Good times, Valentines!

January was a bit of a tumultuous month, so I was happy to flip the page to February.  It's the month for one of my favorite holidays and one month closer to Spring...which I'm SO ready for.

We have, so far, avoided the plague that everyone seems to have.  Hopefully this is attributed to the fact that we home school, that my kids were breastfed, that we have partially-quarantined ourselves and because of the fact that Bennett eats things off the floor.  I mean, part of strengthening our immune systems is exposing ourselves to things.  And while I'm not about to schedule play dates with kids with 104 degree fevers, I'm completely fine with a few floor cooties here and there. Funny how your outlook changes with your 4th child.  With Madi, I would have been giving her a bath in lysol if she so much as touched a stale cheerio.  Now, I mentally add it to his nutrition intake for the day and call it a victory. 

Today I got to go to the nail salon with the girls, thanks to a gift card from Seth for Valentine's day.  And while sometimes going to the nail salon with three kids in tow is anything less than relaxing, they are getting to the age where they actually can appreciate the pampering and sit and enjoy it.  Hannah is our constant chatterbox and spent the entire time talking to her 'guy' about all things...colors, her nail painting techniques, how to clip toenails, you name it.  Avery was exactly the opposite and sat completely still and stared at her feet the whole time.  Which is hilarious to me because she was the one who was the most excited to go.  Madilynn, at 9, was pretty happy with just watching TV and letting her feet be loved on.  Unfortunately what we watched was the World Series of Poker, followed by Shark Tank.  Probably not what we would deem acceptable television at home!

 

In true girls day tradition, we capped off the day going to the mall and grabbing some things we needed along with a few not-so-needed things!  After a week where things were kind of blurry (figuratively and literally--more on that another day), it was definitely a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Call It What It Isn't

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions.  Partially because New Year's Resolutions typically are meant to be finished throughout the year, or are so big that you need a year to finish them and both of those things are completely unappealing to someone who doesn't like having things undone and just out there all year long.  No thank you.  So, I'm not calling this blog a New Year's Resolution.  If it were that, I'd already be behind considering this is February already. 

Before I just jump into our lives, lets give you a brief run down of us.  My husband and I have four children.  Three girls and one boy.  Madilynn, Hannah, Avery and Bennett.  And no, we were not trying for a boy.  If our last had been a fourth girl (which we were fully expecting, although we didn't know the sex), we still would have been done with four kids.  We have no more seats in the family car, therefore we are done.

We made the decision to home school starting this year.  It's not easy, and some days it's not even fun.  But, I know I can do this.  On the bad days, I can catch myself longingly watching the school bus drive by as mom's head to the gym or out for coffee or (in my fantasy) back to bed....on the good days I consider making myself a cape and walking around in it along with a mask, tights and bodysuit (oh, did I forget to mention that this fantasy has me with a perfectly toned body) because of my amazing skills in juggling teacher and mom roles.  Most days I fall somewhere in the middle and call it a success if we finish school, are dressed, the house is somewhat clean and dinner is on the table at 5:30.

So, that's the run-down.  With many more details to follow in, hopefully, many more posts to come.  Although I'm not going to guarantee anything because, like I said before, this is not a New Year's Resolution.