February, part 1

We've had a great month so far and because of a surprise date for Marcel next week that should have lots of pictures, I decided to split this month up into 2 posts.  

The month started with a couple very excited for the Super Bowl.  Our Seahawks and the Patriots.  We stayed home to watch the game so that we could actually watch the game.  It was that important :)  

We tried a new homemade queso for nachos and it was delicious!

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2015/01/26/recipe-creamy-queso-dip-veggies/

We also made our own salsa and guacamole in my new Blendtec.  We always make our own guacamole and do our own salsa most of the time, but they were so much easier (and quicker) in the Blendtec.

In September, we ran in the FitOne race and I have since "liked" their facebook page.  They had posted a Super Bowl exercise routine.  I had joked that we should do it but didn't think too much of it.  Then half-time came and they posted the recap of all the exercises that should have been done and we decided to do them!  It was really hard, especially all the calf raises for each timeout.  But it felt so good to exercise, even if we ended up saving some of them for the next day because the game got too close to be exercising (and because after it was over, we were too depressed to do anything but sulk)  

We enjoyed Katy Perry's performance in the middle of our planks, wall sits, jumping jacks and high knees and got quite sweaty, as seen below:

Cece started gymnastics this month and loved it.  I have only tried to take pictures once and it is so hard because I have to help her do everything, since it is a "mommy & me" class.  This picture is at the end of her first class when I told her it was time to go.  She wasn't happy, but loves getting a stamp and sucker at the end!

Lilli is just about done with naps, even though I'm not ready for it, so on Fridays we've been cooking together.  I've been trying to find things that she can do all by herself.  The first week was ice cream.  She measured out the milk, whipping cream, vanilla and pure maple syrup and got it all in the ice cream maker.  Then she made chocolate syrup.  I can't believe how big, helpful, and independent she is!

The girls and I had a great time with Valentine's Day crafts.  I didn't take very many pictures of our creations because Lilli decided to save all of them and give them to her parents at once as a Valentines gift.  I loved these colored macaroni noodles

(1/4 cup noodles + 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol in a ziploc overnight, then drain and let dry)

 Cece isn't as excited by crafts, especially painting, like Lilli is so we did this project Friday while Cece was napping.  I loved how well they turned out.  Toilet paper tubes are so useful!

1 week before Valentine's Day I gifted Marcel with 24 preplanned dates.  2 for each month: 1 out and about and 1 at home or done cheaply/free.  I had planned it to be for Valentine's but he was getting so curious about my "secret project" and I didn't want him to feel bad about not getting me anything, since we never exchange gifts on Valentine's.

 (thank you www.cleanandscentsible.com/ for the main page)

We/He picked Valentine's weekend to open February's at-home date.  It was originally supposed to be a redbox movie weekend but all the free codes I had been saving ended up not working, so I rearranged some envelopes and let him open a new one: 

We started Friday night realizing it was our 9th Valentine's Day together.  Where does the time go?

We moved our mattress to the living room and pretty much stayed there the entire weekend.  We watched 1 on Friday, 4 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday.

My mom gave us some money for a Valentine's gift so we escaped to Qdoba for lunch for their BOGO burritos on Saturday.  We had to kiss at the end of the line to get the deal, so worth it :)  They were so big that we only ended up eating popcorn for dinner.

 We made it to the end!

Monday, President's Day, I was supposed to have the girls, even though Marcel was off from school but they both ended up staying home sick.  Lilli has been asking forever to have a day without Cece so Tuesday Marcel stayed with the napping Cece and Lilli and I went out.  She chose to go to the lotion store with the coupon for a free lotion that Grandma Wende gave her, go the pet store, Sonic for a special drink, and Target.  She got to pick out a design-your-own My Little Pony and a Frozen notepad.  She was in heaven.  Checking out at Target there was a baby crying and it made her miss her sister so we headed home.  I love on-one-on time!

BSU vs LA Tech

Last Tuesday there was a BSU football game, one that my mom and Don wouldn't be able to go to.  Instead of letting their tickets go unused, they allowed Marcel and I to use them.  We had a blast.

I was preparing to freeze the whole time but it wasn't actually too bad, thanks to the wonderfully warm jacket my mom let me borrow, because I couldn't go to the game and not wear BSU attire.  Marcel did save the day by buying us hot chocolate at half-time, but not until after we watched the marching band.

All bundled up!

