Like I mentioned in my last post, we were glad to begin a new year even though nothing changed right away in terms of precautions at school or anywhere else. Here’s the recap of what we were up to:
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On January 1st, we headed home from spending a few days at Paw and Rae Rae’s house for a belated Christmas celebration. We sure enjoyed our time while we were there!
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As we were driving home, Abigail was in the backseat “counting” the trees. She was saying, “tree, tree, tree, tree, tree”…haha
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Savannah got busy that afternoon working on a craft kit that she got for Christmas…
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…and Brooklyn did one of hers too!
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The girls were very happy to see Gabby…
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…and she was (mostly) happy to see them too ;)
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Abigail inherited some baby dolls from Brooklyn and Savannah, and she was really excited about that.
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Abigail finally got a chance to test out her “new” scooter with the streamers and stuffed animal carrier on it. She was a big fan!
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The girls started back to school on January 5th–still on a hybrid schedule. I snapped this picture of our virtual school day on the 7th. Abigail liked watching Savannah’s videos with her :)
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Most of the time, Savannah finished her schoolwork before Brooklyn and had some extra time to do other fun stuff. This day, Savannah and Abigail played with dot markers and while Brooklyn finished up her assignments.
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We found out that Baugay, Travis’s grandmother, got sick with COVID around Christmas, and she ended up in the hospital for over a week in early January if I’m remembering right. We were pretty worried about her for a while, but we should have known that the virus didn’t know who it was messing with ;) Baugay didn’t let it keep her down for too long, and we are very thankful!
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The girls decided to have an indoor soccer game in the living room using a laundry basket and the overturned coffee table as the goals. Daddy scored a goal, and Savannah burst into tears. It’s always an adventure around here. And yes, that’s our Christmas tree still up on January 9th…haha
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Brooklyn found an idea in one of her new science experiment books and wanted to try it out–building things with grapes, cheese cubes, and toothpicks.
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On January 11th, we woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground!
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It didn’t even cover the grass, but the girls still gathered up as much as they could for a short snowball fight ;)
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Abigail got all bundled up for a picture in her snowsuit…the only time she will probably ever look like a marshmallow! ;) School ended up being delayed for 2 hours on the 11th and 12th due to concerns over black ice. I had mixed feelings about it since those were our only in-person school days that week, but we still enjoyed the chance to sleep a little later!
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Brooklyn made her own “Covid-19 Magazine” that night…
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It’s interesting to read about the pandemic through the eyes of a child…
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On the 12th, I caught Abigail sitting in Savannah’s room “reading” her new Star Wars book out loud to herself. It was so cute and funny to hear her talking about “Darth Bader” and “storm twoopers”…while wearing a princess dress :)
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This was another science experiment that Brooklyn tried…making sailboats out of apple halves.
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Virtual school on January 13th – Abigail painted while Brooklyn had her WebEx class meeting and Savannah finished some worksheets
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Brooklyn had fun making some very interesting sandwiches for lunch on her virtual school days. She called them pancakes and put just about anything and everything on them ;)
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Abigail LOVED these sticky mosaic crafts that she got for Christmas. Brooklyn helped her do the first one or two, and then Abigail was able to do the rest all by herself!
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Hoot Owl Hoot was a new board game that Abigail got for Christmas, and we enjoyed playing it one afternoon together.
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The girls spent the night with Cici on the 15th, and they had a tea party the next day. Looked fun and yummy!
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Travis needed his back popped, and the girls volunteered. I’m glad they didn’t break him! ;)
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Gabby joined us at the table for breakfast on Sunday morning…haha
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That afternoon, we made a chocolate cake for Rae Rae’s belated birthday celebration. The girls always want to help with it, especially because it means licking the spoons!
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We celebrated Rae Rae’s birthday on January 18th, which was MLK Day, so the girls didn’t have school. We had vegetable soup, cheese muffins, and the chocolate cake we made for dessert. It was a fun evening! All of the girls made Rae Rae a card, and Brooklyn’s was huge. It had a list of everything she loved about Rae Rae :)
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Brooklyn made Rae Rae a necklace from her sand art kit and Savannah made her a unicorn sun catcher :)
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Rae Rae had lots of help blowing out her candles…
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Hopefully she felt very loved, although they did give her all her birthday spankings, plus one to grow on…haha!
