JANUARY 2017

My view: Icy winter trees

Happy New Year!  We got to ring in the New Year in Kansas with Family.(which has become quite the tradition).  Now we are back in the full swing of school, Upward Bball has started for Rex with practice on Monday nights and games on Saturday mornings, Will got the 10-10 business district shift for the year, he had already been doing it at the end of 2016 so we are already kinda used to it.  I like having him around in the morning to help take Rex to school (especially on those cold mornings so I don't have to drag Grant out) and to have him share a cup of coffee with me, but we do miss him in the evening at dinner and bedtime.    All shifts have their pro's and con's as always every shift makes us thankful for the time we have together.

I feel like as I look ahead to 2017 it has the potential to bring with it lots of changes.  As does every year but this year feels like some big milestones are going to be met. Which is exciting and kinda scary.  As I look ahead, the boys will turn 7 and 5.  7 and 5!  To me that means no more toddlers.  I have enjoyed each stage of the boys so far but having bigger kids is kinda exciting to me.  Everyone can go the bathroom on their own, and get dressed, articulate their needs (maybe too well), and almost shower on their own. (Grant should get there by the end of this year.)  Grant will start Kindergarten in the fall, and I will have 2 boys in school all day everyday!  (well at least when there isn't a holiday, or long weekend, or sick kid, or snow day)  Which leads me to thinking about going back to work....should I get something part time? or full...NO definitely not full.  Will I get bored in the day if I don't?  I never get bored now it always seems like there is something to do.  And I really enjoy being able to hang out with Will on his days off mid week. Could I get a good work from home job?  In accounting or maybe Medical coding (but I might need to do some schooling for that?)  I want to still be able to drop off and pick up the boys, and be home with them on all their days off and summer.. hmmm.  When you really boil it down they are only at school like 6 hours each day.  We are doing fine without me working and Will is totally supportive of me whatever I do, and actually we will have more money than we have had in a long time with no kid in private preschool.  Hmmm lots to ponder and think and pray on as the year begins.

Things I would like to accomplish this year.  Paint the bedroom some color of green (and I think Will is on board for this project), tear down the falling down tree house out back (we will rebuild one someday but probably not this year), build a fire pit area in the back year? (maybe), do something to improve our deck not sure if that will just be power washing and sand blasting, or replacing some wood?, run some HALF marathons (no marathons in 2017!), maybe add a shower to our master bath/laundry room?  Lots of home improvement stuff that I haven't really been able to consider before because I didn't have long stretches of time to get them accomplished.

We celebrated good grades and perfect attendance for 2 semesters with the boy's first ever Dip N Dots.  It was a hit.  Then Rex wanted to walk around the mall and see how many security cameras he could find.  

The Fett Brother (Jango and Boba Fett)

The boys had a long weekend off for MLK day.  We have been wanting to go to Meramec Caverns for a while but it was closed over the summer, (we took the boys to a cave at Silver Dollar City and they have been asking to go to another cave ever since) I heard it was back open so it seemed like a good thing to do on a cold winter day.  Grandma and Grandpa love caves so they came along.

Never to early the hit the weights

The SWAT team Will is a member of had 2 Drug related search warrants 2 days in a row.  The local paper showed up and took some pictures of both operations.  When Will was checking the news the next day to see what they wrote up on it, he found his picture as the cover pictures for the article!  Then the next day he had a buddy call him and tell him that pictures and the story had made the front page of the Alton Telegraph.

Here is the article:

police-raid-second-north-alton-house

You know how you always get that one 70 degree day in January.  Well we go it and it was on a Saturday!  The boys LOVED getting to go the park that we haven't been to all winter.  

Rex's Upward season is underway!  I can't believe how much difference a year makes!  Rex played great defense, got back on offense, made good passes, and even got a basket!  It should be a fun season to watch.

Also Yeah Trump is the President!!  I'm so tired of everybody whining about it and acting like the world is going to end!  We all survived under Obama the last 8 years, I'm optimistic about the future!

That about wraps up January.  I'm still not used to writing 2017 on dates, and one month is already gone in the year!