Month: February 2022
Kaitlyn has had a few rough nights lately. I’m not sure exactly what she watched on TV, read, or listened to on Alexa, but something is definitely interfering with her sleep. Thankfully coming in and sleeping on our floor seems to allow her to sleep and most of the time she doesn’t even have to wake us up in the process.
Our church is directly across the street from a country club. I have known for years that people use the golf course as a sledding hill in the winter, but we have never tried it out. Today we decided to change that. My grand plan was to take the entire family. Alex had other plans so we left him home and took the other three kids. It was a pretty good hill. This was the first time Ben has been able to join us on a big sledding hill and he loved it! Of course we made a quick stop afterwards for hot chocolate and donuts.
Kaitlyn’s request this week had been a trip to Build-a-Bear. She got a gift certificate for her birthday, but we hadn’t used it yet. Today was the day. I put Ben down for a nap and left the big boys in charge. Kaitlyn and I had an outing with just the two of us. This sparkly, rainbow covered bear came home with us and Kaitlyn was so proud!
Many years ago, Alex was interested in science experiments. We searched high and low to find experiment kits geared towards 5 year olds. Alex got them for Christmas in 2014 and proceeded to do about two experiments. The kits had heavy duty tools and have been great water toys ever since. This week both Kaitlyn and Ben have actually been interested in the cards with actual experiments on them.
Today we made a volcano with vinegar and baking soda. I missed the actual volcano part on camera, but Kaitlyn loved it!
I decided this was the year of winter sports, but I decided a little too late to get all the kids into weekly ski school. Teague was the only one I could get into the weekly lessons. He loved skiing from day one. All of the other kids I tried to sign up for ski school the week of February break (MWF). There were openings for Alex and Teague in regular ski school but Kaitlyn and Ben’s only option were semi-private lessons on Wednesday and Friday.
Alex had a rough first day on Monday. Evidently his instructor was not the best, but he wasn’t overly discouraged. Today I was excited to finally get everyone on the slopes and actually get to watch. The only crazy part is the temperature. It is over 60 degrees today…
To summarize: Alex finally got the hang of the pizza slice. Teague was flying down the hill with his group immediately. Kaitlyn loved skiing. Ben hated it and wanted to go home. (I think the late start time, the lack of lunch, and the heavy equipment stacked the odds against him.)
Today my friend and I loaded up our crews (well only part of my crew). We met at Animal Adventures, which I haven’t been to since we were just exploring the area back in March of 2017. Kaitlyn was so excited the minute she found out they had several foxes on the premises. I knew quite a bit of the place was outside. I even remembered the field with the playground equipment and the animal pens. It never occurred to me that it would be a mud pit. I didn’t even think to put the kids in any kind of boots – rain or snow. Thankfully Kaitlyn avoids mud and Ben isn’t bothered by it (and I always keep a change of clothes in the car for him).
Teague’s day was today! He woke up as an 11 year old. We started with pancakes because that sweet boy told me my pancakes were really good. Then he picked one gift to open, which has become our tradition. The big boys had ski lessons and the little kids hung out with me for the day. As soon as Wade got home we finished the celebrating with hamburgers, hotdogs, and a triple layer chocolate cake with chocolate icing covered in mini chocolate chips. Teague loved it.
Wade randomly brings home grocery items from work. Last week it was a bag of lemons and a bag of apples. We don’t naturally eat a lot of lemons so they sat around for a while before he decided to make homemade lemonade. We also decided to make apple crisp tonight. The kids don’t necessarily love it, but it’s one of Wade and my’s favorites.