Sun makes everything better

Chloe is exploring her hair styling style. She favors heap tons of clips and headbands with bows at the moment. One of these days she'll grow more hair than a standard 18-month-old's and we'll be able to do more, lol.

 Genevieve painted this peacock at a birthday party and we just got it back from being fired. Her artistic skills amaze me.

 We went to a friend's birthday party this weekend that was really fun. We went around to different stations and made different food crafts and then ate them all afterward. The kids all got to decorate an apron and got a tiny utensil as a favor. It was s super fun party idea. This is Aaron's face when I tell him to smile. His fake smile, actually grimace, makes me chuckle every time.

 Aaron is exploring running around sans t-shirt. And raiding the fridge. It's like a precursor of his teenage years in about a decade.

 This is a picture Genevieve drew that amazes me. It is detailed. Each snowman has a different theme. Top left is a mime and each button is a different facial expression. The top right is a Clemson fan with a Clemson baseball hat and tiger paws on the buttons and a football under them. The bottom left is a policeman complete with serious face. And bottom right is a Santa Claus/missionary maybe? I love the little white shirt and tie and namebadge plus santa hat.It's so fun to watch what she creates. She's only seven.

 Aaron and Chloe loved the lego set I put together yesterday. Spencer got it for his birthday, but he's not nearly as into Legos as the younger kids. I love watching them play and create.

 Bill is the best dad. He's playing Forbidden Desert with the kids here. He was pretty worn out by this time of the day and he was patient and played the whole game with them as they bounced around and wiggled. He's so great. And they're getting better and better at playing games.

Progress

I ran 1.44 miles this morning. Outside. It's my first outdoor run in four or six months. I can't quite remember. And it was delightful! In reality, my knees felt tweaky, my head and ears ached from the cold, and my lungs burned like crazy, but oh it feels so good to be out in the sun. This last year has been a really long running break. I've tried to get back into it multiple times but between two surgeries and all the hard health issues I've fought through, it's been a full year since I ran any sort of mileage. The endorphins from running and yoga are a huge part of my mental health self care, so it's been extremely challenging. But I feel like I've also learned so much more about my body and what makes it feel good and what does not. For my whole life I've leaned on exercise exclusively to stay in good health. That option was taken away from me this last year and I have dove deep into eating habits and food sensititivies and supplements and peeling back each of my different health issues to try to find the root problems. It's been quite the journey, and it's not over. I have a CT scan scheduled this week to explore the state of my sinuses. I'm going to the chiropractor twice a week. Things are slowly still improving and I'm just so grateful that I feel back at the point where I can add my beloved excercise back into my life.

This has been a great weekend. We had a five-day weekend mid-winter break. Today is the last day. We went to the zoo. Went swimming at a local recreation center we've never been to. Bill and I got out on a date on Valentine's Day night, miracle of miracles, because my dear friend hosted a movie night for our kids. Saturday we went to the Cedar River Watershed Center with our cousins, which is a hands on museum of sorts. We got out on a tiny hike around it after. And we have watched at least one movie every day, much to my kids' delight. It's been a very nice staycation.

And the sun came out! It rained the entire month of January. If we got two hours of sunshine spread across the entire month, I would be surprised. We have flooding everywhere. Even for Seattle this is crazy. But February dawned with much less rain, and much more sun, and it feels like I can breathe again. I don't mind the light rain and clouds we get much of the winter. But January was heavy, brooding rain that was thoroughly unpleasant to be in and it just would not let up. I'm so grateful that February has been different. And it's flying right along, which is also lovely.

All in all, a great week.

I love our little zoo here. I guess it's not tiny, but it's not huge and it's a great size for my kids to explore.

 Valentine's roses. they are still beautiful, sitting right next to me now as I type.

 Lynnwood Recreation Center. This place was so fun.

 Bill bought his PE text prep book. Look at the size of that thing! He's taking it in October. Huzzah! That is a goal we've been aiming for since the moment we started dating 12 yearse ago. I'm SO excited for him getting to this point.

 The Cedar River Watershed Museum. Fun place.

 And a fun little hike afterward.

 Ironic story. We were driving to church last week and saw a bike sitting on the corner of our street. As we stopped Bill looked out and was like hey, that's my bike! We don't have a garage in this house, so our bikes are just in our carport and I've wanted to have a shed or something for a long time to have a more secure place to store them. But sheds are exceptionally expensive. I didn't want to build one because it's hard to make them movable and that seemed like a good idea. But this is the second time Bill's bike has been stolen and then recovered. I think whoever stole it thought hey, nice neighborhood, I'll just swipe this nice bike here. Except that bike was a cheap one bought when we were early in grad school and it is not nice. It only took about five houses for them to realize it was cheap and they abandoned it. It honestly just makes me laugh, but also I got on the research and decided I better just build my own because sheds were way too expensive for chintzy quality. This is as far as I've gotten on it. Just need to add siding and a door. We bought the siding Saturday night. I'm $220 into the project. The cheapest shed I could have bought was $400 and this one is bigger than that. A similar size would have cost me $600-$800.

 I also bought a couple more succulents to replace the ones I killed recently overwatering. It's so hard to refrain from doing that! Hopefully I can keep these ones alive.

Making progress

It's been a good week. I got into a chiropractor that will hopefully help me get some feeling back in my poor, numb hands, and help me with my headaches and plantar fasciitis. Those are all persistant problems I've had for ever so long that I want to go away already.

It finally got sunny after a month-long stretch of awful weather. 

I made this purse. That's right. I MADE this. I'm so proud of it. My sister designs purse patterns, Toriska Purses, which is way beyond cool, and this is one of her patterns. 

 We came in last night to Chloe's room and she showed us this snap circuit light that she had made so she could have a night light. Mind blown! She's three and a half. She's seen her older siblings play with these and she figured it out on her own. That girl.  So cool!

 Also Chloe. This is the only way she will brush her teeth, otherwise she throws a huge fit for us to brush them for her. I'm pretty sure she's going to rule the world someday, hahahahaha!.

Sunshine in February

I've been laughing over all the memes about January feeling like it lasted an entire year. The month actually sped by for me. It always does because we have so many events in January. It also happened to rain every single day of the entire month. There were a few minutes of sun here and there, but not much. It was rough! It's sunny this morning though, which feels miraculous, and things are looking good.

 Everyone loves the cushions I made.

 She read books one morning while I was working.

 Got a new pair of boots, from Chaco brand. They're so comfy.

 Pho soup with my besties. Love this!

 a beautiful bloom on a tree in my yard in a very dreary January.

 Playing with gifts from Grandma.

 Spencer playing basketball.

 A sunflower paint by number for Chloe.

 New bulletin boards covered.

 And cutie pie Chloe and Spencer.