What could I do if I just grew what I was feeling in the moment

 February 2022

Yup, you're seeing what you think you're seeing. I have caught back up! I did it! It took a reminder from a friend about a book entitled Indistractible, and listening to a podcast interview with the author, and look at me now.

In February, we had lots of friends over. We are trying to establish baby-sitting swaps with a new family since our friends that we used to swap with moved. The night that we had them over, we also had one of Adaline's friends over to play, so we ended up with 8 kids for a few hours. I couldn't help but think of my mom, and also think that she was wise to space her 8 kids out over 20 years instead of 8 years. Joking aside, it was a fun evening and went great. Later in the month, Matthew had a friend from school over which was a first for him. 

We continued not to see much of Andrew due to his work schedule, but he recently found a way around that by contracting Covid right at the end of the month. So yes, now he's home, but initially he wasn't any more help (sleeping all day because he didn't feel well) and we can't go anywhere. Michael and Matthew have both tested positive as well, so the kids are getting (at least) a week off from school right after they just had a week off for their February break. Thankfully they don't feel sick at all, so it's just too bad we can't go on an adventure with all their time off! 

We did manage to have a little adventure before anyone started getting sick though. At the beginning of the kids' week off from school, we drove the 2 hours south to visit the Schultzes at their new mountain home. They live in such a cool new place, and all the kids had a blast exploring and reconnecting. I loved getting to catch up with Brittney and getting a tour of their house and yard. They have a river and a waterfall in their backyard, and after spending the day out there, I was thinking maybe it's time to move somewhere more remote. If only it weren't for that windy drive...

Another little "adventure" we had was staying up till 10 playing games and eating candy and popcorn with the kids. This came right after we realized we weren't going to be leaving the house for a while, so we threw caution to the wind and had such a fun night. We knocked out a ton of games and so many jelly beans. We did miss Alex though, because we still put him to bed at his regular time. The next morning, we played tic tac toe with the leftover jelly beans and continued trying to improve our skills at throwing them into each other's mouths-a skill everyone but Andrew simply does not possess.

Almost every day Alex dresses up as a different superhero. I'm glad he can still slow down and fall asleep on me once in a while though

Michael and Alex were playing the anteater game and I was cracking up at how difficult it was for Alex to keep his eyes closed while Michael hid the ants for him. p.s. note the Buzz costume for this day

This little project perfectly illustrated why I sometimes don't accomplish a single thing that I intend to and why I sometimes have no idea how to answer what I've done during the day. I was in the garage switching the laundry and Alex came out to ask me a question. While he was chatting with me, he put a handful of Legos into the grill on the front of the van. I wouldn't have even noticed if he hadn't started crying about how he couldn't get his Legos back out. I spent the next little while taking apart the bumper and shaking Legos out of my van. When I gave them back to Alex, he was happy but not even slightly surprised. Maybe I need to stop solving everything so that my kids will stop expecting it and maybe even be excited when I do fix something.

Science projects, dinner, and decorating cookies with friends. 

Adaline and Matthew had another field trip, and thanks to a friends watching Michael and Alex, I got to chaperone again! This time was ice skating, and it was highly amusing to watch all these wobbly TK-3rd graders adventuring around the ice. They were generally far braver than their skills warranted. Adaline and Matthew haven't been ice skating for a couple of years-and only a couple times in total-but they both were zooming around with their friends with a surprising amount of confidence. 

Valentine's Day! I have historically never been great at getting into all the little holidays, but our Valentine's Day love dinner is a tradition that has been consistent for a few years and that I thoroughly enjoy. I cut out hearts and Andrew or I help the kids who don't know how to write to jot down a love note to each of their family members. They write things they love about each other or thank them for something nice/helpful they did recently. Andrew and I write notes to everyone as well, and then when we set the table for dinner we all get to put our notes on the plate of the person they're for. Before we eat, we take turns going around the table reading all the notes written to us. I LOVE seeing my kids faces light up as they read all these wonderful things about them that their family members point out. I also love the huge grin on the face of the person who wrote the note and then all the hugs that follow. We always seem to have such a positive dinner conversation afterward with lots of smiles and everyone feeling a little extra loved and appreciated. (This year Adaline thanked me for giving birth to all the kids.)

Demonstrating how strong they are

And how silly

These were actually my glasses when I was in 2nd grade, and it completely cracks me up when any of my kids wear them. p.s. it was a Spiderman dress-up day

In addition to doing her best to be fancy as much as possible, Adaline can also frequently be found wearing her roller skates around the house. I don't love it.

Can you even with this cutie?

Thanks for coming along for the ride! Oh and if you didn't catch January's title, yes we watched Encanto and have had the soundtrack on repeat for probably too long.