It was a busy week last week with a mix of baseball and soccer activities.  It would have been even busier, though, if we hadn’t lost a few instances of both to the continued cold, wet weather.  Collectively we lost one soccer game, two baseball games, and one baseball practice.

Planned kids activities:

• Four kids had their last indoor swimming lessons.
• Two kids had Little League pictures taken.
• The youngest went to her gym and gymnastics classes.  We’re done with gym classes for the season.
• The oldest had three baseball practices and two baseball games.
• Collectively we attended three soccer practices and one soccer game.
• The first grader missed his soccer game in favor of a birthday party.
• Our preschooler went to the circus with friends.
• There was no math morning this week, but the was Before School Sports.

I’m continuing to delay fully putting away winter gear.  I did put away the winter boots and the snow shovels.  But, yesterday it was so cold at soccer that winter jackets, gloves, and hats did little to fend off the cold wind.  And, as crazy as it sounds, we were under a Winter Weather Advisory Sunday for sleet/freezing rain/snow.  We did not have snow, but there was just enough to be noticeable at the start of the Boston Marathon and just to the north they had a full coating of the white stuff.

Monday was so rainy that many Patriot’s Day events were cancelled.  We largely spent the day at home as a result.

With so much baseball (and to a lesser extent soccer), I’m getting less done.  But, I did:

• Change the batteries in two of the thermostats because I noticed the low battery symbol.
• Uploaded the Pampers app (since the online code entry is ending soon) and entered my backlog of codes.  Maybe with the app I won’t let the backlog build as much.  Logging into the computer always seemed a bit much for a single code – once every few months was fine.  Of course, maybe we’ll be done with diapers soon too!
• Took my car in for an oil change.  Apparently Patriot’s Day is a great day to do this as the place was open but empty.

It seems like we’re finally coming out from under the snow!

This week I:

• finished the thank-you notes from all the kid’s birthday parties.
• fixed one book.
• went to three parent/teacher conferences.
• took one child for an annual physical.
• cleaned and put away half the snow gear.  Of course it then snowed on Monday.  Thankfully I had waited on the preschooler’s stuff and most gloves on purpose!

And, we had our activities:

• The oldest went to six baseball sessions.  No games yet.
• The twins went to Math Morning and Before School Sports.
• The twins went to Ninja Warrior Night at school.
• Four kids had swimming lessons.
• The youngest went to gymnastics and gym classes.
• Two kids started soccer for the spring season.

We had a low key Easter.  But, I made cookies and we had an egg hunt.  How many eggs can you see in the wall?

As for my March goals, I think I did fairly well (especially with the snow days that kept people under foot.)

• Finish the master bedroom clean.
• Get back on track with general cleaning.  (This is a big one and will include trying out the new mop.)
• Set up / put remaining items into circulation.  This is a bit of a catch-all, but includes a number of things we’ve bought/received over the past few months.
  • Two Amazon gift cards to enter so they get used instead of the credit card on file.
  • One LEGO set needs assembling (adult assistance required for this one).
  • Two electronic devices need some settings updated.
  • Two carpet pads need trimming/adjusting.

So, here’s the plan for April (including the one carry-over):

• Assemble one LEGO set that needs adult assistance.
• Sort through my clothes and keep/donate/recycle.  The quantity is not terrible, but there are a few too many I have not worn in a very long time.
• Inspired by others who have embarked on spring cleaning, I will try the method whereby you throw out the number of items as the day of the month, with a few caviats:
  • They have to have been our house for at least a month; same day junk mail doesn’t count.
  • Throwing out = trash/recycle/donate/sell as long as the task fully done by the end of the month.  I think obviously trash will be the easiest here, since no second step is required.
  • If I make it this will be 465 items, so any size counts.
• Get all the kids to their respective activities.  This is no small feat in the spring and will get even worse in May when baseball is in full swing.  So, definitely not the easiest, but the highest priority.

First things first.  It did not snow!  Well, it did a very little bit, but not enough to cancel anything which is what really counts after so many snow days.

We’re gearing up for the later winter to spring sports transition.

• Middle school baseball kicked off with an organizational meeting last week
• We had the last Sunday winter baseball session for our oldest
• He also went on a school field trip
• He had two other baseball sessions
• We got the fourth grade concert in on schedule (some snow, but no cancellation)
• The boys also went to math morning and before school sports
• They went to a friend’s house
• The middle four kids had a swimming lesson
• Our youngest went to gym class

Among all of these things, I

• went to a doctor appointment.
• fixed a book.
• started rearranging one of the bedrooms.
• got back on track with the cleaning.

Finally, we celebrated the last birthday of the winter season.

We also watched them demolish an old fire station.  We just happened upon this.  It’s one town over so I don’t know what they’re planning to do with the land.

