February iMoments

Somehow, Joey has turned into a big boy. His favorite thing to do is play with his cars on the hardwood floor. And he really plays with them like they're cars!

He's also started taking baths in the bathtub. He was a little freaked out at first, but he's loving it now! Almost as much has I love bathtub pictures. :)

Also, at long last, Joey finally has some teeth! If you look closely, you can see his two new pearly whites on the bottom. 

And what do you do with new teeth? Eat!! Ah, eating spaghetti with your hands while naked...that's the life. :)

Claire's first book report...in Spanish! She read the book in Spanish, wrote the report in Spanish, and gave her presentation in Spanish!

We had a cousin sleepover so that Isabelle could join the girls for our stake Activity Days super activity. It's was Eli's first time spending the night at our house, and the boys had a great time.

These big girls also had a great time at the activity, and came home with an FHE lesson all about Esther. 

Ten Months!

Claire has really started to enjoy reading, and one Sunday I could her reading our family history book! It's so much work to do all this blogging and all the formatting of the books, and I'm desperately working to catch up on the "Luke Years" that I didn't blog as faithfully. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it. But when I saw Claire reading and saw how excited she was to read all about our family, I remembered why I do it. And it makes me so excited to get it all done!

Milestone after milestone...Joey stands up EVERYWHERE now! He is also a bit of a "toe-walker" like Sophie. Always on those toes! We've started calling him "Twinkle Toes". :)

I'm terrible at keeping plants alive in the house. But my poinsettia from the first of December is still going strong! It's so beautiful on our kitchen table...

For President's Day, we tried a new recipe for Puerto Rican pork roast. We're still trying to find that pork that takes Danny back to the island. This particular recipe marinaded for 48 hours! It was delicious, though a little salty. I think we'll tweak it a bit and try it again.

If we were going to be having Puerto Rican pork, and arroz con gandules, we HAD to have some pan sobao (or Puerto Rican sweet bread). Danny did an awesome job with it. So many delicious carbs!

Watching my babies sleep is one of my most favorite things. And Joey won't be a baby for much longer...

They may not have been on time, but Danny's Valentine's Day flowers were beyond beautiful this year. I've loved them sitting on my piano!

Danny traveled to Seattle this month, and he asked the kids to be a big help to me. Sophie decided she would do dinner for me, and she made the most delicious grilled cheese sandwiches! My kids making dinner?! #parentgoals

And Johnny is toothless!

My kids are dying for spring. We were waiting for Claire to come out of piano lessons and I turned to tell John to roll up the window and this is what I saw! Note the snow on the trash can in the background... :)

Oh my Poseph. He's growing up so fast and he's so much fun! He's always at my heels, all day long. I was doing the dishes and stepped out of the kitchen for a second to grab something. I came back to see Joey helping me do the dishes. I love my little sidekick!

I don't think you'll find this milestone in any child development book...but it's a milestone in our house. Discovering the tupperware drawer! Claire, Sophie, and John will be paying me back for the years I spent picking up their "tupperware work" by picking up Joey's! :)

We've really started to embrace the whole concept of goal-setting in our family. Sophie completed another 20 consecutive nights of sleeping in her own bed and earned her second Beanie Boo, while Claire practiced piano every weekday for two consecutive weeks to earn her Beanie Boo. We're all loving how much more is getting accomplished and how we're all improving on areas that we're weak in.