January Sweet January

So I am not going to play catch up on the past 4 months. Too daunting to say the least. But I will recap quickly, and archive later. When you hear all that has gone on, you will understand why I am jumping straight to January. 

September was awesome! Had our friends the Sedgwicks come visit over Labor Day. Later that month I celebrated my 30th Birthday in New York City with my little clan. In October my brother Chris' family came to visit for a week.  We did all the touristy stuff with them. My niece Shelby (who raised enough money to come) came with my sister and mom (who surprised me!) the next week. In between my brother and sister's trips, we packed up our house to move. We moved on October 29th, celebrated Halloween, and got my Christmas projects started. Well, shortly after our move, we realized that the neighbors cigarette smoke was carrying into our apartment and I was having allergic reactions to it. After putting up enough of a stink, we got clearance to move to a different apartment. But before that, we celebrated Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving out to eat at Uno and went to see Frozen. It was a delightful, relaxing day. In November, I learned how to crochet, made a rag quilt, painted a toddler kitchen, and made a Lego table. December 7th we moved into a different apartment. Phew! Problem solved! December 8th we put up our Christmas tree. December 14th we had a mock Christmas Eve. December 15th we celebrated our Massachusetts Christmas and December 17th we left for Christmas in Utah. It was a wild ride. An 8 hour travel day turned into 20 hours, but finally we were in Utah. Well, as out-of-staters understand, visiting family and going on vacation are NOT the same thing. Our Utah trips are jammed packed with stuff to do. They are fun, but BUSY!! We were sick with the stomach flu and a few other illnesses at the beginning of the trip, but we made the best of it. Christmas, New Year's, and everything else was amazing. We returned home, excited to get back into our routine and 'normal' life. I am not sure what 'normal' is anymore. After many weather delays, we finally arrived home mid January. Saying the past 4 months were busy and overwhelming would be beyond an understatement. 

So here is what follows:

January Sweet January

First thing Mav did when we got home was play with his train set. He is ALL boy! He took his Lego animals and put them in his train like a circus train. He is such a fun little guy.

Our favorite Wednesday activity is story time at the EcoTarium. This week's live animal was a Macaw. The kids got to hold real feathers. They were fascinated.

One of my favorite things to do is spy on my kids having free play. They are so explorative and curious. It is fun as a mom to watch your kids learn. We spent so much time playing and brought a sack lunch and ate in the cafeteria for the first time. We love the EcoTarium and Maverick's puffy vest!

Watching Super Why

Today Lanie said, "Mavwick is my Best Fwend!!!" with the biggest smile on her face. They really do love each other so much. Every time we drop Lanie off at Preschool, Mav cries for "Lay-Lee" and when we pick her up he excitedly exclaims while pointing at the door, "Lay-Lee!" They have such a sweet relationship.

The Hudson Library

Lanie calls this the "Different Library." She likes it because she gets to play computer games there. They also have a toddler music and story time that the kids like. Lanie gets really into the fire truck song and the Teddy Bear book. Plus they get stickers at the end and who doesn't love stickers? It is a cute library with lots of moms to get to know.

Yay for baby girl Penrod!

My sweet friend, Amber Penrod, has been doing fertility since they moved here (and before) and they are finally getting their baby girl. The day of her shower was a blizzard, but because so many are so thrilled for them, she had a HUGE showing at her shower. They are a very loved family in the ward. The joke that day was that the storm was bad enough to cancel church, but not bad enough to cancel Amber's shower. So happy for them! And it was a GORGEOUS snow day!

Lanie and her friends at Ethan's "Monster Party". The bottom right picture are all of the kids acting like monsters. They are a spirited bunch of kiddos!!!

Oh how we love our Lanie. She is little miss independent, and she makes me laugh. We have been encouraging her to put her own underwear and pants on after she goes potty, and this is what we get. Pants inside out with underwear over top. She had no idea. These are such blackmail pictures for when she is a teenager! She was cute fishing with her daddy. We had a bowl with papers of land and ocean animals. She got the stick from her princess castle and made a fishing pole out of it and with magnets and paper clips, fished for land and sea animals. She has such an imagination.

ELMO!!!! Or as Maverick would say, Mehmo!!!!!

The kids had a great time meeting Elmo and Cookie and watching the Big Bird movie. This was Lanie's Preschool field trip that daddy came to. Fun family day!

First puzzle completion all by herself. Victory! This girl LOVES puzzles. Yeah!

Best Daddy Award!!!

Shawn takes the kids to the library (and grocery store) on Saturday mornings to give me a break. They love daddy time and I love MY time.

Not Valentine's Day

So last year I made a goal to do something special for Shawn each month. I am sure he didn't totally notice (especially cause there is usually a holiday every month), and I think I only did well half of the year (until things got crazy) but I tried. I felt like it added a lot to our relationship and made me a happier wife. This year, I vowed to do the same. So I started the year off with this: A box filled with notes. I put this on the seat of his car and inside there were instructions. He was to open 1 card on the 14th minute of every hour (example 9:14am, 10:14am, 11:14am.....10:14pm) for a total of 14 cards. This was to kick off the 2014 year right. The idea was for him to feel loved all day long. I think it worked (sigh). And folks, it was not expensive and not hard. The box was a buck and those hearts were a buck so for $2 and a few minutes of thoughtfulness writing notes, I was able to do something nice to make someone's day, which in return, made my day!

I call this boy my "Sweet Treat" and that is exactly what he is. He smiles through EVERYTHING! He fell the other day and banged his cheek HARD. He cried until he could get a hug and then he bounced back to his bubbly self. He is just delightful! That bruise is now healed, but he has a new-found dimple in its place. I call it his "Man-Made Dimple" which makes him even that more adorable and charming. Love him more than words can tell!!!

Remember me mentioning that I learned how to crochet? Well here are a few of my projects. Love learning new things and making homemade Christmas gifts. I am now selling these on my Etsy Shop under TeamHooper. Check it out if you'd like.

Well that is our January in a nutshell. It was fun and never dull.

See you next month!