Fun Friday

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is our four-day school week. Sure, there are weeks when we have nothing planned for a Friday and decide to make school five days because the girls thrive on the schedule when we are home. But some weeks we want to go on a mid-week field trip with friends, and we can. And some weeks, we are just done after four days of school and it is so nice to look forward to a fun Friday.

Today we met up with another homeschooling mom and kids at the Tree Paad. When we did our "year in review" worksheet MiniM.E. put down one of her favorite memories as playing at the Tree Paad, so I knew she would be excited. LittleL.G. is usually not a big fan, but this time, she was surprisingly willing to play in the fort with just MiniM.E. Which I was hugely thankful for because honestly, I am getting much huger, and climbing through a fort was NOT on my list of fun things to do today.

So the girls had a blast and got out tons of energy.

The best part of the day, MiniM.E. tried her hand at rock climbing for the first time and LOVED it.

She can't wait to go back and try again.  LittleL.G. can't wait to "grow bigger" so she can climb too!

A Gorgeous Day

Today we had a little glimpse of spring. I know it's early and we are destined for more snowy cold days, but after the last two weeks of chilly weather and the struggle to get back in the swing of things, today's warm weather was just the pick me up we all needed.

We spent the whole afternoon outside!

2017: Could be the Best Year Yet

2016 was a pretty fantastic year. If I thought the girls had an amazing bond in 2015, it has only grown and strengthened in the last year. Sure, there are more disputes and spats as MiniM.E. tries to keep her role as the leader and boss and LittleL.G. asserts her independence. But MiniM.E. is like LittleL.G.'s second mom and LittleL.G. idolizes MiniM.E. and tries to be just like her all the time. We took some great trips to VA, Sesame Place, and Lake Owasco. We jumped into our first year of homeschooling. And we've had so many great days and happy moments.

I am so excited to watch the girls' relationship grow in the year to come.

And we are all also incredibly excited to welcome a new little guy to love in early May.

Week One of 2017: Done

I am not a huge January fan. I love the Christmas season, so January always brings the big let down after the holidays. In the years since we've had kids, we have always been sick for more than half the month. And it's cold out and snowy and dark.

The beginning of the week started out pretty well, but as the week wore on, I started to feel under the weather, the girls were over the novelty of being back at "school" and we were all missing the feelings of the holidays.

After a long week, we still had to fill our Saturday with taking down all the Christmas decorations and errands which put everyone in a worse mood still.

Yesterday we were in desperate need of a pick me up, so we headed to the bowling alley after church.

Definitely lifted everyone's spirits. Here's looking forward to a better week 2!

Back to the Grind

It's always hard to get back to the grind after a week off. And even harder when that week off is Christmas week- the most exciting week of the year. And especially hard when you really sort of took the entire month off from strict schedules and "real school". So I was more than a little concerned about our today starting back with our normal school schedule.

But the girls were fantastic, aside from a few little spats. I did get a surprise when LittleL.G. refused to take a nap, but it did allow us to get out in the 40 degree weather to go ice skating at Gavin Park for a while which was a nice "back to the grind" treat.

It was so warm that we were skating on a giant puddle and both the girls were soaked.

But not too soaked to finish skating and spend a half hour on the snowy playground!

Here's to having a better January than usual!

Happy New Year!

Gram and Grumpy left yesterday and after weeks of pre-Christmas excitement and a week of being spoiled rotten by presents and extra people to play with and chocolate for breakfast and lunch and cookies for dinner, the girls were not happy to see them go.  We tried to keep them occupied to put off the inevitable melt downs from both kids and parents. We took them sledding near our neighborhood, which was a big hit since it was relatively nice out and we have our new Christmas sled.

 

Then we came in for some hot chocolate and to dry off our wet winter clothes and then headed back out for First Night Saratoga. We didn't plan on staying long since it was cold and rainy/snowy out so we didn't buy buttons which meant we were limited to the free activities, which, so early in the evening, were few and far between. We did stop for a delicious ice cream snack.

We walked down Broadway and back and ended the evening at the carousel.

In typical parents with two kids fashion, we counted down to midnight at 8:15 and the kids were asleep by 8:30.

Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas!

Merriest Christmas!

The girls have been so excited for Christmas day to arrive. MiniM.E. knows what to expect, but I think LittleL.G. has been feeding off MiniM.E.'s excitement.

The girls dove into their stockings first thing and MiniM.E. was thrilled that Santa had to go all the way to Japan to get her tapioca balls (which was the only thing she asked him for.

chocolate for breakfast

sugar crash

There was lots of present opening, but it took us all day to get through the pile because LittleL.G. is at the age where she wants to open everything and use it.

We took a break from presents mid-day to go sledding. So thankful for a white Christmas!

Then we enjoyed some holiday movies and more presents and a delicious prime rib dinner, thanks to my mom, who pretty much did all the cooking. Thanks Mom!!

What a fantastic Christmas!