Tasty Treats | Amy Scott's Thoughts

November So Far… November 18, 2024

Filed under: Amy's Bookshelf,Family Time,Homeschool Adventures,Tasty Treats,Travels — Amy Scott @ 2:23 pm

November hasn’t turned out to be a hibernation month like I originally thought it would. I assumed we would slide into a quieter schedule after all the hubbub of birthday month in October. But… November had other plans. I’m thankful to say we’ve found a good groove now that we’re in the latter half of the month, but I’m still waiting for my hibernation feels. I doubt I’ll find it with the holidays right around the corner… Maybe January will have the quiet, chill vibes I’ve been longing for?

Our first weekend of the month was a restful one. It was nice to recover from Fall Fest with a puzzle, cider in the crockpot, breakfast out at a local favorite (Berry Field’s pumpkin pancakes – yum!), lots of fall baking, and some LEGO building. The first full week of the month was filled with a co-op field trip and an out of town conference leading into multiple family birthday celebrations. After that, I moved into friendship focused week. Lots of good stuff happening here!

Our family enjoyed our visit to a hands-on pioneer farm with our homeschool co-op. We learned about pioneer school rules and pioneer chores and housekeeping. I’m so grateful for modern conveniences. I’m not cut out for farm chores and pioneer housekeeping. The kids loved getting a wagon ride and testing out many of the farm chores for themselves. Owen really enjoyed his time at the blacksmith forge. Graham liked fiddling with the tools. The farm animals were super friendly and the boys made good friends with Bacon Bits, the pig.

A highlight of our weekly family calendar right now is watching our good friend, Megan, compete on the Holiday Baking Championship on Food Network. It’s such a neat experience to personally know someone on television. We watch Megan bake on the edge of seats each week! Our family is a whole cheer squad. It’s a big deal and we take watching Megan very seriously. Can’t wait for week three to air tonight!

While the calendar has been full these last few weeks, it’s been filled to the brim with the people we love. We’ve celebrated three family birthdays this month. We had pizza and cake with Nana, we went to a trampoline birthday party for my nephew, and we had a surprise party for Jeremy’s aunt. I’ve also been thankful for time with forever friends. I got a red cup and talked books with Christy last Monday, I had a phone date the next day with my out-of-state friend, Maggie, and then dinner with Christa on Wednesday. I’m extra thankful this month for the friends and family I get to do life with!

November is over halfway over, but there is still so much fun ahead this month. It’s crazy to think we are breezing through November and while it hasn’t been the quiet month I expected, it’s been a good month. As we focus on gratitude this month, I am thankful for the people who color our days with love, joy, support, and a bit of excitement! We certainly keep things interesting around here!

Snickerdoodles were giving me all the fall baking feels.

Visiting a pioneer farm with our homeschool co-op

Nana & Papa had the boys overnight so Jeremy & I could attend a conference. The kids had a great time!

Wishing Nana a very happy birthday with her favorite dessert, German chocolate cake!

Piano lessons with Nana just got better! Nana gifted us a hand-me-down piano so the boys have a bigger keyboard to practice with. They get to bond with Nana over a shared love of piano!

A beautiful sight! Peppermint hot chocolate, Christmas books, and time with a beloved friend.

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Happy October! (aka Birthday Month) October 9, 2024

Filed under: Family Time,Homeschool Adventures,Tasty Treats,Travels — Amy Scott @ 2:07 pm

October is here! Hip hip hooray! It’s my absolute favorite month of the year! I am an autumn enthusiast. Fall outings are the best and it’s birthday month for my boys. It feels like the whole month is one big celebration filled with fun. It’s hard not to love a month that feels like one giant party!

Last Thursday was a great family day. Jeremy and Papa were able to watch the boys at soccer in the morning and then our family took off for an afternoon spent at some local farms. We visited Rutledge Family Farm and did their corn maze. We found all the checkpoints in the maze and played their Who-Done-It game for the first time. After learning Clue this fall, the kids loved the mystery in the corn maze. They also loved all the extra games set-up outside the corn maze. Our next stop was Lattin’s Country Cider Mill and Farm. We always enjoy looking at the animals and grabbing a sweet treat from the bakery case.

