We are celebrating a year well-lived.
It wouldn't have been such an exciting year without our BIG move. We left our awesome house and wonderful friends in Virginia to move to Seattle (Southern Alaska). It has been an amazing year full of new adventures and new friends to share it with. This book contains our happy times spent together as a family.
We are living the life!
This is what we were up to practically the whole month of May.
It was an AMAZING adventure we were able to share with family. All 14 of us!!!
“listen up america!!!
I would rather be no where else then here.”
it’s outer banks, nc.
the place where sand and sun bring us peacefully together.
our cute, adorable and completely lovable boys in 2009.
same boys. still as sweet and adorable 4 years later in 2012…let’s add a little more smelly though.
it’s peaceful until the sand fight begins.
OBX has always been a special place for our family. that explains why even after moving clear across the country to seattle the previous month we still made the trek back to the east coast for the sunny OBX experience.
it was worth every penny!
these are our OBX moments of 2012.
chasing waves.
lovin’ the sunshine.
awkward moments.
aunt alicia, don’t explain.
just-you-and-me moments.
the life of the party.
sand pit treasure hunt.
outlasting the waves.
first beach experience!
ninja shell guy.
love the water, just like the rest of them.
“just because my parents want me to take a nap, i will lick the dirty windows to show my disapproval!”
“innocent. promise.”
“some for me, and some more for ME!”
girl time.
duck donut time!
every year alexander has been the one who waits below the lighthouse in complete agony only missing the height requirement by less than an inch. this year was different. he officially cleared the height restriction and hiked all 100 steps up and 100 down himself!!!
reese certainly had a problem with being the only one left behind. “up there, graaapa, up there”.
swimsuit photo shoot.
happy moments.
my strong hero.
sand dune moments.
peaceful moments.
stinky moments.
she’s loaded her diaper. sigh.
riding the waves moments.
all cleaned up moments.
our crew.
love them all.
family.
the amazing people who made all the fun possible!
may we find ourselves on a beach together again soon.
The kids always anticipate our summer vacation to Seattle. It is the one place we are completely spoiled with cousins, grandparents, great-grandparents, friends, sights and lots of delicious meals!
Just hours after the kids and I landed (the husband was working in Chicago) my brother invited us to hike Little Si (pronounced sigh) with his family. Sure, why not? Halfway up the mountain I was reminded why not, I had 35 pounds of dead weight on my back. My three and a half year old gave me the workout of my life (ok maybe just post pregnancy) being carried on my back for what seemed like 50 miles.
Sigh.
Oh, Little Si, you were a workout. Fortunately Reese was left at home with grandma so I didn’t look like a packing mule (although I sweat enough to look like one). Next time he is hiking at my side or left in the RV….oh, did I fail to mention we traveled in my brothers new RV to the entrance of the trail…which was only 15 miles from their house?
Seriously, when did we become weird like that? Good times.
Waking up to another 100 degree day seems more like an August morning then the first of June. We’re melting! What happened to spring? The beautiful 70 degree days took us outside for most of April and May, leaving me with little time to blog about the everyday happenings.
It has been all about the worms. Who can dig the fastest to find the most.
We’ve got a winner.
Now that we have a jar of over 40 worms, what can we do with them?
Garden.
All the credit goes to a friend who planted the seeds with the kids while I was with Reese at one of her appointments. It worked. They actually grew. Last weekend we transplanted them into larger containers with the hope that they would keep growing. Grow little garden grow.
Like you, we continued the tradition of dying eggs on Easter.
The kids found more enjoyment in displaying and admiring them much like a centerpiece at every meal.
Never wanting to eat them of course. After trying a hard boiled egg Alexander said, “They are disgusting!” . I agree with him. Too many egg salad sandwiches will do that. The kids got the leftover eggs to “practice their peeling skills” then happily threw them into the woods behind our house.
Hmm, and I wonder why the fox lives in our backyard now?
A highlight was when my parents visited. We headed to Monticello, VA. home to Thomas Jefferson.
A few of the many projects exploding in our house have been marshmallows in the microwave and volcano's on the table.
Jon took the day off from work and headed to the zoo with the boys while I was at an appointment with Reese.
Play ball! Cute, cute, cute boys in baseball uniforms.
He’s out! DC tags a player out on first base.
As if they had not had enough time with animals at the zoo and in our backyard already.
I’m a sucker for my animal-loving boys and headed to the farm.
The first piano recital. He’s a natural!
He would rather play the piano then baseball. When he is at basketball or soccer he reminds us he would rather be at school. So sports may not be his thing, even though he is pretty good at all of them.
We finally came to an agreement. We pay for piano lessons and he will play the sport of the season. Done deal.
Lessons began 5 months ago… that is when his smile grew.
Recently we had a visit from Goliath on family night.
The older brothers gladly slung their ‘stones’ at him.
For now we are sitting pretty in pink!
Happy spring.
