Lionel is ONE!

This year has flown by and somehow Lionel is already ONE! There's so much we love about this little boy. He has every single one of us wrapped around his little finger, and that's a lot of love for a tiny guy. 

When I asked each member of the family their favorite thing about Lionel, they answered: 

Hazel - "His goofy faces!" 

Eliza - "I think I like Lionel's smiles best." 

Lenora - "I love how much he loves big kid things. And how much my friends all love him." He is always being passed around by teenager when they're around. 

Orson -  "I like when he snuggles with me." It's so true. Lionel gives the best snuggles and sometimes he will pat you on the back as he hugs you. So sweet! 

Snuggling a friend at church

Conrad - "I like playing with him." Conrad is Lionel's favorite, especially first thing in the morning. It helps that Conrad brings him downstairs each morning, and together they find a snack. 

Walter - "Um... playing with him." Walter also LOVES when they get to wear matching pajamas. 

Mommy: "I love Lionel's sense of adventure. He loves trying new things and exploring new places. There's no way he's getting left behind in this family." 

Signing "Mama"

Daddy: "His curiosity for life and especially his curiosity about what I'm cooking." Lionel LOVES to eat, so no surprise he's curious about his next meal. 

Honorable mention - His eyelashes! 

Now for some of Lionel's favorites... 

He loves his white blankies and won't sleep without at least one. He'll often wander into his room (aka our closet) and grab as many as he can find from the box where we store them. Orson also went through a white blankey phase, and I love that he and Lionel share this. 

Lionel loves water in every form - baths, the dog water bowl, the dishwasher, the toilet... 

His favorite toys that aren't toys include fly swatters, anything belonging to his big sisters that he can reach in their bedroom, the dishwasher, the wooden loaves and fishes that sit on my bedside table, and the remote. 

Favorite foods include: bananas, drinks of water, oatmeal, cheese, and fruit. Though there's very little he won't eat. 

We celebrated his birthday with a simple family celebration. Gifts, a handmade birthday crown, and a cake made by Lenora. Seventh babies may not get the fancy parties first babies do, BUT they have SO much loved poured on them by all their big siblings. It was a huge day of celebration around here!

Lenora made him the most adorable llama cake. He loved it! Some of my babies have been hesitant, but he dug right in and ate every bit of his slice. 

On his birthday Lionel was just starting to take steps, but already he's walking everywhere. He's learning new signs and words each day. Today's discovery was his bellybutton. He kept pulling up his shirt, pointing at his tummy, and saying "buh!" We love you Lionel! You bring so much joy to our home.

January = COLD!

The New Year kicked off with some unseasonably warm weather (as in it was in the 40s), so we got to keep our tradition of a first day of the year hike! Though it was really more of a walk, the sunshine and blue skies were good for the soul. 

We got to enjoy a few more days of relative warmth and time outside. 

Roller blading has been a BIG thing for these three lately. They realized the sidewalk around the little playground by our house is the perfect "speed skating" track!

But then, Iowa winter hit in earnest! It was COLD! Cold enough to cancel school on a day when the HIGH was -15 (with wind chills MUCH lower), and cold enough that going outside really wasn't an option for over a week. So we hunkered down and tried to entertain ourselves inside. 

The girls hosted a game night that was a blast!

We played at the library...

And up in the attic...

We played in the tub. Walter is in a phase where he LOVES to play pretend. One minute he's a monster, the next Captain Hook, then a dragon, then Bluey, then Buddy from Dinosaur Train, and the list goes on and on. Here he is pretending he's a swamp monster with mud dripping of his "scary claws"!

Lenora and I competed in a Puzzle Competition with a sister in our ward and her father. It was a blast and we won third place! 

We skated on the outdoor rink. It was COLD but a lot of fun! 

One Thursday, we went on a field trip to a nature center with our homeschool co-op. Again, the outside portion was frigid, but SO cool. We learned how to identify trees in winter and how to determine the age of saplings. Luckily they had tons of fun indoor exhibits too. Mostly, it was great to get out of the house. 

Meanwhile, Eliza kept BUSY with wrestling. She worked SO hard at practice every day after school. She wrestled in a few more meets and cheered on her team at others. During a home tournament, she sadly hurt her shoulder. What she thought would heal up in a few days persisted for over a week. She eventually saw a doctor who diagnosed her with a sprain to her AC joint. Luckily it wasn't major and just need some PT and time to heal. So while her season didn't end ideally, it was a huge success in our books. She worked so hard and never game up. Way to go EE! 

We ended the month with a super fun afternoon ice skating as a family. It was honestly a bit of a long, dull, lonely month. But life has seasons. Those cold winter days sure make the warm sunshine feel all the more amazing! 

Safety Knees!