We have almost made it through another MN winter! That's not stuff for the faint of heart, folks. It's an accomplishment, each and every year!
This year we will be doing something we have never done before: taking a Spring Break with the kids. We will be road-tripping to San Diego, and stopping in Colorado to see friends, Arizona to see the Grand Canyon, and oh-so-many-other-little-things along the way. The Hoover Dam on our way home is on the agenda too! Should be super fun. We are staying for free using Home Exchange (again!), and I can not say enough good stuff about that...website? Company? Whatever it is, it allows us to take "vacations" we could otherwise never afford. I don't think the word "vacation" is the right word to use when driving 4,000 miles with 4 kids...but we are excited for the adventure, for sure! Not flying and not paying for a place to stay while out there allows us to but gas at $4+/gallon, haha. So, that's a few weeks in April for us. We will be sure to give a grand report on our return.
Kellan still loves to take the caps off of markers and use them as crazy long fingernails. It drives me nuts to see markers everywhere, drying out. I wish I could be chill mom who doesn't know how much Crayola markers cost. 😝
Cora likes to eat all Asian food with chop sticks now, but especially ramen / fake ramen. She's cool.
Kellan is in a super fun stage of life where he draws all over himself. Regularly. Wheeeeeeeeeeee.
A few weeks ago we went to Claire's first play, and she did an wonderful job. Cora is BFF with Claire and was especially happy to be there.
Right after Claire's play Andrea and kids came over to play for a while. Cousin love!
Kellan loves a good costume. Any super hero is. fun, but Spiderman and Ninjas top the list these days.
More drawing on himself. Yay. Good thing we never go anywhere.
One of Kellan's favorite books these days is the Pirate Princess, about Princess Bea who long to become a pirate, and gets to try it out. He has taken to standing on his head like Bea.
Kellan always wants someone to sit "next to me." He'll settle for anyone, but Mama is his favorite.
Another recent SkyZone outing:
After SkyZone we went to the library.
She is starting to get annoyed with me taking so many photos. I may not be able to do this for much longer! :(
The weather was AMAZING for a while, so our trampoline went back up by mid March. It's the true sign of spring in this neighborhood. All that snow under the trampoline is gone now, thanks to a weekend of 50s and 60s.
St. Patrick's Day was the first holiday to fall prey to the pandemic, two years ago, so it was fun to have my parents back over here for it this year.
Take a wild guess which one of these children doesn't exactly play by the rules when it comes to picture-taking time:
We went to Wabun Park to meet Piyush and Pratush this past Saturday. I can't overstate the soul-healing sunshine, and what it does to a Minnesotan in the spring.
I had the best Sunday. All the windows in our house were open, and I got to spend 3 hours cleaning the van. BLISS.
Jonas and I did very adults things lately: we bought prescription sunglasses. The thought of not having sunglasses in San Diego or the Grand Canyon is what put me over the edge. ADULTS! Look at us!
Sunday nights are steak nights, often, in the winter. Jonas does a GREAT steak. The kids adore them.
Kellan was very nervous about the repair process for this tile:
