January Doldrums

January is the worst.  At least to me.  Once the holidays are over and and we're back to the regular grind, life just seems a little anti-climactic.  Ya know?  While it is easily my least favorite month -- and I really just want winter to subside and sunshine to rain down -- life still goes on, and I can't let the rest of January go by without documenting SOMETHING of what everyone's been up to.

So, with that in mind, enjoy the following smorgarbord of goings-on amongst our crew...

• Ethan is on a quest to buy an iPhone 7.  He has charted out a plan to save up his money (because we will NOT be buying a $600+ phone for him) and if everything sails smoothly, he should be able to buy one by the end of June, JUST in time for our next Road Trip.  In other news, he has started his daily news elective this semester at the junior high and has REALLY enjoyed producing and anchoring the school's daily show.  He has also enjoyed configuring his very own green screen for use at home.  Hahahahaha.

 (June 31st seems like a good target date...)

(Green screen courtesy of my fabric hutch.)

(I took him on a date to the mall to visit the Apple store for "research purposes" and his day was made even further with this virtual reality thing that was set up in another store.)

• Grace is also on a quest to buy an iPhone, but the details of her plan are a little more fuzzy.  As in, I'm not sure she has a plan, and I haven't heard her bring it up in a few days, so hopefully she'll just hang tight with her iPod touch and let the phone go.  Wishful thinking I'm sure. 

(Unrelated, but this is the result of her cleaning out and organizing all her junk in her closet.  I'd say she has a healthy supply of hand sanitizer, wouldn't you?  Hahaha.)

• Sophie's big excitement this month was qualifying for the school spelling bee!  She (along with all the other classroom winners in grades 4-6) competed a couple of weeks ago for a chance to move on to the district bee, and even though I know she REALLY wanted to win, she managed a very respectable 4th place and was the last 4th grader standing.  She has also been on a big kick of checking out cookbooks from the library, and is super excited to be my "dinner helper" next week when we will hopefully be successful at making the BBQ chicken skewers that she has bookmarked for her experimentation.

(I found this cute little "All About Me" project in her backpack the other day.  Apparently it was from the beginning of the school year.)

• Jane, meanwhile, has had fun working on her 2nd grade "Timeline" project, featuring 3 prominent/noteworthy events for each year of her life, complete with pictures.  As with Sophie's project two years ago, the blog books came in SUPER handy while filling out her worksheets!  Her other big excitement this month ALSO involves school -- next week she gets to be the Star Student in her class!  She has been happily working on her poster all afternoon and evening and can't wait for Monday to bring it in.

• As for the Lover Boy, Alex has been extra busy gaming it up these days.  Between Mario Kart on the Wii, and all the other board games and card games we've gotten over the last couple of months, he is constantly on the lookout for someone who is willing to play with him.  And since I'm the one who spends the most time with him, that lucky someone is often me.  ;)  But only if the baby is sleeping.

(You gotta love a Kindergarten project trying to teach kids about civil rights.  Alex's fill-in-the-blank "I have a dream..." idea for something unfair in his life that he could try and make better, was "'No Junk January' is unfair to me.  My mom could make it better if she let me have candy.")

• Which brings us to our cute little Baby Godzilla.  Hahaha.  Or maybe he's more like a baby Pterodactyl.  Whatever hybrid he might be, he is one BUSY little boy.  The name of his game is seek and destroy, with a healthy dose of "I do what I want, whenever I want" on the side.  This kid has a mind of his own and he let's us KNOW it.  Seriously, though.  It has become impossible to do anything other than keep an eye on him when he is awake.  And since he only naps once a day, and only for a couple of hours, you can imagine how much stuff is falling by the wayside.  Like dishes, and laundry, and leisure time.  Hahaha.  He's a cute little stinker, though, and even though he is the WORST sleeper, we still love him.  :)

 That little rat!!!  He spent half the night in our bed last night -- which looks super comfortable for him, not so much for us.  Haha.

• As for me and Scott, we're doing our best to to juggle all of life's responsibilities while still making time to actually see each other every once in awhile.  Haha.  Seriously, though.  Between work, kids' school stuff, church activities and meetings, and doctor/dentist/orthodontist appointments, there are some days that feel like we're two ships passing in the night.  To counter-balance this, my Christmas gift to Scott this year, was a scheduled calendar of monthly date nights from now until December.   The highlight of January to ME, was a Symphony date right after New Year's. Even though I was so tired I was almost falling asleep at the end (the baby had been up half the night before), it was still such a treat to go and do something out of the ordinary. 

And that's all folks!  Hopefully your month has seemed less doldrum-y than ours.  ;)