Mid-Winter Break

This week was Mid-Winter Break- whoever heard of Mid-Winter Break? I swear these kids never have school. Tyler took off work Monday so it was nice to have him home with us. Sunday evening we got some nice, fluffy snow so with Tyler home Monday we decided it would be a good day to go sledding- we hadn't been yet this winter. We went to Snowy Ridge Park which is literally a park meant for sledding with one giant hill. Going up the hill was extremely challenging since there was a layer of ice under the snow. I never made it all the way to the top and the one time I took Penny half way up to Tyler I slipped and fell a ton and pretty much slid down on my bum going back down. I am not coordinated enough for slippery ice. All the kids but Lucy had a ton of fun. Penny had to basically be forced into going down the first time but then she kept want to go again and again. Lucy went a few times but hated it each time- she did not like getting so much snow in her face. I ended up just pulling her around the bottom of the hill and that made her happy. Especially since she just sat on the sled eating snow. All my kids have inherited my Grandma Palmer's love of eating snow.

After sledding for the short bit that we lasted, we decided that Chick-fil-a was in order for lunch so we went to the mall in Troy to get some. There is always a huge line at this one and this is a mall that is too fancy for play places so it was a rough wait but I still got complimented on what a beautiful family I had so they must not have been too crazy. After gorging ourselves we dropped by the Lego Store and Tyler was nice and got all the kids Lego Guy key chains. Steven and him both got Minecraft Steve ones. Lucy got a Wyldstyle aka Lucy one. Then Ben got Lord Garmadon and Penny got a little girl with butterfly wings that she declared was the new Penny.

On our way back from the mall a Subway ad came on the radio that involves the word "Bro" a lot. As of late this word has been Ben's favorite and as I tried to say something during the ad, Ben immediately shushed me because he wanted to listen to it. I couldn't believe he shushed me for a radio ad.

Tuesday is cheap day at MJR so I decided to take all the kids to Lego Movie 2 since me and the girls still hadn't seen it. It was pretty fun but seeing it right after I had lunch was probably not the best idea. I got pretty sleepy near the end and may or may not have dozed off a couple times- so embarrassing. Still everyone enjoyed seeing it and it was good to get out.

That was pretty much all the excitement for our break. Tues, Wed and Thurs I was too lazy to borrow the car so we spent our days at home. We were still dog sitting so we had routine walks with Mia but that was about it and honestly it was ok. The kids for the most part got along really well and the days didn't drag too much. There was even this nice point where the kids were all jamming to the soundtrack to "Lego Movie 2" and making fingerprint art while I cooked dinner. I realized just how lucky I am so I decided to document it so I could remember this happy moment. 

Friday Tyler was off work so I took advantage of that and went to the SOS to get my Enhanced driver's licence (Michigan's DMV). It was awful. Even with their new get in line app, I ended up waiting about 2 hours. But once they process all my paperwork I should get my new, fancy enhanced licence which means I can go by land to Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas and Caribbean. This is good news since we are planning on taking Grams to Niagara Falls when she comes and the Canada route is much shorter than the US route. 

Friday night we went on a date to the temple. Recently I have been going through my blog to put together some books for the kids and it has been a reminder of how tough things were. It was tough when Tyler was gone all the time, it was tough when the girls were little, it was tough really until we finished moving and settled into our current home. At the temple I felt an immense gratitude for the life that I have and for Heavenly Father's help through all those tough times. We really are in a good spot right now. We have a home, Tyler has a job and was just given a raise, my kids are older and more independent. Life is good.

Saturday the girls got some much needed haircuts and then we went to the Detroit Historical Museum. After many days with no outings we needed to go do something fun. It was not crowded at all and it was a nice little museum to visit. The kids had a good time. The only unpleasant thing was when the kids decided to do a BINGO that required them talking to some Vendors that were there selling stuff. The Vendors were there in celebration of Black History and my white little kids and my kids awkwardness with strangers made the whole thing super uncomfortable. Other than that it was a good time. They had this fun maker station where the kids got to make rockets and stoplights.