January Activities

January has been SO low key and we've absolutely loved it. I've decided after all the hustle and bustle of December/the holidays, we deserve a month to recoup and relax a bit more (and the kids agree). If we didn't have anything we needed to do, we just stayed home and played games/cleaned up/hung out together in a room doing whatever we wanted. It's been so nice and I learned you don't need to leave your house to feel connected and have fun together! So with that, here's some of our January happenings

-Unfortunately, we started the month with sickness. Larry got a bug on the 31st (NYE) and I thought it was his typical "little sick, but just needs rest" sort of thing so I didn't pay much attention (especially since he said he felt much better after a nap AND stayed up late and the next day he said he was just tired from being up so late). By the night of the 1st I started to feel iffy, Friday I just kept going downhill, and Saturday I ended up sleeping until 3 PM! It's slowly been going away, but it took until the 10th to feel like I was mostly back to normal (a little cough and congestion, but nothing that I felt I needed medicine for). 3 weeks of no working out and snacking on whatever sounded good (I didn't want to eat much, but I snacked a ton) really was the hardest part!

-On the 5th, me and the kids surprised Mom at work with lunch. It was her birthday and I thought she'd really love to show off the kids to her coworkers. Larry had work, but I didn't and it was the kids' last day of their Winter Break. She ended up coming out  as we got there and caught us. We visited for a while and had some of the pizza we brought her (to share with the whole office) and I gave her gift to her. I love being able to do things like that for people I care about, so I was happy we could do that for her (and she told me she absolutely loved it and it made her birthday a great one).

-I also had my 1 year surgery follow up on the 5th (before mom's birthday lunch surprise), where he confirmed I hadn't split anything (I was just nervous because I'd get puffy and feel some pain near the top of my incision), which was a relief. He mentioned that top part scar was thicker than he'd like it to be and more red and he said he could fix it really easily, so I decided to do schedule the scar revision on that part (which won't be until February 10th). Hopefully the revision will help make it disappear as well as the rest (which is really looking much better). I'm just really so glad to be on this side of the recovery process!

-On the 9th, Cara's school held a Parents & Pastries "event." They encouraged us to bring books with us, so I grabbed Cara's Harry Potter book and my book I was reading and headed over. It was a really weird occasion because the room was filled with chairs in random spots (nothing looked organized and there definitely weren't enough chairs for how many parents there should be), but I found two chairs to hold and waited till she showed up. They had the kids grab donuts on the way to their seats and so we ate our donuts, talked about books (there was a question on one of the donuts asking what books I liked to read when I was her age), and then just read our books. That's it. Just donuts and reading (so I'm not exactly sure what the point of this was). There were lots of donuts still on the table so she ended up grabbing 2 more donuts, haha. It was nice, but I still don't understand what this was for (to promote reading in kids? To give kids and parents a bonding moment (even though we barely talked)? I'm just not sure)

-One exciting thing, is Cara joined her school's art club, which started on the 12th. It's only held on Mondays at 8 and only for about 8 weeks (not counting Monday's they have off of school). Mondays are a little bit chaotic now, I have to drop her off early, come back to work for a tiny bit, then take Gwen and Lucy to school. I also take a break to play with Pierce for a bit after lunch on his non school days, so there's a lot going on on those days, but it's worth it. I'll always support my kids doing fun extra activities like this!

-Football is pretty much over (Cowboys didn't make it to the playoffs and Packers blew it in the Wild Card Round...typical, but SO disappointing), so now we can go back to scrub cleaning our house again (and hopefully keep up with that). The first weekend after the Packer's game flop, I decided to ease into it and we just picked up the house (there was a lot of stuff everywhere). We ended up getting so much done that I felt okay with being lazy the rest of the day. We did still watch the other playoff games, which was really nice (I kept wanting to walk stores, but knew I would end up spending money I didn't need to so we just let the kids craft and kept it low key). I found I enjoy watching the other playoff games and picking teams to root for. I tend to pick the underdog and then I'm surprised they lose haha. But, it should be an interesting Superbowl, I'm definitely excited for that day (I've already ordered the food we're having and getting ideas for the next two years already, haha).

And, as always, my favorite kid pics:

Putting magnets in her hair. She said if she
Pulled it down, it was like brushing it

January Coupons

I'm trying to do my absolute best with staying on top of the Christmas Coupons the kids get and making sure we choose them and do the activities each month. 

