January Part 2

I'm not sure why I chose a day when the kids were home to wash the couch cushion covers but Mia sure enjoyed it. Emma woke up and saw Toby in a huge pile of fluff and panicked for a second thinking he had destroyed her giant stuffed sloth. 

 

We finally got some snow, about 2 inches. It didn't last long but the girls had some fun with our new penguin and snowman molds.

When you have to go to the doctors for your yearly check up you get rewarded with a lunch date with Mom.

Jan. 28th - Mia's friend Lydia invited all of us to her birthday party at Classic Skating. My kids were in heaven. They hadn't done anything fun in a few weeks and really needed the exercise so I said yes. They rode scooters, jumped on bouncy houses, went down a gigantic slide and shot nerf balls and laxer guns at each other. We were having so much fun that we stayed and had our zoom parent teacher conferences in the car instead of heading home and doing it (still over zoom). Everyone slept well that night.

Sunday the 30th was the Young Women's New Beginnings. They had a very short program, treats and then the girls got to light and release Chinese Lanterns. The theme for the youth for the year is "A Great Work" so they are going to light the world with a great work.

 

We needed to warm up later and there is nothing better than reading a book by the fire.

A New Year

Welcome 2021, we have such high hopes for you and a longing for life to return back to normal. But not yet. Trump still refused to acknowledge that he lost the election and basically asked his supporters to march on the Capitol building interrupting the Electoral College. A large group did just that and stormed in breaking windows and doors. Damage was done, graffiti, and weapons were all present. 5 people died and many others were injured. The building was evacuated but later that night they came back and finished the process and confirmed Biden as President. Finally Trump seceded and the inauguration processed without any disruptions but Trump refused to attend. It was a tense few days.

Here at home it's nice to be back on a schedule. The kids are still in school 4 days a week and do a remote day on Friday. The kids to piano lessons on Tuesdays and now James will start Jr. Jazz on Wednesday. James also has Robotics Club twice a week and Archery once a week. He has competitions coming up for both that we are excited to attend. We are hoping Emma will have YW activities twice a month soon and the same for James and Mia with their children's activities. We still love our fireplace and it is also Toby's favorite.

 

Emma and Mia received card making supplies for Christmas that they are putting to use.

One Tues. we found out Emma was exposed to Covid from her friend Kate that she spent Saturday with. I had to go pull her out of school and she had to quarantine at home for the next 7 days. She was excited to spend time alone in her room but that lasted all of 3 hours before she was annoyed. We let her out because if she ended up getting it we were all exposed already anyway. After 7 days she still showed no symptoms so we got her tested so she could go back to school. 

Found this photo of Emma's sloth holding a sloth holding a sloth.

Mia and I were also able to go on a date to get her picture taken for her upcoming baptism. Then we got some dinner at our favorite restaurant, Cafe Zupas.