When thinking back on February, it definitely had some unexpected happenings! I'm pretty sure I said that it felt like the theme of 2020 was "unexpected", but I think 2021 is trying to keep up with that so far.
February is always an exciting month with birthdays, outings, and get-togethers, but (as I wrote about here) we ended up with two weeks of crazy winter weather this month which really interfered with some of our plans. We spent a lot more time at home than we expected, and I think many of these photos really reflect that!
Brecklyn and Brooke are doing so well with their reading. I think teaching my kids to read has been one of the most rewarding things as a parent so far! I just love when I see them reading together.
Brecklyn, Brooke
Notice Brecklyn is playing with Brooke's hair in the photo below. This would never fly the other way around, but Brooke doesn't mind when Brecks is touchy with her!
For Bren's birthday, we made an area in his room for his Nerf guns and accessories to be displayed on his wall (you can see the finished product in this post). We thought about surprising him with it, but ultimately decided that he would like to be involved in the process as much as he would like the finished product. He was all about helping spray paint the peg board for the project!
Focused.
It's been a while since I'd taken a "before church" pic of the kids. I used to do this a lot more often, but have been slacking with it lately. Here's my sweet crew before church services one Sunday!
The very first day all the crazy weather began (which was a Monday), we had quite a bit of sleet and ice. We lost power during dinner that evening, and it stayed off for a little over an hour. We didn't know how long it would be off as sometimes we lose power for extended periods of time during ice storms, so we began making plans and putting some things in place in case it didn't come back on for a day or two or more. In order to help keep warm, we decided that we would shut all the bedroom doors and sleep in the living room near our gas fire place since we'd be able to run it without power. The kids were really disappointed when the power returned because they thought the idea of a living room slumber party was the best! We went ahead and let them sleep in the living room together that night even though the power had returned.
Brianna chose to sleep in her bed because she was suffering from a severe headache. She tends to get bad headaches any time a storm is rolling through . . . I'm pretty sure the pressure changes affect how her head feels. I call her my human barometer!
Since we were confined to the house a lot during the winter weather (mainly because temps were crazy cold), we watched several movies and got creative with activities to keep the kids occupied. We had a tent set up in our living room for several days, and they all thought that was the best!
Family movie night
We even let them all sleep in the tent one night . . . although Brooke had a very hard time with this and ended up in my bed!
We even had Chris's camping chairs out . . . indoor camping for the win!
We also spent lots of time enjoying our indoor trampoline. Even if they weren't jumping on it, the kids found it to be a great spot to snuggle up and read :-).
Brooke
Of course, I didn't torture my kids by making them stay inside the entire time the winter weather was happening. Even though it was frigidly cold, Brenson and Brooke both went out to play almost every day. They didn't always stay out long, though!
Since we don't get snow very often, we had fun doing a few snow related projects. We filled balloons with water and food coloring to make ice marbles, put all our handprints in the snow to create a fun memory,
brought the snow inside to play,
made snow ice-cream,
and did a little project to see how polar bears and penguins stay warm in the severe cold! This is a project I did with a second grade class back when I was in college pursuing my elementary education degree, and I thought our bought with winter weather was the perfect time to recreate it. I created a "blubber glove" using shortening and plastic bags. Then, we all put one hand directly in the snow and the other hand in the blubber glove in the snow and counted to ten. The hand in the blubber glove didn't even get cold at all, whereas our bare hand turned red from the cold!
Brecklyn
Brooke
Brenson
Brianna
Daddy (he was working from home, so joined us quickly for the activity)
Momma
Since Brooke and Brecklyn turned SIX years old this month, they had a well visit at their pediatrician's office. Their appointment was the day after Brianna's birthday, which was also the first day temps got above freezing in almost two weeks! We are so grateful that they are both healthy, growing, and thriving! Brooke weighs 57.3 pounds (92nd percentile) and is 49.5 inches tall (off the height percentile chart). Brecklyn weighs 49.1 pounds (71st percentile) and is 47 inches tall (79th percentile). Brecklyn seems so small for her age compared to Brooke, but they are both on the upper end of the percentiles.
I've mentioned on here that we have a neighbor girl named Madison who is about the twins' age. The twins have really enjoyed having her next door. They play fairly often, and Brecklyn and Brooke think they're big stuff when they get to go to Madison's house to play! Candace - Madison's mom - sent me this pic of the girls dressed up at their house one afternoon. Cuties!
I feel like I keep up with a lot of tasks pretty well. I don't always have life together, but I have quite a few balls I juggle and have to keep in the air on a daily basis. One thing that kicks my hiney every week, though, is the laundry. It piles up so fast, and I just don't always have enough hours in the day to manage it. More often than not, the chair in the corner of our bedroom is covered in *clean* laundry waiting to be folded and put away. At least it's clean, right?!?
Brianna has really, really missed her friends since this whole pandemic thing started (which led to us homeschooling sooner than we had planned), and asked if she could have a few friends over for her birthday this year. We haven't done friend birthday parties in a while, but decided this year we would. We initially planned the party for the Saturday after Bri's birthday, but postponed it due to the weather issues. We hosted a little tea party this past Saturday and had a great time! I'll post all about it in a few days, but for now here's a sneak peak!
My friend from church, Rebekah, has a great home library and has been loaning us books for the kids for the past few months. I'm so grateful for this because our local library has been closed since September due to COVID. We can request books over the phone and someone will bring them to our car, but I find that to be extremely annoying. Rebekah gave us a new box of books to borrow at church yesterday, and Bren busted into it as soon as we started driving down the road!
Yesterday was the last day of the month, and we were blessed with the a beautiful winter sunset to enjoy on our way home from church services. One of the reasons I love living where we do is because we enjoy incredible sunrises and sunsets so often. God's beauty cannot be matched!
Today is the first day of March, and the weather is just beautiful. We can feel a hint of spring in the air, and we are ready!
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