February

After we got back from Death Valley, Evan had his birthday party.  It was originally going to be pirate themed, but became more of an "Evan's Favorite Things" party.  We did light-saber battles, bean-bag toss, a pinata, and decorated cupcakes with all kinds of wonderful stuff.
   

  

Corinne's Turn

Connor's Turn

Evan

  

Happy Birthday Song - See the solitary candle?

Cupcake Decorating

  
Connor found a weird, mushroom-like thing in the dirt halfway down our driveway.  When we looked it up, we discovered it's known as "Dead Man's Foot."
  

The kids frequently ask me to take pictures of things.  Usually, I just do as I'm told.
  

Connor 3D Rhino

Lincoln Logs

As part of a Cub Scout requirement, I made two detailed emergency information sheets to put on the fridge and by the front door.  One part was contact info for all our neighbors, including pictures, in case the kids ever had to run next door for help.
   

   
Connor earned his Bear rank advancement in Cub Scouts.  They re-started the tradition of pinning the badges on upside down until the Cub does a "good turn."  I believe Connor entertained Evan and his friends one morning during a play date, but I don't remember the details.
   

    
At the very end of February, Corinne started real potty-training.  I went above and beyond this time and got her a little pink potty.  She was super enthusiastic at the beginning, but, like all Brown kids, got less committed as the weeks went on.  Oh, well.  I can handle wet pants.  The good news is that I haven't changed a stinky diaper in months!
     

      
Other silly things:
  

I came home to an open door and a bird stuck in our house!

Playing with Apple Photo Booth

The treadmill is still our friends' favorite jungle gym.

Evan's Fifth Birthday, and Death Valley

In February, my littlest boy turned five years old!  He went with Dad to pick out a cake, and came home with an awesome Porto's fruit tart.  For gifts, he got a bunch of Rescue Heroes with their vehicles (hooray for garage sales!), and a Nerf bow and arrow set, which he was actually pretty responsible with.  Evan brings so much energy to our family, and so many "great ideas!"  He's super friendly to everyone he meets, and loves sports more than any of the rest of us.  We love you, Evan!

 

The day after Evan's birthday, I finally took our New Year's growth-chart picture and measurements.  Apparently, they all grew!
   

Two days after Evan's birthday, we went to a BYU volleyball game at USC.  They didn't win, but we had fun anyway.  Outside of the sports complex was an awesome sign we thought somebody might appreciate.
   

  

Over Valentine's Day weekend, we went with all our camping buddies up to Death Valley.  We spent the night in Bishop (not camping,) so we could enter the park the next morning from Big Pine and see the Eureka Sand Dunes - the tallest dunes in California.  The drive took longer than we expected, and the last ten miles of road were badly rutted and washed out, which was kind of exciting in a minivan.  The hike up made some of us grumpy, but we all made it!
   

Top of Eureka Dunes

Sliding Down

  
After a restful night of tent sleep, we took an even dodgier road up to hike this really cool canyon (sorry, I can't remember the name of it.)  
  

She got stuck.

That afternoon we went and visited Scotty's Castle.  We didn't pay for a tour, but still got a chance to look around.  It would have been a fun place to stay back in the day, as long as you came in winter.

   

 On our last day, we stopped by Devil's Golf Course, and revisited the pupfish in Salt Creek.  On the way home, we (along with the Walches and Menssens) helped a couple of stranded German college students on the road to Trona.  We're going to miss having the Menssens around to arrange all our camping trips!
   

  

Ryan and Elise in the Devil's Golf Course
  

Grandpa Brian, and Glendale Police Station

The first week of February, my dad came down from Oregon on the train for his annual Superbowl Week Visit.  We spent a lot of time hanging out in the backyard, and the kids went crazy dancing to music on the portable speakers he brought.  We watched the Superbowl, of course, and I have to say, our Superbowl lunch was pretty awesome.  Ryan grilled Italian sausage outside, and I did baked zucchini, grilled peppers and onions, homemade guacamole, and marinated portobellos.  At halftime, we left my dad alone and spent the second half at our friends' house (he was invited, but preferred to stay put,) which was good in retrospect, since it allowed him his period of mourning when the Seahawks lost!  The rest of the week we spent mostly running around to our usual lessons and activities, although we did do an afternoon at the zoo.  I was "encouraged" to purchase an iced tea maker, since it's basically the only non-coffee liquid my dad drinks, but in the end I actually learned to love herbal iced tea!  It's pretty healthy, too.  It was nice to see my dad and spend time with him.
   

   

Dance Party Intermission

We found a salamander in our pool!

    

    

Superbowl Food

    

Cub Scout Soap Carving

Los Angeles Zoo

I reached BOTH my sleep and exercise goals!

Slobbery Connor

     
The following week we had an awesome Joy School field trip.  Mason's dad works for dispatch at the Glendale Police Station, so he arranged a VIP and rather lengthy tour for all the Joy School kids, plus the babies and Connor and Elise.  I was really grateful they let me drag my homeschoolers along, or we wouldn't have been able to go.  We got to meet the Chief of Police, see the dispatch area and listen to the police radios, get everybody fingerprinted, watch a police dog find somebody's keys, and sit both in a squad car and on department motorcycles.  We also saw the area where they unload prisoners from cars.  The jail was too busy, or we would have seen that, too, but the kids were all getting hungry and tired.  It was pretty amazing.