January Chronicles

What's the best way to make it through January in Minnesota?  Keep busy!  (Or hibernate, though I don't think that's a very realistic option for many...especially those with young children;))  Keep busy we did this year!  Normally January is a pretty low key month for us, but it was fun-, family-, and friend-filled this year! 

We started the month and new year off with a relaxing New Year's Day.  I simply love the feel of New Year's Day: a fresh start after a busy holiday season with an entire new year ahead to plan and look forward to.  

The first weekend, we headed to Iowa to visit our friends from Baltimore.  Sounds strange, I know, but our friends, Luke and Holly Erickson, live in Baltimore, but Luke is from Council Bluffs, IA.  They were staying with his parents for a couple weeks over the holidays.  So, our friends, the Riggins, and our crew headed down for a couple nights in a hotel so we could catch up with Ericksons and the kids could enjoy their time together in the pool.  It was a great get away and always wonderful to see Luke and Holly and Luke's family in Council Bluffs.

Seven of the nine Erickson, Riggin, Picker kids at
Bass Pro Shop in Council Bluffs

The first full week of January brought a couple Snow Days, aka Cold Days this winter, for Luke.  The temps were so cold in Minnesota that the governor cancelled school for the entire state on Monday and then Rochester closed on Tuesday since it was still well below zero.  

The second weekend, we celebrated Christmas with the Kester Family (Brent's mom's family).  It was great to see everyone and catch up since we don't get together often.  If I remember correctly, everyone was there except for Brent's cousin and family who live in Florida.  

Playing at the Kester Family celebration with Valentine

January also brought the beginning of Luke's basketball season with Champion Basketball.  This is his second year playing in the league so he's the "veteran" on his first and second grade team.  It's especially fun this year that he gets to play with his cousin, Ethan, who is one of the first graders on their team, The Bombers.  The boys are having a lot of fun playing together, learning more skills, and getting to know their teammates and coach.  

The third weekend, Brent and I headed to the Orpheum Theater with Greg and Cally to see Jerry Seinfeld live.  It was a great show and lots of fun to have a night out without kiddos:)  If you're a Jerry fan and he's in your area, I recommend getting tickets!

Later that weekend, we celebrated my Dad's and Uncle Jeff's birthdays with my mom's family. My grandparents came for the day from Albert Lea and we all hung out for the day and had Red Lobster for dinner.

Playing in the snow with Papa

Enjoying the ride

The third week of January brought our trip to Arizona!  I had not been since I was a young kid and Brent, Luke, and Nora had never been.  Our friends Albert and Krista moved to Scottsdale last spring and we were anxious to see them again and to visit the Phoenix area.  We had a fabulous four days with the Gutierrez family had fun exploring the area in the amazing weather!  See my Arizona with Love for more details on our trip.

January also brought the end of the semester at school for Luke.  He had a great report card and we were impressed with his improvement in many areas.

The end of the month brought more Cold Days off from school, two more to be exact.   When I added up the scheduled days off school, our trip to Arizona, and the Cold Days, Luke only went to school 13 days in January!

This January we also shared our house with a nasty cold virus.  It came right after Christmas and has made its rounds through our family (and extended family) all month.  I'm hoping that the symptoms Nora and I currently have will be out of here asap!

In honor of our fun-filled January, we are spending this first weekend of February at home.  Simply enjoying one another:)  Brent, Luke, and I are all introverts after all.  Though Nora is showing signs of being more extroverted already;)

In addition to the events of our month, our kiddos have also grown and developed.  Nora is still a chatter box and has added several words to her vocabulary that help us on a daily basis.  For example, she says water, milk, again, cookie, pizza, and cheese which help us communicate and know what she wants.  She also, finally, has a word for Luke.  It sounds like "kooky" for Lukey or "kook" for Luke.  (And, yes, it is difficult to distinguish cookie from Lukey in Nora's language:))  She's also mastered saying I love you, which sounds like "I lull you".  This a very sweet milestone she mastered for the first time saying goodbye to our friend Krista in Arizona:)

Other than her chattering, she also got her last one-year molar this month and had quite the month of toddler temper tantrums.  The tantrums are uncharted ground for us as I don't remember any with Luke.  Nora is a passionate girl who knows what she wants and when she wants it.  I think the tantrums are a result of her not being able to communicate well enough for us to understand.  The difficult balance for us is knowing which battles to fight and which to simply let go.  Thankfully I live with two of the most patient boys who handle these tantrums much better than I do.  We're all learning as we go and hoping this is a short lived phase.

She's got personality!
(Her bikini bottom on her head:))

This month Luke moved into the second reading level for second grade and is getting to be pretty close buddies with Mason and Charlie in his class.  He's enjoying basketball, loved the airplane rides on our trip to Arizona, and had a great eye doctor appointment.  Luke has esotropia (his left eye crosses in) and he is far sighted.  Since he first saw the eye doctor when he was 20 months old, they have been trying to strengthen his left eye.  We see the eye doctor every three to six months and have patched on and off for years in an attempt to retrain his brain to use both eyes (typically his right eye compensates for the weaker left eye).  His last appointment was in November and we patched for a stretch until his January appointment.  We learned the patching made a lot difference this time so we'll patch for one more month and then see the doctor again in a few months.

Our little snow elf:)

Whew, that was a busy month!  Happy February everyone:)