February Tidbits

 When snow is combined with wind, some pretty cool shapes come out of it. The snow blew over the top of this table over the course of a week and it created an overhang.

I've been oddly motivated to update decorations on the fireplace mantle. I found these sweet Valentine envelopes on Etsy and fell in love! We also have a glass brick that says LOVE but the O is a heart and it can be filled with candy. Usually we do Hershey kisses but since all the girls are doing the Chocolate Challenge, that seemed a little mean. I filled it with conversation hearts instead and was blown away at how fast they went. Those things taste like chalk! But the girls enjoyed them, for sure.

Valentines were strictly digital except for Ireland's Girl Scout troop who even allowed food items! This was a first for us so I hit up Pinterest for ideas and we settled on this one:

When it came to a Valentine for her boyfriend I wanted to give his mother a head's up that we would be stopping by. "Isn't his last name something like Barbaccia?" I asked. ""Vintartas?" Ireland slowly replied. I had to laugh at that one- I'm not very good with names! He was in the middle of a Cub Scout meeting and answered the door in uniform which apparently charmed Ireland because she mentioned it as soon as she climbed back into the car. A couple of days later he delivered his Valentine to Ireland and it was evident how much they have missed hanging out. I think they gave each other five hugs and he was clearly reluctant to leave.

We ordered actual office chairs for Ireland and Brigitta's desk but for some reason they came a couple of days apart. When the first one arrived, Ireland didn't hesitate in saying Gita could have it and she would wait. Gita immediately put her Dakota pillow in it to serve as lumbar support which works perfectly! Now she gets to be wrapped up in her favorite pet while she does her remote work.

I found this drawing in a notebook used for church and no one has any idea who drew it!

I joke that Liesel likes to dress like she's a fat, homeless person. Like most teens and tweens in this area, sad clothes are kind of the thing. No one really goes to school looking sharp or fashionable. They all look like they just rolled out of bed. We are working on a compromise so she is somewhat pulled together- I firmly believe how you dress impacts how you feel about yourself and how you behave. We found this funky sweater at Urban Outfitters.

As part of her Leadership in Action badge, Liesel led two activities for Brigitta's brownie troop. Yes, I helped, but Liesel really did a lot of the work and she led them entirely on her own. The troop leaders emphasized she can come back at any time to lead more activities so I'm guessing it went really well. It was funny to see her react to the little girls who were so enthusiastic and not as adept at Zoom (it blaring microphone). She kept giggling to herself at all the funny little comments they would make and they were very eager for her approval. This project not only earns her a badge, but adds to her volunteer hours for National Junior Honors Society.

The elementary school had a virtual dance party which is right up the girl's alley! They had a blast and were spotlighted 3X and then asked to film a spot which may possibly be used in a commercial. 

I rearranged the books in rainbow order and found my Zen in doing so:

This one came out in time for Galentine's Day. Me: Poetic Cunning Sun Goddess. Liesel: Gorgeous Pliable Musk Ox. Ireland: Radiant Opalescent Minx. Brigitta: Sweet Talented Tropical Fish. Sydney: Sassy Rainbow-Infused Sun Goddess. 

I do this with Sydney a lot. If I can move away far enough so she can't kiss me I say, "Sydney! Why won't you give me a kiss? I just want a kiss?" I love her exasperated "MOMMY!"

Gita was spreading copious amounts of butter on her peas during Sunday dinner.
Brent: That's enough Gita
Gita: My peas need butter!
Brent: They already have butter!
Gita: Well they need more. *Brent wrests the butter away from her and she says under her breath* They need more. *Gita grabs salt and starts madly salting her peas until Brent wrests that away as well. When he gets up from the table she sneaks fingerfuls of butter. No remorse.*

The following week during Sunday dinner Gita told Brent: The only thing keeping you from being a great chef is more butter.

