January's family night and other news

Let's see if I can crank out a blog post before the girls plow through their stack of new library books (or better said Kali and Alida plow through books while Terah eats her cup of restaurant ice and listens some of the time). We are just home from an afternoon/evening out and getting the house warmed up with a fire in the wood stove while a cold drizzle comes down outside. I think some decaf coffee and a family Rook game is likely on the agenda yet for this evening.

We are doing a family night monthly again in 2018, rotating who plans that outing. January was Jason's month, which we just missed by a day. So we'll technically have two in February! We hadn't gotten to the Bridgewater ice skating rink this year yet; today was the day. The plan was for Terah and I to watch Jason, Alida and Kali skate for a bit and then walk down the road to the library. I figured it would not be enjoyable to hang out for an hour and a half in the cold watching them skate. When we were paying, we asked about the smallest size skates they have and they were actually about Terah's size. We were debating giving it a try when the lady at the desk told us that it probably is not worth it. She said normally little ones her size get them on, are on the ice for a minute before tiring or starting to cry and then parents are back with the skates. She didn't want to discourage us from doing it but didn't want us to waste money on it. She said she normally just recommends letting them try it out in shoes with the little walkers they have and there would be no charge. She said something like "most kids don't last more than a few minutes."

Well, let's just say that Terah is clearly not like "most kids."  She LOVED it! She was all smiles and every few laps I checked in if she wanted to take a break and go to the library with me. She was not interested! She wanted to go around and around and around - not always in the same manner. She found about as many ways to walk (or RIDE) on her little walker. Here's a little snippet of her grinning and having a grand time. I was trying to be a responsible parent and stay close to her, but she would have none of my hand on her walker unless she was wanting a ride. Silly gal!

Alida wore out first and was so happy to get off her heavy ice skates. Kali could have gone for awhile, but it wasn't too hard to convince her to head out, since they now got to join us at the library since Terah and I never made it there. :) So we took a short walk down the road, stocked up on some books and then back to eat in the restaurant attached to the rink. We had some hungry gals - worked up good appetites ice skating.

It was a really fun family outing, with everyone in good spirits. On the way home we were talking about the rest of the evening and were talking about reading some of the new library books. Terah said, "Keep...Give Away." I guess this little one is used to going through things since recently some of our book time has been going through stacks of books and having the girls say "Keep" or "Give away" for each book. She seems to enjoy the activity, which is good since we aren't done yet!! We did have to try to explain the concept of "borrow" and that we wouldn't keep or give away the library books.

Ok, I better wrap this up, so I'll end with a few other fun and notable tidbits!

We wrapped up all our corn shelling this week! It needed to be wrapped up BEFORE our deep clean of the dining and living rooms. We will be finding corn kernels for weeks to come.

Today was a FIRST for our household! Jason and I went out for a jog this morning alone! Last night Terah was adamant that she didn't want to come along and would stay with Kali. And she did and the girls did great. They were happily playing Rook when we returned. I see more of that in our future!

Last evening we all went as a family to the blood donation place. Jason and I both gave whole blood while the girls hung out. We were ready to leave before they were. Alida commented on how fast it was and I realized they are used to our 3+ hour stints there for the blood drives. We both sailed right through, which I was happy about. It still cracks me up that everyone there knows that CJ is the one that is assigned to me. For some reason I have gained the reputation of being a hard stick and CJ thinks I'm easy. Last evening, Jason told me that they called her once I went into the check in room. As she walked up to my room, Jason heard her say, "Anyone can check her in, I just need to stick her." I will be sad the day she no longer works there!

And, last but NOT least, we have a NEW GARDEN FENCE! All the posts are planted, trenches due, wire hung and gates made and operational. All that is left is the electric fencing work so we are days away from being done. And then a cascade of projects will be possible - we can mulch and not have to cover things with crates now that we'll have more productive area that the chickens can't mess around in. YIPPEE! This is very exciting news for us! We might grow a whole lot more sweet potatoes. That makes some of us very happy.

Finally, we don't want to forget how Terah says chameleons. Jason is reading her a library book now that has one in it. She says, "Meelweekin." This little gal says so many funny and cute things daily right now! And my does she have a mind of her own. She has VERY clear ideas about what she wants, when and how. Today she was my side kick for doing the property pictures. I could only convince her to let me take my list of pictures with the promise that she could take one of daddy when we were done. Her's what she got!