January 4, 2026- February 16, 2026

Gosh, yet again, issues getting photos uploaded, but we did it, haha. A really fun month!!

An online trend to have AI do a picture of you. I just uploaded my picture and then it did the rest based on what I've asked it about. Not too bad!

Dees Family Christmas- January 2026- always such a great time... grateful that we had a full turnout!

Aunt Daney and Uncle Jim with Maggie and the adorable-spot-on hat they gave her :-)

Group run! This was a bigger group than we've had lately. Most of us are doing more strength training and just running outside 1-2 days a week. I'm still getting 3ish miles every day that I got to Orange Theory, which is most days.

Haircuts!

Run at Dad's. It was pretty chilly for Mississippi but better than Ohio weather. Those Vicksburg hills are no joke, but I was loving it. So nice to have a different terrain.

Cute Winston.... he's not supposed to be on the table, but warm laundry is hard to resist.

Found Penny in this drawer :)

We got 12 inches of snow of the course of 24 hours... it happened on a Saturday night, but the kids got the entire following week off!! Monday and Tuesday were off because of the roads, but then the rest of the week was because of the very cold temps.... around 0 degrees and colder with windchill. The kids loved it!

The temps were too cold (and snow too powdery) for snowmen building, so it was a lot of snow forts/igloos!

Cuties!

Maggie and Juliet had their second sleepover at Juliet's house. It was planned a day or two in advance and Maggie made two different packing lists for it. Juliet lives across the street. So precious though.

Had to document.... On January 29th, I went to a lift/yoga class that I love. A lot of weight lifting... a few hours later, I barely moved my arm and something in my shoulder got really messed up. It was one direction that mostly hurt, but it was hurting very badly. I asked for the kids to pray for my shoulder to get better and God definitely answered their prayers. It got so much better, so quickly, but I'm still having a decent amount of trouble with it. So I'm headed to the doctor tomorrow (2/18) to see what the deal is. They'll probably just say to rest it, but I want to get it looked at. ** update, went to doctor today (2/18) and it is an issue with my rotator cuff, possibly an impingement that is affecting a nerve. Praise God, that it feels better today (of course when I finally make an appointment). Also, while I was there I asked about my right knee. It sounds like my right knee cap might not be "tracking" properly. So the doctor gave me a few suggestions of exercises to do to strengthen both of those things. Okay- that's way too long!

Jacob's Kangaroo Valentine box! Justin helped out with it. Pretty epic valentine box!

Madeline, Maggie and Morgan- girl cousins!

These kiddos love Granddaddy Buddy's 4-wheeler

Logan and Maggie stopped by Miss Carolyn's each morning... they found Uncle Steve!

They've been having fun playing Roblox together

This past weekend we went skiing in New York at Holiday Valley. It was the third year in a row that we went skiing over President's Day weekend, but our first time at Holiday Valley. The entire time we couldn't help but compare it to the Highlands in Michigan. Overall, better skiing and more options at Holiday Valley, but they weren't as organized with renting equipment and lessons. We had a great time! And on this ski lift, we ended up on the GOLDEN lift! Woo!

Kiddos at their ski lesson. We skied on Saturday and Sunday. The kids took a lesson from 8:30-10am. The previous years they took longer lessons. Jacob didn't like the lessons being that long, so we did shorter ones this year and it worked out great!

Logan couldn't get enough skiing. He went out twice on his own for 20 minutes or so. A mom's got to use the restroom every now and then and he didn't want to stop.

At one of the lodges, there was a big Olympics Watch party and Mich Ultra was the sponsor. It was such a fun vibe! The weather was absolutely perfect!

We arrived to New York on Friday and that first night we went snow tubing. It was a little scary to me the first time down the hill. No one else thought it was scary, but it was definitely super fun!!

Family Ski pic!

Maggie and Juliet taking a selfie

Mississippi! At Miss Carolyn's house

BOTH kitties on Logan's bed! He took this pic and sent it to me from his ipad, because we had gone to see Gie while he stayed home and got math homework done.

Hot tub party at the Finneys on one of the "no school" days

This giant ball blew away from our back deck with a big windstorm. I posted on the Lewis Center Moms Facebook group that it went missing. We looked around. About 9 days later, an acquaintance of mine texted me saying a neighbor of hers had the giant ball. We thought it was long gone! We were so glad to get it back!

Cutie! 

Maggie was taking fun pics of the kitties

Penny!

Looking so grown up! In her cute jammies from Grammy and Pop Pop

Leaving Dad's house.... all reppin' their new IU gear! This was the day of the National Championship game.... IU v Miami

Great time with Dad!!

Jacob's perfect socks from Aunt Daney and Uncle Jim

There were geese at the pond, so we had the goose patrol ready for some action. They went and scared off the geese. The geese leave so much poop, that we try to scare them off.

Justin shoveled the driveway 4 or 5 times that first day!

Sledding time!

Woo!

Snow!

Snow fort!

:)

The girls stayed in the hot tub for an hour

Igloo

Jacob loved his igloo

Seeing Gie!

Rock wall climbing at Dick's

We did this on one of the kids' snow days. Maggie loved it too. It's hard to see who's in the pic when I'm selecting it from a thumbnail. They did this for about 40 minutes!

Penny still doesn't like Winston, but it's nice to see that even after 1 year of having Winston, that she is making progress in regards to tolerating him, haha!

Valentine's box construction in progress!

Maggie made this at school before her sleepover

Super Bowl night. For the third Super Bowl in a row, we had the Reighard family over. They have 3 boys and two of them came with the parents. One son was one of Logan's best friends, but they now go to different middle schools. And the other son is in this pic, and he and Maggie are in the same class this year and they have become big buddies. :)

Penny is in Logie's lap!

Valentine Turtle Box!

Maggie went to Grace's ice skating party. So fun!!

Jacob and his Valentine box! It got a bit big- eek!! But he really liked it!

Checking out what he got!

Silly faces on our ski weekend

Skiing!

I think that's Logan in the woods

Logie!

Visiting Miss Carolyn's house

Granddaddy Buddy and his 7 grandkids!

Lots of snow!

Helping shovel Miss Gail's driveway!

One Christmas present that the kids got me was a painting party kit. It was just 4 canvases, so Justin was our "host", which was actually super helpful with refilling paint trays, cleaning brushes, and giving us tips. I loved doing this!

4 wheeler!

Winston on Justin's lap (Winston is rarely on anyone's lap)

Kids on the ski lift!

Plessinger ski pic!!

Maggie and maybe that's Jacob?

On one of the snow days, we went and did an escape room! It was so much fun! We had a few hiccups, but it was mostly with the lock just being somewhat jammed. We got out with 3 minutes to spare, and I think 1 or 2 tips.