Science Museum, Snow, and Superbowl

Well, we rang in the New Year with our neighbors.  We always enjoy getting together with them.  Roman made it once again to see the ball drop.  I can't believe it is 2014...time goes by so fast.

Roman celebrated his 6th birthday.  We had a party at the Durham Life and Science Museum.  This was the first party where we have not had it at the house.  He was able to invite friends from school.  The theme this year was robots.  Of course, I made the cake and all the kids had a blast.  Roman is doing great in school and received his 2nd report card where he got all 3's and some 4's.  He is reading and doing math.  I am just proud of his growth.  Roman continues to be a great big brother and is always helping out and watching out for Max.  We have displayed 5 words for Roman in his room.  These words are discussed at bedtime and the goal is for him to strive to incorporate these words into his life.  The words that we came up with are-compassion, innovative, responsible, patient and thankful.  He has learned to read these words and is working on what they 'really' mean.  One of my goals as a mom is to raise strong men who have Godly characteristics.  Roman signed up for a trial Taekwondo class.  Unfortentuly he did not like it so we are not continuing.  I know he will find his passion soon.  We will just keep trying.  He has asked to join swimming again so we will see.  I was able to go to Roman's school one day to eat lunch with him and help out in the classroom.  It is so nice when I get the opportunities to be a mom instead of the teacher.

Max is almost 2 and holding his own.  He is talking so much more and repeats everything.  He is starting to line up toys when he plays.  This makes me laugh because Roman did the same thing when he was his age. Max has so much energy but can be so sweet at the same time.  He is now saying 'I love you' and always asks where everybody is.  He will go through the list of everyone in the family.  He enjoys his time with Ms. Lora and she is working with him on potty training.  I can't get him to go at home but he will put his stuffed animals on the potty and make them go:)

This past month we actually saw snow here.  We only got about 2 inches but it caused us to have 4 days off of school.  Roman loved playing in the snow and sledding.  One night we even hooked the sleds up to the car and drove around the neighborhood.  Max on the other hand was not a fan of the snow.  We bundled him up and took him out.  He went down the hill twice and than asked to go inside.  Anytime we talked about going outside he just said, 'No, cold!'  Before the real snow came our clubhouse had a company come in and make a snow hill for the kids to go sledding.  It's funny what we do in the south to have fun.  Seeing the snow was pretty and fun but after about a day I was ready for it to go away.  I am not a fan of the extreme heat in the south but I also don't miss all the snow from New York.
We again had a party with our neighbors for Superbowl.  I am not a fan of either team but I will say the game was aweful.  It wasn't even exciting to watch so I was thankful for all the company and food.
Life is always busy but I am still striving to take it all in and enjoy each day.  There are definetely days where it is harder than others and the little things in life can seem so large.  I am learning to be aware of when I let the little things get me down and to turn my focus to the bigger picture.  Life is a growing process and no matter what happens-good or bad, we all become stronger at the end if we let it.
I hope you are all staying warm. Enjoy our pictures from the last month.
January Pictures