Getting Back Into It

We started 2018 off at my parents after spending the night. Andrew went out to check his cows and then joined us for breakfast. I made the sticky buns while my parents made pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage. We lounged around for a while and let the kids play before heading home. We enjoyed once last day of the Christmas decorations and worked on getting some of the toys put away. The next day Andrew headed back to the office and I started working on taking down the Christmas decorations. I was even able to get some of our outdoor decorations down…except for the lights. The kids enjoyed playing with their toys and with their friends since we hadn’t been home too much of Christmas break. They also went out to the ranch for a little bit. The last item I took town was the tree. I left the lights on again and we just pulled our big tree bag over it and Andrew and Jackson took it down to the basement for me. And Andrew tried to work on a puzzle with Ellie. They were at it for a while, but gave up.

We also finally remembered to measure the kids since it had been a while. Jackson grew the most…almost 6 inches in 1 ½ years. Ellie is still running the tallest of the kids at each age.

I started my purging with the kids rooms. We got rid of some toys, clothes, etc. into trash and give-away piles. We also did some deep cleaning. Lots of fun stuff for the last day of break. Then it was time to try to get the kids to bed at a decent time since they had to go back to school the next day. Miles wasn’t feeling the best, so I was wondering if he would end of missing the first day. He was better the next morning, but still not 100%. I had great ambitions of getting through all of my purging and cleaning at a quick rate, but kept getting tied up with other stuff. By the end of the week I had only accomplished the kids’ rooms, the bathrooms, the office/mudroom, hall closet, laundry room and started on our bedroom. I still have the family room, kitchen, basement, storage and garage. I also wanted to concentrate on getting some workouts in since my December was less than stellar.

With the cold weather, Andrew decided to try his hand at making an ice sculpture. He tried to challenge some others to it, but I think he was the only one who actually went through with it. We were all impressed with the razorback that he made. He even brought it in and put it on our dinner table for our centerpiece one night.

We started easing back into activities with Ellie and Lincoln having basketball practice. Jackson learned he would be starting football strength and conditioning the next week and track conditioning the week after that. With Ellie starting back to swim and dance next week. We don’t start Y basketball until the end of January though. So, although it has been very cold, we are easing back into the schedule pretty well. It was nice having a short week to begin with. Lincoln spent some time reading to Miles since Miles brought home a chapter book from the library. He wanted someone to read it to him and Lincoln needed to get in his reading time. All the kids brought home wonderful report cards for the second quarter. And Ellie brought the school home and set up play school with the twins using Bennett’s Christmas present from Owen.

The weekend brought a basketball tournament for Lincoln in Edina. It was the first time for his team to play together and they did well. They did have a boy on their team that made a majority of points, but the other kids did get to contribute some. Lincoln made a basket his first game which he was pretty excited about. His dad and I were most excited about his hustle and aggressiveness though. He did a great job rebounding and hustling down the court. They ended up playing four games-won the first two, lost the second two and ended up with third place. He ended up with a couple more baskets and continued to hustle. My parents came to watch a couple games and Mary had come to watch Luke and was able to catch one of Lincoln’s games too which worked out since I hadn’t mentioned the games to her because I didn’t want her to have to drive to Edina to watch them.

We got back home around 6 and just ate leftovers and such for dinner. Ellie got out the ice cream maker my parents gave her for Christmas and she made some chocolate ice cream. She was very pleased with it and even had stuff left over to make some more the next day.

There was a weather advisory for Sunday for freezing rain and it just started sprinkling when we walked into church. By the time we got out, the sidewalks were slick. We went straight to the stores and I did some quick grocery shopping. Back home, the boys played on their Switch and I got to work on cleaning out our closet. Andrew went through his clothes for me and I did mine and the rest of the stuff in the closet. I also was able to finish all of our bedroom except my dresser and then we went to my parents to eat. The main roads were okay, but the side roads and walkways were slick. After a delicious dinner at my parents, we headed home and the kids were excited that I got a text on the way home saying that school was canceled the next day. They were super excited.