Together Again in Heaven: January

January was a relatively quiet month for us. On New Year's Day we had our burning bowl ceremony that we usually do on New Year's Eve. Because of Charlie's emergency trip to the vet, we missed out on our New Year's Eve tradition of burning up all of the things we wanted to let go of from 2016. You better believe "Charlie getting attacked by other cats" was written onto a slip of paper, along with my friend's cancer, colitis, kidney stones, car accidents, and various things the girls wrote down as well. And our burning bowl ceremony is more like a honey bee smoker ceremony, but it does the same job with the materials we have on hand.

The weather on New Year's day was mild enough that we enjoyed a walk, which is always a great way to start any new chapter. Charlie was quarantined for 10 days in the upstairs of our garage and when he was finally allowed to go outside again, kept us at arm's length for several days. We aren't sure if he was making us pay for locking him up for so long, or if he thought if we got to close to him, we would lock him up again. Mid-January, Charlie came home smelling strongly of someone else's perfume. I picked him up to check him out and he refused to look me in the eye. He has since returned to his loving and devoted-to-us self, and we are letting the two-timing episode go on account of he was confused from his long confinement.

The girls went to a birthday party this past month for a friend of ours and they painted cats - and of course Lucy and Emma both painted portraits of their tabby cat Charlie.

Violet came for the food and left the party with Will after she had eaten her fill.

We had a nice visit with Will's grandma this past month, Lucy learned how to make biscuits (my brother Joe's recipe!) with my mom, and we had a fun play date with friends of ours on a day they had off from school.

Before Will went back to work in the New Year, we took our annual trip to a town an hour north of us where we buy a Christmas ornament and enjoy a delicious chicken dinner, some sight-seeing and shopping. This year we finally found a doll store complete with a baby doll nursery that several of our friends are always telling us about. It was in the basement of one of the famous chicken dinner restaurants and it was all Will and I could do to get our kids to leave that store!

My roommate from college came to town and spent a weekend with us. We had a lot of fun with her, and she taught us how to crochet which was priceless. We visited the Fire & Ice Festival that our town puts on every winter, and were able to vaguely see the ice sculptures forms as they were melting fast and furious with the mild weather we were having. The festival had to get creative since there was no snow for the giant snow lunge they usually have and it wasn't cold enough for ice skating.

On her last day in town, we went to a Coffee, Tea and Chocolate exhibit with my friend and Will's cousin at the Art Institute downtown. That was a lot of fun, and of course finished off with some delicious Polish food from a restaurant downtown that we frequented a lot when we were in college.

That weekend was the mildest weather we had all month and I was able to get into my beehives to see how they were making it through the winter. Unfortunately, five out of my six hives were gone but the wild one I caught last May was still very much alive. I moved some of the honey left from the empty hives into the hive that was alive and I really do hope that they will make it through the second half of the winter. Below are pictures of Violet, upset and pouting because we wouldn't let her come outside while we cleaned up the hives with Charlie guarding nearby, and the mouse we discovered in one of my dead hives on the property north of us. Charlie has ensured the hives at our house are never invaded by a mouse, but north of us the property is so large, that mice are an inevitable part of beekeeping.

That mild, warm weather didn't last long and we had several ice and snow days where Will was off, and we were all excited to have extra time with Will and snow to play in.

On an ice day Will had off, we had fun taking the girls to see their first movie in a theater. We watched Sing, and the entire family enjoyed it. I was a little worried at the beginning when the previews were going and Violet was scared and crying that she wanted to go, but as soon as the movie came on, she settled in and thoroughly enjoyed the homemade popcorn, juice boxes and fruit snacks I had smuggled in. Again, Violet may have just been there for the food! I was so glad that their first movie was a good one though, and I hope that at least Lucy and Emma will remember the excitement of it all for years to come. My kids are scared of most movies, so having a movie in the theater that they could handle was worth the wait. Don't get me wrong, they are able to watch some movies at home because they can leave the room when it gets too intense for them, but that is harder at a theater with a giant screen and loud sounds. Another day off that Will had we were able to all go to the Chiropractor's together where Will got to witness how our kids build forts and adjust their baby dolls with our chiropractor who always seems to love and appreciate them. Afterwards, instead of going home like we usually do, we went out to lunch with Will.

We missed several different classes throughout the month because of the weather, but it did make for a more relaxing month with the unexpected breaks from commitments. Here the kids are below in clockwise order from top left: At a nature hike with friends, on the hike, the girls doing Geography on my bed while I practiced my new crochet skills in the rocking chair, putting together a puzzle with Emma and Violet while we waited for Lucy who was in vision therapy, and the center picture is of Lucy and Emma at their piano lesson.

Mondays are the busiest day of the week for us, with vision therapy, chiropractor appointments and dance, while trying to fit their school for the day in there too. There is no downtime for me. This is the perfect day for a crock pot meal, and you can imagine my disappointment when Will sent me this text while the girls and I were at dance class:

On a good Monday, Will gets home from work early enough to take the girls to dance. When that happens I get a little breather from our busy schedule and can make dinner and catch up on computer work. I was smiling so big when Will sent me this text while he and Violet shopped at the Salvation Army while Lucy and Emma were at dance:

Will found the mother load of Barbie clothes, and at a dollar a piece, he and Violet had fun picking out outfits to share with Lucy and Emma. Will came home and told me that he made sure to buy all of the professional outfits that fit Ken, as he wants his girls to know that they should look for a guy with a job. I thought that was funny, and now the girls have more than surfer shorts and tuxedos for their Ken dolls. He also picked out some really classy Barbie outfits, per my request.

Will would do anything for the girls and most of the time I feel like I am the mean parent because of it. It doesn't help that I am with them all day, every day so that when Will is home, he is exciting and new. He is a lot of fun to climb on, dance with, play games, and watch movies together. Will finds most any kid movie entertaining where as I can only stomach certain ones and it takes a lot for me to sit on the couch during their one hour of tv time a day - it is the best hour of the day for me to get something efficiently done with minimal interruptions. It's actually how I am writing this blog post right now!

In an effort to show the girls that the world does not revolve around them, I was excited when our church put on another service day for families this past month. My kids loved helping and feeling like what they did matters, and I loved being able to have something that contributes to those in need that my entire family can participate in. My church does a wonderful job of this and we are so grateful! Here we are below, at the service day our church hosted. We packed snack bags, lunch bags, put Bible verses on tissue packs and chapstick tubes and colored pictures for kids in need. There were other activities to participate in as well, but they were more appropriate for older kids. Someday though, my kids will be able to make scarves and blankets, and write letters to people in prison or in the hospital.

We are now into February, and already we can see the light changing and the days getting longer as we get closer and closer to spring. February is an emotional month for us as we remember Luke and honor his life on the significant dates of when we were told there was no heart beat, the day he was born, and the day we buried him. The girls are excited to celebrate his birthday, and I am thankful that he has three little sisters on earth that share the connection between earth and heaven that Will and I feel so strongly. It is hard sometimes when the world has moved on and there is no physical reminders left of our first born who we love so much.