Happy Leap Day!

Four years ago I was slightly concerned this little lady was going to be a Leap Day baby:

She was due March 3rd, and all of her siblings arrived approximately a week early (6 days, 5 days, and 7 days early to be exact), so I was CERTAIN she would be a February baby.

She bucked our system and was born three days "late," but because she was born in a leap year, I'll ALWAYS know which years have a 29th day in February.

Hope your Saturday was enjoyable!

In the Wild

This evening (our first Friday night without Chet), I was working on Lorelei's 1,000-piece Harry Potter puzzle, Lorelei was at a friend's house, and Sydney, Ford, and Ruthie were watching "Bolt" on Disney+. For some reason I looked over at them in the living room, and did a double take when I saw this:

This, folks, does NOT happen. Perhaps this is what children do when they think no one is looking: act civilly toward one another.

I have to end with that. Lorelei, Ford, and Ruthie share a room, and Ruthie is crying, and I hear a strange scratching sound coming from behind their door that I am having trouble identifying without going in there to investigate...

Another Syd Drawing

I really love Sydney's drawings. I think she is especially good at drawing facial expressions. Case in point:

She claims this isn't me, but I have a feeling this is the exact expression I wear when I drive.

What is she thinking? Is she simply a woman on a mission? Is she pursing her lips at another driver? Are her children in the backseat fraying her nerves? It's fun and funny to think about.

Happy Thursday!

A Picture

I have a friend who is VERY good at making time to take pictures that mark special occasions (or even just regular occasions). I took a page out of her playbook this deployment and made sure to get a picture of Chet with each of the kids (I'll share those soon). Then I had Ford snap a picture of us. It's crooked and a little blurry, and I'm obviously wearing a Disneyland sweatshirt and my hair's not fixed. I like it though, because we're both on the verge of laughing as Ford was not taking his thumb off the picture-taking button (and therefore taking dozens of pictures in a matter of seconds). It was hilarious, and I'm glad we were laughing minutes before dropping Chet off to leave.

Happy...Tuesday? I'm not really sure what day it is, since schools have been closed the last two days.

Old Post (Mardis Gras)

I remember having some thoughts about Mardis Gras when we lived in the south a few years ago. The bottom of this old post is where I talked about it. Too funny that Chet had also recently deployed when I wrote this (8 years ago!).

Eight years later...there are still mountains of King Cakes in the stores, and schools are closed today and tomorrow. The kids and I attended a Mardis Gras parade yesterday.

Deployment

Chet has officially safely arrived at his deployment location (I took this picture of him Saturday afternoon when I dropped him off here in Gulfport). 

We are SO glad deployment has finally started, and that we can start counting down the days until he comes home (instead of numbering the days until he has to leave).

Hope your weekend was lovely!

7th Grade College

I opened the door to the laundry room, wondering why the light was on. Found Ford:

I thought all the kids were playing a house/school-type game together upstairs, but quickly figured this was part of it.

Me: "Are you at school right now?"

Ford: "Yep. I'm at college. 7th grade."

Hmm.

Me: "Well...have fun!"

Galentine's Day!

February 13th is Galentine's Day!

Sydney and Lorelei finished up their basketball season last night (Wednesday), and will no doubt join Ruthie in carrying mud around the neighborhood in a bucket, now that they have more time on their hands.

Ford's Last Basketball Game

Ford's last basketball game was tonight (can I get a 'hallelujah'?!). He was in the starter league, which is a bunch of 5- and 6-year olds (some had turned 7 by this point), most of whom barely know what's going on.

There was, on average, 1.5 people per team who really knew what they were doing, and who therefore carried the team.

Ford's team won all but one game.

I'm glad he played this season...but I'm also glad it's over, ha!

At the very first parent meeting back in November, the man who runs the league said, "At the end of the season I'll buy the kids pizza and give them a trophy. In general, I'm not a believer in everyone getting a trophy, but we want the kids to be excited about the sport, and we want them to come back next year."

As soon as we left that practice/meeting, Ford said, "I can't WAIT to eat pizza and get my trophy!"

I told him he actually needed to play basketball first.

I hope you didn't miss the Mardis Gras tree in the background. This is south Mississippi, after all.

Happy Thursday!

Time

Do you ever have stretches where you feel like you have little to no control over your own time/schedule?

That's how I've felt the last four days.

Saturday morning we picked up a bounce house and a cookie cake and had a weekend-long neighborhood party celebrating Sydney's 10th birthday.

It was super fun...but super exhausting (especially for someone who doesn't love parties in general (me)).

When Monday rolled around I returned the bounce house, attended a morning meeting that ended up being cancelled (after I arrived), took the children to piano lessons, and watched/cheered at Ford's and then Sydney's and Lorelei's basketball games.

Today (and every Tuesday) our homeschool group met, and we went to gymnastics afterward. Home around 6 p.m.

TOMORROW I have big plans to not even get in my car, wash several loads of laundry, and mop my floor. Because, as I'm sure you can imagine, after a weekend involving a bounce house it is DISGUSTING.

I also got a new phone recently, which is great, but it took a chunk of time I would have rather spent doing laundry (seriously) getting it set up, as well as a great deal of mental energy I didn't even know I had to spare. I've only taken one picture with it so far, but it's a good one:

The refrigerator in the background is a nice touch.

Happy Tuesday, friends!