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I wrote this on January 19th: “Savannah’s two bottom front teeth are VERY loose. She is afraid to pull them and doesn’t want us to, so I guess they will come out on their own when she’s eating. Her permanent teeth are coming in behind them, which is apparently called “shark teeth”…when you have 2 rows of teeth. Brooklyn has always been so excited when she gets a loose tooth that she wiggles and wiggles it until it comes out well before the permanent tooth even shows up. I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising that Savannah is the opposite and is content to wait on her tooth to just come out on its own. The difference in their personalities!”
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Abigail stayed busy doing crafts while her big sisters were at school…
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She was also my big helper at Sam’s on January 20th. We scored some more Member’s Mark toilet paper…woo hoo! I have figured out that they must restock it on Wednesdays, so when we need to go to Sam’s, I always try to go on a Wednesday.
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I had to take Brooklyn to an appointment after school on January 21st, and when we got home, Savannah was sound asleep in her bed!
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Abigail loves to paint, and I’ve gotten braver lately about giving her real paint instead of just water. It’s washable, so it’s pretty easy to clean up, and she loves it!
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At the corner of our neighborhood, there is an old mill, and the girls have nicknamed it “The Castle”. They like to go exploring there sometimes on our way home from school.
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Mrs. Borys sent me this message on January 22nd after school. These kind of reports mean even more to me than good grades do!
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It was warm enough to play in shorts outside on the 23rd!
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Just when you think you’ve seen it all as a parent, one of your kids pops up with a weird rash or strange symptom. This was on Abigail’s arm for several weeks, and then just eventually went away. The internet is wonderful for a lot of reasons, but it can really cause a lot of anxiety when doing a health-related search on Google. I try not to look up stuff like that if I can help it.
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Savannah learned about Acts 2 in bible class and came out with fire on her head ;)
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I got this text from Angie that afternoon about Travis accidentally dropping Abigail off at the wrong bible class. He never even realized what he’d done…haha. Hearing stuff like that makes me feel better when I do things like putting the jar of peanut butter in the fridge or forgetting why I went in a certain room. Our brains aren’t what they used to be, and we aren’t that old yet! Kind of scary.
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Brooklyn loves picking up worms on our walk home from school…
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She convinced Savannah to hold it too. Savannah was excited about it until the worm pooped on her hand…whoops! I’m betting that will be the last time she ever holds a worm!
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Brooklyn had her last art class on January 25th! She decided she wanted to play soccer in the spring, and I had told her only one activity at a time. So, we decided that she would stop art classes at the end of January. She really enjoyed the classes with Ms. Katherine, and I could definitely see her doing them again in the future.
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Abigail and I went on a walk/scooter ride around the neighborhood on January 26th while the big girls were at school.
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The last week of January, the girls had different dress-up days each day for a kindness challenge. On Wednesday, they were supposed to wear a scarf or some kind of winter wear for “Kindness is Cool” day.
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Brooklyn learned how to make a venn diagram at school, and I cracked up when she made this one at home for fun. According to her: kids play a lot, have lots of toys, and watch kid shows. Grownups drink coke and eat sweets, only have furniture, and watch 60 Minutes (boring!). The only things that kids and grownups have in common are they are both humans and eat the same…haha
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Thursday was “Kindness is Creative” day, and the girls were supposed to create a new hairstyle or fashion statement. Savannah went with pigtails, but Brooklyn really wanted to do something unique with the braids on top of her head :)
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The girls are always churning out artwork at our house.
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On Friday, each class got to decide on a different theme for “Kindness is Classy” day. Mrs. Curry’s kids wore hats with kind messages attached to them.
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Savannah picked out what to write…I liked that she wrote a sweet note about one of her classmates.
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Abigail and I played a game called Roll and Play together on January 29th. It’s the perfect game for young kids because it’s easy and there aren’t winners/losers. Abigail liked rolling the cube and picking out which card she wanted. With so many virtual school days this year, it was hard to carve out quality time with Abigail at home. I really enjoyed this time together with just the two of us.
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That afternoon, Cici came over to help Brooklyn and Savannah make valentines. This has become an annual tradition over the last few years, and the girls really enjoy it!
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Later that night (1/29), Savannah finally let Daddy pull one of her loose teeth. Her first tooth lost!! It bled quite a bit and I think it scared her a little, so she didn’t want him to pull the other one. I can’t believe those teeth have been so loose for so long and not come out yet. She’s just been nervous that it would hurt and didn’t want anyone to pull them. She said it didn’t hurt, and she was happy that it was out. She also asked, “What if the jar (holding her tooth) hurts my head?” with it under her pillow. Haha :) In the morning, she was excited to see her dollar but wondered why the tooth fairy had moved her stuffed monkey, Chocolate Monkey. He ended up under her pillow. Silly tooth fairy!
