Looking Back at February 2021

February contained multitudes.  On January 31st we woke up to a whole bunch of snow.  It hadn't even come close to all melting before we got another big dump (largest single day snowfall of my life!) in mid-February.  On February 28th we had a 60° sunny day.  We ended the month with very different weather conditions than we started it with!

Luke should have had 18 days in school.  5 of those turned into e-learning and after a week where he only went to school one single day...we haven't even had a delay since.  But we did get a lot of sunny days and if we're going to have cold at least we got snow and sun!  February also brought us TWO new nephews born 8 days apart.  How exciting is that?  A lot of time at home but the light is visible at the end of this long winter tunnel.

Looking back:
1 year ago: When I Make Time to Read (this has changed a bit in the last year but largely the same!)
2 years ago: Cutting My Social Media Time
3 years ago: State of the Adoption - Year 6 (3 WEEKS after this we got Sam)
4 years ago: Homemade Goo Gone (I still use this all. the. time.)
5 years ago: DIY Growth Chart (just measured Sam on his birthday this week!)
6 years ago: Adding 165 Instagrams to a Photobook without Crashing the Software (I still use this exact method on multiple collages for photobooks.)
7 years ago: "Before we had kids..."
8 years ago: Adoption FAQ: Saying the Right Thing
9 years ago: Intake (the day we started the adoption process)

1) Day 1 of February and day 1 of e-learning for the month.  They were (briefly) getting along and watching an online book reading for one of Luke's assignments.
2) Snow, icicles, and a happy Luke playing in the yard.
3) Luke requested my phone to take a picture of this "beautiful sky!" (My kids know I like sunsets, sunrises, and pretty trees.)
4) On a two hour delay day when Matt was off and I went into work...he build them a snow tunnel before school.  I am certainly never that fun on delay mornings (reading a stack of picture books together is still fun, right??)
5) Snowing again!
6) Sunny but cold, Luke still spent a good amount of time bundled up in the playhouse playing!
7) Celebrating Valentine's Day with of our date favorite ice cream sundae (not the first time we've picked this up to eat at home!).
8) Valentine's Day, plants and puzzles.  I told Matt I was going to buy the plants anyways so might as well make them a part of my gift!  Even got them from a local plant store I've been wanting to try!
9) This was our BIG snowfall.  11 inches in a single day!
10) The morning after that snowfall I was supposed to go to work when Matt was off.  It turns out nobody was going anywhere so I tried to "hide" in Matt's office to get my work done while Matt was managing e-learning and a 2 year old.  Sam came to visit me often.
11) Pretty major icicles when it all started to melt!
12) Finally about the last week of February I cut and hung some snowflakes in my office windows!  They are still up.
13) A 50° day where one side of the yard looked like winter and one side like muddy spring.  (That snow along the neighbor's fence STILL isn't completely melted.  It's always in the shadows.)
14) Nice enough weather for a bike ride!  After being buried in snow much of the month!
15) Trying to work on a puzzle, did you know 2000 is a lot of puzzle pieces???  It's much slower going than I expected.
16) Getting in some porch reading in February, always nice when that can happen!  Appreciate having a tiny bit more space to our house!

Books finished: 13, I could have gotten another in with 3 more days!
Miles ran: 1.75!  I RAN!  It was so painful but I just kept reminding myself how much I liked my ~4 months off running.
Currently watching: I'm still trying to catch up to The Office Ladies podcast, I think I'm just 6 episodes behind??  Matt & I are also rewatching Community which is a lot of fun.  And usually means we stay up later than we should on the weekends.
Most read post this month: Stripping: Laundry Style continues to reign although it's monthly totals are in the hundreds instead of the thousands now.  MAYBE I should restrip some laundry now that's been 4 years and apparently I've instructed a lot of people on how to do it??
Luke's current favorite song: You've Got a Friend in Me is still very often requested.  Do I regret buying that yet?? (Maybe.)

March brings birthdays for both boys, the one year COVID quarantine anniversary (What is the traditional gift for 1st year since a global pandemic started?  Face masks?  More face masks? Vaccines?), hopefully plenty of sunny days and very little mud in my house!  I will appreciate every sunny and warm day we get!