February - better late than never.

February was kind of a slow month for blogging. I was mainly focused on our homeschooling, since the school year will be over before I know it. But here and there were moments I want to remember and share, so here goes:


In February:

My dear husband turned 42.
He had so many "helpers" that he didn't even get to lay a puff on the candles. They were out before he could even open his eyes from the birthday wish.
The kids pooled their money to buy a heavy-duty pair of gloves for the woodstove, so Dad could stop singeing off his wrist hair.


We celebrated his birthday by going to dinner, alone. It was our only night to be fancy!

Love you, honey!


Our parish started a terrific Catholic Bible study this month, on Saturday afternoons. One of the Saturdays I was in a jam, and asked Scott to babysit his little sisters while I was out. When I returned, all was well, and I walked into the dining room to see this:


It may not look like much, but what you're seeing here is inconceivably rare: my three sons, Scott, Brian, and Conor, playing rummy together. This is the first time the three of them have done anything like this together since they were all tiny. I nearly fell over when I walked in the room, but it was such a pleasant shock! Scott's been spending a lot more time at home since he hasn't been allowed to drive, which is another story for another time. He's going stir crazy, but has been spending more time, and nicer time, with all of us as a result.


Clare is more of an avid reader than ever, and I am impressed by her reading skills. She is so excited about the book she's currently reading. It's called A Child's Geography of the World, and she is handling it admirably. She's so pumped because there are over 400 pages and about 80 chapters, and she just. can't. believe. that she's reading it!!!


What else happened?

I started to learn how to knit.

My sewing machine is finally out, up, and running again for the first time in over two years.

My "loose" pants, from last summer's weight loss, aren't loose anymore. :(

Noelle learned how to hop up on the toilet herself (instead of crying for me to lift her on) and taught Natalie how to do the same. Score! Fist pump!

We took the kids bowling, twice in the past week. And the entire right side of my body is aching and protesting at every movement. Who knew bowling was so strenuous? Conor was so good at Wii Bowling that he thought he'd be awesome at the real thing. Guess what happened? He wasn't, and he was quite upset about it. But the second time we went, he even got a strike, and it wasn't a lucky accident. Brian wasn't too bad the first time out, but the second time out he learned how to hold his arm the right way, and improved dramatically in a few minutes. Natalie is probably the funniest. The ball weighs half of what she does, and yet she insists on using her tiny fingers in the holes to hold the ball in precisely the correct way. I will have to get pictures next time!