Hard to believe that the first month of the year has already come and gone. As I mentioned in our December post, we let the kids stay up late and ring in the new year at midnight on New Year's Eve...well we were all a little tired the next day, but that didn't stop us for running the race I had registered us for. This was the first race that ALL six of us ran in! So Clayton's first race and first medal. He was very excited to say the least. He would run at a slow pace then suddenly speed up really fast and yell SUPER SPEED! I registered Dawson, Carter, and myself for the 4 mile, and John, Clayton, and Nora Kate for the 2 mile. The weather was absolutely beautiful on New Year's Day for the race. Sunny and warm! Everyone had a blast! It was a great way to spend New Years Day...even if we were tired from the night before.
Dawson after his 4 mile race!
John after his 2 mile race!
Nora Kate after her 2 mile race!
After my 4 mile!
Our family before the race. We were careful to social distance so we didn't want to hand anyone the phone to take our picture so it's at an awkward angle because it's propped in a bush! hah
The next day we loaded up the bikes and went to the Tennessee state line to ride the top portion of Rails to Trails that I have been wanting to check out. We logged a little over 5 miles, saw horses, goats, a donkey, and beautiful land with mountains in the distance and a creek.
The kids are great at riding this wide trail!
I still cannot believe we did this, but we added a reptile to our family this month. The kids have been wanting a lizard for sometime now. They knew exactly what they wanted...and I knew exactly what I didn't want. (I didn't want it to have to eat live bugs or have to have a heat light.) They found something that fit both of those requirements. They had some money they had been given for Christmas, so they decided to all chip in an purchase a Crested Gecko. They are enjoying learning all about lizards. In the picture above it's eating. The first time they put the food (it's similar to a smoothie mix) in his terrarium he was interested and licked some of the mixing spoon as you can see in the picture below.
I forgot to mention the lizards name. After much conversation, debate, and careful consideration the kids decided to name the Crested Gecko Rolo.
Clayton has talked on and off for a year about getting his very own fish.
He decided he wanted to spend some Christmas money to get his own fish to live in his room.
He picked a beautiful Betta fish...and named it Stingray.
He's so proud of his fish.
Our wonderful neighbors gave the kids gifts for Christmas. Dawson got this awesome (yet difficult!) 500 piece National Park puzzle...they were pretty excited to complete it!
Dawson and Carter got a joint gift for Christmas of this GIANT Pirate ship Lego set. It was for ages 16 and up it was so hard! They, of course, built it in no time! It's a really neat set!
Basketball season is in full swing now.
Coincidentally both boys are playing for the Lakers-just different age groups.
We spend A LOT of time (in masks and after temperature checks) at the Rec Center watching them play! They're doing great, and I love watching and cheering for them (even if I do have to cheer/yell twice as loud in my mask). The way the ages are divided Carter is one of the older ones on his team this year (it's a 7-8 year old team, and he's 8), and Dawson is one of the younger ones on his team this year (it's an 11-12 year old team, and he's 11).They're both doing great and playing hard! Both have scored several points for their teams. One thing that always makes me the most proud of them is that they are good team players, they're happy to pass the ball when they don't have a good shot.
What craziness...it rarely snows here, but one Monday in January we were thrilled to wake up to the surprise of snow falling! All this snow fell between 7am and 11 or noon. It kept snowing on and off all day but the morning was the best to enjoy it. The joy of waking up to snow was made even better by the fact that it was a homeschool day, so we took advantage of the rarity of snow and didn't start work on our homeschool until a couple of hours later than normal.
We even had enough to sled and managed to find a small hill....hills and snow...two rarities in Alabama.
We even had enough snow for the kids to build this snow family.
The worst part of our January was the great fall! One Saturday morning we didn't have a basketball early (uncommon!) so we decided to make a big breakfast and have a leisurly morning. With sausage, bacon, cinnamon rolls, and eggs on his plate Clayton sat along side his siblings on his stool at the island just like he does every breakfast as he ate his big breakfast and told us an elaborate story about how he was going to be a King Cobra Snake when he grows up. Then suddenly he slipped off his chair and fell hitting the back of his head HARD! Blood started gushing. We all ran to grab our shoes and coats and quickly drove Clayton to the ER. Of course when we got there only 1 parent could go in the hospital with him (thanks, Covid). So John dropped us off and I went in with Clayton, It bled so much and I know it had to hurt so bad, but Clayton from the minute we walked in the door of the ER loved being the center of attention. He even complimented a nurse on her shoes. Hah! Well, thankfully the hospital was pretty empty and we didn't even have to sit in the waiting room since they took us straight back. Clayton ended up with 5 staples. Our poor little boy! They gave him this stuffed animal bear at the ER that a local church group makes and he promptly named it Boo Boo Bear. He was such a trooper with his staples and was so careful for the 10 days he had to have them in his head.
Duke has continued to grow. At 9 months now, he's 33 pounds. Carter and Nora Kate were showing me on this particular day that he's almost as tall as them when he stands like a person-hah! Duke is so wonderful with the kids and everyone. I am so glad that we were finally persuaded to adopt a pup!
On one Fun Friday when we had managed to complete our schoolwork early we headed to the Cook Museum. It's always a lot of fun!
