January odds and ends

January was a whirlwind of a month!  Like usual, I suppose.  :)  School, preschool, choir, tutoring, library storytime, library volunteering, and ballet have been going strong all month.  Megan is in the school Math Club, so she stays after school on Thursdays to play math-oriented games with her classmates.  ("Mom, there's no math!  We just play games!")  Katie has tutoring at the same time, so she can't be in math club this year, unfortunately.

Medically, we've been keeping the doctors busy - and rich.  Katie still gets her allergy shots every other week, and she just had a new eye exam and picked out new glasses (bifocals again, in frames that are identical to Jessica's!).  Chris and I had our physicals, required by his insurance, and I had a new eye exam and have had lots of visits to find some contacts that are comfortable.  Jessica had her first cavity and first filling.  She goes back to the eye dr next week for a re-check, and might get a new, stronger prescription.  She is at +2.50 and needs to get to +4.0.  She needs her kindergarten shots and she needs a hearing screening before she can get into kindy.  Whew!

Socially, we've been party animals!!  :)  The girls had four birthday parties to attend over MLK Jr weekend alone.  Megan had another one this past Saturday, and Katie had a sleepover at a friend's house.  We hosted a chili cookoff with friends one night, and we went to Ottawa Lake for the Christensen Christmas.  We've taken the girls ice skating several times this month, including once to a friend's house on Lake Orion.  The girls loved skating on the canal where they went swimming this past summer!  Chris loved playing lake hockey with his friend and with the neighborhood pre-teen boys.  We also take the girls swimming about once a week.  All three are little fishies!  Jessi is a fantastic swimmer and loves diving for pennies.

Work has been a bear this month, esp for Chris.  He spent the first week of Jan prepping for an influx of Italian visitors.  The second week was when his Italian counterparts visited, and Chris organized all of their meetings/trips/meals/transportation.  The gang had a blast at the proving grounds (off-roading), at the auto show, and touring all of Chrysler's testing facilities.  Last week he was busy prepping for this week.  This week he is in Italy!!  February is shaping up to be just as busy for him, unfortunately.  My work is slow, mostly because I just don't have time.  :(

School has been wonderful this past month!  All three girls have really hit their stride.  Katie is doing well in every single subject.  She does her homework and studying independently, and is maintaining her good grades all on her own!  Megan is a confident reader, having just finished her first chapter book all by herself - she read Magic Tree House #1 out loud to us.  She is now reading book #2 to herself, a little bit each night.  She is doing great in math, too.  Jessica continues to amaze us with her "academics".  She knows so much math and is starting to read, plus she is soaking up everything her sisters do and talk about.  Little miss smarty pants!

The weather has been crazy warm this month.  I saw on the weather tonight that we've had four days of 50+ temps this month!  And many more in the 40's.  We have not had more than 3" of snow at a time yet!!  And when we get snow, it melts within a few days.  It makes me nervous for spring...will we get our snow in April and May????

OK, onto the pics....

Girls singing in the choir at a MLK Jr interfaith celebration

Megan and Katie with their treats from the Greektown bakery - peanut butter mud pie, and chocolate mice!

Jessi's face after a chocolate mouse!

Megan's tooth is hanging on by a thread!

And...it's gone!  Megan lost her 3rd tooth!  My adorable jack-o-lantern!

Jessica skating on Lake Orion

Megan chased me with snowballs on the lake

The girls cleared away more snow for their very own tiny ice rink

Jessi making a snow angel at home this morning.

Jessi rolling a snowball

Katie hanging out in her snow fort this morning.

 

Katie and Jessi sledding in our back yard.

Hope you enjoy the pics and stories!!  I'll try to do a better job of keeping up in February!!  :)