Welcome to 2022! I can't believe we are starting a new year already!
Our month started off with a new blanket for Annika. A dear friend from Arkansas sent Lincoln and Annika fleece blankets when they were born. Both kids LOVE their blankets. The blankets have gotten faded over time so we found a second blanket for Annika off Amazon. It isn't exactly the same since the fleece was cut in different places, but it's fun to have a new one. The old one is really grungy compared to the new one and that is with regular washings! Now Annika, Kimball and Eden all have their original lovey and a spare! Lincoln wants a new blanket, too, but we couldn't find his exact blanket.
Rebecah turned 12 on January 7th! Rebecah is very mature and she has seemed 12 for at least a year now. I'm glad I can finally call her 12 without lying! She was at musical practice until 6:00 in the evening so most of her birthday was spent at school/rehearsal, but she didn't seem to mind. Her day started with cheese danish for breakfast, and pizza and raspberry white chocolate cheesecake for dinner/dessert. The two of us went shopping the day after her birthday for more birthday fun with new makeup and clothes. Rebecah is a great help in the kitchen and a good big sister.
Joseph found this cute picture the girls had taken on his phone.
We haven't had very much snow this year. We did get a few inches mid-month so the kids made some snowmen and they lasted at least 2 weeks before rain finally put an end to their snowy lives.
Rebecah making candles.
We went bowling on Martin Luther King, Jr. day since the kids were off school. It was also the anniversary of Dad's death, so it was a nice tribute to him since he enjoyed bowling in college. We ate pumpkin pie in honor of Grandpa Johnson, too.
I went to Kimball's last track meet. The schools around here have indoor tracks and their meets are at the local community college. My camera malfunctioned during Kimball's relay and I was so disappointed to not get a picture or video of him running. His speed has really improved and he looked great running.
Joseph and I went eagle watching one morning once the kids were at school. We have lived here 9 years and only discovered this year that Onondaga Lake is home to dozens of Bald Eagles during the winter because the lake doesn't freeze over completely. There is a walking trail to the edge of the lake, but we couldn't see any eagles up close from there. We saw some at a distance and flying overhead. We next drove to the backside of the mall that overlooks the lake and we found a lot of eagles nesting in the trees. It was so neat to see multiple eagles at one time. We will have to do eagle watching from the mall parking lot again. We hadn't brought our camera with the distance lens, so the pictures from my phone aren't great.
There are 6 eagles in the center of this picture.
Now that Omicron has calmed down and the cases aren't so high, I took Rebecah and two of her friends to Get Air to celebrate her birthday. They had a lot of fun together. Good friends are priceless!
After jumping for an hour we went to Sweet Frog, a frozen yogurt place to cool off. Rebecah's friends spoiled her!
Rebecah stays after school daily for musical rehearsals. She loves being with friends and experiencing the musical excitement.
Kimball is finished with track, but immediately started the off-season football workouts. He isn't happy if he has to come home from school right away so he always finds something to keep him busy.
Lincoln and Annika started the bi-monthly activities at church this year. They are excited to attend those activities. Our Wednesday evenings are busy!
