Normal Everyday

Today is the LAST day of February! I can't believe it!

I wish I had a lot to report or say but I really don't. Life is about as normal as it gets around here.

It was 64 yesterday so we grilled! That was fun.

The kids had dentists appointments this morning. That was good.

I haven't even taken pictures lately so here's these from car line on Friday.

M and Minnie Baby. She got a Bitty Baby for her birthday and named it, what else? Minnie. But in order to distinguish it from the 95 other Minnies in the house she is Minnie Baby. This girl also got an American Girl catalog in the mail and flipped her lid. Like mother like daughter. Those catalogs are rite of passage I guess. 

This kid is rocking TK. He has been doing a really great job and while I am nervous he will be academically bored next year, I will never regret getting an extra year of him. I am going to be so sad next year when he's gone all day!!! 

Happy Wednesday friends! See you in March! (Seriously how is it March tomorrow? That means there's only like 50 days left of school!) 

CEW

On Friday night at 7:30, Husband and my kids dropped me off at C's school. (Our Parish school.) I had registered in mid-January for our Parish's annual CEW (Christian Experience Weekend) retreat. It had been recommended to me by lots of people so I thought why not?

Everyone told me that it was a good way to meet people, get involved and that the food was really good.

All of that was true. No one mentioned how little sleep you would get and that you would come out on the other side absolutely exhausted. Which is probably for the best, but I wish I had taken a nap on Friday!

Anyway, many times the leaders would talk about how some people really had "mountain top experiences" that were life changing. And some people would really hate their weekend. I think I fall somewhere in the middle. Which is good.

I met good people. I heard good talks. I did cry some, though not as much as some people. We had time spent in prayer. Not a lot of time spent in rest. We had Mass. We had a really beautiful setting for Reconciliation. We had pretty good discussion. And I am glad I went.

It's weird, there's a lot of secrecy surrounding the retreat. And it's kinda like a secret club--once you're in the know, you're in the know. So there are many things that were gorgeous and surprising that I would like to talk about but I can't. Husband is going on the men's retreat in two weeks so at least I can talk to him about it when he gets home.

Throughout the weekend, every clock in the school was covered with a sign that said "God's time." And the windows were mostly covered. As in, we could generally tell if it was light or dark but not too much. We were DEEPLY encouraged to not bring our phones. I did bring my phone but I left it in my bag by my bed unless we were sleeping. I did exchange a few text messages with Husband and he sent me some pictures of the kids but I was able to almost completely disconnect from internet and THAT was good.

No phone however meant no pictures, which is a shame because some of the decorations were really beautiful. I would have instagramed the heck out of them! Alas. :) My family picked me up at about 5:15 yesterday and I kissed the heck out of those cheeks.

I'm not sure what the lasting impact will be of the retreat yet. But I am looking forward to finding out.

Our Week So Far

We've had a busy week so far with no plans to slow down! Monday was a no-school day in honor of those Presidents of ours. We read some books about the Presidents but as it turns out February 19 is a big deal in our house because it is Walrus' birthday.

Yes. C's stuffed walrus, named Walrus, has been a member of our family for four years now. And we celebrated him in style. C thought perhaps Walrus would like fish sticks for dinner. I'm sure that was true but since I was saving our fish for Friday we had spaghetti because the "noodles are like his mustache."

Walrus rubber duck was his "present." Then we had cake. Obviously.

Walrus' piece had four Swedish fish minis acting as his candles. Because they're fish. And I didn't feel good about fire next to a stuffed animal. Also note the "plate" is a tupperware cup lid. Because I don't have tiny plates!

Our celebration continued with a reading of "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy" (He changes his mind and asks for a walrus at the end.) and our favorite book to read on birthdays "I am Invited to a Party."

C was the designated reader. So M got a chance to sit with the birthday boy. And both kids donned walrus shirts for the occasion.

And everyone was happy! Including me because seriously it still makes me so happy that C still loves walruses and Walrus.

Tuesday was roundup over here. C did Kindergarten roundup for the second year. So that was fun for him, less exciting for us. Especially when our principal was showing the assessment and said "we don't expect them to know all these words because then they don't need Kindergarten." Oh the side eyes between Husband and I.

If you're new, the TL:DR here is we changed our mind 97 times over whether to start C last fall or not, and ultimately decided not to. We're undecided as to whether that was the right choice.

