January 2014

For Washington, D.C., January was a cold and somewhat snowy month.  Here are a few things we did to enjoy the month:

1/3/14

It's hard for me to imagine anything prettier than snow against the blue sky.

 Lots of Fridays in January we borrowed a movie from the library, popped some popcorn and had a movie night at home.

 Celebrating Tyrese's 13th birthday at Ted's Bulletin (1/4/14)

Afternoon chats with Howie

1/7/14 

 First time (of many!) at the library with Mommy and Daddy

1/11/14

 MLK Day run along the Mall

1/20/14

 More snow! 1/21/14

 Hot chocolate after playing outside in the snow

 Decorating cupcakes, just for fun

1/26/14

Even with all that fun, some winter mornings you just don't want to get out of bed.

Talk to me...

Tonight after dinner, I was sitting on the couch, and Jovie came over and sat on the floor facing me.  She said, "Talk to me, Mama".  I said, "OK.  What do you want to talk about, Jovie?"  She said "Talk to me about Jesus."  I cannot even describe the gratefulness in my heart.

Sure, the following conversation was only a couple minutes long, and we got a little off track when we started talking about Jesus' birthday and the cupcakes she made with Grandma.  But my heart was overflowing with my little one's earnest desire for a heart-to-heart about Jesus.

She has never asked me that directly to talk to her about something, and this ranks up there as one of the best parenting moments yet.

Ringing in 2014

New Year's Eve was spent at the Mongelli's.  We ate a low-key dinner, and the adults played games while the kids played.  We all stayed until around 11, then went home and put kids to bed and watched the ball drop in our own homes.  How different New Year's Eve looks these days.  :)  

Engrossed in a Curious George movie

 Dressed up for New Year's Eve

 On New Year's Day, we drove over to the Mall and went to the Natural History Museum.

Stylin' on the Mall

 Jovie loved the gems section in the museum

 Clear day on the Mall to walk around a bit

 This weekend was a lot of showing off the stylish clothes from the Youngs

 On New Year's Day evening, we went to dinner at Cactus Cantina.  These kids are so cute!

 Friends.

Happy 2014!