mom's year wrap '14

as 2014 comes to a close, I can easily reflect back on a year full of change and growth but also of love and prosperity for our family this year!

The beginning of the year was really just a continuation of work on the house, around the house, finishing the girls rooms, working outside, etc. We had a crazy long winter last year, tons of snow, lots of playing outside, etc.

Cora celebrated her 3rd birthday with "Frozen," and then before we knew it, Amara was celebrating her 6th birthday with a beach party too!

Late Spring brought a lot of change for the girls as they began to prep for our last days with Sarah. She went through the process of listing their house and they enjoyed all their time together. Amara actually stopped going to the GCCCC in favor of spending more time with Sarah and Jonathan and Cora altogether.

The lot of them enjoyed parks, special outings, crafts, celebrated parties, and just soaked in the last of their regular time together. Their house sold super fast, and June was the end of an era for that.

We took a vacation to Hilton Head Island right after Sarah's last day and we LOVED it. It is our new favorite vacation spot for sure. We got to see different sides of the girls, experience the beach and pool everyday, and watch our little guppies take off! We tried new restaurants, activities, and started what we hope will be lifelong traditions.

The summer brought time with Carissa and her family. Lots of hours were logged with her family at the Big Splash pool, parks, back yard, and lots of kids and laughs. We learned to adapt, transition from Sarah to Carissa, how to get along with 4 older "siblings," and have fun doing it.

Fall brought school for Amara! She started as a Darbydale Dolphin right after labor day. This gave Cora some alone time during the day (again) and Amara the chance to spread her wings. Eric and I began our career-long volunteering time with Ms. Bice, Amara's teacher, and we started learning the ins and outs of getting everyone on the bus, out the door, papers in bags, returning papers, and doing it all on time. Amara immediately began winning quality awards, was noted as a leader in her class, and continues to impress us all weekly.

Cora continued on with her gymnastics classes while Amara tackled Karate, Upward cheer, Hip Hop with the CCS, and anything else she could stumble into. It was a busy time, but we made it work and even took a second short vacation to Hilton Head in September!

October brought fun activities. Spending time with the Vogt's, our fall party, festivals, parades, and family time. Playing in the leaves, picking up lots of sticks, and enjoying the great property and outdoors.

Grandpa Jahn had a major heart surgery in November, so we all experienced that with him. The upside though was Eric prepping his first turkey with dad, us all spending the night there, and having a fun day of crafting at their house.

Winter kicked off early, but then no snow. The good news was we got to keep playing outside, but the girls are still waiting for their white winter (even now). Cora is almost 4, planning her party as we speak, and Amara is 6 1/2 going on 16. We had an amazing Christmas holiday filled with trips to the Polar express, visits and breakfast with Santa, making cookies with friends, shopping, wrapping, decorating and playing.  It was a magical season that literally flew by!

We experienced our first school winter break--which gave us opportunities to do lots of fun things together too, and had its' challenges. We celebrated LOTS of birthdays in December too, and Amara got to have the independence of her first Secret Santa shop for family at her school.

The girls attended their first New Year's Eve event, and just like that, we are already up on a new year, 2015.

We were so blessed and lucky to have a happy and eventful year. As we roll into the next year, we are all healthy and are enjoying school, home, and family lives together. This year we will have a first grader and preschooler before long, time really does fly and I'm happy to be able to think back on the last year with such fond memories, friends, and events to recall.

daddy checks in

Eric always likes to give his year summary and this year is no different. He checks in...

2014 was “interesting” and a year full of changes and new adventures for our family.  

- Finally able to truly start living in our house, trying to figure out how to get “organized”

- Leaving our 3-year relationship with our wonderful daycare sitter (Godspeed, Sarah, Rich and Jonathan)

- Adjusting to a new daycare sitter
- A not-so-little milestone of kindergarten (by the way, I couldn’t be prouder of you, Amara, about how you’ve welcomed the challenge and embraced the “fun-ness” of school)

- Our first competition season for competitive cheerleading

- A new world of hip-hop

- And classes for just about everything under the sun (at least it feels like it ;-) …) - karate, tumbling, gymnastics, soccer, etc

Add on all the events, and we’ve stayed really busy.  But, the glory of all of this are the memories and the pictures, both tangible photographs but also the images burned into my mind.

