Here’s what we were up to in February:

Silas enjoyed creating projects on the scroll saw

Silas loved receiving his Kiwi Crates in the mail to build

Phoebe likes to stay warm on the vents

Brownies!

Warming up by the fire

Tiny Dancer

An outdoor boy scout event at the YAC (Youth Activity Center)

We came home from Scottsdale to this:

Fortunately, Jonathan is pretty handy and was able to do the repairs himself (and didn’t take long doing it, either.)

Here he is checking the skylight

Incidentally, here’s the view from our roof

We also found this!

The snow was more fun for the kids this year than it was for us

Jonathan, Avery and Kieron went to visit Nana and install bookcases in her family room

Before:

And after:

Pinewood Derby time came around. We got Silas’ picture with his trophy before the race. He came in second this year and passed the trophy onto the next winner

Layla made a car to race too

I got to watch on Zoom

Goofin’ off

The kids spent a lot of time in the woods building forts

We got a new sofa, and when we moved the old one we discovered Layla’s secret stash!

Here’s the new sofa – much better fit for us!

Phoebe wasn’t sure what to do once she got up into the kitty condo

First day of in-person learning! Whoo hoo!

Sweet big brother braiding little sister’s hair

While Jonathan and the big boys were at Nana’s, Silas, Layla and I had a sleepover with Ethan, Clare & Caroline

The girls did a spa night

We joined in on the face masks – creepy!

Meanwhile the boys did some gaming

Then we all had a dance party – it was a fun night!

Last night as an eight-year-old

Over mid-winter break we went to Scottsdale with our friends, the Lotts. Despite a minor hiccup in the beginning, we had a lot of fun and an overall fantastic time together. Great way to spend snowy February!

Suki tried to go as a stow-away, but no such luck

Goodbye, snowy Seattle!

First Stop: In-N-Out Burger

Upon arriving at our Airbnb, we noticed pretty quickly that something was amiss in the pool. No bueno for Seattleites escaping the snow and rain. Long story short, the owners tried to fix the problem, but were unsuccessful. They refunded us the remainder of our money and we scrambled to find a last minute deal and make lemonade out of lemons.

In the meantime the kids kept busy playing put-put

And the grown ups played some pool

We saved the day and got a last-minute deal on an amazing water-front place with a working pool!

Avery was so excited he jumped in the lake before checking the depth… which was only about four feet. Oops! Thankfully he didn’t dive and was alright. Lesson learned!

Chillin’ in the pool

Jonathan set up our hammock

We did a hike one afternoon

The kids: Brooklyn, Silas, Kieron, Layla, Avery & Hayden

Jonathan, Lindsey, Jacqui & Phil

Double date in downtown Gilbert

Pool fun

Cannonball!

Kayaking around the lakes was

Jacqui and I took a day trip into downtown Scottsdale

Layla loved this little neighbor kitty who was very friendly. There were two who came and went during our stay. This one was very friendly and the other was more skittish. We named them Lost and Found.

More pool pics:

A merman!

A neighbor kitty came to say “hi”

A couple pics of our place…

Headed home

We were in Scottsdale for Valentine’s Day, but the day before I had surprises ready for the kids so they could celebrate.

I also have a tradition of leaving a note on each of their doors in the days leading up to Valentine’s.

If it’s any indication of what kind of year 2021 has been, today is Halloween and I am writing the first blog post of the year. I’m TEN months behind. Between Covid, hybrid school (which, although better than nothing, isn’t much), parenting four kids, computer/software problems and life, the blog has fallen to the back burner. But I’m back at it again and hoping to get caught up quickly. So without further adieu…

Here is what we were up to in January:

Silas spent New Year’s Eve with Nana. Jonathan went to visit and bring him home the next day.

Dance party at home

FaceTiming with the Smiths in Singapore

Christmas tree pickup with Scouts

Jonathan made himself this handy workbench

Power outage!

Snowshoeing with Boy Scouts

Avery, running on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail

Kieron loved his new bomber jacket

I ordered this adorable unicorn scarf online. Sometimes things don’t arrive as pictured though, and I got a kick out of what we were sent, see below. We sent it back, of course!

No way I was going to let Layla go out with this on her head!

More dance parties

Jonathan took the kids skiing a few times this season. He takes two at a time when they go. Looks like they had a lot of fun!