Home Sweet Home: February, we hardly knew ya.

Last post: January 29
Today's date: March 10

DARN YOU, TIME. Where are you going?

Obviously not to this blog. My poor little blog, lost in no-man's land. I keep debating whether or not to give it up. I love writing about life and motherhood, I love having a record of my children's lives. I hate feeling like it's just another to-do on my list. But it is. There's just not enough time for things like writing when you're raising littles and require 10 hours of sleep to function normally.

Also, when you spend your days writing for work, it's kinda hard to muster up any enthusiasm for writing for fun — especially after completing the two-hour dinner/bath/bed marathon, which leaves me about as tired as an actual marathon would.

Scratch that. An actual marathon would probably leave me dead.

The upside to my long bouts of blog silence is that I have lots to post when I return. Like how we took the kids sledding for the first time and their excitement made me so happy that my heart about burst. Thankfully, it didn't. But I did manage to injure my neck doing a snow angel. Don't ask.

I also discovered Aldi and will never, ever go back to doing all my shopping at Super Target. I was hesitant to give it a try because I suspected it would feel a lot like shopping for groceries at the dollar store, but I was shocked by both the quality and the prices. And their organic products are the same price or cheaper than their non-organic counterparts at other stores. I'm their newest biggest fan. Go. Bring your own shopping bags and a quarter. And don't be alarmed if someone comes up to you on your way out and asks if they can have your quarter or your cart. The nice man I thought was robbing me was simply asking to swap his two dimes and a nickel for my quarter.

In February, I got to spend four glorious days with my besties. It was one of the most hilarious and fun times we've had together in recent memory (think forgotten keys and a lame attempt to dig out an entire lake cottage under four feet of snow with two babies in the car and one misshapen shovel). Oh, how I love and miss them.

Calvin got three fish, and then tragically lost one of them a week later. Rest in peace, Nate (the fish)*. We've since added two new finned friends to the tank — Big Guy and Sharkie — who, as far as I know, are not members of the fish mob.

*An important designation in our house. Nate (the dad) is alive and well.

We spent one of our (many) snowed-in weekends attempting to potty train Audra. Potty train = obsessively ask her if she needs to pee while she runs around the house naked. It went better than expected, but then she peed in four pairs of pants at school on the following Monday. They require everyone to wear pants and have other children to watch, so I can see where the success rate may have been slightly lower in that situation. We'll try again in a few months.

We laughed our heads off throughout The Lego Movie (we being me and Nate and all the other parents in the theater). Our kids enjoyed it, but they didn't always get it...I think Cal was just shy of really understanding some of it. Audra doesn't care what's on as long as there's popcorn.

Other miscellaneous items of note that future Abby may care to recall:

Cal and I are reading Little House on the Prairie together right now. I'd forgotten some things about these books. The racism, for example.

Audra keeps getting all bent out of shape and shrieking "Mattie scooped me!" every time the dog walks by. Scooped = licked and it's is my favorite thing ever. She is a sassypants.

We registered Calvin for kindergarten this week. He is so excited. We also signed him up for the summer program at the Y and two weeks of day camp. He's beyond ready for a change, so he'll be leaving his daycare/preschool at the beginning of June. I'm excited and sad and a little bewildered. Five years, gone. But what fun to have a big kid. And also: PTA! The pinnacle of motherhood for weirdos like me who love a good committee meeting.