February 28

Elliott competed in the middle school regionals yesterday. The good news? He qualified for middle school state. The bad news? He lost all three matches. But because they take the top four qualifiers from each weight class, and he was in a four-man bracket, he gets to compete at state. His coach put him in the 92 pound weight class. He should have been in the 86 pound weight class. But he likely wouldn’t have made the top four. So.... he gets to experience the middle school state meet, even though it will be at a higher weight class. It’s the same weekend and location as the youth state meet where he will compete (in the correct weight class). 

Bryce and Bronson, Elliott’s teammates, came over for a little while after the meet. Our trampoline turned into a cage match. They are all boy.

Julia was at work and Kat was hanging out with her youth group... so our house flipped from estrogen-dominant to testosterone-dominant and it was quite a difference! Lucy just stayed out of their way.

February 27

Prepped schoolwork for next week and realized how quickly February went by. A week ago we had snow. My lilies are starting to bloom this week.

February 26

Another day of beautiful weather

When Ava and Asher come to play, Gus gets to play too. He looks for Ollie when he sees them. And if the kids leave the fence gate open, he goes to Ava and Asher’s house to visit.

February 25

After Julia’s schoolwork was done, we picked Raymond up and headed to the zoo, where we met up with Nikole and Nora. Kat was at school having her own fun.

Nora enjoys being the youngest cousin.

After the zoo, we headed to the county where Kat’s school is, but still had a little time to kill. Good thing there’s no covid there (insert sarcasm). Playgrounds are open and public school kids actually go to school. 


We brought Kat’s friend, Ruby, home from school to spend the night.

We had a short time at home before dropping Abbie off, grabbing dinner, and heading to church for youth group. We got Elliott off to kickboxing (and later wrestling) and the girls had fun playing with Eva, our neighbor. 

Some days I am amazed that I haven’t left a kid somewhere or forgotten to pick a kid up! 

February 24

Gus was sunbathing.

Lucy is the one being spotted by her coach.

February 23

What a difference 24 hours makes!

We played Clue last night. Julia would rather gouge her eyes out than play a game with us. Ha! 

February 22

We had a quick visit with Grandpa and Lulu yesterday on their way home from vacation.

Julia and Raymond had some fun sledding. The snow isn’t very fast anymore because it’s starting to melt.

Lucy had fun playing zoo with the neighbor. 

February 21

Some wicked icicles hanging outside our bedroom window.

February 20

Elliott wanted to take Lucy sledding at the nearby golf course (where his wrestling team went sledding Thursday night).

February 19

We got a couple more inches of snow last night! I couldn’t make it to IL this year, but IL came to me! The snow makes me so happy!

Elliott wanted to shovel the driveway for his chore. Sure thing buddy!

The girls wanted to play in the snow, but keep it out of their eyes. In theory  it was a good idea. In reality, the goggles fogged up quickly. But it made for a cute photo.

The kids made Mars rovers while we watched the Perseverance rover landing yesterday.

Sled train with the neighbors

Last night Elliott’s wrestling coach sent out a group message to meet at a golf course to sled. I took him. We lasted about an hour and a half before my toes got cold. I think Elliott could have lasted for hours. 

February 18

When there’s snow to be played in, the kids are pretty motivated to get schoolwork finished.







Last week Abbie got stuck at our house with an ice storm. This week she couldn’t get to our house before yesterday because of snow. Boy, did she enjoy it! The snow was packed down and fast. As you can see by their smiles, they had a lot of fun.

Elliott joined the adult boxing class last night because the kids’ coach couldn’t make it. The adult coach invited him to stay. He said it’s better Elliott stay and get some exercise than go home and play video games. Amen! Burn that boy’s energy!