Sophisticated

My man is getting the opportunity to learn the rules of high society... or at least how to eat without looking like a raccoon fishing through garbage...

Back Home

After a fun filled week working in Philadelphia, I'm finally back home hang with the family.  Who wouldn't be happy to come home to these three....

She Wears Many Hats

5 Halloweens have passed, but Amelia shows that her ability to absolutely rock a cheap costume hat is still fully intact...

Mary Poppins in 2018..

Jessie in 2023

Foreshadowing

 I asked the kids if I could take a picture of them at dinner.  The result absolutely displays their personalities....I'm just concerned it might also foreshadow Everett's college years...

Sketchy

 This is Amelia's latest sketch.  She was asked to do a closeup pencil drawing of regular objects.  She chose silverware, but I give her a gold star...

Long Days

While anyone in our home will tell you I am Lucy's favorite human (it's almost to a weird level), I would say she's mostly just a girl who likes to have all of her family around.  She seemed extra lonely today while her buddies were off to school...

Self Aware

 Amelia was asked to draw a portrait that is reflective of her.  It was not to be OF her, but ABOUT her.  This is what she came up with.... I think my favorite part of it (aside from how well it is shaded) is that her fake math homework is due at 11:59pm and yet it is black and white, unfinished, and in the background while her Animal Crossing video game (and its cartoonish style she captured perfectly) is vibrantly displayed showing she is playing it at 11:54pm.  Luckily, in real life she doesn't procrastinate so badly as to only give herself 5 minutes to do a pile of homework...she leaves at least 10. 

Familiar Pose

When I saw Lucy melt onto the ground after a vigorous round of "chase absolutely nothing in big circles until you pass out" a.k.a. "catch a case of the zooms", I knew I had seen it somewhere before.  After staring at her for a few minutes I realized where....

Lucy after running suicide sprints around the back yard....

Amelia after her first day of high school a few weeks ago...

As they say, ball 'til you fall. 

Happy and Sad

Middle School and High School.  No Elementary School.  No little kids.  No babies. Looking at these photos makes me equal parts happy about the wonderful people they're becoming and sad about the awesome little munchkins they'll never be again.

Oops

I must admit, I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted.  I can only assume all the readers have gone away.  In case any of you are still left, here's the first pics of two happy campers from our beach vacation...

Men About Town

 As we've done several years in a row, Ev and I ran around town doing whatever he wanted to do on a father/son overnight trip.  There aren't any rules aside from having more fun than sleep (although I do make Everett do things like check us out of the hotel, tip the valet, etc. so he can learn how to carry himself confidently).  We did a great job of following that rule ... after all, we bowled, won over 2,500 tickets in an arcade, ate donuts two different times, swam in a rooftop pool, watched team USA in a soccer match, ate ice cream two different times, and ordered room service cheeseburgers after 10pm.  Solid, solid day. 

The first of our two ice creams on the day was to celebrate our terrible bowling skills....

Our hotel had a rooftop pool with drink service ... 

The DUDE and I watched Team USA score 6 goals in their victory...

After a long day and a nice shower, pajamas and cheeseburgers were the perfect combination...

Farmin'

The kids have made their annual pilgrimage to their grandparents' house.  What better way to start the week on the "farm" than to shuck some corn for dinner??

Next Level

Ev has finally leveled up to a new status - a man with his own cell phone.  His first move.... for reasons I can't explain .... was setting his wallpaper to this photo...

Moving Up #2

Speaking of graduations, Amelia had her closing ceremonies to commemorate her move from middle school to high school.  While we were too caught up in the moment to get any pictures of Amelia by herself (and don't share photos of friends without permission), I did want to share she was given a special shout out during the ceremony where the speaker read a small selection of comments students were allowed to provide anonymously about their peers...

“Amelia is kind to everyone; in fact, I don’t think that it is even in her nature to attempt to be mean.”

I couldn't agree more.

as a proxy for her graduation photos, you'll have to use this and age her a bit .... like a decade...

Moving Up

 This is a man who is ready to head to his lower school closing ceremonies.  No, he's not sure he's ready for middle school...he's just sure he looks good in a tie...

Two Down

 Another season in the books. We are down to only one sport.  

League Champions ....

