some valentine's celebrations 'round these parts

As a rule I don't really enjoy this Hallmark holiday. Romance is so not on my priority list (poor Matt). However, we do celebrate a little bit. Times three as it were, believe it or not. So I realize those sentences are conflicting but bear with me.

Traditionally, we get together with our old neighbors for Valentine's Day. If you've been around this blog since the beginning then you know that we started this tradition because we had little kids and didn't feel like going out and getting a sitter and wearing real pants all of that jazz. So Matt would cook something fancy and we would join forces and have quite the fun night. Last weekend we kept up with that tradition and had them over for dinner. Matt made the kids a heart shaped pizza, the adults had chicken parm and Steph brought her delicious heart shaped dessert. 

rollerskating night! with friends!

I am back from my little blogging break! Nothing intentional like, oh I need a break from the social media world or anything... just more like oh I don't really have anything to say so I'll say nothing type of deal. But I do love this little blog of mine so I am back. Like Arnold... With our church's rollerskating night!

Every Wednesday night I drive a bunch of neighborhood kids (and two of my own) to church. Think: youth group. They call it Quest and it used to be called Clubs but that's just all confusing to me. Anyways each year they take over the Mt. Gretna Roller Rink and have a family night. 

The past two years I skated as well but last year neither kid wanted to skate with me so I figured why bother? So I sat it out. And here David could have really used me. He didn't leave the wall for the first forty-five minutes or so and refused to even try and skate out into the rink. He got there though eventually, but it was painful to see. Letty of course took off with all of her girlfriends and had a blast. That girl just has the best group of friends! I know I've mentioned that before, but it's true. And David? He's got a good friend here or there but not like the tribe that Letty has. Maybe that's a boy thing? Is that a thing? He's the most social kid and knows everyone's names but it's just like oh everyone is my friend instead of oh this is my group. Maybe that's best? Too many sentences about your children's friends Laur, move on.

a david day date!

The Cub Scouts had an ice skating day up at the Hersheypark Arena last weekend and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to spend some quality time with my middle child! Matt would have been the ideal candidate for this but he has bad feet. After returning from Mordor they can no longer ice skate. So it was me. Happily. David gets overlooked in a lot of ways.... All our focus is either on Letty's academics... or all her activities... or on Dominic because we are just with him so much during the week and well, the squeaky wheel gets the grease right? It's not intentional, and I used to think Middle Child Syndrome was a farce but it isn't people. He has his Cub Scouts though! And he started a baseball clinic thing this week! And whenever he reaches a milestone with something at school (so smart that kiddo) we sneak him out to get him ice cream and such. We try!

But back to skating. He was hedging leading up to this. Did he want to go? Did he not? He has never skated before and he didn't know of anyone else going.... But two minutes before we had to leave he decided yes, I want to go. Annnnnd about two minutes after I paid he said he wished he had decided to stay home. Can we leave? I want to go home. Which is probably a little bit of why he doesn't get to do certain things. Like brother is not allowed to go to a musical or the movies anymore. Unless it is like the three dollar movies. He is unpredictable in that way. But I reminded him that I paid money for this and he was staying. Tough it out kid. 

It took a good forty-five minutes till he could let go of the wall and move about on his own... a few falls of course but no tears. And then he loved it. He kept referring to the penalty box as the break center no matter how many times I corrected him. At one point he looked at me and said so mom, what you're saying is I'm a professional? Far from it kid but hey I dig your confidence!

so what's new with you?

One month down. We made it! These cold months can just breeze on by if you ask me. I mean obviously not really because time going so fast is always something I loathe but I also loathe being cold. So that's what.

but does it spark joy?

You may know what my post title is referring to and you may not... so for those of you who do not know there is a new show on Netflix (and a book, apparently) called Tidying Up. And in this show the most adorable woman helps people tidy. There are so many hilarious memes I’ve seen that do give me a good snicker... but the truth is Matt and I have been going through our house slowly, getting rid of things we don’t use or need for a few months now... right about the time when we closed the pool and were like oh where oh where can we store these things? Annnnnd sorry Marie but I have been folding clothes that way since Letty was born. Minus the gratitude. I don’t thank my leggings. Maybe I should? But I don’t.