Sundays

Our Sunday tradition continues.

An evening out at the tavern:

Christmas

I have noticed that this past year I have taken fewer pictures. I think that this is due (at least in part) to the fact that I want to be more in the moment and less concerned with trying to get the perfect picture. It seems that I am unable to do both.

So on Christmas morning I sipped coffee and enjoyed watching the girls open their gifts. I snapped a few pictures on my phone of the girls with their presents and then I snapped a few more while we snuggled on the couch after breakfast. 

Christmas was great. It was relaxed and fun and it made me happy.

But I admit that I miss being "home" with my family for Christmas - and I use the quotes because really this house that I am in right now is home. I miss having my parents and brother around to do all of our Christmas traditions (i.e. going to see a movie on Christmas Eve, playing the Chipmunks on Christmas morning to wake the stragglers up, watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, etc.). So we have started our own traditions as a family of four. I know that these traditions will be the ones that Lucy and Caroline remember. So even though I am sad every now and then, it is easy to get over it when I see their happy faces.

Surprise!

On December 23rd, we got up and surprised the girls with our Christmas present to them: an overnight trip to a water park. Steve and I talked about what we wanted to give the girls for Christmas, and we decided that we would prefer to give them an experience together rather than stuff. We have gone to this water park before and we knew that the girls would love it.

So, about 45 minutes after we told them about their present, we all piled into the car, drove 3 hours, and arrived ready to run around, swim, and go on some water slides. Once again, I took very few pictures because I wanted to enjoy it.The only pictures I took were right before our dinner came. The girls were wiped. They were spent after hours in the water park, but everyone can rally for milkshakes, right?

Caroline decided to play photographer. I, as it
turns out, was also very tired.

Ready for Santa!

The Soden girls are ready for Santa. These two are off the wall.

FUN Breakfast

A while ago Steve had a father daughter dance with Lucy and then a father daughter breakfast with Caroline. Because I am struggling to get it all together, I never did get the pictures from the breakfast up.

So, here is a pic of these two before they headed off for donuts and coffee (for the big Soden - the little one certainly does not need any caffeine).

Whaling, Red Robin, The Usual

As soon as we were out of school, we headed to Marion to see Cookie and Grumps. We arrived right on time having dealt with very little traffic (yay!) and had pizza for dinner. We got up the next morning and headed to watch some local basketball before coming home to have dinner with some of the extended family. On Sunday we headed to the local whaling museum. This place is very special to Steve, and it was one of the first places he took me to when I visited his parents for the first time. The girls had a great time and we were lucky enough to have one of Steve's former teachers working as a docent. She gave us an excellent tour (we were one of the only groups of people there) and we even got to see some parts of the museum that Steve, Cookie, and Grumps had never seen. 

We headed home, had some lunch, and then had some down time. All six of us headed to Red Robin for dinner (a tradition that I love, especially because my grandmother used to take us to RR) and a good time was had by all.

This visit was SO much fun. Thank you to Cookie and Grumps for hosting our little dog and pony show. We had so much fun - the girls are still talking about whales, basketball, and playing animal charades with you at "morning six."

On The Road Again

School is out for the holiday break, and we were on the road immediately. Perfect time for a family selfie!

Sundays

We have a nice little tradition every Sunday. We head to a local tavern around 4:30 and have dinner while watching football. There are lots of tables, lots of tvs, and lots of people watching. There is also a fantastic children's menu and beer selection.

In the words of Michael Scott, it's a win-win-win.

This Dog

I love this dog. And he makes me want to rip my hair out. He rips down the gates we put up. He pees on his bed. And I am so annoyed.

But he is my first born. So even though is breath stinks and he does all sorts of things that drive me crazy, he is our baby. Our big, stinky, hairy baby.

And he's a good boy.

I wouldn't mind a call from this little face:

This Kid

She is insane ... but so so so happy. 

Happy Birthday, K!

Our friend, Keenan, had a birthday party in mid-August, and we headed there to celebrate with laser tag, an inflatable pool, cake, and dinner before heading back home.

Tammy helping Lucy learn the rules of the
game (and also showing excellent strategy
by using her as a human shield!)

The AMAZING cake

Dress: check
Boots: check
Gun: check

Launching herself into the pool

We had so much fun celebrating with Keenan and his family. When we moved from the Berkshires, they are the family that I knew we would miss most. We were connected to them in so many ways, and we still really miss them even after 4 years.

Below are just a few of the photos of the kids and adults. Some include all three children, and some are from before Caroline even existed. All of them are good memories of the fun that we had together.

Lucy giving Keenan hugs.

This one is my favorite. That is an infant Lucy giving
Keenan kisses. 

Pumpkin Guts Revisited

One October afternoon, the girls and I carved the pumpkin we bought. This was an activity that had a lot of hype. Lucy followed through and was involved in all aspects of the carving from the emptying of the pumpkin to the face theme ("scary") to the actual carving of the face. Caroline, on the other hand, was grossed out from the beginning and after a half-hearted attempt to take some seeds out, spent a lot of time dribbling a basketball instead of working with us on the pumpkin. (As a basketball coach, I am thrilled - as the person who had to take her place in the pumpkin efforts, I was disappointed.)

F.U.N. Dance

At Lucy's school, there is a F.U.N. Dance each fall (Father, Uncle, or ... no idea what the N stands for - it's essentially to a Father Daughter dance while not being exclusive or assuming that everyone has a dad to take).

I (obviously) was not there, but I snapped a few pictures before they left:

And then this kid stayed at home with me: