Dear January, enough already...please be over!

January is always a hectic month in my house.  I'm pretty sure it's a rough month for everyone, being that it's the first month after the holidays.  I'm one of the lucky people that takes off work for two weeks at the end of every year to celebrate Christmas and New Years with my family.  The problem with taking off two full weeks is that it's incredibly hard to get back into the swing of things in January.  Add to that the fact that BOTH of my girls have birthdays in January and I'm one busy mommy.  Each of my girls has three seperate parties (one with my family, one with my in-laws, and one with friends), which just seems to add to the chaos fun.  Why didn't anyone WARN me about having January babies?  I could have planned better!  Haha!!!

So here I am, wrapping up my FINAL week in January and I'm ready for it to be over.  I'll list my reasons, just in case you wonder why...

1.  My dad is starting his chemo treatments today.  He only has ONE week of chemo before he starts radiation, so hopefully this last week of January flies by for him. 

2.  February is quite possibly one of my favorite months.  Why, you ask?  Because of Valentine's Day!!!  My husband isn't a hopeless romantic, or for that matter, romantic at all, but I still love V-Day.  I make heart shaped cookies with the girls, search high and low for the PERFECT Valentine gifts for their bags that I give them on V-Day morning, and this year...we're going to Chicago for a cheer competition that weekend!  It doesn't get any better than that!  Hello American Girl store and deep dish pizza, please meet your biggest fans. 

3.  I'm ready for my tax refund!  W-2's have to be given by the end of of January and I am SOOOO ready for my refund, which will come sometime in February.  I'm not sure yet what we're going to do with the money, but I'm sure it will be fun. 

4.  The weather!  I'm a lover of all things winter, until you start talking about ice.  I drive 40 miles each way to work every day and I am SO ready to be done with ice on the roads.  I'm pretty sure I slid into my parking spot this morning at work.  It's THAT icy. 

And last, but not least...drum roll please...

5.  I'm starting my Wilton cake decorating class on Tuesday!  I L-O-V-E to bake and cannot believe I didn't think of this sooner.  I start course 1 (of 4) this Tuesday and I can't wait!  Each course is four weeks long, which means by the end of May, I will be a cake making maniac!  Be excited, be VERY excited. 

Okay, I'm done ranting and raving.  I can't complain too much, this is my last official work day in January (ahh, the joys of working 4, 10 hour days per week) and I don't have anything planned for this weekend.  It sounds like it's going to be a perfect weekend for cleaning my house from top to bottom. 

A few pictures from this weekend's birthday celebration and the cheer competition in Peoria: