We don’t have family in town this year for Christmas and we are embracing the slower pace. The day was still full of activities – basket presents:
cookie making:
Christmas Eve service:
cookie decorating:
and preparing for Santa:
We don’t have family in town this year for Christmas and we are embracing the slower pace. The day was still full of activities – basket presents:
cookie making:
Christmas Eve service:
cookie decorating:
and preparing for Santa:
The middle school choral concert was tonight. The dress code was the same as previous years – all black but touches of Christmas cheer were allowed. I tried to convince Alex to wear a Christmas tie and got a hard no. Wade was alone with him for 30 seconds and Alex came out dressed to the nines. (Yay for Wade.)
The entire family spent the morning at the elementary school working at the Waddles Winter Wonderland Pancake Breakfast, a community event sponsored by the PTG. Wade was a chef, I was at the entry collecting money, Alex helped out as needed, Teague was in charge of seating people, and the younger two ran wild. We had planned for 300 people and and had over 500 people attend, which is amazing. It also meant we had to make an emergency run for more pancake mix.
A local photographer, Deirdre Rakus, donated her time to take photographs of people attending the breakfast.
Ben started this little game and the photography was so fun we got the entire family involved.
Pumpkin Carving Party time! If you are keeping track, tonight was our 16th party. I didn’t actually count the number of people attending, but we definitely had a lot of new faces and people who have been coming since we started the party here in the beginning. We were having so much fun that we were a little slow getting to the carving of the pumpkins, which means we were also late getting to the group picture. This is the first year in many years we have taken the picture in full dark.
And always the group photo:
Kaitlyn’s friend is going out of town for a month so we arranged one last playdate. I was thinking they could play while I got quite a bit done. Nothing went according to my plan. They wanted to “create” in the kitchen. Then they wanted to use makeup, which was fine. Except then I realized they wanted to do a makeover on me! I agreed to it all and it was a great playdate, but I got zero done all day.
Today we did it all – hiking, boating, and beaching.
Hiking:
Boating:
The beach:
After such a great beach day yesterday, we decided to try a new beach today. We had a major fail. The weather report said it was going to be a great day, but… It was cold, cloudy, and windy. We tried, we stayed, and then we eventually packed it in.
After showering and evaluating our options, we decided bowling and dinner out might be our best course of action. Everyone had a great night!
Wade had arranged for the kids to participate in an obstacle course on the beach this morning. The youngest three loved it. Alex had to be challenged (an option at the end of the races) to go through the race, but he was a good sport and did. Mom and Dad were challenged and ran it too.
Today was our first full day in Cape Cod and Kaitlyn’s birthday. We started the day with donuts and presents. Then we went on an awesome hike and took a long drive. Every house has the most gorgeous hydrangeas, which I love. 90 percent of them are blue (although I love every color). Kaitlyn and Ben fell asleep on the drive so Wade made it a little longer than we had planned. We stopped at a local general store and everybody had fun doing a little shopping.
We got home and let Kaitlyn open most of her presents. (Then of course she spent most of the afternoon playing with her presents.) Before dinner, she and I ran out so that she could pick her cake. She chose the most delicious chocolate bomb cake. I hope I can find something similar for my birthday next year. It was amazing!
When Wade and I were planning our vacation this year, we decided to try Cape Cod. We almost feel a little silly that we live so close and have never been. The good news is that everyone and their brother has recommendations on what to do, where to eat, and what not to miss. We were a little late making plans, so we knew our house was going to be a little small, but no worries.
Wade had taken off the entire week, so we have been in vacation mode for a while. We couldn’t get into our house till 4 pm and it was only a couple hour drive. This felt like a wonderful luxury after our normal vacation drives. We didn’t even start packing till this morning. The kids were anxious to go and we finally got on the road.
We arrived in plenty of time and enjoyed driving around. We easily found our house, unpacked, grabbed a yummy dinner, and then checked out a local beach for an evening walk, and then some fabulous fireworks on the beach.
We started the day with some reading.
Then we headed to the lake. (Alex stayed home. Firstly because he didn’t apply sunscreen very well on his first trip. Secondly because he couldn’t find a friend to come with him.) Kaitlyn did bring a friend and had a great time.
We ended the night with a baseball game – a first for all of the kids. We had a blast at the Woo Sox and Ben was completely mesmerized by the fireworks (which might have been his first?!?)
Ben and I had a free day today so we decided to spend the morning hiking the Storybook trail. I had heard they finally updated the book after several years so I was hoping Ben would be excited to read the pages as we hiked along. It turned out that the story wasn’t quite as engaging as the previous Eric Carle book, but we still enjoyed the hike. (We also saw a snake on the trail. We both jumped a little and then quickly took a picture before it slithered off because we knew Kaitlyn would be mad if we didn’t.)
