It's been a little busier around here, and the weather has been mild. I honestly would prefer more snow and cold... It's no fun going outside in mud and grey and brown. Snow is prettier and you can sled, and play...
With more sewing machine confidence comes more random projects... tiny doll pillows, hats for stuffed animals...yay... more stuff that cannot ever be disposed of... haha... Lamby does look awfully cute in his stocking hat.
Mr. Perrin likes it too.
So Cecily was in the school spelling bee, and I, being the supportive, involved parent that I am (not), didn't go. 😬 (It was pretty early in the morning and I didn't want to take the two littles- they would not have been quiet, and I didn't think she'd get very far.) And then Kelly started texting me pictures and updates.
She spelled "deign," "forsooth."
And "Blasphemous." And she won.
Oh my goodness! Ha. So exciting. And I wasn't even there! It's a good thing my friends are good parents and attend these things and send me real time updates and pictures. 😆
There was actually snow on the ground that day so I took Miri and Perrin out for a little bit. Perrin is really mad that he can't move in his snow clothes. :)
Miriel loves snow, Perrin didn't hate it.
He was not impressed with Miri's sled pulling skills though.
I quick changed the memory verse board before our spelling champion and her sisters got home. Ha.
She was so funny. And so excited. She didn't expect to win at all- I don't think she even realized that it was an all school event, or that there were trophies involved.
Bob and I were laughing that we were hoping they wouldn't be interested in sports so we didn't have to store trophies.... well.... here we have a spelling trophy... :P
Then Bob spent all of supper time spelling anything he wanted to say, and so were Cecily and Emmy, and I cannot for the life of me understand long strings of letters. Ha. She didn't get it from me. :D
We made it to the 100th day of school and Cadence dressed like a 100 year old lady. ish. I do not get nearly as creative as some people.
So my Dad took a blacksmithing class a few years ago from a local blacksmith, and I got in touch with him to make an iron table base for one of my wood slice table tops. Miri and Perrin and I picked it up after co-op.
I think it turned out pretty cool. It's definitely unique and has a story/history which is always a plus for me. Now I need to figure out a base for the other slice.
They spent a Saturday morning setting up a store.
Emmy was knitting in her store- she decided her first knitted thing was a headband, so she's wearing that- and giving serious Madam Dafarge vibes. :)
Cecily decided her first rectangle was a doll scarf. :)
Miss "I hate knitting. I will not learn to knit." has decided she does like it a little bit.
Making easy bake oven treats. :)
And doing some painting. I'm already feeling guilty that the younger kids aren't doing as many fun things as the older kids... so I'm sure I'll overcompensate somehow.
Trying to get a rough sketch of a floor plan. It's hard. I don't think in 3D, hence the hallway made out of cardboard in the back there. 😋 Answers to some FAQ's: Do we have any idea when this might actually get built? No. Why? Oh, lack of money (sadly, we're not independently wealthy), the looming possible uaw strike, etc....
You would never know that we were hoping to have people over in a few hours. Ha.
Dale and Meg came over for supper and games, and picking their brains about building. A table full of Kochs playing games. :)
Although, Masha seems to have showed up too. 😂
Bob spent a week training to do a manufacturing job in the event of a union strike. The contract is up soon, and if they don't come to an agreement he'll be working 12 hr night shifts 1.5hrs away. ugh. He drove back and forth for the training week, which meant he had to get up really early in the morning. And go to bed really early at night. And keeping 5 kids quiet so he could sleep is pretty much torture. Also, he's been home most of the time for the last 3 years and it's kind of a shock to my system to be back to solo parenting the majority of every day. 😜
I pulled out the box of Valentine decor and card making supplies and they found the photo-booth props and they wanted me to take pictures, of course. They were all wearing pink or white (except we had Miri run and change) and Perrin was playing in just his diaper.... a perfect little cupid. hehe. Except the only unbroken dress up wings we have left are ladybug, and he was not interested in pictures.
Too bad buddy, we like to send Valentine pictures to your Grandmas. 😍
Wittle squishy cupid. 💘
Cecily and Damaris went to the county spelling bee- at EHS! I was so excited to visit my alma mater. Cecily was both excited and nervous. Very nervous. I don't think she stopped talking all the way there and until it started.
I spent a lot of time in this auditorium and I'm not sure that Cecily (or Damaris) was all that interested in my reminiscing about the dogs and badgers in the plaster work, and the hard yellow plastic seats with no air conditioning. Ha.
Cecily made it to the 4th round! We were both so nervous we couldn't remember what word she spelled first. She remembered it later that night- 'pistons,' then she spelled 'Arcturus,' 'angora,' and missed on 'ferret.'
She was only semi-disappointed. If I counted the number of kids left, I think she was 12th out of 27. She said it was fun, after it was all over. 😏 We had left the little two at the farm for the morning, so we ate lunch with Grandma before we headed home.
Miriel is not sure about car washes.
They are prolific valentine makers. :D
Although, the arguing that goes on while they get made is decidedly unloving... 😂
Perrin mostly likes the toys at co-op. He's still a little sad when I leave, but overall they say he's pretty happy. Apparently I wasn't feeling like wrestling him out of jammies and into clothes... I've been putting Miriel to bed the night before in 'school clothes' for co-op days and it makes our mornings much simpler.
Liezel sent us a valentine!
Just practicing standing at sisters' dentist appointments.
Blessings.
