Katie's Art Show

Katie's big news this month, besides losing her top two front teeth (and looking like the typical 1st grader), was that a piece of her artwork was chosen to represent her elementary school at an Art Fair held at our local mall. Only two students in each grade were chosen for their exceptional skill for their level. We are so proud of her! She has always loved art but we had no idea her first Art Show would be when she was 6.

Katie has been creating works of art centering around German Shorthair Pointers since our dog, Sophie passed away last Spring. It was actually all of her creations (drawings, paintings, sculptures, clay molds, etc.) expressing her love for her dog last summer and the fact that she missed her so much that finally me brought me around to getting her another GSP for her birthday last September. So it's no wonder that her art centers around her dog, Gabby and she aptly titled the painting - "My Gift".

Jacob Update

With all of the snow that we have had this winter, Jacob's birthday ended up being celebrated thoughout the month of February much to his delight. The actual day was spent at the Richmond's Children's Museum with his best friend, Matthew and his sisters. School was closed for the day due to the snowstorm but we were able to get out and take the interstate to the museum which was fortunately open for the day. We had subs and chocolate cake that night and then spent the rest of the week goofing off since school was cancelled. Since his family wasn't able to come down from Northern Virginia, we spent the next few weekends catching up.

Grandma came down on Valentine's Day to celebrate Jacob's birthday and to give Dave and I a much needed date night out. Thank you Mom! And the next weekend, Jacob and Dave participated in the annual Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby (seen in 2nd place in the heat below) and went to his Upwards basketball game. Gram and Pops came down and we had a combo birthday celebration for Dave, him mom, and Jacob. What a day!

Once the kids finally went back to school, Jacob's teacher and I combined his birthday party with his curriculum on Greece/Ancient Rome and we had a Toga Party complete with a homemade Greek cake (it tasted like pound cake but with orange zest). And the final weekend in February, Jacob's Uncle Johnny and cousins Jack and Ryan joined us for snowtubing (yes, we couldn't get enough of the snow this year!) up at Wintergreen.

Jacob also earned his Yellow belt in Chito-Ryu Karate this Saturday. He was nervous since this was his first belt test and he didn't know what to expect, but he did a great job.

Christmas 2009 Countdown...

A trip to the mall in December isn't complete without a visit to Santa. This is the first year that Sarah actually got close enough to Santa to get in the picture. She didn't want to sit on his lap though. We also saw Sarah's first movie - "The Princess and the Frog". She loved it and wanted to see it again as soon as it was over.

I also sang in the Christmas musical - "A Baby Changes Everything" at First Baptist. Months of preparation are finally over and it was a lot of fun. I was even able to get a picture of the kids by our tree before leaving for church. Quite a accomplishment!

Annual School Pictures

Here are Jacob and Katie's annual school pictures. I think Jacob has looked the same for the past 4 years - same blue polo shirt. People must think we never buy him clothes but that is just what he likes to wear on picture day. Katie at least has a different hairstyle from year to year. And since I didn't buy the rights to Sarah's pre-school picture, I've loaded her 3 year picture that was just taken a couple of months ago.

Sarah's 1st Day at Gymnastics

Here is our little gymnast. She really took to the balance beam during Katie's Cheerleading class so we enrolled her in gymnastics this Fall and she is a natural. But I bet all the other 3 year old moms are saying the same thing.

Celebrating turning 40

How do you celebrate turning 40? Go to Cancun and enjoy an all-inclusive resort complete with a wonderful couples massage and hydrotherapy session. Dave and I met up with my best friend from Texas and her husband. We spent 5 sun-filled (and very hot) days relaxing with no cooking, no cleaning, no driving, and no children. It was like a 2nd honeymoon. I am going to count on Roxanne sending me some pictures from our nights out since I just have a few of the resort and our excursion to Xcaret where Dave and I snorkeled through an underground river which was really neat.

Back to School

Jacob is in 3rd grade this year and still not in any mood for me to take back to school pictures at the bus stop. Katie is starting 1st grade and Sarah is back to pre-school this year. Below are their first day pictures.