Is anyone still checking in with us? (Hi Lynette!)
I do not get time to write like I used to, but here I am all alone in a quiet house for the night while Jess has the kids in Delaware for Dover race weekend. I sat down and figured I'd catch ya'll up on some things... from last year at least! I was looking through our photo books and it was shocking to see all that we did last year, and how long ago some of our trips or other shenanigans seemed to take place. But here's a snapshot... Enjoy, thanks for coming back! I can't promise more are coming anytime soon....
We started the year trying to get outside as much as we could in the cold weather, including swings at Mom-Mom's...
Then of course some sledding down the Greenwood Education Building hill. Mommy or Daddy would sled down with them, then drag them back up the hill in the sled... thank goodness we workout!
For Jack's 2nd birthday, we had a party at the house with mostly family and just a couple of friends/neighbors. Unfortunately, immediately after icing the cake that morning, Mommy came down with the flu, so the party went on without her. But they had fun! It was a puzzle piece cake since he was seriously into puzzles. I traced actual puzzle piece shapes into sugar cookie dough, then sprinkled them with colored sugar for color.... and then I ran to the bathroom.
Easter dying was a success with Nana's help...
One of our adventures included the D.C. Zoo...
and the National Mall where Jack was obsessed with the ducks...
Another summer trip to the Delaware State Fair...
One of my favorite stories from last summer is actually sort of sad as well. This cute little kitten followed Jesse and Jack home from the playground down the street from us late summer, and proceeded to stick around our shed. She would only come out for the kids, and they adored her! They named her Lucinda Puss and helped to feed her, and played with her...for 2 weeks anyway. We had planned our trip to Ocean City, so we asked our neighbors to watch out for her. They couldn't find her (again, only came out for kiddos) so they asked the neighbor across the street....who proceeded to take her inside, feed her, and basically "catnap" her so that we had to beg for her to come back to us when we returned. It was not a fun experience. A few days later, she never came out, and we haven't seen her since...the kids still talk about her. I know they'd love a pet, but, well, I can't even keep up with blogging, let alone another living thing in this house!
As I said, we took our annual trip to Ocean City, taking advantage of the indoor mini golf near our place while it was raining. They seemed to enjoy it, and have since become huge fans of golfing in any form...
Kites on the beach!
Daddy and his girl...
As summer came to a close, Jack started school at TU all by himself while Sissy went off to Kindergarten....
Awkward timing of photos as usual Blogger, thanks. This was a trip to Virginia for Sarah (Judy)'s wedding. It was at a golf course so Daddy took Jack outside to the putting green to kill some time before the reception...
Kate was on the dance floor the entire night, with her new pretty haircut, all toothless and fancy!
Family photo op!
Here we go, 1st day of Kindergarten.... but ya'll are pretty sick of this pic aren't you, since it's the last update I had done looooong ago... :)
Happy Halloween! We had a lot of fun carving with Kate while Jack took a nap last year, I think we did a pretty nice job!
This 6-year old is nearly 7!! Ladybugs for Katie-Bug!
The ladybug and the farmer, walking down the street...
Kate did a year with Miss Anna Apicella where she took ballet, tap, and hip-hop. It was okay, but one year was enough...
As you saw above, it was all ladybugs for Kate's 6th last fall. Our oven hadn't worked in at least a year prior to her birthday, and it didn't make much difference to our cooking... until I needed to bake her cake. I took one measly box mix next door to use Ms Eleanor's oven late the night before her party, only to realize there was no way that tiny cake was going to feed everyone! I ended up GRILLING her birthday cake outside, in our biggest frying pan, ha! It looked great, not sure it tasted all that amazing, but I never got a chance to eat any. We hosted her party as another tailgate before the TU-UD football game so the kids could do carnival type games, like the bounce house, face paint, cornhole, pin the spots on the ladybug, pinata... and they had a blast, old friends and new!
Then came Mommy's birthday... one cupcake was plenty!
And though completely out of order, but on the birthday theme, we celebrated Daddy's birthday at Famous Dave's for dinner, followed by a purple iced Ravens cake...
Jesse's parents took us to Fogo de Chao down in Baltimore for his birthday also, where we enjoyed a too-big dinner until we almost burst the night before Jack's birthday party.... a reason, perhaps, that Mommy was sick the next day?
Kate's recital with Anna Apicella....she did so great. She even ran out on stage by herself at one point thinking it was her turn. She was all smiles the whole time, and loved performing!
Christmas was fun with these two munchkins... However, the excitement got the best of them, and we had to institute an iPad timer policy - they had to take turns unwrapping presents, and had to wait 3 minutes before the other began unwrapping theirs. It was quite comical, but effective!
We spent the rest of the day at Aunt Fopper and Uncle Tyler's...
Daddy had a successful spring. He was training the men's lacrosse team, who ended up winning the CAA Championship...and then competed in his first weightlifting competition and won!
And more backtracking... Kate's "graduation" from preschool at TU - kind of excited, no?
Another trip we took was to North Carolina to watch Towson Baseball compete in NCAA games at UNC. They had a cool children's museum in Raleigh called Marbles that was a lot like Port Discovery but immensely cheaper, more spacious, and more fun!
Mommy and Daddy took a ride up to the Pagoda in Reading on one visit to Nana and Papou's...
And Nana treated her girls to a mani-pedi...
Back to summer... We made our first ever lobster pot. Kate was a little uneasy with the live lobster that we usually just watch inside their tank in the grocery store!
Mommy and Daddy did their first CrossFit competition at Crossfit ReVamped down in Columbia, it was a fundraiser for Gary Helmick (former TU baseball player) to get to the CF Games in 2013. It was fun to compete together, and we earned first place in the Rx partner group!
To contribute and celebrate Mom-Mom and Dad-Dad's new house, Kate painted some pottery and gave them her hand painted vase for their new kitchen!
Our Ravens family....
Dover race weekend 2013...
In October 2013, Mommy finally had ACL-reconstructive surgery on her knee from the college field hockey injury from 2001! It went incredibly well, and a year later, I'm achieving PRs in the gym, running and lifting as I wish, and feeling great!
Last fall, Jack was able to begin Tumbling Tigers with our Gymnastics team. It did not start out well, but by the spring session he was a happy guy!
Judy Thanksgiving photo 2013.... only missing Jas and Erica
Most of the holiday season, Mommy was traveling with the Towson Football team in playoffs. The TV screen in the back is where I was in Eastern Washington and there they were in Mr. Warren's hot tub watching the game from afar!
What a random, fun, fast year. And I swear, I will TRY MY BEST at getting some pics and updates out there for 2014... soon?