Another Friday we went to see a movie. This was our first time at the theater since before Covid. Thankfully for us, it was just our family and one other family of 2 in the theater so we almost had a private showing. It was nice to be out and do something we used to do before covid even if it does look different now (ie wearing masks). Also, I just love how everyone looked for the selfie but Clayton struck a pose! They all love this theater because it has automatic recliner seats. So they're constantly adjusting their seats with the buttons. Such fun for kids!
One Saturday when we were sitting at the 2nd basketball game of the day and it was about 3pm, John leaned over to me and said that it was snowing in Gatlinburg and that we should forgo the rest of our weekend plans in Alabama and go home after bball, pack and go to Tennessee to hike in the snow (something we have been wanting to do for a while). Although I'm usually a person who likes to pack and plan in advance, this sounded too goo to pass up. So we returned home from 2 basketball wins, quickly packed and drove the 4 hours to Nana and Grandad's house to drop off the kids and Duke. Then John and I drove on to Gatlinburg. It was late when we got in, but knowing we set our own schedule for the next day made it nice. We got up the next morning, put on lots of layers and hot hands and headed to the trail.
Here is the snow on the mountains as we were driving to the trailhead.
We hiked Hen Wallow Trail. It claimed to be a 4.2 mile trail to get to the falls, but it actually ended up taking us 5.5 miles to hike in the snow to see the falls. It was SO beautiful though. This is not a very popular trail (I'm not sure why), so it was great we didn't see many other people at all. We had a picnic lunch of tuna and apples at the falls, then hiked back down. There were many icy slick spots so it was slow going in a lot of areas, but I would hike in the snow again! I was all so crisp, clean, and beautifully white.
Above is our selfie in front of the falls (you can only see a portion of the falls in the picture)
The trail was so pretty snowcovered.
Giant ice sickles
I'm usually not a fan of having a hiking stick, but in the snow especially where it was icy-the hiking stick was necessary.
You can tell this was at a lower elevation-not quiet as much snow..still very pretty!
How peaceful this was.
The hike ended up being 5.5 miles but was completely worth the distance.
Clayton has been wanting to bake with me lately.
This particular day we were baking a cake, I turned my back to grab the cake pan and turn around to see this!
Nora Kate got the opportunity to model for Strasburg Children again this year for their Spring Line.
Here she is headed into Lowe Mill for her photo shoot. She ended up getting to model two gowns for them. A beautiful blue gingham and a sweet white dress. She loved it.
More basektball.
That's Dawson shooting.
This is cropped from a video but you can see Carter shooting and making it in this picture.
The finished cake that he licked the batter of!
Two lakers
Two different teams
Two wins on this particular day
(don't ask about Carter's socks...he wanted to wear them one day for a game, they won and he played awesome...so now they're good luck and he has to wear them to every game....also, they match nothing on his jersey.)
Ten days after his staples were put in his head, I had to take Clayton to the pediatrician to have them removed. He did fair with the removal. He asked the dr if he could bring his staples home! yuck! So here he is at home with his 5 staples in a jar!
We are so glad that the doctor said he was healing well and that he's been tough about it all!
Dawson's basketball team and coach.
Carter's Basketball Team with the coach and assistant coach.
Nora Kate got the exciting opportunity to model for Strasburg Children again this month. She modeled this darling blue and white gingham dress. Above and below are pictures that Strasburg chose to use in their advertisements, website, and social media outlets of her.
She, of course, loved every minute of being the center of attention and in front of the camera.
showing the back fabric covered buttons on this sweet dress.
She also got to model this simple and elegant white dress for Strasburg.
She was excited to get to wear this floral crown as part of the photo shoot.
Sweet girl loved her photo shoot for Strasburg.
I've been walking Duke an extra mile every night to get him some more focused leash walking training in. I love that our neighborhood has lakes to walk around. This particular night was so clear that the full moon was reflected perfectly on the lake. Picture doesn't do it justice, as I only had my phone with me to take it since I was just out for a walk, but it was so pretty.
Basketball is still in full swing. Here Carter is flying down the court with the ball.
The last Friday of January, we took a Fun Friday outing to the Space and Rocket Center. We got there when they opened and had the place to ourselves!
Pretending to have zero gravity.
Lolly came down to visit the last weekend of January. She got to watch Dawson and Carter play basketball while she was in town.
Dawson shooting a free throw.
The big boys with Lolly during her visit.
One thing we did this month that was important that I don't think I managed to get a picture of (maybe John did, I'll have to check) is Nora Kate got to attend Bible Adventure Day at church. Jan 31 our church finally reopened and on this day Nora Kate got to attend Bible Adventure Day which is when the kids of a certain day, go through a very special service/program and receive their own children's study bible. They make it into a big deal to make it very special, which I love! She is pretty proud to have her own Bible. John attended Bible Adventure Day with Nora Kate while the boys and I went to service (I could tell it's been a little while since we've been to church, a certain 4 year old was pretty squirmy-but we will easily get back in our groove of sitting (mostly) still during church) and are very thankful that they are now offering in person services in addition to virtual.
January was mostly full of gymnastics, basketball, and boy scouts in addition to school...we are very, very thankful to have gotten to continue in these activities along with their "building" days of school. I honestly thought that by this point in the year everything would be back shut down due to covid, but since it's not we are safely enjoying taking advantage of attending these events and activities.
