Juliet turned 6 on the 1st! She was really excited about her birthday this year. And none of my children particularly like cake, Juliet elected to have a birthday cinnamon roll from McClain's.
Bradley cuddles with Callie!
She was supposed to have some friends over for the morning but instead we went and finished up lice treatment for Eleanor (featured last month) and had her open presents from siblings.
Our neighbor Cleo had her birthday party on Juliet's actual birthday but it all worked out and Juliet got to go.
Ice cream! She did not suffer for adequate treats this weekend.
More presents in the afternoon! These were from Grandpa Dan and Grandma Kati.
Blessings to Nathan for handling the Magic Mixies. Although I later helped Juliet do a baking kit to "create" a stuffed toy so I did my fair share as well.
I also tended to the many loves that Meg requires.
Then it was time for Juliet's birthday party at Rainbow Play System! It was more than I usually pay for a party but Juliet was so desperate to go and it was easy and fun so we went for it. We invite her entire Girl Scout troop and had quite the party crew.
Her older siblings were pleased to be included on birthday fun.
Cookie cake for the party!
Most of the crew. I'm not big on decor ... we used the banner we've used every year since Bradley turned 1.
Juliet had a blast opening all of her presents at home. I've given up on telling people not to bring presents to these things. Lucky kid!
My dad hung out after the presents and played some Mario Party with the kids even though he should have followed Callie around and loved her.
The cats visited Bradley's bedroom and Callie supervised everything closely.
Juliet and the neighbor kids like to play on the little island in the cul-de-sac by our house. Callie loves it too!
Rosalynn couldn't make the party so she came over for a play date with Juliet. Juliet has mostly only paid attention to Addie so it's nice for her to realize she has a lot of nice buddies to play with given the chance!
And sometimes buddies bring presents!
We had a rare free Monday night so we went to Chicken n Pickle with friends.
It turned out it was freezing and they got outdoor courts, which was a bit tough. Good thing we brought blankets!
The next day Eleanor forgot her lunch so I brought it to her and included a little poem I composed for the occasion.
And then I worked on the computer with the assistance of my devoted puppy.
Callie has been getting just the right amount of loves lately.
Juliet loves dance. Well, she still complains about going and then runs around with a big smile the whole time.
Please note Callie being fancy with a bow clip on her ear courtesy of Eleanor. Callie is such a good sport.
And big news - we decided to demo the wall that the previous owners put up in the upstairs hallway!
It had created a little room off of Juliet's bedroom that was supposed to be used as a playroom but Juliet barely ever went in there and told us she was afraid of the space.
The hallway had been dark and the room was never used so I talked Nathan into opening it back up and using the space as a library for the kid books.
There's a little strip where they had to stitch some carpet back in and it doesn't match perfectly but we stuck a rug over it and called it good.
It got some immediate use the day after the construction team finished!
Nathan and I had some debates about furniture for the room and spent one of his lunch breaks going to discount furniture places to see what we could find. It was all still reasonably expensive.
But please note that I am cute.
Good news, this meant Nathan relented on the big white chair on super sale at Costco that I liked! It was only $290 which was a screaming deal compared to the other chairs we had been looking at.
The room was an immediate hit! I'm so happy with the change.
The kitties like it a lot too and will often cuddle on kids reading on the big chair.
Bradley had a science presentation at school and I found out the night before that parents were invited to attend. He presented on the immune system and did a great job.
Sookie's evening routine with Nathan.
Patrick's rec team is so good and has so many nice kids!
Juliet and Eleanor after I forced them to attend a game. I'm not sure why. I don't think either of them watched any of it.
Our first Girl Scout cookie booth of the season!
It was so cold but the kindergarteners were adorable and sold a lot of cookies.
A very special customer made an appearance!
That evening there was a school dance at the elementary school but the two youngest were tired wrecks and we were supposed to deliver cookies to Kaylie and Spencer, the cute couple who fostered Callie. So we went to their house instead and played with their new foster puppies.
