Catching Up

I'm not quite sure what got me to think about posting an update on the Blog, which has been inactive for several months, but something kept 'itching' me to think about getting the family blog back up and running. Quite a bit has happened since the last post and I will certainly do my best to update the events as best I can. What will be hard is thinking back that far! I guess I will start with August 2012. Lauren's Bday - Wow, hard to believe our baby girl is 5! She has grown up so fast and is as fiesty as ever, but also has a gentle soul and spirit. Hard to believe she will be off to Kindergarten this year! Annual OBX Trip - Our annual OBX trip was with the Kainu family again this year. I believe this marks our 6th beach trip together! We had a great time as always and had some great weather. We took the kids to the Cape Hatteras lighthouse and did a day trip to Ocracoke Island. There we rented a golf cart to tour the island and had lunch at a cool little restaurant. Turned out to be a fantastic day. School Year - Jack and Caroline are now in 4th grade; Lauren is in Kindergarten. Jack and Caroline will be moving classes this year, which we think will be a great experience as it prepares them for Middle School. Caroline's homeroom teacher is Mrs. Zikle; Jack's homeroom teacher is Ms. Yonkin; and Lauren's Kindergarten teacher is Mrs. Conti, which didn't last too long. In November, we received a letter from the school advising Kindergarten parents that they were adding a K-1 immersion class. Stacey and I haven't been all that impressed with Mrs. Conti, so we jumped at the chance to look at moving Lauren into this K-1 class. We felt it would be a great experience for her as she gets exposed to grade 1 cirrculum. She has seemed to really enjoy the move and loves Mrs. Morris and we have seen her grow these last few months. J&C 10th Bday - As you both get older, we understand and realize that you want your own separate birthday. Caroline had a sleepover on Friday with her girl besties and had a ton of fun. The girls all slept downstairs in the living room, had cookie cake, and watched the Katy Perry movie. The girls stayed up until about 1:00 giggling and talking about the boys they liked. Ugh, I don't even want to think of my sweet Caroline dating!! Not until 16! Jack wanted to do his birthday at the Fredericksburg Field house, played soccer and then came back home to hang with his buddies. We took the boys down to the Amphitheatre and played kickball, had cookie cake, watched a SpiderMan movie and stayed up until about midnight. I think you both had a great birthday this year and had a lot of fun!! Christmas in VT - This is the year we spent Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Broughton. We love going up there every 2 years. I am so thankful that we are able to do this and create these memories of "Christmas in Vermont" for all of you. We took the train this year and it was much better than the first time. All of you are older and were able to entertain yourselves for most of the time. We watched movies, played games, and listened to music. Grandpa greeted us at the train station. We had snow the week were there and we had a blast playing in it. We spent a day sledding at Shelburne Farms, where I used to intern during college. Shelburne Farms is an environmental education facility. Christmas was great and Caroline got a laptop from Santa; Jack a Kindle Fire; and Lauren a Nabi (preschool tablet). We enjoyed our spending time with Nicholas and Brenna. Uncle Patrick and his family came in from CA for a few days as well. We celebrated Grandma's 70th birthday! All the kids and grandkids put together a Pandora bracelet of a charm from each child and a birthstone from each grandchild. She absolutely loved it! We definitely created some great memories while we were there. a 2013 Update will follow in a few days.