But M got to go to her roundup which is truthfully a less exciting round up. Parents fill out paperwork while kids play a bit and the teachers walk around so we can chat and ask questions. She was delighted to play with the dollhouse and the shape matching jewels.

I am so glad that she has priority in the school so she will definitely get a spot! She is so excited. She will have the teacher who is currently C's teacher, which makes it even more fun!

Yesterday was a perfectly normal Wednesday. I don't know if I've ever talked about Wednesdays in our area, but our public district, and our school by default as we share busing and their calendar, has 1-hr-early-out on Wednesday. Every week. It's for staff development and then they don't need whole days as much or something. I'm sure research tells them that this is good.

As a parent it's heck-a-annoying. So Wednesday's M doesn't nap because school is so short. Yesterday we went to Target and it was so much fun! we finished our shopping with some time to spare we had a juice/popcorn combo at the cafe. And played I Spy.

It was wonderful. Golly I love her so much!

And now it is Thursday! This week has gone by fast!

Do You Want to Build A Snowman?

We had snowman snow on Saturday! Just a little bit but enough to fashion a snowman at least. C was very excited!

From this angle you can't tell that the yard was down to grass in front of the snowman because we didn't get that much snow. 

M who once again played no part in the snow activities because of her nap, wanted a picture with him before Mass. And it's a good thing we got this photo evidence of his existence. 

It was mid 40s yesterday and is in the 50s today and raining so there isn't much snow left at all!! Poor snowman is just a small lump. But that is how a snowman's life goes. And since we checked this winter activity off the list I am perfectly content if it doesn't snow again until December. (Unlikely but a girl can dream right?!)  

Have a lovely President's Day Monday. No mail today. Boo. But otherwise it's a pretty good day!!

Thoughts on Friday

1. We are in the midst of a "something every day" streak. And I am exhausted just thinking about it. Truly. So bear with me here. Most of them are fun things. Good things. Spiritual things. So it's good. I just have to get myself mentally prepared for it all you know?

2. If you are a super crunchy mama please just ignore this next bit here okay? Deal? McDonald's is taking the cheeseburger Happy Meal off the menu. I read the article so I realize that you can still order it, it just won't be listed on the menu. But seriously. What the heck? We have come a long long way with C and his eating but for a long time a McDonald's cheeseburger was the only meat that he would eat. It is his special thing and that is what he likes. So I am super annoyed that it's going to be a special order (that will probably cost more) now. Then while they were at it, the took the two cheeseburger meal away too. What do they have against the cheeseburger?

3. The news out of Florida is horrific right? Yes? We can all agree. It just makes me sick to my stomach that my first reaction on Wednesday was to research the online public school in our state and looked at when an information session would take place. I hate that my reaction is fear.

Here's the thing, I don't consider myself anti-gun. Do you want to go hunting? Great! Go hunting. Do you feel the need to have a hand gun just in case? I don't personally share that sentiment but you do you I guess. However I have a hard time understanding why any general citizen has a need for a military grade weapon. I don't have the answers but I am at my breaking point of waiting around for something to change.A guy tried to bomb a plane with his shoes. Now we all take off our shoes. Somebody with a lot more power than I have should be able to do something.

4. The Olympics. Here's the thing. I love the Olympics. I love them. But my heart is just not into it right now. Maybe it's because they aren't on when my kids can watch really. I don't know. I am happy for these athletes. And skeleton still freaks me out. But I am not getting the same thrill I usually do.

5. I saw this on Facebook. I liked it. I am going to put it here.

6. My kids have a play date today. I am dropping them off and my friend is driving them home! Other than being ever so slightly nervous since this is M's first drop off playdate since she's been potty trained I am kind of excited. I am going to use my free time to... take a shower and dry my hair.

7. Because tonight I am going to a concert with my bestie. We are going to see Lonestar and hang out with the cowboys. It should be a hoot. (Please appreciate my lack of "Amazed" comments and puns.)

Happy VaLENTine's Day

You don't need me to remind you that it is Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday.

But it is.

We started out the day with a quick, not exciting, breakfast before dashing off to Mass. I took the kids by myself because it was really the only Mass time that worked with their schedule. We could have gone to the 6:30 AM one as a family but someone ahem me is a delicate flower who can't get up that early without a really good reason. Waking up early was definitely a bigger evil than Mass by myself.

The kids were also able to open their treats from Grandma and Grandpa. "Wrapped" lovingly by me.

