Do You Even Leap, Bro?

This year came with an extra day and it was packed. We definitely got our days worth on this one.

The day started with a divide and conquer - Jason took Michael to honor band practice and I took Isaac to pick up Josh's race bib and Nana and then go to Kindergarten Registration.

Yes, it is finally happening. Littlest minion is going to kindergarten. Can I get a hallelujah?

In an interesting twist, the entire district did kindergarten registration at a high school at the same time. Does that sound like a perfect recipe for long lines? Because it was a great recipe for long lines. To be fair, they did try to make things more exciting for the kids with activity tables and a balloon guy, but still.

I was thrilled to finish the process and hand over all the paperwork because we had more to do.

After dropping off Mom, we returned home to pick up Jason, Josh and Ben to head to a baptism. The two boys who live behind us were getting baptized and we were glad to squeeze the happy event into our busy day. An hour later, we dropped Josh at a friend's house and headed to Seattle. Mom was kind enough to pick up Michael and take him home to get some rest before his concert.

What on earth would possess us to do a there and back to Seattle in one afternoon? Saving money. At least, that was the idea several months ago when I figured we'd save money by picking up our race packets rather than having them mailed to us. However, by the end of February, it felt like it would have been worth it to splurge and save ourselves the trip.

Oh well.

We picked up our bibs, tried on our jackets, tasted some chocolate (of course!), bought some Girl Scout cookies, and took some pictures by the inflatable chocolate bar. Then loaded back in the car to go home.

Why so soon? Well, we had to pick up Josh at 5pm and Michael had an Honor Band concert at 7pm...oh and the people who live in our house felt entitled to eat a meal every evening. 

Then we all went to bed since four of us had to rise early in the morn to head back to Seattle for the Hot Chocolate Run.

Valentine's Day, Belated

It was later than most people traditionally celebrate it (thanks a lot, norovirus!), but we did finally have our Valentine's party.

Mom and Rachel came over to enjoy the dinner Michael made (stuffed shells - they looked/smelled amazing) and then play games.

Michael: I made this!

Games:
"I love to see you smile": minute to win it game where you have 60 seconds to get people to smile, 1 point per person. Interestingly enough, Jason was horrible at keeping a straight face, but he was also the only person who made everyone smile. Jason, Michael, and Ben (and Isaac) were pretty much a given every round.

"Heart Zap": we covered the front door with paper hearts with various point values on them and a few that said ZAP which made you lose all your points from that round. Everyone got 5 tries each round to bounce a tennis ball on the ground and then hit the paper hearts for points. Jason won, but Nana made a very respectable showing. Ben was the only one to hit ZAP and was canvassing for golf scoring.

"Marshmallow Build": teams of two had 3 minutes to build a structure from marshmallows and tooth picks. Rachel and Ben rocked this one while Mom and Josh's couldn't stand long enough to be measured. Isaac kept sneaking marshmallows.

"Kiss the Frog": similar to pin the tail on the donkey, but we pinned lips on the frog prince/princess (we've learned from Jurassic Park that some frogs can change gender as needed, so that was the kind of frog we had). Rachel decided to go all in. And Isaac kept sneaking marshmallows.

"Cupid's Arrow": Isaac and I colored sets of 15 swabs with markers to make 8 different sets so we could use straws to shoot them into a bowl and get an accurate count per person. I got paper straws which caused some technical difficulties, but it was still fun though some of us got a little lightheaded with all of the blowing.

And then dessert. I try to make it a tradition to have special Valentine's floats with red soda with red vine straws for the kids (most adults don't seem to find them very appealing). Ben decided to go with a deconstructed float this year (ok, it was just soda in the cup and ice cream in a bowl), but I did get my pictures.

Another sugar-filled holiday on the books.