So February has left us in the dust.  Even with that extra "leap year" day it didn't last long!  I can't believe how quickly 2012 seems to be moving along.  Well I figured I had better get started on my February update because you know, well, March will be over next week I am sure!  AUGH!  I am beginning to feel very very old.  But anyway, enough babbling - on to the highlights!  LOL

I made Valentines for my GA girls...I found this post on pinterest and thought what a cute idea!  And of course I have tons of Kool-Aid in my storage pantry (I stocked up when I had some Buy 10 get $1.25 off and it was on sale for 10 cents each.  Yeah!  LOL)  The girls thought they were great because they got a packet of Kool-Aid.  Funny!

Check out all the cool Birthday cards the girls made for me in class.  What a great class they are.  Laine's Mom brought a cake for me to share with the class - how sweet!  So the girls sang me Happy Birthday and we ate cake!  Yum!

On my birthday weekend we traveled down to Uncle Pickle's for some R&R.  On the way by the land we own in West - we saw where the state (who's working on widening the highway right now) had dumped some fill dirt and ground up old road in a HUGE-O mountain on our property (yes, we gave them permission).  This of course was much to the delight of the Bubbas.  Who immediately had to exit the car and climb the mountain.  LOL  

Kings of the mountain!

Playing Davy - even though they didn't have their guns.  The imaginations were wild!  

Chicken Foot - Bug learned to play in RA's a few weeks back and now he wants to play all the time!  LOL  He's actually pretty good, but Momma has many-a-year of Frazier family chicken foot battles under her belt and he couldn't quite get me yet.  

While visiting Uncle Pickle's we did some rural cemetery hunting.  We found this cemetery way out in the boonies, but boy was it cool.  LOL  The boys were excited about the "tree fort" and "small mountain" they found over in one corner of the fenced cemetery yard.  We also found a geocache hiding in a  tree while we were there!

We decided to try and hunt down a cache that we had looked for on a previous trip.  It was funny last time we trekked along the road side for 1/2 a mile in either direction, this time Bug walked right up to the sign and plucked it off.  LOL

Have you seen the Banana "Ice Cream" post on Pinterest?  Well since Red is allergic to Dairy products ice cream has been pretty much non-existent around here.  So I was quite excited to try this one.  I finally got around to it down at Uncle Pickle's.  Well when I began this adventure I didn't realize he didn't have a food processor.  Well actually he does have a small one, but I couldn't find the blade, so that didn't help.  So I resorted to the smoothie maker.  LOL  It was a little picky, but once it started blending it worked awesome!  Let me tell you it was so easy and Red was so excited.  He loved it and let me tell you it was quite yummy!

I considered using this thing!  LOL  Uncle Pickle's style of blender!  ;)

Another appliance in Uncle Mikes kitchen that I love...his new "Chicken Fryer" we got him for Christmas...what a great thing.  I need one of these...Oh Sannnnttttaaaa....

Here's Red's Chocolate, Peanut Butter Banana "Ice Cream".

Here's a funny story - the boys and I went out cemetery hunting one afternoon...our last stop was a cemetery located on private property.  Well after stopping to ask a man on a tractor and two women in at a local winery we finally found the right gate.  We headed in and after wandering around on someone elses property for about 30 minutes we decided to head out.  Well as we were driving back to the gate I spied it, way off to the left...about 100 yards from where we were searching.  I was so excited!  So we went over to check it out.  It's an older cemetery and there are quite a few really old graves, but it's kept up and still in use today.  There were lots of family fences inside and many small trees and odd placed bushes.  

Last time we visited Uncle Mikes, one of our friends little boys came to play and he stayed for a slumber party.  The boys were so excited to sleep on the floor in sleeping bags.  LOL

My GA's group was very very busy throughout the month.  For Valentines day the girls decorated their own cookies - that was fun.  They each had their own bag of icing and lots of decorations to choose from.  They had a blast!

Sugar Induced Laughter!

Check out how hard Kaylee is working on her cookie!

Ayden, Keegan and Victoria decorating away!

Some of the girls were quite creative!

Brooke enjoyed her cookie!

Arianna's creation!

One afternoon the power went out...they were working up the street and apparently it knocked out our power for a bit.  It was quite dim in the house so we decided to take our lessons to the sunny outdoors.  

It was a trampoline school kind of day!

And this is how we read books at our house!

We also decided to have a picnic.  One of the requirements for Red's Discoverer One badge (for RA's) is to plan and go on a picnic - what better day, right?  First we made a plan, then Red helped me pack out picnic box and off to the trampoline we went!

Sadie joined our picnic for a few chips!

On one of our weekly trips to the library, we saw the contest they were having to celebrate Black History Month.  The winner gets a $25 gift card, so Bug decided he wanted to join in.  So we signed in to use a computer and Bug was off.  I can't tell you how proud I was of him.  There was eight questions and he typed in each one and read through the responses until he found the right answer.  He did so good. 

Sadie Meets Orange Kitty - apparently the front porch and the back porch are not closed in underneath and Big Orange decided to venture out into the back yard (via the deck).  LOL  Sadie was taken aback by him, but surprisingly didn't chase him!?!?!?!?!

He walked across the back yard - even pooped - what is that?  And then headed over to the gate...by this time Lady Bug figured out a cat had invaded her yard.  Well she would have nothing to do with that...lol.  She immediately chased him back under the porch.  Here is Big Orange peeking out.

Check out this sweet little goodie package that we found in our MOW bucket the Thursday after Valentines.  It said we deserved a HUG for all our "heart"-work.  How sweet, right?  It has Hershey's Hugs in it.  Awww!

So while we were at the library, I was sitting with Bug as he worked on his contest questionnaire and Red was browsing for books.  I was quite surprised by his choices.  He brought this book (French Cooking???) and said, "Here you go Mom so you can have some new recipes".  Ummm, Thanks...I think.  

And this book on Baking - which I'll tell you is quite awesome!

So you might ask why there is a bag of open sand on my living room floor?  My GA group was working on their Senior Friends badges this last month.  We made "vases of flowers" for the MOW clients in Red Oak.  The girls decorated construction paper sleeves for vegetable cans and they also made flowers and tags to go in the cans.  So what's the sand...well to go in the cans of course!  ;)

Here are some of the precious cans the girls made!

I added bows to each can for a pretty look.

Bug needed to make a canteen for his Discoverer Two badge, so I gave him a roll of duck tape and said "What can you come up with?"  

He added a clip and a sting for easy carrying.

Here is the box of flower vases all ready to take to NECO.

My GA group went to North Ellis County Outreach (NECO) for a tour of the facility and the opportunity to learn all about what they do and how they do it.  I was so excited to see 22 girls and their families show up!

Denise was so patient and really helped us to understand how NECO supports the community and spreads the word of God throughout Ellis County.  What a blessing!

It was a bit windy and a little Chilly, but the girls enjoyed hearing about how the garden and the fruit trees and the food pantry helps families.

Checking out the food pantry!

Here's my group that visited NECO that day.  What a blessing these girls are to me!

Oh and who doesn't love peanut butter cookies!  LOL - I found a new recipe book at the library that has tons of recipes that use a basic cake mix as the base of the recipe.  Well these easy sneezy pb cookies are a snap and so delicious!

Well that's February!  Whew it was flash of a month.  We had a lot of fun, studied hard and enjoyed lots of family activities.  I am so blessed!