Sunday, we hosted a Scott family shindig to celebrate the boys’ birthdays. We did an ice cream sundae bar this year. The kids each got to pick their favorite flavors of ice cream and I had fun trying to come up with as my toppings as I could. The kids enjoyed playing soccer with our extended family. The ice cream helped them all cool down after a good game. Then it was present time where Nerf guns were the theme this year. Of course, new Nerf guns meant a Nerf war with the cousins was next on the agenda. Add some pizza and another round of soccer and you have one epic birthday celebration!

Monday was another big day – Owen got his braces off! After a year of being a metal mouth, he is finally in the home stretch of his orthodontic journey. He still has his lower palate expander in – it should come out next week when he picks up his retainer. It’s been a wild ride and I’ve been so proud of Owen through it all. Monday night, we were able to see the northern lights from our backyard. We missed the big event in May and we’ve been hopeful that another opportunity would happen. It finally did! It was such a neat experience. I couldn’t stop taking pictures!

Yesterday was Owen’s 11th birthday! Jeremy was able to take the day off. He joined us in celebrating Owen all day long. Our morning was spent at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery. We visited the hatchery as a homeschool co-op field trip a couple of years ago and Owen wanted to see the salmon again. It’s a fascinating place to explore during the fall salmon run. In the afternoon, we met up with our co-op at the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. It was a day filled with fish and wildlife which perfectly reflects Owen’s love of nature. Dominos pizza, Safeway chocolate cake, and a big bowl of popcorn completed Owen’s birthday celebration.

Every day feels like an adventure in October! I’ll be back with more autumn activities and birthday celebrations soon!

Blackberry Cobbler! Gotta love fall flavors!

My first time seeing the northern lights! So beautiful!

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You Know It’s September When… September 18, 2024

Filed under: Family Time,Homeschool Adventures,Tasty Treats — Amy Scott @ 1:37 pm

All the signs of September are here! Back to school, apple and pumpkin treats, fall decorating… and a big shift in our family schedule – hunting season! For as long as I’ve known my husband, he has spent a good chunk of September in the woods with a bow in his hands. He has shared his love for archery with our boys as well. Jeremy’s hunting days start early and can end late, but he lets the boys tagalong on the evening hunts if it works in our schedule. They love the adventures with Dad and I love quiet evenings at home with a book. It’s a win-win!

Another very September activity is upon us – soccer season! We haven’t participated in organized sports before. The main reason we’ve avoided sports is the schedule. It just feels a bit too much for our family. Thankfully, there is a local homeschool group that meets only once a week for soccer. It’s a little over an hour of soccer drills and scrimmaging. We invested in soccer gear and showed up to the fields for the first time last week. At first, the boys were super nervous. Doing new things can be intimating, even for me! Once they were on the field, they were all smiles. They left saying how they can’t wait to go back and they’ve mentioned that sentiment multiple times over the week. I’m so glad it was a positive experience for them. I finally joined the ranks of being a soccer mom!

Around the house, we’ve been playing Clue and Labyrinth often. They are the current go-to games for our family. Owen just happily finished up the How to Train Your Dragon book series. Graham has been my blackberry picking buddy around our property. Jeremy has been kind enough to assist us grabbing the blackberries we cannot reach. Owen has jumped in a few times to help us, too. It’s been a family effort! I made a blueberry cobbler this week and I plan to make a blackberry crisp soon with our freshly collected berries. I also have a hoard of frozen raspberries I need to start daydreaming about! Yay for berry season!

Our homeschool co-op shifted it’s format this year. We went from meeting weekly the last couple years, to twice a month (at least for the fall, maybe for the whole school year). With adding soccer this fall, the change in our co-op schedule gives us some extra margin. It’s been appreciated. Our co-op met for a social gathering at the start of September and again yesterday, for a nature walk around a local lake. It was a gray day, but perfect for fresh air and exercise with friends. My heart was especially happy as we walked through spots on the trail with leaves falling gently like autumn confetti. So pretty!

There you have it! It’s definitely September! It’s been a good back-to-school transition. We’re loving our homeschool activities and the boys are enjoying the nature adventures with Jeremy. The first official day of autumn is this coming weekend, but we’ve been living in fall mode all month long. Good times!

All smiles after their first soccer practice

My food photography skills are not so great, but thankfully, my baking skills are better! Blueberry cobbler – yum!

