We had record low temps in February and I believe we got to -13 degrees. It was brutal. School was canceled and we just stayed home. They couldn't even do virtual school because there were rolling blackouts on the power grid, which isn't ideal if you're wanting to keep your house warm. Fortunately, we were never affected by any power outages, we just got a frozen shower head in the basement which cracked and then sprayed a bunch of water once it thawed. Fortunately, it was doing this in the shower so it wasn't too big of a deal. We're very grateful Nathan was able to fix this on his own because there was a long wait to get a plumber.
We had the fireplace going for most of the cold days, which everyone enjoyed thoroughly.
Video of Juliet helping Eleanor making waffles.
Phone time with my girls. We have a lot of play phones around here.
We had two separate sleepovers that night. Eleanor and Bradley in a tent in Eleanor's room.
We tried to have Patrick and Juliet sleep in a tent in the boys' room and it was rather too exciting for little Juliet. She did not ever fall asleep in the tent, we had to give up and put her back in her crib.
Everyone wants to cuddle Juliet constantly and she does not always appreciate the attention.
Here is a video of her asking for Ella while we were running errands. After this video she asked for Bradley and Patrick and ... and then fruit snacks. Juliet has many demands and it looks like she doesn't need a drama class anytime soon.
There has been a lot of grandparent time this winter. Shortly after this photo Juliet let everyone know that she felt crowded and yelled at them to go away. She's lucky her siblings are so nice.
Grandma has downloaded Scooby-Doo books onto a tablet and all the kids love reading them. Patrick prefers to have them read to him over dessert from lunch. Pretty posh business, this certainly doesn't happen at home.
Eleanor enjoys baking with Grandma and we enjoy the results of this quality time they spend together.
But then she laughed at me and said "no no no!" like the joke she knows it is when someone says no to her. Oops.
I tried to attend a woman's Bible study at our church and it went well for a couple weeks until Juliet made friends with a couple of ladies there and then she had a blast playing with them for the duration of the two hours we were there. We're going to wait until childcare starts back up to go again. Lots of friend time was happening, very little study of Bible.
Nekkie time is a popular pastime around here.
And she fits in well with the big kids. It's often a little cold and rather than putting any additional clothes on you just wrap yourself in a blanket and call it good!
The big kids were thrilled to discover her fort when they got home from school.
Here is photographic proof that my two year old likes salad. She's been sharing salads with Nathan for ages, but usually he just gives her chicken or craisins and that's it. She started chowing down on the leafy greens when I gave her the big bowl to do with as she wished. To be fair, she spit a fair amount of it out. But this picture looks impressive!
Patrick hit up the play grocery store and established his rep as a shopper extraordinaire.
Cute play canoe.
Sports room with Grandma. It wasn't completely a selfish move to have my parents come along and help supervise the children for the morning. I knew they might want to take cousin Katie here during her visit, and sure enough, after their morning here my folks ran and got memberships of their own. Katie is visiting right now and is a Wonderscope fan as well.
They all have their favorite play rooms to go to. I would like to point out that none of them are the same play rooms and the museum is big on parental supervision of children, so I don't know if I'll ever be able to go here on my own with all four kids.
Luckily, grandparents live nearby and enjoy going to this museum so I think we'll be okay!
Cute girls in the play restaurant with me!
These pulley machines are easily the coolest part of the sports room.
Even grandparents can do it!
Checking out Bradley's wingspan.
He's 4'7" now. He definitely had a growth spurt over the winter. I bought him some khakis for the Christmas program that were a little long and are now too short for him to wear.
We signed the kids up for the special art class session which they thoroughly enjoyed.
We thoroughly regretted it afterwards when we had to transport six wet paintings home in the trunk of our car.
I think Patrick and Eleanor made multiple paintings.
But, they enjoyed it and it was fun to check out! Juliet isn't doing preschool next year so I'll be trying to get her into as many of these fun little classes as possible.
Snagging a couple pictures with grandparents on our way out.
Bradley spent a lot of time in the art room. We love Wonderscope!
