Birthday preview

Ben's 5th birthday is quickly approaching. Over the weekend we had an early birthday dinner with our neighbors. We're looking forward to a week full of birthday celebrations!

Snow!

We were wondering when we would see some snow - New York got so much snow last winter and we haven't had any until recently. The kids loved it. They played outside with our neighbors and had a blast. It was my favorite kind of snow - beautiful on Saturday and gone by Monday.

Kate and her buddy, Logan.

Logan, Kate, Charlie, & Ben

Using Jeff's car as a slide.

Christmas 2011

The weekend before Christmas we tried to go to the New York Botanical Garden to see the trai display, but didn't know we had to buy tickets in advance. So, we headed across the street to the Bronx Zoo. Since it was so cold the zoo was completely empty so we were able to ride the carousel, see the Polar Express 4D show, and see plenty of animals without having to fight a crowd.

Grammy paid us a visit before Christmas. One day Grammy and I took Ben to see Peter Pan at Madison Square Garden. We did some sightseeing at Rockefeller Plaza before the show.

The kids paid a visit to Santa on Christmas Eve this year. Kate wouldn't sit on his lap, and thankfully Santa wasn't very busy, so he was able to get down and hang out with her. Later Ben was able to get some one-on-one time with the big man to tell him what he wanted.

Taking a carriage ride in Cincinnati during our visit to Santa.

Opening some presents on Christmas Eve.

Santa's loot

Testing out her new tricycle.

Modeling a new swimsuit from Great Aunt Joani and some jewels from Gigi, Jeff, Lauren & Maddie.

Cincinnati Zoo Festival of Lights.

Song for Sophie

Ben was inspired by a video of his friend Sophie on Facebook, so he wanted to record a message for her. It is sort of a message to Sophie, but mostly a song about Halloween (I think).

Summer 2011

We had a busy summer - we started in Charlotte, spent a month in Ft. Thomas and moved to Rye, NY in early August. We made some fun trips in between - to Murray, Lake Wawasee and Carmel, IN. Here are some pictures from our summer adventures. Now that we're settled I hope to be better about keeping this blog up-to-date!

At Kings Island with Elise

Getting their Graeter's ice cream fix

4th of July parade

Visit to Springfield, Ohio

Trip to Lake Wawasee in Syracuse, IN to visit the Wenstrups.

Courtney and Ben

Ben and Reagan

Trip to Murray, Kentucky. Ben & Miles

Going for a ride with Cohen

Kate with Great Aunt J.R.

Cincinnati Zoo

Visiting the Habeggers in Carmel, Indiana (the Stormer ladies stopped by for a visit)

Ben and Kate's favorite summer game - getting sprayed in the driveway by Poppie!

Kate's 2nd Birthday

Kate celebrated her second birthday on June 18th. It was our last weekend in our Charlotte house so we rented a water slide and had friends over to celebrate with us. Kate was not a huge fan of the water slide. While I was running errands Jeff sent her down alone and she was quite scared. So, everyone else enjoyed the water slide and she splashed in the water at the bottom. She did go down one more time in Jeff's lap.

Getting some help opening presents from Ben and Anna.

Springtime

We've had a busy spring and I haven't been good about posting pictures. So, here are some of the kids from the past few months. We're preparing to head to the northeast and are sad to be leaving Charlotte, but are excited for the new adventure too.

Visiting the Georgia Aquarium with Jackson and Wyatt during our recent trip to Atlanta.

Ben & Jackson

Kate & Wyatt

Kate enjoys the boxes that are around the house