The marching band is huge, compared to watching the high school bands

It wasn't until after we took pictures of the marching band that we decided we should probably have some of the actual football game too

Final Score
BSU 49
LA Tech 20

Blue & Orange Game

In our bag of goodies from Beat Coach Pete we received a ticket to the annual spring BSU game: the Blue & Orange game. Emily didn't want hers so Marcel and I took advantage of our free tickets and had went on a day-long date!

We started out the date by getting our rings cleaned, since we never make it all the way to Boise. When we were in Oregon I got mine cleaned about once a week since it was right down the road from Banana Republic so they were long over-due. We also tried to get them inspected but supposedly our warranties are no longer in the system. Frustrating! We then went to the mall to use my free Victoria's Secret coupon. Picnic lunch in the car on the way to the game. We were there for a very long time. We got there 45 minutes early to get a good seat but then they started almost 45 minutes late! We were even able to go out to dinner thanks to the main sound guy at our new church. Marcel has been doing a lot for him at church as his wife just had a baby and he hasn't been able to do all the services like he normally does. Chili's is so delicious. Plus we have so much leftover, it is 1 less meal I have to cook today :)

On to the fun part of blogging: PICTURES

could not have been a nicer day for a football game

I told Marcel that it was much nicer than having to be bundled up under a million blankets

the action

Marcel was so interested in this guy's job

he was the timing guy who made sure they knew where there would be TV timeouts for commercials, supposedly its a very important job with a lot of money in it since the momentum of a game can make the difference between a win and a loss...after Marcel was explained it to me I said, "so they owe their win at the Fiesta Bowl to him, because without him they may have lost a few games and would have never made it to the bowl game." That is probably not entirely true, but I'll always look for this guy now!

The final score: home was the offense and guest was the defense. The defense scored points for defensive things like forcing turnovers, sacs, 3 & outs, stopping a 4th down attempt. I'm still going with the fact that he was just upset he lost! They had to do a tie-breaker of a 2 point conversion--succeeding got the offense 2 points and a stop got the defense 2--it was a defensive stop so they won! They were the side that I chose to win because as I explained it to Marcel, they rarely have an opportunity to score points in a normal game. I was under the assumption that we were betting, meaning Marcel had the offensive, but as it turns out, he never agreed to having the offense, so no bet. I think he was just upset he lost. Even though I said the loser was buying dinner--we had giftcards so it didn't really matter--it was his pride that was threatened :)

A Proud Big Sister

This past weekend, Emily and I made it into Boise very early on a Saturday morning to watch Payton & Presley's extra-curricular activities: basketball and cheerleading.

They play/cheer for "Upward", it is a part of the Idaho Sports Foundation. It's Christian based, the teams line up at half-court prior to the start of the game (which doesn't start with a tip-off, I've seen them start by picking a number and whoever gets closest to the ref's number wins, and of course with the classic rock, paper, scissors) for a prayer. At half-time of each game, someone also shares their personal testimony. It is a very positive experience for all the participants! Something else I really like about the organization is that there is an award ceremony after each game and each person is awarded a star (with snack time, as well, because you can't play youth sports without a great snack afterwards!) For Payton, they get ironed on her jersey's undershirt, and they go on Presley's megaphone. In basketball, you could get a star for best offense, defense, sportsmanship, etc... In basketball, best spirit, knowing the cheers the best, etc...And for both there are "Christ-like" starts.

The morning started at Payton's basketball game at 9am! Marcel and I had been to her game 2 weeks ago and it was so awesome to see how much she had improved in that short amount of time. She had 4 rebounds, and went 2-3 in shooting! Also, this is her first time in the sport. Marcel is currently in a Human Development class so he is documenting her athleticism, among other things, so we've been videoing (is that a word?) everything. Too bad for us we only have the recorder on my digital camera, so the quality isn't great and there isn't a way to zoom in.

In case you can't tell who we were watching...she's the tall one with glasses!
And don't mind all the commentary; we were having conversation through the whole game, knowing Marcel would be able to mute it for his presentation.

After the basketball game (I don't know how many they have had, but the season is almost over and they've only lost their first game), we headed home for a quick bite and for an uniform change. Presley had to start cheering for a little boy's game at 12pm. She is a very good cheerleader and seems to have a lot of fun with it. She was very excited to do the dance (in the video below) because only 1 of her coaches has been working with them on it and because she too is currently a cheerleader she's had competitions and hasn't been able to be at all the Upward games.

There are only 3 girls in the screen, but many more cheerleaders on the squad. We like the one in the middle!

In the spring, they are both going to be playing softball, something I'm really excited to watch! Maybe Emily and I will go help them practice, as it too is something they've never tried before.