A lovely, gray day for a PNW nature walk

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Back to School 2024 September 7, 2024

Filed under: Family Time,Homeschool Adventures,Tasty Treats — Amy Scott @ 12:36 pm

We got back from the our beach vacation on a Monday and dove into our new school year that Wednesday! It was a quick flip from summer vacation mode to school mode. Thankfully, we get back into our school year groove fairly easily. Our daily flow has served us well and I haven’t had to tweak it much year to year. Back-to-school feels a lot like falling back into a familiar routine. We’ve got this! It’s always neat to see how the kiddos have grown year to year with first day of school pictures. As a homeschool family, we don’t have “school picture day” like public school. I try to get a good photo of each boy on the first day of school to use as their version of a school picture.

I realize that the first day of autumn isn’t until September 22nd and we started school at the end of August. We are technically still in the summer season (and the weather in the PNW reflects that). There is something about the start of school and Labor Day weekend that triggers all the fall feels for me. I don’t have a ton of autumn décor, but it all comes out at the start of September. I find it’s a visual switch to a new season. Pops of orange are found in my throw pillows, kitchen hand towel, and tablecloth. I added pumpkin hand soaps in orange bottles to all the bathrooms. A few pumpkin and thankful decorations are out. By decorating for the fall season early, I don’t feel bad heading into Christmas mode by the middle(ish) of November. Many think it’s wrong to decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving, but I am not one of them. Autumn gets to shine to for 2.5 months at my house. Christmas is welcome to have a solid 1.5 months of display time!

While I revel in fall colors, I also adore fall flavors! I’m one of those crazy pumpkin spice lovers and I’m proud of it! Just yesterday at Costco, I stocked up on pumpkin quick bread mix and pumpkin muffins! Yum! I also did a baking project this week with my favorite sugar cookies. I made apple cookies (vanilla in flavor, apple in appearance). October is the perfect month to showcase pumpkins and September feels an apple month to me. I have been eyeing some blackberries at the end of my driveway as well. After this heat wave passes, I hope to do some berry-picking. All I need is enough blackberries to make a crisp and my fall taste buds will be happy campers!

October is by far my favorite month of the year, but the hints of autumn that come in September also make my heart happy. We had a lovely summer, but I am ready to shift gears into school mode again. I am so grateful for the opportunity to homeschool my boys. Right now with Owen starting his 5th grade year, I would just like to freeze time. Elementary school as been the absolute best and I am not ready for this window of time to pass. I have a feeling I will remember our elementary school homeschool adventures with fondness for the rest of my days.

When you buy non-sporty kids soccer goals and they pretend it’s a prison…

Teaching the boys Clue for the first time

First Day of Co-Op! We did a social gathering with board games, a paper airplane flying contest, water balloon toss, and playground time! It was a blast!

I stocked up on pumpkin treats and autumn tablecloths yesterday!

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Kids Camp & Mom Camp August 14, 2024

Filed under: Amy's Bookshelf,Bible,Children's Ministry,Getting Creative,Parenthood,Tasty Treats,Travels — Amy Scott @ 2:08 pm

Last week was a milestone! Both boys are now old enough to go to summer camp as campers! Two summers ago, Owen went as a first-time camper while Graham and I stayed home. Because Graham missed Owen and Jeremy so much (my company wasn’t enough), he and I went last year and stayed with Jeremy in his cabin (Jeremy is the co-director of kids camp). But this year! This year they could all go and I opted (with the blessing of my husband) to stay home.

I’ve dreamt of a having a solitude retreat for many years. I’ve read from multiple authors who suggest solitude retreats at hotels or conference centers, but I don’t have the time or budget for that in this season of life. Staying home while my family went to camp gave me the solitude retreat I’ve been envious of without paying to go away. Also, as a homeschool mom, I’m in the background (or forefront) of most of my kids’ activities. I figured by staying home, I could give them some growing independence and a chance to make memories without me. It’s difficult to say that since I love making fun memories with my kids, but I can also release them to have good experiences without me. I’m looking at it as preparation for launching adults someday. Baby steps toward the main goal!

Summer camp is always a whirlwind of activity! The kids enjoyed snack shack, swimming at the lake, boating, paddling boarding, climbing the rock wall, smores, chapel, and time with cousins and church friends. Summer camp is such an awesome experience not only to have fun, but to connect with God and deepen friendships. I went to this same camp as an elementary student. I love that the boys are making summer camp memories in the same spot I did.

