Valentine's Day, Arizona, Caleb's New Room and more!

Okay, I know I said I was sick of winter in my last post. Now it is March 22 and I am REALLY ready for winter to be over. I THINK it is. We haven't had snow for at least a couple weeks. It's rained a lot and most of it is washed away. The grass is soggy and there's brown, dead grass pieces coming into my house on kids' shoes all the time. But I would rather sweep that up than have to shovel any more snow outside. It's been averaging like 40s-50s the past week and it's felt like a heat wave! Kids have been outside playing the past few days, which I love and hate at the same time because I don't know if my patience can handle the million kids that flood our house and yard all summer long. The boys are fine, but with Avery I still feel like I need to keep an eye on where she is outside. Which is funny because basically everyone else in the neighborhood just lets their kids (toddlers even) run free and it's getting very dangerous to ever drive down the street without fear of hitting a kid! So there's my rant.

On to the past month of life with the Rhodes family!

Valentine's Day:
When we returned from our cruise, it was right away Valentine's Day a few days later. We got home on the 11th, so on the 14th Avery and Caleb both took Valentines and treats to hand out to classmates. Gabe is too old and too cool now. Avery wore a long, red dress on Valentine's Day to school because their class was having a "fancy" party. They all were instructed to wear nice clothes. They had fun exchanging Valentine's in her class. Here are the kids on Valentine's Day and then Avery with her Valentines after school. Then for dinner we made a heart shaped pizza (ok I bought it from Papa Murphy's and baked it.)

Avery's Second Dance Showcase:
Josh and I were gone on our cruise for her first dance showcase, so we were happy there was this second one on Feb. 22 in Rigby. Josh and I spent the afternoon in Rigby with her and Josh's parents took Caleb to his basketball game in Rexburg. We were told he had one of his best games that day scoring like 3 different 3 pointers! Avery also did well at her dance showcase. She did two dances with her class - one to the song "Spice up your life" and one to the Beauty and the Beast song, wearing a Belle dress. Here are some pictures:

Dr. Seuss Day at School:
On March 2 it was Dr. Seuss' birthday. Every year on this day we have the kids at school dress up as their favorite character from any Dr. Seuss book. Since I work there now (two hours a day), the other secretary said, "We should dress up as Thing 1 and Thing 2!" So that was pretty easy. We just had to buy red t shirts from Walmart and I printed out the "Thing" signs to tape on our shirts. But then of course Avery wanted to dress up like Sally from the Cat in the Hat, so I had to quick make her a little costume! $5 on fabric at Walmart and about two hours at my sewing machine, but it turned out pretty cute! Here is me and the other secretary, the principal, and Avery at school:

Caleb's Mother/Son Night:
Right before I went to Arizona, on March 8, Caleb's school put on their annual Mother-Son night. First, Caleb and I went out to dinner at Freddy's. Then we went to the school and played some games including Tug of War, Hungry Hungry Hippos, and more. For the Hippos game, Caleb laid on this scooter and it had a rope attached. I would push him out on it where there were all these balloons in the middle of the floor. He would try to get as many under his laundry basket as possible and I would pull him back in. It was a fun night just me and Caleb! Here are some pictures:

Tiffany's Trip to Arizona:
I told you I hate winter! I had to escape again! So about a week after I got home from my cruise, I was talking to this friend of mine named Amber who moved from Rexburg to Arizona last October. She has been saying, "Come visit me!" since like November, but it was the holidays and then our cruise, so finally I was like, "Ok, let me look at flights" and I found a super cheap one that went out from Idaho Falls airport (like 30 min from my house) right into Mesa (like 5 minutes from her house) and it was only like $120 round trip. So I was like, "Okay, I'm coming!" So on March 10 - March 14 I was in Mesa with her and her family. We went on a gorgeous hike, we watched the two night season finale of the Bachelor and at lava cakes, we shopped, and we ate lots of good food. So it was a fun trip! She does have two little kids though so we kind of had to plan our days around their nap schedules. That part was kind of hard. But it was still fun. Sadly, the weather wasn't even the typical Arizona sunny 70's spring weather! I picked like the four coldest days of the year I think! But it was still about 60 degrees, so I felt warm. Amber was like, "It's way too cold to go to the park with the kids today." And I was laughing because when I got home and it was 35 and sunny outside we went to the park with the kids and Caleb wouldn't even wear a jacket! They have Idaho blood. Here are some pictures of my time in Arizona (yes, I put filters on these to make it appear warm and sunsetty, but really it was cloudy and sprinkled on us on that desert hike):

