Salt Lake City Trip, Big Freeze, & Eleanor Percussion

 We played a lot of games in January! Oh No, Volcano was a lot of fun.

Bradley is all of us when you're being hit over and over by lava balls.

We went out for more walks while the weather stayed nice.

Patrick and Eleanor are adorable when they're on the same page. 

And Juliet finally got to do her art project from her last birthday!

There was much joy. Also, it was a huge pain and I feel very validated for waiting almost a year for her to do this. The paint was oil based.

I went on a Girl Scout sleepover with Eleanor and of course, we brought a bunch of games. Here Eleanor is teaching the girls how to play Hurry Up Chicken Butt.

The big hit of camp was playing The Game of Life Goals. Eleanor was thrilled.

Picture of the group on our walk before leaving.

I had an idea for them to throw leaves for a picture. So cute!

Then I came home and dragged the rest of the kids out on a walk. It was so nice out!

Juliet lost her shoes and Bradley thought it was so funny to help her get out of the swing.

Eleanor insisted on a single braid for school the next day, I'm not exactly sure why. But I was pretty proud of coming through! 

My folks were gone visiting Katie and Ethan in Washington so I got to go to Eleanor's rock climbing class with her and I brought along Juliet for company. Juliet was very worried about being kidnapped while she sat about 10 feet away from me while I got in a short run on one of the treadmills. I assured her that no one wanted to kidnap her and we had a rather delightful conversation about how predators are all online now. But then we started talking about how we would probably like to kidnap her cousin Ethan because he's so adorable so perhaps that was not the best thing I could have discussed with her. But he's so cute!!

Callie has been getting the good snuggles and I like how she doesn't want to sit on anyone's lap, she just wants to sit right by you wherever you are.

Nathan had to pull her onto his lap for these cuddles. Happy puppy!

Juliet and I had a rather delightful Friday outing together to Scheel's after a morning play date with a friend. Usually she has Fridays with Grandma but Grandma was gone and I thought we could let Callie go to Woof's and have a fun time together. It has been so hectic with the move and the holidays and this felt like one of the first chances I've had in a while to relax a bit and do something fun with a kid. Juliet drank about a quarter of the smoothie she wanted oh so desperately, she's trying to make me crazy. Ah well. Relaxed Anne can take it.

We rode the Ferris Wheel and did some mini bowling together.

There was some pathetic begging for stuffed toys but I remained strong. I love that the kids have allowances, I just tell them to save up and buy whatever they want!

The weather turned on us as we left Scheel's and there was a good amount of snow by the time Juliet went to gymnastics. She got to swing in the snow before we went in.

Then, like a fool who doesn't know anything, I had the kids pop on coats and boots before playing in the falling snow when they got home from school.

They all had to come back in for snow pants. 

Meanwhile Bradley stayed in and snuggled a happy Callie.

Saturday was cozy and we've discovered that all four kids really like playing Mario Kart together.

I was going stir crazy so I drug Patrick out on a long walk with me in the snow. He was a very good sport.

Although Callie was so tuckered out by the time we got home.

I got some reading time with a kitty by the window in the master bedroom, watching snow fall.

We had Eleanor's friend Maya come over and the girls had a lovely time hanging around and playing hide and seek and marveling at Eleanor's bendy human tricks.

Eleanor was pretty tired by the end of the play date. Juliet loves Maya a lot!

We went for a ride in Nathan's car and I never feel closer to Patrick than when he is flipping out over some pump up jock jams. Juliet was onboard as well, Bradley had a lot of judging.

Patrick likes to read his Guinness Book of World Records with me every night before bed and he was sure he had found Uncle Daniel in there the other night. It was a rather uncanny resemblance - I think the guy set some sort of walking record.

Callie generally looks like this in the evenings. It's good we decided she could be a couch dog.

A really wonderful part of every evening are Eleanor's bedtime cuddles. A perk of being incredibly slow about getting ready for bed is you get both parents cuddling you and chatting with you prior to going to sleep. I don't know if we're providing proper incentives to get her to go to bed earlier but we all enjoy the cuddle time!

Game time with grandparents! We welcomed them back from their Spokane trip by throwing hot lava balls at them in Oh No Volcano.

