For the past thirteen years, February has been a difficult month for me due to the memories and anniversary dates of Luke's death and birth. This past February was perhaps the most happy February I have had since Luke died. I attribute this not to me moving on emotionally, but to the fact that we embraced the weather in February like I haven't done since I was a kid. I've always found it interesting that the hardest month weather-wise of the year was also the hardest month emotionally for me as well. I wonder if the weather wasn't so brutal if my feelings wouldn't be so dark as well? Due to COVID this year, we stuck to outdoor visits only, and because of that, we were outside a lot, despite below freezing temperatures. And amazingly enough, despite the courage needed to go outside each day, when we came back inside, our perspectives were fresh, the house seemed cozier, and we were all just happier. There is something to be said for going outside despite the temperature and COVID made that possible this year, for lack of anything better to do.
I am so glad we had snow. Snow gives us a reason to play outside when it is cold. If there is no snow when it is cold, it is much harder to get outside and stay outside.
With no place to go, snow became a happy event. We didn't care if the roads were bad - we could embrace the joy of snow.
This winter we finally got all four girls on to the ice as well. The older three kids have been to indoor ice skating rinks in the past, and no one really enjoyed it, especially me, with an aching back trying to get skates on everyone and then hauling them around the ice as they were still wobbly on their feet. And Will has proclaimed that he has washed his hands of skating, as to him the work isn't not worth the outcome. But I have such great memories of skating when I was a kid, from the local pond to a few winters that my dad made an ice rink in our backyard, that I am determined to trod on through the challenges and get my kids confident on the ice. Whether it was a combination of age or the thrill of doing something, anything, during our COVID shut-in, the girls finally took to the ice. Yes, the first few times they were still wobbly and hesitant, but with my commitment to giving them the experience of some of my favorite childhood memories, I was determined to stick it out despite cracking and bleeding fingers from tying so many skate laces in frigid weather and encouraging them to not be afraid to fall.
We met friends at the ponds, and the socializing combined with the freedom of no time constraints and an activity that embraces cold weather - the colder the better for solid ice - we had a happy and memorable month. And, I'm happy to report that the two oldest can now put their own skates on too.
We also continued sledding with friends, and when we knew the weather was finally warming up, we had a memorable last skate of the season with a gorgeous setting sun to illuminate our final skate.
I can't wait until next February when hopefully the weather will be good for ice again! Since then, we are enjoying the thaw, and a bit more understanding that each season brings it's joys and challenges. No season lasts forever, so we will continue to try to soak in the joys that each one brings as much as we can.
Charlie is approaching middle age, and this winter he decided that he did not prefer to walk on snow. So whenever we were outside, he rode on my shoulder like a parrot. Of course, if I had invited him, he would have preferred being carried like a baby, but if I didn't invite him with open arms, he climbed me like a tree and sat atop my shoulder like he owned the place. What a cat. In the below photos in clockwise order from top left: Charlie surprising the girls when he came out of their snow fort, Charlie climbing on top of my stomach as I attempted to make a snow angel in the backyard, Emma and Violet giving Charlie snuggles, Charlie on my shoulder, Charlie on my shoulder again, and finally, Charlie sitting outside on our dining room window sill, watching us eat with beggar eyes.
Homeschool plugged along steadily this past month, with efficiency in the morning fueled by the thrill of being done with school in time to hit the local sled hill or frozen pond. In clockwise order from top left below: Violet giving me her signature "I don't like this" look when I told her what she needed to do for school that day, Opal playing in the tub while I held office hours in the bathroom for the older three kids, Emma holding a pillow she sewed all by herself for her new bedroom, and the three youngest doing yoga in the living room.
There was still plenty of indoor play this past month despite our frequent skating and sledding. In clockwise order from top left below: a Lego Princess segway that Violet designed, Violet looking cute with an armful of stuffed animals, Will enjoying a "picnic" with girls and cats, and finally, the girls playing Jenga with Opal wearing noise canceling headphones so she would be ready for the inevitable crash.
Perhaps this February was easier on me because we had some major distraction happening as well. We have talked about busting into a wall in the girls bedroom for years and putting in a built in bunk bed. But the dimensions are so close to making or breaking the possibility of a functioning bunk bed that we kept hesitating. That, and the fact that it would be a major, house disrupting, project. We finally decided to go for it. The first step was cutting a small hole in the wall to determine what was back there. We always hold our breath when we do this, as we have no idea what we will find - dead bodies, treasure, or serious structural issues. We found a few clothing tags, a button or two and a penny. The space used to be a closet, and for some reason, a previous owner decided to seal it off. We were good to go.
After confirming that we could make the bunk bed, it was time to move the girls into Opal's bedroom, a room that is barely large enough to hold one twin bed. Thank goodness Opal was still in a toddler bed, as we put her bed on the smallest size, and added in a twin bed for Lucy and the bunk bed that Violet and Emma sleep in. You could no longer access the closet in the room, but it worked for temporary housing.
Will is good at many things, and his craftsmanship is top notch. He does NOT excel at cleanliness while he works, and the drywall dust was EVERYWHERE. It was very hard for me not to lose my mind completely during this process. I spent so much time mopping, dusting, vacuuming and just trying to maintain a sense of normalcy with the mess and the furniture from the girls room placed in random places throughout our house. This project was intended to be done over Will's winter break - a four day weekend. We were crazy to think it could be finished that fast. It was well over a month of chaos, but the end results was totally worth it.
Emma was Will's right hand helper, and absolutely loved everything about the construction process.
We wanted to put a time capsule under the bunk bed before it was sealed up, and so we took a few photos of the girls, Will and I, Charlie and our house with the bunk bed and also put in a few 2021 coins, a small American flag, and some poems and blessings as well as a letter to whoever finds it in the future. All of this went into one of my old Harding Honey jars. Our house is 100 years old, and we would have LOVED to find something like this each of the times we have busted into the walls of this old house.
Below are some of the photos that went into the time capsule.
The night that the girls moved into their new room, Will's Aunt and Uncle dropped off new bed sheets for all of the girls, amazing chocolate cupcakes and a new bedtime story to celebrate their new room. This was such a great idea, and it really made the first night in their new room even more exciting.
Opal is now bunking with her sisters, and her sleep is slowly improving. She has still not slept through the night a day in her life, but with baby steps, I know we will get there. Lucy has been a team player, and a lot of times will either lay with Opal in her bed when she wakes up in the middle of the night or even bring Opal to me if she can't console her.
Posts
