Week 3

Monday, Jan. 11th

Happy Birthday to C3!  So thankful to God for the gift he is to us.  He's a wonderful leader, provider, husband, and father.  He's fiercely committed to his family which is what I love the most.  And...he keeps putting up with me and all my Amy-ness.

His birthday landed on a Monday (strike one) in the middle of the fast (strike two) and the kids all had evening activities / midterms week (strike three).  We made post-fast birthday plans with friends, so he was fine with soup and bread with 7/8 of the family.  Guys are so easy!  That bread was better than cake anyway!

He loved the FitBit I got him.  Boys and their toys.  The kids are always good for making it festive and fun, pouring the love on with their hilarious cards and kind words.

Tuesday, Jan. 12th

Wednesday, Jan. 13th
Trevor set up a restaurant for lunch and served the kids his specialty- frozen waffles.

After school the kids got out in the wee bit of snow we got, sledding down the O'Bonks ginormous hill.

Thursday, Jan. 14th

I spent the afternoon with a Bissell Steam Cleaner.  $25 at Lowes for 24 hours.  I did ALL my carpets in the house, even the basement.  I w-o-r-k-e-d.  Halfway through I was like, "I'm pretty sure ServiceMaster would come do this for $120.  I have no idea, but after I was done it felt sooooo good and clean and fresh.  The kids made good use of the empty floor space.

Karen's been hosting a home yoga class (I hope to get to it soon) and Renna has now been twice and all reports are she loves it and is attentive.

When Andrea brought her back, Sienna stayed for the afternoon and the girls had a tea party.

Rocco had been under the weather for a couple days.  In fact, I canceled plans with Meg, and probably right to do so.  He spiked a fever for the afternoon.

Friday, Jan. 15th
Happy Birthday to my oldest.  My *17* year old!!!!!  I'll post his special day separately.

Juliet posted this on her IG.  

I hauled out some stuff to the curb.  I won't lie...it hurt my heart to throw out the swing and highchair.  The ending of an era.  And so sad sitting there on the curb.

After surviving her first ever midterms week (the girl studied and studied and studied!!!) all Madison wanted to do when she got home on Friday was come home and play with the kids.  And she did...all afternoon!  Oh, and taught Renna how to do a cartwheel.  #freegymnasticsclass

We went to Friday night service as a family.  It was the first night of our Spiritual Emphasis with a special speaker.  He spoke to the youth about purity...a pOwErFuL message.  

And lucky me!!!!  I got to spend the evening there with Lisa, the birthday girl!!!!  We had an awesome time together.

Saturday, Jan. 16th

I finally decided to paint down the upstairs hallway.  It's been on the list for 8 years.  It's been at the top of the list since July when I painted the foyer.  I carried the same gray down the hall, but went a hair lighter since it's dark and narrow.  I'm very happy with the color.  Also happy that I got it done in and put away in three days.  But mostly thrilled because it just feels clean and fresh up there.  The walls were seriously nasty.

These before pictures were after I scrubbed the walls.

Halfway done.

Sunday, Jan. 17th

Rocco's making serious progress on the ice.

Week 2

Monday, Jan. 4th

After our big family meeting the night before, discussing our family's sacrifice for the capital campaign at church, Rocco came and presented *all* his money to Colombo.  He laid it down on his desk and said, "I want to give all my moneys to the church to help."

I didn't do so well with the box jumps.  I had never fallen before, but got it twice this day!  Just thankful it's not shorts weather.

Tuesday, Jan. 5th

We went to watch the East girls' basketball game that C4 was playing in the pep band for.  I couldn't believe the array of sneakers, socks, under armor.  Things have changed in 20 years!

Every time I'm in a gym I get sad that none of my kids play.  It's such a great game.  And you can be warm while you watch.  I guess I'll cross my fingers that Renna may want to one day.

Wednesday, Jan. 6th
The kids set up a court.  ???  Quite random.  The Honorable Judge Buzz Lightyear presiding.

