January and February Happenings

Not much happened in January.  Madeline had her g-button replaced at the beginning of the month.  Because she was put to sleep and the doctor was messing with her stomach she ended up getting gas trapped in her stomach with no way to get out.  She was in some pretty intense pain for a few days and Grant and I were grateful that we don't have many of those days.  There isn't much we can do but flush her tummy with pedialite and because she can't throw up we have a tube to drain her stomach through her g-button.  After that we hold her and sing to her and pray for Heavenly Father to take the pain away.  After a week she was able to eat again without any pain. 

We did celebrate Chinese New Year with our usual dinner of spaghetti.  We were able to use the chop sticks that Grant's Aunt and Uncle brought back from their mission to South Korea.  This is I thought it would be fun to put everyone's animal from the year that they were born up on the wall with their name written in Chinese.  As a family we then took turns guessing who was each animal.  Anthony manage to get them all right, lucky guessing!  For a treat we had fortune cookies from Panda Express. 

I didn't get any pictures but for Valentine's Day this year I continued the tradition of putting hearts on their bedroom door with traits that I love about them.  I do this starting Feb 1 and then on Feb 14 there is a special little treat waiting for them.  I got a kick out of the kids checking their doors to see what the latest note was.  I tried to put them up before I went to bed, but many days I didn't get them up until they were at school.  So when they got all excited to see that another heart was added.  A few hearts ended up on my bedroom door and that was a nice treat to a few love letters from the kids. 

For President's Day the first graders at Spencer's school dressed up either as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, or Barack Obama.  Spencer chose George Washington (I thought Abraham Lincoln would be easier).  Spencer also had to select a quote and memorize it.  They turned the cafeteria into a press room where they had a podium with the Presidential symbol on it and the kids took turns saying their quote in the microphone. 

In the middle of February, Anthony attended a merit badge college where he was able to complete three merit badges (art, communications, and music).  This was all he needed to become a Star Scout.  He has set a goal to reach Life by the end of the year.  It is hard to believe that Anthony will be starting his eagle project here soon. 

I think that is about all!