Only a month into the new year, and 2026 has made it pretty clear that she isn’t here to play. The headlines are heartbreaking, and while our family’s trials are no match for the countless hard things going on in the world, I won’t pretend we haven’t been on the struggle bus as we acclimate to our post-Christmas school rhythms and navigate the rigors of Toddler Life. It hasn’t been ALL bad, though, far from it. Here’s a glimpse at the many positive highlights and bright points from this past month.
|| READING LATELY ||
I had a surprisingly excellent reading month which was a GREAT way to start off my reading year, and a huge relief after a lackluster end to my reading in 2025. I read FIVE 4.5- and 5-star books, including this excellent apologetics book, this middle grade classic, this feel-good novel that was as good as everyone said it would be, this surprisingly heartwarming satire, and this novel with an unforgettable premise and characters.
I had some great take-aways from this book that was my Word-related book for the season, and this book—though admittedly sacrilegious—was undeniably funny and surprisingly informative. This was pretty crass but a totally wild ride. And of course I loved the most recent installments of this series that I adore (though I’m sad I’ve caught up with the series and need to wait a while for Volume 9!). Reviews of these books are headed your way in a Quick Lit post soon! (I always publish my Quick Lit posts on the second Thursday of the month.)
|| LISTENING LATELY ||
I fell in love with the music of David when we saw the movie just before Christmas, and I immediately knew that the soundtrack would be on repeat in our home as soon as the season for Christmas music came to an end. The kids and I have been listening to the music constantly all month. Not only are the songs beautiful, but their messages are uplifting and many have ribbons of Scripture woven through their verses. My favorite songs are Shalom and Tapestry, but the whole soundtrack is a delight.
Some podcasts I’ve enjoyed lately:
Current Prayer Series from Verity Podcast by Phylicia Masonheimer including 161 | Can the Saints Pray for Us? and 162 | Do We Need Deliverance Prayer?
Keeping It Real: Conversations with Jillian Michaels—David Harris Jr – The Moral Collapse of America (I’ve been praying for Jillian Michaels and her salvation for several years, and was excited to hear her opening up to Jesus in this episode!)
|| MONTHLY KID-ISMS ||
CHARLIE-ISMS:
+ When Nico ripped a page out of Charleston’s Bible after an already tough day: “I hope there was root beer in the cup that the straws are falling out of, because that was the last one.” (Took me a minute to get that one, but it was a good one-liner!)
+ Me to Luke as I filled out a form: “What are the last four numbers of your Social?” Charleston, piping up: “6-7-4-1. I don’t know what a Social is, but that’s my socializing number.”
+ Watching the movie Sergeant York, when some Christian themes came in: “I saw that this was made by Warner Brothers. I didn’t know they were a Christian company!” (Giving us the opportunity to explain that faith and Hollywood were a little more closely aligned back in the 1940s.)
+ “Nico, you need to stay cute. You can always be handsome when you’re older, but you only have so much time to be cute.”
SULLY-ISMS:
+ Kali: “Mom, why do you go to the dentist more than us?” (I was “invited back” to my dentist following a cleaning to get a crown.) Sully: “Adults have to go to the dentist more because adults have more teeth.”
+ “I love sleeping, it’s the best. This is how you fall asleep really really fast: you get a blanket and you cuddle up in your bed and you close your eyes and go to sleep.” Kali piping in: “And you kiss your bed because you love it so much!”
+ Explaining sarcasm: “It’s kind of like lying, but being funny.”
+ Overheard on the twins’ camera: “Kali. . . I think Mom is the Tooth Fairy.” Kali thinks for a while, laughs: “I think I’m the Tooth Fairy.” Sully: “How do YOU know that? You don’t have that much money!”
+ “I don’t think I can bring my binoculars to the Y. Because they are an outside toy, I use them outside, and the Y has a sign that says no outside toys.”
+ “I think I’m eating a lot faster than Kali now because my molars came in and hers didn’t, so I have more teeth.”
+ “Look at all that ice! It’s, like, frozen!”
+ “I hope you guys all die before I do because I’ll be really sad in Heaven without you.”
KALI-ISMS:
+ “Where are the papers?” Me: “What papers are you looking for?” Kali: “The ones that are flat.”
+ “I wanna be a sarcastic person when I grow up.”
+ “If your mom is a teacher does that mean your dad has to be a principal?”
+ “I always think that Heaven is on a huge, enormous, gigantic cloud and God sees everyone on a big, big, big computer.”
NICO-ISMS & MILESTONES:
+ Nico never took to a bottle and wouldn’t really drink from a sippy cup until this month. Now he loves drinking cow’s milk from his cup and gets a kick out of giving himself milk mustaches.
+ He’s mastered eating food with a fork; pasta, casseroles (especially ones with beans), and sautéed onions and mushrooms are his favorite things to eat.
+ At seventeen months, Nico still isn’t walking, but he can stand unassisted and took his first step this week—in our room, with all his siblings cheering him on! He really loves to stand up and dramatically fall to the ground.
+ This boy is by far my chattiest baby! He has at least fifty words now, but my favorite is when he correctly uses “Thank You”—when we offer him food, or give him something he wants, or even after nursing.
+ Mimicking his siblings, when he wants to get my attention to show me something he pats my arm and says, “Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!” Thankfully I’m still Mama the rest of the time.
+ He is very clear on things he is not allowed to do (and things his siblings are not allowed to do) and will shake his head, wave his hand, and tell us “No no! Naughty!” when a temptation arises.
+ He has a little Good Shepherd board book that he likes to look at during diaper changes. He always turns to the first picture of a sheep and says, “BLAAAAH” and sticks his tongue out—like he’s making a puking face (as opposed to the traditional sheep “baa”) no matter how many times we correct him.
