Mid-Winter Visit

One of the good things about mid-winter break this year was that we got to actually enjoy winter-type activities because we had a ton of snow on the ground. Most other years it seems the snow melted just for mid-winter break, then would return after school resumed. So, we got to enjoy a few good days of sledding and building a snowman (the first time we ever could build a "real" one because of the quality of the snow).

In the middle of the week my mom came for a special visit and brought a little warmer weather with her. The day she came felt like spring. Temps were in the high 30s that day and the sun was shining! The rest of her stay here got gradually colder. Now it's in the single digits, again. The thick layer of ice on our circle didn't even melt yet!

We had a great time with Grandma. She gave gifts, love, fun, and service. I had a few appointments to go to, plus Jason and I went to his soccer game and the temple. Lots of time for Grandma to be with the kids uninterrupted!  We took the kids roller skating, danced a lot, made many crafts, played many games, went shopping, baked healthy goodies, watched movies, and went to the usual dance/gymnastics classes. It's always fun when Grandparents come!

Victoria has moved into the "guest room" and wanted to share it with Grandma. Slumber Party!

It was dark, so most pictures didn't turn out at the roller rink.

A mad game of Memory.

Sunday pics

I'm still 5'3" (went for my physical when my mom was here). So, I guess she's not 5'8" anymore, though I think I had my shoes on here.




I never got any pics with Grandma and Erik alone. While I was gone, they had some good bonding time, but when I returned he was with me or just being crazy, so Erik-like!

My Valentines

If you read my post on Valentine's Day last year, I was frustrated by the greedy wants of my children for gifts, rather than for enjoying our loved ones, no matter what gifts we receive. This year, my girls made me proud! Victoria bought gifts at the dollar store for everyone and made everyone a very special card. Karissa gave everyone either something she made, or something she really cherished herself. They waited until Jason got home that evening to pass out the gifts, explaining to Austin that we do it as a family. Better than the gifts, they were so helpful and loving the whole week! We had done a Family Home Evening on doing service for our loved ones. Each time they did something for someone else, they wrote it on a piece of paper and we connected it together in a chain. They were able to see it grow throughout the week. Even Austin was excited to do it.

Other highlights of the day:

Lunch with Jason near his work.

Completing our snow fort.

Here is the main room.

My little Valentines.

My main Valentine!

Unfortunately he had a soccer game later that night and got blindsided by the goalie. He has a sprained wrist, but is managing well. He tied his tie one-handed on Sunday!

Back to the Basics

I haven't been watching Logan since his mom finished her schooling. She hasn't gotten a job yet and I think she's enjoying being home with him for now. Now that the holidays are over, we're not on vacation, and everyone is healthy, life is starting to get back to normal, but what is normal? I had been watching Logan for over a year, so before then, Erik was just a little baby and Karissa was home with Austin. Now I have a 4 -year-old and 2-year-old, without a daily play date, and I'm trying to do what I did with the girls when they were this age. They include:

-getting Austin ready for kindergarten (I register him next month!)
-dancing to music
-baking (I did this solo when Logan was here, which was easier, but it sure is fun with the boys!)
-playing games (Austin really likes board games, more than his sisters at this age)

It is different with boys than with girls and Erik is El Destructo, but it's nice to help them grow in other ways when they're not distracted by a friend all the time (though we love Logan!)

It's also helping Erik's vocabulary, or maybe he's just  getting older, but he's talking more clearly and trying more words. I can't compare him to his jabber jaw oldest sister at this age, or his other siblings, but he's doing great for him!

I had fun on Saturday digging this snow tunnel with the three older kiddos. I have to say that I can't build a very good snowman (I blame that on my California roots), but I made some pretty good tunnels and the kids are enjoying them! I might branch out and try to hollow out the end in an igloo later this week...

When we finally connected the two.

I made another connection so we could have three openings!

Sick Days, Snow Days

Thanks goodness January is over! I think we spent more time home than at school due to extremely cold weather and a 24-hour stomach bug. Lucky for me, I was the only one who didn't catch the bug and I got to take care of everyone who did, including being barfed on at the store. My kids did not attend school one full week the whole month!

We can also blame the weather for this. We set a record here for the most snow accumulation in MI ever on record! The first week back after winter break, we had temps below 0 with wind chills below 30! Most of the 5 days they cancelled school for weather was for "Arctic" days, not for snow, meaning it was too cold. Sometimes I was annoyed because I just drop my kids off somewhat close to the door and they won't have recess on those really cold days, so I figured, "what's the big deal?" Then I learned that the middle schoolers and high schoolers are at the bus stop at 6:30 am and have to walk a 1/4 of a mile or more to some of their classes, so I guess it's mostly for them. The U of M was actually cancelled one day, and they haven't cancelled classes for like 30 years! I learned one more thing that helped me get through the snow days: we have 6 of them, so we still have one more before we have to make any up! Does that mean that each year the kids get 6 extra days of school? They usually get 1 or 2 extra days off if the didn't have any snow days, but never 6!

This was taken before we got a few more inches piled on top. 

Kind of hard to see, but the white stuff is frost and ice.

You can see it better here. My sister took similar pics of her place in Iowa the last time the mid-west got slammed with a winter like this. Ice, inside!!

Here's the temp outside on this particular day, without the wind chill of course. Yikes!