Natalee and Mike were the only ones who actually partied in the New Year. Mike sent me this picture of Natalee at the silent disco.
Mike and Natalee didn't get home until late afternoon Sunday. The other four children and I went to church and then ran to Dollar Tree so they could choose wall calendars and back home for the day. We spent some time outdoors and just played the rest of the day.
Mike was off work on Monday for the holiday and we didn't have school, opting instead for a Tuesday-Friday week. We tried to tidy the house back up after sickness+holidays, and spent a couple hours outside getting fresh air.
Games all day long...
I started the morning with a doctor's appointment to check on something.
Added the snowmen to the mantle greens to keep us cheery through January and February.
More games...
Out we go. We're counting hours again this year. The app is supposed to keep track for each person individually as an upgrade this year, but I've noticed it's glitching, so I'll again just count when at least all the children are outdoors.
Fresh air in our faces makes eyes glow...
caught a big bubble
I tried to capture the few winter freckles that Evie's gotten from the cold sun, but the phone didn't pick them up very well.
We had an afternoon meal of chili and a meat/cheese/cracker tray to warm everyone back up. Evalynn was showing off her meat and cheese "sandwich."
games again...
I think we made the most of Dad's last day off work.
Tuesday sure had a Monday feel to it. We jumped back into school and tried to reset our routines, including daily chores and morning time.
Evalynn needed to catch up on some Awana Cubbies work. She made a sheep with marshmallows for one of her lessons and we colored a picture of her room for another while we worked on her verses and read her stories.
For writing I had Ameliya and Zayden choose a gift they got for Christmas and write a thank you letter. Zayden chose his new bath sheets to thank Grandma and Grandpa for....please catch the last line. He's such a card. "Thank you for the towels. I dry myself with one after I get out of the shower. I love the color of the towels. They also cover my private parts good. Love, Zayden"
Evalynn loves the new Shirley Hughes treasuries she got for Christmas. They are really precious. Snuggled up for a story before naptime.
bedtime games while Mike and Natalee get in a cupping session
Wednesday was a little easier than Tuesday in regards to our routine. Ameliya did her morning devotions in the quiet of mom and dad's bedroom as she was having a hard time working through something in her T&T book.
The "read me a story age" is a favorite of mine.
Storytime before nap again.
Her honey bun hairdo made her extra sassy on Wednesday.
Before church and supper the kids got a little time outdoors. We'd had some weird precipitation that left things a little slick so they proceeded with caution. They played with their walkie talkies and got a little over an hour of fresh air.
We went to Awana and Youth Group. Everyone was thrilled to be back in our routine! After church we ran everyone through showers and to bed.
I spend a lot of time changing Honey's clothes these days. PJs every night, a fresh outfit daily.
Thursday we were a bit more lagging in energy. I still made my commitment of up before the children, but the children weren't hopping out of bed on their own quite as early.
We all had forgotten how much we love the morning basket routine until we got back into it. Thanksgiving, sickness, then Christmas means it had been several weeks since we'd really gotten to savor it.
I determined to do something fun with Evalynn and get new art in our art frames this week so we got to those tasks on Thursday. I decided to do white on black "snow" paintings with Evie.
First she painted a snowman. I gave instructional steps on my own paper and she followed my tutorial and did a beautiful job, right down to the ground line so the snowman had somewhere to stand. I love her determination.
hard workers
I got out the glitter and Evalynn added some to her ground snow and her snowman.
Then she free painted. Here she made "sledding hills."
After her snowman dried she had daddy cut her a hat and scarf and then she chose all the buttons to finish him out.
She played in the button box for a long time - right up to naptime - so we missed our pre-nap story.
I pulled up a few tutorials for the older children to choose from for their frame art.
Ameliya chose a chalk pastel hot chocolate.
Zayden chose a monochromatic winter cityscape.
Natalee made a Van Gogh inspired snowy city.
Xavier also did the chalk pastel hot chocolate.
The new pictures look lovely in our dining room art frames.
No one had any therapy appointments this week, so that was a nice way to ease back into our routine.
Friday I was up and at 'em early. I made some treats to send along with Xavier - he got to go with Papa and Colby to put in a ramp at Aunt Annette's. He got up responsibly and finished the majority of his school before he left for the day.
Evalynn got colored pencils in her Christmas stocking and tried to throw away her regular pencils because colored are "prettier."
Aunt Annette shared her pictures of the completed ramp with me. They also had help from one of her friends but he'd slipped away before the photo.
Papa sent one of the full view. What a good day's work for a young man, both in learning and in serving. I'm grateful he had the opportunity and willingness to go.
The kids played outside for a couple of hours before dark on Friday. The little ones didn't want to come in when it got dark, and Evalynn didn't want to pose for a photo, as evidenced below.
Saturday found Natalee and I up early and headed out of town for a swim meet.
Playing games with friends while we wait.
It was a long day with a lot of teams but our camp room was cozy and we made the best of it.
Natalee worked hard at each of her events. She wasn't able to shave any time off her personal bests, but she got the experience of swimming at an away meet so it was a good day.
I really enjoyed watching her try the breast stroke. We think she was DQ'd but the official results haven't been shared yet.
She and I grabbed a bite to eat and ran an errand into Kohl's before heading for home.
Ball card palooza awaited our arrival home. Xavier got to buy a box a cards with his points at Awana and has enjoyed looking through them.
One of the things I wanted to pick up at Kohl's was one of their soft fleece throws for Evalynn. A couple years ago I bought the four older children one for Christmas and they use them all the time and it was time for her to have one. I washed and dried it and wrapped her up in it after her shower, warm from the dryer. That was the end of the line for us....off to snoozeland we went.
The boys and Mike stayed up for about 20 minutes after bedtime and had a little old school fun on the raspberry pi, and that is how we ended our first week of January.
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