January was a pretty wild month in terms of weather and COVID disruptions to the normal school schedule. We still had a good month and made the best of the many changes. One thing we have definitely learned over the last two years is flexibility! Here’s the recap:
There was a chance of severe weather on January 1st, and sure enough, we ended up having a tornado warning for our area. Usually tornadoes track well north of our house, but today they said “Mill Creek Elementary” on the TV, so we knew it was time to get in our storm shelter. It was our first time to ever use it! The girls were all crying and upset, but we got their shoes on, and they grabbed a couple of stuffed animals. I grabbed Gabby, and we all got inside it. It was pretty tight quarters, but not too bad. We were probably only inside it for 10-15 minutes. We sang some songs, and the girls looked at books with a flashlight and calmed down pretty quickly. I don’t think it turned out to even be a tornado, but it was radar indicated, so they told everyone to take shelter. We are really glad to have the storm shelter in case we need it, but hopefully we won’t have to use it too often!
Three thumbs up for making it through our first storm shelter experience!
The girls enjoyed visiting with their friends after bible class the next morning (January 2nd). This was another crazy weather day. It started out warm before it rained and got progressively colder all day, and then started snowing that night!
We woke up on January 3rd to about 3 inches of snow!! The girls were so excited. This was their first opportunity to use the waterproof snow gloves we’d given them for Christmas…they are all a little bit big, but they definitely kept their hands warm and dry, so it was a win.
Brooklyn always heads straight for the slide when it snows :)
Brooklyn and Savannah enjoyed making snow angels…
…and having a snowball fight with Daddy!
Abigail did NOT like getting hit by snowballs and tried to stay far away from the action ;)
I love where we live because we usually get to enjoy a little snow each winter, but it’s not something we have to deal with every day. It’s so beautiful, but I’m not usually sad to see it go after a day or two.
Cutie!
Savannah and Daddy made a small snowman in the front yard. It was hard to roll the snow this time because it was so powdery.
They ended up making him a little smaller than Abigail. We didn’t have any carrots, but we used an orange crayon for the nose and 2 prunes for the eyes…haha. He looked pretty funny!
Savannah decided to name him “Nosey Pruney” :)
Abigail pouted at one point because she wanted someone to help her build her own snowman, but we told her we were just going to build one big one as a family. So she sat by the front door and made a pouty face for a while ;) There’s always some kind of drama around here!
Brooklyn made her own “snow mountain” and drew him a face with an orange marker.
After a while, Maddie and her mom saw us in the front yard and walked down to play for a little while. Brooklyn enjoyed playing with her. We stayed outside for about 1.5 hours total, and by the end my toes felt like they were frozen. It was very cold and windy.
I thought the girls might want to go back out later, but they were perfectly happy to change into warm PJs, drink hot chocolate, and play inside the rest of the day.
The hot chocolate was good to the last drop!
The girls started back to school on January 4th, and Savannah made these cards for Mrs. Pride and some of her classmates letting them know how much she missed them over the break. I loved how she made them all unique with different pictures and messages.
We got a new kitchen faucet installed, and we were really excited about having a pull-down faucet instead of a wand. It’s been a nice upgrade!
Bedtime Bible story with Daddy…
“Take a picture of my drawing, Mommy!”
On January 5th, Luke and Barrett came over to play and hang out with us while Alisha went to a visitation in Birmingham.
The boys played really nicely with Abigail and kept us entertained at lunch with all kinds of funny stories. Travis even got to join in…one of the perks of working from home ;)
Luke and Barrett really wanted to play the “squirrel game”…they remembered playing it from a previous time they were here. I thought that was funny. They also looked at lots of books, ate lunch, and watched a couple of episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
After that, I took all three kids to go pick up the big girls from school. Normally Abigail has to ride in the stroller when we go to school, so she felt like big stuff getting to walk. I brought the double stroller along, but they all ended up wanting to walk most of the way.
While we were waiting for the kids to come out of school, I noticed Luke waving his arm at the cars who were passing by. I thought he was waving hello, but then I realized after a minute that he was mimicking the crossing guard and motioning the cars onward. It was hilarious and so cute!
After we got home from school, Brooklyn and Savannah entertained the boys by showing them some of the toys in their rooms. They really liked Brooklyn’s new drone and basketball goal. Savannah read them a few books in her room…I thought that was so sweet. They also worked on a puzzle together. It was a really fun day!
January 6th and 7th ended up being e-learning days at home because of the threat of winter weather.