We had Bradley help change a wet diaper while we were over at my parents' house and he changed the number of children he wanted from one hundred to three or four. His future wife better thank us.
And they got the two year old to join the fun. Delightful.
Oh her smile in this picture. She wasn't supposed to splash and then she did. Tee hee!
It was warm enough for bikes and Juliet was eager to try out Bradley's.
Later that evening we had a movie night at church and watched Toy Story 4. I'm so grateful for where we live, the kids are basically able to continue life as usual with some social distancing and masks added into the mix.
Eleanor and I did a Girl Scout cookie booth the next day. We're working on Eleanor not commenting with shock every time someone gets more than two boxes of cookies.
Bradley's team ended up losing by two points in their first game of the tournament and so they were out, but they all played really well and we were excited that Bradley got to play through the end of the game when the coach was definitely trying to play all his best players. Bradley has improved so much this season and best of all he really enjoys playing, it's been really great to see.
Then he went to Patrick's game and was adorable helping Patrick practice.
Patrick played really well in his game. Kindergarten basketball is my favorite because no one keeps score and they're very relaxed about the rules. I get to be a very relaxed spectator.
Juliet knows that Bradley is her buddy and is constantly asking for him. Also, those pants were too long for Bradley at Christmas. Quite the growth spurt.
Bradley was a good sport about being attacked by the pirate sword until we had to hide it.
Creek time where Juliet got ditched by the big kids and Patrick ended up being in charge of her. He did such a good job.
Movie night. Oh Juliet.
We played with some lucky kitties on the deck on a warm and sunny spring afternoon.
Lucky kitties!
Patrick won this hat on mismatch day at school and we were all dazzled by it. Eleanor has been borrowing it to wear to school on regular days, because look at that awesome thing. The coat is great too, it's a hand-me-down from one of Mabel's big brothers.
Juliet really likes to cuddle on me for shows, and I rather adore it too.
Barefoot in the sand is the only way to go. Kids get pretty aggressive in the sand pit, it might not be my favorite place to play at the museum.
Juliet reading to her favorite doggy stuffed toy in the cute toddler section of the museum. This is probably my favorite part of going to Wonderscope.
She made it across a big kid net thing all by herself and was delighted to get to Dorothy's house on the other side.
Can you see the proud smile as she's standing at the counter stealing my favorite pretzels?
Patrick pulled a Patrick at the Stanley playground one day when he wanted to run around barefoot and decided to take his shirt off as well. He joined a group of big kids playing at the Ga-Ga pit (only tackling a few 5th grade boys who he definitely didn't know) and managed to jam his toe and his friends Mabel and Levi had to walk him back over to me. Then I got the first aid kit from the car and as a crowd of children gathered around Patrick I poured some water on his bleeding toe and put some Neosporin on it while Juliet got him a bandaid. Patrick loved the attention and we're encouraging the children to wear shoes on the playground from now on.
But clearly none of this applies at home. Fair amount of baby nudity happening here on a regular basis.
Juliet was so mad when I eventually made her put on some clothes.
We went through the piles of shoes that Juliet inherited and I was trying to get her to wear some of Eleanor's old sandals but then Juliet found a pair of jelly sandals that were way too big for her and was adamant that those were the only shoes she should be wearing. So we went to Baby Gap and there was great joy when we got Juliet brand new jelly sandals.
Which she wore outside while making mud soup with Patrick.
Another sleepover. There are fewer ones of these happening, the kids don't ask for them quite as much because there's a 50/50 chance Juliet will wake them up super early in the morning.
Playing dolls on Bradley's bunk. I'm pretty sure Patrick is laughing here because Juliet's doll was a kicking doll.
Nathan unlocking a parenting achievement by teaching the toddler to use the back massager on him.
Patrick's final basketball game. He did so well!
We had the whole crew there to watch him play. Bradley would watch and critique the kindergarteners' skills and he couldn't believe some of the rules were ignored. Eleanor had a friend there so she ignored the game entirely and played Hatchimals. And Juliet found a baby and kept harassing the parents while she drug Bradley or Eleanor over with her in order to say hi to the baby on repeat.
