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Ambulance baby is 8!

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.

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Ash Wednesday 2021

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!

Photo credit: Paige Kieffer – hometownsource.com
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Lullaby 🎶

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.

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100 Days

This morning, Shecklet #3 announced that she would soon be a third grader 😳 I told her, let’s enjoy where she’s at in 2nd grade for right now 😂

I think the reason behind her statement was that it’s her 100th day of school today. There must have been discussion about where they are in the year and how many days are left. Time, please don’t go too fast!

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Crafty Saturday

It’s freezing here in MN. I know that’s not surprising. However, when the high temps are in the single digits and the “feels like” temps are below zero, there’s not much that you can safely do outside. (Jake and Shecklet #4 went skiing last night for a couple of hours before the temps really dropped and it was 🥶.)

I told the kids today was going to be a “screen break day,” so not to ask me or their dad to watch movies or play video games. They asked if we could invite one of their aunts over, and I told them they could see if she was free. She was. And she brought over some of her her craft supplies.

The kids made perler bead creations and did a few projects with the Cricut, including a super cute birthday banner for Shecklet #4’s upcoming birthday. I sorted a new batch of perler beads throughout the afternoon/evening while the crafters worked. At the end of the night, we finished sorting the whole bucket of 8,500 beads!

Here’s what was made today.

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Rite of passage

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.

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Sledding with friends 🛷

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.