January was our first full month in Atlanta. Owen started at his new school, St. Jude the Apostle, and absolutely loved it. He fit right in. The class was very welcoming and he made new friends easily. We were so worried about his transition from his old school to the new one, and it ended up being uneventful. We had a parent/teacher conference at the end of January, and Owen was right on track for Kindergarten. Since he has a very late summer birthday, we're sensitive to how well he does academically and socially. His teacher in Savannah and his teacher at St. Jude both gave him high marks!
His first day of school was actually delayed due to extreme cold weather the first week of January. He had a "snow day" when the temperature hit 10 degrees.
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| Ready for St. Jude |
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| At St. Jude, the Kindergarteners use a big kid back pack. |
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| Abuela walked Owen into school on his first day |
Abuela Isa was here with us throughout the entire month of January. We were so very blessed. She helped us with the transition, the move, the acclimation to a new house, new school and new city. I've said this before, but it's a true joy when she stays with us. We love seeing her with Owen and Benjamin, who just adore her.
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| Benjamin being goofy |
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| Lou and Owen in the "man cave" watching football |
What I'll always remember about January 2014 is "Snowmeggedon". That's the day that Atlanta broke. We knew that winter weather was on the way, and it would likely include snow. I was at work, and at 12:16pm, I received a text that Owen's school was closing early due to the snow that was just about to fall. I left work at 12:45 thinking I'd have plenty of time to get to school by 2:00 to pick him up. I was wrong.
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| Atlanta traffic at about 3:00 that day |
Within 30 minutes, I knew I'd never make it. The roads were gridlock due to the combination of fast falling snow and six million people hitting the roads at the same time due to the unplanned early closings of schools, government and businesses. Owen's teacher arranged for another parent to bring Owen home, thank God. Many other children were not so lucky. In fact, over 30 children were stranded at the school when their parents could not physically get there due to blocked roads, and the principal and another teacher stayed at the school overnight, kept the children warm and fed until the next day.
It took me nearly six hours to get home that day. My normal commute is less than 30 minutes. 6 hours. Stuck in traffic like this:
Fortunately, I had plenty of gas and stayed mostly safe. I did spin out twice, but no accident. I was so happy when I pulled into my neighborhood:
Owen's school is 1.6 miles from our house. The other mom that picked up Owen lives in the house behind us. It took her two hours to get to school and two hours to get home from school. They barely beat me home. Even the side roads were an absolute nightmare.
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| Our house that night |
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| Our backyard |
The next day was the first of three snow days. Lou was in Savannah working, so the boys and I made the best of it by playing outside. We could not find any gloves for Ben, so we taped on three pairs of socks. Don't judge.
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| Sock mittens! |
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| Owen and Benjamin playing in the snow |
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| Abuela Isa was smart staying warm inside |
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| Cutie Pie #1 |
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| Cutie Pie #2 |
The rest of the month we enjoyed spending with Abuela Isa. She did a ton of sewing for us, and made dinner often. She also treated us to churros on the weekends. It was fabulous!
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| Owen, Cocoa and Abuela napping |
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| These two share a love of a good ice-cream! |