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Sweet girl!
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I caught Brooklyn playing Uno with her new lion, Hunter.
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Savannah was supposed to do a project for the 100th day of school, and she came up with this idea and drew it all by herself while I was with Brooklyn at her last art class. It was a monster named Carter with 100 teeth. I thought she did a great job!!
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Savannah and Abigail both wore their scottie dog dresses to church on January 31st. I just had to get a few pictures!
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I loved this one :)
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1/31/21 – Brooklyn was eating an apple and her loose tooth got looser. It got looser with a few more bites until she finally just pulled it right out. Tooth #8! She was so excited. We’ve never had to pull any of her teeth…she is always so eager to get them out herself ;)
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Of course, she had to leave a note for the tooth fairy :) This one said: “Dear Tooth Fairy, thank you for bringing a dollar every time I lost a tooth. Why did you move Savannah’s monkey? You’re the best tooth fairy anyone could ask for. Love, Brooklyn”
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Reading books before bed in Savannah’s room :)
Notes and Quotes from January:
- 1/2/21 – We’ve figured out that whenever Abigail doesn’t feel like cleaning up her room, she just says she doesn’t want xy or z anymore. “I don’t want this!” But if we threaten to throw it away, sometimes she’ll say “Okay!” like she truly doesn’t care. She’s a mess!
- 1/9/21 – We are still doing hybrid school and have been since Thanksgiving. Whew. I am SO ready for them to be back in school 5 days/week, and they are too. Brooklyn had a really poor attitude about it one morning this week, and honestly I can’t blame her too much. Seesaw assignments and online math/reading tests aren’t the same as being there in person with your friends and teacher. We are trying to look on the bright side though. Savannah has actually seemed to come out of her shell even more in the hybrid format. Mrs. Curry says she is starting to speak up more, and Savannah says she is playing a “silly face” game with Lilliana during snack time. There are only 2 other kids that come on the same days as Savannah, and the rest of the class comes on the other days just because of the way the alphabet falls. Having just a couple of kids and Mrs. Curry there is probably helpful for Savannah in a way, so there’s always good to come out of a situation if we just look for it. It’s hard though because the girls haven’t seen their group B friends since before Thanksgiving, and it’s now January.
- 1/9/21 – Brooklyn: “Have you heard of the 5G neckwork?” Travis: “Did the marketers get a hold of you again?” Brooklyn: “No, I watched a commercial! It’s America’s fastest neckwork!”
- 1/9/21 – Abigail has recently started drawing people! :)
- 1/12/21 – I was plucking my eyebrows, and Abigail exclaimed, “Don’t trim your head off! Don’t trim your head off!”
- 1/19/21 – Today was the first day back to school with EVERYONE there!! No more hybrid schedule (for now at least). Savannah said it was too loud in her classroom…haha. I guess she got used to there only being 2 other kids ;) She actually spoke up and told Mrs. Curry that she forgot her water at home. Speaking up has been an issue this year, and I’m glad she’s getting a little more brave in telling Mrs. Curry what she needs. Brooklyn said they had a new student today from China. His name was Vincent. She said he spoke Mandarin, but was learning English. She tried to talk to him a few times and complimented him on how well he could jump rope. I was so proud to hear that! She is also starting to learn multiplication facts on Xtra Math and said they started learning cursive today too!!
- 1/19/21 – Abigail came out of her room at 6:30 AM, and the other girls were already eating breakfast before school. She said, “The light in shining in my eyes! I can’t get it out of my face!”
- 1/20/21 – Savannah: “My favorite thing about sleeping is how I wake up cozy in the morning. But, then you come in and take my cozy-ness away!”
- 1/24/21 – I asked Savannah, “Do you want to buy breakfast for lunch on Thursday at school? It’s pancakes, eggs, fruit, etc.” Savannah: “Yes, but I won’t eat the egg.” Me: “Well, you should at least try one bite.” Savannah: “Will I have to crack it?”
- 1/25/21 – Abigail: “Is God in heaven sleeping in the sky?”
- 1/25/21 – Abigail was cleaning up her room tonight and singing a song she made up: “Clean up! Clean up! Why is life so hard?” :)
Thanks for reading!
One reply on “January 2021”
Loved Travis dropping Abigail off to the wrong class! Trust me when I saw, “Welcome to my world!”