January 11-25

There is a coziness to January that I have come to appreciate.  The days pass quickly as we chip away on school and keep up with our activities.  Sean has completed 4 of his 5 trips to Vancouver this month.  We are finding our rhythm when he's gone.  This past week I had a small day surgery that should help with my ever depleting iron stores.  It went really well but I was left tired from keeping up with the kids and the anaesthetic, etc.  Thankful that it was successful, especially after the failed attempt in October.

Here I was resting while Jordan wrote a math test.

Alex continues to enjoy Violin and even composed his own song last week.

My early morning runs have a magical feeling with all the snow and the quietness of everything.

I continue to become "that crazy cat lady" who takes SO many pictures of Toby each day.  He just does cute things all the time!

Our church is having a series of Sunday night sesssions over January so Mikayla loves going home after church with a friend and then spending the day with at our house, or theirs and then meeting back at the church in the evening.  Here they enjoyed the hot tub and then seeing who could stay in the snow the longest.

My shadows.

We still help at Kids Club each Thursday.  Caileigh was setting up a craft for the kids to do when they arrive and testing it out on her brother.

January 1-10

The first week of January has passed.  School is back in session and activities are resuming.  Sean is traveling for work but is managing to get home each week.  We've had a lot of snow falling and it keeps us busy shoveling.

The kids are enjoying ski lessons through school again this year.  I signed Sean up to attend with them and he's enjoying the time as well.

We are still quite obsessed with Toby.  Everything he does is So Cute!

Alex was running through the house and hit his finger against the wall.  It was quite sore and swollen but I hesitated to take him in as it was a Saturday and there isn't much they can do for fingers.  We finally chose to go in and found out that he has a break just above the growth plate.  We've been taping his finger together and he's doing well.  He's even managing to continue with the violin.  Alex is certainly an adaptable child!

The boys have discovered they love playing Crib with one of the care aides and a resident at Gigi's home.  Gigi likes to watch.

Caileighs Birthday Party

This year for Caileigh's birthday party she wanted to have a sleep over.  We decided to combine New Years Eve with it.  In the evening we had friends over to eat snacks and play games.  The girls watched movies and rang in the new year together.  The next day the girls enjoyed playing outside and then in the afternoon we went to an escape room.......and we escaped!!  It was so much fun and a great way for Caileigh to spend 24 hours with her friends:)

Tubing for Mikaylas birthday

Toby

In November, I had a friend visiting and she mentioned that she had kittens available.  I jokingly asked Sean if we could get one as I am constantly asking him for new pets and he is adamant that we don't get any.  This time, however, he completely surprised me and said that we could!  I thought he must be joking or that it was some kind of test.  I debated the pros and cons for a couple of weeks before finally deciding that we would go for it.  The kids, Alex especially, have been asking for a kitten for years.  

The kittens were set to come home on December 17 and I figured this would be perfect because Sean would be on the coast and it would be more believable that we were cat sitting and he wasn't happy about it.  On December 14, on our way to get a Christmas tree, I stopped by my friends house to pretend to pick something up and I saw the kittens.  I was in love!  I couldn't wait until the 17th!  On the morning of the 16th, I texted and asked if I could come pick the kitten up and she said she would bring him herself and would be there in 30min.  I didn't tell the kids she was coming.  After she arrived, I told the kids that we had been asked to kitten sit until Boxing Day.  They were so excited.  Sean was still home at this point but was out running errands.  When he arrived home, he pretended to be grumpy but resigned about it.  He reminded the kids that we would not be keeping it!

My friend did tell the kids that they could name him if we desired and soon Toby became his name.

Christmas morning, we handed the kids a card with the cutest picture of a kitten that looked just like Toby.  Inside it announced Toby as the newest member of the Watson family.

Christmas

As usual, I was the first one awake Christmas morning:)

The younger three were all up by 6:30 and waited patiently for Caileigh to wake up, and for Grandma to arrive around 9.  They opened their stockings and snacked on candy.

Buddy is starting to get more relaxed around Toby.  The whole transition with the kitten has been better than I could have anticipated.  They enjoy playing together and both are comfortable around each other. (More in the post about Toby)

The kids spent the day setting up new Christmas toys.

We had Michael, Georgia, Gigi and Doreen as guests this year.  We were so sad to not have Bupee and Uncle Matt with us.  We missed them greatly.

Tired out from all the excitement.