Patrick's team.
Nathan helped coach. And Patrick made goofy faces in all the group shots. We need to have his mask on for pictures more often.
Cute boys together.
Eleanor keeps scoring impromptu play dates with her friend Naomi because she and I will go for a walk in the park together and Naomi happens to be playing outside when we walk past. Then I leave Eleanor there and come back with Juliet after her nap time to pick up Eleanor. Everyone likes this a lot.
Juliet has been requesting that Bradley read to her before bedtime here and there. They're so adorable when they do this together.
Getting Juliet from her crib after she wakes up in the morning or after her nap remains a prized task among the children.
One naptime I walked in to get Juliet and her first words to me were "Ella, Ella." I said, "Eleanor is at a friend's house." So Juliet said, "I go get Ella." She loves all her siblings but she definitely talks about Eleanor the most.
When the kids are gone I try to make Juliet test out games with me. Here we are playing pancake pileup. The blue plate is mine. She didn't even let me have one of the butter patties.
More Patrick time after school. We need to take more baths, everyone is constantly covered in dirt in the springtime.
Back to Wonderscope. This is Juliet's favorite place in the entire museum - driving the bus they have up on top of the play tower. It halfway sticks out of the building, it's quite the impressive thing to see. Usually there's a line of kids who want to drive the bus so it's quite the accomplishment to actually get to sit in the driver's seat.
Running away from me and playing peekaboo on the toy train.
It was a medium good decision, Juliet kept asking for Swedish fish on her ice cream after this. Actually, we've created a bit of a monster, if a show is ever on she yells "sweish fish!" and is adamant that she get some. It worked one Saturday morning when Nathan and I were trying to put shows on for the kids so we could play board games. The toddler ran over and demanded "sweish fish" and we gave in so we could play Tokaido.
Patrick came home and we had celebratory popsicles because it was warm enough to have them.
Then Juliet ran around in a fancy dress and terrorized her brothers with sticks.
In all fairness, they're the ones that taught her about stick fights.
These kids and sticks.
It was pretty windy at the park. I love Juliet in the foreground and Patrick in a hole off in the distance with the other two running towards a tree they want to climb.
But then they didn't choose the cute standard climbing tree. Oh no. They chose the big one they had never climbed before.
Sometimes I think to myself, "I should let the big kids run around the park on their own." But then I see them pile rocks under the tree to try to make it easier to climb it and I have to tell them they'll fall on those rocks if they don't make it onto the tree.
Watching them try to get up into the tree was rather hilarious at times. I didn't help at all, that's my rule. You can climb whatever tree you want but you have to be able to do it independent of a parent.
Bradley trying to get up in the tree. I'm not sure that he ever made it, his methods were a bit questionable.
But he still had a great time at the park. Juliet decided it was bright and that Bradley needed to carry her to the playground.
He pushed her on the swing.
And helped her balance as she walked around the edge of the playground.
This stinker. She knows how cute she is.
Naked baby reading a book.
Getting more books. Nekkie time combined with going through piles of books on her own is basically Juliet's dream come true.
I did manage to get clothes on her eventually. And then we hunted for kitties to love!
It's difficult to say goodbye.
Juliet is in to everything now. Big kids played dress up so you'd better believe she demanded to have a costume and be included. There was a lot of growling from the tiny dinosaur.
I think this was another sleepover attempt. Pretty sure it didn't work out. This is the weirdest transition we've ever had while training a child to sleep in a regular bed. For every other kid we just put a regular bed in their room and crib time was over. Juliet still likes her crib just fine, but it would be convenient if she could sleep with a sibling so we keep trying on weekends to see if we can make it happen. And then it's back to the crib during the week because everyone is generally pretty tired after these sleepovers.
Nathan got a coconut and the kids took turns hammering it to open it up. Juliet's facial expressions when she's embarrassed but pleased exactly matches what Patrick does, it's adorable and a little eerie to see.
Bradley has discovered the joys of reading in our bedroom with a blanket over his legs. Perfect kitty trap!
