Luna's First Hike & Super Bowl Sunday

 Michael:
Came to High Fitness with me! That's love. My friend Aimee led a Valentine's "Bring Your Guy to High" night and since a lot of my Timnath friends are in the dental world I told him it was a required networking night :) He came more willingly than I'm letting on though, it was really fun to have him there. We went out to grab a sandwich with friends after and it was a fun date night. He also took us on a little hike Saturday morning and I just really loved a glimpse of the one-nap life that we can have now. Doing something all together in the morning without skipping one of Asher's naps was a fun feeling and Luna loved being along for the fun for the first time. She is terrible on a leash. We'll get there.

Maddie:
I loved doing a mystery shop lunch date with Michael, Camden, and Asher on Wednesday. It's unique to get time with just our two little ones when their big brothers are at school and it was just really fun. I also had an interesting meeting about ChatGPT and AI advances in writing and it was fascinating. I feel like that feels as foreign as the internet once did and will soon be as part of our experiences as the internet is now. I also loved making Super Bowl food this weekend -- Westin has been counting down to this Super Bowl from the night of the last Super Bowl. Everyone chose an appetizer for the night.

Maddie: Mozzarella sticks (forgot to cook them)
Michael: Trader Joe's Samosas (forgot to pick them up)
Westin: Chips & Dip (nailed it)
Bennett: Lil' Smokies (nailed it, even used good ol' Herr Corry's sauce recipe from my high school German class)
Camden: Shrimp cocktail. I love this boy :)

Missed the mark on the parents picks but the kids were happy! Then we added in some other easy snacks and had our friends the Schmidts over, who have three boys. They brought even more deliciousness and we all enjoyed watching our boys care more about the Super Bowl than their parents. They left in the middle of the fourth quarter and I knew as soon as friends were out the door there would be tears about the close score and I was very right... but luckily the Chiefs pulled off a last minute victory and Westin went to bed on a happy note.

Westin:
had so much fun watching the Super Bowl with his friend. It was really cute. We've been working on his science project together and he really likes that stuff. He soaks up whatever we read together and reads so much on his own. I would love to get him to write in a journal more but he is very much not interested in that. I kind of laugh thinking back on my endless piles of journals from my childhood -- we just all come so different.

Bennett:
came home sick one day this week, sweet boy. He seemed pretty miserable all day and then threw up after taking one bite of dinner. I've learned to not get too stressed about everyone else getting the same bug though, he seems to have an extra sensitive stomach to even the tiniest things, and luckily no one else came down with it. He loved being home and watching Pete's Dragon two times the next day :) I just love that movie. And I really love when my kids are home although I don't love when they don't feel great. But he was very minimally sick the next day and we just had a nice low key day together with Camden and Asher.

Camden:
keeps telling Google to play Closed on Sunday by Kanye West. Then he laughs and laughs when he says "Chick-Fil-A!" in a weird voice at the end. He has really become assertive around Luna and I'm surprised at how much he's changed there, he was pretty nervous around dogs just a few months ago. He's a joy to read books to, loves library story time, dances constantly, and entertains us all with his silly imagination. "What if..... what if Kitty was wearing sunglasses, and she was playing the piano, and Luna wore sunglasses too and got on the table and was dancing?" We all want to live in Camden's world.

Asher:
Sweet, sweet, sweet boy. He sleeps through the night now and then, wakes up once now and then. I can live in that stage a while. You get that stretch of sleep sometimes (Luna is now able to go 11pm to 7am which is a major improvement), and that sweet time together sometimes. He takes two naps if he wakes up before 7:30 and one nap if he sleeps in a little. He is a stair master, cute growler, daddy hugger, and is getting more and more words. We love him so.

Picked him up from the nurse's office and he put himself right down for a nap.
He always does this when he doesn't feel good and I just always think it's so sweet.

Chase was on the case...
but looks like he walked into some trouble.
I love walking into these little scenes of imagination all the time, in all the rooms, all the days.

We played at my friend Diane's house this week and she has a bounce house room instead of a guest room. How genius is that.
Camden was too nervous to experience the bounce house... but then when I told him it was time to go he told me he wanted to go try it. So we went back in for one slide down and he was proud of himself.
He very much reminds me of the Westin who used to go to Chick-Fil-A to watch the other kids play. :)

Westin's science project is to see if salt makes water boil faster.
So we decided the alternate title will be, "How fast can I make pasta?"
And he took this picture for that.
He's kind of embarrassed about it now (and about so much else...) and keeps saying, "Will people think I'm not smart because they think I ate all that??" It's cute but also makes me sad he already has worries like that.

Valentine's High Night

How strong is my Colorado mom vibe right now.

This looks like a family band album cover.

I love a good boardwalk.

Just a screenshot of that time I went to Home Depot for HUGE insulation pieces for our basement and quickly realized those were not getting home. Let it be known that I first drove the Corolla to get them. Then saw them in the store, went home for the van, and then learned even that would fail. So came back with Michael and all the boys and we tied them down to the roof and if that sounds like my biggest large purchase fiasco at Home Depot, it's not. The solo 21-ft ladder purchase with 18-month Camden on my hip still takes the cake.

Back up.

Now we're rolling.

My grandpa would have been 105 this week. Can't get over how much he looks like my uncles and cousins. Such good people.

Super Bowl Let's Goooooooo