I enjoyed my own version of summer camp – Mom Camp! I definitely had a plan for each day I was home. I’m so happy with what I was able to accomplish! Some of my home projects included mopping, washing all the bedding, and washing the sofa covers (all tasks that are easier alone). I did a mini-spa night with Crest White Strips and a hair mask. I watched Unsung Hero, both the movie and the extras. I worked on a diamond art coaster craft. I’ve never done this craft before and since I’m leading a workshop on it this fall, it was good practice. I was able to make photobook of our Yellowstone road trip on Shutterfly. I did some baking. I took extra long walks. I enjoyed so many good books and did a prayer exercise that really set the tone for my alone time. Right before the start of a new school year, it felt like the perfect time to invest in my physical, mental, and spiritual health. I’m already brainstorming and daydreaming about what next year could hold.

Making summer camp memories with the cousins!

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Family & Friends August 4, 2024

Filed under: Family Time,Tasty Treats,Travels — Amy Scott @ 1:49 pm

I just read a book where the characters would toast at dinner, “To friends who feel like family!” It got me thinking over the last week and how special it is to have friends who feel like family, but also to have family who feel like friends. These relationships make life extra sweet!

We’ve continued our super social summer with more dinners and playdates. There has been something fun almost every single day. The highlights since my last post were camping with the Scott family for the weekend at Iron Creek Campground in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and visiting with friends who now live across the country! We’ve been making lasting memories with treasured people.

Camping is always an adventure! Without fail, an air mattress always seems to die while we are out in the woods. Jeremy and I’s mattress needed to be refilled a couple times a night so we didn’t sleep on the hard ground. The lack of sleep out camping is probably my least favorite part, but there are lots of favorites to make up for the sacrifice. I’m a huge fan of camping food and reading by the campfire. The smell of campfire smoke that lingers long after the fire has been put out is definitely a favorite. I love watching the cousins run amuck in the moods or sitting around the campfire telling spooky stories which result in giggles more than chills. There were multiple card games and hikes and plenty of time to catch up.

The day after our camping trip, we hosted my forever friend, Maggie, and her family. We played games, ate pizza, and chatted around the table. The kids played hard and Owen fell in love with their puppies. Maggie moved to the other side of the country at the start of 2024. Visits like this will be few and far between with the miles that now separate us. It makes these times extra meaningful. I wish I could slow them down and live in them just a little longer. After having them over a visit, we spent Friday visiting them at the beach (their current home base). We enjoyed a morning of mini-golf, a trip to the bakery, a BBQ lunch, and an afternoon at the beach. My friendship with Maggie has spanned decades and it’s such a joy to watch our families be friends too.

We’ve made some good summer memories! These are the days I’ll think back to and smile. The smell of sunscreen, chlorine from the pool, campfire smoke, a dusty trail, the ocean breeze… all linked to happy times. It’s been a summer of popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, and chocolate chip cookies. Not to mention lots of wet and dirty laundry! These are all signs of a summer well-lived. I am beyond grateful!

Our home sweet home for three days at Iron Creek Campground

The Fishing Crew – photo credit goes to my sis-in-law since I was back at the campfire reading!

“Spooky” stories with silly names have become a favorite for these kids.

The kids insisted on swimming even though it was freezing!

I have zero mini-golf skills, but it was still fun!

Again, the kids didn’t seem to mind the cold water!

Forever friends – no matter where we live!

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A Super Social Summer July 22, 2024

Filed under: Family Time,Getting Creative,Tasty Treats,Travels — Amy Scott @ 1:35 pm

If I could use one word to describe our summer, it would be social! Especially this last month! Our calendar has been a blend of hosting play dates and dinners and then traveling for play dates and dinners with friends and family. In June, Owen shared his wish to see more friends and then in July, we had so many friends over to our house that Owen requested we start going over to other people’s houses! I laughed because it felt like I just couldn’t win! But in the end, we’ve created a good mix of here and there and everywhere. Gotta keep things interesting!

One of my favorite days this month was a Friday that we packed up for a day of exploring in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. We scoped out a campground we plan to visit this summer and then went hiking nearby. We enjoyed all the waterfalls on the Covell Creek Trail. We made a quick stop at Layser Cave before moving on to Takhlakh Lake with a lovely view of Mt. Adams. It was a great day of adventuring together in nature!

Another fun activity was a small Christmas in July moment I had with the boys this last week. We had leftover miniature gingerbread house kits from IKEA. They’ve been sitting in my pantry since December. The boys loved decorating while I supervised (sipping on hot chocolate and listening to Christmas music). It was so festive and the gingerbread cookies smelled heavenly! Owen decorated houses while Graham made sprinkle explosions on a couple cookies. It was hilarious to see the difference in these two cookie decorators!

