We had our first snow day on Friday! And we’re having our second snow day today, Monday. I’m not exactly tired of the snow but I am a liiiiiittle tired of seeing my family quite so much. I’m pretty sure they feel exactly the same way.

Sunday:

Lazy level 100

Baby brothers are helpful

MY KITCHEN SINK IS EMPTY I DID NOT DO THIS IS IT MAGIC???

Monday:

That seems normal for Feburary.

Important groceries

Family Insanity Time

Tuesday:

Sleeping with his eyes open

Where did I get a teenager?

Plz feed these to me immediately

Wednesday:

She thought her doctor’s gown was very fashionable

Toddler wearing

Hairdresser in training

Thursday:

Sharing

Really please with his lollipop

Me: LINC IT IS FREEZING OUTSIDE GET BACK IN THE HOUSE. OK MISTER, I’M JUST GOING TO LEAVE YOU OUT THERE! I AM! FOR REAL! I’M SHUTTING THE DOOR! Linc: Whatevs.

Friday:

Snow day

Destroying stuff, because snow day

Exhausted from destroynig stuff

Saturday:

Horsey time

She wants to know why we don’t have a trampoline in OUR house

Parenting level up: getting a beer out of a cooler on the floor with a baby on your head

We wasted today’s snow day doing literally nothing. Which is fine, I like doing nothing. But I really hope we have normal school tomorrow so Linc and I can go do nothing at Target with a latte instead of on the couch while three children scream at each other. Plus we’re out of essentials like potato chips and bacon, so I’m going to HAVE to leave the house.

February already feels like the longest month ever and it’s only the 8th.

It’s 60+ degrees today. I went on a lovely 4 mile hike by the ocean with a fr iend this morning without a coat – although the baby on my back counts as an extra layer. It was SO NICE to be outside and feeling like spring is on the way. Even if we get 5 feet of snow this month at least we’re not suffering through another endlessly cold, dark, snowy winter.

Sunday:

Three little troublemakers

The sun made it less cold

Photo session heaven

Monday:

READY TO GO

Now I’m nursing a baby AND a stuffed dog all the time

“My favorite part of my neighborhood is DD” That’s Dunkin Donuts. Mama’s so proud.

Tuesday:

Poppy & Rye *heart eyes forever*

Guilty face

This is the freestyle portion of ballet

Wednesday:

Skeptical of swim, as always

Box = more entertaining than thousands of real toys

Family Insanity Workout Time

Thursday:

LASHES

Bird stalking

Fancy hairs

Friday:

So cooperative and good at sharing, toddlers are

The number of things he insists on sleeping with keeps growing

Blowing stuff up while Caroline learns piano

Saturday:

Basketball poses

Babywearing in the Navy-themed Tula at the Navy-themed museum

THE GIRL’S TEAM WON BOTH GAMES IT’S A HAND AND FOOT MIRACLE

I’m afraid I’ve lost the ability to speak English. No one in my family seems to understand me when I talk, so that seems like the most likely explanation. Either that or they’ve all suddenly gone deaf, which might ALSO explain why they are SO LOUD ALL THE TIME.

That’s probably what happened.

Hey look! My blog is working again! It is no longer infected with vicious malware because my host company fixed it. Which is good, because I have literally no idea how that happened OR how to fix it. So here’s last week’s post, late but done.

Sunday:

Nutcracker

Very excited

Luke and Yoda

Monday:

Very scenic view of Groton Long Point

My UPS guy is very busy

Warrior baby

Tuesday:

Santa is delivering these to Linc and Caroline

Helping wrap presents, because babies should totally have scissors

Evan’s “can” sentence: “She can be a superhero”. THAT’S RIGHT SHE CAN.

Wednesday:

Seriously in love with my Rocksbox this time. I might keep the necklace.

This is their favorite game

Sleepy baby

Thursday:

That’s not my fairy!

Twinning

Fish girl

Friday:

Surprised face

Destroyer of worlds

Grown up cards night

Saturday:

Caroline really thought we should keep them

Polar Express train at bedtime = tired baby

But he woke up for the cookies and Santa

Three more days until Christmas and it’s currently 60 degrees outside. We might go to Boston on Christmas Eve because it will be warm enough not to bring coats for walking around. I’m still not complaining, because I am sure we’ll be burried in snow before spring.

The rest of my plans for this week include making fudge and cookies and letting the kids eat as many sweets as they want because Christmas. I love Christmas.

Our big (ugly) family room couch is one of those sausage-casing monstrosities, where all the cushions are attached, with built-in recliners and cup holders. It’s truly hideous. But while we’re in the “Oh my god where did you get that yogurt?!” stage of children, there’s no point in having NICE furniture, so I settled for comfy and functional in a beige color that hides dirt.

The biggest problem with that kind of couch (besides ugly) is that it’s pretty useless when it comes to couch forts, and couch forts are an essential part of childhood. Luckily, when I was trying to fancy-up our living room last year I found a nice mini-sized couch that a) is also a good dirt-hiding shade of beige and b) has two nice huge cushions that make an excellent fort wall. The kids LOVE that couch – it’s the perfect size for them to spread out and watch iPad, set up all the dolls into elaborate tableaus or just climb all over while they hit each other with lightsabers. Lovingly, obviously. Lovingly hit each other with lightsabers.

I got an email from Wayfair saying they put together some super cute sofa fort plans and asking if my kids would be interested in building one. They even sent a super cozy Lush throw blanket to get us started. Check out their fun ideas:

We chose the Dreadship Blanket and got to work rearranging the furniture, finding supplies and collecting throw blankets and pillows.

Real life talk: This is what passes for “super clean and organized” in our living/play room. It’s half grown-up, finished space (art! mirrored table! fireplace! throw pillows!) and half kid zone (toys! more toys! even more toys!!!). Please ignore the photobombing cat.

And here’s what happened when we created our own Dreadship Blanket:

We left the fort up for a week before I wanted my living room back for a grown up event, but pretty much any time they want to rebuild a couch fort I’m on board. It’s the kind of fun, creative, independent play that ends up with about 80% cooperation and only 20% screaming at each other. In case you don’t have multiple kids, those are REALLY good percentages.

Thank you again Wayfair for the fun idea!

Remember when Wordless Wednesday was a thing and I could just post photos and people still came and looked at them?

But don’t look at these too much, for some reason the colors look terrible. Ugh.