Thursday, Jan. 7th
How cute!!!!!!

A little ice hockey on the back deck.

Ready for bed.

Friday, Jan. 8th
Lisa's got this sweet little thing she does on her blog, "Signs of Life", in which she takes ordinary, imperfect household scenes and posts them as beautiful pictures as proof of life.  You know, an empty cereal box, dirty socks on the floor, Lego men hiding in the house plant.  On her blog, it's beautiful.

But when I see this in my house????  This makes me want to start screaming my head off, handing out buckets and rags, and asking my children WHO and WHY would you do this????!!!!!!!!!!

I know, I know.  Someday I'll miss toothpaste blobs.

Saturday, Jan. 9th
C4's first Varsity start.  He didn't know he was starting until they announced his name.

We went to Springfield to watch Jon's game.  Carina (Colombo's old nanny) and her son Nathan were there.  This is how 12 year old boys catch up after not seeing each other for a couple years.

Such a treat to see them!  They are the sweetest family and her boys fit in perfectly with my kids.  It's a shame we don't get more time with them.

Sunday, Jan. 10th
I got a little date with this handsome dude.  He completely intrigues me!  Love him!!!

Daddy made a few New Year's resolutions- we'll see which ones stick!- and one thing he'd like to do is start cooking dinner on Sunday nights.  I've shared recently about our focused effort to preserve the Sabbath for family and to rest.  After recently talking to his guy friend and learning that they do 'family dinner' every Sunday with their grown kids (and everyone plans their schedules around that), Colombo was inspired to start cooking dinner on Sundays.

Because of the fast, he made creamy tomato soup with basil and asiago.

Since Christmas, Her Majesty has slept in her castle on her bed.

Week 1

Friday, January 1st, 2016

Our day started out celebrating Liv's 1st birthday!  Ryan and Amy did a beautiful Pinterest-worthy job with every detail of the party.  We felt honored to be included!  It was a treat to get time with them, the food was amazing, they let the kids run wild in their house without gasping, they prepared a craft for the kids, and what a beautiful little family they're growing!

We stopped back at home quick to load up for our weekend away.  C4 loves it when the van is full.  He loves having his picture taken, too.

 Friday night we stayed over Nick and Katie's.  A year previous, they'd bought our kids passes to Sky Zone and we finally made it happen!

Last one standing for Dodgeball.  (not surprising!)

Warrior challenge.

Nicky made us delicious lasagna and his famous chocolate chip cookies.  It was so relaxing and such a treat to hang in their domain.

Saturday, Jan. 2nd

After a lazy morning around the house, we all got loaded up to continue up to Portland for our annual used-to-be-Christmas-now-it's-just-fun-hanging-out gathering at Sara and Jay's.  They are the most efficient yet casual hosts.  They are on top of everything, but appear to just relax and converse the whole time.  Amazing!  They are generous and gracious and their home is beautiful.

This is the new fort they just built for the boys in the basement.  The little stairs go to the loft area.

Bruce and Nathanael spent about 4 hours juggling.  They are a match made in heaven.

They took a break so Bruce could show us his homemade bow and arrow.

We all gathered in the dark on the snow-covered deck.

Nathanael hit the target 3 out of 4 times!

Sunday, Jan. 3rd

After another lazy morning of brunch and visiting, we hit the road towards home.  Being gone for two nights really made it feel like a getaway.  

Daddy made a delicious dinner and we had some fun / serious family discussions.  We talked about what our family was going to do in regards to our capital campaign (for our new East Windsor campus!!!!) at church and what changes the kids should expect as a result.  

Then we did our traditional goals.  Everyone wrote down 3-5 goals and then we all picked one character trait that we want to focus on improving.  We shared some good laughs and encouraged one another.  We read through last year's and talked about how we'd done.  It was a sweet, sweet time as a family around the table.

After dinner...operation get-the-tree-out.