March Bits

Our March was filled with trips and travel. But when we weren’t doing that, we were doing this. 

{The kids signed up for a zoom painting class through the library where they created these masterpieces.}

{It was St. Patrick’s Day, and Camryn asked why we had a sign on our door that says, “Kiss me, I’m rich.” So many ways I could have answered that.} 

Not pictured: The hustle and bustle of managing three sports schedules. Picking up right where we left off... a year ago.

Back at it!

After a 390 day hiatus, these kiddos are back in an actual school! The excitement was apparent as everyone was dressed with shoes on and ready to roll by 6:50 this morning (Jacob had to leave at 7:30, and the other two at 8:20!) 

{Our biker gang is shrinking now that the two oldest are at middle school, but this crew managed to find their way.}

{We usually don’t bust out these shirts in the spring, but...}

{What the first day of school in April looks like. I did buy the boys new shoes because their other ones were embarrassing. The girl was temporarily upset that she wasn’t getting a pair until I reminded her that she owns about 47 pairs...}

This crew was all smiles and full of stories as they trickled back in after school. I wonder how long this will last. 

 

This girl is EIGHT!

 Camryn celebrated her 8th birthday this weekend! 

{After seeing Caleb's sign, Camryn decided she wanted one, too! Flamingos, gymnastics, and sparkles greeted this girl on her birthday morning!}

{The beautiful weather made it the perfect day to get a brand new bike and test it out!}

{My parents came over for lunch, cake, and presents.}

{We spent the evening with our crew, and another cake just because!}

Although having had two consecutive birthdays under COVID restrictions isn't exactly ideal, this girl sure did make the best of the situation! 

Smarty Pants

A quick district shout out to my favorite sixth grader who happened to snag straight A’s last quarter! He worked pretty hard for those, and we are so very proud of his accomplishment! 

 

Our Weekend

Caleb turned 40 on Sunday, and he decided that he wanted to spend his birthday on our Iowa land. So after canceling and rearranging the plans I had originally made for him, we were off to Iowa...

{The kids went fishing. Camryn may have caught the most fish, but Mason certainly caught the smallest fish!}

{We went exploring in our woods, and came back with all kinds of souvenirs...}

{We did some work. Mason tried out the chainsaw, and Jacob started fires.}

{Jacob became a pro at driving the Explorer, hauling brush to the burn pile, and backing up the trailer.} 

Then we celebrated the March birthdays with a keto cake for the fella and a heavy-on-the-carbs cupcake for the lady!

Back to civilization with a sign to commemorate Caleb's milestone birthday. 

{You absolutely cannot quietly turn 40!} 

February Bits

 The pieces of our February puzzle.

{The boys had fun with photography. Florida is the perfect background for all the filters!}

{Jacob read a book. Without pictures. This kiddo is not a reader, but this book stole his attention, and he plowed through the 300 plus pages in just a couple of weeks!}

{Camryn took a gymnastics class. At the urging--begging and pleading, actually--of her tumbling coach, Cam hopped into one of his advanced-ish gymnastics classes. And she loved it, and didn't look completely out of place! Her coach is currently trying to figure out a way to fast track her through some basic classes so that she can join the competitive team. Here we go...}

{I cut off seven inches of hair. And Caleb actually noticed.}

{We bought--gulp--land in Iowa. And Caleb took 2/3 of our children out to play on it. The other 1/3 stayed home with me and lived his best life as an only child for 50 hours.}

We did a thing while we were doing a thing.

 Because why not do Disney when we should actually be doing the school thing?!

{We hit the road bright and early for Orlando with the expectation that we would be in the park and at the rope drop by 8AM when the park opened (rides open an hour later). But... it turns out that the Disney day trippers don't get access to the parking lot until about 8:15. And... there actually aren't rope drops anymore, neither of which we knew but would end up working to our advantage. We were on and off Big Thunder Mountain 15 minutes before the park opened. Doing Disney how we do Disney!}

{We had big plans to spend the day at Hollywood Studios because we wanted to see the new Star Wars area and because the Tower of Terror is the best ride ever. But that didn't happen because it was sold out. Womp. Womp. So instead we went to the tried and true Magic Kingdom where we were able to ride 13 rides in 10 hours, including Big Thunder Mountain three times!}

{The Tomorrowland Speedway was the one ride that we went on that was closed during our last visit. Jacob drove solo while Caleb and I rode shotgun with the other two.  And after avoiding whiplash from being slammed against the rail for the entire lap around, I think it is safe to say that we are both thrilled that neither of those two will be behind an actual wheel anytime soon!}

{We went on Space Mountain twice. Last time we went to Disney, this was a favorite of Camryn's. But after the first go round this trip, she had second thoughts. So we dragged her on it again for good measure, and she loved it once again. Indecisiveness is a theme that runs deep in this family!}

{It was 90 degrees at Disney the day we went, so the line to get on Splash Mountain was miserably long. But then it broke down, the line dissipated, and we were able to hop back in the queue just as it reopened. What had been a consistent 105 minute wait cost us only 25 minutes in line. This was Jacob's (and my) favorite ride, so we were both bummed that this was a one and done ride for our family. No ride is worth that long of a wait. When we were leaving the park several hours later, there was still a 90 minute wait!}

{The crowds were thick during our day at Disney. It was hard to gauge, though, if there were fewer people that day than in visits past as wait times were high (because there were no fast passes being issued) and lines were long (because everyone was standing six feet apart). In all, we were able to play Disney as we always do. The hardest thing we had to do was locate a restaurant that was open. Once we figured out how to order our food ahead of time, it was a breeze! Disney did an amazing job of making its guests feel safe without sacrificing any of the "magic." I never once saw a guest not wearing a mask correctly. And all guests had to stay in one place while snacking without a mask on to help eliminate the spread of germs. Perhaps our country could have used Disney as a prototype on how to effectively get through a pandemic. Just sayin'...}

{Disney closed for the day at 8PM, and shortly after we got in the car these three were out cold! Jacob clocked over 30,000 steps and my watch said that I walked 11.2 miles. I'm so glad that we took this last-minute field trip!}