Monthly Archives: January 2023

In the last 2 weeks, Xander has stayed home from school both Fridays- once with pink eye and once with a terrible cold. I had strep throat and spent 24 hours in misery. The temperature outside has been super cold. And somehow, January has flown by. I have barely any photos from the past 2 weeks- I think we’re in the winter blahs..

Last weekend, we went to a very fun swimming birthday party with approximately 35 pre-K and kindergarteners. The boys had a blast!

The February Kiwi Co boxes arrived and were so fun. I can’t recommend these enough! Xander built a cleaning machine, that picked up pom poms- so cool. Augustus’s box was all about jam. Coming soon to grocery stores near you- Wild Man Jam. It was SUCH a fun project that involved smashing fruit. After making jam, we made tarts that we delicious!

Yesterday was Xander’s first ever basketball game. We had basketball pancakes. We had basketball oranges at lunch. Xander planned a special tribute dinner to himself to celebrate his big game. It was a lot of excitement. His team didn’t win, but Xander smiled the whole game and was so happy and so excited. I can’t wait for next weekend!

Nate had his open house for his new office- I didn’t take any photos! I have accepted the role of Lower School Lead for the PTA. Gussie is obsessed with video games and would play every moment if screen time wasn’t super limited to only weekends. KT has been busy with classes. Xander continues to rock at swim, basketball and karate practices.

Last night we took our small children to a bar to see Sean’s band. It was a very kid friendly 6pm show and they enjoyed some kiddie cocktails. Today the boys went to Grandma’s and swam.

Another cold week ahead. January is ending, bring on February!

We were finally finally FINALLY back to a regular schedule… sorta. Xander started 3 new activities, so that was wasn’t normal, but overall, we were back to a regular schedule.

I could talk for HOURS about the importance of child-led play, letting kids get bored to be forced into creativity, and the risks of being in too many structured activities. So much of the fundamental programming of camp came from these philosophies and I feel passionate about kids being free to explore. So saying that Xander just started 3 new (structured) sports makes me cringe. Am I becoming a cliche mom who is over-planning her children’s lives? No. It’s less than 4 hours a week. He still has plenty of time for free play.

Xander is obsessed with basketball and SO excited to join the Y basketball league which is both practices AND games. He will practice for 45 minutes every Tuesday and then have a game every Saturday. He is THRILLED. On Wednesdays, he will be practicing with the MPA swim club. 1st grade is the youngest you can join and he has been talking about this since last year. On Thursdays, he will do after-school enrichment Karate class. He was VERY excited about it, but after the first class, he was concerned it was a bit “slow” so we’ll see if he likes it or not.

Augustus spent Monday with Grandma Debbie- Cain and Cora came over to swim and play. Behind Sam and Abby’s house is an awesome snow fort, so the boys spent some time after school playing outside. It was so nice to just have a regular week.

The new Kiwi Co boxes came last weekend and on Saturday, Gussie and I finally got to dig into his box. This month we made ravioli from scratch! We made the pasta dough, rolled it out, used the ravioli maker that was in his box, and boom!! Ravioli! Nate has been joking that I get the most excited about these boxes (accurate), but Augustus really enjoys doing it and is so proud at dinner when we eat what he makes.

The ravioli turned out pretty good! We rolled the pasta dough out as thin as I could, but it was thicker than store-bought. If we do it in the future, we might need to invest in the pasta maker attachment for my kitchen-aid. We also did an experiment and used pie crust, to make ravioli shaped tiny pies, filled with chocolate and marshmallow- dessert ravioli! For dinner, I also included store bought ravioli (just in case our homemade wasn’t good), so we had ravioli 3 ways. Gussie was proud of dinner and it was a really fun project. We will make ravioli again!

This weekend is low key and relaxing. Compared to last weekend’s craziness, I was super excited to have time to chill. Saturday was a day of playing and relaxing. We made ravioli, played video games, did a few chores, and hung out. It was great. Today the boys went to my mom’s house. They went to see Avatar and sat through the entire 3 hours! Nate and I had a hot date to the Home Remodeling Show. We have wild dreams of knocking down walls and remodeling our upstairs some day. We also want to replace some of our windows. At this point, we were just doing research, but it was fun to hang out and do something a little different. We went out to dinner and had a literal BOAT of sushi. Tomorrow is MLK day and no school, so the boys are spending the night at Grandma’s house. Nate and I are binge-watching a new show and eating fancy desserts on the couch. My favorite kind of weekend!

After the extreme fun of winter break, I was very excited to get back to our normal routine. Alas, that would NOT be the case this week after all.

Monday was the final day of winter break per last week’s post, we had an awesome last day at the Nook and sledding.

