December 2016

So my camera memory card went bad and I'm unable to upload pictures from Halloween through Thanksgiving =-( Good news is that I realized it before Christmas so I have lots of pictures from December. I also had a couple of Halloween pics on my phone so I have one of those to put on here. Our Stormtrooper and Spiderman with crazy Papa C. We had a really fun month of December with all of our annual traditions. Did the Niederman Farm Christmas walk, saw the Smith Park lights in Middletown, had fun ice skating and seeing Santa at Prasco and had fun seeing the horses at the Lebanon horse parade. We had fun celebrating Christmas early with our Robertson side and celebrated Christmas after the fact with our Smith side. Had a fun Christmas party with our neighbors. All of our family and of course Santa was very generous to the boys. They got lots of fun presents - Sam loved his Nintendo DS. Ben loves the air hockey table and his paw patrol toy and hot wheels garage. Had a fun New Year's Eve at our house and boys stayed up for the ball drop for the first time! It's now the end of January - getting over colds and sickness which is a bummer. Hoping for a healthier February. Though I can say I think we've all enjoyed a little down time with movies and lots of board games. Sam playing basketball right now and Taekwondo. Ben just finished up his music makers class and wants to try a ninja class. Both are doing great in school! Looking forward to a night at Great Wolf Lodge at the end of Feb!

Summer and into the school year...

What an awesome summer! Below are pictures from our neighborhood 4th of July party, 4th parade where Sam got to walk with his Tae kwon do school, our night watching fireworks, our trip up to Columbus to visit the Troiano's, cousin visit and trip with The Karsner's and Hulen's to the Kentucky water park. Big Snug had a fun season of t-ball at the Y with his buddy Gannon! Sammers started 1st grade in mid-August - loves his teacher Mrs. Church. Ben started at the end of August and is an Owl with Ms. Amy and Ms. Tracy - also seems to love it! Ben, his buddy Greyson and I went to the day out with Thomas which was fun. Sam is a "Charging Cheetah" and loving soccer. And last weekend we had a fun trip to Kentucky for Tyler's 1st bday party! Also had a fun and successful fishing trip thanks to Uncle Dave and Keelie! 

Spring and into Summer...

Lots to update since February! We took a trip down to Atlanta for Easter in March - had a great 1st day there and then we all got sick (our fam and Kel's)! Was really brutal - definitely not the Easter or trip we had hoped for. In April Sam started flag football - he really liked it. In his last game he made an interception and scored a touchdown (thankfully Nana and Pappaw saw it!!). I had Ben at a bounce house and Joe was gone for training. Sam is also really into Taekwondo now! Started sometime in Jan or Feb. Got his yellow belt and now just got his green belt. Really loves it and is very good at it. We're trying to convince Ben to try, but he is definitely not into it! =-) End of April and early May was birthday celebration(s). Celebrations definitely plural. Can't believe our boys are 4 and 6! Sam had a great birthday at school and then we went to Donatos for dinner and the Web. We had planned to go to KI for Ben's day, but it unfortunately was freezing cold and rainy. Still had a fun day and went to Jumpin Jacks! We had 3 other parties - one with Robertson side, one with Smith side and then one with their cousins and friends at Pump It Up! Wow - was party central around here for a solid 2-3 weeks =-). Dad got his new job and was unfortunately gone for his birthday but we celebrated before he left. End of May was end of school - Ben graduated from his 3's Zebra class and Sam graduated from all-day kindergarten. I think both of them were a little sad (and so was I at their end-of-year parties). Ben's "best buddy" as he likes to call him his Greyson. Sam's best buddies are Austin and Kaleb. We just got back from the Outer Banks - had an awesome vacation! Sam said his favorite parts were getting to drive a go-cart, the ocean and pool. Ben said his favorite part was the pool, ocean and playing in the sand. Awesome having GiGi there for the first time! Week went too fast!