January

Our January started off in Preston.  January 1st we went and had a girls' night at Aunt Lori's house.  Unfortunately Grandma couldn't come after her surgery, but Aunt Lori made sure there were lots of fun crafts for the girls and Moms, too.  Lori made sure my girls had a lot of fun painting little owls, which the girls still love.  Bridget had lots of fun with Kassidy.  And all of the rest of us made Thankful trees.  It was lots of fun.

 The next day our big girls had fun playing out in the snow with Daddy.  We didn't get snow where we live this year, so they were really excited!  Granted, it was cold, so they didn't last very long, but they enjoyed it and also liked the hot chocolate they got after.

 This picture was from our final night before we left.  Steve said this is his definition of cold - seeing the pink on the mountain tops as the sun goes down.  It was beautiful.

On the 3rd we drove hom from Preston.  As soon as we got back, the girls were very excited to open up their new drum set from their Aunts Kathy and Lori.  The first picture is from the day we got home.  This has seen a great deal of use.  Ellie enjoyed dressing up in some of their new Christmas dress-up clothes and playing in the second picture.

It was a rough return home for Steve and I.  As soon as we got back we both got stomach bugs.  Then, around the middle of the month I got all stuffed up and sick.  I was just about ready to give up on breastfeeding so I could take some medication or something to help me breathe, sleep, and eat.  After a couple weeks I got better, but later in the month, Steve got the flu and had to take sick days because he kept coughing till he was sick.  We got to take turns keeping the kids busy so the other one could rest, but we survived.

We also had a rough time with potty-training Mckayla.  We realized that she kept having accidents - only at home!  Which was frustrating to say the least.  We were having a hard time getting her to care.  Eventually we had to go back to washing her with cold water after accidents and giving her treats when she used the bathroom.  We were using every technique from the very beginning of potty-training just to try and get her to care about her constant accidents.  It was rough, but the only good thing is we knew it would end - eventually.

Kassidy just kept growing by leaps and bounds.  She started sitting up independently and figured out how to pull toys out of her toy basket so she could sit and play on her own happily.  I love that stage... where babies can sit and keep themselves happy with toys but aren't mobile yet...

 Kassidy also discovered the joy of these mesh food bags.  We thought these were so silly with the older girls, but then tried them with Kassidy and she loved having cucumbers, apples, berries, and other food in her mesh bags.

By the end of the month Kassidy was understanding some basic signs like food, milk, more, and all done.  She also started shaking her head, clapping, and was starting to accidentally scootch backward and could barely get her stomach up off the ground.  It is so fun to see all the abilities a baby adds as they grow so quickly!

A few other fun things from the month.  Steve saw a mouse in our kitchen towards the end of the month.  He set traps for nights, but the peanut butter kept getting licked clean.  He finally caught the mouse on the 25th and we were actually kind of sad about it because it was a tiny mouse but was a worthy adversary.

We also attended some Ready! for Kindergarten classes.  I have enjoyed the program immensely and think it's a fabulous asset for our family and community.  I asked about becoming part of the program where we have enjoyed it so much and I enjoy teaching and informal education from my college degree.  I was so excited to have the director of the program excited to have me come observe and get ready to teach the next session!

 We also were so grateful to have an experience at the very end of the month which showed us once again the way the Lord cares about the details of our lives.  We have been really stressed about where Ellie will go to kindergarten next year because we are zoned into what is probably the worst elementary school in the city.  I happened to mention to a friend that we weren't sure about getting a transfer to a better school, and she told me the deadline was the next day!  We called the district, and sure enough that was the deadline.  We got her transfer request in just on time.  It doesn't mean she'll get to that school, but it did give us comfort that the Lord knows this is a big concern in our lives right now.

 So, that was the end of January.  We were sick a lot, but thankfully it was a slower month after the busy holidays so that we could try to recover.  The next month was much busier though, so it was a good thing we had a slower January to get ready for a busy February!