January: A Slower Paced Month

We started the new year off with a decision to remodel our downstair bathroom. We figured a half bath would be a small enough job to take on as our first major remodel. We ripped out the tile, vanity, toilet, mirror and baseboards. It took WAY too long to choose a new tile, but it was worth the back and forth trips to the flooring story. Dallin has impressed himself with his plumbing skills, and I have impressed myself with my drywall mudding skills. Talents popping up all over the place!

 

Any day the sun was out, we bundled up and ot out to run around and get the little bit of Vitamin D we could. A few snowstorms made for some snow adventures (no snow days for school, though), and having Loel living 45 minutes away allowed the kids to explore his warehouse and have lots of Loel visits. Caleb could not be happier to have a family member living so close. He is all about his people.

We took a trip up to McCammon to enjoy grandpa's new snow mobile toys and change of scenery. Luke was a daredevil sledder (vast difference from a couple of years ago). Caleb hated walking in snow boots so he conned grandma into pulling him to and from the hill on the sled, during which he fell asleep on the way back to the house. Aida loved the snowmobile and she and I got to enjoy some quiet time while the boys still sledded and she fell asleep on our walk back to grandma and grandpas. Luckily, no broken bones, no stitches were needed and fun was had by all.

Aida is in a funny stage where she loves putting things in her mouth and crawling around. Usually, they are giant carrots, cars or little wooden people. She thinks it is so funny and has a strong hold on it until she can sit to eat her item or play with it. Could have something to do with cutting bottom teeth.

Most of the month was spent enjoying the slower pace of life after the busy holiday season. Aida is learning to feed herself and we enjoyed Tim-Tam slams. Luke CRUSHED it and Caleb dumped his hot cocoa on Aida's head. Luckily, it was lukewarm. Luke helped cook dinner, I made some bow holders for Aida and we just enjoyed one another's company. Luke also got papa's old Mindstorm Lego set, which he has spent every day mastering how it works, how to build different sorts of robots with it and loving every second. He also brings home some pretty epic pictures he draws on the back of his school work because he finishes so quickly and then just doodles. The tornado with all the people and treasures it had collected was a favorite.

 A friend introduced us to the Enneagram Personality theory. We were astounded at how accurate it was! Dallin scored highest as a 9, which is a peacekeeper and I scored highest as a 5, which is an Investigator. Honestly, reading more about our numbers, we are just in shock at how scary accurate it is. Now the trick is to use our strengths and weaknesses in our personalities to be better versions of ourselves.

We got a gift card to Chili's and took the family out for a sit down dinner (those don't happen TOO often). Luke filled out the kid activity mat he was given and we all thought it was a pretty accurate depiction of how most of our conversations go with him these days. When does the potty talk end?

There is January, ladies and gents. Lots of family time. Lots of snuggling. Lots of giggles.