February 12, 2024 - Monday

I was really excited to start a new week today. I didn't get to do much school last week and I was looking forward to a fresh Monday to get things started on the right foot. We got everything done and I managed to stay in a good mood the whole time. Woo! After school, we all went to the library to pick up materials for Jonas and Clemi's research papers. It is so hard to let go of the panic that happens when I know my kids are disrupting people's quiet time in the library. In reality, so what? So a handful of people are slightly annoyed for 2 or 3 minutes of their time. Who really cares? It's probably better that than me act like a psycho, trying to hush my children for the entire time we're at the library. 

We went to Costco after the library, where the kids wanted to buy every single thing, from sheds, to onesie pajamas, to outdoor swings, to hot honey. It was a decent trip though, ending with ice cream for everyone except me. I got home, unpacked, and wished I could climb into jammies, but there's still dinner and HC tonight, so no such luck! 

I really want to find a way to cut back on screen time for the family. I make attempt after attempt after attempt and it never seems to have any lasting effect. I discussed it with Ben this evening and he says that he thinks we need to do something too, but that doesn't really get us much closer to having an answer! I want to rip the damn tv out of the wall and put it away somewhere. Ben isn't quite at that point. 

I also REALLY want to hike more! And not just for 45 minutes with the kids, but for like 5+ miles for the day or even for overnights! I have been feeling like this is just something that's never going to happen for me (and maybe it won't), but Ben told me tonight that he'd be up for doing that too, so I guess we'll see! The challenge is figuring out whether or not the kids would be up for longer hikes. They seem to hate short hikes, so it kind of seems like they would hate longer ones too.