February

Connor and Corinne participated in Junior Festival in February.  Because they both got superior ratings, they also played in the Honors Concert three weeks later.  Ryan took them out for fancy ice cream at Creamistry afterwards.
  

Celeste absolutely loves the bunnies.  One of her favorite things is to share treats like broccoli and parsley with them (one bite for her, one for the rabbits...)
    

    
Our neighbors were having some tree work done, so I inquired about whether they could remove the Italian Cypress trees in our front yard.  They came over fifteen minutes later and did the whole job that afternoon.  I was pretty happy to see those trees gone!
    

     
One requirement of being enrolled through a charter school is that the kids do physical fitness testing in the spring.  Connor and Elise got to go to a park in Pasadena and be tested in a mile run, body composition, flexibility, sit-ups, and a bunch of other things.  They didn't love it, but they were good sports.
    

Evan turned eight years old!  We had a camping trip planned on his actual birthday, so we celebrated with cake a couple days in advance.  (He wanted an Oreo ice-cream cake, which wouldn't have transported very well.)  He got a couple of 3DS games, plus an MP3 player so he could listen to Geometry Dash music ALL the time.
   

   
We went on our traditional campout to Death Valley with a bunch of our camping buddies.  The weather was good, but nights were so windy that our big tent actually broke on the last night, and we could barely get the camp stove to heat up canned chili.  Celeste slept with me in the little tent, but she was not happy about it.  The noisy flapping of the tent scared her, and I had to turn on a white noise machine and nurse her to sleep several times each night.  Daytime was great, though.  We hiked Zabriskie Point to Golden Canyon, visited the pupfish stream, and did Mosaic Canyon again (my favorite Death Valley hike).

 

    

Coyote

12-Year-Old Driver

   
Every month or two, I try to go have lunch with Ryan downtown while the older kids are in school.  Celeste is our restaurant buddy.   She really liked these weird Japanese inflatables that were outside a food shop.
     

   
Celeste turned 18 months old, and started nursery at church!  She loved it so much that she cried when I came to take her home two hours later.  She gets really impatient during Sacrament Meeting now, asking if it's time for "nuh-nuh".
   

   
Another part of homeschooling through a charter school is meeting with our ES (Educational Specialist) every three weeks.  She comes over to talk to the kids about their schoolwork and collect work samples for their files.  Sometimes she brings prizes or games to play after she's done with all the official stuff.
    

Games with Mrs. Ortiz

   
On the last Sunday in February, Ryan took the kids to the park for a couple of hours while I stayed home with a napping Celeste.  Apparently, Cocoa escaped while they were gone, because as they were coming up the driveway, they saw a bobcat trotting away with a limp, dead, black bunny in its mouth.  It was so sad.  We kept Winter inside for a couple of weeks after that.  She has adjusted really well to being an only bunny, so I'm not sure if we'll be getting her a new friend or not.
    

Random, cute pictures (mostly of Celeste):
  

Brisket Love

  

Piano Concert

Evan and the girls love giving each other mail.

No parent I know likes Nerds candy.

Elise has turned her bed into a magical wonderland.  Celeste loves to visit it.

January

On New Year's Day, Ryan took the kids to Pasadena to look at the Rose Parade floats.  This was the first time they've done the daytime paid option.  The kids got all kinds of promotional swag, but it was crazy crowded and expensive.  From now on, we'll stick to New Year's Eve.  I stayed home with Celeste, since we were both too sick to wander around all afternoon.
   

Every now and then I take a bunch of kids to the store, then remember why I shouldn't do that.  Anyway, they all still get $2 a week in allowance, which they generally spend on candy, so I have to keep track and delete the money out of their accounts before I forget.
   

We attended Corinne's friend's birthday party at Two Strike park.  There happened to be leftovers from a "snow day" activity the day before, so we drove home to get some sled-like devices.  My poor, deprived Los Angeles kids absolutely loved it!
    

A few days into January, Celeste and I got sick again, but this time with the flu.  It was the second sickest I can remember ever being (July 2017 was worse.)  We had fevers for about a week, then slowly started to improve.  The other kids eventually got it, too.  They weren't quite as sick, but had fevers and bloodshot eyes.  Pitiful.  Somehow, Ryan avoided catching anything.
      

Sick Baby

Sick Connor (His eyes never did get bloodshot.)

During and after being sick, Celeste was in love with our new bathtub.  It was so nice to be able to just put her in there and wash her, instead of trying to make do with a shower and a storage bin!  Also, I learned that kids get a lot cleaner in a tub; I guess it soaks the dirt off!
    

One weekend when most of us were well, we drove up to the Mount Wilson Observatory and had a picnic.  It's such a great place to enjoy nature without much effort.  Poor Elise threw up just trying to walk the stairs to the pavillion, so I think she ended up waiting in the car.
  

Our remodel was officially done!  It was totally worth the money and inconvenience.  Nana wanted to see pictures, so Ryan walked around the house and snapped these.
  

 

Ryan made a workbench from an old door.

 

The kids really like the workbench.  They even got permission to use power tools.

Evan attended Great to be Eight at church!  He was so excited to be getting ready for baptism.  I had to leave after a short while because Celeste just wasn't having it.
   

  
The much-loved Irwindale Speedway had their "last ever" event one Saturday night, so we had to attend.  It was pretty awesome, but when they torched an RV with a rocket car, Celeste decided the end of the world was commencing, and totally freaked out.  Ryan and I had to take turns walking around with her, back by the concessions stand.  One-year-olds, right?  Oh, and it turns out it wasn't their last event.  Irwindale got a one-year extension after all.
    

Other cute/nice/funny pictures:
  

I think this was Ryan making rib-tips from some brisket he smoked.

Giant Lego Bag

Every year I try to organize my life.  It's nice to try.

Corinne got a bunch of cute hand-me-downs from a friend.

Getting Chego in Chinatown