With President's Day off, I thought I'd take the girls on a little trip to Michigan to return cans and then hit the Woodfield Mall on the way back. Due to windshield wiper fluid issues in both the truck and the Pilot, we got a much later start than we intended and by the time we returned the cans, we didn't have time to stop at the mall because of dance. Sydney mournfully cried, "I wore my Matilda Jane for nothing!" During one of the many times we were stuck in traffic, Gita spied a poster for a missing pet. When I asked her how she could read that from the backseat of the car, she said, "I have vision eyes for pets!"

Sydney and I are switching off from reading Shel Silverstein (we finished Where the Sidewalk Ends!) and watching Mystery Doug videos. I think she's watching them ahead of time so she gets all the questions right and I look like an idiot... hmmm.

I'm doing a new thing with the girls where I burst into their rooms and run toward them as fast as I can to  see what they are doing on their Chromebooks. It's hilarious to see them frantically try to close tabs in time. The best part? I track all that information on an app on my phone so I already know what sites they are using.

Brigitta really wanted this American Girl boombox- it's the only thing she used her Chocolate Challenge money to buy and then she saved the rest. When it finally came, she was ecstatic and I had to get a picture of her holding it up on her shoulder the way we did in the 80's. She later came to me and explained that the cassettes have an A side and a B side and there's different music on each. Also there are controls to make the bass louder or softer, etc. Thanks for the tutorial Gita! I would have perished in ignorance otherwise.

I asked Brent to check on the girls because I knew they were just messing around on their Chromebooks. I laughed when I heard him bellow, "Get off the Chromebooks!" while Gita and Ireland screamed. Five minutes later, he did it again. Five minutes after that, I took a turn. They both yelled, "Stop doing that!" at us- hahaha!

Came across this little gem and it melted my heart- especially the last part where Sydney acknowledges that a president has to work very hard all the time. 

We were invited to watch Nick's Boy Scout Blue and Gold Banquet where they handed out really elaborate Arrow of Light plaques. Brent commented that he never received one when he earned his Arrow of Light.
Ireland: You never got one of those? That's lame.
Brent: I'm an Eagle Scout *thumps chest twice* I don't NEED a plaque!

Liesel was in desperate need of a trim and while I was making an appointment at the salon, I asked if any of the other girls wanted a haircut. Sydney really wanted one and decided to take the plunge and chop her longs locks off. Turns out her stylist worked with kindergarteners and loved listening to her as she chatted away. Usually when I get my haircut I catch up on emails and texts or I grab a magazine and read- I'm not anxious to talk to a total stranger. Different orchards.

Sydney's haircut is so perfect for her! Almost like that's how it should have been all along. Her teacher even commented on it! My life became instantly easier as I no longer had to comb through snarls and Sydney became rather particular, insisting I use a round brush and hair dryer to make it nice and smooth rather than a thick-barreled curling iron.

We received news that Whitney's third round of IVF failed. When the girls heard, Ireland offered to be her daughter because, "then we can just love all things Harry Potter." Brigitta also volunteered Sydney to be her daughter.

While braiding Gita's hair, she asked me which game she should play. I told her to try Pooper Scooper. It's a game where you pick up dog poop to keep the grass clean. "Who would want to play that?!?" Gita exclaimed. "Someone who likes to keep things clean and who loves dogs and last I checked, you are both!" I told her and continued braiding her hair. It would be prudent to note my phone is organized by color so as she searched for this fictitious game she said, "Mom, you don't have a brown section! Is it in the red? Hmmm, maybe the green?" I was laughing so hard I almost couldn't braid. When I told Brent about it later he said, "Poor dog!" 

A couple of us developed the sniffles and in an abundance of caution, we were tested for coronavirus (again). They only needed to swab just inside the nose which was better but this is Sydney's third test when kinda made it worse. Almost everyone was holding her down to get her though it, poor girl.