On Tuesday, we were back to normal! I got to the YMCA at 6am, swam my laps and headed home to get the boys ready for school. I found a MISERABLE Nate and a very crabby/whinny/achy Gussie. They stayed in bed while I dropped the other boys at school. Nate and Augustus spent most of the day snuggling on the couch and I worked. It was mostly normal and I anticipated Wednesday would be the real day we’d get back on track.

Except that Mother Nature had wildly different plans that involved about 13 inches of snow. We got a robo call at 5:35am letting us know that school was cancelled- our first snow day ever! Xander came in my room a little while later and I said, “Xan, it’s a snow day!” and he replied, “what does that mean?” “It means you don’t have to go to school because there is too much snow!”

“Huh? Well that’s too bad.” -X (7)

When he found out he could have screens and video games, he changed his mind about being disappointed about missing school.

I had a personal training appointment and despite the entire metro area being shut down, I assumed the snow day didn’t apply to me. My van made it about 4 houses down the street before getting stuck. Ok. Nate has all wheel drive, so I decided to take his car. I got about halfway out of the garage and got it so stuck it would have been that way until the spring. However, my heroic, angelic neighbors happened to see me and spent 30 minutes DIGGING me out. I was SO grateful because Nate was even sicker than the day before and I was not prepared to break it to him that he was going to have to help me DIG. Aaron and Melissa win the neighbor or the year award. I did not make it to the Y that day. Apparently the snow day was meant for me too.

Instead, I texted the neighborhood about a 3pm hot cocoa bar at our house. The boys played outside. I worked all day. And at 3pm, 14 of us enjoyed hot cocoa and chaos.

Thursday was my 18th year at Youth in Government. I love this program so much (and not just because I met my husband there!). I CANNOT believe it has been 18 YEARS. And while the program has grown and changed and evolved, it is also the same, familiar, comfortable, “feels like coming home” place that I look forward to every year. Xander was 3 months old when I wrapped him up and went to YIG like nothing had changed. I remember my brother seeing a photo of me and saying, “you have to really enjoy that if you are willing to do it with a baby strapped to you!” Nate and I brought Xander and dressed him up in code-of-conduct dress clothes the next year, switching off so we could both volunteer and have a toddler there. I left Nate and X home the next year and that year brought a dressed up Gussie.

Since then, I have left all the boys home and spent a luxurious 4 days/3 nights with over a thousand teenagers…

This year though, YIG was back to normal after last year’s super locked down, sort of stressful, “should we even be doing this” pandemic year. It felt good for it to be so normal. Also, in my new role (not that new, I’ve been at this job for over a year now), I actually get to work with Youth in Government, so I went as a volunteer, but also, had some alumni development projects to do for my real life job.

Oh, and did I mention that when I arrived, the weekend started by Orville giving me a fabulous glittery ornament?! A present?! A Christmas ornament?! A glittery macaron?! I’m sorry, did he manage to hit literally every single one of my love languages (yes, glitter can be a love language) in one gift? I almost went home right then because it couldn’t possibly get better than that moment.

I didn’t go home though and it actually did get even better! Thursday was the normal chaos of checking in thousands of people and getting everyone settled. I was so happy to see all of my YIG buddies. It felt so good to be there. On Friday, Nate had to work, so Gussie spent the day with me at the hotel. He helped at the Hotel Director’s office. He colored. He explored the hotel. He was very patient while I worked. We ate lots of snacks. We went swimming. It was an exciting day. After school, Nate dropped Xander off. He immediately saw Augustus’s official name tag and said, “what is that? Where did you get that?” He was VERY happy to have his own when we arrived to my hotel room. He had a quick snack and then changed his clothes and asked me to put in a pony tail. He had clearly put some thought into how he wanted this night to go!

He was very eager to meet everyone and see everything but he was VERY shy when we actually did meet people. When I put him to work at the desk, I handed him a box of bandaids and said, “one of our jobs is to hand these out to all the people who are wearing uncomfortable shoes”. He asked for some paper and immediately made a “free bandaids” sign, which is obviously what we should have had all along. Sometimes looking at him is like looking in a mirror. We visited programming and I was pleasantly surprised that he was SUPER interested. We were standing in the back of the room and Xander asked if we could sit. We sat in the back row and he asked if we could move up. He really enjoyed watching the kids debate.

We had dinner with the hotel directors and then it was time for YIG-fest. Do you know what little boys love?! An empty ballroom to run laps in. They were very excited to watch the inflatables get set up and even dragged out chairs to watch. The inflatable company people were VERY nice and let them try out everything while they set up. The evening activity people from YIG gave them a job to plug in the blow up guys outside the doors and the boys were VERY excited to have a job.

