what is it about January?

I think the month of January is always a little tough for me.  My energy is low. I get really hungry because it is cold. I never order my calendar refill on time (Mom Agenda) and so I am less organized and I forget deadlines, meetings and appointments.. And I just don't blog well either. I think I kind of hibernate in January. This year is no exception.  January is proving to be a challenging month so far.  Nothing major is wrong...just a mild case of the winter blues.

I am going to do a bullet update because there are things I want to remember when I look back...

~Harry is obsessed with American Pickers and Pawn Stars.  I.mean.obsessed! Over the holidays we spent a lot of time looking in antique shops.  Seriously, we went to so MANY.  Now, he and his best buddy have started a little business.  They even have a blog;)  This has been good for our relationship.  I love antiques too and we have fun exploring.

~Harry just made the "Name that Book" team at his school.  Name that Book is where schools compete against one another in facts of classic literature.  The students have a list of books to read and they are quizzed on the books.  How cool is that?  Basically, it is a reading contest.  Now I was always the LAST kid picked to play any sport on the playground, but I would have rocked a reading contest if they had that when I was growing up.

Just so you see that my boys are not always sweet...these are the faces I got from Harry when trying to take his photo today....

Not sure what that fuzz in his hair was???? BUT he was rolling his eyes at me!!!!

~Will is busy, busy, busy with swim team, youth group, national honor society and other activities but he is also preparing for the geography bee at his school.  He knows a lot about geography and I am not quite sure where he learned it all.

~We are also getting ready for Will's upcoming trip to Paris.  He is going with his school's art program.  I am so excited for him to see the Louvre and the Musee d'orsay, and Notre Dame.  I have only been to Paris once but I LOVED it and yearn to return someday.

~Kate has been busy in the kitchen.  Last week, she made cookies in her easy bake oven with cousin Jamie's girlfriend, Sara.  Did you know you can only bake one cookie at a time?  It took 40 minutes to bake 4 cookies!  Sara was so sweet.  We hope to see a lot more of her! (just in case you are reading cousin Jamie)

~Kate also made home-made ice cream with Dave and a friend with weekend. They made strawberry and chocolate and they were both divine.

Our friend, R.

~Kate is also very busy rollerskating. She got rollerskates for Christmas and she just adores them.

~ I am leading/ facilitating a Mom's group at my church for the next 12 weeks.  We are studying/discussing The Handbook for Catholic Moms.  Today was our first day and I was really nervous but I think we had a great turn-out and a fabulous discussion.

~ When Will was little I had a helper named Sonia.  She worked for our family for many years.  She helped me with the boys all those years I was sick (when we thought I had MS).  She was an ANGEL to our family.  She cleaned, she helped me with the boys, she would start dinner for us. She became family.  Well, as I got better and the boys got older, we did not need Sonia anymore and then we moved to Virginia.  It had been about 6 years since we saw her but she came to visit this weekend with her three daughters. We had a lovely day visiting with them. She is still an angel and now helping the elderly with love and compassion.

(very shadowy photo taken in midday sun;)

~I finally got my car back from the accident.  I will admit, I was very nervous getting it back and I have been having some sudden anxiety while driving. I have been hit 4 times in that car.  And last week a friend of ours lost his granddaughter in a car accident that was similar to the one I had.  Her car was pushed into the oncoming lane of traffic and she was killed.  Dave and I are heartbroken for our friend's family.   I cannot stop thinking about their family.

~I read a great book this weekend called Heaven is for Real.  I highly recommend it.  I read it in about an hour and a half and now Will and Harry are both reading it.

Okay, I have probably squeezed more than I should have into this post for now.  More soon.

P.S.  Thank you for all the sweet comments on the last post.  I loved what Robin shared, "Humility is not thinking less of yourself.  It is thinking of yourself less."  Brilliant.