With the New Year it was nice to be home and get back into a routine of some sort. We had a couple days post trip to get ready for school and in the swing of things and catch up on sleep.
On the trip to Utah my Mom gave me some of the red roses from my Dad's funeral. Red was his favorite color and red roses were beautiful and perfect for his white winter funeral. We had SO many beautiful flowers gifted to us for the funeral. It's nice having them in our special memories kids free zone curio.
The kids all got new bedding for their Christmas Eve present. It was fun to get their new bedding on their beds. They also got wall stickers in their stockings from Santa Clause. They loved being able to decorate their rooms and they totally match their personalities. Eden got Pokemon stickers, Elara butterflies, Connor Paw Patrol, Kael Pokemon.
The sweet Pinkston girls spoiled the kids. They surprised them with tents for their beds to sleep with. They are SO cool and SO fun! The kids love them and it makes bed time exciting.
Connor's
Kael's
Eden's
Elara's
All four kids had dentist appointments at the beginning of the month. Everyone had good and healthy check ups except for Connor. His mouth seems to be immitating Eden's and he had a couple cavities that needed to be fixed. NOOOOOO
I sold our old half squat rack and we got a full squat rack. Some guys in our ward helped me to set it up while Derek is gone so I could start using it. I LOVE IT! It's so nice being able to work out at home. Derek and I have something we can do together even though we are so far apart.
Derek got me Harry Potter cookie cutters for Christmas and I got a chance to try them out. Brought these sugar cookies up to the Pinkston's for a visit. They are so fun!
I love this picture. Elara loves Connor and Connor loves Elara. She is the best older sister and he depends on her so much. Never did I imagine a relationship like theirs. So full of love and kindness. I'm so glad they have each other.
For activity days this month we had the girls do painting with a twist. They watched a video that taught them to paint some dandelions. They turned out so good and the girls had a lot of fun.
Connor even got to make one that I helped with.
The time came to cut the girls hair. Eden had been wanting short hair for a while, and they are starting to learn to wash their own hair, so shorter hair made sense. SOOOO, I took some hair scissors and got to work.
Eden's was SO much more than I meant to do... It turned out great, but it really is the shortest she has EVER had her hair. She seems to LOVE it so much, and it's been a fun change.
Before Elara
After
SO much hair gone. I'm just glad it will grow back and hopefully they will have better hair washing skills by that time.
I love their short hair, but long hair is definitely my favorite! I'm glad both girls were so happy with it though.
I love watching the kids play while waiting for piano lessons. The 3 littles become so creative and play in this huge tree. Or they all practice soccer. It's nice having a little outside time. It's going to get even longer in the fall when Elara starts her piano lessons and we have 1 1/2 hours of piano instead of just one hour.
I don't remember this picture, but me and Elara snuggling is always worth remembering.
Connor started night time potty training. NO MORE DIAPERS at all in our house! ZERO NONE!
So proud of this kid. He stayed dry for a whole week with Mom's help taking him potty in the middle of the night a couple times. He really wanted new spiderman underwear for his reward and he got it. We had several set backs, but overall he did pretty well. Many long nights for me trying to get him there, but after 2 months of waking him up he officially can stay dry all night.
So proud of my "big boy". He hates being called a baby now.
He says, "I not baby, I a big boy MOM"! And then he will huff at you. Do not make the mistake of calling this 3 year old a baby.
I made the mistake of leaving the groceries on the kitchen floor for about 30 minutes. When I came to put them away I found my ground beef like this. The dogs were adventurous... Totally learned my lesson. Leave raw meat on the counter or in the fridge. Don't be lazy put it away.
The Pinkston's came to visit from picking up Andrew and Morgan from the airport on the 19th. Elara is ready to be a Mommy. She LOVES all the babies so so much. She immediately washes her hands and asks to hold the babies. She loves baby Lee and baby Silas so so much. Holding babies makes her so happy. She really is going to be a great Mommy some day. She can calm Connor down better than any of the kids. She knows how to soothe him, love him, help him through his struggles, and loves on him when he needs it. She is so aware of others emotions around her. And holding a baby makes her smile like this all day long. She brings me so much joy and makes me a better Mom just by following her example she sets for me. Goodness I love you Elara Jane Bradley.
In the girls stockings and mine included we got mud masks and gel masks from Santa Clause. So one night the girls and I put the gel masks on so we had to take a picture. Connor loved it too.
In December I went to a free military kids photo shoot for deployed spouses. I never got the pictures because I wasn't on facebook. I finally looked into it in January and this photo was my favorite. I never did anything with the photos, but some turned out really cute.
Sadly I never got to surprise Derek with them. Life is SO busy when he is gone.
I remeasured all the kids to see how much they grew in a year. At least 3 inches each. Then, I found the height for the tallest requirement for rides at Disneyland and made a Disneyland mark on our height board. By the next time we go I'm certain Elara will be tall enough for every ride, and Connor will be tall enough for basically everything but 2 rides. It's an exciting fun new time of life.
We can never get tired of visiting our family in San Marcos. We love living so close to such fun family. The kids love shooting bows and arrows and Elara got another chance to hold the babies. We got a picture with baby Silas this time. Eden loves holding the babies too, but Elara demands to hold them. These trips always exhaust the kids enough to sleep in the car. I'm not gonna lie I always wish I could catch a nap like that too. I need Derek to get back to take over driving so I can nap like that.
Sweet Merlin got sand. His claws kept catching on the mat, and we wanted him to get some exercise. He loved the sand so much. He got a little lettuce stuck on his mouth.
Not knowing how long it would take to get a package to Derek we made a Valentine/Birthday box for him. We got it off 3 weeks before his birthday and it got there in only a week so before February even came!
We love our soldier!!!
Goodness we miss him SO MUCH! It is fun sending him packages though.
The girls begged to walk the dogs to and from school and I finally did it one day. I came and picked them up from school with Freya. I can only handle one dog at a time with Connor's stroller.
Not sure why Connor was so upset. Probably because I didn't let him hold Freya.
Kael finished indoor soccer. It was really fun on Saturdays and he learned a lot from this extra play time.
We went up to Pinkston's again to start working on Kael's pinewood derby car. He got a really good start on it, and Andrew and Blake let him make some cuts on it! Scary seeing your boy use a saw!
And THAT was our busy January! We try to keep ourselves busy so we don't miss Derek too much.
Derek kept himself busy this month too. Whenever he had some down time, which isn't often, but without 4 kids and a wife to keep him busy he did have some, he built this cool Tie Fighter.
Derek got approved to advance his rank to Major in June 2020. They took pictures of that celebration 18 months before he advances, but getting approved is pretty huge. This is the group of all those who got approved to advance in rank in the future.
Derek got a tour of an armored truck. It is HUGE!!!
Got to see some cool guns.
Inside the armored truck!
He got the kids Valentines cards on the special wall for cards from friends and family.
It's fun we made the wall! :)
His awesome TIE Fighter
Every single month down feels like such an accomplishment. January is long and depressing usually anyway, and it definitely was a tough month. I was alone on my own. My Mom went home and I just had to make it work. It was long, but I did it. Thankfully Derek's cousin Heidi needed a place to stay for school and asked to stay with us. It was a gift from our Heavenly Father. I had a friend, help with the kids, and my dishes, and the kids got extra love. We love Heidi more than words can describe and we feel SO BLESSED to have her in our home. The kids hope she stays forever, and I agree.
