Christmas 2018

 In random order, some pics from Christmas 2018!

And the BIG gift of Christmas this year was a trip to DISNEY!!!  We gave them a countdown calendar....maybe they weren't as excited as I had hoped because it was a long time to go still (February) but it was a fun surprise and we were all excited!!

                                                     

Halloween 2018

I'm back! SAY WHAT?!  It's been almost 2 years....I thought I was done with this blog.  But as I'm about to become a mom to a teenager, I thought I better go back and hit a few highlights of the past couple years before I really wrap this up.  So yeah, this is weird....but here are a few pics from Halloween 2018.  

 

B-ball

Fielder tried basketball this year through i9 sports.  Can't say enough great things about i9!  We loved all of the values that they focused on with the kids and were amazed by the encouragement and leadership of the volunteers and coaches.  I have never seen Fielder be that engaged with anything before and we really enjoyed the season.  Each child wins a medal one week and gets to have the sign in their yard.  Fielder won for "courage" I think.  

Fielder's team won the championship!!  (mostly thanks to Niles....can you guess which one he is in the picture below?!)  His coach was awesome and we were so appreciative of him volunteering his time.  And yes, each kid wins a trophy and guess what?  Didn't bother me one bit to see how excited they were to get trophies.  Fielder was one happy boy!!  (They did lose 1 game and that was a good learning experience too!)

Charlottesville Trip

 Rob and I escaped for a night!!  Big thanks to Mimi for wrangling the kids and getting them off to school AND to Bob for our gift card to Boar's Head.  We spent a very nice day at some wineries and a brewery and headed back home Monday morning to enjoy a few hours kid-free.

Happy 11th!!!

 Aw, my sweet girl is 11!!  Birthdays on a school day are always a bit rushed....presents at 7am before Mommy has to go to work!

 And then it also happened to be a basketball night!  She opened cards from family and answered calls/texts while Fielder played basketball.

 A quick Sweet Frog trip to end her birthday night!

 As Claire's birthday tends to do, we really spread it out this year.  She had a small sleepover (started with 1-2 girls, but ended up 4 plus Claire - YIKES!)  Those girls were WILD animals.  They had a great time though and the 3rd floor recovered from the nail polish, gum, slime, popcorn, and make-up mess!!

The next weekend, she celebrated with Katie and Jenna.  We went to Cici's and had lunch together and played in the arcade.

 Lastly, she had a one-on-one celebration with her friend Norah, but I forgot to get a picture.  We went to lunch and then to see the movie Smallfoot (SO CUTE!!)  11th birthday, that's a wrap.

1st & 5th

 Here's to our 2nd and last year with both kids in the same school!  Fielder has FINALLY made it to 1st (which he wanted every. single. day. last year) and Claire is a big-time 5th grader.

 And here's their report at pick-up time.....thumbs up for Claire and thumbs-slightly-to-the-side-but-mostly-up for Fielder.

 First week and he's practicing his numbers.....hope this peer pressure keeps up.

Topsail 2018

Topsail 2018....Did I take pictures?  NOPE!  Ok, I took like 5.  Here they are and I hope sometime soon I'll dig up the ones Mom and Tara took and post a few more.  Topsail was beautiful as always and we had the most perfect weather.  We tried a new house in North Topsail which was great and the kids were obsessed with the elevator.  There were difficult moments (with a certain boy-child) but overall, a wonderful week at the beach.