Brooklyn and Savannah got out their American Girl dolls to play with them together. Abigail is already looking forward to getting an AG doll herself one day.
It actually worked out nicely that January 7th was an e-learning day because that meant Brooklyn and Savannah were able to go with Abigail and me to eat lunch with Mikayla at Firehouse Subs. We enjoyed getting to catch up with her before she went back to Auburn for the semester!
Someone thought Gabby could use a couple of extra cats to snuggle with :)
Our usual routine is to give out allowance/chore money on Saturday evenings. The girls each have their own jar and decide how much money to keep for themselves and how much to give at church on Sunday morning.
January 9th was the 2nd Sunday of the month, which meant it was our Sunday to eat lunch with Baugay. No one else ended up being able to come, so it was just Baugay and us. We celebrated her birthday a month late because we weren’t able to get together in December due to Brooklyn and Tyler being sick with COVID. We enjoyed visiting with her!
Abigail set up a picnic for us on January 10th ;)
That night, we watched Alabama and Georgia play for the national championship. Savannah was very into it and made a sign to cheer on the Crimson Tide.
The game didn’t turn out like we’d hoped it would, but with this year’s team, we were just happy to make it that far.
I ordered a photo collage from Mpix for the hallway that leads to our bedroom. I love how it turned out!
On January 13th, Danielle, Hannah, and Adam came over for a morning playdate. Abigail loves Hannah and really enjoyed getting to play together.
The kids also played in the playroom for a while after lunch before they left to go home.
Brooklyn used to make things out of cardboard and “trash” all the time, but she hasn’t done it as much lately. When she came out of her room with this “recycling shelf”, it warmed my heart ;) She meant for it to be a spot to put anything that needs to be recycled before it goes out to the box in the garage.
This month, Mrs. Pride’s class learned about different arctic animals, including polar bears! Savannah wore her polar bear shirt to celebrate the occasion.
They also got their new Chromebooks to use at school and at home during e-learning days. Every student in the school system received a Chromebook this year, but it took a while for them to all be given out to the various classrooms.
On January 15th, the girls helped me bake a chocolate cake for Rae Rae’s birthday celebration later that day. Usually we try to make it the day before, but this year we were rushing to get it done in time. They love helping with it, especially licking the bowl and spoons :)
Rae Rae never has any shortage of help when it comes to blowing out her candles!
Rae Rae asked for a golf umbrella for her birthday, and it was huge!!
We enjoyed celebrating with Rae Rae, even if it was a few days late :)
Abigail was looking so cute in her matching pink coat and hat before church the next morning!
She couldn’t make it through the sermon though ;)
January 17th was MLK Day, and Brooklyn and Savannah had the day off from school. Kyla invited the girls to come over and play with their new puppy, Layla, and they were so excited. Layla kept trying to chew on Savannah’s hair because her ponytail was swishing around, and it was pretty funny!
Mrs. Pride sent home books regularly throughout the school year. They were gifted by her family and friends, which I thought was such a sweet idea. This month, the kids received books about arctic animals, which fit perfectly with what they’d been learning about!
This month, Travis and I FINALLY got serious about starting on his home office renovation. When we bought our house, we never anticipated that he would end up working from home most days, and the office has kind of become a catch-all for all the things we have no idea where to store. Piles of stuff everywhere on the floor. We’ve been planning to replace his desk (a hand-me-down from Paw and Rae Rae that we’ve had for our entire marriage), but after mulling it over for months (years?), we also decided to add a wall of built-in cabinets along the back wall of the office that will sit behind the desk. We decided to get quotes from multiple cabinet companies, and one of them requested to meet with us in person to go over the quote. We met with him when Brooklyn and Savannah were at school one morning, but Abigail came with us and sat in a chair with a bag of activities. The meeting lasted about 2 hours (because we had SO many questions), and we got this nice compliment about Abigail’s behavior afterward. It meant a lot because she can definitely be a challenge sometimes at home, but she really did well that day! :)
Abigail sorted her trail mix and fruit into little piles :)
Polar the stuffed animal went to school with Savannah on January 21st :)
The walk home from school that afternoon was a chilly one!
I caught the girls playing with each other’s hair on January 22nd. This is not a regular occurrence around our house (in fact, I can’t remember it ever happening other than this one time), so I thought it was especially sweet!
Doing chores is a team effort!
Cici got two new bunnies this month, and the girls finally got to pet Luna on January 23rd. (Lance wasn’t ready to be petted yet).
