Random January Happenings, Part I

Here are some fun things we did in the month of January:

Jan. 1

For New Years Eve, I made up a fun 14-course meal for the kids. I put in a fair amount of effort (so did Erik-he made the cheese balls), but it wasn't too stressful considering some of the courses were nuts or something pre-made like cocktail shrimp. I let the kids choose the next course, and Gabe would cross it off the list when we had finished the course. I think the kids enjoyed it. Some of the courses were drinks too, like hot chocolate and root beer. Other than this meal, we didn't do much else for New Year's; I believe Erik worked that day.

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Jan. 2

One of Elisa's Christmas presents was a trip to the nail salon. She wanted acrylic nails. I got a pedicure. Unfortunately, her nails didn't last too long.

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Jan. 4

I didn't make these all in one day--I made them over the course of several days. I like how they turned out! It's too bad I have to throw them away every year, I just can't figure out a good way to save and store these without driving myself crazy.

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January 7th

Ian had a primary activity to preview the New Testament. His class acted out the story of the Good Samaritan.

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Jan 7

With the Eufy cameras, we caught Gabe being Gabe: picking his nose and wasting time on his chromebook.

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Jan 8

Elisa's guinea pig Nutmeg died. She wasn't looking so good one Sunday evening, and the next morning she was dead in her hidey hole. Alas, another pig to bury in the backyard. Elisa wasn't too devastated, thankfully. When Skittles died, Gabe took it really hard. I really liked Nutmeg; she was a sweet little piggy. After she died, I put Fluffers (my one remaining pig) up for sale on craigslist. A week later, some girl came by to get her along with all of her stuff. I honestly was so, SO happy to be pet-free. It has freed up much of my time and energy! So, goodbye Nutmeg and Fluffers; hello freedom from the drudgery of pet ownership!

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Jan. 12

A cherubic Ian-bean snoozing away 

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Jan 13

My first time buying, cooking, and eating crab legs (at least first time in a long time eating)! They were on sale at Fry's. I cooked them up in my instant pot with some Old Bay seasoning and ate them with melted butter. They were good, but salted butter ended up tasting too salty with all the seasoning, so for next time eating crab legs: unsalted butter.

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Jan 14

Gabe and Elisa participated in a service activity one Saturday picking fruit in Glendale. I don't know how much "fun" they had, but the point of service activities isn't to just have fun.  

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Jan 14

I took this cutie to Party City to pick out some Mario stuff for his upcoming birthday Party

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Jan 16

Ian made an awesome basketball contraption out of cardboard and duct tape

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Jan. 20-21

Elisa went to a Retreat for teens with her friend Lily. It was held at a really cool air-bnb house in Mesa that had a pool, and she even got her own room. She did all kinds of fun things like painting and swimming (you can see on the pic I took for the itinerary). She had such a good time that she wants to go again!

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Jan 21

I love this kid's morning hair!

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Jan. 22

Ian gave a talk in primary, always fun to listen to him.

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Jan. 22

Putting together a baptism puzzle I made some 13 years ago for a Primary lesson when Erik was in Med school. Ian was excited to learn all about baptism since his was coming up.