Feb 2016 recap

SNOW DAY!!  We made snowman and tie-fighter pancakes for breakfast and enjoyed our day off school.

(This was the day before the big storm hit.  I always shovel the snow at our house. I like it, Rusty hates it.)

I bought Halle and Blake new sleds at Costco this year.  They were TERRIBLE.  So, Josh had fun sledding and everyone else had a good laugh when with a running start their sled would go about 3 feet down the hill. 

Ski day with Dad at Eldora!

Bronco’s crush the Panthers in Superbowl 50!  We had such a fun night at the Toys house cheering on the Broncos along with the Rowberry’s.

Blake was a star performer in his 1st grade music concert.  My favorite was “10 little speckled frogs.”  ALL 10 VERSES.  Wow. 

We had a lot of days off school this month.  We spent one near Valentines Day trying our hand at royal icing techniques.  I think the kids did a great job!

Halle and Sadie also made these darling Elephants.  Meet, Elle and Phante.

While Blake has swim lessons, Halle and Josh have been working out with Mom at the Rec Center. We run on the track and do fun body weight exercises using the step, ball, bosu and mat.  Josh quit after 2 times (he just swims at the pool) but Halle is getting so strong.  It’s fun to see the progress she is making. 

Dinner with the missionaries!  Homemade Oreos for dessert.

Blake’s self portrait.  He said, “Mom?  My nose doesn’t really look like that, right??”  I think it is the most adorable thing.  I want to frame it and hang it in my room. 


Date night at Union Station with the Rowberry’s!  We had fun playing Shuffle Board and eating a DIVINE dinner at the Merchantile. 

Blake gave a talk in Primary.  Is there anything cuter than his little blonde head barely poking over the podium.  He was so excited to give his talk.  He typed the whole thing letter by letter into his Ipod.  It took him like 45 min to type the 5 sentences, but he was determined to do it.  He also printed some cute props.  I love him.

Homemade Cream Puffs with Strawberry Filling.  Oh yes I did. 

Halle’s second band concert of the year.  It was amazing to hear how much they’d improved in just a few months.  My favorite two songs they played were “Eye of the Tiger” and “Don’t Stop Believn’”  Parents were rockin out

Our Amazing Josh

(One item of business….there is no spell check on this newest version of Open Live writer.  So….#sorrynotsorry for all the typos in the last few posts)  It’s been a fun month for our cute Josh. I am so proud of him and all his determination.  We lovingly refer to Josh as our own little Eeyore because often he has a gloomy attitude.  But, once you light a fire under this kid, there is no stopping him. 
First up this month in the amazing accomplishments of Josh….The school spelling bee.  He DID not want to do this.  The entire school took a vocabulary test and then the top 10 students from each grade level were invited to participate in the spelling bee.  He was afraid of making a mistake and so he didn’t want to try.  We had many long talks about how our mistakes don’t define us, how taking risks helps us grow, and about experiencing every opportunity we can.  We finally convinced him to give it a shot.  He studied hard and made it to the third round before getting out.  Afterward, he was pretty proud of himself and I think he was glad he had tried. 

Then, on Feb 18th, he reached his goal of running 100 miles!  He was the second kid in the 3rd grade to reach 100 miles this year.  It takes a lot of determination to go out and run 4 morning a week.  The club meets if the temperature is above 20 degrees.  So, he’s spent some cold mornings pounding the pavement.  When he sets a goal, he shows a lot of strength and grit as he works to accomplish it.  He doesn’t love competition, so individual goals like this work really well for him.  It made my heart proud to see all his fellow running club members form a tunnel for him to run through and chant his name as he ran his final lap. 



This month he also knocked another goal off his New Year Resolutions.  He completed 100 math facts in under 5 minutes.  His reward?  A Nuggets game with Dad in a few weeks. 

Josh, we love you and are so proud of all you accomplish.  You are a force to be reckoned with. 

Estes Park

We had a fun little weekend getaway to Estes Park over President’s Day.  Which also coincided with Valentines Day this year.  The weather was supposed to be beautiful and sunny.  So imagine our surprise when it was windy, freezing and snowy the ENTIRE weekend.  Good thing we had a fun, cozy condo to snuggle up in.  The condo was beautiful.  It was right next to the river, had a fun upstairs bedroom for the boys, and a king size bed for mom and dad, and a JET TUB.  Me, Halle and Josh sure enjoyed that little feature.  Halle and Josh were espically fascinated with it.  Halle got a long soak one evening but Josh tried one after everyone had already showered for the morning and the hot water was out.  Not wanting him to miss out, I dutifully filled pans with hot water on the stove and poured them in his bath.  The things we do for our kids….

The kids were really great on this trip and got along super well.  It’s always a wild card to know if that will happen.  They were also adventurous eaters!  We convinced them to try a curry and kabob place.  Halle had chicken, and Josh and Blake shared a combo plate of lamb, chicken and shrimp.  And they all scarfed it right down.  Estes Park must be magic. 

We ended the day watching “What about Bob.”  Rust thought there was no way the boys would sit through it, but they laughed their little heads off the entire time.

The next morning was Valentine’s Day.  The kids woke up to a sweet surprise and a big yummy breakfast. 

Then we were off to the YMCA.  We purchased day passes so we could do all the fun activites.  We played PIG on the basktball courts, (I won! Wearing snow boots no less.  Blake, let that be a lesson to you…) and went rollerskating on the tiny rink.  We also swam at the pool and played some rousing games of Monkey in the Middle. 

But everyone’s favorite part was the craft center.  Josh and Blake tried their hand at Mosaic art, and Halle painted a darling little ceramic dalmation. 

Then it was time to rush home and quickly get ready for Cupid’s Crazy Cafe.  Even though we weren’t at home, we couldn’t abandon this tradition of a mixed up Valentine’s dinner.  As luck would have it, the Scriners were also up in Estes so we invited them to come join us for our wacky dinner.  This year we served spaghetti and meatballs, salad, fruit, and pazookies for dessert.  It was pretty funny when someone got their spaghetti with no fork.  Also, it was uncanny how many of the kids chose dessert for their first course.  I think they may have peaked…

The kids had been begging to have cherry Coke for their special drink.  I told them I’d hunt around for a caffeine free version.  Well, I could only find diet caffeine free, so I just bought the regular.  You would have though I brought home drugs for them to try.  They were flabbergasted.  I told them it was just fine for this one special occasion, and then really did feel like a drug pusher.  Lol. 

We ended the evening with Minute to Win it: Valentine edition.

The next day we were slated to go sledding, but the weather really wasn’t cooperating.  We decided to have a lazy morning watching Soul Surfer and playing Clue and then hope the weather cleared for the afternoon.  It didn’t.  We headed up into RMNP anyway.  The wind was fierce!  Josh’s sled got blown 1/2 way down the mountain, and walking up the hill was a major workout because the wind was pushing back against us so hard.  We didn’t last long on the sledding hill but we did get in a few good runs. 

After filling our tummies up at Baba’s Burgers we hit the road for home. 

Heart attack!

My very favorite Valentine tradition is to Heart Attack bedroom doors.  The week before Valentine’s Day we all sit down and write one or two things we love about the other members of our family.  Then, every day of the week a new heart appears on their door.  I love reading the sweet, tender, sometime hilarious things they write to each other and I love watching their faces light up as they read the messages on their doors.

From Blake: We love Halle because she is helpful and kind. We love to play stuffies.  We also play games together.


From Josh: She is fun to play Lego club with.

From Halle:

We love Josh because he is helpful and I love him