They got to eat cotton candy, jump, run, throw basketballs, and be up WAY past their bedtime. They were not shy about chatting with the high school students and taking about the strategy for the obstacle course. We made a late night craft project. We at 9pm cheesecake. It was SO FUN. I was so happy to have them there and also kept picturing them when they were babies.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and went swimming. Nate picked them up before lunch and I went back to work. It was a whirlwind 24 hours and way more exhausting having them there than anything a any teenager could throw at me.
When they got home, there was a neighborhood text about dinner at Can Can Wonderland. Nate texted me to see what I thought. We never miss neighborhood fun, but I thought it was a little risky as they had stayed up so late. But they went for it and had a blast. I had major FOMO (fear of missing out) even though I was enjoying my time at YIG.

Sunday was back to normal for the boys as the headed to Grandma Debbie’s for the day. They had a low key day and watched Avatar. All 3 of them (my mother the leader of the pack) have been trying to convince me to let her take them to the new Avatar at the theater. I don’t think a 5 and 7 year old can sit through a 3 hour movie. I said if they could sit through the first one, I’d agree to let them go. So apparently next weekend they will be going, because they said they liked it.

YIG was a blast and I came home on Sunday exhausted, but grateful for another amazing year. It is a privilege to be able to be part of such an extraordinary program. The staff work harder than anyone I know and care so deeply. It creates an electric atmosphere that you just have to feel- I’m not sure I can fully describe the magic.

And now we are going back to regular scheduled programming. Life is going to return to our routine. I am saying that loudly and aggressively because I demand that we go back to normal. No more holidays. No more special things. No more excitement. My brain and my body need to CTFD (a new acronym I learned at YIG)

Calm The &$%* Down in 2023!!!

After a busy week and an amazing Christmas, I was so grateful for a boring Monday and Tuesday. Nate and I both had work to get back to, so the boys enjoyed unlimited screen time and basically anything goes. On Monday, I took the Christmas tree down and packed up all the Christmas decorations. I LOVE Christmas, but once it is over, I am ready to be done. I was really happy to have our house back to normal.

On Wednesday, the boys went to Camp St. Croix for a day of winter camp. They sledded, made s’mores, played outside. It came at just the right time as they were starting to annoy each other and get stir-crazy at home.

KT and his family lived in Rochester when he was a kid and his family has stayed in touch with his former piano teacher. She invited him to spend the week in Rochester with her and her family, so that was fun for him to have a change of scenery.

On Friday, Augustus and 15 other 4&5 year olds celebrated a classmate’s birthday at Build a Bear Workshop. It was pure (organized) chaos, but very fun.

On Saturday, the boys headed to Grandma Debbie’s house for a slumber party. They went to see a movie, went to a play place, went swimming, and had a great time as always. Nate and I walked 3 doors down for a raging New Years party at Kelly and Silas’s house. I laughed until my cheeks hurt. I ate SO MANY snacks. We rang in the new year and were home and in bed by 1am.

On Sunday morning, we slept late and lounged around on the couch drinking coffee all morning. Pure luxury. Grandma Debbie wins MVP for letting us have such a peaceful beginning to the year. After lunch, I picked the boys up and they played with Sam and Abby. Nate and I went next door to Aaron’s sauna to sweat out some toxins. It was fantastic.

Last night, Aaron texted the neighborhood chat that he wanted to start the new year by doing the Nookie Challenge. The Nook (a fabulous St. Paul institution) has a challenge that dares you to eat 2 enormous burgers (2 patties and 3 buns, plus lettuce, tomato and cheese) and a huge pile of fries. If you can do it, you get a tee shirt. No one else thought they could do it, but 13 of us decided to join him in support.

Lunch for 14 was exactly what you’d think- a long wait, the kids running around, a crabby waitress, so much laughter and pitchers of beers for all. It was the most fabulous way to spend an afternoon. The amount of food that Aaron had to eat was INSANE but he did it. He struggled a little bit midway through, but ultimately prevailed. We were excited for him and then the waitress broke the bad news that they are out of shirts! Shamrocks (their other bar just down the street) had them, so he got a certificate and could go collect it there. But the manager felt bad and so he gave him a nice Nook flannel. Bonus!

Nearly 3 hours later, we all walked home together and then immediately jumped into the car to go sledding. The weather was nice and the hill was FAST. Augustus fearlessly went down the crazy jump that launched him straight into the air. It wasn’t until multiple times later that his face bounced off the ground when he landed. A few tears, but he was ready to get back on his sled pretty quickly. The boys (along with Sam) dubbed themselves “the Danger Dudes” and had a lot of fun sledding connected to each other.

And with that, winter break comes to an end. Backpacks are packed. Alarms are set. We are ready to get back to our normal routine. It has been so fun, but I am excited to wave goodbye and have them back to school all day!

2023 is here. January here we come!