January

Life is fairly dull and monotonous in January. We're working hard at school and I kick the boys outside each afternoon. When the southern part of the state got snow, we got yucky slush which ruined our ice rink and we have to to make it smooth again. It's a really labor intensive process and we're being lazy about it. Sage has gotten really good on his ice skates, Cade is just learning, and Aiden calls his ice skates his devil shoes. I still have high expectations that he'll be a skater by the end of the winter.

Aiden finally got to go back to soccer. Our governor has mandated masks for youth sports and I can't even being to describe my anger. It's not safe and it's completely unnecessary. I won't have him sprinting when he can't breath so he's wearing a mask with holes. No one has said a word about it. Our governor has also said parents aren't allowed inside at practice. Tom and I will not let our children go where we are not allowed to go, so thankfully the soccer facility lets us in. That was a HUGE answer to prayer.

Sage is still going strong with his guitar. He moved up a level and now plays with a different class of boys and he's really, really happy about that. He is entering a guitar contest at the end of the month and I'm curious to see how he does.

Cade is taking off in reading. He's improving by leaps and bounds. He still doesn't want to sit and read by himself, but he's reading very well in his lessons. Voluntary and spontaneous reading will come soon enough.

Pappy and Marme and Uncle Will, Ami, Teddy, and Annabelle came last weekend and that was such a fun change from the ordinary. We all swoon over Annabelle and love to laugh at Teddy's cute toddler ways. All the boys went sledding behind the 4 wheeler, tried out Uncle Jim's snowmobile, and had pizza and movie night together.

I'm such a homebody that the slowness of January doesn't bother me so much. It's a really nice rest from the rush we lived in from Thanksgiving until Christmas. I read a book last week and started another one. I've even taken a few naps. Tom should be in Florida this week, but because of Covid his conference is virtual. The slowness of this season of work has been nice but his busy time is just about ready to kick in.

I'm thankful the boys are such good friends with each other and I'm thankful that Tom is such a good friend to them and brings so much fun to our lives. Without Tom we'd all be bored and too serious. Aiden is beginning a class on logic and when I told him Sage said, "I think we all knew Aiden needed help with his logic." That humor comes from their dad and we're all better for it.