Hooray For February, Part 1

February is off to a great start.

Hailey and Makayla agreed to read a hundred books each if we all went out to breakfast together when they were done.

It seemed like a good idea.

Unfortunately, that breakfast resulted in food poisoning symptoms for all of us for the next three days.

Hailey timed her sickness so that she needed to take a break from school and hang out with me while she recuperated. She's sneaky that way.

We like to live dangerously. We've started a new readathon. 

And we've started planning a new reward.

Schools love to mess with the schedules of working moms and busy grandmas, so they gave Hailey and Makayla 2 1/2 days of vacation this month around President's day. 

 We headed right over to In Good Glazes.

For a wad of money, you can paint ceramic Objets d'Arte you didn't even realize you needed.

It was great. These two happily painted for hours

while we chatted about color combinations,

world peace,

and who should be the next president.  We get to pick the finished product up in a week or so, after its been through the kiln.

We tempted fate by stopping for another quality dining experience. You'll be delighted to know we dodged the food poisoning fun this time.

Finally, we ended our vacation time Paparazzi-ing Amy at her new job. She loved that. Kind of. Amy took a big step forward in her life this year. She was hired by a home care franchise that newly opened up in town. The new job uses all of the skills she learned from her job at the non-profit business she previously worked for, pay$ considerably more, and as Makayla likes to brag tell everyone, "she's the boss".  Amy's title is "Staffing Coordinator".

Way to go, Amy!!!

One boring Saturday, Hailey and Makayla wandered over to my house. I pulled out some supplies

and these two started gluing.

I believe I see a heart.

I dug out some appropriate frames from my endless supply.

Makayla felt sure her frame needed to be painted.

A picture almost as cute as the picture-holder.

We went to our ward's dinner and open pinewood derby car contest.

Makayla consoled Grandpa when his car didn't quite make it across the finish line.

Meanwhile, Hailey amused herself taking a dozen pictures of me

and practicing her selfie skills.

In hip hip hooray news, I finished Baby Pearson's quilt. 

My original version had no sashing or border, nine blocks, and was waaay to big. 

It also had an unfortunate whole bunch of other random colors. Busy AND big. Not good. I cut out the majority of different colors, subtracted some blocks, added sashing and a border, and viola! 

The finished quilt is about 42" square, backed in flannel, and a less-is-more improvement. I like it, and I'm comfortable that Baby P. is going to like it, too.

Okay, Ashley, the quilt is done. You can have that baby now.