This has not been a productive week, unless you count extra time with the kids because of snow days!  We had two snow days last week.  Today is another snow day.  And, if the forecast holds I don’t see us having school tomorrow (not my decision, though).  We also lost power for 16 hours last week, which was about middle of the road for our area.

Here’s today’s “view” courtesy of wind driven snow.

We did get a few regular things in:

• Swimming for the middle four
• A playdate for the preschooler
• One of the baseball sessions
• Math morning

But, most things were washed out.

The older three finally went to see the Black Panther movie.  They’ve been seeing all of the movies in that chain and wanted to make sure they got this in before the next installment comes out.

I got my oldest’s team baseball bag embroidered with his name.  Otherwise they all set their stuff down and its hard to just grab yours and go.  Probably some others will do the same with either names or numbers.

I went to the Math Placement discussion last night to learn about the middle school math levels and how kids are placed in them.  They touched on 9th grade also, but it was mostly middle school.  The most interesting assertion is that kids can move between the levels rather freely in middle school.  Apparently the higher levels represent a deeper dive into the same topics so if you’ve matured enough to handle the deeper dive next year, you are ok having not missed an actual topic.  Interesting.  My experience in school was that it was very difficult to move out of one’s track; near on impossible to move up.

As for what didn’t happen.  In theory Ninja night for the fourth graders and the first grade concert will be rescheduled.  The first grade concert is rescheduled for tomorrow, but referencing my first paragraph that is looking rather doomed.  I’m sure they’ll push it out again.

Unfortunately, today’s swimming and last week’s gym and baseball classes won’t be rescheduled.  They’re just gone.

The boys were very excited to see the Patriots plane in Providence, RI.  It was there both times we came through.  We wondered what it does when the team isn’t using it.

So those multiple sick children I mentioned in the January accomplishments post, they continued (along with some sick adults) for almost the entire month of February.  We had a scheduled vacation trip the last week of the month and thankfully we ran out of illness (and implemented Tamiflu) in time.  But, between the short month of February, sickness, and vacation, accomplishments were few and far between.

So, what did I get done:

• Finish the master bedroom clean. Nope.
• Set up / put remaining items into circulation.  This is a bit of a catch-all, but includes a number of things we’ve bought/received over the past few months.
  • Two Amazon gift cards to enter so they get used instead of the credit card on file. Nope.
  • Clothing that needs tags cut off so it can be put in the appropriate person’s closet.
  • One LEGO set needs assembling (adult assistance required for this one). Nope.
  • Five electronic devices need some settings updated. I got three done.
  • Some clothing items from the sizing sort need to go to their final homes – either the sale bin or the hand-me-down bin.
  • Open the new mop and use it for the bathroom floors.  I did a lot of cleaning, but not this.

When we weren’t sick, we managed to:

• Our oldest had baseball two days a week each.
• We finished conditioning and ski lessons for the year.
• Math mornings and Before School Sports continued.
• Our youngest continued her gym class.
• Swimming lessons restarted.
• We had two doctor appointments.
• The middle four kids had Valentine’s Day parties at school.
• Everyone got haircuts.
• I went to a preschool parents night.
• We hosted a birthday party.
• We attended three birthday parties.
• I registered the oldest for yet another baseball team.
• I registered the youngest for a gymnastics class.
• I registered the twins for bike club.
• We went on vacation!

Unfortunately, the office is going to have to wait again as March must be a catch-up month.

• Finish the master bedroom clean.
• Get back on track with general cleaning.  (This is a big one and will include trying out the new mop.)
• Set up / put remaining items into circulation.  This is a bit of a catch-all, but includes a number of things we’ve bought/received over the past few months.
  • Two Amazon gift cards to enter so they get used instead of the credit card on file.
  • One LEGO set needs assembling (adult assistance required for this one).
  • Two electronic devices need some settings updated.
  • Two carpet pads need trimming/adjusting.

It was a relatively busy week last week.  Still nothing compared to spring or fall, but there was a bit more on the calendar.

Typical activities occurred:

• The oldest went to four conditioning sessions.
• He also went to two baseball practices.
• The twins went to Before School sports and skiing.

We missed Math Morning and gym for the youngest because so many people have been sick.  The sickness is going in waves, though hopefully will be done soon as we’re running out of people who haven’t been sick yet.

• The boys all got haircuts.
• The elementary school and preschool participated in Global Play Day.  This was quite popular even though it was shortened by a snow-induced early release.
  • The snow ended up more icy than snowy, but they boys went out anyway and got very wet.
  • One child took some LEGOs with him.  Miraculously they all came home.
    
• Our first grader celebrated his 100th day of school.
• We hosted two birthday parties and attended another.
• I went to the preschool parent social.