This evening was the Spring Choir Concert. Alex was not excited to attend but Wade and I couldn’t wait. We have thoroughly enjoyed these events now that we can attend kid-free. The kids did a great job performing and we even got a picture with Alex and two of his good friends. (I did offer to pay $3 per kid in the picture…)
Today started early with FunFair setup. My awesome family started the day with me for setup at 8 am and was there through cleanup at 4 pm. (The actual event was 10-3.) Alex was the true rockstar because he was also there last night from 3-6 to help with setup. Wade and Alex were on volunteer duty all day. Kaitlyn ran wild with her friends and Teague was in charge of Ben. I heard later that Teague ate his weight in cotton candy – definitely an impressive feat.
As if that wouldn’t have been enough for one day, we also had plans to go to Monster Truck Jam! Wade and I bought tickets not realizing it was the same night as FunFair. We rushed out a little early from cleanup, cleanup the best we could, and met some friends for dinner before racing to the stadium. We had a great time, but I made a major miscalculation and didn’t bring warm enough clothes for everyone. Kaitlyn and I ended up with Monster Jam branded clothing out of it. The big kids were ho-hum with the night but the little kids loved it!
Alex was kind enough to recreate one of the pictures I remembered from his first Monster Jam experiences in 2012. Here’s a comparison. (Note he’s wearing the same headphones – a happy accident.)
Ben and I decided it had been much too long since we went hiking. He wanted the hike with big rocks so we headed to Purgatory. Ben love it and flew through the trail. He had grabbed a map at the beginning and was fascinated with it. I convinced him to to try a second trail and we also walked Charley’s Loop. Ben was worn out at the end but had just enough energy for the playground before we headed home for nap.
Today was a full day! Ben had preschool but we still managed to play outside on the new swing set and make Mac & Cheese for lunch. Then it was a short nap before picking Kaitlyn up from school and rushing to swim lessons. Then those two were back on the swing set. The rope ladder came unattached and Kaitlyn was nice enough to hold it tight while Ben climbed up and down. Thankfully Daddy will be home tonight to come up with a new knot to keep it secure.
Then we had a second birthday celebration for me! That meant Mexican take-out, cake, and gifts. Teague was nice enough to take over my camera so I got more pictures of the evening than ever before.
When I travel with the kids, I always have a long day first and then a second short day. Due to some commitments tomorrow, today had to be an even longer day than normal. I planned out our 13 hour drive and booked a hotel room. I had the car loaded last night and got everyone ready to go at a reasonable time this morning. Gram packed everyone lunch and snack bags. The kids were amazing. The only two times we stopped were once for gas and once for a combined gas and dinner stop (at Waffle House of course). We all commented that it was a great day for us and a day Wade would have hated.
Funny note – Teague isn’t sleeping under that coat. He goes to extreme measures to make his iPad charge last as long as possible. He has the brightness turned down as low as possible and is using the coat to allow himself to see it in the daylight hours. The kids all own portable chargers but Teague takes great pride in never needing his.
I had promised Teague another skiing trip for his birthday but it took me a while to come through. Today I finally followed through. I knew the mountain was only one two more weekends and we had a great day. There was less snow, and fewer runs open, but nobody on the mountain! Pros and cons. We had a great time!
Ben and I decided today was the perfect day for a hike. Ben is a very active 4 year old, but he is also pretty much in it for the snacks. He couldn’t wait to pack his backpack full of snacks. He picked the trail – the duck walk. We’ve walked this many times before, but today, we found a part of the trail we’ve always missed and walked much, much farther than before. Ben didn’t complain, didn’t have to stop to eat, and carried his pack then entire way. Obviously a 4 year old is a much improved hiker over a 3 year old!
We planned a spontaneous day trip to York, Maine. First we visited Nubble Lighthouse. The kids loved rock hopping and just enjoying the day. Alex surprised us all by being rather concerned about Ben and his daredevil adventurous spirit. (To be honest, we were all keeping a close eye on him. I’m never sure when he’s going to decide to just keep running straight off a rock wall into the water.)
Then we drove into York and explored the town and the beach!
Kaitlyn is repeating Kindergarten this year. We had some concerns last year around the halfway mark. We discussed our concerns with Kaitlyn’s teacher during parent/teacher conferences. Then the world shut down. When the school year was almost over, Wade and I seriously started talking about having Kaitlyn repeat Kindergarten. I brought it up with her teacher and then I learned this was no easy thing. Next I had a conversation with the principal. Then Kaitlyn had to tested and other people had to be talked with. In the end, everyone decided it was in her best interest to repeat the year (thank goodness)! But I did find out it almost never happens in our school district.
