The 2014 Wrap Up

Way overdue wrapping up the year of 2014!  My last post was early November after one of Silas' soccer tournaments.  Since then, soccer lead to the holidays, the holidays flew by and now it's 2015!

So...November...
Ella had her first 6th grade social.   This is her "Stop! In the Name of Love" move.  I think I mentioned before but she is REALLY loving 6th grade!  She gets herself up at 5:50AM, makes her breakfast and gets me up to pop her contacts in and walk her to the bus stop. The extra 30 minutes of sleep does wonders for me :)

Justin's old white truck finally (pretty much) bit the dust.  It still drove like a champ but the radiator spewed fumes into the cab and there was no heat...it would cost more to fix than the truck was worth. So...it got donated and Justin got a new old truck!

He loves the cap and he loves having heat again!

I went on 2 works trips in Nov/Dec. - One to Tucson and one to Boston.  Both were pretty quick trips and I would have loved to have spent more time in Tucson taking some pictures!

I still never tire of taking picture of sleeping kids. This boy has to have the book yanked out of his hand every night - he's re-reading the Harry Potter series now and on book 3 or 4 again.

We got a beautiful November snow - perfect, beautiful, fluffy snow.  I took a walk on the Mudsock Trail and it was gorgeous.

We hosted Thanksgiving again this year - which we love to do.

I love having my family all together.

And lots of cousin love!

and some sister love too :)

Thanksgiving was late so Christmas came early...

We had Santa come for a little visit too (even though there were MANY moments that he has marked them in his naughty book this year).

Felix (aka Buddy) came back for a visit. Not sure how many years it's been now but it gets more complicated each year! His friend, Gino, now hangs out with him and they roam...around the house.  Usually around 4am or so. But sometimes they are just too damn tired to move. Or respond to the notes that Silas leaves for them.

We had a wonderful family Christmas party at Greg and Tracy's - and we celebrated Dad's 80th Birthday!!!!

So blessed to have parents that are happy, healthy and wonderful :)

And then it was Christmas! I tend to be the first one up now on Christmas - though I fall back asleep until Ella (who is generally the first one to wake up and then wants to get everyone up). Another year with all 3 at home which I'm thankful for.

Justin did surprise me with a little Happy Birthday party.  That was nice even though I was in pj's and hadn't showered - but then again so were a few of the attendees!

And it's never boring after Christmas either - we get to celebrate Silas James' 9th birthday!  He really wanted to go ice skating this year on his birthday...so we did.  And it was painful!!

Two hours doesn't seem like that much time but strap some ice skates on your feet and it can seem like an eternity! I cried uncle quite a few times.  

And we did have some cake and ice cream for the 9 year old (even if it was my leftover cake). He'll get a party and a real cake...maybe in FEBRUARY?

Ella edited this fantastic photo of Silas in his new Superman pj's. I love it!

He was laying on our couch in the family room and then she did the cloud edit.  So cool!

And then it was time to ring in the New Year - it was spent at some different neighbors (because of the OSU game on New Year's Day!) and then at home with the kids after 10pm.  It was nice and relaxing and felt like the perfect way to start 2015!

Happy New Year!  I feel like this one is going to be GRAND!

June Catch-ups and July Party!

Much has happened since my last post in June...but I want to go in order on updates - so you'll just have to wait with bated breath...unless you are my friend on Facebook - and then you know everything already!!

A couple random picutes...
Like this - showing how my kids likely break arms...

And this one - Justin had to cut down our Ash tree (which makes me VERY VERY sad) and I'm lucky that HE didn't break an arm or leg doing it. I really don't like our yard now without the tree :(

And we were excited in June to see Andrea, Lucy and Jack when the visited from Chicago for Sarah's graduation party!! As all these kids get older and busier, we don't get to see them nearly as much as we used to.

 (Sarah, Ella, Alison, Lucy, Abbi and Zoe)

Since last post when Silas broke his arm - he adjusted pretty well to that and on July 3rd got a half-arm, waterproof cast.  It worked out great because we had the whole Juenger family coming for Mason's graduation and birthday party.  I was adamant that we got the waterproof cast on before the cousins' arrival so that Silas could swim and have fun with them - so happy that it worked out!
This is Hudson and Silas at COSI - being way too cool...

