We kicked off the new year with a chilled celebration at home. We let the littles stay up slightly late (no one wants to start the new year with overtired children do they?), and then Jack and I had a Chinese, and I tried my hardest to stay awake. Not very rock and roll but we had fun! We then celebrated a second Christmas with family on New Years Day, as my sister had covid over Christmas so we couldn't all get together then.
We saw family again a few days later as we all got tickets for the local ice rink. Every year ice skating has come up in the past I've watched from the sidelines and let Jack take the littles, but with all three wanting to get on the ice this year, I had to take one for the team and get my skates on too. I hated nearly every second of it and I really cannot skate (the seal skate aid was more for me than for the littles!), but it was really lovely to all do together - even if it was raining! Indiana was SO brave and loved skating around on her own, and Lilah was a little speed lover wanting Jack to push her around as fast as possible.
Despite the rumours of restrictions and changes, a positive of January 2022 compared to last year was that all the littles stayed in school as normal. Hooray! This meant most of our weeks were filled with school, weekend clubs and then getting out for bike rides and walks on Sunday afternoons. Jack even spent one Saturday in London, completing a London Bridges walk with a group of dad friends he met online!
But of course the highlight of January was Lilah's 4th birthday celebrations. I kept her off preschool on her actual birthday, as I knew it was the last time we could celebrate with her before she's at school for every birthday! I took her pottery painting in the morning, where she of course chose a unicorn to paint, and then the afternoon was filled with gifts (there were many, MANY Barbies) and then dinner out at Frankie & Benny's. Her big birthday day out was to Brighton this year, where we had fish and chips on the beach, visited Sea Life Brighton and of course ended the day with ice creams. I honestly still cannot believe that Lilah is 4 now and starting school in September. The saying 'the days are long, but the years are short' is SO very true.