January always seems to have at least 58 days in it.  I used to think this was due to the snow and freezing temps.  But, nope.  It’s just January.

January is always rough for me and this was one seemed a little worse than my norm.   One of my main ways to cope with the looming depression, anxiety, and paul’s work schedule is to keep busy and get outside as much as possible. 

This means we’ve had lots of friends over (mine and theirs).  

There’s been lots of park days with friends.  Scooter riding, bike riding, sidewalk chalk drawing, hiking, and walks to Target.  


We hiked up Grove Creek with the Rensink’s.


Not bad for a Saturday in January.  

The kids favorite part was the frozen water on the branches in the creek.  Every kid had to have one and no one fell in the creek.  Big hiking success.  

The kids have even started going barefoot in January and I don’t even mind.  We have had a few days in the 50’s, afterall.  

Luckily we got one good snowstorm and we got to introduce The Johnson’s to our favorite sledding hill.  

The girls had to enlist the dad’s help to get the snowman put together, they were so heavy!  

So happy we got to use our new sled one more time. 

Ruby cleared all the snow off the tops of the tables in the backyard for me one day after dance.   When it snowed again a few days later she was so annoyed and said “Mom, I need my mittens.  The tables have snow again!”


I’ve been trying to not do TOO much electronic time during the day when M&M are at school.  


dot painting was much messier than I planned and much more stressful.  Thus, they spent the rest of the afternoon on The Switch.  


We took our friends to the Children’s Museum.  Ruby is getting too giant, it is still weird to me that I am out of the baby phase.  

We tend to avoid the library, because I cannot afford to pay for all the books we ruin.  Luckily this day, no one complained when we left without checking out a book. 

Ruby and Izella both took turns sitting in the rocking chair and reading books aloud for us.  It was the cutest thing ever.  

One thing I look forward to everyday is picking up Crew from school. Everyday he runs toward the car with the biggest grin on his face and I can’t even stand it.  

I also look forward to reading with him before M&M come home from school.  
This day he thought it was hilarious that the author thought this pteranodon was a dinosaur.  After he read “This is a dinosaur” under a picture of the Pteranodon he said, “This author is so silly.  This is not a dinosaur.  It is a flying reptile”.  He is correct. We only raise geniuses around here.   

January-March is Paul’s extra busy time, so we have been taking advantage of having him home Saturdays.

We did a BYU day.

Bean Museum to see the Titanoboa exhibit, it was actually really cool.  The Bean Museum has stepped up their game.  

Museum of Natural Art to see the MC Escher exhibit.  

And Lunch at the Cougareat.  

We finally made it up the Harry Potter exhibit at South Towne.  Everyone loved it and I am glad we waited for the Christmas crowds to clear out. 



 

Ruby started Sunbeams.  

I almost forgot she was even starting Sunbeams that day because Miles was in a state of freak out. All due to the fact that he would now be going to his class first instead of sharing time. Luckily, I remembered 10 min before we were suppose to leave for church, so I actually combed her hair and snapped the above picture.  

She also gave the prayer in sharing time like a champ a few weeks later and looks like a complete giant next to her fellow sunbeams.  

An exciting neighborhood happening was Ashley having her baby. 

I got to stay at her house while she was having him and Roman was not too pleased to wake up and find me there.  Luckily he still cuddled with me for a little bit and watched The Crown.  

We had the all the O’neal kids over for a pizza and movie party.  Kids were in heaven.

And Ashley even let Macey and I borrow Killian one evening to snuggle while she got the rest of her kids to bed.  

Other Bright Lights in my dark January were:

The Kids trip to the Dentist-

1. Ruby cooperated for the first time.  She got her xrays, laid in the chair and got her teeth cleaned without any screaming or being held down.  Miracle and out of no where.  

2. Miles.  The dentist (haircut, dr..) with this child can end up being an all out war.  I usually have to stand next to him, hold his hand and whisper encouraging words in his ear.  They always give him the best hygienist and even then he’s difficult and screaming and crying, and rolling around.


This time, he didn’t need me at all, I was actually able to check on all the kids.  And for the first time ever I wasn’t dripping sweat when we were done. 

Also notice, he isn’t even wearing sweat pants!!!! Guys, those are real pants made out of material that is not jersey.  Which makes the fact that he cooperated even more of a miracle.  Normally on a day when he is out of sweats we have to dig through the dirty clothes and find the least dirty pair.  But, for some reason this morning he just put on real pants.  #miracle

Bonus:  NO CAVITIES FOR ALL FOUR 

I seriously felt like we needed a standing ovation as I walked out of the office with my head held high.  

Also, found this game changer for me. 

“an accommodation is something that helps your child function as close to the level as possible of other children…“

Helped to ease that mom guilt that I am spoiling or giving into Miles, I am just helping him be able to engage better in this amazing world we live in. Somedays I need the reassurance that I am doing what is best for him.  

Sisters

Ruby is the biggest copy cat around.  Normally she is copying the boys, which is not ideal.  But, sometimes Macey pays extra attention to her and Ruby starts copying Macey and then my evenings are much calmer.  This evening Ruby was wearing her headphones just like Macey and they were having a dance party.  Makes a mama heart happy. 

Family Home Evening

We’ve been consistently having family time after dinner on Sunday and it has been going shockingly well. This is huge for us.  

Nice People

As I am sure you can imagine church is rough with this group.  Sacrament meeting is usually the worst 1 hour and 15 min of my entire week.  After a normal Sunday of trying to keep them entertained and contained while still being nice and feeling like I ran a marathon when it was all over,  I found this on my porch. Along with adorable coloring books that my kids have actually liked.  


It was a good reminder that we are surrounded by incredible people that are not judging us, but encouraging us.  They don’t care that Miles often wears old navy flip flops to church or that Ruby is stealing every thing from everyone and then throwing things at them at random intervals during sacrament meeting.  Or the fact that we usually get to church with at least 1 child’s hair uncombed and 1 child with a dirty face.  Love nice people.  Glad I get to interact with them and hope I can be one.  

Also found this gem of a book Paul made me before we were married. 


Love finding things like this.  

It’s always fun to look back on the month, especially one where I felt like I was drowning, and realize there were so many good things that happened.  And those are the moments I hope my kids can remember.  Not the crazy in between parts where I was loosing my mind. :)