Do you like Monet?

To quote Brian Regan (comedian): "I love monet.  I spent a lot of monet going to Pairee."  haha!
I was so thrilled to be able to go to the Denver Art Museum last week.  We've lived here for 2 1/2 years and we've not been yet, but we finally made it for the "Passport to Paris" exhibit.  I got see beautiful paintings - real live Monet!  and Van Gogh!  Manet!  Renoir!  SO cool.  And what was even cooler -  it turns out that the Denver Art Museum is remarkably kid-friendly.  The kids weren't quite as interested as I was in the paintings, although they enjoyed looking at the art.  But there was also a big art studio on the main floor, and projects tucked into corners all over the place.  How have I not found this gem before?!  The kids had a blast, and I loved it.  Kinley likes the saddle and hat in the "American West" wing.

YEE HAW! (That's really what she was yelling!)

  Rachel and Ella playing at the kid's corner:

 

 McKinley building a block tower with the help of friend Kelli. Caleb did not want his picture taken, but there he is on the right. :)

This week we had Caleb's blue and gold banquet for Cub Scouts.  The theme was "Knights of the Round Table," and the kids were very excited to dress in costume.  I realized I must be a kind of fabric hoarder, because Caleb said he wanted a Knight costume, but the plastic set we have was too small for him.  So I made his tunic/belt and hood with stuff that I already had on hand.  Like I said, fabric hoarder.  The cool thing is that because people know that I sew, most of my stockpile is stuff that has just been given to me.  Bonus!  Of course the girls were easy - we have lots of princess dresses for them to wear.  Caleb spent the better part of 2 weeks putting together his Lego castle.  Each boy was supposed to bring a castle to decorate the tables with. Rachel and friend Harper:

 Caleb and Ella at the dinner table with his Lego castle:

 Participating in the "knight's tournament"

 McKinley smiled for a friend - cute princess!

At the end, each of the scouts was awarded knighthood, I think Caleb's name was something like "Sir Caleb-full-of-action."  Haha - nice!

Earlier in the month when we went sledding with cousins Jody, Lizzie, & Cayden (Rachel and Juliana opted to stay home and play in the warmth!)

 

 

 Today we celebrated Valentine's Day in grand style, with love notes and candy (naturally) and happy face pancakes ala IHOP.

(On the doors are prints of the Sochi Olympic mascots - the kids try to "I spy" the mascots while watching the games.  I love the Olympics!)

Kip's new body art:

Sort of looks like an eagle, don't you think?  He slipped on the ice at work and landed right on his radio.  The bruise goes quite a bit lower, but in the interest of not showing any crack, we kept his pants high. Haha!

And finally, Rachel's picture of our family from church (the bottom 2 are Jesus and Heavenly Father)  Cute!