Caleb's Basketball Ends:
Caleb's basketball has been going on since January and this past Saturday (March 16) it was his very last game. He had a fun team and they did really well. Caleb was one of the highest scorers in most games. Sometimes he would do these hail mary type of throws and a surprising amount actually did go in. He would look about as surprised as everyone in the bleachers. haha His coach was a dad that wasn't super involved as a coach, so that kind of stunk. But he still had fun and his team had some good kids on it. Here are a couple pictures (you can see he was the biggest and tallest on the team by quite a bit):

Caleb's New Bedroom:
This day is one that Gabe has been waiting for and asking for for at least the past three years. He has been BEGGING for his own room recently. Here is a picture to explain why:

Gabe is pretty OCD with his stuff and likes things clean. Let's just call Caleb a little more of a free spirit. Messes don't really bother him so much! haha But I always have said no because it just makes sense for them to share. How much time do they really even spend in their rooms?! And the bedroom that they shared was seriously the same size as our master bedroom. It's a big room! So I was using the fourth bedroom as an office and I had the computer, desk, futon, and some other stuff in there. it was super cute. Here is a refresher of what my cute office looked like that I completely painted and decorated I think in 2015.

But with Gabe's birthday coming up and him seriously not asking for ANYTHING else, we were like, "Okay... he's going to be a teenager. Maybe it's time." So then we had to decide who would move out. I decided that since Caleb wasn't even excited to be in a room alone, maybe he should get the joy of a brand newly decorated room. I asked him what kind of bedroom he would want and he said one with "trees painted on the wall." He said he wanted kind of a foresty bedroom. So I started looking online and found some ideas. I decided to paint this treeline in different shades of green on one of the walls. It took some effort, but I think it turned out pretty good! Here are some pictures of the process:

So now they are officially in separate rooms and it is the eve of Gabe's 13th birthday. The only other gifts he's getting (which he picked out with me shopping in Idaho falls) are socks, one t shirt, a phone charger for the phone he uses to play games on, and some chocolates. He's so opposite of Caleb. Caleb would have a list a mile long of things he's been wanting for months and he'd have to narrow it down to the like, $100 budget I gave him. Gabe is like, "I don't need anything."

So tomorrow, we are taking him and four friends plus Caleb to an Escape Room where they have to figure out clues to get out. Josh and I did it on a group date and it's not scary. It's the premise of being locked in a jail cell and you have to try and break out by finding clues to open this combination lock on the cell door. So it'll be funny to see if these 6 boys can get out within an hour or not! I will have to report back! haha

Two other last random photos to share! Avery wanted to dress up for school the other day for Spring Picture day. I told her I didn't plan to buy any (and I didn't because her smile for it really turned out awkward lol) but she just HAD to dress up and she insisted I put eyeliner on her. She is quite the diva. So here she is, ready for her pictures:

And then here is a picture of us swimming at the AmericInn. Avery was BEGGING to go since while we were on our cruise she didn't get to go with grandma Sue and we had told her maybe we would take her. So here they are swimming!

I THINK I have covered all of the exciting moments in our lives now from February 11 - March 22. Tomorrow is Gabe's birthday but I will write a separate post on that. And then we leave for our family road trip to St. George, Utah for "spring break" (a short break) on March 27. The kids have off school next week just Thursday, Friday, and Monday. So we are driving down to southern Utah to hike in Zion's national park and seek some warmer temperatures!

Have I said this already? I'M READY FOR SUMMER!!!