A Little of This and That in February

After I wrote that hygge post, we got twelve inches of snow. Then a few days later, we got another six inches. And then last Sunday, we got another 12+ inches. That means in the last two weeks, it has snowed more than thirty inches. So I'm hygge-ing hard, dreaming of spring, and feeling grateful that we finally got some water to pull us through the summer months.

In other news, we've been . . .

Listening . . . to The Greatest Showman. My kids have yet to see the movie (Mike and I saw it on a date without them), but that doesn't stop them from loving the music. We purchased the soundtrack, and then Mike burned it onto two CD's--one for Aaron and Bradley and the other for Clark and Maxwell (because we're still old school and use CD players in their bedrooms). This means that sometimes I get to hear two songs from The Greatest Showman playing at the same time (lucky me!). I like the music, but I'll admit that at this point, I'm getting a little sick of it.

Soaking . . . up the nice weather before the snow hit mid-month. The boys jumped on the tramp (in bare feet, no less), played basketball, rode their bikes, and played soccer. One Saturday, we all went to the zoo. And we should have gone on more walks (she says in retrospect).



Watching . . . the Olympics. In general, we don't watch a lot of TV, but that all goes out the window when the Olympics arrive. Except for taking a break on Sundays, I think we watched them every single evening. Aaron was especially into them and knew all of the athletes and sports much better than I did. We let him stay up late on the last Friday of the Games, but apparently, it wasn't late enough because when we made to turn off the TV, he started crying: "They're going to show curling at 10:30, and I haven't seen curling during this whole Olympics!" Devastating. Luckily, curling was on again the next afternoon, so he ended the Olympics feeling satisfied. My favorite moment was when Shaun White won gold on the half pipe (which is so funny since I am not into punk sports at all). That or seeing Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir's coordinating outfits each night, haha.

Feeling . . . spoiled at a Valentine's brunch. My good friend, Sarah, hosted a brunch the week of Valentine's Day and invited me and two other friends, Molly and Jami. She set a darling table, made yummy crepes, and even gave a little party favor to each person. We did it on a week day, so of course we had all of our little kids with us, but we sent them down to the basement to play while we ate and chatted. It felt luxurious to have something like that in the middle of the day in the middle of the week. I'm so lucky to have these sweet friends.



Wearing . . . pajamas. Ian has basically lived in pajamas all winter. Even when I get him "dressed," I usually just put him in another sleeper. Because they're one piece and have a zipper, they're fast to put on. Plus, they have built in socks. And they're cozy and warm and comfortable. It's a far cry from the days when I dressed Aaron to the nines before going out, but Ian seems to like the arrangement just fine.

Celebrating . . . Valentine's Day. Honestly, we don't do a lot to celebrate. We have a yummy breakfast in the morning (which, when Valentine's Day falls on a Wednesday, does tend to feel pretty special). Mike and I limit our gift giving to a few cheesy presents (and Mike wrote me a poem this year, which I always consider the nicest of presents) and we go out to dinner (and for the last few years, it has been to the Gardner's house, so we don't even have to battle the crowds). We gave each of the boys a book, and when I mentioned it on Instagram, a couple of people acted like it was such a good idea to give books, and I was like, "Pretty much every holiday is an excuse for me to give my kids more books."

Dieting . . . with Mike. I finally decided it was time to focus and lose the last few pounds of baby weight. I had basically plateaued and knew the rest wasn't going to go away without some effort on my part. Mike wanted to lose some weight, too, so he decided to join me. I'm happy for the company, but the problem is Mike likes everything to be a competition (that's how he stays motivated), so now we've got a chart taped to our closet door to track our progress. If both of us meet our goals, we get to go on a little overnight getaway at the end of April. But if one of us doesn't meet his/her goal, then that person has to take the other person's month for planning dates (I do NOT want to lose!). So far I'm on track. You might even say I'm wasting Mike.

Sledding . . . and playing in the snow. The boys finally got to break out the sleds, and that made (most of) them very happy. (I didn't go on either of their sledding outings, but I guess Maxwell complained most of the time; he's not much of a cold weather fan. But after the third snowstorm, he eventually came around and even built a snowman by his own choice.)

Swatching . . . for a big chunky cardigan with a fun colorwork pattern. This one is knit in the round and then you cut up the front of it (yes, with scissors!) to turn it into a cardigan. I practiced cutting on my swatches, but I still don't feel comfortable doing it to my actual project. It's knitting up quickly (I just attached the sleeves), so I'm going to have to work up the courage soon. I also knitted a couple of cute little flowers and fairies for my nieces, and I think they're so adorable (both the fairies and my nieces!).

Adoring . . . Ian. Words cannot describe how much we all adore this baby. Even though he is ten months old, every single one of my kids still asks to hold him on a daily basis. And when they're not holding him, they're talking to him, playing with him, making him laugh, or just generally admiring his cuteness. And I would say the feeling his mutual because he adores his brothers. There is something so sweet about seeing older kids with their younger siblings. It's a different kind of nurturing, and it's made me so grateful that we didn't stop with four kids but let them all grow up a little and then added one more. There's just nothing like having a baby to love. (Plus, even though Ian is huge, he has really stayed babyish for so much longer than my other kids, and that is a major bonus.)

It was a nice month, but I will forever be grateful that February is short and sweet. On to spring! What did you do in February?