I didn't think I would have much to upload for January as it was a quieter month and I have been practicing putting my phone down and away more often as I attempt to be more intentional with my time. As I went through my phone though I was surprised that I still ended up with many pictures. Maybe I didn't set my phone down as much as I intended? I will be trying harder for February.
The month of January at our house. Here we go!
Let's start with wrapping up Christmas break since we get a few extra days off at the beginning of January before returning to the regular rhythms of life:
Below, we all did an owl painting as a family. We will put this out each Christmas season with our trees and other festive decorations.
We also made some snowmen snow tracker sticks:
We spent the last day of break relaxing. All 3 kids (and I) put on clay masks:
He happens to be enjoying some individually made jello cups that Jayden and I made for the whole house to celebrate surviving the first day back!
Then we returned back to school and my husband returned to work and I returned to the hustle and bustle of running a house and our sentiments were all summed up by Riley:
I also found our gingerbread thief mystery activity so we got to play that as well:
Back to the regular routine isn't all bad as we stick a lot of fun in there. Like our monthly mingle at the children's museum:
And a few birthday parties and park play dates:
And lounging around because we just don't care:
Also, sneaking out for 1 on 1 time with my kids is always so sweet. Payton and I got out for a walk in the park, coffee shop treats, and to play raquetball:
Jayden has been obsessed with muffins for a few months now and has us making them constantly. I don't think we've had a week without them yet. He is a great helper.
I also snuck off with Riley one day for a long walk at the park as well. We had so much fun but didn't get a single picture until we came back home.
One night this month we snuck out for a nice dinner out. The kids found the machines and pretend played forever!
As mentioned last month, we got this game for Christmas and it continues to be a popular game of choice and regular pastime:
A family in the area had a house fire so we took them a meal. It seems like so little when they experienced so much loss (they were fine but did not come out with hardly any belongings).
We rented the new movie Sing 2 and turned our movie room into a real theatre experience, complete with play money to buy homemade tickets and a full concession stand! The kids loved this and got to practice money management skills. They are already requesting to do this again soon:
Jayden enjoyed the art area on this outing to the children's museum and I smile as I look at his outfit. He picked it all out himself complete with a pj mask shirt and dinosaur bone necklace.
Then we hit a 100 days of school! The kindergarten class could dress up:
Riley aged quickly and had the best day at school. He brought home a 100 fruit loop necklace he made at school to celebrate and shared with his siblings:
Spoons is another game we are back to playing regularly as Jayden is starting to understand how to play this game now that he is a bit older:
We took to the time to fix Payton's hair for one of the birthday parties we attended as the kids would be playing laser tag (which they 100% loved, by the way, and want to do again) and I had to document it:
Additionally, Payton took on the challenge of making supper one night. She made homemade meatballs to go with her spaghetti:
At the end of the month, Jayden had an appointment out of town that required an overnighter. We had originally planned to pull the big kids out of school and go for a fun family trip. At the last minute though we changed our minds and Monte took Jayden while I stayed back with the older kids. They still went to school but we had a ton of fun after! First, we grabbed some cookies at a local cookie store:
Payton had earned a free ticket for a cookie with her school's reading program and had been begging to go for awhile. Then, at the big kid's request we headed back again to the children's museum.
And we also went out to dinner, a rarity for our family any more:
Riley was still super excited about that trip the next day and literally cheered on through his breakfast before school:
I kept up with Jayden and Monte while they were gone and loved my video chats we had:
His appointments went well and the two enjoyed their time together, especially staying at the embassy suites and shopping at Cabela's. Jayden is hoping daddy takes him again next time.
We took all 3 kids to the children's museum as Payton and Riley have been missing it so much, it's a hard transition to start school and give up that special time we used to have together:
We are also back to piano lessons for our girl. And I was so excited and honored to be back to watching this girl as she learns and grows:
Payton has been working hard to learn how to paint nails and begs on weekends to provide a salon to anyone willing. She did my nails and they have held up well with no need for new work for her. Jayden has been keeping her occupied by letting her do his nails.
And we are still enjoying our chickens and time with them when we are outside. Here we are reading the mail with our girls hanging out:
And one final story to share from January that has kept us laughing. Monte came in from putting the chickens in the coop and said he was missing one chicken. It was already dark outside so we all grabbed flashlights and headed out searching. After awhile and no sign of the missing hen, we went and watched the security cameras to see where we saw her last.
This particular hen is very skittish and doesn't stray far from the coop EVER. We were super surprised she was the one missing. Camera footage showed, as we know of her, never going more than 10 feet from the coop. It was so confusing. Finally, Payton and I decided she had to be hiding in the wood pile. We went back into the night to look. Nothing. I insisted we actually look in the coop and see if Monte miscounted. Still didn't see her. Payton was so frustrated. I was so confused.
And then I saw it. I told Payton to look way, way up. And there are the tippy top sat our hen.
We still have no idea how she does this (although the kids keep trying to spy on her to find out) but this girl sleeps way up high at the top of the coop. This isn't a height was have personally seen our girls make. But, this hen must be keeping her superpower from us and can fly especially high.
We may have spent a whole evening searching for this chicken but it has given us so many laughs since.
This life is anything but boring.
We hope your February goes well and you are staying warm!
