January according to my phone

So when I recently transferred all my photos from my camera, I realized I had only taken 11 photos in January. Eleven! And they were terrible! But I made up for it with my phone camera, which is always on hand, even if it's just for ridiculous selfies. So here's what January looked like.

1 and 2: Bree and Mason broke in their new Christmas bikes. It was Bree's first time without training wheels (way overdue, I know), and she caught on immediately. She was giddy with the feel of freedom.
3: I took this selfie to send to Chad. I had to prove I was wearing the jewelry he bought me for Christmas (which I love, by the way).
4: Bree loves to read. Lincoln loves to read too, and also loves to be like his big sister.
5: Lincoln has a serious love affair with crackers.
6: I don't shop at the "regular" grocery store very often (I mostly price-match at Walmart), so when I stopped by Safeway with Lincoln one day, I introduced him to the car cart. He loved it. If I stopped, he'd turn around to look at me to see what the hold-up was. Then when I'd start walking again, he'd start furiously turning the steering wheel.
7: This is what a long day of driving to doctor appointments looks like. We like to switch it up between pretzels and Wheat Thins.
8: This picture was taken to prove that I do actually wear my adorable cupcake apron from Jaime when I make cupcakes.
9: Any time Lincoln finds our bedroom door open he goes for one of two things: Chad's basketball or the boxing gloves.
10: Miss Erin, Lincoln's speech therapist, comes to visit once a week. We love her. Lincoln is verbalizing so much more, and because they "play" so much, his fine motor skills are awesome too.
11: Occasionally Mason wants his hair spiked...I'm pretty sure I took this photo at his request...
12: Remember when I used to do Cookie Days back in Globe? When Amy texted me to see if I was free so she and the kids could visit, she suggested we have one more Cookie Day. The kids played for hours, we had a picnic at the park, and we made chocolate crepes. So fun. And delicious.

13, 14, and 15: My parents came to visit one weekend, and after the whole family went out for lunch, us girls decided to have a special outing. We headed to Tempe Marketplace to shop the BOGO sale at Charming Charlie. Bree could not believe the vast array of jewelry they had. We all came away with treasures at bargain prices. Then we treated ourselves to frozen yogurt. I was sure Bree wouldn't be able to finish the huge mound of caramel yogurt and candy...but I always underestimate her abilities to pack away sweets.
16: We had a Family Home Evening lesson on how to deal with strangers, and we filled out info cards for each kid, along with their fingerprints. Hopefully we'll never have to use them.
17: This is not a picture of my mileage per hour. It's a picture proving that it was 81 degrees in January.
18: Couponing is insane. And awesome. Though, to be perfectly honest, if I didn't have to do it, I totally wouldn't. It takes so much time.
19: The kids earn 2 cents for every weed they pull. Bree is pretty self-motivated, but Mason needs someone out there with him, encouraging him to keep working hard. Lincoln did not want to be left out of the action. Chad would pull a weed, hand it to him, and Lincoln would walk over to put it in the wheelbarrow.
20: At any given time at least one bag of crackers, chips, or cereal in our pantry has been previously spilled all over the floor and put back in the bag. Because, you know, we don't like to waste food.
21: Occupational therapy includes fun stuff like playing dress-up.
22: We all had strep and sinus infections like nobody's business.
23: Bree's class at school was celebrating Chinese New year. And because I'm so awesome, I made this costume because Bree just HAD to dress up for the party the next day. She was so excited. I even put the top half of her hair in two little buns, since I thought it looked very Chinesey. So when I picked her up after school, and asked her how the party was, I found out that there was no party. Wrong day. Story of my life.
25: (Yes, I realize that there is no 24...it's past my bedtime) I volunteered in Mason's class the Friday before his birthday. He is a very good student. Wait...let me rephrase that: his test scores are very good. The best in his class. But he hates school. He's the kid who needs a desk apart from the rest of the group. If this is what he looked like when I was there watching him...I can only imagine what he does the rest of the time. His teacher is a saint. Sigh.