We had Juengers from all over the U.S. start rolling in the last week of June - from Arizona, Nevada, Rhode Island, New York and from around the corner.  It was such a fantastic time to see all the cousins have fun and play until they were so exhausted that they couldn't see straight!
All the kids (except Mason) at COSI.  What a cute bunch!!

 

(James, Molly, Ella, Silas, Myles, Hudson, Trent, Will and Jefferson)

We ended up with Cousins in a Box upon the arrival of the NV Juenger Bennetts...this kept them busy  for quite a long time!

 

The James' were crazy and invited us ALL over for their July 4th party...I tried to warn them!

A great time was had by all - especially the kids who got to swim all day and then see the fireworks.

We had a super fantastic (with some bouts of downpour) on July 6th for Mason's graduation and 18th Birthday party!  It was wonderful to see some great friends and old neighbors come by to visit.

LOOK at those boys down in front...could the be any more related?!?
It was a wonderful visit and I wish we could do it so much more often!!
Love to see them enjoying each other!

We got to go to the Star Liner - one of Grandpa J's favorites!!

 (Mason and Molly)

(Baby Jeff and Ella)

And since the NV Juengers/Bennetts left OHIO...they have added to the ranks!  Carolynn Olivia was born on July  26th.  She is SOOO cute!!

It's been such a fun (and exhausting!) summer so far.  We just got back from our OBX trip on Saturday, so that needs to be blogged next. But wow, feeling so blessed to spend time with the family this summer!!

Fun In Rhode Island!

This past weekend we took a long road trip up to Rhode Island to visit the RI Youngers and to celebrate Grandpa J's 60th, Hudson's 3rd and Roxanne's birthdays.  It was a LONG drive (13.5 hours there & 12 hours home) but we had SOOO much fun and are very happy that we made the trip out there!

The kids love traveling in the new minivan.  There are 2 DVD screens and each can play a separate movie.  This greatly lessens the fighting over movies!  Silas traveled in his PJ's all day. 

We drove through NY City on the way there - it wasn't bad going through NYC but once we got closer to Connecticut, it was very backed up and really slowed us down!

This was our view of NYC as we zoomed past! 

Our first full day in RI, we went to the beach.  The weather didn't exactly cooperate, but we still had  fun.  The kids all went for a long walk on the beach with Justin and Shawn, while Abby and I sat on the beach talking  (bundled in long sleeves and towels).  This was Silas after getting back from the walk and deciding he was done with the great outdoors.

Ella found some seaweed on the walk and decided she wanted to see how it tasted...yum!

A mix of some OH and RI Youngers - minus Abby, the picture taker

The OH Youngers

The RI Youngers

Justin and I with the lovely moon and ocean behind us!

The kids did SO well together!  Silas and Myles played a lot and Hudson mixed in with them some.  Ella and Molly had a total ball together and it was amazing how quickly they picked right up with each other and played like they see each other every day.

Hudson is a complete and total cutie and it's funny how much he reminds me of a mix between Silas and cousin Trent. Yikes! :)

On Saturday, we got to celebrate the birthdays and it was great!  Grandpa J and Roxanne wore their birthday hats and Hudson blew out all the candles. Happy Happy Birthday!!

During the birthday party we started to get lots of thunderstorms.  It cooled the temp off but the electricity also went out for several hours. We hung out on the deck for quite awhile and then decided to go to the beach again after the storms had passed.
We didn't get there until after 7pm or so, and the lightening was great.  Ella and Molly stopped for a picture. As you can tell, Ella watches too much TV...

Shawn, Uncle Bill, Ann and Grandpa Jim - watching the kids play in the ocean.

Ella, Hailey and Molly were digging holes and making castles.  They were surprised by a big wave!

Ella ended up with a face full of ocean water!

The adults hung pretty close because the waves were quite big!!
Mason, Huddy, Abby, Ella, Molly, Hailey, Roxanne, and Myles on the beach

As the sun set, the skies were beautiful.

Just a quick video of the kids running around on the beach.

 Ella and Molly...snoozing hard.

{I sometimes wake in the early morning 
& listen to the soft breathing of my children

& I think to myself, this is one thing I will never regret 

& I carry that quiet with me all day long.}

~StoryPeople...

There are many times in our over-scheduled, overwhelmed lives that we think we cannot fit another thing in.

 Too far, too busy, too this and too that.

But this was too much fun and too important to miss and we're looking forward to many more visits!