- Cora standing next to her big sister, so proud of her, at a cheerleading competition

- The girls looking up, smiling ear-to-ear, with their Mom between them, on horses at the zoo carousel

- The sound of Cora’s laugh when she’s simply had it and is done for the day but I manage to find just the right spot on her neck where she giggles uncontrollably

- Amara realizing how much she likes hip-hop and the hours and effort she puts into practicing

- Doing crafts with my wife (more often, just watching in amazement how she brings something so awesome to life)

- How the girls pick out their clothes - one so concerned about accessorizing and fashion … the other only concerned about purple, frills, and sparkles.

- The great mood Cora always is at pick-up from Carissa’s house – running into my arms, yelling “Da-da”, and giving the biggest hug.

- Going down the potato sack slide (and usually bruising my tailbone) with Cora on my lap, racing Amara – at Young’s Dairy, the OLPH carnival … pretty much anywhere that has that slide (if it’s there, the girls will be on it)

- the endless fun at Hilton Head – getting to sleep with Amara, catching Cora as she jumps into the pool, throwing Amara in the pool, the progress they both make in the pool, the shell-gathering expeditions on the beach, the fun dinners

(My memory ain’t great, babe, I know … but thanks to you, these things are so vivid and so amazing, that even MY brain is able to store them)

Come to think of it, Amara was involved in almost all of them, which now that I’m realizing this, is something Dad should think about when “what in the world is that girl thinking?!” comes to mind … certainly a lot of things to cope with.  In spite of all that, she remains the most brilliant and kind-hearted girl I know, and I couldn’t be more proud of her.  That shouldn’t be too surprising, since her mother is the most brilliant and kind-hearted woman I know.  And, little Cora (who isn’t so little anymore) is going through other changes herself.  Whether it be thanks to joining or supporting her big sister and all of her activities, or thanks to her mom’s quest to provide the girls with a wondrous array of formative experiences, she has been exposed to A LOT.  And she’s got the personality, vocabulary, and attitude to show for it.  Needless to say, I’ve got my hands full … and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I love my life - thanks, girls!

Sarah speaks

(From Sarah...) 

Sooooo glad you texted me this morning! I obviously totally forgot! I have been sorting and packing about 10 hours for the past few days. Today we have 5 errands we need to run so I thought I would do this first before I forgot again. :) 

Amara- 2014 was a bitter-sweet year. I had the pleasure of spending another six months with Amara. She usually came bounding in with a story to tell. She loved showing me the latest she had learned in gymnastics. I was really able to see her nearly perfect a cartwheel. She loved playing with her friends. Amara loved helping me lead the younger ones for walks, when we went on field trips, or helping me get the kids in and out of the van. She loved playing on the swing set and when I would chase her around the house. A favorite moment that I will cherish was while we were playing a game of hide-and-seek. I hid down in the basement and Amara, Jonathan, and Cora were hunting for me. I loved hearing them talk about what to do next as they got closer and closer. All of a sudden, Amara came around the corner and her eyes got as big as I had ever seen them. She let out the loudest and longest scream and almost tripped over her friends trying to get away. It took almost ten minutes for us all to stop laughing. 

Cora-In the year 2014, Cora went from a toddler to a preschooler. She was the first to give and receive hugs. Cora was very laid back and was flexible when it came to transitioning from one activity to another. She was a very good listener. This year she made a transition to be my little helper. She loved helping me clean up toys, prepare a snack, or help load the car. This year she also became Miss Independent. She really like setting up her own bed, going potty by herself, dressing herself, etc. She was able to transition from being the youngest when she played with Amara and Jonathan and being the oldest when she played with Benjamin, Sloane, and Isaiah. One of my favorite memories that I have with Cora is just simply sitting in the rocking chair and watching cartoons together. I was busy that day running around cleaning, cooking, etc. Cora then asked me to join her. I stopped everything to rock and watch Sesame Street. She helped me remember what was the most important...spending time with her. 

Micki-In that moment with Cora, God reminded me too that it is all that He desires as well ... He longs to spend time with us. :) It is another reason I will not forget that moment. Give the girls hugs and kisses from me! Hope your New Year has gotten off to a great start!!

