Our nephew is gaining a co-pilot later in the year and we are SO excited!
The news was shared with us at my MIL’s birthday party dinner tonight. First we saw our nephew’s shirt and then later, he gave Grandma Patti a flower with a little balloon that says “Baby Girl” along with an ultrasound photo on pink paper.
We had a solid run of 13 years without a broken bone that ended last fall. We now have our second break in 7 months.
This brave girl took a hard fall on Friday night while riding on some pretty tricky snow. Ski patrol brought her down the run and evaluated her before we took her home. Ortho urgent care diagnosed a broken humerus. ☹️ Follow up with the doctor is next week. We are praying she heals quickly and completely and that her pain decreases over the next couple of days.
This trio isn’t ready to give up their winter sports quite yet, but with the temp hitting 50 today, they were ok busting out their scooters to enjoy a ride around the block and do tricks in the driveway.
Shecklet #4 has been learning about ancient Greek culture – myths, gods, and the Olympics. Today was the culmination of their unit – the closing ceremony.
The kids performed a song (prerecord and showing the using sign language along with the music instead of their singing voices,) shared about what makes them special and what Olympic event they would like to compete in, and finally, Mrs. M. compiled pictures of the competitions they participated on during the week. I’m impressed at how the teachers were able to adapt this annual in-person event to a virtual one so the kids could still participate in the fun.
Shecklet #4: “Every morning I wake up too tired to do school.” (sad, whiny toned voice)
Mom: “What do you think we could do to help with that?”
Shecklet #4: “Not do school.” (totally serious toned voice)
Mom: silent giggle while walking down the stairs behind Shecklet #4.
I looked at the clock around 12:35 this afternoon and thought about where I was 8 years ago today. What an entrance Shecklet #4 made into this world. Not many kids can say they were born in an ambulance on one of the coldest days of the year. It’s a day I will never forget.
This year, Shecklet #4 asked if she could have an 80’s themed birthday party. As someone who has fond memories of the mid-to-late 80’s, it didn’t take much to convince me to agree to her idea. The recent below zero temps we had gave us an opportunity to use the extra indoor time to create decorations and party plans.
This is part of the Pac-man photo prop the kids made back on 2/12.
And a few more of the decorations we had, including the birthday banner that Larissa and Shecklet #1 made on 2/6 when we had our day of crafting fun.
The birthday girl could hardly contain herself this morning. She was up at 6am and regularly asked me throughout the day, “How long until my party starts?” She even woke one of her sleeping brothers from his slumber so she could open a few presents from us.
She also received ski gear and is very excited to try it out tomorrow.
Tonight’s party was a ton of fun! The birthday girl had a blast! She could totally pass as a child of the 80’s. She rocked the side ponytail and blue eyeshadow like a pro. Her sister wore the 80’s trends well, too!
We had a few friends and family join us in rad neon, tulle, makeup and scrunchies. The kids had a boom box piñata and played “stick the cassette to the boom box.” Jake grilled burgers and hotdogs (birthday girl’s request,) we held a glow stick dance party in the basement, and enjoyed angel food cake and ice cream for dessert.
I love how everyone who joined us embraced the 80’s theme and helped make Shecklet #4 feel so special today.
The local paper was at our parish tonight and took pictures of parishioners receiving ashes on their foreheads for Ash Wednesday. This year was unique in that the ashes were distributed using q-tips. The online article contained a gallery of 10 photos and one of them was of three of the Shecklets!
When you tell the Amazon echo dot to make an announcement, it will sometimes preface your announcement with a sound. We knew this from announcing “dinner time!” which is preceded by a dinner bell ringing.
Last night Jake and I were sitting at the table with the boys (the girls were in bed) and we could hear noise from upstairs that didn’t sound like sleeping. Jake told the echo dot to announce, “go to bed.” Little did we know, that phrase triggered a gentle lullaby tune before the “dad voice” announcement, “go to bed.” The four of us looked at each other couldn’t stop laughing.
Shecklet #3 has wanted to get her ears pierced for a while, but the timing has always been off. First it was basketball season and then lake season. Pandemic season seemed like the perfect time to finally schedule an appointment for her to have it done.
I originally thought I’d take her to a tattoo/piercing parlor, but the location we checked out a year and a half ago isn’t doing piercings right now. Enter kid-friendly option Rowan Piercing, located in select Target stores. Trained nurses use numbing cream and kindness to put the kids at ease. It was a great experience and Shecklet #3 is thrilled with the results!
Before and preparing for earring placement:
During and after piercing:
After:
Without a mask. Now her job for the next six weeks is to clean and twist the earrings 2-3 times a day. Knowing her, she will take this responsibility seriously.
We spent the afternoon with friends (birthday party, pizza, sledding, and pie. The hill by their house went two directions – one way was steeper than the other, so the big kids built a jump on the steeper side, of course.
