Petersons Never Give Up: February

I thought one of the best things about quitting sewing for the minky place was that I'd have more time to keep up to date on the blog, but alas, life is just busy. Here are some updates on everyone in the family and then I'll share a truck load of pics to illustrate our fun over the last several weeks.

Sean is doing well at Foothill Family and has a much fuller schedule now that his panel is filling up. He was asked to help teach at a conference in Salt Lake about strategies for preventing physician burn out. He was able to attend a good portion of the conference too which was mostly geared toward Cardiology. He has been working hard finding choir pieces for Easter and also making sure everything is in order for our upcoming Stake Trek this June. He is starting to train for a half marathon in June again as well. He has also been practicing piano a lot more and has almost mastered a new piece called Subterfugio. He has taken Brett and Alana skiing twice and has ALMOST finished caulking the darn basement. He also took Lizzie on a fun swimming date.

Jennie: I am doing great! I started a little bakery business called On a Roll. I make tons of sweet rolls, bread, and cookies and people come pick them up and pay me. Its a lot of fun and I have used so much flour!! I have been spending lots of time on long walks/jogs with Oreo while listening to The Lunar Chronicles series. I planned Brett's class Valentine party and decided to make cloud dough (mix of cornstarch and conditioner) with each kid which was exhausting but fun. I also helped in Alana's 100th day of school combined with Valentines day party. It was super fun! I was bummed to not get to help with Lizzie's party, but she was so cute gearing up for Valentines this year. She took dinosaur valentines to her friends.

Brett has been getting a bit tired of third grade. Its the middle of February and poor guy is feeling it! He is still loving Beyblades and switch games. He loves playing with friends and is almost ready to test for his orange belt in Karate. He did great with skiing and kept getting up when he fell down on the bigger slope Sean took him on this last time. We tried letting him stay up a bit later each night but he just got way too tired. He has had a bit of an attitude at school this last week and got in trouble a bit. We've restricted screen time to 1 hour a day and have been working on service and such to help him think outside himself. He is a great kids and we love him.

Alana has stared taking some medication for her anxiety and we are noticing some positive changes in her. She seems to be playing with friends and Lizzie a lot easier. She doesn't get stressed and sad so much. We are able to get her to take her medicine as a liquid mixed with 7-up. She is snuggling more to Sean which is something that she couldn't handle sensory-wise before. She is going to school a lot easier and just seems happier over all. She has been very stressed at bedtime the last few weeks and seems to have more separation anxiety from me right now. She needs us to sit with her while she falls asleep and ends up in our bed a lot (we are considering getting a bigger bed!) She has lost 4 teeth now and had a really cool x-ray taken at the dentist. She likes playing with barbies, minecraft with Brett, tickle games with Dad and reading all kinds of books! She has also started an art class at a fun house in Alpine on Monday afternoons with Lizzie.

Lizzie is growing so much and is just so cute! She loves to be a puppy at a pet store and to have me come buy her. She loves to play with barbies, loves the bathtub, would watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Frozen 2 all day long. She really likes school, however sometimes she'd rather stay home to watch shows (which I won't let her do) She names her stuffed animals the cutest things like "Elsa on the Ocean Fly". She throws more fits lately than ever and hides in the curtains when she feels wronged. She loves to sing and twirl and eat anything with sugar. She loves fluffy dresses and loves to play with Oreo. She sounds out words and is drawing really amazing pictures with eyes and eyelashes and mouth and noses and hair.

Alanas "Look Within" tiger from the reflections contest.

We have a fun study journal that we are doing as a family.

We are trying to give the kids more responsibility so now I put their clean clothes in these cute baskets and they are responsible to put them away.

The kids worked hard at different goals, Brett at scripture reading and Alana at going to school to earn a chance to feed the penguins.

He naps like this a lot, poor guy doesn't want to miss lunch.

Lizzie was too young to feed the penguins so she and I played at the Aquarium while Sean took the big kids to feed the penguins.

The cone of shame. This was the first one which he ripped apart, the second one he cracked, and the third cloth one he ripped up too but we were able to make it last.

We had his dew claws removed from his back paws at the same time as his neutering. The dew claws were really floppy and we were afraid they would cause injury.