NYE "Kids only" party with the Black Family

It's happened...the girls were officially invited to a party WE were not, lol. We couldn't be happier for them--great friends and kids, and I'm SURE they had an absolute blast. OH to be a fly on the wall!

I bought them some sparkling lemonade to take for their friends, and they started packing the day they were invited: sleeping bags, nail polish, toys, etc. Tiffany and John were in for a big night! Amara immediately started snooping around for the activities for the night and was thrilled to hear there would be a craft.

Immediately, Tiffany was sending me pics of their activities. They ended up with 11 kids, (including all of ours) and all but 2 stayed the night. Eric and I didn't drink or even sleep much because I kept waiting on that phone call, but I was so thrilled it never came!

Both girls had an absolute blast. Tiff and John said they did a toast, watched the ball drop, banged on pots and pans, and then got the sleeping bags ready. They watched Frozen as everyone settled in for the night. Cora slept in her bag next to Amara and they stayed in there till about 8:30--when Tiffany said she was awoken by Cora touching her face and saying "good morning." 

When we picked them up, they were thrilled to see us, but visibly tired and ready to go. We packed up all their stuff, and got them rolling. I'm so glad we all have a few days to recover but even MORE glad that they all had an amazing time and experience. New tradition!!

CCS Christmas party

The Cheer Center Christmas ball/ holiday party was kind of a bust, but it was nice enough :)  It was at Foxfire, so close, but it was between Christmas and New Year's and we'd all had a long few days.

The girls were excited though and anxious to get gussied up, so we headed out. We got there in plenty of time to pick out seats, then the waiting began.

Cora got a nosebleed at the table just as they were dismissing ours, so we handled that and then finally ate, but we'd been there 2 hours by the time they were just getting to the gift exchange. With NYE the next night, Eric and I made the decision to punt and hit the road--so glad we did. Friends were posting pics at 10:30 of the dancing, which was all Amara was even interested in, so no way we would have made that.

We got the girls in their jammies and started prepping for NYE the next day. It was good to see some CCS buddies around and say hi and dress up, but it wasn't near the event it was at Grand Oaks last year--that's ok though, we got to go and the girls were sweet and didn't complain a bit when we left. I was super proud of them.

happy 3rd frozen birthday Kylah!

Cousin Kylah kindly invited us all to her 3rd Frozen party birthday and we had an absolute blast!  She is a doll...

First up was face painting by Aunt Sherry. She's been doing it for years and is a pro! The girls were first in line.

Cora loved the shiny blue paint and purple Sherry tied in. Kylah sat with me and waited patiently--i don't think she wanted to be the guinea pig, then jumped up to take her turn. Eric and I both got to spend some one on one time with the birthday girl, which was nice.

Kylah loved having grandma paint her face! Sher is an awesome artist too.

Then the surprise of the night, Hannah and Haylee showed up as Anna and Elsa! They have done this a few times now, and Amara was "in on the secret," so she felt super special when they came down the stairs. They are beautiful dressed up or not, but the kids LOVED it.

We played pin the carrot nose on Olaf too, Amara actually won! Then we posed for some celebrity look alike pics with our famous cousins. The party was packed and had a lot of kids, so Cora wanted to go shortly after that. She and Eric watched Full House reruns in the car while Amara and I packed up. Amara said her good byes and we got in the car for the trip home, but we had so much fun with the Hamms and can't wait to see them all again!

christmas afternoon with grandma and grandpa Jahn

After we'd had time to recover a bit and take a breather, we headed to the Jahn's christmas afternoon for presents and dinner.

christmas morning at home

The girls gave us plenty of time Christmas morning--I think Amara got up at 7, Cora was shortly after that. Amara was excited to go downstairs (the Youngs were already here) but Cora took her time :) By the time they got changed and downstairs and started on stockings, the Jahn's had finally made it too. Mom brought sausage bake and I did sausage rolls, so we were all taken care of!

Santa left Anna and Elsa hats (like Tiffanys!) for the girls--we all couldn't get over how Cora's hair matched Elsa's perfectly! Amara's isn't exactly Anna's, but she's certainly closer to Anna's personality than Cora ;)

Amara was excited to dig into her stocking too--she had a tooth that was JUST about to fall out, so Santa left her lots of chewy snacks and some fun treats too.

