February Life - The Glorious Mundane

February was so…blah.

It was boring and cold and SO dreary.

But, hey…at least it was boring. That’s not the norm around here and I’ll take it. I managed to get a lot of reading done and just spending time with my family. I’m sure I’ll look back at this time and miss it so.

But for now….BRING ON SPRING.

And enjoy reading about our February:

My children enjoyed snuggles with Beau, and apparently getting yogurt all over their faces.

I really have been trying my hardest to do some preschool with Tera each week. It’s been hard trying to figure out a schedule for my family with Theo’s insane schedule, but we are slowly getting there. We celebrated Groundhog Day by watching the Groundhog see his shadow (also- this is SUCH a weird tradition), and then made a groundhog. Tera loved it!

My kids are going absolutely stir-crazy inside our house. It’s been COLD since November and we have barely made it outside. Some days they bicker and fight and argue all day long and then sometimes they play creatively together.

Also- this thing is apparently from a horror movie, and Heavenly’s Mom gave it to her and it is therefore the most precious of items. All three of them adore it and think it’s so cute. UGH. The things we do for love.

Goodbye hugs for Daddy as he goes off to work.

Kiah waving goodbye!

Sending my husband off everyday to a potentially dangerous job is not my favorite thing to do. He’s been working for months now, and nothing even close to dangerous has happened. Anyone could lose their husband on a commute to work or even some freak accident. But for some reason, it’s always there in the back of my mind, and it’s hard to see him go. It does make us more intentional, though, about saying goodbye, and making sure that we have things worked out before he goes. He’s very intentional about hugging each of our kids and saying goodbye to them.

Heavenly and Tera have had a rough winter together- they are frenemies, with an emphasis on the enemy part at this stage in life. It sure is rough on this Mama’s heart. It’s impossible to point fingers and blame either one, but let’s just say that Tera is 3 and Heavenly is 11. They are both searching for their identities and the other one tends to get in the way of that. But Heavenly and Kiah? They adore each other. And it’s adorable.

I’ve always been a planner type of person and I’ve always been really good at sticking to a schedule and to-do list. However, I have really struggled with it this year. In case you haven’t heard me mention it, Theo’s schedule is a bit crazy. It’s not even terrible hours or that much time every week, but I swear on the days he goes to work I don’t get even a minute of time to just sit and rest. I have one who wakes up early, one who has officially quit naps, and one who stays up late. One of my goals for this month is going to be writing myself realistic to-do lists everyday, and taking the time to glance at it throughout the day.

We splurged a bit and took a family outing to Get Air! I wrote a whole review, but to summarize it: it was awesome!

Literally- fun for ALL ages!

There is a reason it’s called “Spring Cleaning” and that is because after being cooped up all winter all I want to do is throw off all the STUFF and run outside! I can’t really clean my whole house, but I started wth just one spot: my dresser. I organized it all and it helped clear my mind of a lot of clutter, too! For those asking, I got the jewelry stand off Amazon, you can find it here.

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My sweet friend Nathaly GAVE my kids her keyboard. I mean, she gave it to them! They have all been playing to it and listening to the music that it plays. It’s been a FUN addition to our house for sure!

Kiah is also so much FUN lately. Really, he’s a total handful, but because he’s so cute it’s sometimes adorable. For example, if I did this to Heavenly’s homework, everyone would be mad. But if Kiah does it, it’s cute. Go figure.

We have had a really cold, snowy winter this year. February has had a lot of days off school, and it’s been challenging for me. Thankfully it seems like winter is mostly in the rearview mirror and we have full weeks of school planned all the way up to Spring Break!

I’ve been working hard on preparing a snack for after school/nap everyday. It certainly takes more effort and energy to do it, and it doesn’t come naturally to me. Usually, it’s super simple but for Valentines Day I pulled out the heart shaped cookie cutter!

We had a really, really cold and snowy winter. But this month has given us some amazing days! A 60 degree day in February feels like God wrapped up the weather with a big bow and gave it to us as a gift.

Both of my kids Grandma’s sent a special Valentines Day package. The kids got special cards, stuffed animals and pillow cases. My kids are so blessed to have the Grandparents that they have.

Heavenly has been asking for months if she can get her hair cut. Listen, if you’ve been around here for anytime you know that this hair is something else. It’s a LOT of hair and it’s very curly, and both of us are completely overwhelmed with how to take care of it. I finally got up the courage to take her to a salon that did not contain a single white stylist. I was hoping that I could humbly ask HOW to do her hair, and they would walk me through the steps. Instead, the lady took her back and didn’t even ask us what she wanted her hair to look like! Three hours later, Heavenly’s hair was done and it was straight and styled. It costed a pretty penny and was not what either of us was going for. She LOVED it and did not want to wash her hair for a week, but as soon as she washed it, her hair went back to normal. We are still really struggling with her hair and no youtube video we have watched or product we have bought has helped us. I need someone to show me IN PERSON how to do her hair.

My parents have been doing a lot of traveling across most of the East Coast, and they were able to stop at our place for the weekend. We played Life, and my Mom had triplets, two sets of twins and a singleton! We were all laughing SO HARD.

I’ve been baking bread for us, and the kids all love to help! There is something about the flour and the dough that makes them all went to get their hands in it! Sometimes I say no, and sometimes I say yes…and boy, do they love it when I say yes!

I was sitting on the porch reading my book while my Mom played with Tera. Now that is living the life!

We had one almost 70 degree day in February here! It also happened to be one of the days that Theo’s brother and sister-in-law were visiting! We all decided to head out on a hike….which was SUCH a good decision!

Isaiah, Sarah, Jamie and baby #2! I’m SO glad we got to spend some time with them. Time together is so precious when we live on opposite sides of the country!

One of my new favorite family pictures (Heavenly was in school).

The streams were pretty full, and this waterfall was beautiful!

Tera is such a great hiker, and she can go up to two miles on her own! We are planning a family backpacking trip this summer, so we shall see how that goes!

Kiah and Jamie are just one month apart, and they both wanted to get down and walk, too. It sure did make our hike a lot slower, but I love seeing toddlers figure out how to toddle around!

On that warm day in February, our newest baby niece was born! Brynne Hines, all 9 pounds of her! We got to go and visit her when she was less than 48 hours old. Oh, the sweetness of a brand new baby!!!

We wrapped up February with more hikes outside, and as much family time as we can get!

For some who claims to “hate nature” she sure is a brave explorer!

Oh, that spring sunshine.

Heavenly saw a golf ball on the other side of the stream, and Theo told her if she wanted it, she would have to get it for herself. She was very creative about how she got across the stream, and Theo convinced her to be brave and WALK back on the log. The other two kids thought it was very entertaining.

Check out this tree Theo spotted! Those are all thorns! What kind of tree is it and why are there so many thorns?

The rest of February has just been daily life- cleaning up messes, reading kids books, baking bread and making food. Nothing too exciting, but it’s those little moments that make up the grand scheme of life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Ok, maybe a little more sleep and few babysitters to help with my kids. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. Ha.