Happy Birthday Again and Again!

February and March are full of birthdays (and a half birthday) in our family, and we celebrated early and often. 

Happy half birthday to Will

And happy birthday to Nana.  

We celebrated with a dinner out at Maggiano's and then birthday cake back at the house.  

The best part was that Aunt Karen and Uncle Peter flew in from Michigan especially to help celebrate Nancy's birthday.  It had been a long time since we had seen them, so we were excited they could be here to help celebrate.  

Nana and her crew

Gramma's birthday was in March and we celebrated with her on her birthday, 

and then again with Grampa and Henry later in the week.

We combined a D&D weekend with a birthday celebration at Mike and Jess's house.  

Cousins

These boys are two peas in a pod and their birthdays are just two days apart.  

Happy birthday to Aunt Jess!

 

On Henry's actual birthday, we went out for sushi at Kura.

All Henry asked for this year was an experience, so we got him tickets to an Astros game in May.  

Crave cupcakes are our annual birthday treat.

Henry's birthday party this year was the easiest yet -- a simple gaming party with a bunch of friends, snacks and pistachio torte for dessert.  Happy 11th birthday, Henry!

After a month of celebrating, it's definitely time to take a break, especially from all the desserts!

February Recap

Blogging keeps slipping away from me!  February was a full month -- I finished subbing in the school library, Henry graduated from Cub Scouts, Will started baseball and more.  Here's a peek at some of what we did in February:

Henry was my helper in the library, checking in and out books!

Henry also finished his time in Cub Scouts. These two pictures are from the Arrow of Light ceremony.

The next week was the Crossover ceremony, where the boys cross over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. 

Henry still also loves art and is always drawing!

February was a big month for Henry.  He was on the Name That Book team at school and the first round of competitions was at the end of the month.  The kids worked so hard and I was so proud to help coach them, but they came in second in the preliminary round to T.H. Rogers.  

Will has been busy as well.  He started baseball at Kinkaid, and while it may not be his favorite sport, we are already seeing some improvement.

He is also doing really well at viola and even made second chair this year!  We went to a concert at the MATCH to see his viola teacher play with her ensemble group.  

We had a lot of really gray, rainy days in February, so we took advantage of a rare sunny day to get out and hike at the Arboretum.  

Henry had to make a bento box for a school project. This is what he and Gene came up with:  three birds (strawberries), a birdhouse, seeds for the bird, and, of course, an egg in a nest. 

We had lunch out with Henry after his final round of middle school testing and interviews. Applying to middle school is tough!

I was trying to clean up the playroom one day, and Freyja was "helping" me.   

We had a very low-key Valentine's Day celebration with heart cookies from a family friend in Michigan.  

I hope your February was full of heart cookies and big smiles too!

January Recap

Now that it's March, it's time for a January recap.  The past couple of months have been pretty busy around here! 

Back on New Year's Day, we took a First Day hike at the Houston Arboretum. It was a gorgeous day and it was so good to get outside.  Nature always makes me happy.  

We also visited Brazos Bookstore for their Yappy New Year celebration. It's always fun when you can bring your dog to the book store!

January was pretty full of book events. Author Chitra Soundar visited West U to talk to our second and third graders.  She was the third author to visit while I was the substitute librarian!

The annual Bluebonnet Breakfast also happened while I was subbing.  Henry received an award for reading all 20 Bluebonnet nominees.  

The winner at our school was Refugee by Alan Gratz.

In other happenings, Henry made some really cool art

and I cracked my computer screen 

which led to quality work time on the upstairs computer with the cat on my lap.  

Henry has been creating a dungeon for D&D.  

Henry and I attended his last International Festival at West U

and Henry also said the Pledge of Allegiance at Sorcha Landau's investiture as Justice in the Court of Appeals.  

Finally, we had a big pep rally at school for the start of the Souper Bowl of Caring. 

Our school donated over 45,000 pounds of food to the Houston Food Bank!  Fifth grade always brings in the most amount of food.  

That's a wrap for January!