a blessed January 2013...

I know January was a long time ago (moved to Jan date on blog though to remember where it is).  Although with the amount of snow and cold that we have had this spring yet it really doesn't feel like it!  And if you would ask me about our January this year, I might sigh and say it was one to forget - lots of sick and head lice.  I still get tired and shudder thinking about it all.  But in looking through my January photos (long story, but we thought we lost all our photos - we didn't! - and have had to go through a bunch of folders to get them visible again), I found quite a few that made me realize our January wasn't all terrible.  In fact there were a lot of moments that I was thankful for!  So that was the push I needed to start back again with my monthly posts...help me get back to counting our blessings and thanking God for all of them!  (but the sick and yick?  we can forget about that, can't we?)  Also it will be a place to share some of the fun random photos that we end up with...

We started January off with a special visit from Aahma B!  She came to attend some fun art classes with the kids for their Christmas present from them.  First off she took both boys to a clay class at the nature center where we go to DoodleBugs.  They had a great time and in a few weeks we were able to pick up these materpieces:

The theme for the class was "Cheers" for the new year, so each boy made 2 animal glasses that they can drink out of.  W made a cheetah and a snow-shoe hare, and C made a fox and a wolf.

Aahma took G to a knitting class at a favorite local yarn shop.  They were hoping to go to an art class at the same nature center as the clay class, but not enough people had signed up.  That didn't stop the knitting class though!  G was the only person signed up for the class, and the instructor was wonderful and so impressed that G could knit and was only 7!  She and Aahma fawned over G and gave her a lot of attention which G just ate up.  The one-on-one was nice though as G learned to purl and has been having fun knitting and purling in her stitches.

There were no baby art classes, but H did enjoy some Aahma time as well and tried to impress her with reading the big kids' books...

Then the stomach flu hit!  Never fun, but S and I are always blown away by the empathy that the kids will show each other when someone is sick.  Like making up trays for supper with get well cards and flowers for example. =)

January means ice skating at school!  This was G's 3rd year ice skating and W's first.  G is getting better and more confident each year, and W was such a trooper doing his best on the ice despite lots of spills.  He always got back up without fuss and kept on going.  This showed us how much he is growing up...sigh!  The kids enjoyed special time with Dadda this month as Momma does NOT know how to skate at all so Dadda would take them to practice at the park rink when he had days off.  We decided as a family that Momma would have to learn to skate when H is in kindergarten - no more excuses then!

As mentioned previously, we also dealt with head lice this month along with a lot of other families at school.  The boys got buzzed or short haircuts because of this, and H thought he needed to be included in the fun.  So off came the tiny bit of fuzz in the back!  His first official haircut.

Notes:
:: S had his hours increased to 45 per week from 40.  Being salary and manager, this is not a big change for our family right now as he has been working 45 pretty consistently for the past 6 months.  We are not complaining much either as he is fortunate to have a 3 minute commute everyday where he could easily be commuting 5+ hours a week!
:: G is struggling with her math facts, particularly the mad minute time tests.  Trying to find some new ways to help her get past these!  We did get such a nice email from her teacher though telling us about how great G was putting on a play (small group assignment)...to quote "she was animated, expressive, and FUNNY!"  We have always known this (hello puts on daily shows since she was 3!), but it was fun to hear it from her teacher.
:: W jumped back into the swing of school wonderfully.  He seems to not be so tired at the end of the day too which is great.  His writing is getting so much better and he is starting to write words without having to ask for help all the time.
:: C's big thing this month has been getting over the last hurdle of potty training (yes, our boys were late potty-trainers!).  Everything is great except that #2.  But he is 4 now, so putting some big boy responsibility and the incentive that he gets to go to pre-school when he is completely potty-trained will hopefully do the trick.  It is definitely getting better!
::  H!  His walking has really taken off this month!  He started the month probably 30% walking/70% crawling, and ended the month walking almost 100% of the time!  He also added stairs up and down to his list of proficiencies.  He likes to say no when you ask him a question now, and the kids get a kick out of asking him no questions and hearing him "answer correctly" (like, Were you born in outerspace?  Can you fly?  Do you like broccoli? =)  Word list additions: Khay(Grace), noo(noodle), book, "Hi Da!", "Bye Da!", "Yuh-you(Love you)!"