in the first week of January

Is 22 pictures too many?  For the first week of January?

You'd probably shake your head at the number of pictures I have from December that I never got around to posting.  When you set out to take a picture every single day, and then end up taking a dozen or so, you end up with a LOT of pictures.  And I have gotten sooooo much better at deleting them...the duplicates, the blurries, the ones that are totally gross.  But even after deleting over half of them, there are still a bunch left.  And I had planned to blog them, but I was a lazy blogger, and well, it didn't happen.  And I don't want to waste time trying to "catch up," because really, they're just pictures of our everyday life.  Stuff that is the same day after day...so the first week of January is where I find myself.  Or rather, I find myself at the END of the first week of January, and oh crap, I'd better get to posting before January is gone, too.

In the first week of January, Mia made friends with Harper, although Harper was not conscious for the event.  Mia wanted to make sure they both had their own pacifier.

 

Cousins came to play and Mia wanted to make sure Justin had a pacifier, too.

And then we made them pose together on the couch.  These two are nearly the same size, but Mia is a full seven months older than Justin.

He's a brute and we love his blobby blobbiness.

But Mia is much meaner than he is, so maybe it's an even match.  Size vs. personality.  I have a feeling which one will win in the end.

The kids were as addicted to technology as their well-meaning mothers.  Unfortunately, Mia has now learned to unlock the screen on the iPhone, so we will be adding passwords in the near future.

I wrangled Mia long enough to calm her crazy hair into three ponies, instead of her standard sprout of hair on top of her head. Her sprout just keeps getting taller, but it's my go-to hairdo these days.  I just grab whatever hair is available, smooth as much as possible, and wrap it in a band.  To say she dislikes her hair being done just doesn't do justice to the writhing and screaming that happens if I take longer than 2.2 seconds to get the job done.

The trick to this cute do?  The remote control and free reign over the volume and channels.  It is my new secret weapon.

And because the weather has been nice, we spent as much time outside as possible.  Visiting the neighbor's horses.

Throwing rocks into puddles.

Basking in the sunshine.

And falling in the grass.

We ended up with freezing fingers and runny noses every time, but it was worth it.  My kids thrive on being outdoors and aren't bothered by frigid temperatures (which are really only frigid to us wimpy Californians).

Based solely on these pictures, it would appear the kids were independent of any adult supervision the entire week.  But there were adults there.  Somewhere.  Just beyond the lens of the camera.  I'm almost sure of it.

And if you're wondering, I predict this is very similar to what the second week of January will look like as well.  You know, just in case I don't make it back before then.

What is your year looking like so far?