January

Hello blog,

I miss you! I mean to blog and I want to, but life is just different lately. It's more hands-on parenting, less living-in-my-head designing things. More babysitting, less sitting with babies. More homeschooling, fewer naps.

I got to take each of my boys out on one-on-one dates to Starbucks, thanks to a sweet gift from my mom's man!

Life is good! I'm up-beat and happy, most of the time. Every now and then I have one of those days. Like today. I was going to go grocery shopping but had already bitten off the heads of each of my boys before breakfast. I decided a trip to the store was not what the doctor ordered! We stayed home, there was only one "extra" child (and only for a few hours--I do some child care for a few families. Some days I have as many as four "extra".), the boys got to play outside, I got to chill. Win.

And it snowed.

And snowed!

I don't think I'll be running to the store unless it's an emergency!

Anyway, I'm trying to get back to blogging, even if life is different. Even if we rent and I'm not painting rooms and installing board and batten. Even if I'm homeschooling and not making signs. Even if I'm babysitting and not doing crafts. Or I am doing crafts, just geared towards 5-6 little kids with the average age of 3.

And, I'm tired of taking a million pictures, worrying about the lighting, being distracted from the kids and the project, then having to edit. I'm slow at editing and it makes me not want to post! So maybe my goal should be fewer pictures, less editing (perfection is over-rated) and simple, "this is real life" posts.

Ok! Back to the topic. Again. So. Here we have Life in January. According to Instagram with a few added pictures because I can.

Ever since Uncle Luke, rocket scientist, came to visit at Christmas, Jonathan has been building rockets. Here are two versions, in Lego blocks on the launch pad and in wooden blocks. We've been learning about space in school, so I'm thrilled with his interest!

Speaking of homeschool, we officially started My Father's World (Kindergarten) in January. Love it! Very thematic, very Bible based, very natural. Jared is working with us and is keeping up fine. I have the boys doing extra math because this math is basically reviewing numbers and both of them are really good at adding. Jonathan is *this* close to reading. Some days he's totally there and other days he just kinda guesses. I'm not worried at all--it seems exactly like what lots of kids did when I taught Kindergarten. When he's ready, he'll be ready, and no sooner!

The last picture is not typical, but on this day the boys were running low-grade fevers and even mommy didn't feel very good, so we spent a good portion of the morning watching National Geographic Kids clips. Including several on space and rockets.

It's always easier to remember to take pictures when we're out somewhere and when the boys are all dressed up! This set is from three different Sabbaths in January. Jonathan was excited to play a shepherd at one church, and in another they have cute crafts! Well, the crowns were cute and appropriate, but the other one with the paper plates? It was, "Draw what you like to do best on Sabbath" in glue. And then add glitter. #umwhat? The kids ended up--not just mine--with plates full of wet glitter glue which they were supposed to take with them when they left. Did I mention it was windy and freezing cold and they were dressed up?

The funny thing here is that I carefully carried their plates, set them under the pew to dry during church, protected them during potluck, brought them home myself (the glue was still wet), and hung them in our classroom. For a week. And then I threw them out. The end.

This is what childhood is made of. I love this cave! It's in our classroom so the boys were able to leave it up. I had set the sheet up for them to play under and the boys asked if they could sleep there. Gary got out the sleeping bags and made a bed with several layers because of the hard floor. The rule was that if they were still noisy at 9 PM, they'd have to go sleep in their own beds. I checked on them later and found them totally snuggled up and completely OUT. Cuties. We let them sleep in the cave for three or four nights!

In between bouts of dangerous cold, January had some surprisingly warm days. One week we walked to church, another time we walked around the lake (it was 60* that day). Other times our cheeks and ears were cold no matter how fast we walked, and still other times the boys enjoyed playing in the snow. Most days we stayed inside. Brr!

Ok, I'm tired and Picmonkey runs so slowly on my computer that I was tired of making collages! Here we have nine more random memories from January.

1. My nails are actually pretty! They were terrible over Christmas, but after life slowed down they grew out a little and I had time to paint them a pale pink undercoat with pink sparkles on top. I did more glitter near the tips. It was cute and girly. Someone has to be girly around here!

2. I usually read to the boys because I'm the one home, so the boys love Sundays when Daddy reads to them at story time!

3. Jared is a goof! Full of tricks and fun and usually moving so fast I can't get a picture.

4. Josiah very systematically put down a whole layer of blocks. He was so focused! Adorable.

5. Feeling creative with the Sunday pancakes. Oh--last week I tried the trick of watering down the batter a little and adding it to a ketchup bottle with a funnel. You've seen it on Pinterest, right? Well, it totally works! We had the funnest shapes! Stars, hearts, letters, a turtle, snowman, butterfly... So fun.

6. Jonathan is very interested in washing dishes. I think it's an excuse to play in the water, but the dishes don't look too bad. I've been trying to let him do more things like that. It's so easy to do it all myself. I'm faster, neater and things are done right, but I know it's important to let him contribute and teach him to do things the right way too.

7. There might have been ice cream at McDonald's one day. It was so cold and the boys were so tired of being inside... And the Play Place is so fun! But I have a hard time feeding them lunch there. It's expensive x 3, and the "food" isn't great quality. But ice cream? Totally ok. Best $3 for an hour of play ever!

8. So, Mom, this one's for you. You notice the TWO helicopters there? I never buy noisy toys, but this year at Christmas I didn't have much to spend and the helicopter, fire truck and police car were the right price. I knew the boys (and the day care kids) would love them, so I went for it. Fast forward to Christmas morning and the boys open presents from Grandma Joycie. And there's a helicopter! What?! Jonathan was totally jumping up and down! But when he got to the present from Gary and me, it was like, what? Huh? Another helicopter? Totally stole my thunder.

9. I love this! Male bonding. They have so much to learn from their daddy about guy things! This was their first introduction to arm wrestling. I think it'll be a few years before they can even team up to beat daddy!


Ok friends, that's all for now. Hope you feel caught up on life lately!