January 29, 2021 – 29 of 365 – Some days, I wake up to find that a party is being hosted in my house. I am informed of the dress code and often have some extremely uncomfortable evening attire laid out for me to wear, which I mostly negotiate out of actually wearing. Sometimes, there are multiples parties taking place on the same day, in different rooms. No one outside of our immediate family is invited, which cuts back on the festivities a bit, but the girls are undeterred. On this day, there were three parties–one in the living room that involved snuggling stuffed animals, another in the big girls’ room that involved dancing … and snuggling stuffed animals, and this one in the sunroom that was really just a bunch of bunnies dressed up in fancy clothes. I will say that I prefer traditional parties, the ones with people, but  I am constantly impressed with how these kids can make exciting days from nothing.

January 30, 2021 – 30 of 365 – We have acquired this pink bunny suit that was made by Jason’s grandmother back in the day. He wore it to be the Energizer Bunny one Halloween (the pictures are A+ material). It is now a part of our costume collection and Florence wasted no time in making it part of a normal day’s look.

January 31, 2021 – 31 of 365 – Pretty much every morning, Julia asks me if she has school. I’m not sure if she doesn’t know, or just likes the routine of asking. Anyway, when she found out that she did not have school this day, a Sunday, she decided she should play home school instead. One of her favorite class activities is to draw a picture and write a little story to accompany it. Julia dictates her story to the teacher, and then she practices her letters, rewriting the sentence below the teacher’s. Since we were doing home school, I copied these words down for her in place of the teacher, “Me and my mom are playing together and having lots of fun.” She is just the sweetest.

February 1, 2021 – 32 of 365 – My view as I made dinner. These two little piggersons, dumped the crumby remains of a popcorn bag all over the counter (and floor) and proceeded to shovel handfuls into their mouths. There is nothing like making a healthy home-cooked meal for your kids as they fill their stomachs up with junk right before your eyes.

February 2, 2021 – 33 of 365 – On Tuesday, we went outside to enjoy the snow. Louisa does not walk in snow. She is against it and will not take even a step, so she was over it within about two minutes of being outside. Julia made some snow angels and threw some snowballs, but then she too decided it was too cold and went inside to await the hot chocolate portion of the day. That left just me and Florence, who loves a competition. Instead of building just one snowman, we built two and she and I went head to head. In an unsurprising turn of events, I was declared the loser. Later in the day, after the hot chocolate and shoveling, we also went sledding. Thus, I completed all of my mandatory mom snow day activities.

February 3, 2021 – 34 of 365 – After nearly a full year learning virtually, Florence started back to in person school for the first time on Wednesday. She was returning to a different school than last year and many things about the whole experience are completely changed, but she loved it nonetheless.

Day 34 Bonus  – I am sure that there are lots of other small children who eat all of the foods that are ever put in front of them, but none of them have ever lived in my house. If Louisa had a catch phrase, it would be, “Can I have some of that?” with her pitch raising sharply in excitement at the end of the question. Here is a non-exhaustive list of things that Louisa has enjoyed eating: salad, oatmeal, eggs, crabstick, lebanon bologna, brussels sprouts, peas, sushi, smoked salmon, smoked trout, anything her sisters are eating, anything I am eating, anything Jason is eating, etc. The other day, inspired by Julia (who seems to have a phobia of not just eating dinner, but even sitting at the dinner table) Louisa declared she was not eating. I told her that was fine and she could just sit with us. Within seconds, she couldn’t resist the plate in front of her. She said, “Okay…I’ll try one bite.”  After the first bite she was unable to contain herself and shouted, “I love it!” Within ten minutes, she had cleaned her own plate and what Florence had left.

February 4, 2021 – 35 of 365 – These photos are not unposed. They are very much posed–these sweet girls, in the pretty light, with the gorgeous blanket made by Jason’s grandmother–and I enjoyed every second of taking them. I will be doing much more of this for sure.