Goodbye, January. Don't hurry back.

             Mnemonic

                  by Brian Bilston

Thirty days has September,
April, June and November.
Unless a leap year is its fate,
February has twenty-eight.
All the rest have three days more,
excepting January,
which has six thousand,
one hundred and eighty-four.

Leavenworthy: Winter Edition

What did Wes really want for his birthday?  Traditionally, we go to Leavenworth for two nights, to play in the snow, enjoy the Christmas lights (they don't take theirs down until February, either), and maybe eat enough gingerbread cookies to last us until our next visit.  This year, he had a twist: he wanted to bring along his best friend, A. That actually sounded good to us, as we like our island friends very much.  Once we found a house for the 13 of us on a 3 day weekend (thanks end-of-semester teacher work day!), we booked it and started counting down to one of my favorite weekends of the year. 

It was us and the two Whidbey families we spend so much time with, all under one roof with plenty of food, VR, chess, and snow.  I had a book and good friends, and my children were all well entertained, a recipe for a great weekend.

Once we were settled in, we took off looking for a good sledding hill.   

V is hardly terrified at all!

Wesley sees this and thinks, "What shall I aim for in an entire field of snow?  Oh, yes, definitely the thin ice."

"Nailed it!"

Daddy.

Daddy, Daddy?

Daddy!!

A doesn't need no stinkin' sled.

I still haven't ever seen this girl afraid.  She had a pretty cool move where she was able to slide right between her dad's legs...with a surprising deficit of damage. 

Fearless and beautiful!

It's hard to beat Kyla when it comes to sheer joy--even landing 20 feet from her sled.

Yep, the lovely, lovely house had a hot tub.

The next day's adventure was began with an "escape room in the box" that was so much fun...even when we discovered Clue 4 & 5 were missing.  That afternoon, we were ready to work our bodies instead of our minds.  This was the first time cross country skiing for the 5 kids (the youngest one stayed back with his parents) and the rest of us had only gone a few times before.  

 I could do this sport all winter--it is so fun to trek through the snow!  We started late and pushed the kids about 6 or 7 of the 8km of the trail, leaving them at a trailhead to pick up, as it was getting dark.  

 

 The sheer pleasure of the fun exercise coupled with the beautiful scenery by the hatchery was one of the weekend's highlights for me.   

 

 We didn't want to leave the next day.

 So we didn't.  Well, not until we went out for brats, played in the snow some more, completely fell apart (Piper), and recovered with one last stop at the Gingerbread Factory. 

 

Yep, once again proving that Leavenworth can get even better with friends!

Happy Birthday Wes! And Piper! and Taryn!

Happy Birthday, Wes!  My youngest is now double digits, and here's hoping his brain is catching up.  I strongly remember being ten and becoming very aware of my own thinking; so much so that I told myself I may not believe myself when I was older, so I made a deliberate memory that I still keep of how important this age is.  

To celebrate as a family, we prioritized efficiency. Of the 7 "Kousins", 4 have August birthdays* and the other 3 are January/February.  We hosted the Winter birthdays with brunch and birthday cake.  This year, one of the kids suggested crepes, and I found them surprisingly easy to do. We had both savory and sweet, and the kids quickly gobbled up the quart of whipping cream we had. #NotMyMetabolismAnymore

Food only goes so far. The real party is when most of the grown ups left, leaving the cousins to play for approximately 12 hours, and that's only because the two littles have real bedtimes, and so went back to Gramma's.  The girls snuggled up with a movie and the boys loved Legos and Minecraft. 

Dwayne and I got the pleasure of hanging out with Brian and Sandi for the day-- so easy to chat with and just be together

Piper gave Wes the Minecraft creeper stuffed animal she knitted for him. 

Wes and Parker have identical Spiderman guys and hoody jammies--for boys so different (as in Parker has not made his mother seriously reconsider her life choices), they make the most of what they have in common.  Cecily is quite happy to not be them, but can move easily between the boys and the girls.  

Happy Birthday, Winters!  We'll do this again next year. 

*counting Sept. 1 as August 32st, of course

Last Day of Being 9 Years Old

Which means that I have no more kids in the single-digits after today, but I really, really, REALLY like kids old enough to do fun things with...or better yet, leave them at home while doing fun things, so I'm not feeling particularly morose at this milestone.  That would be mining a shallow field. 

This kid has a few issues, but boy, can he balance on anything!  The balance ball is so beloved that he has a name: Frederick.  Frederick will carry Wes anywhere and helps him get through daily math lessons.  

 

Bye-bye age 9!  I think you will love being 10 almost as much as I did! (I still remember it being my favorite age.)

Snow Beautiful!

Schools were closed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but luckily, when your mom is your teacher, you don't ever have to have a Snow Day!  (But I gave myself one on Monday.)

I pulled a Dwayne on this one and got them to go back outside 3 times, saying I wasn't able to get a good shot.  Hopefully, it will be a few years before they read this post.  Kyla's only to the early school years on her tour through our blog, so I've got time.

 

And this is why my, ahem, winter lights stay up so long. Yes, I don't want the work of taking them down, but my excuse is because if there's a chance of snow, my snowflake lights should still be on the pergola.  

And the birds.  We have both a hummingbird feeder and a regular bird feeder outside the kitchen window, and I enjoy seeing the winged traffic outside.  

Power stayed on and the kids were back on track by Thursday, and we won't be around to make up any days this June, so let it snow!

Starting 2020 at the Cabin

We never make it out to the cabin as much as I want to, but after having paying guests regularly these holidays, we finally got to spend the first weekend at the cabin before regular life starts on Monday. 

One of the highlights for me was taking the kids on a walk through the trails at Castle Park.  And when I say "kids", I should clarify that I wound up with only the kids I wanted to claim at the time. Just as we arrived at the park, Dwayne texted me to say he was driving off the ferry and heading toward the cabin. Simultaneously, I asked which kid had brought their communication device (smart phone, flip phone, GPS watch) with them: dead, no, nope.  So I said they couldn't stay at the park while I went for a long walk; they had to come with me.  The girls were fine with it, but Wes began.  Began what?  Began being Whiney Wes.  To the mother that has had No Break from him since we started home schooling, and Extra No Break during the school holiday.  I called Dwayne and said his son was waiting for him in the parking lot, and he should come get him while the girls and I went for walk.  And Wes preferred being abandoned over walking through the forest.  

But my dragonets enjoyed the trails and can make anything into a parkour track. Kyla wears her Halloween dragon horns when she thinks of it, and I love her more for it.  Being wild and feral is part of Piper's nature, and she gave me lots of encouragement for my single pull up I attempt each time we find ourselves at a playground.  

Now that Dwayne was at the cabin, so was our brand new VR headsets.  The cabin is not quite big enough for this, but between us and 3 other families, we had a lot of fun breaking them in. Hm, I meant the sets, but it's pretty easy for a goggled person to hit someone walking by in the close quarters, so we all got broke. 

Luckily, there were cookies, blocks, and Minecraft to offer variety. 

 Oh, I love my cabin.  I wish I could go more often!