Ending January

Amy made these for an assignment for school. But I couldn't help but be in awe of her artwork. The artists in the family seem to be in this next generation. I know Amy, Will and Tyler have been growing into their skills and so are Anna's kids.

Marty always sits by Lee when he's eating. Guess who the pushover is?? :)

My birthday came and went. We had a plan for the day and then it got waylaid. Since Will and Tyler were already home (school being shut down) I asked Amy if she wanted to stay as well. Of course she jumped at that. Later on we took Tyler to a doctor appointment because he's been complaining a lot about his heart hurting. (Two weeks later he saw a cardiologist who said everything was normal.) We ended up getting take out from a local restaurant and I bought a cake from a local bakery. Both were great and low-key. My goal each year is to do some kind of gardening and I was able to do a little which made me happy. Lee's mom got me the shovel I've been wanting so I was excited about that as well. Anything that says "root-slayer" just has to be awesome, right??

Lately Marty has been cuddling up to the boys more and they just love it. Sometimes they are just "too in his face" and he doesn't like that.

We did a fun object lesson one Sunday with our friends. The kids each had a piece of string where one end was tied to the same rubberband. Using teamwork they had to created a tower with cups. It took them awhile to get the hang of it, but they did it.

We've been playing the game "Among Us" as a family at night. It's actually pretty fun (as far as video games go- I'm not a huge gamer.) What I like best is we are all doing it together. Laughing, arguing about who is the imposter, etc.

Some of my broccoli sprouted. That was fun!

 

And Marty likes to pretend he's a human. He curls right into you and dreams away.

 And that wraps up January!

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.