January

Brynn.  Jan 1st.

While everyone was out doing fun things with their kids on New Years Day, we were boxing up all the Christmas decorations and putting new toys away.  In the past, Justin has always taken the tree down Christmas night or the next morning.  It got left up a lot longer this year since we had the extra space for it.  I love all the Christmas decorations but I do love the sense of cleanliness once it's all put away.

 

Sleeping Ivy.  Jan. 2nd.

When we got Stockton's new clothes back from my mom, I had all the kids wear their new church clothes again.  Ivy was not happy about taking a picture but they do clean up pretty nice!

 

Brynn swinging all her princess dolls in the hammock.  We love these plush princesses.  Molly got the Cinderella one when she was three and it is still in perfect condition!  They are just so soft and cute and cuddly.  We are well on our way to collecting them all.

Daddy snuggles. Jan 3rd.

Brynn likes to comb my hair for our plans sometimes.

Justin bought a few sports-related items on clearance after Christmas.  The kids especially loved the Braves and Jazz beanies.

Stockton wore them to school quite a bit and even Molly did a few times.

Brynn and I played in her canopy one day for our plan.  She wanted to do a makeover and comb each other's hair.  She was excited when she saw these curlers because I've never put them in her hair.  She wanted them so bad and still wanted them when I told her she'd have to wear them all day and night if she wanted her hair to be curly.  She did!

We went to the store and she felt very important and kept flipping her curlers over her shoulder.  She loved the attention she got from everyone.

This is what she looked like when her hair was all done and ready for the day.

Brynn fell asleep a couple of times while she was doing her preschool.

Ivy, January 7th.  Climbing on and off the rocking chair.

Molly's team had a soccer tournament in Mesquite.  Back in the fall when they announced it (it was completely optional), I was skeptical.  I didn't really want to go and didn't know why 9-year-old girls had to travel so far.  But Justin wanted to do it and so did Molly so we went.  I'm so glad we did-it was a nice getaway for our family and we had a super fun time.  

Our hotel was in St. George so on a Thursday afternoon we took the kids out of school early and headed down.  It wasn't too bad of a drive but everyone was happy to finally make it to the hotel.  The kids ate a lot of PB&J since we are cheap and I packed food for all of our meals.

Ivy was a good baby the whole time.  She is still not too hard at games and I had lots of snacks packed.

Molly had two games on Friday, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  There is practically nothing to do in Mesquite that is family friendly but it was warm enough outside to play at a park for a few hours.  The kids had a blast being outside with no snow!

We were close to the airport so we watched a few planes take off.

Molly played really well.  She is definitely the strongest girl on her team.  Anytime there is a corner kick or a free kick or even a throw in sometimes, the coach sends her to take it because she can really kick it hard.  The best part of the whole tournament was when her team was awarded a free kick just outside the penalty box.  Molly was asked to take the kick-she got up there, found a hole in the other team who had lined up in front of their goalie, and kicked it right into the back of the net.  It was very exciting!  She loves playing center back and was content playing that position the whole tournament.  She is a better defender than I ever was!  Also, she played the full games with no subbing out to rest.

We did go out to dinner on Friday to Culvers.  Ivy was happy to get out of her carseat and she was being so silly.

Molly's Saturday game wasn't until 4:00 in the afternoon.  We were a little disappointed that it was so late in the afternoon because we still had to drive all the way home after that.  But it ended up being great because we took the morning and just played.  Our hotel was in St. George-much more family friendly than Mesquite.  We checked out of our hotel and the first thing we did was go bowling.

We were going to go to the temple next but Ivy was asleep.  So we found a driving range instead.  Justin took the kids and I sat in the car with sleeping Ivy.

Then we found a park for lunch and to play some catch.  That is all Stockton wanted to do the whole time.

Ivy was still asleep but it was our last chance to walk around the temple so Justin lugged her carseat around the grounds.

Molly's team lost all their games (this is their first tourney-they are very inexperienced) but they played hard.  The last game they were ahead 4-0 (Molly scored one of those goals) but in the last 10 minutes they let the other team score 4 goals so the game actually ended in a tie.  They were pretty bummed, but Molly played awesome.  I can't believe the improvement we've seen in her since she started last September. 

Coach Ron, Lenaya, Norah, Rainer, Tien, Andie, Alma, Molly-Olympia Lions U9 team

Here are some December pictures that Stockton drew that I want to remember.

How kind of him to make sure Santa had a bathroom!

