Celebrations in February

We've had lots of things to celebrate lately! Here is the run-down.

February 6th was my youngest sister Julie's birthday! So my mom, Jules, sister-in-law Janelle and nephews Connor and Cooper came down to celebrate Julie together! It started out as a girls weekend because my dad had a basketball game and Nate was away flying, but of course we couldn't leave Michel, Bentley and the boys out!

The weekend included dinner at our place

Building towers with Connor and Cooper

Playing drums with Bentley at Jackie's cute apartment (thanks Nate & Janelle for the new LOUD toy!)

Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (yum!)

Overall the weekend was thumbs up!

That Sunday we were sad everyone was gone but Jackie came over and we watched the SuperBowl to continue the fun. Many of you know we are Steelers fans. This jersey is from Jackie and is perfect because Troy Polamalu has even crazier hair than Bentley! Bentley is either loyal or doesn't realize he is 1 year behind (Steelers won the SuperBowl last year and didn't even make the playoffs this year).

Two days later came Bentley's 6-month birthday on February 9th! Where has the time gone?? We got to have dinner with our friend Emily from Charlotte who was here for a work conference. We lived across the street from her and Jarred in Charlotte so we miss sharing life with them. So great to see her! Bummed I didn't snap a pic.

Bentley is still our lean machine (15 pounds) but keeps growing longer (29.5 inches). We are LOVING this stage and trying to soak up each day with him. We are on a schedule with nap times which is wonderful. He had to learn how to sleep again, but we've made it through 2 weeks of crying at night and now we are all sleeping well again (Michel gets the credit for that). Life with Bentley just keeps getting better and we continue to be in awe of this little gift! There is a constant joy that wells up inside just by being in his presence. I reflect often on the truth that this is how God views us as His children, and we have no idea how much we are loved.

Bentley loves playing with his blocks and this shirt is one of my new favorites (thanks Jana for sending it from San Francisco!).

Oh I love this sweet face (and the ever-growing hair)...

And this post is getting long enough, so I'll close with the UNC-Duke basketball game last week! It should not exactly be under the heading of things we celebrated (Duke won) but it was amazing to be there in the most electrifying atmosphere! And it was a really close game until the last few minutes when Scheyer took over and hit two 3's to seal Duke's victory.Our friends Kim and Nathan pointed out that one of the UNC players looks like Bentley could look in 18 years (freshman John Henson, #31). During the game my mom even texted to say the same thing! So we had fun cheering for "Bentley" despite the loss. :)