Five People 12 Times: January, 2011

Inspired by Tara Whitney's project last year, I have decided to take a family photo each month for 2011 and post them here along with an update for our family for the month. Keeping my fingers crossed that I can keep it up all year!

January. We kicked off the new year with two celebrations and a making of resolutions. The boys always hem and haw about making resolutions, but it's so fun to look back at them and remember what was important to us a few years ago. January has been a super cold month with four snow days and lots of hot chocolate and time spent by the fire. We lost power for three days and almost froze to death. Everyone is into the school routine now. Homework is going much smoother, especially for Kohler.

Kohler has been working really hard at his swimming. Every weekend has been spent at the pool at one swim meet or another. He is a starter for his high school swim team and always swims the A relays. He is reliable and dependable and always pulls off a good swim. He experienced his first end of semester exams in high school. They were super easy for him this year, and between exams and snow days, basically had three weeks with no homework. He has decided that he is more of a math/science guy than a humanities/communication guy and that has become a struggle for him as he's in the wrong program.

Kaden has also been steadily improving his swimming. He never complains about practice and often remarks how much he loves to swim. School remains easy for him. He does have homework in seventh grade, but it's always finished quickly. He got straight A's again this quarter. He's been speeding through several books and started keeping a "Books Read" journal. He loves his quiet time alone and has been getting back into painting his Warhammer figures.

Kieran makes us laugh every day. He loves his T.V. shows and often acts as if he's in a sitcom himself. Most evenings find him riding his RipStik around and around the circle through the kitchen, living room, and dining room. It's a daily struggle to get him to read, unless it's a comic book. He's been playing basketball and we've gone to his games every Saturday night (he plays very little, but loves being part of the team). He sounds so good on his saxophone and was moved up to the performance band which he loves. He has perfect attendance for swimming!

I am looking forward to high school swimming being over so we can spend more family time together. This month I've really felt like we're becoming a bit disconnected. The boys spend so many hours at the pool or at meets it doesn't leave time for much else. Hopefully that will change by the end of February. Even weekends are hard as Stoehr and I and Kohler usually want to watch something different from the other on movie nights. We need to pull together as a family more and make sure to carve out time together doing something we all enjoy. Definitely a goal for February.