Museum of Ice Cream

I think the word museum was used pretty loosely here. The museum of Ice Cream is more of a pop-art installation with lots of samples of various sugary items. So, in other words, pretty fun! I have had lots of kids at school talk about birthday parties there, so it was on my Austin list of things to do. Ollie was invited to a birthday party at Top Golf, which was really close to where the museum was, so we hit it up after picking him up. And of course, having Momo and Mimi with us made it even better. 

Ollie, with buddy Tristyn.

Let the crazy art, lights, and sugar begin!

Did someone mention a banana split? 

I haven't seen a fun house mirror in forever!

Animal Cracker Carousel

Dive on in to the sprinkle pit!

Momo and Mimi!

Momo and Mimi made their first trip to Hutto this past February! It seems crazy that they hadn't been here yet, but because of COVID and life in general, this was their first trip. They also finally got to meet their new grand-pups. I reallllly think Mimi needs a little Luna of her own. 

Texas weather did not cooperate and was unkind to the northerners as highs were in the 30's the entire time they were here. They tried to put on a good face and said, "It's better than the 20's we've got at home!" but I was bummed we didn't get to get out and feel the sun. 

Nolan and Momo also caught a cold of some kind, so we had some pretty low key days watching tv and sticking close to home as well. 

Snow Day!

 Okay, folks! I'm a'catching up again! Let's start back with some early February stuff!

Look at this sweet army jacket that used to be Momo's. We need to find a picture of little Markie playing in it, then Eli, and now Noey. 

Limping Along

Our poor little corner of the world continues to limp on. The omicron variant has spread like wildfire through the schools. Jon, Ollie, and Seth ended up all getting it at the same time, but had extremely mild symptoms. I doubt we would have even tested them except for we knew we had extended exposure. Nolan was the one with the cough (which also prompted the family testing), and he tested negative multiple times throughout it all. I had to test for work for about 3 weeks which was super annoying as I had to report to a testing site off our campus at 6:25am Mon/Wed/Fri. 

We've had numerous teachers out at work (I'm sure every district/company/business has) and everyone is feeling the strain with covering extra classes or having extra kids as there simply are not enough subs. Our district closed for a couple days after MLK because we just didn't have enough staff to operate. 

This past week has been much better with almost a full staff, but now we are in the middle of another closure because of winter weather. School is closed Thursday and Friday with a deluge of rain/freezing rain and slick conditions. Seth's covid quarantine was finally over and was set to return to school today annnnd now we are closed for ice. Seth is a major introvert however, and is happy. Ollie has only been back at school for three days and is now home again. I'm feeling for him as 5th grade had a week long field trip to a local military base for STEM experiments and now of course the final days are cancelled. 

Ollie at Starbase at Camp Mabry

Nolan's class with the APEX fundraiser crew at HES. 

Nolan's Fun Run

Covid-work-at-home-club

(We kept Nolan home a few days, sure he was the next to get it, but nope!)

The puppies have been enjoying the extra people around I'm sure.

I've finally started making things on my cricket! So fun!! 

The poor 100th day of school has had to be re-scheduled 3 times.

We had some dress up days at school lately.

Nolan's class on career day

Superhero day! Me and Olivia, another staff kiddo.

And of course, the Chiefs broke our hearts.

February has had a rough start, but at least we made it through January!

I just re-read through this and saw zero pictures of Seth. Here's a fun fact for ya: I took him for a check up yesterday at the doc and he is 5'6. 

January

 Happy Belated New Year! Jon and I were talking about how it really doesn't feel like a new year. I don't ever think it feels like a new year in January because my years have always revolved around the school calendar, but he made a lot of good points. Same old covid hanging around, same old problems with race and politics, nothing super new or major with our kids or family, no big changes on the horizon with the new year.

We did start the New Year with duck donuts. My favorite was a lime one with coconut! Yummmm. 

Jon and Noey took care of a friends dog.

We've gone on some walks and hikes.

Over MLK weekend we went up to Lubbock to visit friends. Major fail 1: No pictures were taken. Major fail 2: We came home with Covid. 

We knew on the drive home that we had been exposed because our friends had texted that morning that she tested positive. The ironic thing is that we didn't see 2 or 3 other families that we would have because of health concerns with Covid. 

School had also been cancelled two additional days after MLK day because of the number of staff out in our district. (Again, Covid). On Tuesday morning, Nolan woke up with a terrible cough, so we decided to test everyone. Ollie was the one who tested positive however. (I had forgotten how terrible air quality is in Lubbock; it's so dry and so dusty. I'm guessing Nolan was just having some allergies after spending the weekend there.) 

Jon has had a sore throat all week, but tested negative twice. It's so hard to tell what is allergies and what is Covid! He did test again this morning though and it was positive. We will see if it continues to spread through the house or if it stops. 

It's looking like we will have a low key month. Time to get caught up on things around the house and this here ol blog!