Random Catchup

Nana and Grandpa enjoy taking the cousins to Massanutten. In January they took a long weekend to enjoy the water park and sledding!

 

Nana always has projects for them!

We enjoyed a couple hockey games over the winter. Our minor league team did really well this year, going on to win the whole league!

The sweet PE teacher at my school volunteers with the team and had them put my name up for my birthday...spelled really close ;)

Grandpa always enjoys hearing what Willow is learning in math when we get together. :)

Our "fence neighbors" moved and we've missed our chats over the fence. It warmed my heart to see Owen chatting with the girl who moved in!

I took Owen and a couple of his buddies to a Pokémon event at the public library. They were in heaven!

Willow has really enjoyed her Radish Kids kits that come in the mail monthly. She recently got caught up on putting her badges on her apron. 

Grandpa got Willow a sewing machine for Christmas and Nana has been working with her on learning to use it. They've worked on some projects for the SPCA!

We haven't been as diligent with having Owen help with meals (like we had been during COVID) but he gets put to work every once in a while!

I took advantage of last minute tickets to see Annie in town with Willow. The tickets were super cheap for being 6 rows away from the stage! 

It's hard to believe it's already time to register the kiddos for middle school and high school! Eek!

Summer fun: August edition

We've made the most of our last month of summer before school started. The kids were home for 162 days between when school was shut down and their first day of school this year! We enjoyed a visit for a week with Gramps and Gramma while I had workdays and Chris worked.  

Owen has developed quite an obsession with everything related to Clones. Unfortunately for him, they were popular in the early 2000s so they're not even available in stores (although he shows me ALL the ones he finds online!! If only money was endless!). He continues to draw nonstop and has even mailed in some drawings to give Lego some ideas ;)

I loved when he made this instruction picture but it's the only one he's made like this, I believe.

 We enjoyed taking the kayaks out to a local lake. The kids have both seemed to enjoy it too! We've discovered a great way to cool off ;) 

The kids and I enjoyed swimming at the beach area of a local lake. Cooling off with icecream always goes over well :) 

Chris let the kids shave his head silly for the night before he planned to shave it himself. 

More chalk/lettering practice:

(We're pretty obsessed with Hamilton right now!)

This summer I've been working with Owen on riding a bike. He's great with his balance bike but hasn't mastered the pedals enough to put it all together. I went through the same struggle with Willow, but I would literally PAY someone to teach him! He has zero motivation and it's usually a battle. Ugh. 

Willow and Nana have been busy sewing this summer. Her latest project was pajamas. Owen got pajama pants out of the same material too! She's also been working on playing the piano. We've really enjoyed the app we found and she generally keeps a good attitude about practicing, though doesn't practice unless told. Here she is playing "I Want You Back."

Since we're in the habit of eating our emotions, we went out for ice cream the night before I went back for teacher workdays. These are the faces I get when I make them take a picture before they start eating. Hee hee

We also checked out a new Hawaiian shaved ice place the night before the kids returned to school. Both were hits!

On Saturday morning (10:00) Willow asked if she could paint her room. We didn't have any reason against it and had extra help with Tom and Patti in town, so by 2:00 we had paint and by that evening we had a first coat on! It's been purple for 7 years and now it's a mint green. She rearranged a few things while she was at it!

Willow was a great helper!

Whiskers wanted to be involved too!

Willow was voted the messiest painter:

Check out the before and after:

Another angle:

Meanwhile, Owen and Gramps downstairs...

We were so sad when our neighbor Jacob moved. He didn't move very far away yet we haven't gotten together since they moved, unfortunately! Owen still always mentions his name as a friend, though. He was invited to Jacob's party and had a great time on the inflatable water slide they had!

Reunited!!

Meanwhile, Canton and Owen still play together for hours weekly!

These two are something else!! I feel like these will be regular expressions around here for the next 3 years...

I drive along one of the many greenways around town on my way to work and wondered where it led to. In looking online, it looked like it went right past one of our favorite ice cream stores. Willow and I checked it out on Saturday to find that it was 2 miles down the path, then invited her friend Bella to come with us on Sunday for the same route. I *think* the Hawaiian ice place is just 1 mile further so that will be our next trip! Willow may only go on a bike ride with me if a treat is involved!