January

January always feels like such a "clean" month. I'm not sure that's the word I'm really looking for, but there's that feeling after you pack up all the Christmas stuff and get back into your routine, plus the bare trees and (depending on where you live) a smooth, white blanket of snow may cover the ground.

Our schedule has been a little wild this month, as I've been traveling the past couple weeks for work, and will head out again next week for a conference. The good news is that the big girls went with me the first week and Matt is going with me this next week, so only this past week did I feel like I was abandoning my family. Matt is such an awesome dad, though, and doesn't blink at caring for all the girlies himself for a few days.

We've been doing a lot of puzzles this month. The girls got a few new ones for Christmas, and I decided to introduce Claire to 24-piece jigsaw puzzles that say "age 3+." She's been doing pretty well for a 2 1/4 year old! (I guess I haven't taken pics of that, though, as these two puzzle pics are both age-appropriate with letters and colors.  

Despite the polar vortex and this past week's cold snap, there have been a couple warm days in there. We had a friend over one Sunday afternoon, and they played outside for a while without jackets!

Claire did wear a jacket, and while she may look cold in this picture, it's really her "I scared!" face, as Kate and her friend were exploring the "fort" inside a clump of evergreen trees and imagining scary things under there! (She's carrying her tool kit I got her for Christmas--she likes to carry it around more than actually open and play with it!)

I was in mama heaven watching them out the window while doing dishes at the kitchen sink. I mean, more heavenly would have been not having dirty dishes to do, but I was filled with love for our house that affords such a nice view of the yard so I can keep an eye on the kids while cleaning up!

 

Quick updates on the kiddos, rowdy as ever: 

BGC got ear tubes last week to hopefully prevent all her drainage and infections, plus they wanted to do a more invasive hearing test while she was under anaesthesia. She'd failed every other hearing test she'd had, and this test confirmed that she has severe hearing loss, so she'll be getting fitted for hearing aids soon. She's making amazing progress, though, getting close to sitting up unassisted and maybe even creeping. She's getting quite adept at rolling where she wants to go, and is finally accepting a soft-spouted sippy instead of a bottle. Yay!

Clairy-Bear is two-and-a-quarter, still such a ham. She loves sunglasses and peanut butter, so I love this photo of her in her heaven! And I love that toothy grin!

And Kate! Kate will be FIVE next week! Her party is tomorrow, and--fitting for her January birthday--we're having a "Winter Wonderland Tea Party." The table and mantle are decked out in silver, white, and light blue. We've got petit fours on order and fun activities planned. Can't wait to tell you all about it, but here is a little sneak peek!