Earlier this week I walked into work and got my face pelted with ice/snow while my hands turned white because, of course, I had some coldbrew in hand but forgot to wear my winter coat. Tomorrow I think the high is supposed to be in the 60s. Missouri is bizarre, but I’m here for it.

This winter was full of sweet Gabey snuggles, lots of movies & snow days and the worst flu we have experienced in a long time. Here’s my not-so-brief update on this winter.

I believe the last time I posted a blog was mid December, so since then a lot has happened. December continued with celebrating Christmas. We went to our church’s Christmas Eve and made the mistake of letting our kids pick where we sat, which meant they picked the very front row right in the middle. It was pretty fun to watch them dance to the music, until the dancing turned to tackling. Nothing like the Christmas spirit to turn some worship into a mid-church wrestling match.

We traveled back to Iowa for Christmas, and even though we shortened the trip a bit (because traveling with a one-month-old is not for the faint of heart), it was still an absolute blast. The kids got to play with their cousins, open way too many gifts and spend some time with their beloved grandmas and grandpas.

January kicked off with our sweet Hezzy’s birthday. He turned six, and I don’t think I will ever be completely okay with the fact that we have a SIX YEAR OLD. He’s basically an adult. How did it happen? Who knows. Unfortunately his birthday party got rescheduled three different times due to snow storms & RSV. Thankfully Gabriel handled RSV like a champ and didn’t need to be hospitalized. We finally got to celebrate his birthday with a Pokemon party with a few of his close friends. He had a blast.

Hezekiah is the sweetest, little guy. He is a good and faithful friend, he cares about all he loves and he is such a deep thinker. He loves Pokemon and Sonic and could rattle off any fact you could ever wonder about Pokemon. I tell him every night that I am so grateful that God gave him to me, and it is so true. He is a joy to celebrate and I cant wait to continue to celebrate him the rest of my life.

We ended January with a little trip to Kansas City as a last “hurrah” before I went back to work. We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge and it was a blast. (a little PSA: if you’re going to the GWL, go during the week if you can—prices were VERY reasonable). The kids loved swimming. The big two really enjoyed the lazy river, Reya enjoyed jumping into the pool when we weren’t ready and causing us great stress, and Gabriel just liked getting some poolside snuggles). Nathan? His favorite part may have been the breakfast buffet.

We saved some money from a Once Upon a Child drop off to use at the arcade and the kids went wild. I also went wild and became lowkey addicted to the piano playing game. I really wanted to get my name on the highscores and I will not admit to how many credits I used playing that game.

We also went to legoland the next day on a whim. It was pretty empty and the kids had a blast. I ran into another family who had four kids at the exact same ages as ours so that was fun.

The day before I went back to work Naomi got the flu. I made it through two days of work before it took me down too. It slowly made it’s way through our whole family and it was brutal this year. Everyone except Gabriel got it at some point and it took probably two and a half weeks until we all felt somewhat normal.

During all of that commotion we got to celebrate our seventh anniversary, Nathan’s birthday and Valentine’s day! We were planning on making a trip up to Iowa to celebrate all of the above but decided to stay in Missouri just to make sure we didn’t spread any of the yucks to our family. We celebrated by making a sugar cookie cake, eating far too much BWWs, and watching the super bowl.

February was also full of going to a mizzou wrestling meet, going to a missions conference at our church and soaking up the sunshine on some of these warmer days. Summer feels so near and I just truly love it. The kids ask just about every day if we can get the sprinkler out and while we probably have a few months before that will happen, it does seem close—and with that, we rejoice.

Here are some things we have been loving lately:

Recipes: I’ve been in a baking kick and this chocolate chipcookie recipe got a lot of compliments—not overly sweet, but chewy and delicious.

Not a recipe but these teriyaki chicken fillets from Sam’s Club are very tasty, kid approved and incredibly easy for a quick dinner served with rice and broccoli.

Shows: Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke If you know me, you know I’m a sucker for documentaries. I read Shari Franke’s memoir a few weeks ago (I actually read it in less than 24 hours, which with four kids seems like quite an accomplishment). Nathan does not share my same obsession with cults that I do, but he also enjoyed this show. BIZARRE.

Books: The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series. We (actually just Nathan, who am I kidding), has been reading the three bigger kids a chapter of these books before bed. They enjoy it, Nathan enjoys it. It’s a win-win for many reasons.

The kids have also been big into audiobooks, especially when they were sick. They got to the point where they didn’t even have the energy to watch movies anymore, and so I would play audiobooks for them. After listening to too many Captain Underpants books, I tried the Swiss Family Robinson with Hezzy and he loved it! We watched the movie shortly after and despite it being an older movie, all the kids loved it.

Our rental van we got to borrow while our van was getting fixed from getting rear ended a couple of weeks ago. This rental van was top-notch. The kids loved the back-up camera and would frequently ask to watch “the video of the van going backwards”. A heated steering wheel was something I never knew I needed until we experienced the luxury. It was a little sad to give that rental van back, although I was very grateful to get our van fixed.

Other things we have been enjoying:

Spending all evening at a playground until the sun sets, early morning baby Gabey snuggles, watching Naomi and Hezzy play games together, finally getting Reya’s hair into pigtails, sweet sweet baby laughs (ugh, even just thinking about it gets me feeling all melty on the inside), and just setting into this season as a family of six. God is good.