Things to Do - Around . . . (February 2015)

I feel like we have had the laziest winter ever. Now that the kids are older weekends seem to meander along - playdates, boardgames, family movies (by the way, have you watched How the States Got There Shapes on Netflix streaming? It's fantastic), dog walks, etc.

I keep making "big plans", but then the cold hits and we end up staying home. I have so many mixed feelings about this, almost as if I'm failing somehow, as I've always thought of myself as an on-the-move mom. But little kids required so much more attention than my (now) older kids, thus going somewhere always seemed easier to me than watching the children trash my living room (again and again and again). We also have more neighborhood friends than we used to, so nights are filled with happy hours and dinner parties.

When I broke my foot I took the kids out of ALL planned activities, as I couldn't easily drive them there. And I have to admit, we all are so much happier with free weeknights. Last week we made a pie (I know this isn't a big deal to most of you, but I have made VERY FEW pies in my life) and crafted like crazy (P is obsessed with going through all my old boredom buster/art/craft/mom books for ideas). P dominated the whole family at Setters of Catan. T beat Dan at Risk (craziness).

So maybe lazy isn't all bad, our maybe this winter is part of the ebb and flow. Though don't worry, even if we haven't left the house much, we still can't stop making bucket lists for spring and summer . . .













T always wins Uno, despite his lack of any sort of strategy. And then he jumps on the table to gloat.



We are in the process of updating our living room, F proved an excellent painter . .







Whereas P, T, and their cousins skipped the home improvement chores and, instead, moved into a box (granted, a rather large box, but still not meant for three).







Three kids, two dogs and one couch - you have to fight for a spot.



Sometimes little brothers attack, though we're never quite sure when or why this will happen.





Coco's doggie daycare kicked her out for bad behavior, but in our presence she remains the mellowest dog ever.



Oh, homework . . .







And then, right in the middle of the lazy, a snowday come along . .









Losing Monopoly is never very fun . . .









The girls started a dog walking business. I hired them. They then proceeded to ask me to walk the dog, so they could play on a swing.





After fighting for two solid months, P and T randomly decided to play No Stress Chess together. T won. Wait, I must rephrase that, P LET T win (or so we've been told, over and over again).





And finally, if there's a sunset - you best prepare for photographs.