The tests came back negative more quickly than we expected and since the girls were already missing school and we hadn't been able to go to the Woodfield Mall with the can return money, I decided to take them shopping for the rest of the day. They positively cheered and we had a lot of fun at the mall.

Liesel's Girl Scout troop was supposed to have a family fun day at a camp in Wisconsin with sledding, snowshoeing, etc. I put the address into the my phone and for the life of me, we could not find it! I tried a name search, I tried the website. We just ended up at this one spot on the highway with no signs anywhere. We tried going into the nearest town, we tried texting the troop leader- nothing. A guy had driven into the grassy median and every time we drove by him we got to check out his progress in getting his car out of there. Finally we decided to pack it in and grab lunch. For dessert, there was a pie place that was really, really good and Brigitta managed to get some whipped cream on her sweater. Instead of wiping it off, she tried to lick it off...

...without success. It wasn't the day we were planning on, for sure, but I think it was the day we needed.

Toe Pick

 Our friends who live right by the lake invited the girls over to try out ice skating. Liesel was loaded with homework and I thought Sydney might be better once Ireland and Gita had the hang of it. They had shoveled off a nice section of the lake and I have to say I was geeking out at how cool it was for them to experience this. How many people can say they have gone ice skating on a frozen lake?

Apparently the very first thing you must learn in ice skating is how to fall down. Aim for the butt or the thighs so wrists don't get sprained and faces don't hit the ice. The girls had the opportunity to fall down a lot.

The big surprise was Brigitta who took to ice skating like a fish to water. Apparently her roller blading and ballet skills translated well because within minutes she was spinning around like it was nothing. I'm sure her devil-may-care attitude was an asset as well and my friend strongly urged me to sign her up for ice skating lessons. The sound of the skates cutting through the ice is just so cool to me!

With the temperature in the single digits, I thought they wouldn't last more than 15 minutes but the girls were out there for over an hour! There was no wind and they actually built up a sweat with all the skating. As soon as they were inside and they unlaced those skates, my friend started chipping off the built up ice and snow and vigorously rubbing them down. Turns out skates can rust- who knew! I fell all over myself thanking her for inviting us out to the lake. This family is so generous and they are the kind of generous where they honest to goodness don't think anything of it. It's just built in to who they are. 

The girls warmed up a bit while they snuggled with their ferrets and we went home so happy to have this incredible experience! 

Sleigh All Day

We upped our sledding game big time this season. At first we began with the one saucer sled we've had since we lived in Boston. It will get you down the hill and it has brakes which help a bit.

At the end of the day, it's just a thin piece of plastic and not terribly exciting.

 To make things interesting, I did dollar challenges. At first it was to go down the steepest part of the hill without brakes. Always eager to earn money, Liesel didn't think twice about it.

Sydney on the other hand just needed a little courage and the comfort of those brakes. The funny thing is that using the brakes makes the sled spin around so she ended up going down backwards. Even so she had lots of fun- hence the "That was the BEST!!!" at the end.

A few days later we decided to try sledding after dark. Brent was just finishing up work so we convinced him to go along as well. Not that he needed much convincing. My California boy was as eager to get out and play in the snow as the girls and by now the girls were not only tackling hills with no brakes, they were doing the runs with small bumps and doing spinnies. 

The girls were starting to clean me out with those dollar challenges, but it was all in good fun as they became more and more brazen on those slopes! By this time we also invested in a couple of inflatable sleds. The ice dragon and penguin not only look pretty hilarious on the hills, but they act as shock absorbers. 

I love Brent's chuckle as Ireland screams a warning to her sisters to be careful of the bump just before they hit it.

The last dollar challenge was the steepest hill with the most bumps. The girls could really catch some air on that one. By now they were pretty confident in their sledding abilities. First Liesel:

Then Gita (love her squeal of joy):

Finally Ireland:

Sydney needed some encouragement and as it turns out, I'm a bit of a chicken myself- ha!

We've had so many laughs on those hills!