We went to Mass. Both kids were not excited about "getting dirt" on their heads. And somehow, lo and behold, Fr. Bill picked up on that subconsciously because when we got back to our seats there was like no ash to be seen.

And I was holding their hands so I know they didn't rub it off.

There's a tiny smudge by his hairline.

A slightly bigger smudge by the hairline. They loved it and were so happy!! But I got like all their extra and mine is a bit of a mess. (Which sounded like Mary Berry in my head when I typed it out.)

It's like the letter K? I don't know. We went and started Lent and that's the important part.

M got a JoJo bow and I can't get over it. They are a tad ridiculous. But I also love them. And hers is so cute and valentiney but also good for any day!

And that's all I know. Have a blessed day!

Monday!

Let's start out with the good news, there is no snow today.

We have gotten so much snow in the past week. Like every single day we've gotten more snow. And 1-3 inches every single day adds up.

We did lots of playing in the snow. And by we I mean the children and Husband. And there's actually no photo evidence of M playing in the snow. This one was taken during her rest yesterday.

After they came in, they had some "hot chocolate" and then C read some Junie B. Jones to us. I used quotes over there because C, at best, likes lukewarm chocolate. Like even calling it lukewarm is overkill. Tepid. He likes tepid chocolate. We are working on his breathing while he reads. It's not the words that are the problem usually but he hasn't figured out taking a breath in at the end of a sentence. It's kind of a weird and hard thing to teach to be honest.

The sad news is we have another funeral this week! Well actually just a visitation because it's an hour away. But still. Use this as a reminder to call your mother and tell her you love her. Sometimes there is an illness leading up to an earthly departure (last week's funeral) and sometimes it's very sudden. (This week's.) Husband knows all too well what it is like to lose his mother so he feels especially called to attend the funerals or visitations and support our friends. It's a hard club to be a part of.

Anyway, Monday is here. It's sunny today which is just invigorating and wonderful. Enjoy your day friends!

Olympics!

We just love the Olympics! We started getting into the Olympic spirit yesterday by making Olympic Ring cookies.

A little confession here: I just bought a tube of dough from the grocery store. Furthermore, I grabbed peanut butter cookie dough by mistake. I don't care for peanut butter so I didn't even have one but the kids seem to be happy with them. Festive food is always a good idea.

I had them sort the m&ms which is basically three-year-old math for M and good fine motor practice for both. Funny enough, they sorted them into the prep bowls that were set up almost exactly like the rings. Which makes me smile!

While our cookies cooled off we made Olympic Torches.

Good scissors practice for both! And honestly it is kind of fun to scribble on paper sometimes. The Opening Ceremony started pretty late so the kids only got to see the NBC stories of the athletes. They will watch the parade of nations and lighting of the cauldron today.

I thought it was a good opening ceremony though I don't love the Team USA gloves. I do appreciate the idea that the entire point is to showcase the waving, which is what the athletes do. But I still think they're ostentatious.

But overall, yeah it was a nice start to Pyeongchang. I am looking forward to the next two weeks of sports!!

Loopy Friday

Woah. I am super loopy today. Basically, we were tired last night so we went to bed super early for us at 9:30. Only M was crying out around 12:30 and that is unusual for her. By the time she calmed down I was WIDE awake from my nap apparently. So I decided to read a book. And then I finished the book. And then it was 6:00 AM and my kids were awake. Ha. Jokes on me. I dozed a bit until 8:00.

For what it is worth, the book was JoJo Moyes "Still Me." The third Louisa Clark book.

I enjoyed it. I just started it yesterday evening but then was granted a marathon reading session from my non-sleeping. I love reading a book in one fell swoop. (Or practically anyway.)

Our winter storm shifted, as does tend to happen to us. So instead of the 4-8 inches I think we got maybe 2.5? Zero complaints here though C was convinced it would be a snow day and had some grumbles. I think his teacher said it might be, which when they were in school yesterday we were still on track to have that happen. It's supposed to snow another three inches or so tomorrow so we aren't lacking.

I am really sad that Bob Costas is done. I thought we would have him for one more Olympiad. I am sure Mike Tirico is fine and I will grow to love him but... just for now I am going to be a little sad. Opening Ceremony is tonight and I cannot wait. I love it!!

Though man, was there something wrong with the ice? Because those figure skaters had a rough go of it!! I for sure called it with the German. He had pitted out before he started and you could just tell by his skating. I said to my family "He's going to fall. He's too in his head." Moments later he fell.

