I brought a whole folder full of work to do while I was out of town earlier this month, with the thought that between visiting family, adventuring with little miss, and flying here and there and everywhere with a toddler, I would be able to blog like 10 posts. That obviously didn’t happen. Being an entrepreneur means I’m constantly trying to carve out a few more minutes of work time, but honestly, it was fantastic to just be present with our family and I’m so glad I did. I barely took any photos, between chasing the toddler and catching up. It was a good trip!

So, let’s talk about January and February! They are slow, cold months up here. We fought off a couple nasty colds and shoveled tons of snow. I was a vendor at Bride’s Night at Barrister in January, and then did some fun work at the Convention Center in February, but I mainly tried to catch up on a lot of behind the scenes stuff and spent time with my family. Now that spring is on it’s way, I’m ready to look back at the photos of all that snow!

January:

1. I kicked off the month with some DIY projects to get ready for Bride’s Night at Barrister. I haven’t done a wedding show since before N was born and I was kinda nervous and totally had to make a last minute trip to the store and a buy a bunch of stuff and somehow I survived!

2. My booth/table! It went really well and I had a blast. This show was so much more fun and less overwhelming than the big wedding show that happens at the Convention Center. I really prefer the small shows because they allow me more one on one time with people. I’ll also be at Confetti Spokane on April 18th, so if you’re engaged or if you know someone who is, please stop by and chat with me.

3. We went out to breakfast at the Satellite (best eggs Benny in town) and N got this absolutely adorable pig pancake for her breakfast! She surprised us by eating all her eggs and sausage, and most of the pancake on her own.

4. You know you do a lot of DIY when your kiddo has her own tool set and insists on fixing things around the house. She brings it out to work on stuff all the time and always wants to help us.

5. One of the best things we ever did was get an annual pass to Mobius. This year we upgraded to the Childrens + Science Museum, and I love taking N there for a couple hours to play. She loves all the fun toys and exhibits.

6. Fighting off a cold and needed some ring sling snuggles for her nap. She is pretty outspoken about which ‘uppie’ she uses, and demanded her blue ring sling for these snuggles (and for the trip we just took). I was planning to sell it, because we hadn’t been using it, but now it’s a favorite again.

7. We spent a bunch of Alaska miles and went to Mexico without the kiddo for a long weekend AND we flew first class. I took next to no photos because we mostly just spent hours catching up and talking and lounging in the warm weather by the pool, but this was my first time flying first class and it was SO nice. I really enjoyed having a few days without our kiddo to reconnect with my spouse.

8. While we were waiting to take off in Spokane, we saw the most beautiful winter sunrise and watched the fog burn off. I am not really a morning person, so sunrise isn’t something I see very often but I do love to see them when I can.

9.  This was my first time flying through San Diego, and we are dreaming of going back with N to explore. We’ve heard great things and it was a super quick little flight from Spokane.

10. A quick selfie after a fancy dinner out where we drank wine and didn’t talk about our kid – but did talk about our house. Hahaha! We had a blast in Puerto Vallarta and even though we didn’t do much exploring, with just a couple short days there, we enjoyed the parts of the city that we did see, and managed to pick up a few new things for our home too.

11. I love lasagna, but it’s such a pain to make, so when I do, I double the batch and make some freezer meals too. I made one full pan of lasagna, two half pans, and this sweet little lunch sized one. We froze these three and ate the full one (again and again).

12. N insisted on having her own fork and knife to eat, and often does now. I’m endlessly impressed by what they pick up from watching adults, and how kids learn to use utensils. Still working on our grip though! [Sources: Milk cup, plate, baking cup as a bowl, 360 cup, silverware]

February:

13. We kicked February off with a little ‘happy birthday’ party to our house. We closed on it five years ago! It’s been a crazy, wild, ride, and we love this place so much but it’s also been a lot slower than we expected. This year we are really hoping to do more work on the house, which means less travel, since we only have so much time and so much money. Boo! But for some reason, I was feeling super nostalgic and started an Instagram account for our house and travels. Come find us at @wenzel.haus and see more personal stuff there.

14. This sweet kitty of ours has been slowing down. I’m endlessly impressed by how she handles little miss snuggling her all the time. She gets less love and attention than she used to, but she’s still my snuggle baby and curls up next to me in the evenings or when I’m working at my computer.

15. The sass in this one. Our little miss would play out in the snow all day every day if we let her. I shared some of our winter layering tips on my Wenzel Haus Instagram account, and I have to say, we’ve been out for nearly an hour in 20F weather and she is still toasty warm when we come in. It’s been a learning process over the last two years, and it does require a bit of investing to get good stuff, but there’s tons of secondhand gear out there!

16. During the big snow storm, N insisted on going out and helping me shovel. She also ‘made tracks’ just like her favorite book character, Peter, from A Snowy Day.

17. Shadow is such a snow loving dog that even towards the end of the month, when the snow was so high we were all over it, he was still thrilled. Cold temps, on the other hand? He is not a fan of. He’ll put off going outside all day for freezing temps, but if it’s above freezing and snowing, he’s out there, playing around.

18. My chiropractor has some fun toys for kiddos to play with if they come in with you, which is great, since N comes with me pretty regularly. I try to schedule my appointments for when she’s at daycare, but that doesn’t always work, and I’m super thankful they’re so kid friendly at the chiro! She’s been coming with me since she was just a couple months old.

19. We’ve been doing another round of swim lessons this winter for my two fishes (H and N) and N thought that it was hilarious to wear her papa’s swim goggles around the house. She has loved swim, and it’s been so good to get her more accustomed to the water from an early age.

20. Last fall I picked up an old dresser for N’s room. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with it, but I stripped all the grime off the hardware that was left and bought a few replica pieces to match it for the handles that were missing. It took a lot of work and I might still need to do some more, but for now, it’s living in my office until the weather warms up and I can take it outside for paint and sanding.

21. Miss Lola went in for her annual check up and she was less than impressed with the vet, as usual. We love our vet and their beautiful building here in the Perry District. Cat parents – the Cat’s Meow is pretty amazing and we love them so much.

22. Rocking red lips while working. I’ve been super thrilled to be working with Gonzaga to offer headshots for their students at career fairs over the past few months. I’ve got to update my portfolios in April, but if you’re a small business in need of headshots, or if you’re looking to get some new photos of your business, contact me today.

23. We had a day that went completely sideways and ended up at The Shop for a cupcake and some dino time a few weeks ago. N had a blast putting all the dinos together with their friends and playing with all the toys. Super lucky to have such a kid friendly coffeeshop in our neighborhood.

24. We went to the Spokane Potter’s Guild’s chili feed in February, and N picked out this bowl as her own. She’s getting much much better with normal utensils and I’m grateful to be slowly leaving the era of bringing dishware when we travel because our kid can’t handle anything but plastic. It’s the little things!

And just like that, we flew through February and into March! We spent most of March traveling, so when I finally get around to recapping March and April, you know there will be some pretty travel photos!!

Some links here are affiliate links. I only link items that we use and recommend. If you purchase through one of my affiliate links, I may receive a small amount that helps offset the cost of hosting my site and running the website. It also helps pay for daycare. 🙂