Every week I like to take a moment to showcase the moments that brought me the most joy. Sometimes they are awesome activities and other times it’s a sweet moment between the kids. There are always moments that can fill us with joy if we choose to see them with a thankful heart.
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This week felt like it took forever! It was the first week back to full time schedules. The kids were back to five days of school for the week and Micah was back to a 40+ hour work week (I think it was closer to 50 this week) and I was busy putting the final touches on a presentation I was giving later in the week. We had a couple nice days to start the week and then the temps plummeted and we got hit with a blizzard. We’ve got all this super fine snow that blows like crazy when the winds pick up making driving super scary.
The cold (I’m talking -30+ windchills) meant I couldn’t send the kids out to burn off energy so they were literally bouncing around the house. I pulled out my tricks from last winter and we pulled up silly dance videos on GoNoodle for them to get a little crazy with. It helped a bit but definitely not as effective as running around.
But as always, there is good. There is goofy, there is sweet, and there is joy, all because of a wonderful God that showers us with blessings.
1. Goofy boys
I walked into their room one night to find Parker under his mattress on a pillow so he could watch Jamison’s tablet through the bars. I guess I give him props for creating a solution to the “no, you can’t be on my bed” problem? Silly kid.
2. LEGO building
The little boys have gotten into LEGO a lot over the past few months. They still have Duplo in their room and living room but we’ve also started their real LEGO collection and they are quite good at putting pieces together and building their own creations. Cade tends to make unique types of towers with random pieces but Anders usually creates an airplane to zoom around.
3. Meal Planning
Meal planning has become a huge part of my life over the last decade and I’m expanding beyond sharing my tips on the blog. Last week I got to speak at my MOPS group about meal planning and grocery budgeting basics. It was so much fun and I’ve gotten some great basics. I’m also enjoying running my new Facebook group – Meal Planning with Katie. We are going to be starting on batch cooking this week so if you have any interest in learning what batch cooking is and how to make it work for your family you should join us!
4. Surprise sushi date
When I returned home on Thursday night we got the kids put to bed then Micah pulled me into the kitchen and uncovered a few rolls of sushi. He got all cute and said, “Thirteen years ago today I asked you to be my girlfriend. Would you like to join me for some sushi to celebrate?” <3 I mean, c’mon! He said he’d been planning it for a while. Isn’t he the cutest?? I was so focused on my presentation that night I had totally spaced the date was coming up. At home date for the win!
5. Creative solutions
We pooled our Christmas money from the last two years together and bought a Nintendo Switch – something we’ve all been wanting but didn’t have the extra funds for until now. Micah wanted to find a way to play it in other rooms so he built himself a quick little stand out of LEGO. We’ve also been using the stand for doing our video devotionals on our tablet at breakfast. He’s so handy 😉