Standard Juliet play time.

Grandpa and Juliet with Callie making a schmoopie face at Grandpa who was about to be smooched by her. Callie loves him so much.

Juliet has gotten really into making paper snowflakes lately and I love the ones she makes.

I am really into the walks these days - you know it's bad when even Callie gives me side eye for taking her out while snow is pelting us. It was fun, and shockingly enough we didn't run into anyone else while we were out in the not quite blizzard conditions.

The kitties did not appreciate the cold snap.

Nathan can still carry all three at once!

My evening reading time was very cozy.

Our backyard after the first big snow. You can still tell we have a pool - barely.

At least it was still good play in the snow weather. Juliet was so ready!

Juliet in a tree!

We asked where a good sledding hill was near us and it turned out it involved a drive over to the middle school and a bit of a hike to the actual hill. It was a bit of an ordeal to get there but it was super fun to sled!

We brought our neighbor Hendrick along and he and Bradley did a tiny bit of sledding and then mostly poked sticks at snow. They had a lovely time together.

Patrick did this thing during all of the snow days where he was constantly on high alert that someone might throw a snowball at him, so he would throw snowballs at them first, and then he would be appalled and shocked when they threw snowballs back at him. Sigh. Poor sweet boy. It made it hard to take him particularly seriously when he would become very upset about a snowball to the face.

We took him home to thaw out. Meg was displeased that I was gone and braved the dog in order to be with me. She has gotten far more comfortable with coming into dog territory, much to Callie's delight.

Juliet came into our room very early the next morning but managed to fall back asleep. She was very happy when she woke up and discovered Sookie had decided to cuddle her.

Meg having to lay down the law with an overly affectionate Callie.

Juliet really liked playing in the little snow fort Nathan and Patrick made in the front of the house.

And her awesome preschool had her bring in snow gear so she could play in the snow with buddies!

She and her friend Abigail are fairly inseparable.

We thought Sookie wasn't going to make it in January - she was throwing up clear liquid about every hour and a half for a disturbingly long period of time. This lasted for a few days before I got concerned enough to make an appointment with the vet. He took some blood to test and everything came back clear so it was basically a watch and wait situation. We had to set up a spot in our closet for her to sleep in because she hit up three different beds one particularly terrible night. Nathan was gone on a work trip so Patrick ended up in his spot in my bed and I just cleaned up Juliet's bed as best as I could and wiped up the spot on my own quilt when that one happened. I did not get a lot of sleep that night. But we were all so relieved when she got better, poor kitty!

Juliet likes climbing trees.

And fort time with Patrick and the puppy!

I love that neighbor kids will come by to hang out! So many kids in our neighborhood. 

I got in some good reading time and the kitties think it couldn't possibly be better timed.

Nathan took the boys for a trip to Salt Lake City in the midst of the cold snap so they could see the Lakers play the Utah Jazz. But the highlight of the trip for Patrick might have been finding five pennies at the airport.

The view from their hotel room.

Ready for the big game! We watched the Lebron James version of Space Jam to prep for this.

Meanwhile, I decided the best thing to do when it was single digits out was to take the girls to Scheel's and get us all gelato.

More bowling

Girl time!

We went out to the Corner Bakery for dinner because we are oh so very fancy. 

Eleanor smooches the dumb dog so much, and it's particularly insulting because she has refused to kiss a human ever since she was about four I think.

The girls got so much good play time in. Bedtime was very late most evenings because they would be so cute together and it killed me to break it up.

McLains for a lunch outing!

The girls decided to feed each other French fries. 

It was cute.

But it was not calm.

Meanwhile the boys were so fancy.

Nathan took them to a planetarium.

There was a Taylor Swift light show! Patrick loved it and Bradley didn't know any of the songs and wanted to know why Taylor Swift didn't have any Minecraft themed songs.

Then it was time for the big game! Patrick forgot the sign that he had made at home so wonderful Nathan took the boys out to a little corner shop and got new supplies to make signs.

Costa Vida before going to the game.

Show time!

Lebron James didn't actually play in the game but they saw some alley-oops and other cool moves by the players and had a nice time.

