January 2021

 

New Year's Day!  We couldn't be around people because we were waiting to take Covid tests, but Ben didn't have to work, so we just did some fun stuff together.  We went geocaching together at Anne Springs and Caleb tried out some of his new fishing bait he got for Christmas.  (No luck!)

The first geocache at Anne Springs we looked for FOREVER and finally gave up.  The second one was a fun find!  Abby was the one who finally uncovered it.

One of the "geocaches" led us to an old mill replica out in the woods.  Pretty cool!

Abby wanted to practice gymnastics, so Caleb told her he would make her a balance beam.  This is about as far as it got. :)

We had to skip our first week back at CC since we had not passed the 10 day mark since being exposed to COVID.  The kids got to to do the art project at home that they would have done at CC.

Caleb got a new mixer!  We split the cost 50-50 with him... and this one can hold SO much more cookie dough.  He was very excited!!

He thought the best part was that a blue light came on when you plugged it in. :)

Abby turns NINE!!  Wes and Joyce came for dinner and cake the night before.  Then on her birthday (Sunday morning), she opened presents before Zoom church...

Then we went to Charlotte to get fancy crepes for lunch. 

Abby after her first bite... "This is AMAZING!"

We went to Freedom Park in Charlotte to play...

Ben and Micah did a sprint challenge.  Micah won, but not by much!

Caleb was not interested in sprinting. 😆

We did search for one geocache at Freedom Park and found this pretty place by the river as a result...

Anytime Caleb is by a river, he has to pretend to be Gollum (from Lord of the Rings) catching fish.

"My precious!"

"Crossing the Delaware":

We went to the American Girl Doll store and Claire's.  (Well, the boys sat in a chair looking at their phones.) :)  Abby bought a couple little things with some birthday money.  Then we picked up Chipotle to eat at home.  

The Steelers played the Browns in the first play-off game.  Not only was this the first time the Browns had been in the play-offs in a LONG time, but you can guess from these pictures who won.... 😆

Mike Jette gave the kids some old silver coins and told them if they cleaned them up, they could sell the coins and keep the money.  Ben took Caleb and Abby in, and the guy actually took the time to explain a lot to them.  They made $70 and were pretty thrilled!

Ben and Wes took the kids to hit golf balls one day...

WE GOT A NEW STOVE!!  For the first time since living in this house, I have a stove with all working burners and that heats evenly in the oven!  This was my "birthday present," but it may have been just as much for Caleb's cookie business.  The kids were so excited it has a working light on the inside that they sat and watched the empty oven for 5 minutes. 😆

One day I came home and Abby and Caleb were in Caleb's little bed fort, reading Big Nate books together.  I said, "Oh, you guys are getting along so nicely!" And Abby said, "Yeah, we talked about it and figured we should probably be friends so M&M learn from us how to act." 💓 

Big brother...💗💗

I subbed for Micah's class one week.  He got to be on a team with the two girls. :)

On January 30, we did our first video "bonding trip" with the boys in Haiti.  It was supposed to be at 3:00, and the translator finally sent a message at 3:20 saying, "Which kid do you need?" 😑  The video quality was horrible, but at least we got to ask a few questions and (kind of) see the boys play.  They are so cute!!  They aren't walking yet, and only say a couple of words.  (They are 20 months old.)  We got to "meet" a little nine-year old girl they are attached to.  During the whole 45 minutes, the boys were very quiet and serious as though they didn't know what to make of this strange translator guy.  But we did get to see them crawling around and throwing their toys at the end of the time.  The translator said they definitely seem identical, and I asked him to ask the creche worker how they tell them apart.  She said one of them has a bumpy belly button and one of them has a smooth belly button!  That should be interesting trying to keep them straight!😆😆

Micah took this picture.  It reminds me of the picture of Robby and Caleb. 💓

We got lots of pictures of the boys in Haiti this month, but I will have to wait until we are "approved" to post those.