January

The month started out with a trip to the beach to celebrate John's birthday.  (we had a little celebration with the kids before we left.) Mom and Dad joined us at the beach. We had a nice time with dinner out and sitting inside by the fireplace, as it was cold and windy and rainy outside. 

A week later, we should have celebrated Dad's birthday with dinner at Country Kitchen, but the predicted ice and snow appeared.  We all stayed home until the roads were clear again and celebrated a week after that.

We didn't get much snow, mostly ice. It so amazing how each item is completely encased. The worst part is you can't get outside for anything.

I did manage to keep the bird feeders filled.

I was completely surprised with how the ice and snow affected my primrose. I would never have guessed it would bleed out the color like that!

We got to have Lina on a sick day. She made bracelets for me.

Josiah's basketball games started.  It is really good to see him playing and how much he likes it.

We were given awesome news that a great-grandson will be joining the family in May!

The girls found me some special Cheerios.

Arianna is playing league volleyball. Josiah does not want to spend his whole day watching, so instead he stays the day with us every couple of weeks. I took him fishing one of those days. It is such a process for him. I think he likes fixing up his line as much as the actual fishing part.

My amaryllis was out of this world gorgeous! Two stems with 9 blooms all at one time! 

The two year mark for the horrible accident came and went. It isn't a day that any of us want to remember, but we have no choice.  It will be marked in our minds forever. The shock of it all is fading, but the emptiness and disbelief remains. It is so weird how one day you can think of a memory or see a photo and smile, and that same photo or memory will gut you and bring on the tears the next day.