January 2010 (So I'm behind, of course! But here it is!)

So I'm already behind the curve here with my blog but I’m going to go ahead and do the month-to-month updates as quick as I can. Starting with January!

My sister Rebecca and her family (Josh and Tristan) found a home over on the Virginia side but at least they are close so we can visit and do things together.  The first part of January was busy for us with the kids going back to school. We celebrated 3 Kings Day with our traditional flair and then started putting Christmas away (I hate that part – not so much because I have to repack everything but because I just love the decorations!) 

I walked down with Jade to the beach by our home to take a few photos of it ‘frozen’ over. Jade was so funny because she really wanted to go with me. I didn’t mind as I love her company but I was worried she would get cold. She didn’t want to tell me she was cold and so she didn’t say anything until I told her it was time to go and she said, “GOOD! My toes are so cold I think they have frostbite!”  When I asked her why she didn’t say anything she said she was having too much fun and didn’t want to leave until I was ready.  We also found some pirate beads before we left.

I went to “China Town” with Rebecca and her family. I have to say I was disappointed.  We had some great food but the area is a dump and really doesn’t have much to offer. I think we should have turned around when we saw this sign: Needless to say, we didn’t stay long.  We did drive around DC some and saw some really cool buildings and we found (what we’ve deemed) “Embassy Row” because it was building after building of Embassies. The buildings were really neat. 

Then we got snow. (Jan 8^th) Of course we love it so we were so excited!

The kids got MLK day off as well as the Friday before so we met up with Rebecca, Josh and Tristan and went into DC to the Natural History Museum.  This is Jordan and Jade’s favorite and is usually the one I end up going to the most (although I think after seeing it so much it really isn’t my favorite! LOL)  We walked around the National Mall some as well since the weather wasn’t too bad for a change.  I like the Smithsonian Castle. I think it is so pretty and distinguished. 

One of our neighbors hosts an “end of the holiday’s” party every January.  Last year we didn’t attend because the baby was due any day and I wasn’t quite in the celebratory mood.  This year we decided to join the fun and it turned out to be a very lovely and enjoyable evening.  Our children were the only ones there (which made me a little worried at first!) but they were so well behaved and we received a lot of compliments for how good they were.  We knew they’d do well because they like to socialize with adults but I was afraid they’d get bored quickly.  Instead they were having such a good time we had to practically drag them home. (We left around 10:30 pm because Jasper was way overdue for bedtime.)  They played Clue for the first time and really liked the game. Then later on a friend of the hostess did some face painting (she is a professional face painter)  Jade was first.  She wanted to be a dolphin… awesome isn’t it!?  Jordan wanted to be an elf.  Then Jade wanted her arms painted.  She got dolphins in the sea on one and a koi fish on another.  The kids wanted Jeramis and I to join in as well so I let them pick for me.  I’m supposed to be a mermaid princess. LOL  Jeramis is also an elf.  I think the party was a great idea and I’m so glad that our neighbor invited us again this year.  Here’s a picture of all of us right before we headed home (as you can see the Sleepy Jasper in the back.)

Of course the biggest event for January was Jasper’s 1^st birthday.  I can’t believe it has been a year… okay, some days I can.  I am enjoying this time with him and I feel so blessed to have three such wonderful children.  

We call Jasper our little Saru-chan which kind of means monkey child or little monkey.  So for his birthday I made 2 monkey head cakes; a small one for Jaz and a larger one for the rest of us.  It’s a good thing I made 2…. As you can see Jaz was not shy when it came to digging into his cake.  We had cake on the blinds, on the floor… on anything near him!  He was a lovely mess! 

After we celebrated his birthday we went to Jordan’s pack meeting where he earned his Webelos Badge.  (Next up will be the Arrow of Light, he’s close!)  Then home again for a quiet night. 

January didn’t end quietly. We had a huge bundle of snow start to drop on us.  It was so pretty to watch as it fell… and then it was a blast to go out and play in. 

January was a great month. I feel like it went by in a blur but I have a lot of great memories of things we did so I guess that’s a good thing.  It was a great start to 2010!