Ivy loves to snuggle with Molly's minky blanket.  Molly is always so good to share it with her.

Tea party with Brynn/Anna.  Jan 12th.

A note from Molly.  Now we are kind of pen pals.  She's better at writing me back in a timely fashion.

Brynn still dresses up a lot.  She makes a cute Doc McStuffins.

I started teaching my neighbor piano in January.  I wasn't going to start Stockton until he turned 7 but he begged and so I said yes.  Honestly, it is hard to teach my kids because a lot of days it doesn't happen.  They move through the books slower than my students just because I don't sit down with them as often as I should.  But they are both doing well and I will continue to teach them.

Open and close, open and close.  That's what Ivy loves to do with the door to her playhouse.  We have kept a lot of the new outdoor toys inside.  There is room and it's too cold outside.

My kitchen helper.  Notice the huge rip in her dress.

Brynn wanted to be twins with Molly so Molly helped her find some gray pants and lent her a shirt with a heart on it.  I also combed their hair the same.

 

Ivy in her rocking chair with her favorite blankie.  Jan. 16th.

For about a week, Stockton would come home and practice jump roping until he got really good.  At the end of the week, he and Molly put on a jumprope show for me. 

 

Sunday afternoon nap.  We have church at 1:00 now which is not conducive for napping but we had had Stake Conference early this day so had the whole afternoon for a nap.

Molly finished coloring this coloring page.

I spy a naughty baby on the table.  Luckily, she hasn't been much of a climber.

Over the long Martin Luther King weekend I pulled out the bin of legos and encouraged the kids to make a lego village.  They didn't make anything super big but what they came up with was creative and fun.  Molly started it off with a hotel.

Then lots more followed!

"The Crime Scene" was my favorite

"The Picnic with NO Food"

All day school really wears Stockton out.  I have to wake him up most mornings and it is hard for him to get up.  At nights it seems he can barely hold his eyes open for prayers.  I feel bad for him and some days we let him sleep in and Justin drives him to school (instead of taking the bus because it comes earlier).  Some days are harder than others and he whines a lot after school and I have to remind myself that he is just so, so tired.

This was our good-night text to Daddy when he was gone one night.

Painting nails with Brynn.  She is my girly-girl.

Out of the blue, Brynn decided she wanted to write a letter to Andrew.  He is 10 but she clicked with him last summer when he was here.  This is what she had me write.  We texted it to Rachelle and a couple of weeks later, Brynn got an actual letter in the mail from him. 

This was a silly place to watch a show.  Halfway down the basement stairs with their sleeping bags.

We've used the hammock straps for Molly's hammock and Ivy's swing.  One night we used them as gymnastic straps.  Brynn has always had the strongest abs.

I like this picture because of Ivy.

The snow was piling up in front of our garage (our driveway is not cement, just gravel) and with another snow storm, Justin couldn't back out in his little Civic.  So Brynn and I went out and shoveled.

Justin came home with a cleared off driveway and thought a nice neighbor had done it.

My kids like to pick out those grocery store bakery cupcakes that I think are disgusting.  The frosting always turns their whole mouth a weird color.  

Someone handed down this Santa dress to us years ago.  None of my girls have ever worn it anywhere and I wonder why we still even have it.  Brynn found it one day and decided to wear it that day.  It's a good thing we weren't going anywhere.  This is also a picture with Brynn's goofy personality shining through.

We have a couple of baskets to gather shoes and I always laugh when I empty them and put shoes in their respective closets.  Girls have so many shoes for so many different outfits.  Even little Ivy.  Stockton has one pair of shoes for school and one pair of shoes for church and that's it.

top pile is mine, the Molly's, Brynn's, Ivy's, and Stockton's

Brynn and Bitty Baby.  Jan 28th.

January was the month that Ivy learned to walk.  For a couple of weeks, she would just entertain herself by walking around and around and around the house.  It was so adorable.

Trying to experiment more with her hair.

This is what it looks like when it gets taken out.

Another snowstorm.  This time Justin went out to shovel off the deck.  Stockton went out to help.

Then all the kids went out and had a snowball fight.

I don't think the kids planned on being out for long...they didn't even put on snow pants.  They ended up staying out for a while and were soaked when they finally came in.

 

Justin gave me 6 ramekins for Christmas so we could make pizzookies.  I just keep chocolate chip cookie dough and vanilla ice cream in my freezer and chocolate and caramel sauce in my fridge and it has become our Sunday dessert tradition.