The kids have had 9 days of school in 2026 and it’s already time for another holiday? Help me.

That said, MLK Jr. is far and away one of the best people to celebrate, especially in today’s America. He’d be astonished at how much we’ve slid right back into old, deep ruts of racism and bigotry.

Let me just say though, I was done by 9:15 in the morning today. The kids had a couple simple tasks this morning. 1. Empty the dishwasher. 2. Clean their playroom. Task one was accomplished with minimal screaming and little repeating of orders. Task two was like climbing Everest. Camden was bouncing a ping pong ball off every surface in that room while singing some obnoxious five-second long tune over and over. London, bless her heart, goes into the playroom and instead of cleaning she plays with Legos. To be fair, 90% of the mess in that room is Camden’s. He touches a bag of toys and it magically explodes into every corner of the room and under every piece of furniture.

During the storm in the playroom, I took it upon myself to organize the Brio pieces into the London-themed toy trunk in the next room so that it’s lid would actually shut. The trunk has been open for weeks like an overstuffed piece of luggage that won’t zip shut and it has started to really bother me. As I was neatly stacking pieces into the trunk so the lid could shut, Kate walked by and told me to not bother. You see, if you don’t meticulously stack every Brio track piece off to one side of the bin there is no way the rest of the Brio tunnels, trains, train stations, people, cows, and railroad crossing signs are going to fit as well. She was willing to say out loud what I was thinking the entire time I was organizing the tracks, there’s no way the kids are going to put it back like that. We just need a bigger bin for those pieces so it will shut regardless of how the Brio is put away. She was right! But you know, I’m sort of stubborn and love seeing that trunk neatly shut, so I continued the madness and the trunk shall not be opened again! Muhahahaha! Kidding, it’ll spill onto the floor again in the next week or so.

Luckily, on this MLK Jr. day we have been saved by a couple inches of snow! I knew that the kids would be jazzed about getting on their snow gear and spending time in it today. This seems like just the third measurable snow event of this winter, so right now, playing in it for the kids, that’s sort of a novelty. They have been outside for almost an hour now and there’s only been one snowball to the face, but no tears. Camden got hot and shed his outer layer into the Tonka truck and was pushing that around the backyard. I put the kibosh on that though, realizing his outer layer was gonna get torn to pieces by some metal edge of the truck. London is crouched under a giant pine tree in the backyard, making “stone tools” out of wooden sticks. She continues to wipe the fresh snow off every flat surface she can find, something she has always loved to do.

So, for now, all is quiet in the house and I have taken this exceptionally rare moment to sit down and document it.