Happy New Year!! Joseph worked New Year's Day and that was the extent of our holiday. We had a bigger celebration for Rebecah's birthday. I had forgotten to buy balloons and she seemed disappointed so I quickly ran out to the store the morning of her birthday to buy some balloons. I think she was happy I put forth extra effort for her. Rebecah turned 11 and in the world of Harry Potter age 11 is when you are eligible to attend Hogwarts. We gave her a Harry Potter themed birthday.
I typed up her Hogwarts acceptance letter! She got a big smile on her face when she realized what it was. Every Harry Potter loving kid deserved a Hogwarts letter!
For dinner she had pizza and a frosted chocolate chip cheesecake. I thought the cheesecake was super yummy!!
Lincoln had some blanket fun this month. He wrapped up in Kimball's Browns comforter one morning and then He and Kimball joined forces later in the month.
I make private blog journals for my kids so they can have pictures and a record of their life. I then turn them into books. It's expensive, but so worth it to me. This year the company I use had a really good sale on books, lucky for me since I had 3 to print. I print them books every 5 years. They were so happy when their books arrived!
In our area Covid cases really increased at the end of 2020. In order for the schools to stay open 20% of the school staff and students had to be tested for asymtopmatic cases. All of my kids except for Eden had to go through this. Kimball said it was awful, but I think since he is older he got the real test. For the younger grades they did a less traumatizing test. Annika was nervous about having a Covid test. I gently explained to her if students didn't signed up for tests then there was a chance that they would close the school and she wouldn't be able to see Mrs. Corl even 2 days a week. That was enough to win Annika over for testing. Annika loves school and her teacher so much. She makes her teacher notes almost weekly. Their teacher sent me this picture after they had their testing. Lincoln said it was "no big deal." What Troopers!!
Kimball was ordained a Teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood. We went to the Church one evening so he could be ordained. Here is a picture from his ordination two years ago. He has really grown in the last two years.
Joseph made his annual snow fort/cave. Since these pictures have been taken he added a sledding hill to one side so the kids can sled and mini-snowboard off the side. They love it! Joseph is currently working on a tunnel in the front yard.
Other news from the month:
The first two weeks of the year the kids had fully remote learning. After all of the holiday togetherness the Covid cases were too high to allow the kids to go back to school. Everyone was disappointed to stay home another two weeks. When the little ones were finally back at school Annika thought it was just for 1 day and she would have to return to remote learning. The principal at the elementary school had the teachers submit names of students that did really well during the remote learning and then the principal drew names for prizes. Luckily Lincoln and Annika both won a prize!! It was a highlight to our day. We were able to watch a video of the announcements when their names were drawn. The principal sent them each a hand written letter congratulating their efforts and gave them a coupon for a free ice cream at Burger King.
Our year is off to a good start!
