February

Another month without Daddy. Here's how we spent it.

celebrating Groundhog Day

building with Legos

this stinker pushed that bin over to the coffee table and used it as a step to get on top

We went to Mark & Sarah's house for a weekend.

Jacob discovered stairs.

Jacob and Christine

We had some good sized boxes that something was delivered in. They got a lot of use!

My parents came out for about a week and a half. It was a big help to have them there! Jamie particularly enjoyed having extra people who could play with and read to him. While they were here, we celebrated Valentine's Day.

Jamie had a little Valentine's party at preschool. He wrote his name on his Valentines and cut them all out.

More time in the boxes... Jamie pretended they were space ships and added flags to show which countries they belonged to.

My parents and I played lots of games when the boys were in bed.

We made Valentine's cookies. Jamie got some awesome dinosaur cookie cutters for Christmas so we decided to use those too. :)

We also did a couple President's Day activities and read books about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

Lincoln

Washington

We experienced tons of ice and snow! (For Tennessee, anyway). Knox County schools were closed all but 1 day in a 2 week period, so Jamie also didn't have preschool for 2 weeks.

The first day there was just ice.

puzzle time

The next day, a layer of snow had been added on top of it.

Jacob was not a fan. He only stayed out a few minutes.

we tried a little sledding with a cookie sheet. It didn't work that great.

more games

Grandma & Grandpa's last full day with us

After 1 round of Scrabble, I had already picked up 3 of the highest scoring letters.

After my parents left, we only had 6 days left before Thomas came home!

We read a lot about astronauts and space this month. Jamie put on about 4 layers under his astronaut suit there after reading about the different parts of a space suit.

We got more snow! The first round was too icy and this was too powdery. That combined with Jacob's dislike meant we didn't stay out long.

But that snow mostly melted and a couple days later we had yet another snowfall. This time we finally had good packing snow. We stayed out a lot longer that day! Jamie and I made a snowman and an awesome snow fort/castle. We all went out at first, but again Jacob wasn't loving it. Later my friend Allison came over and watched Jacob so Jamie and I could play more without worrying about him. We could've stayed out all day. It was not too cold and the snow was perfect.

Jamie and "Mr. Snowy"

the beginnings of our fort

I didn't get any pictures of the completed castle until the next morning. Sadly part of it had fallen down by then. :( But it was awesome.

That very night, Thomas came home!! It was late so the boys didn't get to see him until the morning. What a cute reunion. :)

That night we had a "taco party" that Jamie largely planned (à la Dragons Love Tacos). We had so much fun and it has been wonderful to have Daddy home!

Finally, one last picture. 

I was surprised at how quickly the month went by. It helped a lot that we went to my brother's house and that my parents came. In any case, I am glad it is over and so happy to have Thomas back!