February

I told Ethan to make a plan for his Pinewood Derby car and then show Mike.  Here is the plan.

 3rd grad "boot camp" to get them ready for state testing.

New Beginnings Olympics.

 Mike was not up for doing Pinewood Derby, so Ethan and I made this.  I didn't have access to tools, so we sawed the wood by hand.  It took forever!  Barry Halterman helped us with the wheels.  Ethan was super excited with how it turned out.  Unfortunately, the weights fell off the first time down (as we predicted).  The worst thing about that was that without that bad time, Ethan would have gotten 2nd place, but he still had so much fun.

 Without asking me (because they were afraid I'd say no), Ethan and Benton worked it out with their teachers that Ethan would get an extra homework packet and Benton would do that 3rd grade packet instead of his 1st grade packet.  Benton wanted to get smarter so he could play Prodigy like Ethan, and I think Ethan liked seeing Benton actually have to try on his homework instead of getting the whole packet done on Monday.

 Swimsuits: 2018

 The Laveen BBQ was on Saturday again this year, yay!

 Asher liked his Valentine's gift.

 I got to see Hamilton!!!  I listened to the audiobook and then the soundtrack and loved it!  One of my young women had season tickets so that she could see Hamilton and she thought she'd be able to help get me tickets, but then it was sold out.  So, I was shocked when I went to play volleyball at the church one day and someone was online buying tickets!  There had been a "Verified Fan" program that required users to apply for a code the week before and then they could get tickets.  I was SO bummed to have missed it, so I started reaching out to anyone who might have a connection for tickets.  Lucky for me, Mandy had a code to get four tickets and was only going to get 2, so she got extras for me!  Mike didn't want to go, so Daisy was my lovely date.  It was awesome!

 Ethan helping Benton on Prodigy.  He registered himself as 2nd grade, but within a day of playing it had bumped him to 4th grade.

 President's Day trip to Tempe Towne Lake.  It was a rare day windy enough for flying a kite.  Unfortunately, the tail eventually fell off and got lost in the water.

 We promised the boys kayaking, but the wind made that super difficult.  Mike was a good sport and took them in circles in the dock area that was protected from the waves.  There were dead fish floating around and the water smelled terrible.  Mike got a little wet from sitting in the kayak which made for a smelly drive home!

 My friend Tiffany was in town from California, so she, Jessica and I met at a park.

 The Phoenix Zoo came to story time.

 Benton's teacher asked me to chaperone their field trip to a roller rink. It was my first time chaperoning because I usually abstain from the race to be chaperone, but this year the school seemed to be choosing instead of asking for volunteers.

 Having over 150 first graders roller skating was hilarious.  Hardly any of them could skate so they were falling everywhere and the concept of all going in a circle in the same direction was lost on most of them.

 I bought this docking station on Christmas Day when we got the Kindles and it has been awesome.