January stuff

One night after Girl Scouts, Katelyn got to come over for a while until her mom was back from practice with older brother. These two loved showering, pajama-ing and doing extra homework at 9pm together- 

I know I will some day miss the random kid stuff that gets left in our bedroom, so for now I will giggle and capture it-

Finally- I noticed some random beauty in nature-

Macy so desperately wants a brace, crutches, anything-

Gotta love the simplicity that comes from lining up dominoes! Such a timeless classic-

And a new fav, that is a popular Indonesian game, but apparently well known at Macy's school- Mancala 

To honor my mom on the 2 year anniversary of her death, I poured myself some of her kahlua and spent time reading about another strong woman and amazing mother- Michelle Obama-

I attempted my first ice cream cakes- and they did not suck! Mint Chocolate chip-

Toffee caramel-

And Macy and Hannah knocked out some mini red velvet cupcakes in the Easy Bake Oven-

Who said packing for a winter campout was easy?

Love this cutie- and he loves his new Patriots Hat from Ibu Viana at Christmas-

You know what else isn't easy? Having your kids write out thank you notes. But, they CAN do hard things!

Thank you God for a dry, sunny day, gorgeous sunrise and not being mad at Tate for saying "Mom, I forgot that I have to be at school early today for extra help, like in 10 minutes."

Jokingly, I told Brian I would only get the groceries he needed if he wrote me a love letter-

DONE!

Jake and Jess got Tate this nerf football target game, and I had to snap a picture in January when it was warm enough to be outside playing in a t-shirt!

For Christmas, Auntie Kristen got the kids 3 months of YUM Boxes- boxes of international treat and country trivia that come in the mail. Their first country was Germany!

I didn't want to get rid of my gorgeous winter wreath just yet, so Brian found a lovely- and very German- use for it-

It looked even more wonderful with a dusting of snow-

Kids are back swimming! Winter conditioning- just once a week, on Saturday mornings...

Macy finally finished her last Tinker Crate from Titi- and this one was awesome!

 Brian swapped out with me this year for robotics team- and here is proof that he's way better-

This was a hallway course for the kids to program the robot to go through-

Hair cut time-

Fractured foot? Gout? We aren't sure... But he's still going camping- with walking sticks in lieu of crutches!