why they didn't want her around much though.  Life lessons.

More Millie art...haha!  Who doesn't love wine?!

Coco came to Arkansas to stay the night with the girls, while JKK and I went to Tulsa to see Young the Giant!  The girls basically had the best time ever.  They went to dinner and played games and loved on the cats and watched movies.  Heaven.  We had a fun night out too - love my concert buddy!

We woke up early the next day to see my dad and Tricia for breakfast.  It was his birthday: 62!  I found this picture of him recently when Fred was just a tiny kitten (must have been taken 3-4 years ago).  Such a good pic of him in his element: hanging in his backyard, smoking some meat.  

Then we were home in time for lunch and a little afternoon brewery stop with Coco.  These places are getting smarter and making their establishments family friendly.  There are games and toys for kids so parents can hang out with friends and family and not rush.  We played Go Fish and Sorry and enjoyed our afternoon together before Coco had to go.