Anyway... have a good weekend!

Whether the Weather is Good or Not

It's Wednesday. I don't type that because I think you don't know that already. I am sure you do. I am merely reminding myself because for some inexplicable reason I have no idea what day it is and it has been the longest week ever. But it's Wednesday.

When I last wrote up a post it was late Sunday night with a post scheduled for Monday,

Monday brought a pretty awesome snow system to us and all the schools were calling for early outs. Well actually, it was just a few schools and then they started pouring in. We were supposed to know by 10:00 and things must have gotten busy because when 10:00 hit, I had resolved that pick up for school was going to be the worst. But they called an early out for our local district which our school follows at about 10:07.

Since C goes to school in the afternoon only, this meant that he had a full fledged snow day. We still had to go out to get our groceries but anticipating poor weather I had scheduled another grocery pick up for right after drop off time. But they were ready early so we went early before anything even started.

The early out was a good call because we got about 4.5 inches (they say, I think it was more like 5.5 but whatever) and the roads were really sloppy at about 3:00 which would have made pick up miserable. Honestly, we had school yesterday and because our side street hadn't been plowed, it was really hard to get out even then.

But anyhow, yesterday M and I hosted a lunch/playdate for a friend. So the morning was spent running around cleaning. Then we had a the playdate. Then we had to hustle out to pick up C because the snow complicates pick up. I seriously just typed an explanation on exactly how but even I didn't care by the end of it. I reiterate that the snow complicates pick up.

Yesterday afternoon was spent focusing on my kids since I spent the morning running around cleaning. We read books, opened some fun mail, played games, did some dancing, made some dinner.

This Is Us was on again last night.

I'm going to be honest with you and tell you that I stopped watching in November. I had to miss an episode for an event and never really felt like catching up. This second season was a lot whinier to me and just felt like all the drama of Parenthood without any of the good. But I caught up in anticipation of Sunday's Super Bowl episode. I am glad I watched last night's in real time. 

Today is Wednesday. (See, I remember now!) It snowed a little last night and I have to go shovel but I am blogging first because I will still be the first of my neighbors to shovel. Today should be pretty normal. 

Tomorrow we have a funeral to go to at 3:00. Which is a weird time for a funeral right?! So we will have to get C from school early. Friday they're calling for more snow. I've heard as low as 4 inches and as much as 9. And the news anticipated early outs again. I am not impressed but it's Opening Ceremony Day so there's no raining on that parade!! But really... this is a not exactly fun extended forecast. 

Anyway. today should be fairly normal. And that's good. I like normal. I am sending in the cereal box for Valentines today. I've got my menu planned out through Friday. And that's about what's going on in our world. 

Super Bowl

I was drinking a big ol' glass of denile I guess because I woke up to flurries that were sticking yesterday and I was a tad unhappy. Then we came out of church to even more snow on the ground? Admittedly it's like less than an inch. But it is supposed to snow today right at pick up time. Boo.

Anyway... Football!

We ordered our Buffalo Wild Wings early and that was a good idea because someone called in when Husband went to pick them up the wait time was 65-75 minutes. Yikes!

Husband figured out the football helmet fruit bowl and it was a big hit!!

We were just the four of us so we didn't go crazy with too much fruit like we would have for a party. But it was tasty and refreshing. We all got our servings of fruit that's for sure. We finished our dinner with some football cookies. 

They were also a hit. 

We didn't really care about who won or lost so the kids lost interest by about the time the Patriots took their first possession. They stayed up through the halftime show. I think I am the only person on the planet who just really dislikes Justin Timberlake. Like, as a person I am sure he's just fine. He seems nice on Jimmy Fallon. He seems happy with Jessica Biel and their kid. But I can't think of a single song of his that I like. But the kids liked the halftime show just fine. 

The second half. Poor Tom Brady. He looked so sad. And I genuinely believed there was no chance he could lose. I was truly shocked. I am sad football season is over but you guys THE OLYMPICS START THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!! 

This is Us was good. I don't feel like it was shocking, which is good because I don't think I could have taken a big shock. 

Yesterday was also Husband and I's dating anniversary. We've been together for 12 years! And you know what? That makes us old. Ha. No, just older. Still love him, still happy. Happy to do life with him every day. 

