The Accidental Boilermaker

I watched the girls today. Willow came over at 9:30, Violet at noon and Harper at 3:30. Aside from an epic, huge, overwhelmingly exhausting tantrum by Jameson at the library, it was a good day.

Jameson is 4!  His birthday fell on MLK day this year so everyone had the day off from school and work.  Jameson and Evelyn had a sleepover in Jameson's room.  They did not sleep in the same bed; the new system is whoever is doing the "sleeping-over" sleeps on the crib mattress.  It seems to really work for them. Jameson asked for coffee cake again this year for his birthday breakfast.   After breakfast it was time for presents. He was pretty excited for this new big monster truck. It was too cold to go ice skating at the outdoor rink, so we went to open skate at the icehouse.  It was pretty busy but everyone had fun.  Jameson did a great job practicing skating on his own. Evelyn did good too.  She fell a few times, but got back up.  She saw a friend from church and a friend from ballet. We skated for about an hour.  Everyone was good and tired. Jameson's birthday falls during Savor F...

We went to a Komets hockey game last night with my parents.  It's our annual Christmas gift to my dad.  Last year we went for princess night so this year we went for Batman night.  The promotional schedule said dress up as your favorite super hero so Evelyn and Jameson did, but hardly any other kids were dressed up.  On princess night there were princesses everywhere. Neither child looks excited to get their picture taken with Batman and the Joker, but Jameson was pretty excited.  Evelyn needed some encouragement.   We shared some ice cream before the game started.  Jameson eventually took his costume off, but they each got a cool batman mask to bring home. The game was really good.  The Komets scored first; Evelyn was so excited.   Then it was tied and went to overtime which also made Evelyn very excited.  Jameson had by this time fallen asleep on my lap.  Then the game went to a shoot out a...

One last Christmas to finish up winter break.  We had a great time in Michigan.  Friday was a day of arriving, playing, and opening presents.  Saturday the boys plus Evelyn went to the Hope College workshop to make helicopters. Each helicopter is unique.  Left to right it goes: Evelyn, Jameson, Isaac, Joshua.  While the kids were building, the girls went shopping and out to lunch. The rest of our time was spent relaxing and talking.  The cousins played really well together and did lots of marbles, but also legos and imaginary games with swords and balloons.  Tornado and Horizon who are much bigger than last year got lots of love too.

New Years Day is usually the day we put all our Christmas decorations away, which we did. I tried to go for a run but the sidewalks and roads were all icy from the snow we got yesterday that melted a little and then froze again so I ran on the treadmill. We also went for an organized New Years Day hike at Eagle Marsh. There were a few other families but mostly adults.  We hiked a trail that’s usually underwater but was open today. Well mostly open. There was one section that was about ankle deep water. Nate had borrowed a pair of waders so he carried Evelyn and Jameson through but I just had my hiking boots and they got wet.  But I said I’d be ok so we kept going and while my feet were cold and wet it wasn’t terrible awful.   Evelyn and Jameson did a great job hiking so I was glad we didn’t just give up. I was hoping the hike was a loop but it wasn’t and we had to walk through that water again. The second time was worse and my feet were really cold and real...