Sunday Shoveling

Don't you rush home from church to shovel the snow? 

Rocket Valentines

Zeke was sooooo excited for Valentines Day this year. I found a super cute printable Valentines template online a while ago, and Zeke approved it so we printed our own. He only wanted to use the rocketship design, so I did some editing (they needed to be smaller anyway!) and then we printed and cut them out together. After writing his name on the back and attaching them to a Valentines Kit-Kat, we were ready to go!

Valentines morning I made Cheerio hearts for Zeke and Nora before I left for work. Zeke woke up early so I was able to watch him discover his. He thought it was really fun. Nora woke later so I missed her reaction in person, but Aaron texted me that she said 'Oh cute!'.

This is Zeke with his haul from school. He was sweet enough to share with Nora. And of course mom and dad got the stuff they didn't want (it was pretty funny to watch them both try and reject the gummy cinnamon hot lips!).

Nora so happy to be sharing Zeke's suckers. Love the outfit; she insisted on the jumper today rather than the jeans I had planned ...... the conversation with Aaron while he was getting her dressed went something like 'No jeans anymore. I want dress.' 

2 New Cousins in 3 Days

In the last week of January we welcomed a new niece and a new nephew: one on each side of the family and one on each side of the country! 

Sweet Aliya was born first, and we got to Skype with Skye and her family the day they all came home from the hospital. It was so much fun to be able to see this sweet little princess sound asleep on the couch; almost like being there! Nora loved seeing the 'cute baby', but she got even more excited about seeing her cousin-friend Alyssa. Throughout getting ready for bed that night she told me all about seeing 'A-wiss'. The kids were also super excited to see Grandma over Skype too! 

Mister Jacob was born a couple of days later, and Zeke is so thrilled to have another boy cousin! He has greatly anticipated Jacob's arrival, and now is talking about when they will meet in person. Both baby and mom had infections and were hospitalized, which made for a very emotional week as we tried to support them as best we could from across the country. One thing we were able to do is have a family fast for them. It was a very spiritual fast Sunday for me and I could strongly feel the power of several people fasting and praying together for one common blessing. We also had the opportunity to say many prayers in their behalf and teach Zeke about praying for others and how Heavenly Father can help sick people heal and sad or worried people feel peace.  They are all doing well now, and home together, and we are so grateful for that. Draper has texted me several pictures of his adorable son and both kids love flipping through them on my phone. 

My mom's coworkers bought this balloon for her when Jacob was born.  

Families are wonderful! We sure love ours and look forward to when we can meet the newest members!

Groundhogs

Zeke saw his shadow today. Does that mean 6 more weeks of winter?

If those winter days are like today, we don't mind!