Dancing with Daffodils

 Today I am just feeling all the feels. I spent awhile this morning crying about Ukraine. I am so sad for my people there, that I have friends who woke up to hearing bombs exploding in their city, my beloved city of Kiev. This aggression is so reminiscent of Hitler and it just kills me that this is a situation we are dealing with in our modern world and that no one wants to get involved militarily. How are we okay with one big country just deciding it wants to take over another one? It is a horrible situation and is just breaking my heart that people I love are in danger.  I also have felt so sad for people I care about dealing with heartbreaking situations with family and health. Then I've been so stressed about all the things my kids are doing and all the things I need to remember to do for them and remind them to do for themselves. Sometimes my head just feels so full of dates and to-do lists and responsibilities and it can be stressful.  I have been called up for jury...

January ended and here we are half way through February. It hasn't been a banner three weeks so not much to say. I went on a field trip with Emma to Elms that was cold but bearable. My group was a bit obnoxious and the whole day gave me a new perspective on Emma. In our family she is the loud and dramatic one who loves attention and has incredible mood swings. After watching her with her peers for a day, I realized that in part she acts that way at home because at school she is very calm, quiet and in control and it must be hard for her to hold that in all day. Kids were pushing her out of the way for the microscope and she was so chill about it; I found it astonishing. She was so patient with some really annoying kids and I was incredibly proud of her. She is such a good girl and shame on me for not recognizing that more often. I enjoyed the time with her and I'm glad I went even though I was so tired afterwards.    Curtis and Lily have both had a lot of after-school band reh...

 The weather was pretty ugly on Sunday so we weren't sure we would be able to make our little getaway happen but we woke up Monday morning to sunshine and pretty much dry roads. So we packed up and headed out to Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg. There was no traffic so we made it there in great time and got to the water park by 12pm. Our room wasn't ready until a few hours later but we just kept everything in the car except our suits and it all worked. The kids loved the pool with the basketball hoops and the slides and the wave pool. They were all very independent and would just come check on me while I finished my book. Then we all went together on the slides and stuff and it was fun. Curtis especially loved the flow rider.    We dragged them out of there around 6pm to get changed and we went to IHOP for dinner. Then it was back to the room for bed. We had a kid cabin suit so three beds were in this cabin -looking room and my kids loved it. Lily was a little sad the bed...

Another week. Kids had a full day of school Thursday and I taught a bunch of piano lessons.  Friday was another delay and as soon as the kids left Josh and I went up to Men's Warehouse to exchange the suit I got him for Christmas. It was a fun outing and we had lunch at the Silver Diner and made it back just in time to pick Curtis and our neighbor up from the bus stop.  Saturday morning Curtis had an early basketball game that went okay. They haven't practiced since before Christmas so they were rusty and then the fire alarm got accidentally pulled during the last minute of the game so it was a bit chaotic. They lost for the first time but I think it is mostly just from not having played in weeks. Then we came home and had breakfast and then Josh took Brandon to his practice and the rest of the day we spent putting away Christmas. It was sad to take down the tree because it still looked so beautiful. It was really the perfect tree and it made me happy all season long. Josh too...

 We had a nice week between Christmas and New Year's. Monday we went to go see Sing 2 and had some good chill time with the grandparents. Tuesday we went to Annapolis and walked around the historic area then went to the mall and had dinner at Cheesecake Factory. We also stopped at Barnes and Noble on the way home and the  kids all used their money to buy a book. It was a nice day and fun to get out and actually do something with my in-laws. They usually only come for two days and we are always so busy with kid stuff that we never have time to show them around. Wednesday we just hung around home and played games and talked and I went to the gym and Lily had physical therapy. It was also her friend's birthday so I took them to Noodles and Company and while they ate I went to Kohl's to return some stuff. Curtis and Brandon spent most of their time putting together all of their Legos and Emma spent a lot of time with Aunt Nikki reading The Christmas Pig. Josh made pizza that ni...

 It has been a busy three weeks. I got my booster shot and spent the next day resting but other than that it has been go go go. One week was school, piano lessons, dance, and two middle school band concerts. I took Curtis to his on Wednesday and his was short and sweet. It was only his second concert ever and the first one I got to go to. I loved playing in band and really hope my kids continue to find joy and community by participating. Lily's was Thursday and hers was much longer and better overall plus everyone could be there so that was nice. She played so well and has made a lot of improvement this year.    On the 11th Curtis had a basketball game at 8am, the ward Christmas breakfast was at 9am and the youth were in charge so that was Josh and Lily helping out, then Brandon had basketball and then that evening was our Christmas party. I was not sure I wanted to host a party because socially this year has been really challenging but I went for it and it was really nic...