I feel like we were waiting on our grandbaby Aspen’s arrival FOREVER, and now she is already almost six weeks old!

January flew by, but the days were also somewhat slow.

We were SO thankful it finally started to snow quite a bit in January!

We had not had much snow yet this winter.

The kiddos have had endless hours of fun out there in all the snow we have!

They literally will be out there for hours each day.

We take our snow clothes to Aspen’s place too!

They have an awesome sledding hill, and the grand babies love the snow as much as we do.

All of that cold air and climbing up sledding hills makes this crew of mine hungry!

I am sure you know that we are still eating around here.

Most of January Blake and my date night alway turned into grocery shopping and errands – but we were glad to be together to do it all!

And there was always coffee!!

The food is in abundance here at Twin Oaks, but it disappears as fast as I can make it!

I am thankful for good helpers.

I used to call this meal “sheet pan dinner”, but now it is two heaping sheet pans that we need, so I renamed it “feed the masses!”

I always, always try to make extra food when I cook!

Dinner leftovers are my breakfast, and the guys take them for their work lunches too.

Hence this restaurant size skillet of rainbow rice.

My breakfast was yummy leftovers.

No, I don’t usually eat with a stuffed lovey staring at me, but I was asked by a very cute little girl to babysit that lovey, and of course I said “sure!”

I sometimes post our dinner prep on Instagram, and then add a photo of my plate before I sit down to eat.

This was my plate –

And this was the plate of a giant who lives here and has two hollow legs.

Speaking of that giant – I am so glad he still plays his guitar so often!

We received the gift of a new game at Christmas called Skyjo.

It has been a popular one since then!

January not only brought beautiful snow, but also some REALLY beautiful skies.

Oh my goodness, I can never get enough of the sky!

One day I saw that Chip and Joanna Gaines had aired a new season of Fixer Upper.

I wondered how we could get it to stream to our screen to be able to watch it!

Just searching for a second I learned about the discovery plus channel, and subscribed to it for only $7 a month.

Not only have we enjoyed watching Fixer Upper, but we also found a cooking show that Joanna Gaines does called Magnolia Table.

It is good!

There is also a nature channel on discovery plus that has many fascinating shows about all kinds of nature things – and it is the kiddos favorite.

We love that it is all commercial free!

Thankful to have this option as my trio and I are at home literally all the time these days.

We do get a bit stir crazy some days!

We recently found out that our local ice rink was open for open skating on the weekends again.

That has been fun for my crew!

I have no desire to skate, and they won’t let you sit in the waiting area right now, so I have not went along.

At least they took photos for me!

I gave Eliza another haircut back in January.

I took about six inches off her long hair!

It IS beautiful longer like that, but it is not easily manageable and one of Eliza’s biggest struggles is having her hair cared for.

I really like it shorter too!

We finally celebrated our leader’s birthday several days late in a not-so-celebratory way.

But we did make him a dessert he loved – his favorite vanilla ice cream with crushed graham crackers and butterscotch sauce on top!

Happy Birthday, babe!!

Speaking of my guy…do any of you ever wonder if he ever gets upset?

Well, yes, he does – but ONLY when cutting a big pile of onions, which we banned him to the garage to do!

He was crying like a baby!

If there are grand babies around, I can tell you at any time where Grant is.

And yes, he is all of their favorite uncle for sure!

Addie Mae is a favorite too!!

They call her JieJie.

Lane had his first cavity ever in January.

Thought that was a pretty good twelve year stretch without any, don’t you agree?

He handled it like a champ.

Tate still loves to cook.

This is his “Mom, I am not awake yet quit taking photos of me look.”

Cute as ever!!

Thankful for that trio of mine!!

They fill my days with purpose, fun, JOY, and laughter!

You have no idea how many times I hold back a sob when I see these two together.

They are ALWAYS together!

And better because of it!

I am so thankful God made them brother and sister.

When I am not busy I am looking for something to keep me busy.

Like organizing the spice cabinet.

Doesn’t it look pretty?!

Or printing and hanging up our family photos from this year.

I LOVE seeing them on the wall in our bedroom!

We had church at home around our table due to illness for a couple of weeks in January.

It isn’t quite as good as being at church, obviously, but we still enjoy the time we spend together studying God’s Word this way!

I will end this January recap with a cute puppy – just for good measure.

And because I love her!

Ruby Jane, I am thankful for you too!

January seems like forever ago, and then just days ago.

Time is so weird, isn’t it?

I know we will look back on this time and be SO thankful for ALL the Lord has allowed!

I try to keep in the forefront of my mind – “what will I want the children to remember about this time in their lives?”

When I focus on that thought, my words and actions flow from that perspective.

I sure hope I can do right by all the Lord has trusted me with!

As I type this, we have had almost two weeks of below zero dangerously cold temperatures.

We are aching to be outside and playing in all that snow again!

Lord willing, it will be soon!

Until then, we are soaking up the sunshine through all of the windows here at Twin Oaks, and enjoying being together.

Hope you all are enjoying life too!!