Day 1579 | Snow Day #2

It really should be called a cold day, I guess. No snow today but man the temps dropped quickly (and it wasn’t warm to begin with). We did manage a trip to the grocery store. It turns out you still have to eat when it’s cold. And Chris and I even snuck out for a dinner with some neighbors (it was planned before we knew just how cold it was going to be)—thanks for watching the boys, Mom! 

No plans to leave the house tomorrow. It’s going to be real ugly out there. Fingers crossed we still like each other when this is all over. I will say, we miss the days when Chris got snow days, too. That’s the real downside of this. Nothing is quite as much fun with a quarter of our team absent.  

Note: This was a screenshot of the temperature when I went up for bed. Wind chill of -42. That’s no joke. 

Day 1578 | Snow Day #1

That’s right. Today was snow day #1 of at least three this week (school is already cancelled through Wednesday and I’m guessing Thursday will go, too). This snow + cold snap is turning into a second winter break and the boys don’t mind one bit. 

Today was the warmest day of the week (I think it was a windchill of -8 degrees when we ventured out) so I did force the boys outside for some sledding. We bundled up and we’re actually a bit too warm for the activity—I know, I was surprised, too. 

Think warm thoughts for us as we try to stay sane locked in the house for the next few days.  

Day 1577 | Video Games

Chris has been thinking about buying a Nintendo Switch for a very long time. The boys already know how great it is from playing at their cousins’ house. Today was the day. He finally decided to pull the trigger. And the boys were pumped. So was Chris for the record.  

We had a fun afternoon of playing Mario Kart and Mario Party as a family. See? Video games can bring you closer together! 

Day 1576 | Easel Work

Robbe’s favorite work at school right now is the “easel work”. Basically he can draw anything he wants on an easel. The availability of the easel has the power to make or break his day (sometimes other kids want to use it, afterall).

Most days he’s lucky enough to come home with a rubberbanded tube of paper that we admire and then store in a cardboard box. Today he went through all the archived easel works and decided he wanted to display some of them. 

He picked his top three and then we found the perfect place to show them off. He was very proud. 

Day 1575 | My Co-Worker

I’m one lucky lady to call this little nugget my co-worker. His equipment is outdated and noisy but his cuteness and one-liners make up for it.  

Day 1574 | Mall of America

With a day off of work + school and no plans, we headed to the Cities for the boys’ inaugural trip to the Mall of America. I’m not sure they fully appreciated the magnitude. They’ve only been to a regular mall about three times in their lives, but they did have fun at Legoland. We spent about 45 minutes studying every set they have on display. Then, when it came time to select something (we’re not going to force them to walk away empty-handed after all), they wanted to find Pokemon cards. Are you kidding me?!?

So we found Pokemon cards and they were as happy as they could be. I don’t understand kids.

Day 1573 | Reading

Chase has become quite the reader. What a crazy process. It always amazes me how kids learn. It’s like one day they’re not reading and the next day they are. I could listen to him read forever.  

Day 1572 | Baking

What’s the best way to kick off a holiday weekend? Bake some yummy cookies, obviously. I put the boys to work this time, though. Chase was in charge of melting the chocolate and both boys helped with the dumping. And the cookies didn’t disappoint, once again. So delicious.

Day 1571 | Eagle Puzzle

Chris likes puzzles. Chris likes eagles. Because of these two facts, I thought this eagle puzzle would be the perfect Christmas gift for my main squeeze.  Little did I know that this puzzle would almost break him.

Reasons this puzzle was the worst:

1. The edge isn’t an edge. It’s a squiggly line. You don’t event get the immediate gratification of completing the outside border right away.

2. It’s basically two colors. White. Brown. That’s not fun.

3. There are only four puzzle piece shape variations. The colors wouldn’t have been that bad…there were some subtle feather and vein patterns that were visible on most pieces, after all. The real HUGE problem was that almost every piece could fit with every other piece because there were only four piece variations. Those subtle feather patterns could only go so far to differentiate when 20 brown pieces fit in the same spot.

In the end, the 550 piece puzzle was completed. It took about 10 days. Was there an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and pride when the last piece went in? Not really. You see, even though all the pieces have a place to call home, we’re still not sure they’re actually in the right spot (because of item #3 above).

Chris finally had to just walk away. It’s been a few days since he “completed” the puzzle and I’m happy to report that his spirits have improved. It’s probably going to be awhile before we’re ready for another puzzle, though.

On an unrelated note, is anyone interested in a super fun puzzle to take on as their next challenge? Free to a good home!

