Rebecca's 2nd birthday

Rebecca's 2nd birthday started out in Richmond.  We had a big breakfast and she enjoyed her traditional birthday donut too.

We played in Richmond till about 11am, then hit the road to come home.  We stopped at Firehouse for kids eat free for dinner before coming home and opening presents.  Rebecca got a Bitty Baby doll and a nursery for her, which she LOVES!  She feeds the baby, changes her diaper, and puts her to bed.  She also got a teddy bear and loves taking "baby and bear" to bed with her.

Rebecca got a bike as well, but since we were out of town we hadn't gotten a chance to assemble it. So we didn't even tell her about it, then after she went to bed on her birthday Dave assembled it and we surprised her with it the next day. She LOVES it!!!  She already loves being outside and loves doing anything the big kids do, so a bike is heaven for her!

At her 2 year checkup, Rebecca weighed 23 pounds (10th percentile) and was 32.5 inches tall (20th percentile).  She's starting to say SO much more, after many silent months from the concussion. Around 8 months after the concussion she finally started learning new words, and now it seems like she says more each day. She says many 2-word phrases and her favorites are "I toot" and "more bows". :)  She has brought us all SO much joy in the past 2 years, I can't even imagine our family without her! 

Monument Ave 10k/Richmond 2014

After 7 years since our last Richmond trip, we had a wonderful visit there this past weekend.  We've seen our Richmond friends in other places (Lynchburg, Charlotte) but it had been a very long time since we had actually been there!  We picked up the kids early from school on Friday so we could make it there for dinner with the Woods. Jessica and I taught together before we had any kids, so it was fun to once again see the kids play together so well even though they see each other so rarely.  We ate at the mall and then walked around (or ran around) for a while.


The Wasch's graciously hosted us for the weekend, and on Saturday morning we left their house at 6:40am to head downtown for the Monument Ave 10k!  Daniel, Emily, Hannah, Addie, and Kyla ran the 1 mile kids' run before the 10k started.  They all did a great job! Emily ran her heart out and made great time.

It basically rained all weekend, so after their race we started trudging through the rain to a good spot to sit and watch the dads run. We were in dire need of coffee, and when we happened upon a Panera we decided to take all 13 kids inside out of the rain for a bit and have some breakfast.  After 13 bagels and plenty of coffee, we worked up the nerve to go back out into the rain to watch the dads run. Just as we came out, we saw Mike cross the finish line!  Soon after that, we saw each of the other 3 dads finish!  It was PERFECT timing to be able to avoid sitting in the rain but still see each of them run. 

After the race, we went home to get dry clothes and eat lunch.  Then we took the non-nappers back downtown to tour the state capitol building (desperate for free indoor activities!!). We all enjoyed the tour and learned a lot.

That night, the Perreca's graciously hosted a dinner for all of us, complete with a yummy Costco birthday cake for Rebecca!  It was precious hearing Asher belt out the happy birthday song!

What a blessing that all of these guys that met in college are still friends today, and that the wives and children also love hanging out! Despite the differences between all of these 13 kids, they bonded over the Frozen soundtrack during their weekend together and spent most of their time singing and acting out the movie.  Adorable.

March fun

We are SO happy that spring is here!  We've been having a great time playing outside as well as discovering new things that Rebecca likes to play. We recently dug out all of the dress up clothes that no one had touched in almost 2 years, and Rebecca thought they were wonderful! She loves leotards, tutus, and lots of necklaces.


The kids had eye doctor appointments this month, and now only Lexi needs glasses. She picked out 2 new pair and is thrilled that everything looks so much clearer.




I'm so glad that Rebecca loves riding on my bike, but it is HARD WORK with all of the hills in our neighborhood!  Lots of fun though.

Myrtle Beach, March 2014

Since Renee is having her 6th baby later in the spring and camping this summer may not work, we decided to tag along on the Scharters' spring break in Myrtle Beach this year instead. We rented an oceanfront 4 bedroom, 4 bath condo which was the PERFECT setup!  We had a bed/bath for each couple, as well as one for the girls and one for the boys.  The kids have SO much fun together, and this gave us the "hang out time" that we enjoy while camping without all of the work of camping!  The first night, we went to Costco to eat dinner and buy groceries for the rest of our meals.  The weather was chilly, but we spent time each day on the beach.
 

We were VERY thankful that the condo had 2 indoor water parks (one in each tower). We loved the lazy river especially, plus there was a ping pong table, pool table, and a magic show to enjoy.  We didn't need to really ever leave the condo, but we did one day for the dads to take the big kids to the Lego Movie while the moms shopped with the baby girls.

Despite all of the fun we had on the beach and in the condo, the kids would probably all agree that their favorite part of the trip was when we let the kids pick dinner and we went to the Golden Corral.  They were in heaven!  Although none of us parents love the GC, with 10 kids it was REALLY convenient to walk in and start eating without waiting to order, and to have every option under the sun to accommodate everyone's tastes!


These girls are such great friends!  Precious! 4 Vespas and 3 Schartners.

February snow

We got MORE snow in February!  This time it was really a ton of snow (I think more than 6 inches?) and we spent lots of time at home, building snowmen, and sledding. Rebecca LOVED it, just like the other kids.  Dave, on the other hand, didn't love trying to work from home with all of us stuck in the house together for days and days!

Daniel's 7th Birthday

We had such fun celebrating Daniel's birthday this year. He's such a sweet boy! Elaine made a piece of pottery for him at school and Emily made him a really sweet card. 


Daniel LOVES the muppets, so he was excited to get more muppets to add to his collection.


Daniel is really into science, so we had a Mad Science birthday party at our house. He invited neighborhood friends (Michael M, Michael and Daniel L, and Graham), school friends (Logan, Henry, and Evan), his lifelong friend Brody, and his cousins Ava and Andrew.  We had cake and played outside, then the mad scientist began her presentation. She did lots of experiments with the kids, then they made slime, then went out front for cotton candy.
 

At Daniel's 7 year checkup he weighed 45 pounds (10th percentile) and was 47 inches tall (25th percentile).