The Baltimore Blast

Savannah's soccer team's manager arranged a special event for the girls - both teams attended a Baltimore Blast game and then were able to play in a game against each other on the field after the game.
The professionals play and win!

And then the Northern Elite teams get to take the field. Savannah was really excited to play on the pro field!

Unfortunately David refused to take my camera which would have helped with the quality of the pictures but at least he did take some pictures for me.  Savannah's team, the Wildcatz, wore white.

Go Savannah! Fight for that ball!

Savannah had a great time!

The Northern Elite Wildcatz and Lightning teams.

Playing a Little BBall

This is Xander's third year of playing basketball and he absolutely loves it! We were unable to get him on his old coach's team but lucked out with another great coach. This year Xander has even been able to play a little point guard.

He is one of the youngest in his age division, playing against mostly 4th and 5th graders but I think that playing against more challenging players will only help him become a better player himself.

Nice lob pass into a teammate waiting under the basket.

Shooting his free throws!

Herr's Chip Factory Tour

Early in January Savannah and I joined some other homeschoolers on a fun field trip up to the Herr's Chip Factory in Pennsylvania.

The tour started with a film about the history of the Herr family and how their business got started.

We then got to walk the factory and see the whole process, from sorting potatoes to the different seasonings used to the final packing. It was so interesting! The best part was when we got to sample potato chips fresh and hot off the factory line. Yummy!!
We made a quick stop at the gift shop where we purchased the sample pack which contained 10 different flavors of chips.

We decided to have a taste testing activity with dinner that night to see which was our favorite chip.

I think we all agreed that the jalapeno popper flavor was the best! 

I think a close second was the cinnamon sugar - delicious! 

New Years Eve

A typical New Years Eve for us goes something like this: a nice dinner, a movie, Savannah nodding off by 9:00, David asleep by 10:00, the boys dropping off around 11:00, and me reading in bed at midnight, saying a silent "Happy New Year" as the clock strikes 12:00. Well, that tradition was broken this year! We were invited to an actual New Years Eve party, kids included. We got together with several families from our ward to munch, play games, watch movies, and have fun. David and I doubted we'd make it to midnight, thinking we'd head home after a couple of hours. But playing silly games with the other adults while our kids happily ran around with their friends was too much fun for us to turn in early and so this year we made it to midnight!!

The kids were extremely excited to ring in the new year with hats and horns.

Those kids know how to make some noise!!

We even had fireworks!!

We didn't stay outside for long, though, because it was freezing. By 12:30 we were on our way home and in to our beds shortly after. What a fun party!

Christmas in Baltimore

The Christmas gifts sitting under the tree back home made it a little easier to get over our sadness of leaving family behind in Ohio. After a long day of travel, we got home, unpacked the car, and then got right down to opening presents.  Some of the favorites were:

an Adam Jones jersey for Xander;

Ooka the monkey for Noah (he has been checking this monkey out of the library for months and I finally found one for sale at Barnes and Noble);

more Monster High for Savannah;

beef jerky for David (from Savannah - too sweet!);

and sleeping bags for all the kids from Grandma and Grandpa Pierce. There are big plans for camping this next year!

Good Times in Cinci

We weren't in Cincinnati very long but the kids were still able to soak up a ton of fun with their cousins. Due to the bitter cold, all our activities were spent indoors. There was A LOT of Wii playing going on. And no, I have no idea what is on Kellan's head but since there was a lot of dress up going on as well, I'm going to assume it had something to do with that!

They even roped in Uncle Bryan from time to time.

With visions of Pinterest-inspired gingerbread houses dancing through my head, we attempted to make our own masterpieces.

Actually, about 5 minutes in we realized we were in way over our heads and were willing to settle for 4 graham crackers sticking together!

Ummm, yeah, I don't even know what to say. We are obviously not crafty people!

Our best house! It stayed together long enough for me to take a picture! Inspiring, isn't it?

Noah just gave up and said he was making a gingerbread bowl. 

We did much better with the gingerbread men.

Honestly, though, how can you screw those up?

The kids made about a million rubber band bracelets!

And we all learned how to knit from Uncle Bryan. Just kidding!  But seriously, is this not the best picture ever?!?!

Tons more wonderful memories! I'm so grateful we were able to spend the Christmas holiday with our Ohio family!

Christmas Day 2013

Christmas morning - the traditional waiting at the top of the stairs picture. My kids decided to ham it up this year!

As we came downstairs we noticed the beautiful sunrise and couldn't resist taking a picture. Gorgeous Christmas morning!!

The kids were overjoyed to see that Santa had been there and he did not disappoint. Legos for everyone!! (Except Mom.)

Did you notice a theme? Yes, my kids are a little obsessed with Chima right now. They wasted no time in pulling them out and started the looonnnggg process of putting them together. We did take breaks - to open more presents, eat food, watch movies - but we, including me, spent almost the entire day with Legos!

Noah also busied himself with eating candy from his stocking.

Lego mania!

A few more fun gifts - Ever After High has now joined Savannah's Monster High craze. She was pretty excited, as one can tell, to receive Raven Queen.

A picture with Uncle Bryan holding a picture; maybe we'll see this picture framed next year!  A frame within a frame...or should we say, "It came with the frame."  Hee hee!

Ahhh, the headache this USA men's soccer jersey caused but it was well worth it, knowing how much David had his heart set on it. Maybe this year he'll eat lunch with me as we watch World Cup!

My brother-in-law Mark knitted these fabulous hats for the kids. I love them! Tricia also sent us some pistachio/macadamia nut candies and I'm pretty sure I ate them all myself.

Noah...always the entertainer. He is blowing on his "toasty bum" because it had gotten too close to the fire.

He was pretty much obsessed with the fireplace, probably because we don't have one, and wanted to be the one to throw in all the wrapping paper to help keep the fire burning.

What a wonderful Christmas!

Later that evening the Clarks stopped by for a bit to open presents and spend some time together before they headed over to Ryan's parents' home.  Good times ensued!