February Flurry

February has continued to fly by with lots of family birthdays, Valentine's Day, and various outdoor fun.  We made a calculated risk to gather and celebrate our nephew Elliot's 16th birthday last week, which was SO nice!  We have missed these family gatherings more than anything, so it was a little sad when the evening was over and we had to return to our isolated existence.  Thankfully Covid numbers are trending in a better direction, and Grandma Betti and Grandpa Zeke will be able to register for their vaccines this week!  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Matt and Grandpa Tom met up for some snowboarding as a b-day celebration. How fun is that?!

The kids were playing outside, and Noah decided to do some dog poop scooping.  Way to go, buddy!

Family celebrating Elliot's Sweet 16th Birthday

I think they were happy to see each other!

Valentine's Day was pretty quiet.  Honestly, we were worn out from a busy week, and didn't have the energy to plan a big event or celebration.  This is how I experience "pandemic fatigue" - sometimes I get tired of trying to be creative within the Covid restrictions and just have to simplify.  We spread love by participating in a service project for our church by filling and delivering Valentine bags for elderly parishioners.  The kids worked really hard on making colorful, beautiful cards and cookies that were put into the Valentine bags.  We hope it lifted the spirits of a few folks! As a family, we celebrated Valentine's Day with a simple, yet gluttonous brunch of homemade waffles, bacon and heart-shaped strawberries (Evie's idea!).

Cards and cookies for our elderly parishioners

Cookie helper

Valentine's day treats

Mimosas!

In classic Noah form, he requested an egg sandwich instead.  BUT, he ate the whole thing and then ate a waffle too!

Valentine snuggles

Evie has had a full schedule lately, because she is preparing for her first Irish Dance competition, called a Feis.  These are normally held in-person, where she would dance before a panel of judges, but thanks to Covid, we will send in a video submission for a fully remote competition instead.  It's actually a nice way for her to ease into the competitive world of Irish Dance!  She has worked hard, and I was so impressed to see her dance, since we haven't been allowed in the studio all year.  It's also been a busy season for Girl Scout Cookies (thanks to everyone who has placed an order!).  Evie has almost 200 boxes to sort out and deliver locally!

Dressed and ready to record her dances!

Evie with her fantastic teacher, Miss Beth

Girl Scout Cookie time

Virtual Paint & Sip with Girl Scouts

Evie had a little sewing lesson with Grandma, and she made this mask!

Feeling a little crazy at the end of a busy week.  Ha ha!

Today is our first Remote Learning/Snow Day thanks to the winter storm blanketing Vermont.  Hopefully the kids will be done their school work in a couple hours, and we will be able to go out and enjoy the fresh snow!  It's a different feeling to have school work on a snow day, but we will appreciate that they don't have to make up this day in June.  Next week is February Break, when we would normally be heading to Florida for some sunshine and relaxation.  Sighhhhhhhh...it's better not to think about what we are missing, and just embrace where we are right now.  It's not so bad.

Keva Blocks creation

Silly Frankie. This is how she asks to go out in the evenings!

I had to go straight from working out to baking cookies.  Some days do not have enough hours!

This kid always makes us laugh with his antics!

We are thankful we can still go to church 

Making music with this guy is pretty fun

Exhausted pup after a puppy play date with her pal Ivy

She still loves to be held!  My arms can only last about 30 seconds, though!