They also won a super fancy Crumble Cookie, which the boys split. Game highlight!

Meanwhile, we had a fashion party at home!

And I let Juliet sleep on the floor next to my bed because it seemed like a good idea until I realized how much noise she made in the night coughing. I didn't even think she was sick!

But it was also the night we hit record lows and her room is a little colder than mine so I thought it would be nice to be extra cozy.

It was not nearly as cold in Salt Lake City.

The Lakers lost but it was still all very exciting.

Although, as expected, their day spent at Dave and Busters the next day was probably even more fun for the boys.

We did okay with Miyazaki movies and popcorn.

And yet more fashion!

Even fashion for Callie!

Then more adorable play time for the girls as they're supposed to be going to bed.

We did fit in a few games of Game of Life Goals. Eleanor is merciless.

Callie is pathetic.

But so is Sookie whenever there is new warm laundry to snuggle in on a cold day.

Awww, so cute!

I really love doing Juliet's hair. It's so much fun.

My mom made this ridiculously adorable Elsa dress for her and she gets compliments all the time when she wears it, especially when I have braided her hair to go with it.

At school showing off her little box she put together at pickup time.

Layla loves Nathan to an embarrassing degree. She comes down in the morning and hisses at the dog and yowls for cuddles and he is happy to oblige.

I got Juliet a special birthday outfit and to say she's adorable in it is an understatement.

She is very hyped for her upcoming birthday.

The school had a movie night for the Super Mario movie and Nathan took Eleanor and Patrick kind of like a hero.

Eleanor helped serve popcorn and had a blast.

Meanwhile I played games with Juliet. She's playing some legit games now, so much fun! Molerats in Space is a favorite.

We also tried out a cute bunny game that she liked.

Callie loves our winter walks in the snow.

And then gets to come home to these guys. Patrick made Juliet a car out of a box and she was beyond delighted.

And top notch Eleanor story here - she got to do a band try-it event at school and decided she liked the flute. So I was rather surprised when she demanded to go to a percussion try it event. It was a bit of an ordeal to go but I took her to the tail end of the final event per her insistence even though Nathan was gone at basketball with Bradley and it meant we were leaving Patrick supervising Juliet at home. We waited a while to go in to one of the band teachers where Eleanor basically had a test where she had to read music, identify notes on a xylophone type instrument, and then play back rhythms on both the xylophone and a drum. She rocked it and I was so proud of her. We walked out and I asked her how she was feeling, if she was excited to hear back from the band team if she would get one of the coveted 8 spots in percussion for the 6th grade class. She responded, "I want to play flute." Of course. And then, we got the email that she had made it and they wanted her for percussion! I double checked that she meant what she said and then I had to email the band director back and say thanks so much but she chooses flute. He was very kind about it and said he was sure she was going to be fantastic at any instrument she chose. But what a lot to go through for her to end up with flute!

More Callie and kitty time.

I took the kids out on another walk with Callie to the Wilderness Science Center. It's so fun for all of us.

And this is what it looks like when my dad tries to play games with Juliet. Juliet does flips and Callie walks back and forth over Grandpa trying to get pets.

After the extreme cold earlier in the month it felt like summer when it hit 50. Juliet had so much fun running around in the backyard with Callie. I like that there are other things to do in the backyard besides the pool, it's still good for general fun.

And Eleanor had her choral festival to close out the month!

It was a really big event, all the elementary schools and middle schools that feed into Blue Valley High School were there along with the high school kids as well.

My folks made it to one of Bradley's basketball games and got some halftime cuddles.

A video of one of Patrick's games. Both of our boys are really great at defense!

Callie is getting more regular walks with buddies, her favorite of whom is Bear, the Rutherfords' dog. The other day they drove by in their minivan and shouted hi and Callie caught a brief glimpse of Bear and would not stop whimpering. So they got a walk together the next day.

And we are fully prepped for the Super Bowl with Taylor Swift Chief's shirts I got off of Facebook marketplace!

They even threw in an extra shirt which was claimed by Patrick, he's thrilled. I have one too. I have mixed feelings about football but I love some hoopla and this certainly fits the bill!

The Chiefs are going to the Super Bowl! We're very excited.