January Tidbits

Most of January was spent anticipating our trip to Hawaii at the end of the month. Chicago was particularly grey and dreary and with weather on Oahu looking like this:

we couldn't help it! A few notable things happened this month though and I need to get those in the record. 

I got a Wordle on only two tries. That needs to be in the record, for sure!

Ireland was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. It's always interesting mingling with other parents at events like this versus other events. There's an air of cheering on each other's kids as well as understanding they likely got here because the parents put in some serious time and effort making sure school is a priority. 

When the occasion requires nice dress, it is now trendy for girls to wear a short dress with some sort of high top like Converse or Vans. Ireland has a deep closet of church-appropriate clothes and has been wearing low heels for years. She stood up to accept her certificate and suddenly she looked so grown up and polished. My mama heart was bursting with pride over this one who works so hard in school.

 There was a Primary pancake breakfast to meet new teachers for the year and the placemats were fantastic! The word search has all the kid's names in it- how cool is that?

We love our bishop! A man who is ready to get down and play with the kids and let them know they matter is just the one you want at the helm of the ship.

The girls absolutely adore him!

In Hawaii my phone wasn't holding a charge so I finally replaced it. Liesel was more excited to play with it than I was so I had to tease her a bit when she texted me.

Our bench at church has kind of become the babysitting bench. We welcome all children to come sit with us and one of them is Russell who is the sweetest little boy. Here he is singing and mimicking the director in leading the music. After the sacrament I was passing out Altoids to keep everyone's breath fresh and he insisted he wanted one. That was a bad idea! After 15 minutes he reappeared at our bench and said, "I'm baaaaack! And I had a drink so I'm not spicy anymore!"

Sydney stumbled into the office one morning and solemnly announced she is a Swifty. So of course I had to plait an Evermore braid into her hair and take a picture in the backyard even though I had work to do and she had a bus to catch. I mean I had to, right?

Saw this one and it made me laugh. I'm so grateful for my friend Annemarie who I walk with often. Those walks are a sacred time but also- sometimes we really need to vent and we can definitely get worked up about life.

Liesel was inducted into Tri-M which is a Music Honor Society. It was an insanely busy night so she's actually wearing a leotard from dance and I brought a skirt I thought would work. She wore her high top Vans- ha! Here she is pointing out her name to the announcer. Someone walked right in front of my camera when she actually walked across the stage to receive her certificate so this is the best I have from that moment.

Her high school has a really good group of kids and her teacher was a bit late. The kids all cheered when she arrived which was really heartwarming. It took a bit of convincing to get Liesel to take choir in the first place but she's really blooming there.

See? Some other stuff not related to Hawaii happened!