More reading time with Bradley. Juliet assured me she would go right to sleep after this. That was a lie.
This is how Juliet does a thumbs up.
We did a special spring break trip to Hurt's Donuts and I let Juliet bring a toy lightsaber along with us because I thought it would be hilarious. I was correct.
I've had the best spring break with these kids. I borrowed a couple games from the school nurse, who I'm friends with, and Catan Jr has been a huge hit. Patrick in particular is such a big fan. It's so fun now that he's old enough to play some real games with us.
Meanwhile, this is what was going on in Eleanor's room.
Cousin Katie came over to visit and this is how my cuddly children walked her into the house. Circle of love! Patrick joined the circle soon after I took this photo.
But best of all as far as Bradley was concerned - Uncle Daniel was here! He even got Bradley a birthday present of whatever the newest Mario game is. There has been much joy, much gaming, and many many hugs.
Girls playing school together.
Please note that Juliet and Katie are wearing coordinating backpacks.
I tried to make Katie test out some two year old board games for me but she was a bit hyped up.
I wonder why. She likes Juliet and adores Eleanor, who would catch her every time she jumped off the fireplace. After she ate dinner with us she walked over to the fireplace and stood at the edge while looking over at us expectantly and she got such a big smile on her face when Eleanor ditched her dessert in order to run over and catch her again.
I'm really glad Juliet stops short of taking off her diaper but perhaps I need to stop putting the little nudist in zippered clothing that she can take off easily by herself.
We've had a lot of Katie time during her visit. We went over to play one morning and Juliet noticed that Katie was eating cereal so clearly Juliet would have to eat cereal as well.
These two together are so hilarious.
Then there was obligatory princess dress up time. Katie was a good sport.
I took the princesses down to the basement so Uncle Daniel could see his cute princess daughter.
I also trained Katie that all true princesses balance books on their head, which seemed to be the part about being a princess that she enjoyed most.
After this we lost Eleanor to the video games, which was an issue because the only toys that mattered were dice and marbles and sharing a thing the toddlers weren't particularly interested in doing.
Grandma and I tried to distract them.
Turned out books were not a good distraction. Katie was sure Juliet could not hold this particular book and Juliet is growling in this photo.
Happily, everything turned out okay and the playdate ended in smooches.
My mom sent us home with personalized puzzles for all four kids and they were delighted to work on all of them immediately.
Juliet playing with her Bradley buddy. It's delightful when I tell him to calm things down and then he growls at her and she shrieks with laughter. Oh well.
Fun game: can you find the Eleanor in this picture? If you guessed she's under the brown pillow, you're correct. She likes to sleep not actually on her bed, but wedged on the side of it where we've had to place a bunch of folded blankets so there isn't a gap between the bed and the wall. The folded blankets are essentially her mattress.
We went back to Wonderscope as a spring break outing. I have to book most of these museum trips at least a week or so in advance, it's pretty great we've gotten to go as much as we have.
Eleanor and Patrick playing in the covered wagon.
And then Katie showed up with Grandma! She was greeted with a big hug from Juliet.
And shocker, Patrick was willing to lower his mask for a welcome smooch.
Apparently Katie had skipped the grocery store on her first visit to Wonderscope earlier in the week and did we show her what she had been missing out on!
She loved it so much she barely left the grocery store, so Juliet joined Bradley over at the wagon in order to mess with him while he tried to start a fire. I was actually quite impressed by his knowledge, I certainly hadn't told him any of this stuff. I suppose we should credit cub scouts?
Patrick as a server at the restaurant.
Eleanor in the art room playing with magnetiles.
And Juliet was finally excited about painting in the art room so Nathan took a picture of her with me through the window they let the kids paint on.
And Nathan even set up the kids with safety gear so they could use some real tools in the discovery room.
I'm a sucker for this place! Can't wait to have the boys' joint birthday party here next month!
Playing in the water room was a hit.
Eleanor was a fabulous server in the pretend restaurant. This museum is so cute and fun, I'm glad it works for all four of the kids and no one is too old for it.
It's a race!
