January Recap

After seeing some spice racks from IKEA made into book shelves on Pinterest I decided that I wanted to do that in Vince's room since they were only $4 each. Lamenting the fact that the closest IKEA is 3.5 hrs away, I asked my parents if they could buy them and mail them to me as my Christmas present.

They did. Thanks guys! And thanks Charlie for putting these up for me.

On January 4th we celebrated Charles' 30th birthday! As usual, we are now celebrating the festival of lanterns since we are the same age for the next 6ish wks. On the night of his birthday we finally went to Paula Deen's restaurant after hearing that it wasn't that great (the reason we hadn't been before). It was really good, just shy of great. We still prefer Mrs. Wilkes though.

Since Ben and Todd's birthdays were so close to Charles', Lindsey, Jen, and I decided to do a Cafe Rio birthday dinner on Jan. 6th. The food was soooo good that it really felt like we were actually eating Cafe Rio. Good food and friends is such a fabulous combination!

It just so happens that all 3 guys have one adorable eldest blonde daughter.

Who happened to all be wearing white shirts that day.

We had some pretty nice January days that Azure enjoyed painting outside.

Isn't our backyard lovely with the hanging Spanish moss? We are going to miss this place. And isn't she such an adorable little artist? After brushing up on some family history last night and being reminded of my small French ancestry, I think she looks decidedly French here :)

Azure drew this chef pig all by herself. Then she asked me how to spell pig. I said, "You know how. Sound it out." "Oh, right," she replied and wrote it out. She still needs some prompting but, has continued to improve her reading and writing to the point that she can read this whole set of Bob books on her own. 

Vince has been so picky that I've been trying aesthetically pleasing food for him. Turns out that he is just filling up on milk too much to have an appetite to eat much with 3 cups of milk a day. Our pediatrician said to drop down to 2. It has made a real difference!

Oh, and just to keep it real I will say that I put together snacks like this about once a month, definitely not everyday. I decided to take a pic of the day I actually did something semi-creative :)

Charles finished reading Stuart Little to Azure so we watched the movie for a family date. Azure finally got to break out her huge lollipop that Daddy got her for Christmas.

The recovering meem (milk) addict.

 I love how this picture shows the fulness of his lips (he got his Daddy's kissable lips:) and his perfectly matched nose.

We also went to the circus with the Coopers and the Bryces. We had high hopes of a fun family outing but, were somewhat disappointed. The circus girls were quite scandalous- sheesh! And Azure apparently was so tired that she kept laying down on us and whining about losing her cup. I think she was feeling anxious with the step up. We all sat on one row so she was spread out from her friends. Also, I think she was uncomfortable with the environment. So, we left at intermission.

We promised Azure a tea party set if she consistently read one book to us and did her chores everyday and was good about listening to us the first time. We wanted her to work towards getting something. She did a wonderful job. She responds really well to being motivated by rewards!

Since earning her tea party set she is still helping me every week with the laundry. She puts her and Vince's clothes in the washing machine. When the cycle is over she transfers it all to the dryer. Then she sorts it out and puts Vince's in his room and hers away in her drawer. She cleans her bathroom and the downstairs bathroom about 3x a month now. She also puts the silverware away from the dishwasher. I am really impressed!

Enjoying her tea party set with Mommy and Daddy.

Daddy seems to be enjoying himself a little too much :)

We started talking in an English accent whilst drinking the tea much to Azure's chagrin. She was thoroughly annoyed!

A mini photo shoot after church.

How cute is she?!

Our rule is only 2 shows (PBS Kids) and 1 movie a day. But, sometimes I have a hard time coming up with things that they can do after they've reached their limit. I think they were on their 4th show when I finally turned the TV off in exasperation and gave Vince a bowl full of dried beans. This entertained him for about 30 mins.

Another day while Vince napped Azure and I attempted to make a "cloud" out of soap, water, and toilet paper. That didn't really turn out but, Azure enjoyed it anyway.

Oh, and I got new glasses. That about sums up January.