Fielder's 1st Movie!

We took the kids to see Zootopia - Fielder's first movie at the movie theater!  I was nervous Fielder wouldn't make it that long for an entire movie, but he did pretty good.  (Only messing with the seat in front of him a couple times.)  Such a cute movie, we all loved it!

Soccer

The kids are trying out soccer for the first time this season!  So far, it's been hit or miss with Fielder, but Claire loves it.  She gives great effort and her coach even said she got the "gutsy player" award for one of her games.  

When Fielder actually plays he looks like he's having a blast.  But we've also had entire games that he refuses to set foot on the field.  4 year olds playing soccer is pretty hilarious - I give such credit to the parents that volunteer to coach this chaotic mess!

Here we are during one of his games and it was actually snowing a little!!  This was a game he decided to help keep me warm instead of playing.  To his credit, at half time he decided to play, but set one foot on the field, slipped and banged his head so hard he never went back out.  Oh well!

And finally last weekend we actually had nice weather!!  It was the first weekend that it wasn't freezing cold or raining!  Fielder played the whole time - even got a bloody lip and kept on going.

We have another 4 weeks to go - need to get some pics of Claire playing!

Claire and her team, minus Jack:

Easter

Happy Easter!  I held the kids off as long as possible before going to search for eggs (6:40 I think?) The Easter bunny brought Claire legos, a Barbie, and a headband.  Fielder got bathtub crayons and foam soap.

I let them put on bathing suits and try out Fielder's new bath things.  They had the best time :-)

Then we went to Mimi and Papa's for lunch and a slightly drizzly Easter on Parade.

Snowstorm 2016

The start of 2016 brought us a BIG snowstorm!  The first couple days of the storm, it was SO windy and cold that we really didn't play outside much, but the kids had fun with several days off of school, snow cream, building a snowman and sledding.  

Eventually Rob needed to get the office and Fielder's school had reopened so I was determined to get them on their way (and Claire and I got an extra day at home!!)  With the help of a neighbor, we were able to push Rob's car out and he left it further down the road where the plows had cleared.  Then Fielder got his own personal sleigh ride to the car and they made it out!

Claire and I went sledding with neighborhood friends until the plow came down our street.  I had kept up as best as I could with shoveling the driveway and then the plow came and the driveway was completely blocked.  You can't really tell from the picture but there was TONS of snow and ice to shovel and I got my workout that day!

Finally we could break free and go to the grocery store!  :-)

One last day of Christmas break

The Christmas decorations have all been taken down and we are gearing up for work and school tomorrow.  Grocery store, thinking of dinner ideas for work nights, packing lunches, laundry....I'm not sure I'm ready for all this to start back up again!

This morning we decided to go to Pocahontas State park to enjoy the beautiful day and spend time together as a family.



It was such a nice day (enjoy it now because it's going to get super cold later this week) and we set off for our little hike around the lake.
  
As we got further and further down the trail, we started wondering exactly how long this little hike would be??  Perhaps we should have checked the distance on the map before we started.  Turns out, it was 2.5 miles with some pretty hilly areas.  I was so proud of Claire - she made it the whole way with very little complaining.  In fact she even raced me up the last little hill and we had a "teaching moment" about not giving up and always remembering you still have a little gas left in the tank.  I'm sure she appreciated my words of wisdom, ha ha.


Anyway, Fielder did surprisingly well, but needed some help riding on Daddy's shoulders and on my back once in a while.
We were all very proud of ourselves when we finished the trail (and pretty tired!)

Hello 2016!

And so, another year begins!


We started the day (like so many others) at the gym!  1st day of the new year, gotta get my t-shirt and my first workout :-)
So cliche, but my resolution is to find a way to fit exercise into my schedule and make it a priority again.  (Going back to work really took a hit to my fitness routine!!)

Then Claire and I went to the movies!!  This was on my Christmas break bucket list.  I hadn't been to a movie with my girl in at least a year or 2.  We saw The Good Dinosaur which was perhaps a little scarier and sadder than I had planned, but she says she enjoyed it.  We happened to run into our friends so that was a bonus!


Bring it on 2016!

Happy Noon Year!

We had a pretty low-key New Year's Eve planned.  We listened to music during lunch, had a little dance party, and counted down to the "noon year."  These kiddos were not making it to midnight this year!

That night once kids were in bed, Rob and I had Yen Ching and a movie - not too exciting but it sounded great to us!!
2015 has been full of changes.  New jobs, new schools, new routines.  I'm grateful for all of these new things, it's just that I'm not good at handling change.  I'm working on it and looking forward to what the next year will bring.  Farewell 2015!