Hey friend!

I know it's been a while since I last wrote. Soooo hi!

First of all, how have you been? I can't believe it's already March - this year is flying by. I feel like as I get older, the years just go by so much faster. When I look back at high school for example, those 4 years felt like a lifetime!

Second, here are a few tiny updates:

• The makeup class I'm teaching is going really well. I've got 3 girls, and they have more (and nicer) makeup than I do! They really get into each look that we do. Yesterday, we did a wooden doll look, and they turned out so cool. We're 6 weeks down, 8 weeks to go.
• Our crew got Covid. I got it first, in mid-January. Two days after I was diagnosed, the kids all started showing mild symptoms. And a day or two after that, Cameron seemed to get it. Now, we didn't all get tested, only I did. But we all had fevers, coughs, sore throats, so I assume we all had it! Thankfully, none of us had it too bad and within a week, it had moved along.
• One of my two brothers moved closer! I have two brothers. One of them lives in Dallas (3 hours away) with his wife and daughter. The other lived about 2 hours away, with his wife and daughter. That one moved to Bossier City, which is roughly 40 minutes from us. That might seem like a lot, but for us, just about everything's at least 25 minutes away. Nearest full grocery store? 25 minutes. Gas station? 25 minutes. Target? 35 minutes. Whole Foods? 35 minutes. To have one of my siblings "just" 40 minutes away is pretty exciting!
• Annabelle learned to ride a bike! Last summer she really wanted to but just couldn't get there. Fast forward to a few days ago. We had some super nice weather and went outside. She decided to give it a go again, and it finally clicked. Fun!

Birthdays

Annabelle turned 6 at the end of January.

We kept it super simple, as we've done in the past. She got a couple of gifts that she's been wanting, and she designed her cake. The last several years, I've asked the big kids what sort of cake they'd like. Then I do my best to make it.

This year, she said she wanted half chocolate and half vanilla, pink, two tiers, with a mini Annabelle on top.

Here's how that turned out!

And here's a TikTok video I made of the process. It's my most-liked video (besides one really dumb one I posted a few years ago that randomly has over 5 million views... 😂), so that's something. :D

Cameron turned 38 as well, also end of January. Unfortunately, our plans were set aside because we all had Covid! We were all going to stay at my mom's house. Then she would watch the 3 kids so that Cam and I could go see a movie and grab a bite to eat. That still hasn't happened! It's just been so busy lately. So his birthday was cupcakes and some homemade cards. <3

Wordle, Nerdle, Quordle

Do you play Wordle? It's taken over, at least in my world and on my Facebook feed.

I do not post my scores or anything, but I do text with my mom and dad most days about it.

If you haven't heard of Wordle, let me explain. You have 6 guesses each day to figure out one word. When you submit your first guess, you're told which letters are wrong, which are right but in the wrong spot, and which are right and in the right spot. Then you use that info to come up with a new guess. That's it! Just one word per day.

Have you tried Nerdle? It's the same idea as Wordle except that you have to create a correct Math equation. It takes me a bit longer, but Alexander and I like to do it! We work on it separately from each other to see who can get it in fewer tries. He usually beats me, honestly.

Finally, there's Quordle. It's like Wordle but harder. You've got 9 tries to guess 4 different words. It seems impossible at first. Half the time, I can figure out all 4 words, but on a bad day, like yesterday, I can only figure out 3 of them. (One of the words was "cabal", which I'd never seen before!)

Salmon & King cakes

Here's a recipe you gotta try: Salmon Patties!

I'm going to make them for lunch today, in fact! I actually use fresh salmon that I cut into little chunks. These were such a big hit with all of us when I made them recently.

Also, I decided to make a King Cake for Mardi Gras this week. I'd never tried making one before, but I realized I live in Louisiana and had never made a King Cake. Here's the recipe I followed: King Cake. It was SO good, guys. Here's how it turned out!

Some things I liked recently

I thought these two were funny :D

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Charlie boy

At his 9 month check-up, Charlie was 19 pounds and 19 inches. The doc said he's 10% for height and 95% for head! No wonder he's wearing 6-9 month pants but the 12 month shirts barely fit over his head. Ha! (She isn't worried or anything, by the way.)

He loves hanging out with Alexander and Annabelle. They take good care of him. He just gets so tickled when they come into the room.

He also loves food, way more than the other two did! If he sees or hears any sort of snacking happening, he (army) crawls over as fast as he can so that he can have some too. So far there's not a food he won't eat! Bananas are a favorite though. Oh and he's got 2 teeth out plus 2 more that are almost there!

Vacation?

Annabelle came to me earlier this week and asked, "When are we going on our next vacation?"

Honestly, we usually take 4-5 trips each year: 1-2 big ones (a week or more), 1-2 medium (3-4 days), and 1-2 small (1-2 days). Our last trip was a medium one, to Waco TX, at the beginning of December. Before that was a big one to Chattanooga TN, in mid September.

I asked her what kind of trip she wanted to take this time. And she said another country! I mean, I'd love to do that some time but I don't know for sure if now is the time. We've been toying with the idea of Costa Rica, since Cameron and I went there before kids and really loved it.

Another idea we had was something out west, possibly Seattle or maybe San Francisco.

But what I'm leaning towards the most is somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Colorado, Wyoming (Yellowstone), that sort of thing. We've never taken a trip like that with the kids, and I think they'd love it. They've seen big cities (New York, Washington DC); they've done theme parks (Disney, Dollywood). But a true outdoorsy adventure vacation would be new territory.

If you've ever done a trip like that, with kids, give me some insight!

A day in my life

We've found a decent rhythm with 3 kids. Here is a very loose version of our days:

• Wake up
• Breakfast together
• School
• Snack time
• Finish school (Charlie takes a nap)
• Lunch
• Play, go outside
• Screen time (limit is 2 hours)
• Dinner (Charlie takes a nap some time before dinner)
• Play in room (mom and dad hangout time!)
• Bedtime routine
• Go to bed

As for school, I've got a new system that's working nicely! I feel like, at this point, if you're a homeschooler, you've already got your system. But I'll share it anyway in case you want to change things up.

I've got 5 folders (one for each day of the week). They are stuck on the wall with those 3M velcro strips, although I really don't take them down very much.

Each weekend, I spend about 1-2 hours filing away the work from the previous week (in organized binders). Then I pull out the lessons I plan to do in the next week. I put all the work I plan to do on Monday in the Monday folder. I put Tuesday's work in the Tuesday folder, and so on. I leave Friday empty.

Okay, let's say it's Monday. I take out the work from that folder. Let's say we do all the Math, Language, and Science, but we don't get to the Geography. I put the completed papers back in the Monday folder, but I put the Geography (the one we didn't do yet) into the Tuesday folder.

I continue doing this and by the time we get to Friday, there's usually a little something we need to do that we didn't finish during the week. If we really crank it out Monday-Thursday, then Friday is a free day and we can go do something fun!

Okay, folks, I've rambled on enough for one day. I hope you have a great weekend! Take care!

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