February: cousins, more snow , some other things

We got to spend quite a bit of time with our favorite Pieces of the Pie and Max was IN HEAVEN! She did not miss a beat at our house and demanded her "Spidaman" suit (Optimus Prime) so she could beat up the football guy with the boys.

These 2 are seriously so awesome together. They actually love each other in a way that allows sitting closely, playing, talking at normal levels and not bruising each other. All of these are very different relationship traits than their older siblings' relationship. 

Brandon was determined to get Baby Levi to walk to him. Soon we won't have any babies left in the family, which is crazy!

On our snow days, the freezing weather will never keep us inside, so we went off on an exploration. This is 9000% Anderson's happy place and, despite the fact that I was freezing, I was very grateful to be off of work.

There was not enough snow to do much, but we took advantage of every flake that we could find. 

And, all of the mud, of course. 

Without snow to play in, cold weather is just....cold. This is not really any fun for small people who just want to be outside all day long. Max was SO angry that his sand was frozen. He was especially angry because he even made the sacrifice to wear the big coat for the sand that betrayed him. Wearing actual clothing/warm coats is the highest level of sacrifice that Max can make, so his anger was exceptionally high. 

One of the snow days resulted in Anderson's 2nd sleepover! 

(Of course, his first one was over 4 years ago when Jack spent the weekend with us.)

Chloe was super excited because there was an entire extra person to drop random food on the ground for her.   

I never ever sit down. 

I just don't. I eat standing up, I walk around while I brush my teeth, I am constantly walking around just putting things away, taking care of stuff, etc. This is a blessing (where is my crown for being the QUEEN OF MULTI TASKING?) and a curse (sometimes my family members just want me to sit with them.) 

On one snow day, I sat down and watched a good 5 minutes of Paw Patrol with Max and I am not going to lie-I was OWNING parenting at that moment. Max was so happy that I was snuggling with him and I was so proud of myself for accomplishing something while sitting (making Max happy, creating a bonding moment, taking a pic for documentation) that I made it the entire 5 minutes. 

You might remember that the last time I sat down (last Easter-almost a year ago)  Max ended up having to get stitches. This time, all ended well. 

Also, the snow days made me realize something about myself and my dislike of cooking. It not that I hate cooking...I hate cooking at 6:30pm when everyone is starving (they eat lunch at 10:30) and I am simultaneously trying to bring everything in from the house, prepare everything for the evening, unload the dishwasher, talk to my children, etc. On the snow days, I got to cook at 5:30 or so and it was truly a game changer. It was nice because it made me realize that it is not my fault! If I could only have more snow days or get some kind of part job or not allow my kids to participate in activities, they could have better meals! This is what I tell myself anyway!

Max has become obsessed with hide & seek and his favorite thing to do is climb into stuff (followed closely by onto) like the dryer. I let him, send Anderson in and then document the whole thing. 

Because she is Noni, Mom made Max his own Fireman book and he LOVES it. 

Because he is only the greatest person ever, Brandon received a huge, very important award given to him in D.C.! I was so jealous of his visit, but also so proud of all of his hard work!

One of my favorite pics ever of Max-he is so proud of having stolen Anderson's rec specs and I just love his smug expression. 

When I sneak in and catch them reading, it reminds me that we are doing something right in this parenting world. 

One of our weekends in Feb was spent helping GG move and I managed at get exactly one picture to document the occasion-Aunt LoLo entertaining the boys. 

He has now been sporting the fire gear for 4 solid months-every day.

 Public is still as madly in love with him everywhere we go.