January

Well, 2016 started out a little rough!  In years past, I always feel energized and inspired by the new year.  Even if I don't make a resolution, I am ready to tackle new things, make changes, and much like the rest of the world, eat healthier and excersise more.  But none of those things happened this January.  In fact, January has been a pretty rough month for me.  I had to get a root canal and that tooth was causing me so much pain, but as soon as I got the root canal I immediately felt relief!  We also had a big decision to make regarding Stephen next year and his schooling.  And lastly, Stephen has been working so much.  He works 6 days a week and plus late at night.  It is hard on all of us.  But I know this is just a season and we will get through it!

I hesitate to even share all of that, but this is our life- the good and the bad.  We have so many things to be grateful for and live a really great life, but life is just hard sometimes!

Here are all my cell phone pictures from January.  I did take quite a few on my big camera, so I hope to get those up this week.

We went to Chik Fil A one Friday for breakfast and Avery got to play!  During lunch it just gets too crazy for him to play.











We went to a birthday party in Cypress, where I grew up, so I decided to drive by the two houses I grew up in and show them to Stephen.  He is really interested in things I did as  little girl right now and is always asking me if I did this or that when I was a little girl, so I thought he would like seeing these houses.

This is the house we moved into when I was 3 and lived there until I was in 7th grade (I pretty sure, it may have been 8th).  I have so many amazing memories from this house.  Our street was full of kids and we all just played and played!



This is the house we moved into when I was in middle school and my parents moved out the summer after my first year of college.

This was a great house!  We had a pool and a trampoline in our backyard where we made so many memories as a family.



The birthday party we went to was a gymnastics party and Stephen was exhausted and fell asleep on our long ride back home.



Both boys love to take walks in the afternoon/ early evening.  Stephen usually rides his scooter or bike and Avery and I walk.













One Friday we went to visit Mamaw.  I forgot to take pictures while we were with her, but we had a great visit with her.  We went to Chik Fil A for lunch and then came back home.  We talked to my Dad while we were there and he said he would come visit us that afternoon.  Such a nice surprise!  We loved having him!  We played inside for a while and then went to play outside.







We got two love sacs (big bean bags) for our media room, but we still have one downstairs right now.  The are so incredibly comfortable, but the problem is that as soon as you sit in it, you are out!  Stephen sat in it at 8:30 one night and fell asleep about a minute later!



I don't remember what we were out doing, but I just can't resist taking a picture when my kids fall asleep in the car.  They are just too cute!





One afternoon after school we had to run by Toy's R Us to pick up something and the boys wanted to ride the horse before we left.



Avery was excited until it started moving!



Then Stephen talked me into stopping for yogurt.  It was a rainy, yucky day and this made it a little better!



As the sun is rising in the morning, the view from our bedroom is absolutely beautiful!  It is only like this for a few minutes just before the sun comes up.



Our Target is doing some renovations and they now have this dog.  Stephen was so excited about it and wanted me to take his picture with it.



Pirate day at school.



Stephen and his best buddy, Holden.



I picked these roses from our yard!  I love fresh flowers in the house and it's even better when they are free from our own yard!



When we first saw our house, we said we wanted to remove two trees that were completely blocking the house.  We finally did it this month and are so happy!

Before:



After:



The weather has been so nice lately it feels like Spring!  Which has us in Spring cleaning mode!  We have been working in the yard and organizing the garage.

Stephen loves to help Daddy work in the yard.  We even got him a little shovel which is thrilled about!







Now that January is over, I am so excited about February!  February is one of my favorite months and we have some exciting things coming up this month!