Going Batty: February 2022

Warning: Crazy long post. We got behind on the blog and decided to catch up in one huge post.

January and February of 2022 has been a little crazy for our family. Lots of crazy, stressful, or sad things have happened. It started with Craig's uncle passing away after fighting COVID-19. We also turned in our notice with Craig's current job and are getting ready to move and start a new job in a few months.

Then we found out that Uncle Danny has stage 4 lung cancer.

The kids are decorating get well cards for him.

Then, after successfully lasting 1.5 years, Caleb finally broke his glasses.

This is what happens to glasses when a chair hits your face.

We tried a lot of fixes, including electrical tape.....

A rubber band.....

A plastic welder actually did pretty well, but it wasn't tough enough to stand up to a toddler.

Mommy's glasses don't work.

Finally, Daddy came up with a solid fix for them.
Heat shrink did the trick really well.

Then, a few weeks later, Grandma Anderson passed away. Paige missed the funeral because she woke up sick that morning. It ended up being COVID.

And then, at the end of January, Grandma Batty passed away after months of fighting to recover from a stroke only to be hit harder with cancer.

Goodbye Grandma Batty.
We will miss you.

However, amidst all the hard and sad times, our family was also blessed with a whole lot of love, fun, silliness and joy.

Playing with good friends.

And fluffy friends

Really fluffy friends.

Movie nights with cousins

Cuddles with aunt Mo

And with uncle Kyler.

Learning new skills, like card tower building......

....cliff climbing....

...and computer hacking.

Also, look what I can do.

Inventing new snacks
--a cracker sandwich with cheese as the bun.

--and french fries and corn on a graham cracker. YUM!

Working on arts....

....and crafts

Even Caleb has been practicing his drawing skills.
(You can see the airplane he drew hanging from the ceiling in the background)

Cooking treats with cousins

Cooking dinner with uncle Spencer.

And cookies with aunt Roger.

Doing puzzles with Grammy

And dangerous stunts with Grumpy.

Building tow trucks

And driving tow trucks.

Reading books together.

Playing with blocks together

Playing with cars together.

Playing cowboy and horse.
Caleb has the cowboy attitude down.

Enjoying some outside time on a swing

And on a bike.

Playing outside is snow fun.

Relaxing

Relaxing some more.

Enjoying ice cream at Grammy's house.

Wiggling some teeth

Pulling some teeth

And sporting a new smile.

Primary activities

Planting a fairy garden

Having some hot chocolate on a cold, wintery day.

Playing some ball.
(Caleb's defensive strategy has yet to prove very useful)

Caleb got some brand new glasses.
He finally gave in when mom told him he HAD to wear them.

We had to bribe him with tv time to get him to wear them.
On the first day, the only time he wore his new glasses was to watch tv. When the show ended, they came right back off and the old ones back on.

Isn't he so handsome?

Enjoying some new jammies from Grammy.

And posing in new clothes from Grammy.

Fun art projects with a toddler who doesn't like to cooperate for pictures.....

....and wants to make his own thing.
His winter tree scene is a car.

Some science projects that went well
(like this solar powered robot)

And some science projects....

....that didn't.
(Jayden is distraught that her hands are stained blue)

Carter seemed less worried.

The clean up was actually pretty fun though.

The big kids have shown some interest in cooking lately.
They've been great about making lunches for the family.

And cookies too.

With so much interest in cooking, we joined a cooking club with our school.
Kale smoothie: 3 thumbs up

Guacamole and salsa: 5 thumbs up

Chocolate cake: 0 thumbs up, but we loved it anyway.

Jam danishes: a hand in the pocket is equal to 3 thumbs up!

The kids also like serving food.
This is where they serve the crazy kids who misbehave at the restaurant.

We made some cool space ships

And an awesome tow truck with a boat!

More drawing.
With all this practice, Mom is getting better at drawing cars.

Not sure what he's doing here, but he seems to be enjoying it

Here is Caleb on his "computer" talking to his "teacher."

We played at the rec center.
(Here is Caleb with his favorite yellow car. When he wanted to take a turn with the red bike, he loaded his yellow car on the back so nobody would steal it).

And after all the hard play, it's time to sit and enjoy the sunshine.

Craig & Paige spent some time renovating a bathroom.
Here is the before picture.

Time to cut out the carpet.

And break down some walls.

And here is the current after picture.
It still needs: painting, bathtub resurfacing, installing the vanity, and moving or getting a different mirror. Also a bathroom fan.