A Busy Week

Tuesday we were feeling ambitious and wanted to get out of the house, so we drove up to Moreau State Park to hike around the lake. The girls were really enthusiastic for the first half of our hike.

And the playground halfway around.

The second half of the hike was tiring for everyone but it was really nice to get out in the fresh air!

This week we are learning about volcanoes. The girls are really into it- especially this volcano bath:

And today was another chilly day to play outside, but we try to do fun things on Fridays. I had a doctor's appointment at 11:30 and we were meeting Daddy for lunch, so we figured we'd play at the playground by Daddy's work for a while before all our indoor activities.

Our First Ski Trip of the Season

There are not many things that make a child excited to go to sleep at night. Maybe Christmas Eve? But since yesterday morning MiniM.E. started counting the hours until bedtime because she was so excited to go skiing today.

We were excited too, as today was MiniM.E.'s first ever ski lesson and LittleL.G.'s first time on skis.

We dropped MiniM.E. at her lesson with only a few tears and got LittleL.G. suited up and ready to ski.

She was a little timid at first... but the magic carpet was so much fun she warmed up pretty quickly.

Of course, two year olds have a short attention span and not a ton of stamina, so after a few runs she was ready to call it quits.

We checked in on MiniM.E. who was doing a great job at her lesson

And then took a break by the outdoor fire.

MiniM.E. had a great first lesson- even though it was only on this tiny hill for 90 minutes.

After lunch she couldn't wait to try out her new skills with Daddy.

She can do the bunny hill all by herself! She asked to go again tomorrow... but we'll wait a few weeks... 

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!