Finish Line

 I always knew being a parent and having any sort of demanding career or extracurricular activities was going to stress on our daily schedules.  However, what I didn't factor in was at times, we're all going at once.  For instance, over the past few months our schedule has been - 

Monday - Amelia track practice, Everett lacrosse practice

Tuesday - Amelia piano lessons

Wednesday - Amelia track practice, Everett lacrosse practice, Meggan bible study group

Thursday - Amelia track practice, Everett soccer practice

Friday - eat mexican food, collapse in a ball of exhaustion, and sleep

Saturday - Everett soccer games

Sunday - Everett lacrosse games (normally 2 games) 

This schedule doesn't factor in track meets, which are on various days and last 3-4 hours each.  It also doesn't include the hour or two I work after bedtime most days or the night/weekend events Meggan does for her job.  Make no mistake, we are blessed and we appreciate every second of it.  I'm just saying a little break will be welcomed.  Luckily, this beautiful runner just ran her last track meet of the season...

 

Road Trip

I recently had to take a trip to Philadelphia for work.  It was my first time in the city of brotherly love.  Considering my disdain for flying led me to drive, it was also my first time in Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.  Each place had their own offerings.  Virginia had rolling hills and beautiful trees.  Maryland had its charming waterfront towns.  Philly had the footsteps of our forefathers lurking around every corner.  As for Delaware ... ummm, did I mention how pretty Virginia was?  Hundreds of miles driven, hours upon hours of sightseeing, days traveled through several cities and states ....and here is the one picture I have to commemorate my trip...

Hey, lay off. The Liberty Bell was cool, but this guy beat Ivan Drago....

Speedster

Much to my delight, Amelia has decided to give running track a try this year.  She's running 4 events - 100m dash, 200m dash, 4 x 100m relay, and 4 x 200m relay.  She's only two track meets into her career so far (which if you're counting at home means I have watched about 300 hours of track to see her run for roughly 3 minutes.) She hasn't gotten any calls from the U.S. Olympic team yet, but she has certainly shown some natural promise.  This blurry sasquatch-like photo below (on my phone, across the track, in the rain ... and also I have limited photography skills) captures her form (red top) as she was able to catch up and pass another competitor in her 4 x 100m relay....

Words of Wisdom

 I'm not sure what the topic of conversation was, but I'd sure like to hear the words of wisdom these two were sharing with each other...

Mountain Air

 We're in the mountains for a few days with these two.  A little fresh air does a body good..

14

Here's how far behind I am .... I am a week behind posting about Amelia's birthday.  I don't think I've been that late for anything that important since this blog started 100 years ago.  It is a combination of work being crazy, a visit from my sister, and what a pain it is to type with a broken finger.  That said, it has nothing to do with how much I am absolutely, insanely crazy about my little girl.  She brings me joy and laughter every single day.  Luckily for me, joy and laughter happen to be two of my favorite things! And even more lucky for me.... she doesn't think I'm totally lame yet...let's just hope 14 isn't the year that changes...

Winning and Losing

Everett's basketball team hosted a Parents vs. Kids game to end his season.  Contrary to what the kids expected, the parents won in a landslide. While I admit it was fun to get out there and show Everett that his old man still has a little game left, I have to question whether I was a winner or a loser ....

this broken finger I suffered would certainly suggest not a winner ...

Two Step

Amelia went to hang out with a group of friends today and sent me this picture after one of her friends pointed out that in her last-second haste, she accidentally put on two different shoes...

Luckily for her, this family subscribes to the simple belief that if one of us goes down, we all go down...   Everett and I showed up like this when we picked her up and gave her friends a hard time for being boring and wearing two of the same kind of shoes.  Obviously, it didn't make her feel any better about her blunder, but it did make her feel loved by her idiot dad and brother... that has to count for something.

Holding Court

 The only thing better than going to a local basketball game with one of your good buddies.....

...is sitting courtside so you can hear the coach and the older boys come up with their secret plans...

Room For Improvement

 Amelia received her report card for the first semester....

Yeah, it's decent, but she's grounded until she gets her math, science, and spanish grades up to the level of the others....

Double Uno

It's been a crazy few weeks with my birthday, wedding travel, and work being an absolute firestorm of activity.  That said, there was no way I was going to miss another night of the blog to give a birthday shout out to my favorite guy on the planet.  Happy 11th birthday to the brightest, funniest, and sweetest boy in all the land....

Still a few more years until he's ready to borrow my coats, though...

Improvement

Just like everyone else on the planet, I am looking to exercise more in the new year.  Luckily, Peloton is trying to help by subtly shaming me...

I opened my email to see my December workout report....2 workouts.... well, that's embarrassing

...only to be made worse by the little note at the bottom showing that was actually an improvement...

nice play, Peloton. Nice play.