Lately

Hi friends!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had our corned beef and Irish Soda bread last night... I modified the soda bread to make it gluten- and dairy-free.  (Did I mention here that we are now avoiding dairy, gluten, all nuts, sesame, fish and shellfish for C?  Well, that's another post for another day!)  It was delicious and I'm glad we could keep up the tradition as I had a whole day at home to cook yesterday.  That's been a rarity these days as many singing gigs have been filling my weekends.  I love singing, and the extra money is great, but a home day is always nice too.

We, of course, followed the tradition of Lucky Charms for dessert:

I give these to my kids every year, forgetting the havoc that Red 40 wreaks on their little systems.  We have a few days of hyperactivity and grumpiness, and I vow never to do it again.  Until I forget.

Since the last time I blogged, we had our February vacation from school.  It really filled in with a lot of extra appointments, playdates with friends, and a few make-up lessons taught for me, but we still managed to get some home projects done, which made M and I feel good, since we're seriously considering putting our house on the market soon.  Yep.  That's also another post for another day.

In between all of that, we had a trip to BB Kidz Klub (an indoor playground) which was absolutely WONDERFUL for the girls to burn off lots of pent up winter energy.

After seeing a lot of crazy kids in that place, I have to give a shout-out to my girls for being so kind and watching out for others, in a room full of kids who... well... weren't.  They were very protective of J and super careful and responsible in general.  It's days like these, seeing them in action, that remind me of how much they learn just by having multiple siblings.  They have constant practice being patient, taking turns, solving problems, working out conflicts, and taking care of one another.  Of course they still struggle sometimes but I'm quite proud of how much they teach and support one another, and how grown up and awesome they are all becoming.  Heart-eye emojis.

Later on in the week we took a trip to Salem Massachusetts, because the big girls had been reading some books about the witch trials and wanted to see the actual place where it all went down.  To our dismay, many of the museums were closed for the season, but we did visit the memorial (in Old Salem Village-- modern-day Danvers) where the the trials and hangings took place, then went to the visitors center in Salem, learned some maritime history, and took a look at the harbor.

It was a sunny day, and not terribly cold (low 40s), so the girls spent almost an hour collecting seashells and running around, until Mom and Dad got cold watching them and we decided to head back indoors.

Then there were hot dogs and ice cream, of course.

I have more pictures and updates to share, but for the sake of getting this published tonight, and eliminating the risk of it sitting in my drafts for another month before I return to it, I will bid you adieu and hopefully return soon to catch up!  Have a great week, everyone!