So ... January ...

I was chatting with Bugs a few nights ago and she said, "mom, I don't know why, but I just feel 'off.'" I told her, "yep, that's called mid-winter." It's cold, it's gloomy, the snow is currently deadly ice pack, and while our schedule is busy, it's also monotonous. Such is February in Minnesota. We still love winter - but these are the hardest weeks to love it. We have big plans this weekend that will hopefully shake things up and put us all back 'on' our game.

But before we got to the February slump, we had to power through January. Not going to lie - it started with a bang. As I wrote the week's schedule on our whiteboard before Winter Break was even over, we all just took a deep breath. It was intense. If I had to describe our January, I would say it was a crap-ton of hockey, lots of play practice, with a side of distance learning (round 3) thrown in for good measure. Rinse. Repeat. Except the distance learning part. We just did that for a week and a half. Meanwhile, I was trying to get up to speed at my new job. 

If you are wondering why the blog has been so behind, see previous paragraph. So to summarize a pretty uneventful month, here are three things about each kid as we kick off 2022.

This girls is in her first official play! She had to audition and everything (everyone gets a part - but it was her first audition experience). Rehearsals are every Saturday morning and she loves it! At the end of March, Fiona will debut in Lady Pirates of the Caribbean. Her character is super sassy and we cannot wait to watch her perform.

Fiona was a champ at distance learning. Third time was a charm for her. She was delighted with her new purple desk chair and I was delighted with the deep cleaning of her room that we did in order to prepare it as a learning environment. She did a great job participating in class and staying focused.

While running the homeschool (the kids will tell you that my new job has a lot of meetings), Mike was looking for new music to play. He put on a Pink playlist and it was love at first note for Fiona. She is constantly asking for Pink radio and So What! is now her very favorite song. Related: I played the Hairspray soundtrack for her and she was indifferent. I have now played it enough times that she loves it ... and Declan knows almost all the lyrics. I knew it would grow on them!

Round three of distance learning was not a charm for Quinn. Girlfriend needs to be IN school! She gets her work done so quickly that she has too much downtime and not enough challenges. This equals a bored Quinn and everyone who lives here will tell you that a bored Quinn is not a good thing. Thank goodness for Mike keeping her entertained. This often meant her throwing on street hockey goalie gear in the living room and Mike throwing balls at her ... but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!

Quinn invited a friend from her hockey team over on MLK day (no school) to skate on the rink. Reese brought her little sister who plays with Dec and they had the best afternoon in the backyard - both on the rink and on the sledding hill! Mike and I were grateful because this was just the beginning of the distance learning run and we were already close to killing each other. Thankfully, distance learning for elementary school ended earlier than expected and we were so ready to put them back on that bus!

Q is not our reader - but her friend Maddy is. There is a reading competition in 4th grade and Q completed the top level ... because she wanted to keep up with Maddy. I'll take it. Reading is never going to be her go-to like it is for Fiona and Declan. But the fact that she's found success and some books that she really enjoyed has made a big difference. I do see her more willingly picking up a book when she has downtime. 

Declan completed his turn in goal mid-January. He was really excited to try it out during practice and did fine in the game they played. It was actually the closest game they've played so far (less because of his goal-tending skills and more because they were just evenly matched teams). But once the game was over, he decided maybe the goalie gig was not for him. Thank goodness!

Distance learning started out rough for D and there were tears by mid-morning (and perhaps a swig of fireball by teacher dad). But - he pulled it together and did a really good job. Once we got past day 1, he did much better. We were really proud of how he stayed on top of his schedule and his work. It helps that his best buddy is in his class and is also a great student. They loved comparing notes once class was done and they could meet outside to play [until it got crazy cold. Because that's what you need when everyone is trapped at home together].

Dec hosts a random trivia portion of most days. I tend to be on the receiving end of the battery of questions. Trivia ranges everywhere from "mom, who would win in a fight between a bull shark and a hammerhead?" (bull shark) to "mom, can you name some pilots who were in the Battle of Midway?" (I cannot) to "if 1 World Trade Center is the tallest building in the US, what is the second tallest building?" (Sears Tower). We have discussed rogue waves, the fact that the Titanic had four smokestacks but only three worked and one was decorative, and Dwayne Johnson's film repertoire. You literally cannot prepare for Declan trivia ... I never know what he's going to come up with.