February catch-up

In February, Maezie turned four and a HALF on Valentine's Day.  Maezie apparently decided (unbeknown to the rest of us!) that since we celebrate Kaela's half birthday, that we should celebrate Maezie's half birthday too!  The day before Valentine's Day, Maezie informed us of all the lengthy plans she expected us to adhere to--she wanted a princess party, princess presents, bowling at the Fun Center, and a chocolate cake "the rainbow cake from Costco."  We discovered this the day before!  So we gently explained that Kaela gets a half birthday because her real birthday is on Christmas and she doesn't get a party then, and Maezie's party would be at her birthday in August.  (I say "we" explained but in reality, somehow Daddy vanished when it was time to have this conversation!)  But....at the sight of her crocodile tears, we decided to give in a tiny bit and make pink cupcakes at home.

Winter finally came to Bend in February.  Since this is our first winter in Bend, we didn't know what to expect.  Many people have told us this was a very unusual winter and we usually get much more snow.  Yet, surprisingly school was cancelled when there was only two inches of snow at our house!  Twice!  Supposedly there was up to 8 inches in other parts of town, but we were shocked!  Especially since Bend is a "ski town" with Mt Bachelor and many other mountains within an hour's drive.  But....I guess the school buses don't care about skiing!  This picture is Graeson helping shovel the driveway....he did the whole driveway!  Even though it wasn't perfect, he was a great helper!

We also went to the High Desert Museum in February.  This is a great indoor/outdoor activity for the whole family.  We packed sack lunches and spent most of the entire day there.  We listened to a staff member talk about birds of prey and we saw live falcons, eagles, and owls.  We watched an otter swim underwater, and we also saw snakes, lizards, and all sorts of "leapers and creepers".  And we listened to another informative talk about cougars, mountain lions, and bobcats.  One of the more entertaining moments was when the turtles in the glass display were mating (apparently no need for modesty!) and Graeson shouted "Look Mommy!  The turtles are playing leapfrog!"  Um....yep, yes they are!  Here's a picture of the kids playing on the spider-web ropes.

And finally in February, Kaela had her recorder performance at school.  This event caused mom and dad to reflect on when we both played recorders in fourth grade.  And after polling some of our friends, it seems kids have been playing recorders in the fourth grade since at least 50 years ago, maybe longer!