January Adventures

Time is flying by!  The more I catch up from last year, the more I fall behind on this year!!  Let’s do a quick recap of January via photo dump. 

I feel like the boys were probably sick off and on for probably a total of half the month.  That made for a lot of snuggles, sleeping boys, and quiet days. 

 

Cody took Jade and Ridge ice skating one Saturday.  He quickly found that Ridge is still a bit too young and left him home the next time.  Jade had more attention from Dad and started to catch on better that way! 

  

While Cody took the older two ice skating, I was able to spend a rare few hours sewing while Tanner napped.  Jade had requested a dress and belt for Isabelle, so this is what I came up with: 

 

When I picked Jade up from school one day, her top front tooth was missing!

It had been really loose for awhile, but she was too scared to let any of us pull it.  I didn’t push it.  One morning when it was barely attached, I told her it might fall out while she was eating lunch that day.  She said it still wasn’t ready.  As soon as she got in line with her classmates that morning, she showed them how wiggly it was.  They told her to just pull it out.  She said it wasn’t ready and tugged on it a little to prove it.  The tooth came right out!  She got to go to the nurse’s office, who gave her a tiny treasure box to keep it in.  It made for a fun memory for sweet Jade. 

 

That night Jade put the treasure box under her pillow with a note, so the tooth fairy left her a miniature note in response!

 

Jade has really blossomed in her reading this year at school.  Her teacher has made it clear that reading is the emphasis in first grade.  I am so impressed with the both of them:  Jade and her teacher!  Jade is reading chapter books and sneaks away to read as often as she can.  She has moved up through the reading groups in class and was recently moved into the highest group.  Jade goes through books so fast, it is hard for me to keep enough new, fresh reading material available to her! 

 

We potty trained Ridge during January.  Everything I heard about waiting until boys are older was true.  It was a pretty smooth process with him.  Not to say he didn’t have any accidents, but he moved through the learning process fairly quickly and painlessly!  Always eager to be the little mom, Jade jumped on board and created a potty party for Ridge, complete with games, prizes, and lots of little friends. 

Stickers, treats, bubbles in the kitchen, and—finally, when Ridge had stayed dry all day—a new dress-up were all potty training incentives. 

  

Tanner loves to get into the cupboard to pull out the pots, pans and tupperware.  Every once in awhile, the other two will join in the play and then it’s real chaos in the kitchen! 

 

With the cold winter weather, the kids get real creative in their indoor play.  My very favorite thing is when they are all playing nicely together (Tanner has yet to learn how to really join in).  The picture below left is Ridge dressed up in a costume my sister, Kristen, made (she is so talented!).  The one on the right is the school classroom (created by Jade), complete with workbooks and worksheets. 

 

Jade learned about Martin Luther King Jr. at school.  She came home and wrote an entire eight-page book about him and his life.  At the end was a drawing of an “I have a dream speech award” with a bald eagle on it.  I love that she is internalizing such an important lesson at such a young age!

Tanner’s hair is so thick and grows so fast, he received yet another haircut.  This is the before picture and of course I didn’t take an after! 

We finally had the perfect snow day at the end of January. 

 

Lots of good packing snow, warm 30+ degree temps, and no school! 

 

 

 

We spent most of the day outside playing.  Who am I kidding?  Jade and Ridge spent most of the day outside playing.  Cody spent it shoveling (with Ridge’s “help”). 

  

I played long enough to help build a snowman.  Then when Tanner woke up from his nap, I brought him out for as long as he could last, and ended up inside with him the rest of the day.  I do love to play in the snow though! 

 

It was Tanner’s first time “playing” in the snow.  He was pretty curious of it until he got cold, then he was ready to come back in. 

 

 

 

Jade and Ridge had fun playing with the boys from the neighborhood. 

 

 

The boys even joined in a friendly snowball fight with Ridge. 

 

The last weekend in January we took a quick little road trip to Arlington, VA.  Not for sightseeing though—for something much better!

One of my favorite and long-time friend’s surprise birthday party!  We’ve been friends since before we had kids.  Having that kind of history with someone is a very special thing.  I love this girl.  So much. 

  

Shannon’s husband, Sam, was kind enough to ask me to make the birthday cake.  Luckily, it survived the five hour drive!  Wouldn’t you know, these are the only two pictures I took of it!

 

In addition to her party, another big surprise for Shannon was that she had unexpected house guests that weekend!  I’m glad she still let us stay after we informed her.  Ridge was in absolute heaven playing with all the boys (and their toys)!  He pretty much didn’t take off his “race car helmet” the entire weekend. 

 

Jade, on the other hand, wasn’t quite sure what to do with all the boy stuff at first!  She had brought Isabelle just in case, but it didn’t take her and David long to hit it off and get in a groove.  Our kids are matched up perfectly in age (except Shannon’s new baby, Isaac… we’ll have to see about that one…), and played together so well!  Our stay at the Banks’ was such a fun finale to the month of January!