Spring.

We felt early signs of spring before it even officially arrived and we took full advantage of it. Julia skipped her naps and instead I was doing arts and crafts with her outside (I paid for it later with her crankiness), we ate almost every single meal on our deck, we air dried our laundry outside and aired out all our comforters. Seth and I did a lot of yard cleaning while the kids played soccer, baseball, rode their bikes, scooters, skateboard and "killed" (according to them) my flowers.

I finally completed knitting the alphabet blanket I blogged about here. I don't know if I would make it again because there was too much counting involved and if (rather when) I miscalculated, there was at least 4 hours of work waisted. And did I miscalculate! Seth kept saying that he thought I took on knitting because it was supposed to be relaxing and all he heard every evening was my heavy sighs. But I do have about dozen other smaller projects in mind especially since I received a knitting book for my birthday.

Also, some time in January I mentioned I was working on a sewing project. I came across these cute valentine envelopes on my friend's blog and decided to make them for my kids and their friends and fill them up with some valentine chachkas. Of course, as if that wasn't challenging enough since I hand sewed them, I decided to make them for everyone in David's class. Sigh. Too long, too repetitive, too boring.

If I'm not here anytime soon, it means I'm busy with another knitting project. Sorry if this family blog is turning into a knitting blog.

Five.

The morning full of kisses and surprises.

The afternoon is filled with unexpected visits, playdates and gifts.
The evening is met with overindulgence in homemade chocolate cupcakes.
It's good to be five.

Weekend Photos in Review.

Weekend Mornings.

Saturday Morning.

Seth and the kids left at 6:20 am to purchase some fruits and vegetables. I debated whether to stay in bed and knit or get an early start to a day. I forced myself to get up and whipped up a few batches of pancakes and waffles most of which got frozen for the next week. Then I decided to make some cookies for the kids. Oh, I could accomplish so much when no one is running around pulling me in all different directions in the morning. Drinking a cup of morning coffee in a quiet house is a bliss. I never get to do that since I'm the last one to wake up.

Sunday morning.

David was up at 6 am. I told him to go back to bed. It's 7 am and I am woken up by the soft sound coming from our family room. I peaked in and saw David sitting on the couch and reading out loud to himself. I didn't run to get a camera, I just stood there and enjoyed watching him. I could see his expression, how much effort he was putting into sounding out every word that he wouldn't even notice my presence. I love this so much about him. He could be the goofiest kid on the planet and then there are times when his face gets so serious and intense when he is really interested in what he's doing.
I went to straighten up his room a few minutes later and noticed a few dozen books in his bed. Anytime he has a hard time falling asleep, he brings a lot of books to his bed and looks through them until he falls asleep.

We had a really good weekend and for the first time ever I felt sad it was over.

Gotta Love the Snow.

Right now I can't imagine living anywhere else but a few miles away from the GW Bridge.

-Two feet of snow. Check.

-Shoveling for five hours and not being even remotely done. Check.

-Every muscle in my body aching, caused by previous activity. Check.

-Having tons of fun, skipping naps and reading for hours. Check.

-Heading out to sled with the friends. Check.

Julia's First Haircut.

Julia went from this:



To this:
in about 15 minutes.

As much as I didn't like having her hair cut, I also couldn't stand listening to her crying twice a day as we were trying to brush the knots out of her hair. Of course, if it was up to her, she'd have a haircut as short as David's. I actually like her hair's length now . It takes only a few seconds in a morning to brush it even if I still have to chase her around the house with a hairbrush.

P.S. My computer's barely functioning which means I can only use it a few minutes a day before it shuts off on me. So, I can post only short blogs and the longer ones are saved as drafts and need to be edited. Not sure they will ever surface though since I'm completely obsessed now with this project for David's teacher who is pregnant with her first child. I thought it was so appropriate since she's the one who's teaching him how to read. All I can say about it, it's a pain in the a** to knit, I'm not enjoying the process of knitting it at all and I would never knit it for any of my kids. I'm really hoping it comes out as beautifully as it looks on Knitterella's blog. I'm getting a warning sign on my computer which means I should be publishing this post or I'll loose it.

This Morning.

- Seth left to work.

- The kids got dressed.

-They drew some pictures using their new markers.

-One of them went to a time out.

-Breakfast. Washing dishes.

-Out to shovel the snow. Being a very eager new homeowner, I'm the first one out among my neighbors to clear my sidewalk and a driveway.

- 45 min later there's no sign of me shoveling. Realizing that after all, my neighbors are not lazy, they are just wiser.

-Building snow castles with the kids using their sand toys.

-Out to the town in their sled while one pulling the other.

-Stopping by a friend's house to say "hell0". No one's home.

-Talking to a friend who's surprised my kids are out of their pajamas and outside at this weather.

-Heading back home while pulling both kids on their sled up the hill.

-Home. Time out for both kids.

-Now we are all drinking hot chocolate. Now is only 10:20 am.



I've said "keep calm" to myself this morning more times than in some weeks. It's going to be one very long winter break.