January Happenings

January has been extra busy working to prepare for the DI tournament mid-February, but I'll share those photos on a DI post after that event. The kids continue to meet after school each Thursday. Then Brad's team also has a work day each week (usually Saturday, occasionally Friday instead) at our house in order to prepare for the competition. The kiddos are having a blast working with friends each week. We have managed to squeeze in a bit of extra fun too.

Dates
We have been slacking in this department, so we tried to make up for lost time a bit this month and double our dates. Makin and I had a donut date followed by playing games at Main Event. (This was a fun surprise to add to our date as he won a card for free game play at baseball sign ups!) We all headed to the mall and then divided dates with the boys going to Dave and Busters (games) and the girls got back massages and sweet treats and did a little shopping. Later in January Brad and Lorelei fit in a lunch date with her requested trip to the local pet store.

Brrr
It has been fairly cold (for Texas) and we had a very small snow one day. The amount this girl has in her hand is about the equivalent that accumulated in our yard. :) Sure hoping for one good snow this winter!














Crayola Field Trip
I have been waiting a long time for this field trip! We are excited Crayola Experience opened fairly close to our area, but I wanted to wait for a field trip price. We spent about 4 hours there with friends and had a great time.


I didn't get any pics but there was a large play area that was one of their favorite things. They spent a lot of time there between doing the various activities.

Just loved this.

They got to choose a color and then name their crayon.
Then they were able to add the paper to the crayon with a special machine.

Melted crayon spin art was one of my favs.

The boys loved posing silly for the camera.
Then the page printed their picture and they could color it...which they didn't do but its a fun concept!

This screen made it look like the melted crayon was falling on them.

Winter Break

We had a very low-key break following Christmas. It was a nice time to rest and just be home without the busy-ness of school and other activities. It was also very important to me that I take the time to catch up on projects I had been neglecting because of being overly busy, so I had to just quiet down the planner in me. Most days were a mix of chores that needed to be done as well as some crafts with the kids and reading. It was fun to travel to Narnia many days over their winter break. So grateful for this extra downtime and hoping it will help recharge us until spring!

Not a lot of pictures, but of course took a few. :)

We seldom take time for baths anymore, but loved the extra time during break for them to have this down time.
They got plenty of bath bombs for Christmas that smell amazing.

We spent hours making our own snowflakes that we hung in the school room. 

(Gotta make your own snow in Texas!)

We had a DI work day for Brad's team (which I didn't get a pic of) and this included a hunt for sticks.

Charlie and Makin came with us as we walked and were "fencing" together.

They got to play two days over break and loved the extra friend time.

Out to eat with friends after a DI afternoon work day.

The end of break also brought teacher in-service and a yearbook work day. Monday Brad took the kids to TopGolf for the morning. Then they played while he worked in the afternoon. Tuesday he worked while they played with Savannah and Charlie at our house.

One of my favorite winter-break activities...read alouds in front of the fire. :)