january

This post is a whopper. I should probably try to do more than one post to cover an entire month to avoid this problem in the future...but I make no promises. :) 

January was, as usual, pretty low key. With the excitement of the holidays behind us and nothing but bleak winter stretched in front of us, we just kind of hung out.

Emry started sitting in the bumbo. I seriously love this invention. It makes 3 months to 6 months so much more pleasant. 

She hit the 3 month mark.

We had the Eskelsens over for games and dessert before Kelbie had to head back to BYU. They brought the game Watch Your Mouth.

It's fun for Tatum to be able to be included on some games that all the adults are playing. This was one of them. She loved it.

The kids love the PlayStation and they have been doing dollar days once or twice a month lately. It's the perfect winter activity for us. 

The best part of Play Station day is going back with dad after he gets off work. They love it.

I was working on a few more cross stitch patterns in January and Tatum always wants to do it too. It certainly makes my work less peaceful and a little more difficult but she loves it so much I can't bear to say no. Here is her finished product of my brother's family.

She loves holding Emry while standing, although these days she is starting to get a little too heavy for her. 

I took Declan to a tennis class/storytime at the library. I was so excited because he is so into sports right now, I just knew he would love it. The stars aligned and Emry stayed asleep in her car seat for the entire time so I could give him undivided attention. Annnnnddd.......he was a total punk. He would get so mad if he couldn't hit it right or things didn't go just the way he wanted. And he would pout and sulk and make atrocious noises and wouldn't let me even think of helping him. Ugh. So frustrating and so humiliating. I know he's just a kid and kids are just like that. But man, in those moments it sure feels like every other kid is being angelic and you're the only one dealing with a total pill.

Just to keep things balanced, here are some handsome pictures of Declan before church one week. Brennan and I found this suit coat for him at Target and just couldn't pass it up. 

This boy drives me to insanity more often than not, but look.at.that.face. I swear he knows just how far he can push before he has to flash me a smile like that just to save himself.

More french braids! A pretty successful attempt this time.

Matching boys.

When we get home from dropping Tatum off at preschool Declan will go and pull a game off the shelf and say "we always play a game together." Can't say no to that. 

Lost in another world.

Tatum got quite a belated birthday surprise in the mail from her grandparents- a Wellie Wisher. She was so excited and has been so careful with her "special doll".

January was still a fussy month for Emry. She wasn't a particularly difficult baby but she wasn't particularly easy either. Several times Brennan would come home to find me making dinner with her in the Solly. I guess one day he decided he'd better see what it was all about and asked me to help him tie it on. :)

Not sure what the line up was for...or why a hot pad was involved. But I have a feeling this is a sighting I will one day miss around here.

Cuddled up for some Paw Patrol.

A project from preschool. If Tatum migrated like geese, she would want to migrate to Grandma's house. :) No surprise there.

So much love for their little sister. So much it hurts...literally.

We hosted a fun dinner with the Lights and the Rices. It's always fun to catch up and watch the kids play.

Brennan had to run to the office on the weekend once. The work he had to do wasn't too intense so he offered to take the older kids with him. They thought it was pretty neat to wear the visitor badges and see Brennan's office.

The last Friday of the month we went to Family Free Night at the mall. Brennan got off work a couple hours early so we could go to the Children's Museum first. It is crazy to think back to taking Tatum to this museum when she was about 18 months. Where does the time go?

That lip!! Most pathetic, adorable little face ever.

Sometimes I look at Tatum and it strikes me how old she is. She is getting so grown up. And she looks so much like her dad! I've had a few people tell me lately that they think she looks like me, but I only ever see Brennan in her.

Brennan took the kids ice skating for their first time. Declan's face in this picture perfectly depicts his attitude about the event.

And this is how Brennan's one lap with him went. That must have been fun. :)

But Tatum loved it. She picked it up pretty quickly and had a lot of fun.

Declan was much happier eating snacks and watching.

Tatum got to take a little break too because we forced Declan to go back out for one more lap.

Those eyes!

I got these adorable matching dresses for the girls at my baby shower. Tatum was so excited for them to match.

I can't resist a Sunday morning photo-op with all three kiddos.

We watched the new Jungle Book with the kids on a Saturday afternoon. I wasn't sure how they would handle it because I knew it would be intense at times but they really loved it. They did get nervous a few times and wanted to be sitting right by me 👇. Declan has been naming his toys Mowgli, Shere-Khan, Bagheera and Baloo ever since.

Tummy time!

Tatum's reading has really taken off lately. It is so fun to watch.

Fixing Papa's hair.

More reading.

By the end of January Emry had become quite a happy baby. It's a great new phase!

Morning cuddles in mom and dad's bed are a frequent occurrence.

Brennan captured this lovely photo of me on a Sunday afternoon. Apparently I was tired.

Especially since these hooligans were playing inside the ottoman just a foot away from me and I'm sure they were not quiet.

Oh, Tatum.

Poor Emry was so tired during dinner one night that she fell asleep in the bumbo.

For Family Home Evening one week we talked about The Family: A Proclamation to the World. The kids got to draw/color posters and give their own "proclamations".

Annnnnddd...apparently all-in-all it was a tired month for me. :) It's always entertaining when I look through the photos Brennan sends me from his phone to use on the blog.

One last video for a laugh. We made skillet s'mores one night and Declan couldn't get enough. He literally trembled with every bite.