Cora was immediately in love with her stick-on purple and teal nails! She insisted that they go on immediately--and then she realized it was difficult to open presents with them on, haha. They lasted most of the morning anyway.

Amara loved her Furreal friends Panda and Cora her doll from Santa (her first bitty baby) too. The grandparents did a great job with toys--Barbie dreamhouse for Cora and lots of craft things for Amara, which she dug right into.

We had a gerat morning together--this was a super fun Christmas--the girls were at the perfect ages to have fun, and really enjoy it. I'd like to bottle this one.

christmas eve church and home

We were excited to go to Christmas eve service at the Naz, as always, but this year we knew we could look for Saphira on stage with the children's choir! We got our seats and the girls enjoyed the singing, instruments, and there were even ballerinas on stage who helped tell a story about a music box who had lost its music.

The music and the service were beautiful!

We saw Saphira and her mom Kirstin on stage, we also got to see our friend Mrs. Misty, and a few others as we exited.  The girls were pretty good in the service, even though I could tell they were wearing down from our busy day. Everyone was bustling out and the girls were hungry, so we headed to get our chinese takeout, part of our traditional Christmas Eve night.

When we got home, the girls got right in their PJs and we all ate together on the couch while we watched a few Christmas cartoons (Prep and Landing is a favorite for the last few years). 

Then it was on to the work to get done for Santa: milk, cookies, and raisins on a plate by the fireplace, and the reindeer food sprinkled outside for the reindeer to find our house. Amara made some at school and the girls both made some with Carissa, so it was a new thing this year they really enjoyed.

Christmas eve cookies

Christmas eve was about the only time we could fit in making our own cutouts this year--and it happened to work out perfectly with when our friends wanted to bake, so they joined in with us!

Kirsten needed to make more turtles (hers were a hit from cookie day) so we worked on those and the kids took turns decorating.  They picked purple, blue, pink, green, and white for their colors, but they got a little mixed as the decorating went on...

We all sampled them and quality checked--both were delicious! Grandma Harmon's recipe lives on, and Cora was SUCH a trooper rolling out shapes with me. I think she'd have done it for hours if I'd have let her.

holidays at grandma and grandpas

Sunday before Christmas, mom wanted the girls to come stay to do some christmassy stuff together. The evening started off with making ornaments out of paper and ribbon, (anything crafty for Amara) and getting into snuggly PJs. I think Cora was watching TV with grandpa ;)

Onto grandma's bed, where the snacks come out, and the craziness ;0 Cheeze-its are a staple at their house ;) Things get a little silly in G'ma's bed.

The girls watched the sound of music for the first time, mom said they loved it and watched the whole thing with them. I can see them liking that--not that it was on my radar, but I'm really glad they all discovered that together. I'm looking for the DVD as we speak.

The next morning, we had some sleepy girls, but they love sitting at the bar waiting on breakfast and watching TV in the kitchen :)

Callie's 6th birthday!

Amara was so happy to bring home the invitation for her friend Callie's birthday party on Tuesday! She is a super sweet and smart little girl, and we immediately said yes to the invitation and got to shopping for her.

The party was on Sunday after hip hop, so we got changed, gift wrapped and out the door. Her cake and party games were frozen--Amara enjoyed doing bowling games and a ring toss with Callie and Asyia (also from school) and some of Callie's cousins. Amara picked lip gloss and nail polish as her prizes for the games, and some for her sister too, which was super sweet.

She opened her gifts with her friends--it was really too chilly to come outside, but they all had fun taking turns helping her and opening.   The cake was great too, very yummy, but the kids didn't spend too much time on that--they were back up in the bedrooms, playing with the older sisters (who also go to Darbydale) and friends. Her family was super nice and it was a great family party.

Holiday hip hop

To celebrate Christmas, coaches Kam and Tay let the kids dress in holiday colors instead of their normal sunday practice black. Amara didn't have any shirts that weren't long-sleeved, so we made her a cute outfit out of reds and greens. Some went all out though!

Amara wanted me to make cookies for the team, so we did red and green M&M cookies and the kids devoured them at break time! Lord knows they work hard in that 90 minutes, so I was happy to have a treat for them (and the coaches and other athletes--Amara decide to offer up to the gym).

