January...and February...

And so I continue the tradition of blogging every two months.  :)

January brought a few highlights:

Lucy's first science fair!  Her teacher decided to enter the class in the Austin Regional science fair, held at Palmer Auditorium.  Her science experiment was "Which type of water will go through a paper towel faster--salt water or fresh water?". 

materials used

My scientist

She won a third place ribbon!

Another highlight--she got her long-awaited-for bunk bed!  I converted it to a loft bed as there wasn't much space on the bottom bunk for an 8-year-old to comfortably sleep. 

Oma came down with a long, lingering cough in January and sweet Lucy wanted to send her an "e-card"

Oma did "git betr"

And a Jimmy update--still holding on to his winter coat

During the last week of January, Lucy was in P.E. and had a basketball thrown at her face by another student and her glasses were broken.  :(  The nurse said the glasses are what protected her eye from getting hurt, and I had a meeting with the administration and teachers this week to review the retinal precautions for P.E.  Hopefully it won't happen again!

On to February:

Lucy felt the need to give Templeton a bath one fine and early Saturday morning...

 Speaking of critters, J and Lucy got to play with two garden snakes I found.  We decided to not keep them in a cage like we did last year so they can do their garden-helper work for me.

And my garden is doing very well!  I have broccoli, chard, lettuce, peas, greens, etc. going now. 

Lucy took this artistic pic of me holding a bunch of rainbow chard using B&W

Our first broccoli harvest--thanks for the plants, Opa!

J has been coming over almost every Sunday after church.  We do a list of fun activities each week--bake cookies, play Minecraft, build Legos, fish in Turtle Creek, etc.  He volunteers to help out wherever he can.  Here he is filling the tires with air from our compressor.

The son we always wished we had :)

Another Jimmy update--he loves to play on the porch and doesn't venture too far...and he's too fat to jump over the fence :)

He likes to "knock" on the door when he wants to come back in

Another February highlight--we went to Chuy's to celebrate 3 birthdays--Den, mom and nephew #1...the big 13!

Food has arrived!

selfie!

I alerted the staff that we had 3 birthdays and they obliged by singing and bringing ice cream.  Nephew #1 ran away to the bathroom while they sang.  :)

Den was pretty happy about it!