a new year!

I started this year with a new resolution: to capture a snipet of every day via video. Below the video i'll attach the highlights!

https://youtu.be/rIwLNLJoiZ4

- firepit on New Years Day
- Ben tried a new painting technique for the door frames that involved taping everything off with plastic and using the sprayer. Great idea- unfortunately it didn't go very well.
- Levi loves playing in the sink. Usually after he eats and I wash off his hands and face, he lunges towards the sink to try to get in it. Every now and then (mainly when the sink is actually empty) I plop him in the sink and let him play.
- The kids love going through the car wash. This was Levi's first time and he surprisingly didn't cry.
- Levi had his 9 mo. check up and as Dr. Reese would say , "I think he's just perfect!"
- Colter's teacher does an awesome activity called "creation station" where she lays out a bunch of recyclable materials, and the kids can make anything they want. Colter usually comes home with some sort of robot/spaceship/battle machine
- Ben took the kids to the kids museum for early opening while Levi napped. He always comes up with something epic to do in the block room.
- The kids needed to burn some energy, but it was raining, so we headed to the rainbow play systems play time. Unfortunately they are moving to a smaller space, so the show room might not be open for playing anymore. Such a fun idea!
- Levi learned how to stand up in his crib, and around the same time, decided he didn't love going down for his afternoon nap.
- It was a rough, early morning, so I went old school and loaded them all up in the car, drove to starbucks, and rode around in the parking garage at the mall. It's always a great reset for mama and the kids.
- I love my special time with Maddie while Colter is at school. Gail cleans our house once a month, so on the days she is cleaning, Maddie and I hang out at my sister's house.
- On Fridays Maddie has ballet class so Levi doesn't get his morning nap. He does a great job falling asleep after ballet, when we are on our way to pick up Colter from school. Neither kid ever did car naps, so it's a bit of a phenomena to me :)
- We went to open gym at gymagine to meet up with Carlie and Mila for a play date.
- Finley turned two! He had a perfect little birthday party at Chick-fil-a, complete with a huge platter of nuggets and fries, the dressed up cow, and a great little play area. We got him worker guy tools and a bob book. He snuggled right up to me to read.. by far my favorite moment!
- Colter and Ben built an epic lincoln log house and then had fun doing slow mo videos of it being destroyed.
- We had the Grants and the Blankenships over to watch the seahawks lose their playoff game. Boo. That night we were supposed to surprise Jayna in Bellingham for her birthday, but she was really sick. Jill, Adelle, and I decided to have a girls night out anyway, so we picked up some starbucks, shopped for some treats at trader joe's, and then surprised Jenni who just had her daughter Penny a few days earlier. After our visit, we drove all around Edmonds and stopped at our first homes. It was such a fun night to reminisce about when we first met each other.
- Levi loves his little scooter. Maddie and I love to push him back and forth.
- Ben took Maddie on a sweet little date to a bakery
- The kids love to pull the cushions off the couch. They usually make pillow walls for Ben to get through, but this day they made a huge fort and piled all the blankets in.
- Maddie loves taking ballet with Harper. She loves her teacher Miss Osiris, and she does a great job following directions. She can't wait for her stage performance in june.
- I went to see JJ Heller in concert with my mom and Kimi
- Levi started to wave and he sometimes says "hiiiiiii" with it. Melt.
- My sister and I tried to surprise my mom at school for lunch, but we didn't realize she has meetings during lunch on Monday. Plan B was eating at a nature preserve right by her work. The kids loved breaking up the ice, climbing on top of the cave, and fishing around in the water.
- Another skill acquired by Levi this month- climbing the stairs at rapid speed. Que the baby gate!
- A rare moment of all the kids playing in the same space.
- One day after school I was driving home and saw a ton of emergency vehicles parked at the Shoreline rec center. We think they were doing some sort of training, so we checked them out, then ran around on the field.
- My little mama Maddie.. always trying to help. She loves to feed him, bring him toys, play with him. She's so amazing with him.
- Maddie is a little daredevil with her bike. She pedals so fast and loves to go up and down the hill over and over again.
- Colter is super into chess right now and wants to take anyone on in a game. He's really good at remembering the rules and legitimately beats me every time.
- Randomness. The kids are always drawing on themselves.
- I took Max home for Jessica because she was getting her hair done. I also dropped Harper off as well, so it was a full load of kids. We stopped at Mel and Mia's pastry shop because i'm crazy, and loved the cute little place.

Stuff that didn't make the video cut:

We started off the New Year exploring a new park. Once again being outside cures all grumpy attitudes for the Crowl Family. We have had so much fun with the snow this year. Everything looks so magical when it's covered with white.

We tried out the pool at McMenimens and it was such a wonderful experience. It was freezing outside and there are two huge openings in the roof , so even though the pool was super warm, it took a lot of courage to drop the towel and get in! Brr! The steam coming off the water added an element of mystery. We will definitely be back.

Ben had the kids watch Bob Ross on netflix one day, and the night Ben and I were dying when the kids were using their Bob Ross voices to paint.

Levi was the cutest costco pizza nibbler ever.

Levi had his first spaghetti dinner. He devoured it.

We met the family for lunch at Uncle Peteza's. It's one of the best places to eat with large groups of loud kids. They give the kids pieces of dough to play with and it's never packed so the kid are able to roam a little bit. After lunch the kids needed to burn off some energy, so we let them run around in a empty lot next to the restaurant. It was super icy and the kids kept falling on the ice over and over again. It was seriously like a comedy show. My sister and I were trying so hard to hold in our laughs as we made sure they were ok .

The kids always ask to go to the Seattle children's museum that's in the center house. Ben took the kids one morning for a special outing. Although it wasn't as good as the one in Everett, they still had a good time.