My group of girls from Kensington had a girls night. Kelli's husband, Jon, is like an expert potter and has his own potter's wheel. SO, we all made some pottery! It was out pot party. :)
I am the worst, THE worst, at anything arty. I told them and no one believed me. The pic below really captured my true relationship with art. Good thing Jon was quick with his fix it tools and made my lump of clay look good.
Luke and Gibby practicing for their Science Fair. Ask these experts which liquid dissolves the candy coating off of M&M's the fastest and their predictions on why!
Getting ready for Valentine's Day!
Drew had his Paw Patrol Valentines this year...
Oh, Valentines. You sure make it a family effort to get all 3 classes finished and ready!
We were inspired from our BFF Laney! We offered Ellie to get her nails done if she stopped biting them. Sure enough, it worked. After a few weeks, Ellie had her pick of colors! This nail day happened on one of our MANY snow days this winter!
Here is the color she picked...
Science Fair at the school!
Luke and Gibby explaining their thinking to one of the judges!
Ask them a question and they will give you a mini pack of M&Ms!
Elle came after dance and had fun making slime!
The boys explaining their project to their 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Cunningham!
The high school STEM program came to show off their robots they created...
AND down for the count. Case #1 of Influenza A. This season seemed to hit pretty hard. At my school that I teach it was awful. For a week straight, we had over 100 kids absent a day because of it. I am relieved that vaccinations are readily available. We all got them and because of that the 2 cases that hit our household were pretty mild.
Drew starting to feel better by Day 3 of it. Taking his armpit temp.
Elle and Luke going through their Valentines. Happy Valentine's Day!!
Case of the flu #2.
Auntie Nae sent the kiddos a fruit basket to help everyone feel better!
That day we had plans to take G.G. out to eat. With Ellie still not 100%, the 2 of us stayed back. We decided to go to the movies to see Mary Poppins while the boys were gone. It was special to have just time with my sweet girl. I love her.
Next weekend, everyone was healthy and so off to Skyzone we go a birthday party!
Our weekends are fun but they are jam packed! After the birthday party in the morning we had Elle's baskeball game, then Luke's baseball practice, next up Luke's basketball game and then we finished off the day celebrating a VERY important birthday...Grandma Uitti's birthday party!!
Happy birthday, Grandma!! We all love you so much!
Just a girl sipping tea with her Papa!
A game of Jenga...
Ellie has always said she wants to own her own sandwich shop. However, her career list is growing! Next up, she wants to be a teacher. She LOVES playing teacher with the easel! She will create the schedule and do different lessons on the board. I love when she calls herself Ms. Morin. :)
I love this girl so much.
On the left is my Papa Cooley. Check out the lips and mouths between the two! Cooley genes for sure!
Drew passes his swim class!
Ellie reciting her Bible verse to her small group teacher! Every March our kids program at church hosts "Pineapple Mayhem". It is a program that gives certain goals for each kiddo to attain like memorizing verses and books of the Bible. They earn their "Pineapple Bucks" and are able to shop at the store to buy toys and candy. They also have theme Sundays. These pics were taken on mix-matched day.
Spending the Pineapple Bucks on a big ticket item...A new soccer ball!
Playing with Daddy...
Below, Ellie at her end of the season bball "banquet". This season was so much fun watching her grow!! All season long the entire team was cheering for Ellie. It was really so sweet! Ellie was by far the smallest, in most cases by half the size, and so whenever one of her teammates could pass her the ball they would! They were just the best team! They always looked out for her and the girls would give up an open shot just to give her the ball to help her make a shot. The parents would cheer for her and root for her from the stands too. It makes my heart melt just typing this. By the 2nd to the last game one of the girls passed her the ball, Ellie shot and she SCORED!! Her first basket! The whole team jumped up, the parents jumped up in the stands, I cried, Ben and the boys hollered, and I looked at her 2 coaches and they were hugging each other. OMG. It was a moment I will never forget. She even finished her season by getting another basket in her last game. This girl...don't ever count her out. She continues to amaze me.
Ellie with her bestie Kayla...
And her 2 amazing coaches...Coach Kristin and Coach Tara. The 2 littles on the team and they did great!!
Our beautiful, SO sweet, Harlow is ONE!!! How did this year even go by so fast??!! Harlow, you are just a bundle of gentleness and love. We love you forever, sweet girl.
Math Pentathlon Tourney time!! Luke had another fun year in his math club! He practiced all year long, Tuesday nights for an hour. We had the games at home to practice too!
Ms. Cunningham came all the way to Bloomfield Hills High School to support Luke and another student! What a teacher!!
Again, there hundreds of kiddos playing in the 2 gym areas so this was the best shot I got of him playing against an opponent.
The 2nd/3rd grade team!
Another gold medalist for this rock star. His buddy Brayden got a gold too! We are so proud of you, Luke!
That night, Ben surprised be for my birthday! He got me a 90-minute massage and foot scrub!! Holy wow, I was so excited! Robert was his name and it was GREAT! Aunt Cathy and G.G. took our kiddos for the night to dinner and the movies and then dropped them off at Auntie Megs and Uncle Chaddy's for the whole night! Wahoo!!
Ben picked me up from my massage and swooped me off my feet to my favorite Mediterranean restaurant in Troy! Do I look relaxed or what?!
After the whole day at the Math tournament and a movie this was the pic from Aunt Cathy at McD's. Both Elle and Luke fell asleep! Drew held down the fort though. :)
The next morning everyone came home and dug into the hundreds of Beanie Babies that Aunt Cathy and G.G. had collected over the years.
Could it be? Is it she? THE SUN is out??!! And no more snow or jackets! Yes, please!
That Tuesday was my real birthday. Ben had to work late that night so I got the kiddos all to myself!! After the school pickups, we had Ellie's math club and afterwards it was off to the Cupcake Station downtown. I really think all my birthday wishes have come true. 💑 💙💜💙
