2020 :: week 8

February 16

Sunday treated us to some gorgeous weather. After church I took the little boys on a walk around the block after taking a long walk myself. Spring is just around the corner and we are ready for it!

February 17

I like to fancy myself as a mom who plans fun things for her kids, but my kids sometimes feel differently. The kids had a four day weekend with President's Day Monday and a teacher work day Tuesday so felt the need to come up with something out of the ordinary to keep them entertained. I texted my friend Carrie and invited her and her kids over Monday and to my delight they were free! Will and Josh played an epic game of basketball while Lauren and Gwen orchestrated and put on a show utilizing our dress up clothes and their younger siblings (Elliott and Ava). Carrie and I talked the entire time about a variety of topics and barely scratched the surface, as usual. It was a fun day and I felt like I scored a major mom-win.

 

February 18

Tuesday we went up to NCCT to have lunch with Anthony. It has been almost a year since we have met Anthony for lunch at his work. The kids enjoyed visiting his new office and saying hello to his co-workers.

February 19

We try to have a few minutes of one-on-one time with each of our kids at bedtime each night. We talk about their "happies" or "sads," and if they don't have one of those they can share a "silly" or a "frustrating." Elliott at age 4.5 is such a delight and makes me laugh all the time. He is my little buddy and I was thinking the other day that at this point I have spent more hours one-on-one with Elliott than any of my kids. He is 3 years 10 months younger than Lauren and 3 years 7 months older than Miles which has worked out to a lot of time alone with mom while Anthony is at work or church things, Will and Lauren are at school and Miles is sleeping.

February 20

A "fun" game that Elliott likes to play is ask my what time I think it is, followed quickly by "but don't look at the clock!" He loves to correct me and let me know that I am wrong. If it is 3:32 and I guess 3:30 he gleefully tells me the exact time. Some days I have more patience for this game than others.

February 21

My mom gave Will this box of contraptions for Christmas a year or two ago. Will got them out a few weeks ago and they have been on heavy rotation. Elliott builds with them daily and Miles often tries to get in on the fun too. Elliott likes to build houses, churches, temples and schools with the planks. Miles likes to knock over, chew and crawl away with the planks. Their style of play isn't always compatible.

February 22

It appears I mostly took pictures of Elliott this week. We try to start our Saturday morning with an hour or so of chores before we do the fun stuff. I do most of the deeper cleaning throughout the week, so it shouldn't take that long. One of Elliott's jobs is the vacuum the stairs. He does a pretty good job and is so proud of himself when he is done. That afternoon Will played in his last basketball game. His team did their best, but they were outmatched.