January

Here are a few highlights from January:

Snow!

Cute Kids.

These photos I love. We were working on cleaning up the family room one evening and Austin said he wanted to help with the vacuuming and he did it all by himself without any help. He is such a good boy. He worked so hard going back and forth and doing a really thorough job. Sometimes I forget how much he can do, even though he is not very big, when he wants to do something, he will work hard and get it done.

Brother and Sister Love.

The kids tackling me. So much fun.

Caleb helping put away the Christmas tree. He loves to help so much.

Lydia practiced skateboarding. Here she would have me hold onto the hose, she would skate off and then when the hose got tight, I would pull her back. So glad to spend some good time with her before busy season.

Building with legos. Shantel is such a good Mom.

Caleb found some eggs on the counter and was learning about what happens when you drop them on the floor.

Playing Jenga together. This was one morning right before I went to work.

One day this month a Kirby salesperson came to our door. I was gone, but Shantel let them in so they could give their spill. As context, Shantel's parents bought a Kirby vacuum about 20 years ago and so Shantel grew up with a Kirby and her parents love it (and it still works great). Shantel loved the vacuum. She loved how well it cleaned the carpet and really loved that it can shampoo the carpet. She also really loved that it can clean the windowsills and do so much more. Really she should be writing this post, she LOVED the vacuum. She sent me a text that said, "Kirby salesperson here. I'm a sucker." However, she really liked it and eventually got them to come down on their $2,700 package down to $1,750. She texted and I told her that we could not buy a $1,700 vacuum on the spur of the moment. She turned them away and then actually they told her they would do it for $1,400. This is one reason I love her so much. Even though she really wanted the vacuum, she is so responsible and level headed and so she waited. When I got home she told me all about it and how much she loved it. So we decided to start saving our money for it.

Anything to add Shantel? Why yes David, I do have something to add. After being talked off the ledge, I called up my mom and asked if I could borrow HER Kirby vacuum. Her 18-year-old Kirby vacuum. I then proceeded to Kirby the whole house and our carpet felt SO clean. It really cemented to me that the vacuum was worth it because... if my parent's 18-year-old vacuum can still make my carpet feel clean (plus windows and all the other extras), then imagine what a brand new Kirby could do for me. I've been bugging David about getting new carpet on the main level for a really long time, but I think that having a decent vacuum that can actually CLEAN the carpet instead of just sucking up the things on top will go a long way to not having to replace our carpet so soon. So actually... I'm SAVING us money. You're welcome David. 

Thanks babe. So glad you are saving us money, you know I love that. (That carpet is pretty dirty).

Speaking of Kirby, here is Austin using that Kirby from Shantel's mom. 

My girls.

Lydia with a tiny tea party. 

Lydia working on her back bend. So funny to see the boys try to mimic her.

Lydia wrote her very own piano song and it was so cool. Amazing to see her learning and then taking what she has learned and turning it into something.

Austin shaving with me one morning. It is so cute.

Shantel took the kids to the planetarium.

We had a great January. On to February and the heart of busy season.