Catholic Schools Week

Oh my Friday. Man. I want to go back to my month of short weeks. Except that this Friday feels especially welcome and hallelujahs and all that so, maybe changing the system would detract from the awesomeness that is a regular Friday? It remains to be seen.

It's the end of Catholic Schools week. C wore all the participatory clothing items from the proscribed list. Pajamas. Bright colors. Sports teams. Anti-Bullying Shirt. Blue/Gold/Spirit Wear.

It was overall a good week but my guy who likes schedules and predictability will be happy for some normalcy next week. It definitely stressed him out that they did "fun" things every day instead of reading stories. But they definitely did things that would qualify as fun.

The talent show was yesterday. I didn't go. I didn't think M could sit through it and should probably rest. So Husband went and that was good. C's class was the second act and their three poems take approximately 45 seconds. Husband told me that C "was really cute. Front and center and very animated." He sent me this picture:

And then later, his teacher sent us all this video. (The first poem is cut off a bit.)

And I laugh because, yep. That's our kid. It occurs to me that maybe other parents didn't have their kids practice? In my "I really wasn't trying to be a stage mom" defense, I had no idea these poems he was reciting were for anything until last week. I just thought they were cute and I would have him recite for me so I could marvel at the cuteness. 

In a full shot to my heart, I got a letter about preschool/kindergarten roundup this morning. And it had BOTH my kid's names on it! Huge reality check for me. What will I do with my seven and a half hours of kid-free time come August? I am going to hang out over here with my eyes closed and hands over my ears humming in denial for the next few months. 

And on that lovely mental image I am going to wish you a happy weekend and we'll see you back here after we find out who wins the Super Bowl (I don't really care either way.) and how exactly Jack met his demise. (I am curious.)

Enjoy it! Boring Advent is looming on the horizon. Sing out those Alleluias loud and proud!

School Valentines 2018 Edition

You may remember my love for classroom Valentines. If not, you can look at last year's here. Or the year before's here. Well the TL:DR here is that I take the classroom Valentine cards very seriously and I am always trying to make them as wonderful as possible because when I was younger I was impressed by one dad's Valentines he made for his daughter every year. 

This year I was trying to think of something else that would represent C and his interests since we've done walrus (and other animals) the past two years. AKA the only years in which we've made Valentines. And one night I was sitting in his room and thinking about my kid and how fortunate we were to have created a crayon themed nursery from the get-go. 

Let's go way way back to when we first moved in and I took a picture of his room. We happened to buy a house where the kitchen was already red and the "kid" room was painted reminiscent of crayons. Our baby's nursery was crayon-themed and all our kitchen stuff was red and teal. Talk about God-coincidences. Anyway, here's C's room from when we moved in. 

That is C's toy box. Husband designed the art and then had it large-format printed on what they wrap buildings/cars/etc with and they put it on the toy box for us. Anyway, good planning on our part because our boy loves to draw and color and write books. So obviously where I am going with this is that we should do a crayon valentine! 

So I hit Google and Pinterest. They were pretty helpful. 

But they weren't quite what I was looking for. I love those melted crayon shape things just as much as anyone, but I didn't really want to be on the hook for making them all look good. It's fine to make them for your kids but to give out? I just wasn't convinced they'd look cool. 

And my friends, I could utilize my secret weapon. Husband. So I did. I kind of came up with a little idea and ran with it. We took the phrase that C liked best from the Pinterest ideas "for crayon out loud" and the art work from his toy box and made our own little box of crayons! 

I bought this pack of crayons from Amazon. Because there are 17 kids in his class besides him we ordered two packs. Since I love to use subscribe and save the total cost was $16.91 (Approximately .70 a box) Then we printed the design Husband made on sticker paper to go on top of the boxes. 

Husband took a sample box to work with him just to make sure everything was going to turn out okay. And I got this picture texted to me: 

I just loved it so much. I was jumping out of my skin to see it in person. And they are perfect! Husband showed his co-workers and they glanced at it and didn't even see the name or the message change. Which has me a little nervous that it's too good but whatever I love them too much.

We even made an extra one for his 5th grade prayer buddy so 18 boxes total. I love that the crayons are the treat and there's no food. Not that I have ANYTHING against chocolates and suckers, but I just think crayons are a good thing to mix it up with. C is super excited about passing them out. 

We haven't made the stickers for C to write his name on them yet, but it's going to go on the back. I am just too excited and wanted to share them with you on this first day of February! I can't believe it's February already!!