We love playing board games as a family and with company. We relearned a game from our collection this month. BANG! is a western game with a sheriff, deputy, renegade, and outlaws – each with an agenda to kill the sheriff or keep him alive. It’s been a hit! We also got a new game thanks to Prime Days, Machi Koro 2. We taught the boys this weekend and it’s a current obsession. We even taught it to friends last night. I love that our new board game cabinet in the dining room is getting used like I envisioned!

There is no doubt about it – summer is an intense burst of activity! The window of good weather and flexible scheduling only lasts so long. It’s been great to see so many people and do so many fun things together. But… I’ve also started to daydream about autumn and a little more structure to our schedule. I can’t help myself! I’m an introvert who can only keep the summer pace up for so long. Good thing it’s only a season and I hope to be as present as possible while it’s here!

When a kid gets carsick, stop and let them throw rocks in a creek.

Takhlakh Lake with Mt. Adams in the background

Jeremy treated the boys to a movie while I was at Book Club!

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Summer Celebrations! July 10, 2024

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Family Time,Tasty Treats — Amy Scott @ 1:47 pm

Summer is in full swing and there has been so much to celebrate! Graham and I visited our sweet GG to celebrate her 91st birthday at the end of June. Unfornately, Owen stayed home with Jeremy due to a case of the summer sniffles. We celebrated the 4th of July with Jeremy’s family, my dad’s birthday with my family, and Jeremy & I’s 18th wedding anniversary.

In the midst of all the partying, we’ve hosted multiple barbeques and playdates. The weather has been hot (5 days of 90+ degrees) and we love sharing our pool with friends and family. We’ve been bouncing from fun thing to fun thing. This is the sweet spot of summer! These are the days of playing hard and crashing into bed at night exhausted. It’s a good type of tired!

Other recent highlights include kicking off our Scuba Sundays at church. We do our VBA (Vacation Bible Adventure) on Sundays for 5 weeks and the kids look forward to this special program every year. We also went to the movies as a family to see Inside Out 2. We were the only family in the theater which is always a treat.

July continues to be a super social month with lots of playdates and dinners with friends still to come. Our outdoorsy plans include taking a hike to some local waterfalls and camping with Jeremy’s family at the end of the month. We haven’t been camping in 2 years so the boys are very excited for the camping experience as well as time with the cousins. These boys love their cousin crew! Extra time with friends and family is one of the many joys of summer. We are thankful for our community and the extraordinary people we get to life with!

Badminton is a family favorite right now

Fireworks that look like swords were a hit

Seeing stars at the end of a very happy 4th of July

The kids love all the decoration at Scuba this year. This turtle is their new best friend.

Enjoying ICEEs and AC while being the only ones in the movie theater.

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Celebrating All.The.Things. April 4, 2024

Filed under: Family Time,Homeschool Adventures,Tasty Treats,Travels — Amy Scott @ 1:26 pm

We’ve been celebrating all the things since my last update here. There is so much to share! I’ll try to hit the highlight reel. I might have waited too long to share! So much has happened. Here’s hoping I can contain all the fun in one post!

To start things off, our family attended the Spring Work Party at our church the weekend before Easter. The boys each earned $100 off of their camp registration cost by serving for 4 hours. They helped clean inflatables and create Easter gift bags. I wiped down tables and then did a thorough purge and reorganize of Jeremy’s children church closet. I love cleaning and sorting, so it was a very fulfilling day! The next day that same weekend, we celebrated an early birthday dinner for Jeremy with his parents. It was a good, full weekend.

Jeremy’s birthday fell on a Monday this year. Honestly, it’s hard to make a Monday birthday thrilling… We were able to pick up the license plates for our new van and then we went out to dinner as a family at our favorite Mexican restaurant. We came home to play a new game that we got Jeremy for his birthday and had birthday cake. It was a low-key birthday, but I think Jeremy felt special and celebrated!

Easter is always a big event in our world. Jeremy had lots of prep at church and I had lots of prep around the house. The Thursday and Friday before Easter were big baking days for me. I made sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookie bars, and brownies to share over the weekend. Jeremy mowed the lawn and I cleaned the house in prep for hosting a gathering with my family on Saturday.

