February Fun

Continuing in my rewind of the first half of the year with all our February happenings! Sometimes I do a good job of having the girls' birthday parties near their birthdays and sometimes...not so much. This was a year of a double miss {I blame our trip to NYC so it was totally worth it!} and both girls had their parties late.

We celebrated Paige turning 8! 

She had a tumbling party at the gym where both girls  take classes. 

Sorry not sorry...more Gus cuteness!

Brent surprised me on February 13 with Valentine's flowers!

He loves to keep me on my toes.

We are all obsessed with the littlest of #theSwopeseven!

We went to see Dog Man with friends. This is most definitely not worthy of a separate post as it was...not great. Paige loved it and that's what matters but I maybe read a book for part of it.

Random bits of life!

Little Miss was Marie Curie for their Living History Museum presentation

Fun with friends!

Work coffee catchup ~ Surprise bestie visit ~ Jazzercise!

The Name Game

The kids love to see how people will say or spell my name at restaurants, coffee shops, etc. More often than not it's said wrong and/or spelled wrong. I can't remember if I've shared the story of my name, but my mom was reading a book when I was born where the heroine was named Alaina. My parents thought I was going to be a boy so didn't have a girl name picked out, so when I was most definitely not a boy, she suggested that name but spelled like my dad's middle name, Allen. And a lifetime of confusion was born! {grin}

These were 3 instances of my name being spelled in the month of February! Just one month!

Never a dull moment with A-L-L-E-N-A!

January Flashback

January is always a bit of fun but also a bit of a bummer as we return to reality after a long break from work and school.

We celebrated Drew turning 12! She and I did some shopping, and both sets of grandparents came over for taco bowls and s'mores {her picks!}. Her friend party happened later.

We had our last Christmas celebration with my mom's extended side of the family.

Only picture I took - Nap Auntie time!

I took Drew and my mom to see Come From Away with my friend, Tricia, and her daughter, Charlotte. Paige was a bit put-out by not being included, but I thought the subject matter might be a little tough {or over her head}. This was my 2nd time to see it, but it was everyone else's first time. Everyone loved it!

The rest of the month consisted of:

Cookie Season

Awards at school

Cuteness from Gus

A Celebration of Life for one of Brent's oldest friends

Book club happy hour

Blog Future

Hello! Not that I have a big following, but I wanted to pop-in and talk about where my head is with this blog. I stopped blogging at the beginning of 2025 because the big kids were complaining about their pictures being put on the blog without their approval {valid point, kids!}. But I have realized that I miss my online scrapbook! So I think I want to keep blogging in some format but also want to be more respectful of what my kids want as it comes to their pictures and their stories. I plan on going back and sharing some stuff that I've missed over the past 6 months but might not go through everything. Here are some highlights though!

- More musicals! We saw Come From Away {my 2nd time, Drew's and my mom's first time}, Hamilton {took both of the girls!}, Annie, and Moulin Rouge.

- Gus turned 1! We LOVE our sweet boy!

- Lots of Girl Scout fun! I took Drew and Paige on a leader-daughter retreat, we went primitive camping with the whole troop, and had a fun trip to Kalahari. Continuing as a troop leader for next year, and Paige is joining our troop.

- We celebrated Drew and Paige's birthday in early 2025 - having a Christmas b-day can stink.

- We finished our living room remodel, yay.

- Big bummer - my mom had a stroke - but she's recovered amazingly and we are so thankful it was minor.

- Drew made the middle school cheer team for next year - she worked hard, and we're so proud of her!

- We finished school! Drew and Paige both ended the year with All A's, Drew was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society, and Trent was recognized for his PSAT score, NATIONALLY!

- Brent and I took a quick trip to Mexico with friends.

- As always, more LJA fun with Brent's company!

- We celebrated my parents' 50th wedding anniversary!    

- Paige got her braces off, whoop!

- Trent turned 16, and he celebrated with his friends at Kalahari. 

And that mostly catches us up! I'll share some details about the biggest of these and will figure out how to share my life while respecting my kiddos!