A surprise hit at the museum - Eleanor loved the covered wagon area and likes to play pretend there with Patrick.
We went over to my folks' house for dinner that night and Juliet established a new routine where she gets to eat dessert while sitting on Grandma's lap. I'm not exactly sure how she swung that one, but there's certainly no going back now.
That weekend the girls watched some shows upstairs while the boys played video games in the basement. It turned into Juliet licking Eleanor's face in order to make her laugh. Again, I was there but I don't exactly know how this happened.
Licking in action. Oh my.
Looking through these photos, Juliet's behavior is beginning to make more sense. We might encourage silliness. Patrick and Juliet were supposed to be doing laundry together and it turned into Patrick putting three pairs of underwear on Juliet and the two of them running around with glee.
Laundry buddies. We finally had to tell Patrick that it's just for fun that we say Juliet has to do laundry with him and not to expect her to actually accomplish anything.
We've had some nicer days and it's been so fun exploring the park together. Although shocker, the kids mostly just want to jump around on rocks.
It was a big basketball weekend after this. Bradley had a tournament and Patrick had a game too.
Pirate Juliet wearing a shirt Eleanor insisted on putting on her. This baby gets a ridiculous amount of attention.
Nathan had to go down to the lake to check on the RV after the big freeze and he brought a couple helpers with him. They got to do a couple puzzles while he cleaned up the fridge where a few items had frozen and then exploded all over. Sparkling water doesn't freeze well it seems.
Sometimes we're apart from each other for maybe thirty minutes after dinner and then Juliet tells me how much she loves me when we are joyfully reunited.
We played outside at Wonderscope the next time we went and Juliet found a cow to hug.
Eleanor and I have been talking about filming fake horror films called "It's Just the Cat" where something scary happens and each time we discover it's just a cat. Here's our first try.
A playdate with some of our church friends, Aurora and Caroline. Juliet is big fans of both these girls, they are very sweet.
Patrick slept over at Grandma and Grandpa's one night and we saw a picture of him eating a big treat at lunch time so we gave the kids at home ice cream cones with a Swedish fish on top.
After a lot of training up by her older siblings, Juliet has been able to show her Grandpa Steve just how fun park outings can be. She's pretty clingy and about a month ago I made the mistake of trying to leave her for one of her Monday mornings with Grandpa without coming inside for ten minutes of chat time before leaving. Wrong. So she refuses to let me leave when I drive her over there (we tried everything - many tears.) So now we just have my dad come over to our place and he and the Juliet do a park outing together if the weather is nice. She enjoys this thoroughly.
Naked baby admiring Eleanor's fancy new dress.
Our kitties might be the nicest kitties ever.
Springtime means thunderstorms, the big kids had a blast playing outside with Nathan and getting rained on before they had to come inside.
We had a tornado warning last week so Nathan made us all hide out in the basement and we even brought all the kitties downstairs with us. The kids loved it, we let them watch a couple episodes of Total Drama Island, a cartoon reality spoof of reality shows that was supposed to be for me and Eleanor to watch together until the boys got suckered in and now it's everyone's favorite show. And, I mean, it's sort of educational. I got to explain what "making out" meant and Bradley and Eleanor were disgusted. Patrick wants to try it out. Sighhhhh.
The baby menace indeed.
Juliet shared lightsaber duties with all her siblings and then actual fights started so we had to leave.
Video from that evening. Juliet said she missed Katie and loved her.
Bradley trying to read again. Sometimes the kitty cuddles make that difficult.
And finally, here is a gem of a video. Patrick likes to talk to Juliet in a baby voice and it always sounds so cute when he talks to her. But then we walk by a dead bird on the path, and he tells her that the dead bird is going to get her. And then we see a man ahead of us walking his dog and with a twinkle in his eye he tells her that the man is a dead guy too (all of this in a baby voice, and Juliet repeats whatever he says.) Then he tells her the park is full of ghosts and if she steps on a flower she'll die. I guess it's a good thing that Juliet loves talking about bad guys, because she's so excited about all this info from her big brother.