+ While nursing on my lap one afternoon, he stood up on my legs, took my face in both of his hands, and planted a huge kiss on my lips before returning to his feeding.
|| HAPPENINGS & HIGHLIGHTS ||
We rang in the New Year with a simple celebration at home. The kids made decorations and we had a game night, dug into their leftover gingerbread house, and counted down to “midnight” (8:00) before toasting to 2026 with bottles of sparkling cider. Then the kids and Luke headed off to bed and I quietly closed out the year with a book and a snack, listening to fireworks exploding outside and grateful to be cozy at home.
Charleston turned 11 on the 16th! I know this isn’t technically a milestone birthday, but this one really hit me: my boy is growing up and he genuinely looks and acts like a preteen—which is scary and fun and crazy and ALL THE THINGS. Even though he’s growing up, he still had little-kid levels of enthusiasm for his birthday and was excited to help with all the planning, starting with plenty of homemade Harry Potter decor (the Hogwarts House-colored paper chains were my favorite) and a fun birthday t-shirt.
On the morning of Charleston’s birthday, we went out for donuts and then came home to open presents. His favorite gift was a Holy Hand Grenade mug (which has an inside joke backstory with our CC friends); watching him laugh like crazy as he opened that present was the highlight of my day! After presents we headed to Catch Air. Technically, this was NOT a birthday event (that’s coming later this week in the form of a trip to Kalahari) but was actually the kids’ reward for filling their marble jar. But since we were already taking Charleston’s birthday off of doing school work, it was a great day to go. The kids all had a blast, but none more than Nico who wanted nothing to do with the toddler area and instead spent three hours climbing the big-kid playground with me at his heels. This body is getting a little old for tunnels and slides, but we made it happen and it was worth it to hear Nico’s giggles and see his wide-eyed wonder at this place that to him was pure magic.
After Catch Air we had just enough time for a FaceTime call with my parents before my in-laws came over for our small family party. The evening included Charleston’s favorite foods (BBQ chips, root beer, In-n-Out, and fruit) as well as a buffet of Goldfish crackers (all agreed that the Cinnamon Roll Grahams were the favorite, followed by Xtra Cheesy Pizza) for which Charleston made the cutest Harry Potter-themed signs. We ended the evening with presents, cake, and ice cream. Not a bad kickoff for Charleston’s twelfth year, and although he didn’t follow in Harry’s footsteps of having a Hogwarts invitation on his 11th birthday, I think he had a pretty great day.
Not to be outdone by all of Charleston’s birthday attention, Sully added a little excitement of his own that day by losing his first tooth while biting into a (very soft) pear during lunch! The tooth had been wiggly for over a year, so the loss came as no surprise and we were excited that the birthday alignment means we will always remember the date of his first loss tooth. Sully set out his tooth for the Tooth Fairy, along with a letter, and was a little surprised to get a note back that was addressed to him by name—which immediately led him to postulate that Mom may be the Tooth Fairy (apparently knowing his name was what tipped him over the edge of belief?!), but the verdict is still out on that, and the skepticism didn’t keep him from enjoying the $6 he got for his tooth. (Meanwhile, Charleston—having noticed that he always gets his age in cash for each lost tooth—has decided to hang onto his last few lost teeth until he’s a little older. Not a bad investment strategy. . . .)
We joined our CC community for a field trip downtown to tour the Austin capitol. It was a great experience! I’ve toured the capitol, but not for several years; Charleston was too young to remember being there, and the twins have never been. They all were amazed by the building and want to go back to explore some more. And doing the tour with friends made it even more special. I will say that I regret bringing our stroller, as Nico preferred to be worn in the baby carrier while I had to navigate stairs and elevators with an empty stroller. That issue aside, we had a wonderful day and want to do more types of these activities now that they kids are old enough to appreciate them.
When we moved to Texas we were told that our area gets snow about once every ten years; I still laugh at that, because we’ve been Texas residents for ten years now and it has snowed at least once every single year! We got our share of the big storm that hit half the country this past week, and thankfully our experience was a good one. Though I wish we’d gotten actual snow and not just ice, we still had fun playing in it, and the blanket of white across our lawn and the surrounding homes was just beautiful. The kids decided to try “cold plunging” (running around the yard without shoes or jackets); we “skated” along our sidewalks that were covered in thick sheets of ice; and on Sunday Charleston put on the sweetest little Bible study for the littles because in-person church was cancelled. Since the great snow-pocalypse of 2021, when we went several days without power, I don’t take our electricity or running water for granted during these big storms and was grateful we didn’t suffer any power outages or damage from freezing pipes.
|| ICYMI: JANUARY ON THE BLOG ||
BOOK CORNER:
Books Beyond the Favorites: Bonus Superlatives from My 2025 Reading
LIFE & REFLECTIONS:
28 Strategies for Practicing Mindfulness and Presence
When You’ve Said What You Needed to Say “While the amount of time I spend blogging has dwindled over the years, my list of ideas never did. I always had plenty that I wanted to say, if not always enough time to spend saying it. Lately, though, that has changed.”
Charleston Michael || Eleven Years Old!
Choosing to Be Present in 2026 “This year I want to be less distracted and more present-focused as I participate in daily tasks, even the menial ones, appreciating the sounds and smells and textures within my sphere, acknowledging the good and bad emotions coming up within me as I go about my day, bringing intentionality into jobs that have often been the background of my day but that I’d like to bring to the foreground.”
Our January was full, and February will be just as busy, beginning with a few days at Kalahari this week! How about you: what are you looking forward to in February? Praying for joy, kindness, clarity, and a peace that surpasses all understanding for all of us in the coming month.