Christmas 2019 Wrap Up

2019 is in the rearview mirror but it ended really well with so many great Christmas memories.

The kids planned a party and invited Aunt Paula, Granpda & Tiki, and Grandpa & Gibby. Every detail was put together by Charlotte & Oliver and we all had a great evening of food, games and crafts. We are so proud of the time and energy the kids put into this night for some special people in their lives.

We took our annual trip to Bass Pro Shop to visit the man in red. The kids saw the fish, we shot rifles, made lists for Santa, and got a picture with the big guy.

We didn’t get to decorate cookies until after Christmas, but we made some gingerbread cookies and made them look wonderful!

Our good friend Laura has a birthday right around Christmas and so by her request we headed to the Cincinnati Zoo for the Festival of Lights. The kids love Laura like family and she’s an amazing friend to the Hess family.

We celebrated Christmas morning as a family and just took it nice and slow. It was great.

Finally, on the day after Christmas, we headed to Music Hall for The Nutcracker ballet. It was fun to spend some time in the city with the family making memories.

Thanksgiving and Trees

We had a great couple of days around Thanksgiving spending time with family and picking out the perfect tree for Christmas this year.

The kids made cute shirts for Thanksgiving and they both really loved it as always. We didn’t take too many pictures for Thanksgiving, but still enjoyed a nice day of great food and a walk through the woods with the kiddos. Grandpa got Ollie a book for collecting pennies and he’s been loving find all of the different year coins to add to his collection.

We went to Corsi Tree Farm and took June along for the fun. She loved poking around and helping us find our tree. Later on, Grandpa and Gibby came by the house for dinner to help us decorate the tree.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

All things Halloween!

We had a great October leading up to Halloween.

First, Oliver and Melissa had a Mother/Son Dance at school. Melissa was Ash and Oliver was Pikachu. Oliver picked dinner at Frisch’s and they spent the night playing games, eating snacks and “dancing.”

We took our pumpkins from Shaw Farms over to Grandpa and Gibby’s for lunch and carving. Oliver drew Pikachu and got help from Grandpa. Charlotte picked a cat and got help from Jay.

The kids have been taking piano lessons and they had their first opportunity to show off their skills at a recital. They were excited to wear their costumes and the 10 family and friends that attended made sure that they felt loved.

Finally, we joined some neighbors and friends to celebrate Halloween itself. It was cold, but at least it wasn’t raining. The kids had a great time and both came home with way too much candy.

Hope you had a Happy Halloween!

apples & pumpkins galore

It’s that time of year when we head out to local farms to pick apple and pumpkins. We’ve been heading to A&M Orchard for a few years now and as Milford natives, we always visit Shaw Farms. Our newest addition, June the miniature Aussie puppy got to tag along as well. So much fun experiencing these traditions as a family. Enjoy the pictures!

A&M Orchard

Shaw Farms

We'd like to introduce June

We’ve been talking about puppies for a few months now and last week we were notified by a shelter up in Champaign County Ohio that we were second in line for a litter of Australian Shepherd dogs. There were two that we really liked from the pictures online and we ended getting our first choice! So after a quick name change from Annie Oakley to June we were all set.

June has been settling in well and is already doing so good with potty training. She’s a little over 12 weeks and weighs about 8 pounds. She might be a miniature Aussie, but we won’t until she get a little bit bigger. It kind of feels like we have an infant again…waking up in the middle of the night and lots of attention required, but June is sweet and loving and she makes a great addition to our family. She sure is a cute puppy, but I think we’re also looking forward to how smart and athletic she’ll be become as she grows.

We love you June bug!

IMG_4036.JPG