Two Plus a Handful: February, Beautiful February!

February is when people start to get tired of winter. I mean, the groundhog said spring was coming, so why do we have to keep putting up with this snow? Well, here's what I had to say about that:

It is 16 degrees and snowing again. Big, soft, fluffy, beautiful flakes floating down from the sky. And it is GLORIOUS! It can be hard to appreciate winter. Being this cold makes my back muscles tense up and ache. Kids wanting to go out to play and losing gloves all the time is exhausting and exasperating. But in Colorado, snow is so important to our environment. Snow = life. We can't enjoy our summers without it. And so every time we get snow, I love it for all the good it brings. Thank you, nature! And so I'll enjoy what snow helps me to enjoy: sweaters, slippers, fires, blankets, tea & hot chocolate, cuddling with my kids & husband, curling up with a book, all of that at once. Scandinavians know how to handle winter and I'm thankful I've learned their practice of hygge. It helps me to maintain joy and sanity in the winter and I look forward to snow when I see it in the forecast. The snow itself has become hygge to me.

Learn about hygge here:
https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/blogs/7-cultural-concepts-we-dont-have-in-the-us

This YouTube video was also helpful for me in learning hygge, especially to hear and learn the pronunciation!

This boy likes to start stories with, "Mom, when I was a kid..." and I can't take him seriously.

Katie finished a level of ABC Mouse and was so excited to choose Mimi's Café, which she's heard about so much but never been to. You know, because cafés are fancy and French which makes them even fancier. And we are all things fancy. Like Nancy. She was not let down!

She chose me as her date, which was really fun because we don't often get along...something about having similar personalities and being stubbornly strong-willed. I dunno...

Parenting is full of moments of "I never thought I'd have to say that to another human being," and "What did you just say?!" Cutting Sam's nails after his shower and he says to me, "This is like my vagina!" No, no, it's not. "Well, I'm pretending it's like my vagina." What is going on? Oh, my ears!

Katie helped Shad install a coat rack for the kids.

And my babiest boy turned 3!! Hooray! I love celebrating my humans. We played football, he had a Costco lunch date with Shad, Shad cooked egg pizzas for dinner at Sam's request, and we had brownies. He had a blast and planned the whole day. And then he kept coming to me, saying, "Mom, we need to plan my birthday party. I want football and blue and brownies."

Sam was full of all the quotes that week:

Remember when he said, "This is like my vagina?" Well, now the quote is, "These are my boobs! See my huge boobs? My giant boobs? They have nipples!" Oh, child...

I was busy when Sam asked me to identify a letter on the Happy Birthday banner. I referred him to Thora because she knows her letters. When I heard her say, "Um... 'Q,'" to had to come see. It was the bow between the two words. Understandably confusing and an apt interpretation of what letter that might be. Good job, lady!

Sunset from my favorite window. And if you don't live in Colorado, note that there's full snow on the south side of the street that doesn't get direct sunlight. That's life.