A couple kids were missing, but they had a great practice! I can't believe we are getting so close to her first competition, January 11! We have a little break around Christmas, but then it's full on, till competition time. I'm so proud of how far she's come, how hard she works, and that glowing smile the whole time. Go Beanie!

Cookie day

Awesome time baking and enjoying friends this year as always! Had a great group of girls, some wine, lots of kiddos and lots of laughter!  We were glad to have Kortney back in the country this year, but sad to have Sarah at her last cookie day for a long time to come.

The girls all played and helped sample, that much is for sure. We tried lots of new recipes, all of which were hits--even the ones we THOUGHT were flops, turned out to be favorites. Carolyn brought some with her already done, so it looked like we were more accomplished than we were, lol--but we really got a lot done fast.

We all got in on the chocolate this year too, Kortney's oreo balls (and mint ones too), Kirsten was right on the turtles with Carolyn and Amanda, Sheri and Sarah actually got to bake while the girls and Jonathan played--and Eric basically held MJ all day and afternoon (and i didn't hear him complain).

Co-pilot Carolyn and Sarah made the best of a confusing and complex red velvet cookie to save the night. We had a lot of laughs (and not JUST because of the bottles of Moscato that we devoured) and really, really enjoyed ourselves. I feel so lucky to have amazing friends and just love the heck out of all of them.

 I was so caught up, I really didn't even get a good pic for the table, but even though it was early, kort came through with one for me. OH and mom was there--she was just upstairs endlessly folding clothes for 4 hours, and yes, seriously.

Polar express!

Since we both love surprises, Kirstin and I worked out a big one for our families for this holiday, the Polar Express train ride! It started back in fall--securing the tickets on the sale day, for the 8 of us, and we did! We got a date close to Christmas that we wanted and that worked with all our schedules. 

When the big day finally came, Eric and I wrapped the new PJs and tickets, took Amara off the bus, headed to Carissa's to get Cora, and let them open the present. They had no idea what it was, lol--but after Eric explained it, they were all about it! They changed in the car and we set off for the Akron train station and our big event. Surprise number 2, Saphira's family, met us there, and we could tell it was going to be a great night.

Right away, the characters were awesome. From the men helping the girls on the train, to the elf leaders on the train, and all the goofy characters in between, they were awesome. The girls were enamored!  Kirsten and I visited the gift car and the men and kids visited the snack car, to load up on popcorn. We got the girls snow globes for a keepsake too.

Soon after that, the conductor came along to punch the girls golden tickets, something Amara had been really hopeful about and we were glad happened. Jagger made sure to get his ticket punched too--Cora is totally sweet on him. They sat together all night.

When the train began to move, we were headed to the North Pole--about a 20 minute ride, but the elves read the Polar Express story on the way, so that was cool.  Before we knew it, we were at the North Pole and elves, lights, and more characters filled their side of the train--and at the end, Santa passed by on another engine with lots of lights and Mrs. Claus. We parked for a bit to watch, but we didn't know that while we were, Santa was boarding our car!

He came along and spent time with all the kids, asking them what they wanted for Christmas, if they'd been good, and generally spreading cheer and making wishes come true. At the end of his visit though, he gave each of the kids a bell, with "Believe" etched on it, (from the bells on the reigns of his sleigh) and asked the kids if they could hear the bell ringing--Cora was amazed.

After Santa left our car, we sang more songs, and enjoyed cookies and hot cocoa on the ride back to the station. It was a long trip, day, ride, etc. but the time together and with our amazing friends was priceless. We carried some tired girls into the car that night, but they were too excited to even sleep on the way home, amazing!!

Happy 7th birthday Jonathan

Happy last birthday in the US for a while, big guy! We were so happy to be able to have a private birthday party with him at the Magic Mountain out east--it was an awesome night!!

We started off in the HUGE play gym tunnels, but quickly moved on to games. I am NOT exaggerating when I say we LITERALLY had the entire place to ourselves. Eric kept us all bathed in tokens and the kids played like we were on free-play all night.

Rich and Eric played basketball while Sarah and I caught up. The kids even got to play a super cool laser/ mission impossible kind of event together, crawling under and over lasers to the end. They were all sweaty and hot and needed a break--so we took one, for cake!