It was maybe a little cruel because the puppies were cute and of course the kids wanted to take one or both home.
We added in their two adopted dogs and it was a party.
But it was a lot of fun and now that we've done this twice we think it might be a tradition now.
The kids support this plan.
We went home and tried to take an updated Callie pic but Callie was way too excited about all the exciting doggy smells on Bradley and did not cooperate.
The next day was the Super Bowl! We had the Reasoners come over and an excellent time was had by all.
I even got us a King's Cake from McClain's because the Super Bowl was in New Orleans and Hendrick got the baby.
The Chief's lost handily, it was not a good game, and then the next day as we were supposed to walk out the door for school I realized Juliet was supposed to dress up for her 100 day of school celebration. Fortunately, she had already told me earlier that she wanted to have 100 written on a shirt for it and I knew where a plain white shirt was in her room. I grabbed some sharpies and wrote 100 100 times and it worked out! She looked pretty cute and was very proud!
My Aunt Diana was lovely and sent a box of items for us. Juliet was very excited about the wind up toys.
She also sent a neat Bovano balloon to add to our little collection which we put up in the art room. But she also included the pocket knife we bought for Patrick a few years ago - Nathan's reaction to the idea of giving it to Patrick is the correct one.
I mean, the kid is cute though. And when I was informed the night before his Valentine's Day class party that he was in fact supposed to make a Valentine's box at home I steered him away from using giant furniture boxes out in our garage and talked him into a small basketball one instead. Nathan helped him make it but Patrick did everything but attach the hoop. He won first prize for a sports theme box for his grade - he was thrilled!
And our doorbell has been broken for ages so Nathan installed a new fancy one with a camera. Patrick helped test it out.
Callie has been really into sticks on our walks lately. And I've been able to have her off leash a bit, even on the main path. It turns out wimpy people don't take their pets out for walks when it's below 20 degrees so we haven't had a lot of company out on the trails most days.
Cozy kitties love it when I read on the new big chair in our room!
Another big snow hit, making the kids have the longest conference break ever. I think they got an additional four days of school off. Patrick was a champ and shoveled the driveway for us. Not a small task!
Meanwhile the girls went over to Charleigh's house and joined the party over there. I love living in suburbia.
Then they came back to our house and played in the snow and built an igloo.
Before coming inside for hot cocoa and Minecraft. Snow days are fun!
I got a new rug for the library space. It's complete here except for the fancy balloon art we put up right above the chair.
I've already had a lot of cozy evening snuggles in the chair with children plus cats.
It's been really nice having the books in one big space. The boys read through all of the Archie comics that have been living in a box in Eleanor's room. They all like a lot of the same books, it makes sense to have them all in a central space.
Callie being knighted
Juliet's dance class is so cute!
Nathan and I got to have an actual fancy Valentine's Day date at a Korean BBQ. So yummy!
And then it was back to the reading chair and books and cuddles. We've had a very cozy winter.
I went over to my friend Mallory's house and enjoyed our chat time while I got to cuddle her very friendly cats.
And I got tired of how much time Bradley was spending on screens over the long break from school so I told him to do anything else for an hour or two one afternoon. So he invented new Chess. It's corner chess and all the pieces move the same except the rooks don't castle. Your pieces move straight up still and it's a lot easier to have a pawn get to the other side and get a promotion.
Bradley was happy that I was so pleased with his new game but also didn't want me to get any ideas about the merits of him being on a screen less often.
Eleanor in the library space after we put up the fancy balloon decor.
I got some reading breaks with cozy kitties!
As did Eleanor. The cats are very supportive of all this new reading time.
Bradley and Patrick have been hardcore into ping pong lately and they're getting really good!
More reading breaks.
Bradley made us fancy breakfast with all the little Dash waffle irons. I love these things, they're very kid friendly and the kids enjoy being in charge of making the waffles.
Meg often yowls until I come cuddle her.
Nathan got this idyllic photo of me with cats in front of a frosted window pane.
