Monday Heather stopped at a park on the way home with the kids. It’s been a long time since it stayed light and warm enough to make that worthwhile. Gideon saw a friend from his gymnastics class there. At home he finished almost all of his valentines and a chunk of his homework. It was a productive day for him. Cecilia has really had the art bug lately and cut lots of paper trying to make a “bunny cape” throughout the evening. They watched Mike the Knight courtesy of Gideon.
Cecilia had me read her Barbie’s Secret Door, A True Princess. Heather read her Bedwetting and Accidents Aren’t Your Fault at Cecilia’s insistence.
Gideon got to hear Bedwetting and Accidents Aren’t Your Fault from Heather and had to settle on Me First from me while Cecilia got that one read to her.

Tuesday the Huisinga’s came over for dinner after a day with some freezing rain and late afternoon snow. The roads weren’t as bad as they could be though, and it was us getting home late that caused dinner to run behind. After a couple hours of playing the Huisinga kids wanted Octonauts. As the guests the choice was left to them, so they got it. The kids really wanted a wait, so I told them we would try the Octonauts that showed as 10 minutes on the DVR. I warned them that if it ended up being a full one we’d get no stories. We got no stories.

Wednesday Gideon started Octonauts while Cecilia was at gymnastics. After that she watched part of Doc McStuffins since she missed the first part of Octonauts.
Gideon chose Math = Fun Weights and Measures from Heather while I read him Mega Machines.
Cecilia got to hear the Frozen story from the Disney Christmas Collection from Heather and the Pinocchio one from me.

Thursday I took the kids to the indoor playground after school as Heather wasn’t feeling quite up to it. After that Cecilia picked Mike the Knight and since we started the show early they got to watch two episodes.
Cecilia had Heather read Oliver and Hopes Amusing Adventure while she let me pick Little Critter Bedtime Princess.
Gideon got one of the Hot Wheels books from Heather and had me read him Snowmen at Christmas. After reading the book we were talking about how it wasn’t real, just a pretend story he told me that it was because it’s fiction. He also told me that non-fiction meant it was true. He learned about the difference from the librarian at school.

Friday the Huisinga kids were here, minus a sick J. They all watched Octonauts before I brought the visitors home. I also read Cecilia Santa Comes to Minnesota and Gideon Horton Hatches an Egg. (He wanted 500 Hats but I put my foot down, I needed to get the others home!) I’m not sure what Heather read them.

Saturday was Gideon’s last day of gymnastics. We also finally told them that we had a surprise in store for them over the weekend as we needed their co-operation to make it work. They figured out we’d be staying at a “show n tell” before we left. The multiple bags packed away to the car was a dead giveaway. We went as a family after gymnastics and had almost a 4 hour drive to Great Wolf Lodge in Wisconsin Dells. After check-in we explored just a bit, then played in the water park for an hour, and finally had a very late dinner before the hotels nightly story-time at 8. Since it was also Valentines day they had a “dance party” after story-time. Gideon didn’t last too long before he wanted to get back as he was tired, but Cecilia would’ve probably stayed for quite a while if allowed.
Gideon got a Hot wheels and Fly Guy story both by the time Cecilia and I got back from the dance party. We then started Mike the night via Amazon streaming. That was a bit more of a process than the usual Amazon button on the TV remote. In any event after the show Gideon wanted a story from me (Ninja Turtles Pizza Party) and Cecilia wanted one from both of us. I missed what Heather read her as I was reading to Gideon, but I delivered an encore presentation of the book I just finished for Gideon. Heather was the first one down, and was actually woken up to read Cecilia her story. Within about 15 minutes (stories finally ended about 10) I was the only one left up, as usual.

Sunday Gideon picked Fireman Sam. This was after a very long day with two trips to the water parks, a wolf walk in the morning, a rest time where only Heather slept, and dinner out. Oh, don’t forget capping the night off with story time and another dance party due to the full house on a holiday weekend. Fireman Sam comes in single episode format, not dual back to back like most kids shows they want. That means we watched two manually.
Gideon had Heather and I choose for him, he was tired and probably could have just crashed to be honest. I read him Plane Pals (which I then read to Cecilia) and Heather read him Mega Machines. I’m not sure what she read Cecilia.