Amy turns 14

Can anyone else believe that our little Amy is FOURTEEN?? Lee and I still can't. 

For breakfast we broke out the 2007 picture book and admired pictures of that cute little baby. 

 

 

The boys school was shut down for the week- everyone going to distance learning. Tyler was so studious. He just sat in his room and worked on zoom/worksheets until the end of the day. Will needed a little more help and sat at the kitchen table where I could keep an eye on him.

Amy requested spaghetti for dinner so (on the advise of a friend) I turned it into an Italian Dinner celebration. It was a lot of fun. We even had Italian music playing as she came into the house. (She had archery practice that day so can home right at dinner time.)  The boys were the waiters. Will greeted her at the door and Tyler escorted her to her seat.

 

Will and Meme call each other Bucko and Cento. So when Will saw this can, he has to take a picture for Meme. She laughed and said she would need to find a can that said Bucko. He said, "She doesn't need to do that! She can just do this..." and proceeded to pull out a dollar (buck) and add an O. 

Amy didn't want anything for dessert. I know, she's a weirdo. So I stuck some candles in a loaf of french bread. She thought that was hilarious.

A few of her favorite treats.

Happy Birthday Sweet Amy! We sure do love you! 

The 2nd week of January - SNOW again

Since we weren't able to have our usual New Years celebration, we celebrated late with a cake and confetti. 

LEE (and yes in all capital letters) let the dog onto our bed (previously forbidden) and now he gets up all the time. Lee, Amy and I watch a show together each night and Marty just likes to curl right up. He thinks he's human.

 

On January 11th we were bless with... more snow! This is like the 3rd or 4th time we've gotten snow this season. Which is so funny because we never get snow. It was dusting that morning but it snowed all day and got up to an inch. (Again- big numbers for us!)

One thing we realized- this dog loves the snow. He's like a kid. He would run around, throw his ball around, run around some more. It was really funny to watch.

I found a partially dug hole where he's been keeping his toys.....

 

I would throw the ball and then throw the stick and repeat. He couldn't hold both in his mouth so he finally put the ball in his mouth and his paw on the stick. This funny dog. I have to say, we really have loved him and he's made all of us dog lovers.

The kids got out of school an hour early (because we live in the south and parents freak out when the white stuff starts to fall) so they played in what was left. Snowballs, snowmen and even sledding down the mulch pile (we really need a hill of some sort.)

The kids went into the school the next day 2 hours late (the "south" remember?) I was planning on walking with a friend and right when I got there, I got a call from the school saying Tyler had been contact traced. I wasn't worried about the covid aspect but I was more annoyed. He had been home for nearly a month, been in school for barely 6 hrs and was already quarantined for the next 14 days. Ugh! So I went and got him and that started the next part of January.

Tyler was home all that week, doing school through zoom. He did really well. By Thursday, so many teachers were quarantined that they shut down the school from Friday the 15th until Friday the 22nd. So then I had Will AND Tyler home. This school year is one gigantic eye roll.

Amy did my hair one night. I think she added a few more braids after this picture and it looked really funny.

 Will made breakfast one morning. He is a hashbrown loving kid.

And that's how we spent week 2 of 2021.

The First Week of 2021

Happy 2021!

We ordered new chairs for the living room and Amy got right to work creating a box house for the boys. She did a pretty good job! And they loved it. 

I forget what game they were playing, but they were having a blast.

Our Come Follow Me lesson was about following God's plan or following man's plan. They had a regular hopscotch (God's plan) and were able to do it quickly. Then they each got to create their own hopscotch (man's plan) and it took a lot longer.

I think they were playing doctor or something. They are always making up crazy games whenever Amy plays with them. She doesn't do it often, but when she does, they love every second of it.

We also tried to make an O out of pringles. We couldn't get it to work, but it does work (Ive seen photos) This was to symbolize having a strong foundation.

I got a gardening day in one day when the weather was decent. (We haven't had many nice days lately) I noticed one of Marty's bones "growing" out of a container. That dog loves to bury bones. I used to think it was a myth, but apparently it's not.

Typical- trying to get Amy out of bed. The dog even gives up at some point.

He's been cold lately too.

I ordered a pomegranate tree! I'm pretty excited about it. It's supposed to be hardy for my zone, so we'll see. I have to wait another month to plant it, but I wanted to get it before they sell out.

I don't remember... oh wait. We had watched a video about Joseph Smith and a story about how he was carrying the plates and outran some nefarious people. The plates were pretty heavy- estimated around 50-60 lbs. So they took turns carrying Tyler (who was closest to that weight) to see if they could.

 

Will isn't a big reader, but he's trying. He liked it when Marty cuddled up with him.

Lee and I went on a walk through a local park. The moss was just gorgeous and that trail was really muddy. Lee wasn't a fan of that, but it was nice to get out into nature.