This month, we had a lot of fun with them. Cara chose a treat, Gwen chose a 1 minute shopping trip, and Lucy chose a sleepover. We were going to get them all done the first weekend of the month, but I ended up getting too sick (I think the flu?) to do them then, so we moved them to later in the month.

On the 9th, I did my sleepover with Lucy. I love having these moments with the kids! We started with ice cream and a game (the Bluey Scavenger Hunt one they got for Christmas). We also did some sheet masks and talking about silly things. After all that, we got all ready for bed, cuddled up, and then watched a few episodes of Baby Shark Hospital (a really cute one for kids, but especially for ones like Lucy who like to pretend play doctor) before going to sleep. In the morning, Lucy was so obsessed with watching that show the rest of the weekend and asking if she could watch it in my room (like literally, all weekend asking if she could, haha). We had lots of fun and I love how bonded I feel after doing these things.

On the 10th, I took Gwen out for her 1 minute shopping trip to Five Below. When we got there, I explained that we'd walk through the store so she could look around, then we'd go get a basket and I'd set a 1 minute timer and she could grab whatever she wanted and I'd get it. I thought that was sufficient, but after walking around and grabbing a basket, I set the timer and she seemed to get confused and went really slowly. I kept counting down and telling her to grab things, but she only grabbed 2 things (I tiny notebook and a plastic water bottle). I asked why she didn't get more, but she said she didn't know (I assume it was overwhelming), so I ended up setting a 2nd timer for 30 seconds, I asked her if she was ready and she said yeah, so we went around again. She grabbed another notebook and a hand sanitizer that came with a purse. So still not a lot. I told her that was it for now, but then she reminded me of a toy she really wanted (like she was talking about getting one of those toys that had little pins and you push your hand through it to make that imprint on the other side for days before) so I told her she could grab that since I knew she wanted it and we left (I did grab a couple candies for myself because they have some of the best candy). She kept making comments that she'll know better for next time and hopefully Lucy and Cara get some good things). So I know she liked what she got, but she'll know better for next time/year.

We were going to let Cara get her treat on the same day (the 10th), but she had a birthday party that day that she knew she'd get sweets at so she decided to move it, so I took her out today. We went to DQ and got some blizzards. We grabbed them and ate some of them in the upstairs area while we had fun conversations. 

I love doing these coupons and hope the kids look back at their childhood with good memories of them. 

Lucy's 1 on 1s

I don't normally do a separate post on 1:1s with the kids, but January has been so uneventful I decided to do one this time, haha.

So one-on-one's have kind of evolved over time. When we first started doing them, they were big activities (Larry would usually take them to an arcade, as an example), BUT after adding more and more kids to the mix I realized that's not feasible (or budget friendly), so I told Larry we had to tame it down to going out for a treat or something like that. Unfortunately, the kids still ask for an arcade trip so I feel bad bumming them out, but we take each of the girls out twice a year (Pierce will eventually join in when he gets older, but he gets a lot of 1:1 time with us since he only has 2 days of school during the week), so doing 6 arcade trips is just a little crazy. Besides, the point of the 1:1s is to have conversations or make sure the kids know they can talk to us about things or just have those moments of connection with them.

So with that, we used to both take them out for treats, but two treats in a week (because we try and plan the 1:1s within the same week) seemed a bit much, so I thought it would be fun to do something that's still low-key, but isn't necessarily a treat (and I try and change it up each time too). So for Lucy's, Larry took her to DQ on the 13th. She loves getting ice cream treats, so that was really fun for her. 

I told her I would take her to the soda shop and to Barnes & Noble to pick out a book (the girl really likes reading and is getting into it more). She was asking for soda all week long, it was pretty funny. So tonight, when it was my turn I took her out, and realized after a while that I probably should've stopped at the soda place first and we could drink them on the way to Barnes & Noble (since there's quite a bit of construction on the road to B&N and so it's a bit slower), but it was too late so we just figured we'd hit up the soda place on the way back home (since it's right across the street from our neighborhood).

So my plan was to just get her one book at the store, but I have such a problem at book stores and we ended up leaving with like 9 books, haha. We talked about silly stuff on the way there, but on the way to the soda place she just wanted to read all the books we got (which I loved). 

