How We Did January

 January is usually the never ending month for me. But this year it has actually gone by relatively quickly. I made a goal around Thanksgiving that I wasn't going to fall into my usual unhealthy habits through the holidays so we bought a family pass to our local rec center. It's been a heaven sent! They offer child care so I can drop the boys off (Brooke is at school) and go work out. Then, twice a week they offer an "indoor playground" with bounce houses, tricycles and other indoor fun things for kids to do in their gymnasium. Porter and Grant both love it! We also take advantage of their "toddler time" swim sessions that happen while older kids are at school. The pool water is warm and we usually have it mostly to ourselves. It's been a great way to get out of the house in the winter time.

And speaking of water, I was busy doing some cleaning around the house and noticed that it seemed awfully quiet. I found these two giving their feet a bath.

 I'm grateful that, for the most part, they get along and play well together.

Brooke seems to have grown up so much lately. She's learning to read so well and is starting to grasp and understand deeper concepts at church. She is enjoying school and loves her teacher and friends there. One thing I think school has taught her is how to play in the snow. She'll come home from school asking to go back out again to play in the yard. And she'll stay out there for hours! She and I still have our power struggles so I've had to really back off and choose my battles. One battle I've stopped fighting is telling her she needs to wear her coat when it's cold. If she tells me she's fine, I just shrug and let her go out. I figure she'll learn soon enough she needs to wear her coat to stay warm. Not wearing one definitely didn't bother her on this day.

 Blake had a weekend off from work and the sun was shining so we spent the day at his parent's house sledding in their field. Porter liked being pulled by the four-wheeler but he really wanted to just ride on the four wheeler with Pinch.

 They drove and pulled Blake.

 Then it was Brooke's turn to go for a ride.

 Porter and Honey

 So this house in town build a giant snowman. We stopped by to see and the kids loved it. Porter talked about for days afterward.

 Some brotherly bath time togetherness

 I love Grant's expression. He does not like being hugged by his siblings.

 I ordered some things from amazon that arrived in a giant box. The kids love boxes and were so excited to play with this one. They colored in it, pretended it was a boat and a rocket ship. Brooke used it to play a game with Grant and it entertained them all day long.

 I had to grab the camera to capture this sweet moment between Grant and Brooke on the stairs.

 More playing in the snow. Brooke told me, "Mom, I'm making an igloo, and look I'm almost done!"

 Porter and I get to spend some one on one time together each day while Grant is napping. This may sound awful, but I'm still trying to figure this out. When Brooke was this age I was working full time so having Porter around all.the.time is kind of weird and sometimes we're both just doing our own thing and I realize that we should probably have some quality time together. Porter got a superhero matching game for Christmas and we like to play together.

And it's a wrap January! See you next year ;)