Angry birds was the choice of the night, so we sang and dug right in, but it wasn't long before they were back out playing ;)

Once we gave them last call, it took quite a bit to cash in our our tickets. Eric took them to the prize counter and they had enough to all get a hearty bag of loot for each of them, all color coded (thanks Eric).

We seriously had a blast with the Vogt's, celebrating Jonathan's 7th birthday, and it was absolutely perfect. Knowing this is one of the last times we'll see them for a long while made it all bittersweet, but we are so thankful for such an amazing night with friends and a special little boy who is the closest thing to a brother my girls will ever have.

Nutcracker ballet

After attending the Nutcracker ballet rehearsal this year and before, we decided to pull the trigger and finally try taking the girls to the real show. It was at the Ohio Theater and Eric graciously gave up our 4th ticket so mom could go with me and take the girls. Amara had LITERALLY just gotten over a stomach bug that morning and i probably shouldn't have taken her, but she was SO excited...

...we all dressed up (skipped lunch)and headed out in our finest!  I dropped them off--Amara was pretty worn out, but getting inside the theater she immediately perked up. 

We also got to pose with Cinderella as they were promoting and upcoming ballet with her in the Spring--we will see how this one goes :)

As as special treat, we got to meet the sugar plum fairy and mouse king before the performance even started! That was super cool of the ballet to provide and got the girls excited. I grabbed a few waters for them and we headed in to our seats just in time.  We got to see our friends the Stephens' too, who were just a few rows in front of us and going for their first time too!

It was over an hour before the first intermission and the girls were getting antsy, but they LOVED the show. The best for me was when Amara or Cora would tug on my sleeve and tell me they remembered this or that part from the rehearsal. They especially liked the Arabian dancers and the child 'pages' who did a clapping dance/ routine that they remembered and did along with the kids behind us we could also hear.

At intermission, they ravaged anything edible in my purse. Candy, almonds, etc. I was worried about Amara's stomach, but she was fine, and enjoyed all the parts of the candy land in the 2nd half of the show.

At the end, I was so glad we went. It was long, but maybe if we do them with this, they will get used to that. Amara loved sharing grandma's binoculars to really zoom in on the dancers and Cora gave me an aerobic workout sitting on my lap, but it was really, really great.

We hit bob evans for a late lunch together before heading home, and extended our date a little longer. I hope the girls remember this trip--grandma got them both ornaments for the tree this year, so I'm hoping they will always remember their first ballet and the Nutcracker together.

Happy birthday Kaelan

Birthday parties with classmates season continues for Amara! I think this made the second for Amara recently and I know of more on the horizon--that said, we LOVE Kaelan :) 

He is SO sweet to Eric and I and Amara when we see him, volunteering in class, and I was excited to get to meet his parents.  We ventured out to chuck e cheese after our Santa visit, and (AFTER mommy went to the WRONG location) we had a great time!

Caroline was there from class and also the twins, Lance and Lane. They all played chase in the jungly gym, played a LOT of games with tokens, and enjoyed pizza, cupcakes, and even a push pop for the way home. I was so glad she had a great time...

...because on the way home, she came down with a stomach bug. Poor dear was out of commission the rest of the night, but she powered through. She must have felt terrible, but she didn't let it show and was an absolute perfect party guest. Glad they got time away from school to play together at least!

Surprise Santa visit!

Our favorite Santa popped in to see us again this year and we were thrilled and excited for his visit! He came on a Friday afternoon as we were getting ready to head out to a party, so the girls were completely surprised--it was great.

He got to work right away with his stories, having Cora help him tell the Rudolph story and sing, reading another cute story for the girls, and reminiscing about Christmas' past--even with mom and dad, which I secretly think they love.

Mom and dad enjoyed singing along too--they came over under the rouse that they wanted to see our decorations, which Amara was eager to oblige.

Rosey cheeked and happy, the girls and Santa posed, talked about their year since they saw each other last, and he even told them how he follows their activities of the year (courtesy social media, our blog, and facebook, ha!)

Though Amara didn't participate in the Rudolph stuff, she wanted to get some photos with Santa, so she got right up on his lap, and I was glad to see that.

We always enjoy our one on one santa time and this year was no different. I love the element of surprise, their wonder and enjoyment, and having our special visitor in our home every Christmas season.