Charlotte is 9
It is hard to believe that this is Charlotte’s last single digit birthday. Her life and pictures demonstrate that she is turning into a young woman. Charlotte is becoming a kind and compassionate friend at school, an amazing helper and leader at home and awesome person to be around. She loves to read and draw. She loves playing outside. And she loves her dog, June. Can’t wait to see what this year brings!
A builder's 7th birthday party
This year Ollie’s party was all about building. The decorations were construction-y. The book was about an architect. We designed, built and painted bird houses. We ate a cake shaped like a hammer and everyone really enjoyed the party.
It’s hard to believe that Oliver is this big. Seems like he’s grown so much recently and everyday is a fun adventure with him around. Here’s to our sweet baby boy!
Oliver is 7
What a year it’s been for Oliver James. In the past 12 months Ollie moved to a new house, graduated Kindergarten, played on a soccer team, learned how to swim in the deep end, went to the beach, got a new puppy, and the list goes on and on.
Ollie is such a great kid and he wants to be friends with everyone he meets. It has been so much fun to discover the young man that he is becoming and we can’t wait to see how he grows over the next year.
Happy Birthday Oliver!
Dancing & Valentine's
In February, love was in the air. Charlotte and Jay attended their 4th Father Daughter Dance and we celebrated Valentine’s Day with ice cream.
The dance was a blast and we even walked away with a cool photo strip to remember the evening for years to come. Charlotte picked out her dress from Sam’s Club and we had dinner at Outback…Charlotte loves the Bloomin’ Onion. It’s not fun to think about only having two more of these dances left, but they are a special time year after year.
Happy February to all of our family and friends!
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.