Saturday’s celebration included honoring my parent’s anniversary (which was that day), a belated birthday for Jeremy, Graham’s baptism the following day, and Easter. We know how to pack in a party! The boys opened their Easter baskets (we normally do this the day before Easter because Sunday is always so busy) and did an egg hunt around our house. We had pizza and plenty of desserts to share. The kiddos enjoyed doing some Pokémon trading with their super cool Auntie. We wrapped up the day by coloring eggs.

On Sunday, Graham got baptized at church. He’s been talking about it for a while and finally decided now was the time. Jeremy and I got to baptize him. It’s been an honor to be a part of the boys’ baptisms and to encourage them in their faith journeys. It was a fantastic way to celebrate Easter! After church, we went over to Nana & Papa for tacos and treats. The kids and the adults each had an egg hunt in the afternoon. It’s always a good time when the whole cousin crew is together! Side note: Sunday was our house-iversary (a holiday I personally celebrate every year). Sunday marked six years in our home here on the hill. It’s been such a wonderful place to raise our family. I’m so thankful to live where we do!

After all the celebrating, you’d think we would quiet things down, but no. On Monday, we met up with family at the beach. They had a house rented in Seabrook for Spring Break and we crashed a day of their trip (at their invitation). The kids got to swim in the community pool, watch a magic show, get soaked in the ocean, and visit the arcade. It was a super fun day!

We had a field trip on Tuesday with our homeschool co-op. Now that the weather is warming up, we are definitely getting out and about for field trips more often. We visited a piece of local history at the Borst Home in Centralia. We got to tour both floors of the home, the carriage house, the gardens, a one room schoolhouse, and pioneer church. The timeline of this field trip fit well with our Oregon Trail field trip. It was fun to see local history overlapping.

By the time yesterday rolled around, I was glad to have no where to go and nothing pressing to do! Yes, we did school and our normal Wednesday chores, but I got to be homebody and it filled up my tank after being so busy. Today is another day around the house, just doing our normal school and chores. I sure love celebrating, but our pace of life has caught up with me. I am thankful today for the margin to rest and happily reflect on the fun we’ve had the last few weeks.

A little March Madness: Graham and Spike cheering on Gonzaga

Helping to clean the church before Easter

I used a new bunny cookie cutter this Easter. It might be my new favorite. So cute!

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Books, Board Games, and Life at Home February 5, 2024

Filed under: Amy's Bookshelf,Family Time,Homeschool Adventures,Tasty Treats — Amy Scott @ 11:33 am

January turned out to be a much quieter month than we anticipated. Between the winter weather and Graham coming down with a cold, we had a lot of time at home in January. As a homebody, the extra time at home was no hardship. A majority of our free time in January was spent playing board games and reading books (well, books for Owen and I – he is flying through The Hardy Boys right now and I’m making the most of Kindle Unlimited and the Skyward series). Our family has an obsession with The Quest for Eldorado board game at the moment. The game says it’s 10+, but our 8 year-old, Graham, has picked it up fairly easily. I would even say that Graham has probably won more times than me at this point. And yes, I am a little bitter about that. Just kidding, but kind of, not really. Ha!

Life has picked up with the calendar turning to February. On February 1st, Jeremy took the day off as comp-time for working at a conference in January. We wrapped up our school day quickly while Jeremy was at a morning dentist appointment. When Jeremy arrived home, we set off for a spur-of-the-moment trip to Portland, OR. (Yay for a flexible homeschool schedule!) We planned 3 different visits to Portland in January, but each time we had to cancel (twice due to weather, once for illness). The original Portland plan was to visit OMSI – Oregon Museum of Science and Industry – but we are now waiting for March when their next exhibit opens. The other part of our Portland plan was to visit a few bookstores and we were able to make that happen on Thursday! I loved wondering Powell’s Books and spent the last of my Birthday money. I’m already looking forward to my February book blog. So many new books to share!

This weekend, I was able to reconnect with a friend over coffee. Our family was also able to have dinner with friends we haven’t seen in a while. It was a good weekend to catch up with friends! Our February calendar is filled with dinners, playdates, field trips, and a marriage conference. The month is booked with just enough margin to hopefully stay sane. I would like to believe that March will be the month it all balances out, but Easter is in March this year. Between Easter prep, making sure Jeremy’s birthday doesn’t get lost in the Easter prep, and Easter itself, I have a feeling March might be a bit full as well. But since March is still a ways away, I will choose to focus in on this month, this week, this day. When I look at the big picture, the calendar can seem daunting, but then I remind myself that I can only in live in this moment. One day at a time!