He worked from home one day and was blessed with some Juliet cuddles first thing in the morning
We've been working on helping Juliet learn all her letters and no one has been more devoted to this cause than sweet siblings.
They had a really long conference break because of all the snow but I had a rather delightful time. I still got out on daily walks with Callie and the kids had a great time playing with each other and having bountiful amounts of screen time.
Both parents, one child, and two cats all fit on a reading chair for cuddles one evening.
Juliet has been making great progress on her letters despite a very high level of reluctance. We thought she might be dyslexic, we thought she might need glasses, it turned out she just needed to be threatened with summer school and then she actually started paying attention when people talked about letters.
Cute Nathan! We've been doing some fancy dinners and having a glass of wine for some at-home date nights.
And he's a moderately good sport about how often I refer to Meg as "my one true love" and "the purpose of my being"
Cozy kitties in front of a pretty view!
Sookie was perhaps not as enthusiastic about being cuddled by the girls.
Big news, we got an electric blanket and the cats are quite pleased about it.
Juliet got to go to a cool kid birthday party for her friend Alaina at Urban Air.
Mostly she hung out in the obstacle course
Then she played with Stella all afternoon - primarily in the space that she was afraid to play in when it was attached to her room.
Nathan's evening routine with Sookie
Juliet has been practicing her ping pong skills as well! My dad was a very good sport about playing with her one evening after he brought Patrick home from a practice.
She's been practicing with Patrick a lot lately. He is also a good sport.
We had some family time watching a nature documentary one evening and I was braiding Juliet's hair and I asked Eleanor if she would like to have her hair braided too, to see if it would be curly in the morning after she slept on it. It turned out crimped and very cute and she liked it so much she asked for me to do it the rest of the week because it was "good orphan hair." The Annie performances were all week long, it was perfect timing to try this it seems.
I remembered to take a photo of her before driving to drop her off for one of her evening performances. What a cute little orphan!
With the weather improving Remy joining us on our walks has become a bit of an issue. I try to walk the other way so we don't go by his house but he'll spy us down the street and run after us.
He is so stupid and so cute and Callie loves him so much.
I had a fun night with my Building Better Mom's group at a Galentine's wine tasting event. I brought a game - Blank Slate - and everyone had a really nice time. This has been a really nice group, I joined it on a bit of a whim but I really enjoy the group I got placed with.
More kitties. Sookie likes clean laundry. We just switched up the laundry so the oldest two do all their own laundry and I wash for everyone else and Patrick or Juliet get to take turns putting that away. It's working out well so far!
We also got some new couches (well, they were used for staging houses that were for sale) and so we got to go pick cushions at Target! Juliet wept when I tried to return the white faux rabbit fur cushions so I found them in a slightly more tan shade and we kept them. So soft, so beautiful.
Kitty in the sunshine!
Juliet got to try on her recital outfit for dance and was properly dazzled and pleased with how beautiful it was.
Practicing splits. She was surprisingly flexible for never doing any stretches at home!
Grandma Colleen visited for the weekend and got to see Eleanor's play, a couple Patrick basketball games, and a Juliet dance class.
Eleanor did so well for the play. It was fun to watch her.
Bradley wanted extra concessions at the event and I told him he would only get one if he put the flower for Eleanor in his mouth and went over and told a girl "Hola mi amor" in Spanish. He was a very good sport and said it to Carly in front of a crowd of 7th grade girls. Carly was also a good sport.
Eleanor with the flower after the performance!
Proud Grandma Colleen!
And I got to help supervise the after party. Drama kids are so sweet.
Bradley was a doll and slept on a couch so Callie wouldn't have to sleep in a crate while Colleen was here.
And here is the most important part of this blog: Claudia and Ziggy. By Eleanor. With Patrick and Juliet in the background. Occasionally one of them says something - occasionally Patrick breaks a pony's tail and you can hear her snuffling at the end of the video because she's still upset. But I would happily watch this show every day, it is amazing.