A Busy January

 One of my favorite things to watch is Paton playing with Daddy. He plays a certain way with me and a different way with Greg. I like this b/c it gives each of us special times with the little guy. Many of the games Daddy plays involve in some way the throwing, catching, rolling, or bouncing of a ball. Occasionally, I ask Greg, "Are you sure you really want to teach him that right now? I can see this ending badly." And usually I'm right!

I guess it just goes with being a boy...but throwing rocks into a river provides endless entertainment. Early this January, the weather was so gorgeous-upper 40's low 50's-that we decided to take a walk. He's doing much better about walks--not insisting on being carried after a mere 20 minutes of walking. Though the frequent small rock does distract from making much progress.

January's ladies activity was held at Color Me Mine-a local pottery painting establishment. We had 10 ladies come, and it was such fun seeing everyone's creativity. And that reminds me...our pottery is ready to be picked up. I will need to go to town tomorrow to get my zebra-inspired bowl.

Last weekend was an anomaly. We had just had a terrific snowfall...followed by a lot of rain. Normally a heavy rainfall wouldn't have been a problem, but since the ground was frozen there wasn't anywhere for the melting snow and rain to go. So my driveway became a rushing river heading straight for my garage, and the yard melt-off gathered just below my basement windows. If we hadn't tackled it right away, the water would certainly have reached the windows and leaked into the house. Thankfully, the ground was frozen so all that water couldn't seep into the ground and into the basement floor.

Another praise was that we were hosting Ed and Amber that weekend. If they hadn't been there to help us, I'm sure we would have had a much more overwhelming task. Certainly church folk would have been happy to help, but it was nice to have that immediate assistance for such an immediate dilemma.

Then just the other day we got another terrific snowfall. So much so that I really wanted to take a picture of it. And wouldn't you know it...today we had a lot of rain...again! This time we knew what would happen and were prepared. No surprises this time!

Friends of our invited us over, and Paton encountered his first really big dogs-two malamutes and one husky. They were a little excited at first, but when they calmed down, Paton enjoyed being around them. You can see below how big the malamute is compared to Paton.

And then here I am at Awana. The theme for that night was "Homemade Superhero Night." Charlotte and I called ourselves "The Dynamic Duo" complete with my straight hair and glasses. The straight hair is definitely a once a year kind of thing. I simply am not skilled enough to straighten my own thick, curly hair without being tempted to chuck the flat iron and all other necessities out the window. Patience has never been a strength for me.