January Happenings

 I cannot believe January is already over; I think this year was the quickest this month has ever gone. We even got out and did few fun things. It's been an unusually warm winter with temps in the 50s. It's only snowed a handful of times and seems like spring is trying to push itself forward. Hopefully we'll get more snow and rain to help with the drought we are always in.

Anyway, first off I finished reading the whole Harry Potter series with Zander. That only took us a couple of years, haha. It has been so fun to reread them and share the world of Harry Potter with Zander. I love reading to my kids. Stephen enjoys it too. He gets to read to the other three kids, and then we take turns. So after we finished the series I took Stephen to a comedy show called Potted Potter where only two actors portray all the Harry Potter characters. It was a good laugh and really nice to go out on a date.

The next weekend we had parent teacher conferences and got the kids' report cards. All three of them are top of their class and doing so well. They all got 3s in every subject and showed significant improvement from the beginning of the year. I am so proud of Zander, Lucas, and Hannah for all their hard work and dedication to their education. So I took them out for ice cream to celebrate. Later that night Stephen and I took them to the circus in Ogden. It was awesome! It was way better than I expected to be honest. They had camels, ponies, and elephants. We got the kids snacks and they got to see the elephants up close at intermission. Grayson got really tired towards the end and had a hard time trying to sleep so he turned grumpy, but all their acts were really cool. They had motorcycles in the big sphere, aerialist of all sorts, funny clowns, and an amazingly trained dog. The best part is that it was so affordable to take our family out for a good time. We may make this a year tradition if they come back every year.

When we got back from the circus the kids made beds in the living room and had a sleepout together. Lucas was the only one who lasted the whole night on their makeshift bed.

Hannah and Grayson earned a milkshake date with mom this month too. They've been working on earning it for a month or two. I took them to Le Crepe in Ogden where they make these large intricate shakes. They both ordered the Unicorn and I interviewed them with random questions. It was a good night.

One morning after dropping the kids off at school I took Grayson for a ride to Farmington Bay to see if we could spot any bald eagles. They're supposed to be around here in the winter months. I didn't have too much luck in the morning because the sun was too bright and reflecting off the snow and ice, but we did see some ducks and what I think is a young eagle, but couldn't get a close enough look. It was a beautiful drive anyway. 

One busy morning while Stephen was gone I was trying to get the kids to do their chores, but tantrums ensued and it was a rough start to the day. But after a while Lucas came to me and apologized for throwing a fit about his chores and told me he would vacuum the computer room for me. I thought, "Wow, he's getting it!" So I told him thank you and proceeded to get Grayson out of the bathtub. When that was done I went into the computer room only to find that Lucas had "vacuumed" the desk off with his tiny vacuum as a joke. It made me laugh so hard. He is such a crack up. 

And lastly, Lucas finally got his glasses. He’s been waiting for a few months since we took him in to the eye doctor. He is far sided and his eyes cannot focus on an object at the same time. It’s either one eye or the other that has to focus on what he’s looking at, so we are grateful he was finally able to get the help he needs with glasses. The doctor said his problem could correct itself as he gets older, so let’s hope that is the case.