It's a new dawn, it's a new day, ... and I'm feeling good

 January 2021

We were finally released from the state mandated lockdown! Now it's back to being dependent on each individual county, so although we're still in the most restrictive tier, it feels a little better and we do have a couple more things open than before. Thankfully, Matthew has been able to continue going to kindergarten in-person since his school opened back in November. He has made a ton of progress with his willingness to go to school. I haven't needed to carry him in (or even walk him in) for the last couple of weeks! The only issue was when his Thursday sub changed and he ran out of the classroom and tried to climb over the fence. *face palm* We he stays in the classroom, he excels at his work, and his teacher generally has high praise for him. At home, he's finished the fourth Harry Potter book and has started the fifth. He amazes me with how quickly he picks up the concepts in his music class and seems to have some natural ability there. 

 I am continuing to teach the TK class on Fridays which is fun, albeit very full of drama with 8 girls and no boys. I think my drawings are at an acceptable level, which shocks me literally every time. I had to scale back my running due to my ankle injury from September lingering, but I feel like I'm getting somewhere again and it feels good. Now I just a race to be available! We still have only virtual races out here, so I keep scouring the lists for ones in places I'll be over the summer.

I take a picture of my journal pictures during each class so that I can show Matthew after class.

Every day I tell Matthew that he should turn the doodleLoop into a turtle. One day in my class, there was an extra page so I turned it into something with a turtle just so that I could show him later. He chuckled at it. 

Adaline is making some real progress in homeschool (hallelujah!). Her reading ability is starting to increase more quickly and she is getting more confident in math. Science is emerging as another favorite subject, along with art, and she is exploring her love of cooking. She also advanced to Ballet 2 and is continuing to enjoy music class with Matthew.

music class-dressed up like Robinhood

She LOVED the Italian restaurant Raddish kids box and all the recipes were surprisingly good! We went a little overboard with it and included breadsticks, (can you have an Italian restaurant without them??), an Italian flag table cloth, and a lesson about tipping.

chocolate tiramisu

On another day, we made peppermint swirl cookies

Adaline made this map of our house to lead her brothers to hidden treasure

Michael is becoming an acrobat as he teaches himself tricks on the trampoline and cartwheels in his room. 

Alex recently became obsessed with the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems. He "reads" them to himself by flipping through the pages and saying everything he can remember. It is simultaneously hilarious and impressive. He is still adorable when he's sleeping/waking up, as you can see by the evidence below: 

Miscellaneous happenings from the rest of the month:

The kids found the "trap door" that leads to the attic and have been obsessed with the idea of going up there for months now. I think it's partly due to reading lots of Boxcar Children, Thea Stilton, and A to Z mystery books. They think everything is a mystery to be solved and every house has trapdoors and secret passageways. As a bribe to get Matthew to go to school one day, Andrew promised to take him into the attic after he got home. The three oldest kids all went up there and LOVED it. They were so excited to tell me all about it when they came back down. Meanwhile, I was just relieved that no one stepped through the ceiling. 

Bedtime reading party

leeks, potatoes, and fresh mozzarella with sourdough crust

One of our goals for this year is to go on more hikes-especially to places we haven't been before. We lead with a trip to Mount Wanda. The weather was perfect and we even saw a woodpecker in action.

truly impressive work

The second place we went hiking for the month was Black Diamond Mines-not new, but always a favorite. 

Adventurers leading the way and blazing their own trail

We installed the mirror and the light above the vanity, and it made the whole bathroom feel so much more put together. We are less than 10% away from being totally finished with this bathroom now! Next time, I will absolutely pay someone to do the entire thing start to finish and I will just stay out of the way. Ha!

Decorating a cookie castle that Gram sent

being a helpful brother

I found them having a reading party on Adaline's bed, but I was a little too late to capture it with my phone

cool rainbow

Yup, the trampoline is absolutely the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

Adaline wanted me to document her room being clean and put together 

Okay, this adventure really cracked me up. I saw Adaline and Michael run past me both wearing Adaline's white tights and tank tops and saying something about a trapeze. While I'm pretty sure they don't have the definition of a trapeze nailed down, I was treated to quite the acrobatics routine once they got to the trampoline. 

Stuck the landing!

And then the other two joined.

Alex's number one interest right now (even above reading Elephant and Piggie books) is building with the magnet tiles. He can be found at almost any time of day building and playing pretend with the people/animal figurines. He does all kinds of fun voices and actions and it is truly entertaining to watch.