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!

Darby Creeking with the 6th Graders

Last week I took a day off to go on a field trip with Ella's sixth grade class. We went to Darby Creek and lucked out with a gorgeous day!! Earlier in the week it'd been 20° cooler and rainy. 

The kids has different assignments to complete to evaluate the water conditions. 

Ella was excited to jump on in and see what she could find. 

I can't remember what she called this thing -a sand penny or a water penny... something like that. 

Then she found a little crawl dad. Some of the kids found a bunch of them and big ones!

I discovered that my right boot has a hole in it as I was standing in the creek...That was chilly!

And of course I took a lot of pictures while I was there.

Goober Girl!

Fun day. I'm happy I get to tag along on these field trips!!

Busy Times!

We are ending our third week back to school and it's been pretty crazy. 

Soccer has also hit at full speed and we tend to have soccer at least five days a week... Which is a bit crazy as well!

One thing that's really helped with soccer this year is Ella got contacts. She still takes a lot of balls to the face but she's not breaking more glasses!

She's done really well with the contact so far - she can wear them all day and she can take them out by yourself.  Getting them in herself is still a bit of an issue. 

I can't remember if I mentioned that we are tearing out the ducky bathroom and redoing it because it started leaking...

This was a few weeks ago actually before school started and it's finally starting to come together. 

Justin ripped down pretty much to the nubs and started from scratch. 

This has taken us down to one bathroom or at least one shower, which is a royal pain in the butt for five people, especially with school starting :(

But it's going to be beautiful when it's done! 

Other than getting back into the swing of soccer and school, I've been working a ton, Justin's been working a ton and I've been trying to get out running, biking and walking as much as possible. Especially since we have the trail at Frank's park now that runs about 4 miles round trip. It's been great for getting a runner, bike or walk in every day. I take lots of pictures when I'm out!

I also got out for a 20 mile bike ride this past weekend, the farthest I think I have ridden my bike at least since college!

I love our Rails to Trails! 

This past weekend we also gathered to honor and remember Elijah. I can't believe it's been a year since the accident :(

We lit lanterns and sent balloons up from the cemetery. 

Still all so very hard to believe sometimes. 

I took Ella to a school night concert last night. Probably not a very good idea, but we had fun and we were both extremely exhausted today!

We saw Grouplove and Portugal the Man. 

I've been doing most of my blog updating via my iPhone for the last month or so. Otherwise I don't think I'd be getting any updating done. My computer is so old and so full from music and pictures and it barely runs anymore. 

It's hard to believe that today is the 13th anniversary of 9/11.  Still so vivid in my mind even 13 years later...
Never Forget. 

So, that's it in a nutshell for now! Ta-ta! 

A - M Updates

A is for:
Astronaut - Ella got to go to the Dayton (Air Force?) museum over spring break with her friend Addison and hang out like an astronaut. She had a great day and I was happy about that since we really did nothing over Spring Break this year...I was sick as a dog the whole week.

B is for:
Boston - During the April 15th Boston Marathon this year, terrible bombings occurred that killed 3 people and wounded over 180.  Horrific for Boston, heartbreaking for America, and for runners across the world...just unimaginable.  As a newbie runner for the past 3 years, I have ran 3 Half Marathons and maybe 20-30 other races.  The atmosphere at these races is always so amazing.  The feeling when you achieve a goal and cross the finish line is so rewarding.  I just can't imagine being shocked out of such a high by something so terrifying.  A group of us ran in a Support Boston run on Monday night - 1 week after the craziness.  A group that is usually 40 or so turned into a group of 400+ to support the One Fund Boston.  Wonderful to support and be a part of this.

 

C is for:
Cat - We still have one and her name is still Cleo...and she still likes to lay on her back in the middle of any floor. I think she really misses her playmate, Zoe...

D is for:
Dwight - We happened into some concert tickets (thanks for Donna and Lee) to see Dwight Yoakam at the Bluestone.  The Bluestone is a super cool converted Baptist Church in downtown Columbus.  Great place to see concerts now. He was good but not as good as expected. Too much guitar.  Justin said he was probably tuning up for a concert tour and then I just found out he's playing Bonnaroo...good call JPJ.

E is for:
Emotion - After the Boston bombings, I noticed this on one of my race shirts...nothing brings out the emotions of the people and a country like 9/11 or school shooting situations.  It puts people into action.  You go crazy if you sit still.

 

F is for:

Family - I'm so grateful for such a wonderful family.  We don't spend as much time together now that we all go in 1000 different directions but when we do, we have so much fun and it's wonderful to get together. This was the kids at Easter.

 

G is for:

Green - Ella had strep throat a couple weeks ago.  After she started her medicine, we had to throw her old toothbrush out.  She wanted a new electric one.  So, I bought both E and Silas new electric toothbrushes.  They LOVE them.  They light up and and change colors when they are supposed to brush different parts of their teeth and then it shuts off after 2 minutes.  Worth the money!

 

H is for:

Hair - Si had quite the hair day.  He is digging the spiky look these days and then couple that with a VERY windy soccer game...

I is for:

Itchy Eyes - Poor Ella's eyes are killing her because of her allergies.  I finally made an appointment with the allergy doctor and we get in the first week of May.  I feel bad that I didn't take her in the winter so that they could have tested and given her medicine for NOW!

J is for:

Junk - the ongoing battle in our house continues to be a plethora of junk!  It multiplies at a staggering rate no matter how much we sort, trash and donate...I'm pretty sure our front room will never be more than a "sorting room"!

K is for:

pinK concert - kinda cheating, I know. Saw her in March and she was so amazingly incredible.  I totally have a new-found respect for her music and her as an artist and person.  Loved seeing her and gaining a better understanding of what drives  her.

L is for:

Loyal Customers - Justin continues to work his JCS Construction business.  I will tell you: it is tough.  It stresses me to the max because of the inconsistent income, the problems that pop up on jobs, the stress that it puts on Justin and his body.  But I will also tell you - his people LOVE him.  He is fair, he is respectful of their time and their money.  And when he spends a month or three in their home...the kids absolutely adore him...

 

{Dear Mr. Yonger, Thank you for doing our kicken. And thank you for being so nice. You are fast at doing lost of werk. I give you an A++++++  Your friend,Abigail}

M is for:

Mason - and he will graduate in MAY!!  And wow, this year and the last 4 years when he has been in high school have gone so incredibly fast (remember this?).  Yesterday was his Senior night at track. He has ran track all 4 years in high school.   He has worked hard this year to work out, get strong, eat well and get faster.  

I am so...proud...impressed...grateful...for this kid.  I'm so sad on one hand that this baby boy is no longer my baby. On the other - it is so fulfilling to know that he is growing up and growing into what he wants to do with his life.                                  

(And Ella is to my chin now...really??)

Updates N - Z...coming soon.