JANUARY

January was once again...the longest month of the year by far.  My photos posted in reverse again so here is our month in reverse.  

Back in December, I bought a sourdough starter.  I had been following Ambers Kitchen on Instagram and all of the sourdough loaves she posted about looked delicious.  So I decided to plunge headfirst into the world of sourdough.  I know quite a few people got into sourdough during the pandemic...but let's be honest...I was working as a speech therapist via Zoom and caring for a 6, 4 and 2 year old at that time and didn't quite have the energy to also care for a starter.  This whole process has had quite the learning curve but the results have been delicious.  I have grouped all of my bakes together for this post.  This loaf of cranberry orange was probably my favorite.

My second favorite was this loaf of cinnamon swirl.

 

I do most of my bakes on the weekends when I have a little more time at home.  I usually bake these dutch oven loafs on Sunday mornings...it has been a fun tradition to come home from church to a yummy sandwich on this bread.

 

 

 

This was my first loaf of dutch oven bread...it was SOOO good.

 

 

I have learned to be quite patient with my rises.  The loaf of the left was my first batch of sandwich bread and the loaf on the right is my second batch.  I have found creative ways to use my discard...from browned butter cookies, oven-puff pancakes and waffles.  My kids don't love the bread....yet.

 

Silas loves hot dogs.  He was so excited one Saturday when we decided to have lunch at Costco.  He almost ate this giant hot dog all by himself.

 

Millie has been begging to have a play-date...so one Friday afternoon we invited her bestie over.  Phin didn't want to be left out so he invited his friend Rockwell over.

 

We are the Activity Days leaders for the 10-11 year old boys in our ward.  We decided to do a pine wood derby this year and invited the younger boys and all of the Activity Days girls to join us.  This has really become Seth's project.  He has spent hours preparing handouts, researching and planning an amazing experience for these kiddos.  We had a kick-off event in January to hand out car kits and teach all the kids about derby cars.  We split the kids into three groups and spoke to them about friction, aerodynamics and design.  Seth set up a little Hot Wheels track and each kid got to pick one of our Hot Wheels cars to race.  Then we talked about why some cars went further, etc.  It was such a fun activity.

 

Silas loves Nona's library...it is a newer library close to her house.  So we went to visit one afternoon.

 

They have a little kitchen set and lots of toys for the kids to play with.  Lou loved being free.

 

They also have iPads...which I think may be Silas' favorite.

 

A little hair train one morning before school.

 

Seth took the kids out one Saturday to run errands...they happened to be near Krispy Kreme and stopped for a dozen.

 

Seth's work had their Annual Party at the Natural History Museum up in Research Park.  Seth worked on this building when he worked at an architecture firm before we were married.  They had a photo booth set up...but it was apparently not set up for taller people like us.  We had to bend our knees to fit in the frame.

 

 

 

 

 

We were able to wander around the museum at night to check out the exhibits.

 

We attended the Chinese New Years Celebration at the my school one Friday in January.  The kids had so much fun with the blow painting activity.

 

They also did a little Tai Chi.

 

They loved these little rockets...they were supposed to kick them and keep them up in the air.  Phin found it much easier to bounce them on his hands.

 

The Chinese Yo yo's were so much fun.

 

Lou had a well-check visit and she and Silas were up for a Covid booster...we got them...then we got a special treat for Silas at the store.

 

Silas got glasses this month.  I noticed over Christmas break that his right eye was starting to cross towards his mid-line frequently.  I was able to get into an ophthalmologist very quickly and about a week and a half later his glasses arrived.  He looks so handsome in his new specs.  He choose some black and green frames that glow in the dark.

 

Glasses sure have come a long way since I was a kid... 

 

On Martin Luther King Day, I decided to take the kids to the Museum of Natural Curiosity down at Thanksgiving Point...well a lot of other people had decided to do the same thing.  It was SOOO crowded. The kids had so much fun.  The water area was again one of their favorites.

 

A worker was using the water to wash some shaving cream off the windows and she very quickly had a lot of help.

 

We were able to see the Mister Rodger's Neighborhood exhibit on the last day it was open.

 

Before the museum we went to have the oil changed, tires rotated and have a recall repair done on my car.  It was fun to see the kids all playing together in the waiting area.

Millie holding one of my bakes after Stake Conference.  Our kids were so good during Stake Conference.  We had a ton of paint by sticker pages and they quietly worked away during the 2 hour meeting.

 

We had an unfortunate accident while mixing up some cookies.  Millie got a little too close to my Kitchen Aid while it was mixing and her hair got stuck.  It scared us both...and pulled out a huge chunk of her hair.

 

Silas LOVES whipped cream.  I usually let him have some of oven-puff pancake.

 

We discovered the Creepy Pair of Underwear book this month...and then Creepy Crayon.  These have quickly become Silas' favorite books.  

 

Phin earned a Crumbl Cookie for practicing his piano 12 days over the Christmas break.

Here are some photos of Silas when we had his eye appointment and picked out his glasses.

 

It was fascinating to watch them evaluate his crossed-eye.  This little guy is far-sighted like me.  We go back in a few months to make sure the glasses are working.

 

Silas loves the toys at our own library too.  His favorite toy has to be these Dinosaur snap toys.  He loves putting the dinosaurs together and creating his own dinosaurs too.

 

 I came home from running errands one Saturday to find Millie having a tea party with Seth and Silas.

 

I tried grocery pick-up for the first time and can't believe I waited so long to try it out.  I took the kids on my second trip to pick up groceries later in the month and Phin was absolutely amazed.  This one thing has made my life so much easier...let's be honest taking 2-4 kids with you to the grocery store is an Olympic sport that I am thrilled to no longer have to compete in.

 

Millie got a cooking subscription for Christmas and we cooked all of the Italian inspired recipes one Saturday.  She loved being side by side with me in the kitchen.  We had fun rating all the recipes on a scale from 1-5 as a family.

14 MONTHS

Lou hit 14 months the day we arrived at the cabin for our Winter Break. She is still wearing size 4 diapers and 18 month clothes.  She is keeping her shoes on much better than she did before.  She is so BUSY these days.  Here she is trying to help Silas at the computer.

 

She loves to carry things around the house.  She will often abandon her treasures when she finds something a little more enticing.

 

She still has just two teeth on the bottom.  She gives the best smiles.  

 

We are counting down the time until she can go to Nursery at church.  She currently spends most of sacrament wandering up and down our aisle greeting everyone sitting next to the aisle.  She has also decided the bottom step on the way up to the pulpit is designed to be her chair. 

She tolerates gloves and a hat when we are outside.  She loves to be pushed in the big stroller and will often giggle as I run with her.

Phin and Millie are becoming the best helpers with Lou.  I love when they spend time playing with her.

 

Lou is talking more and more.  She loves to say hello and hi.  She had climbed up on Seth's lap during his family Zoom meeting to say hello to everyone.  She also says uh oh.  She is able to consistently sign MORE.  She usually signs MORE for fruit.  Her favorite fruits are bananas, blueberries and mandarin oranges.

 

She is down to just one nap a day...and still not sleeping through the night.  

When we were at the cabin, I couldn't help but to think back on Lou last year at the cabin.  She was just a tiny little 2 month old.  This trip she was all over the place showing us all the things that are not child proof.