Snow, Swimming, and Science

The last month has been fairly uneventful. I have finally given in somewhat to the unscheduled weekend. That isn't exactly true, as we will likely never have a weekend with absolutely nothing again until the kids are older, but I have been trying to keep our programming to a minimum. Kellen has finally caught up from sleep from the holidays and Noelle and Bryan can always use more sleep, so some lazy weekends are just what the doctor ordered for January and February. We have still had some adventures, many of them snowy.

I am hopeful that spring is springing early this year. The past few days, the 10-day forecast, and the groundhog's prediction and early Easter all give me hope. And last Friday the snow we had was perfect; it landed on the grass and trees and did not affect school or my morning which made everyone happy. And we didn't have to reschedule our afternoon dentist appointments (which again went great- Noelle even was a rock star as she got four molars sealed!). Plus it was beautiful!

But we were clobbered earlier in the winter with the kids getting out a full week due to our close to 30 inches over MLK weekend. It is *almost* melted from everywhere at this point but there are still a few parking lot piles from where the mounds lived.  Kellen hates the cold and snow and is on board with his father's plan to move south. He did have a sort of scary sled incident where instead of going down just one hill in the backyards like the big girls he couldn't stop and went down a second hill also and landed in the forest. I got down the hill super fast to get him; coming back up a steep hill in 30 inches when you are 5 feet tall and have a hysterical four year old? Not so quick. Noelle loves the snow and enjoyed sledding, snowmen, and playing king of the hill. Her father and I keep wondering why we have not invested in a snow plow...

 

The kids both also did swimming in January and February with Kel doing lessons at the Y as an advanced preschooler and Noelle doing stroke and turn at Howard Community College. Kellen isn't really feeling the indoor swimming thing so we will take a break for him til summer but he remains a fish and I am sure will be great this summer. Noelle has done great with her backstroke and freestyle and has a strong start toward butterfly and breaststroke. Since she will still be 6 all summer she still can focus on just the two strokes for one more summer and I think will be ready for some year-round swimming come fall if she continues to enjoy it.

 

I also took the kids to the science center one day. We focused our energies on the kid room, space, physics, and dinosaurs and had a great time playing around and learning. I love that membership so much!

So that is about all for now. Oh, that and a few teeth that have disappeared. Noelle has now lost 6 teeth and is in that super cute stage where she has a big hole in her mouth for pictures. Cheese!

I keep thinking life will get less crazy and I will be able to blog more but think I am giving up on that. So look for 2ish blogs a month or so as I just hit highlights of our crazy life together!