Photo-a-day, Part III.

Here it is, the last installation of Photo-a-Day for January 2011.January 22. On a freezing Saturday morning we all headed down to the new Rosevill library for a little scavenger hunt that culminated in an all-kindergartener ceremony in which you got your very own library card. They read your name, and you beamed. You were so excited. Maybe the only downer was that they didn't have Princess Knight on hand for you to check out. You picked another familiar title, though, took your card and goodie bag and we went home.

January 23. Cold Sunday, another football Sunday for Daddy. Trying to entertain you kids without going out to freeze. Lots of games and books. Alla, you kind of cheat playing the fishing game, and I can't even come close to keeping up. It makes you pretty happy to beat Mama.

January 24. Muffin Tin Monday, going strong! Don't think I haven't thought of next year, when Alla will be in first grade all day. Somehow she's convinced me to move Muffin Tin Monday to dinner when September rolls around. Something tells me it wasn't hard to convince me. I'm kind of a die-hard for traditions, and not ready to let this one go yet, with her.

January 25. Alla had been asking me to go through the junk drawer for a few weeks on the premise that she was going to help clean it out, so finally I told her to bring it to my bed. She emptied it by herself, digging here and there for treasure, and then left this note on the drawer: "I Love Mom."

January 26. We get some amazing sun on the west side of the house, these warm rays and flares in the kids' room. I love how timeless they look, how warm and almost summery. How if it weren't for putting a date on this picture you might not know it's winter and freezing. You might just think that sun out there was actually warm.

January 27. First of two days off for Alla. She was a little dissapointed that Fisher didn't have school, simply because she wanted to take him to school and see his classroom, which is, actually, her old classroom. So to make it up to her I planned a craft morning, which meant bringing out a ton of craft supplies at once and letting them go to town. Fisher lasted about an hour, Alla two and then kept coming back all day. Such a joy to see them create.

January 28. We had our potty training party for Fisher! Pizza Friday, plus new underwear, a ten-wheeler, a toy truck, and cupcakes. To be honest he was kinda past the whole potty training thing by that point and probably didn't understand why we were making such a big deal about him going potty, something he does all the time, but we had to, Fish. It's quite an accomplishment.

January 29. Saturday morning long run for Mama. It's warming up, but I can't wait til I can go without face gear.

January 30. Warmer day! We took the kids outside and Ron got cold and went in but not before he managed a few pictures of outside, including the ginormous snow mound I'm standing on. There's not a lot of perspective here because I'm standing four feet up and he's squatting down, but goodness there's a lot of snow. Might as well jump from snow mound to snow mound and get some exercise while the kids are sliding down six foot piles of it.

January 31. What an end to the month, Fisher throwing an all-out fit at bathtime. Not that uncommon, really, but just kind of a big exclamation point to the end of this project! In other pictures from this scene, you can see Ron's laughter, how he can't hold it back. You just have to laugh at them. Sometimes.