President's Day

 Charles had the lesson for our Family Home Evening and dressed for the occasion. He had prepared a slide show which was well done. 

    For President's Day, we celebrated by eating several of the former president's favorite foods. I made spoonbread for President Monroe, mac and cheese for President Jefferson, fruit for President JQ Adams, Leather Britches, or green beans with bacon for President Jackson (a personal favorite), President Lincon's favorite was bacon so this was a twofer. Corn for President Harrison, pickles for President Coolidge, cottage cheese with ketchup for President Nixon, (only Emily was brave enough to try that). For dessert, I had bought the Lady Baltimore cake mix from President Truman's museum a while back and decided now was the best time to try it. The recipe called for raisins and nuts soaked in brandy. So I did raspberry jam and lemon curd as the filling instead. We served it with ice cream for Presidents Madison, Ford, and Biden. It was tasty.

 

    Oh, and we had grilled cheese for lunch for President FD Roosevelt. I had each kid tell us a fun fact about a president and President Teddy Roosevelt was the clear favorite, 3 kids had a fact about him. It was fun.

Valentines

    For Valentine's Day Daniel had the day off because it was districts for Lizzy. He suggested we go to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. I have tried to enter that particular museum several times. It has always been closed. So I laughed but agreed to try. Remarkably, it was open and it was lovely. Teddy was less enthused by the museum, but he did let us peruse for about an hour. I loved it. Teddy liked the armor the best.

These were the ones that caught my eye.

The cloister took me back to Spain. I visited a few on my mission.

    For lunch, we visited this BBQ place that always is packed, Zarda BBQ. It was very tasty, but the burnt ends were by far the best! Teddy keeps asking when we can go back.

Emily and Teddy made their Valentine's boxes. Lizzy helped.

On to districts!

Our Ladies did really well. On Friday it was win after win!

Lizzy was on the big screen!

Aubry

Rylie

Natalie

Audry

Payton

Natalie

Luke

Daniel took up the mantel of wearing her tiger on his head in support.

    On Saturday one by one, the other girls dropped off until it was only Lizzy who qualified again. It was hard on the girls, but they gave it their all and we are really proud of them.

    She won all her matches, except the last one. She did win against her in a duel previously. They bonked heads and Lizzy was concussed again making her performance less than stellar. Even so, she took 2nd once again qualifying for State!

Lasts and Firsts

    Senior night! Due to sickness the team we were supposed to have a duel with bowed out so we has Odessa come to trounce us. All our seniors were crushed, it was so sad. Odessa is a technically strong team. They were fun to watch. Lizzy did beat her opponent so that was good.

I loved this shot of Daniel helping the kids.

Lizzy took second in Buffalo!

    Henry had his first concert. He was so prepared for it, but unfortunately, as he got on the risers the girl behind him kicked him twice so he was mad the entire time. They had cute songs though. Their music teacher is really great.

Robotics Club

    Emily was in her elementary robotic club and they participated in the Sphero Challenge. She was the person who wrote out their procedure and was the spokesperson. We were excited to see her team compete. They did really well. They had a clean run with the fastest time. I was really proud of her.

 

Celebration

    Moving in took several days and luckily Ron and Floyd came over to help us on Friday and Saturday, we wouldn't have made it otherwise. While unpacking the kitchen, Teddy saw the cake mix and asked if we could make it so of course I did. After finally getting things somewhat settled, we celebrated our new home with cake.

Lizzy went to Liberty and took second!

    I found out that the Blue Springs Park in Rec had a Daddy-Daughter Dance, I immediately signed the girls up and then asked the girls what color they wanted to do and Lizzy came up with Rust.

    

    They had a fun time and loved the dinner. Lizzy and Daniel danced nearly the whole time, which they loved. Emily danced when she wanted to, which worked out well. They did come home early, but everyone was happy. Emily ate a spun sugar sculpture bigger than her head! Apparently, this was the first one the city has done, I hope they make it an annual event. They had a good turnout and it was a blast for the girls.