How’s everyone holding up? C was out of school last Thursday, Friday and Monday due to parent-teacher conferences and then President’s Day, and then yesterday and today due to weather/rolling blackouts (we are in the greater Kansas City area). We kept M home on Monday and Tuesday from daycare, but DH was ready to take her back today, LOL. So he drove her in and will work from the office so he can pick her up.

We lost power for about 30 min yesterday, but that was it, and was clearly for the rolling blackouts, so it wasn’t too bad. I feel for my friends in Texas - the stories, FB posts, etc I am seeing from there are crazy.

Jigsaw puzzles? Board games? Going outside even if it’s only for 15 minutes? M always wants to go outside, and I’ve noticed that if we’re out so she can ride her scooter, C will often end up joining us on his bike. There’s a cul-de-sac near us that they can just ride around in, so even if we only spend 15 minutes out there, we all feel better.

Do you have a basement? Any space for a ping pong table? You can do that with two people or four.

I just signed C up for several camps through our county parks & rec department yesterday. And his cousin who is one year younger is going to do all but none with him. I’m not looking forward to playing chauffeur with DH for him as no two weeks are the same, and some are all day, some are 6 hours, and some are 2-3 hours, but I’m just reminding myself it’s short term.

He’s going to do an outdoor summer escapade at a park one week, a nature & science camp at a different park for a week, NERF battles one week (that one is only 2 hrs/day but he really wanted to do it), an art camp, fencing camp, and a Code Ninjas create camp.

That covers every week but one until the second half of July. We’re still trying to figure out a vacation for this summer; so once that is done, I’ll see if we can put him in anything else to cover another week or two. I’m okay if he’s home for a couple of weeks, but I also want him to get out of the house soon.

Almost everything I signed him up for has a minimum age of at least 6, but some 7 and 8, so I have no idea what we’ll do next year as M will need care as well, but doesn’t turn 6 until the end of the summer. Oh well, I’ll worry about that later.

Congrats, azucena!! That is huge and I am so happy for you - what an awesome milestone!!

I don’t notice any smell with the Sharpie pens. These are the ones I have.

Sharpie 1802225 Pen, Fine Point, Assorted Colors, 6-Count smile.amazon.com/dp/B005LU2QA6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_GUJbGb5VHXTVP?psc=1

I had a couple of failure days as far as steps and movement go (and food choices, if I’m being honest), but did manage to buy a Kettlebell on Saturday and used it yesterday for a short workout after walking on the treadmill, so yay for small things.

Popping in to say hi and awesome work everyone! I traveled last week and have been swamped, so not a ton getting done at home, but actually at least mostly keeping up with the normal mail/laundry/dishes (well, DH does those)/cooking/grocery stuff.

We plan to finish our basement this year, and DH is ready to go now (he's doing the bulk of the work), so he's been on a roll going through our basement and getting rid of stuff (empty boxes, misc toys the kids don't use, etc), and nagging me to list what we can give away or sell on FB. I've gotten a few things posted, but have more to do, so hoping to get through all of that this week.

I also still need to get some weights - must add a trip to the sporting goods store to my to-do list this week.

Co grata to your DH, peace!! Hoping you guys have an easy move and transition!

C is only 9, but generally never wants to shower unless it’s his idea. When I think he stinks, I tell him he smells and needs to shower. And then he can’t do ‘x’ until he’s bathed. Once in a while he’ll negotiate and I let him win - like sometimes he wants to shower in the morning instead of at night, so I say yes, and so far he’s followed through and showered in the morning when he says he will. Yesterday M (4) wanted a shower instead of a bath, which meant that is what C wanted as well, so it took no convincing on my part, which was a nice change.

Going to post to try to keep my motivation up - played outside in the remnants of snow with the kids for 45 minutes after work (not super active, but I wasn’t sitting down reading/playing board games/whatever), and walked for 30 minutes on the treadmill right before the kids went to bed.

Thanks! We have a treadmill, but I will definitely check out Academy or Dick’s for some kettle balls to try the video mililizard posted a link for below.

I'm struggling with goals -  I know I need to lose weight, but for that, need to focus on eating better/being more active. And I hit a big milestone birthday this year, and in general am realizing that I'm starting to get aches and can tell the next day if I overdo something. Which all leads to needing to be more active/fitter/everything so I can live an active and healthy lifestyle and keep up with my kids.  Sigh.

We have a gym at work that had great classes, pre-Covid. It's unfortunately still closed, I'm guess through the summer, and that was the easiest way for me to fit in a workout because it was at work. I definitely walked a ton more last year, so I need to keep that up. And maybe do some bodyweight stuff to help with strength? Anyone have something they do at home that they love? We don't have any weights, but I'm not opposed to getting some handheld weights, kettle balls, or medicine balls (or something like those), assuming they can be found now.

All of that to say, I'm feeling okay about the start to the new year. We got snow on New Year's Day, so we all went outside and DH and I shoveled while the kids played. While DH finished up, I pulled the kids around our yard on a sled, so was decently active (way more so than the past on that holiday). We also walked to the closest hill of any decent size, which is only a half mile, but played in the snow and climbed up and down the hill several times. And repeated the trip to the sledding hill again today, complete with pulling the kids part of the way on the sidewalks still covered in snow.

Becoming was my favorite read in 2019 - I hope you love it!  I'm reading A Promised Land now and it's long.  Really long. Interesting, but whoosh - starting my year with that is going to make me question if I'm going to hit my reading goal this year. I started it on my Kindle shortly before Christmas and I think I'm up to 40% now - and I go back to work tomorrow, so I will have even less time to read. That said, It's due back to the library soon, so I need to power through. And not turn on the wifi on my Kindle until I'm done so I don't lose it and have to wait on it to become available again.