We got the notice for the Kindergarten Popsicle Social. We went last year, but decided to attend again and maybe meet some of Kaitlyn’s new classmates. Talk about a huge difference. This year there were very few kids (only one parent and no siblings), masks, and 6 feet between everyone.
Melissa and I arranged to have a cousin photoshoot. We booked the photographer. We coordinated the clothes. We did not count on the heat. It was insanely hot – even in the later evening. Most of the kiddos were able to tolerate it. Kaitlyn, however, was a mess. She absolutely could not handle the heat and got quite obstinate. At one point I took her back to the studio to let her cool off while everyone else had their individual pictures taken. The photographer was amazing and eventually got some smiles out of her, but a picture of all four was a no go. Thankfully Wade was able to work some photoshop magic when we got the pictures back. He produced a single image of my four and it made me so happy.
Melissa and I planned several activities in advance for this trip. One of those was tie-dying shirts. We tried white shirts with colored dye, but those didn’t produce very dark colors. Then we decided to try colored shirts and bleach. This method produced much better shirts! I seem to have lost the group picture we took but here are some of the ones from today.
Thank goodness for the country club pool. It’s hot and very few activities are open to the public. Thankfully the kids love the pool and the weather has been sunny. We found ourselves back at the pool again this morning as soon as it opened.
Then we went back to Gram’s for Ben’s nap and some downtime (iPad time). Late afternoon we had a date at Dabney’s (my old next door neighbor’s). The kids were fascinated with the huge tree that was in the process of being cut. The littles also loved the old tree house in the backyard.
Today I attempted real haircuts for the boys. I really just attempted to barely trim the boys, but everybody is starting to look shaggy and it doesn’t appear haircuts are going to be normal again anytime soon. In general, the haircut went about as well as the pictures I asked Alex to take. (Here’s hoping the world opens back up soon.)
This has to be the strangest Easter ever. Some parts were exactly like normal and some parts were definitely not! We got up and the kids looked through their Easter baskets at a leisurely pace.
We watched church online – just like we have been doing for the last several weeks. I did make everyone dress up for a picture with the Easter clothes I had bought for this special day. (Who would have guessed when I purchased the boys’ shirts and Kaitlyn’s dress that we would be quarantining at home?)
We had our traditional Easter lunch and then had an Easter egg hunt in the yard.
The feeling of uncertainty makes the day to day more difficult. As of right now, there are no daily plans from the schools (that will be changing). Some parents have created their own curriculums, some are entertaining their kids with crafts all day, some are hands off completely, and some let their kids play electronics all day. At our house, we’ve tried to do a combination of everything, but nobody is very interested or cooperative – except Ben and sometimes Kaitlyn.
Today we spent in Atlanta! We started the day with everyone’s favorite – Waffle House. Then we explored the Georgia Aquarium. All of the kids, and the adults, loved it. I had been once before for a work trip, but it was new to everyone else.
Wade and I tracked down a Jake’s ice cream – one of our old favorites. I was so excited to see Cinnamon on their board of buy-by-the-pint. The employees were so apologetic when they couldn’t find it in their freezer. We were in there a while eating and talking. The ladies realized we were from out of town and one of them got determined to find the ice cream. She came back with a quart she found hidden in the back and then wouldn’t let us pay.
Next up on our day of adventures was walking GaTech’s campus and stopping at the Varsity for a late night treat. The kids were exhausted after our day, but we had a great one!
Today we explored Greenville, SC. Wade and I lived here many years ago and always like to stop in when we are nearby. We have lost touch with most of our old friends (or they have moved away), but we have many fond memories of our time here. Unfortunately, it was. rainy day so one of our favorite places – Falls Park – wasn’t as much fun or as pretty as usual, but we still had a great day.
Although we love making cookies on Christmas Eve, we also have other activities. We take family pictures, go to the Christmas Eve service at church, and dress in matching PJs! Pastor John asked if Ben would agree to be baby Jesus for the second year in a row and although he seemed a little old we agreed. So hello 2 year old baby Jesus. Amazingly our wild child sat still for the entire time he was in front of the congregation (whew!).
We spent the evening decorating the tree – which is getting harder every year with all the “help” from little hands. We did manage to break only 1-2 ornaments this year which is a vast improvement over last year. The kids had a blast which is what is truly important and the tree is decorated so we can enjoy it for the next month!
It’s that time of year again! Today was the 14th annual Burch Pumpkin Carving Party! We had so many friends gather and had a wonderful time socializing, talking, eating, and carving pumpkins. Only one small child got lost and my neighbor was kind enough to bring Ben home – oops (Wade and I are such wonderful parents)!