We got to the soda place, and they usually do a fun one each month for kids that has a gummy candy or a toy with it so I was starting to tell her about it, but she said she just wanted a root beer, so I asked if she wanted anything like vanilla in it and she said sure, as long as she gets a root beer (she just loves root beer). So I ordered her a small root beer with vanilla (apparently there are two small sizes, and so he asked me if I meant the 24 ounces, which seems like SO much soda, so I told him I wanted the smallest one they had, which is a 12 ounce). I got one that had orange Fanta, coconut, and mango in it - it was really yummy! We sat there and talked about some other funny stuff. I just love doing these things with the kids. I look forward to them each time they come up and I do look forward to Pierce getting them in a couple years.

So yeah, that's all I got, I'm glad I heard about this idea and we're able to do it as often as we do. I highly recommend them.

2026 Goals

So I've found making a bunch of random goals I just HOPE to get to or work on makes it hard to concentrate on getting them accomplished. Instead, I made a list of things I do expect to complete and I'm so excited to see how things look when I'm done. So, here we go:

1. Work on my anxieties: I used to think I only got PP anxiety, but I've noticed I get it for silly reasons now (like if Larry is out and I have to take on all the kids by myself...there's no reason for me to be anxious about taking care of my kids!) and I'd like to calm down a bit. My plan is to think about why I'm anxious and what's the worst that can happen. Try not to plan things, but realize there can be fun in the things I don't control.
   
   
2. No more rushing things: I'm always looking at the next thing I have planned. I might have something fun planned for a weekend, and then the weekend comes and instead of enjoying the thing I have planned, I'm thinking of the next thing I have planned. I need to be in the moment more. This is going to include my walking. I've noticed I walk WAY too fast all the time, I'm not sure why, but I need to slow it down!
   
   
3. Enjoy more free/cheaper activities: less spending on family things (or do more at home), quit having to feel like I need to leave to have fun (I did A LOT of leaving the house and spending so much money last year, but by December I was done doing that if it wasn't needed and we ended up having fun on the days we just stayed home and did whatever we felt like)
   
   
4. Open our business and enjoy being business owners! This will be one of the most exciting things for our year! 
   
   
5. Go camping as a family: we had so much fun on our camping trip last year so this year I've got plans to go to Yellowstone and Moab and we'll have SO much fun in both areas. I'm so excited for these!
   
   
6. Attempt more dates with Larry: We did the two this year and they were fun. I still don't feel like we NEED them, but I know Mom really wants to watch the kids more so I might as well do some fun things with Larry and let her have fun with them. 
   
   
7. Get the house officially in order: I need to stick to my routines, quit making excuses, find something productive to do each day, and focus on what can be done.
   
   
8. Read more books this year than I did last year. Even if it's just by 1. I want to read more and make it more a priority.

All in all they should all be accomplished and I'll be happy to see how much better things are by December!

Happy New Year!

We had such a fun time celebrating New Year's Eve. I've been hearing a few different ways to celebrate with kids that go to bed before midnight and so this year I decided to do a Noon Years Eve party. We did one at the library last year, which was fun (but I did have a headache so that made it a little iffy) and they advertised they'd be doing it again this year, but they were separating it by age and they mentioned you had to have tickets that would only be available an hour before it started AND there would be limited availability. That sounded too stressful, so we figured out own would be better. 

As a bonus we had just gotten a bunch of games for Christmas, so I decided to bring out a tray for lots of snacks, let the kids have some soda (their absolute favorite treat), and we could play games all counting down to noon (still 12, but an earlier version). I also surprised them with a balloon drop that I did from upstairs into the living room. Larry had to work, but he made sure to come out for the countdown and watch their excitement. Overall, this was so much fun and I intend to do this in future years, we told them they could stay up till midnight with us once they were 10, but not before then, haha.

For Larry and me, after the kids went down, we put on our Naked Gun trilogy set we had been holding onto and did our usual playing games, eating snacks, and having fun asking "get to know you" questions. I love doing this every year, though I'm having a harder time eating all that I want (I have to stop even though I want to keep going haha). 

We're so excited to celebrate a new year, we talked about all the things we're looking forward to in the new year, plans we're making, goals we expect to achieve, and I just absolutely love having conversations like that. We have a great year planned! 

So happy end of 2025, and onto a new and great 2026!!