Day 1570 | Playtime Throwback

You won’t believe what the boys unearthed from the basement today...the trains! I know. I was shocked, too. When Chris found out his comment was, “I wouldn’t have guessed that in a million years.” Needless to say, it’s been *a bit* of time since the trains have been out of their drawer tucked into the bottom of the toy shelf.  

Seeing those tracks brought back a lot of sweet memories—especially of time spent playing in red house. I’m glad they’ve reappeared. And I’m excited to see what the almost-five and almost-seven year olds can create now.  

Day 1569 | Church Singer

The little guy got his first shot at stardom yesterday at church. I wouldn’t say the performance really showcased his personality, but it was adorable!

Day 1568 | Winter Scooting

If we can’t play in the snow (ugh), at least we’ve got scooting as an alternative winter activity. Specifically, the highlight of today’s adventure was ice-scooting. It was pretty impressive.  

Also, isn’t this photo amazing? I love everything about it. Except for the fact that Robbe’s helmet *might be* a bit small for his growing noggin. Ah well...you can’t win ‘em all.  

Day 1567 | Motorcycles

We didn’t bowl but we stopped by the alley to ride the motorcycles. It’s definitely an EC highlight with the under-seven crowd. 

Day 1566 | Dancing

Just the little one showing off his fancy moves. He takes after his dad. 

Day 1565 | All I Want for Christmas...

Just a couple of weeks shy of being able to sing the song! It’s going to take some getting used to...the fact that he’s toothless in the front and that his speech is even different! Our sweet boy continues to leave babyhood behind. Sniffle sniffle. 

As a side note, he lost the tooth at school (for the second time) and declared that it “bled a lot.” I’m sure that was a fun part of the teacher’s day. Ha!

Day 1564 | Awbie and Osmo

Robbe’s fever last night meant a day stuck at home with me—which he didn’t mind, for the record. After a day of laying low, lots of reading, a short nap, and a bit of tv, Chase arrived home and the boys played the Coding Awbie game on Osmo (which connects to our iPad) for most of the afternoon. It was the perfect interactive but low-energy form of entertainment in hopes we could keep the fever from coming back (we couldn’t...ugh). 

If you haven’t heard of this Osmo system, it’s worth checking out. Chase was introduced to it at school and as much as I dislike the idea of the boys zoning out in front of a screen, the interactive nature of this system (you actually manipulate objects in front of the iPad that register on the screen) makes this feel different to me.  

With a fever at bedtime, it’s looking like another sick day tomorrow. Think happy thoughts for us.  

Day 1563 | Water Park

To make good on a promise to the boys from two months ago, we ventured to the water park today. As much as donning a swimsuit in Wisconsin in January isn’t my favorite idea for an outing, it was a fun way to spend the morning and the boys had a blast. They loved the big water slides and the playground area and the lazy river (which doesn’t seem that shocking...but you just never know with kids). The extra motivation needed to get out the door was definitely worth it. 

Oh, and then we came home and five hours later Robbe came down with a fever—that’s why we shouldn’t leave the house. Ha!

Day 1562 | Sunshine

The sunshine was calling our name after school. These little nuggets took it upon themselves to make the walk as cute as possible. 

Day 1561 | A Year in Photos

My absolute favorite photo of this year. I love everything about this.

Settle in…I’ve assembled my top 16 favorite shots from 2018. I know 16 seems like a lot but when we’re talking about 300+ photos to choose from, it’s remarkable I could narrow it down this much!

It took some extra motivation to get this collage pulled together today but I’m glad I did it. Looking back at how far we’ve come over the past year—through the ups and downs—forces us all to slow down and reflect on where we’re going next. Sometimes the days seem long and dark and sometimes everything is sunny and bright. I’ll stay optimistic for more sunny days in 2019—no matter what the weather actually delivers!

#1 | First Demonstration Speech

#2 | All-Season Scootering

#3 | Chapter Books

#4 | Recovery Day

#5 | Pulley Fun

#6 | Snow Day: April Edition

#7 | Dressing Room Photo

#8 | Halfway to Summer

#9 | Strawberry Picking

#10 | 4th of July

#11 | Just Like Riding a Bike

#12 | This is Determination

#13 | Battleship

#14 | The Joy of Parenting

#15 | A Winter Walk

#16 | Naptime Cocoon

If you’re in the mood for throwback photos, here’s a collage of 2017 Photos. I must have missed this post last year. Oops!

Day 1560 | Pokémon

Robbe has created his own version of the Pokémon card game (the real version has some pretty intense math for a four year old). His version is just as complicated as the original, though, with additional rules that seem to apply just to him. Suffice it to say, I am 0-2 in my attempts to understand these Pokémon card games.