Abigail has gotten pretty good at writing a few letters (A, H, and I).
Some of the girls in Savannah’s class at recess on January 25th…
Savannah learned all of her addition facts from 0-10 this month!
January 26th was the 101st day of school, and Mrs. Pride invited her class to dress up as Dalmatians :)
They did some fun Dalmatian themed learning that day…
…and ate a special snack!!
Savannah said it was a great day!
We got an email update on January 25th saying that the school district would move to e-learning from January 27th to January 31st due to the high number of teachers and staff that were out sick or quarantining due to COVID. They just didn’t have enough staff to cover all the classrooms. Brooklyn has gotten very proficient on the computer this year, so she was able to do most of her schoolwork without much help. Savannah is getting better at using the computer too.
Abigail liked watching videos with Savannah…I thought it was cute how she was imitating Savannah even down to her hands :)
While the girls weren’t thrilled to be doing school at home, the virtual days did allow us to do some fun things that we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to do. On January 27th, we met the Langston and Dyess families at Kids Kingdom!
Brooklyn and Avery have been friends since 1st grade!
So many girls! Our families have 10 girls between us :)
Abigail joined Savannah during her school time on January 28th too :)
On January 29th, we went over to Cici’s to make some sweet treats for some of the older members at KSR. The last several years we’ve done this before Christmas usually in early December, but that didn’t work this time around due to scheduling conflicts and covid sickness. I actually thought end-of-January was better anyway because December is a stressful month with so many activities. The goodie boxes turned into early Valentine gifts, and I think everyone enjoyed their treats!
The girls helped make Magic Cookie Bars first…
…and Rice Krispy treats after that. It was a fun morning!
Savannah wanted to make a “tower” with all of her stuffed animals, and this was the result :)
January 31st – last day of e-learning at home before the girls went back to school in person
We went on a scooter ride/walk around the neighborhood that afternoon after the girls were finished with their schoolwork.
We also stopped by the playground for a few minutes to play :)
Notes and Quotes from January 2022:
- 1/6/22 – I was singing along to a Collective Soul song tonight (“Gel”), and Abigail said, “You sound like a donkey!” Haha! So now, whenever we hear that song, we usually throw a heehaw or two in there ;)
- 1/6/22 – Shortly afterward, we were reading about Jesus choosing his 12 apostles, and I asked Abigail if she was Jesus’s friend too. She replied, “Yes! When I get to heaven, I’m going to give Jesus a hug!”
- 1/11/22 – Abigail and I were at Walmart, and she asked me as we were shopping: “How do they get milk out of the cows?” I explained that the farmers have to milk the cow’s udders. Then she said, “I don’t think so! I bet the only ones who can get the milk out are mosquitos. The mosquitos poke little holes in the cow, and the milk comes out! That’s how it works.”
- 1/20/22 – Mill Creek hired a new counselor, and she came to Brooklyn’s classroom today. Brooklyn said that they all went around the room and told 3 facts about themselves to help the new counselor get to know them better. Brooklyn informed us that she chose as one of her facts: “My dad says I’m going to have diabetes one day!” Haha. He does tell her that because of how much she loves sugar, but I don’t think he expected it to be repeated in front of the entire class at school ;)
- 1/24/22 – I told Abigail that we were going to go watch Noah’s basketball game tonight, and she looked confused about I meant. I told her the same thing again, and she asked, “You mean GOD’S Noah??” She didn’t understand how we were going to watch Noah (who built the ark) play basketball ;)
- 1/26/22 – The girls had dentist appointments this afternoon after school, and we found out some news that caught me completely off guard. Savannah is missing two of her permanent teeth…the ones on either side of her two front teeth on top. I guess the dentist could tell it from her x-rays. He said it’s not usual for a child to be missing 1 permanent tooth, but it’s more unusual for them to be missing two. When I asked how common it was, he said he guessed maybe 1 in a 1000. We will have to explore options down the road depending on whether those baby teeth stay in or fall out.
- 1/30/22 – Travis commented to me in the living room as we were about to get the kids in bed, “Boy, it’s cold in here. Are you cold?” Abigail didn’t miss a beat as she walked by: “I’m not cold! You should wear a nightgown.”
- 1/31/22 – I tucked Abigail in for her nap, and as I was walking out the door, she announced, “I have burp coronavirus!” “What does that mean?” I asked. “It’s where you burp, and that means you have coronavirus!” she said with a giggle.
Thanks for reading!!
