A Morales Minute

Lindsey, Lindsey. She was being silly and didn't know I had my camera ready. We all got a good laugh watching her bounce her head to make her funny hair do bounce up and down. Lindsey is a little more clown than we used to think. Olivia always seemed to be the goofy one who would make us laugh. As Lindsey has gotten older her humor has grown as well. I love it. We have lots of funny jokes, teasing, and laughs with one another.

We celebrated Olivia's birthday on the 18th. Saturday just makes it easier for family to be able to come over to join us.  She's 11! Next year she will be graduating from Primary and join the Young Women group at church.  Dad and Darin being silly. It's been so fun having Darin's family closer. Kentucky was so far away. And now, they're in the possible plans of having to move to South Carolina!  Washington Huskies slippers. She was asking for slippers just before Christmas, after I was all done shopping for Christmas. I'm glad she was given these now though. :)  A Zoomer Pup! Olivia loves animals, as long as they're fake.  The new Disney movie Moana is super cute. Olivia asked for Moana Legos. Aunt Bel and Uncle Chris pull through for a big win! I got her a bunch of clothes. She's growing! It seems all the kids are growing at the same rate and they have all needed new clothes in the just the past few months. She

Aidan has been working on completing goals in his Cub Scout book. We started working on the Duty to God Footsteps goal but then with the real cold weather we never go out to take him to the temple, or a place of reverence as said in the book.  It was still pretty cold out but Aidan didn't seem to mind. He was walking around the temple and looking at it, talking with me about what we do in the temple.  I've been able to spend a bit of one on one time with the three oldest kids at the temple so far. I need to get Tyler out here one day to visit with him about it. All of the kids like to see the temple. We're truly blessed to have one so close to us that they get to see it pretty regularly. 

I upheld our family tradition of making Valentine's Day a family thing. Jaime and I went out to dinner the weekend before, not really for Valentine's Day but just because we wanted a dinner out together. The kids said they wanted another movie and concession night for Valentine's Day.  They didn't know what the movie would be until they came down with their admission tickets. We watched the BFG. It was pretty cute.  Concessions (dinner) was corn dogs, fresh fruit, chocolate dipped strawberries, chips and dip, juice, popcorn and of course their choice of candy.  It was a fun evening spent together as family. Their laughter and excitement makes it a good family  memory. They get to look forward to this every year. They're all my Valentines. 

I let my girls decide when they were ready to get their ears pierced. When they were ready to take care of their piercings themselves. Olivia wasn't ready as soon as Lindsey was. Whenever the topic came up Olivia always said she didn't want them pierced. I was surprised when she came up to me and said she wanted to get her ears pierced.  She wasn't scared. She was ready for it. She picked out her studs and climbed into the chair. She was very grateful there were two girls to use the piercing guns at one time.  She didn't even flinch.  Next up was shopping to get ideas for her birthday gifts. She looked so adorable just sitting on the floor looking at the stuff she wanted.  She was eyeing many lego sets. After shopping we went to Artfetti. A cute little cupcakery and macaron shop. Olivia has been wanted to go get macarons there for over a year or so. Ever since she saw the place. They're pretty spendy, macarons but it was a fun afternoon ou

I told Tyler to go fix his hair before school.  He wants to rock a mohawk. haha Still, no one smiles with their whole face like this boy. He still has the twinkle in his eyes.  His facial expressions are hilarious. He has so many of them! This look was his look when I was laughing at his hair and taking the picture. He couldn't figure out what was wrong. I only know how to cut his hair one way. He wants to have different hair styles but I don't know how to let it grow in a specific way so he can style it differently without it growing out looking shaggy and kinda crazy. I'm sure as he gets older he will be one to try different looks. It seems like just yesterday that I'd catch him, a small toddler, standing on the bathroom stool to look at himself in the mirror making different facial expressions. How I miss that cuddly toddler but I really do still get to enjoy the cuddly phase he's in right now. 

Jaime and Bel drove to Grandview together to go to their "Aunt" Debbie's funeral. I wasn't able to go because I wanted to make sure Aidan had parental support at his pinewood derby.  Most of the time I see how Jaime and Bel don't look alike but when Diana sent me these pictures she took of them, their similarities seemed very prominent.  I love them both. They're wonderful examples of how a brother and sister relationship should be. 

I was surprised to see Darin at my house just before we left to the church go to weigh in for the derby cars. I can't say it enough just how thankful I am to Darin for helping so much in getting Aidan's derby car made. He has the tools and wood working knowledge that we just don't have. It's been fun visiting with him during the process and going to the store to get items for the car. Having school cancelations has helped with getting time to work on the car because he's had some work days canceled as well due to the weather. Jaime wasn't able to go to the derby today because of a funeral for Debbie, his Uncle Oscar's girlfriend. I would have been there but there's no way I could not take Aidan to his derby.  So we got to the church and Aidan's car weighed 5.08 ounces. It can't weigh more than 5 oz so Darin took out some of the putty weight. Worked really well. The heavy weight was inside the car. Darin drilled a hole in the back end for the