Oliver is 8

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Oliver’s 7th birthday slid in just before COVID-19 hit in 2020, so this year for his 8th birthday, with winter temperatures and mask requirements, we took to Eastside Christian Church for his photo shoot.

Our homeschooled 2nd grader has learned so much this year and has become quite the reader. He loves playing outside whenever he can, but he also loves to build and create on Minecraft. We are looking forward to spring soccer and more outdoor activities, but in the mean time we decided to spend Oliver and Jay’s birthdays in frigid Chicago so Ollie could visit the Sheed Aquarium. Oliver wants to work with ocean animals when he grows up, so it was a great experience for him. We love you Oliver James!

Christmas 2020

Christmas in our house was different this year for sure! We opted out of traditional family gatherings to help keep all of our loved ones safe. This meant a few things looked different, but we still made memories and had a great holiday season. Here are a few things to remember from December 2020:

December started with a little snow and an opportunity to use new sleds from Grandpa and Tiki.

The tree farm that we visit every year was open, but because we are doing online schooling this year we got to go on a Friday when the place was empty. Everyone ran around like they owned the place!

When we got our tree home Gibby and Grandpa helped decorate the tree without the normal festivity (food and drinks) and of course in masks.

This year we baked and made more cookies than we ever have in the past! I guess all the time at home gave us time to do every cookie kit and recipe imaginable! Part of our cookie making included a Cookie Decoration competition with our neighbors. It was a lot of fun, and we will do it again next year!

Every year we do some form of advent. This year we took part in the standard lego and chocolate advent calendars as we have in the past, but we also got to do the advent from Eastside. It was nice spending extra time around the table each night.

This year we took Auntie Paula to the Festival of the Lights at the zoo. Because of COVID they only sold tickets at certain times and the only tickets that we could get you had to enter at 2 pm, so we spent hours enjoying the zoo this year!

The month was spent at a relaxed pace and we got to spend some time at the nature center, doing puzzles, going to see Christmas lights, playing outside, and even watching the piggies next door!

Santa was visited this year, we went on a Fun Friday, there was no wait at all, and after a quick temperature and health check we got to chat with the big man!

Christmas morning was exciting as usual and Santa came with some good treats for all. Miss Laura stayed with us this Christmas (to keep her family safe) and so we enjoyed the day with the five of us.

We hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Christmas. We sure did miss our normal traditions, but were thankful for the time we got to spend together this year!

November 2020

We kept busy in November with Fun Friday’s, visiting Cowan Lake for a quick camping trip, and Thanksgiving.

Fun Friday’s:


Our quick trip to Cowan Lake to check out the hiking and cabins:

To celebrate Thanksgiving this year we made our annual turkey shirts and goodie trays for some of the people we are most thankful for that included some crafts and treats, went for a hike that morning with friends, and enjoyed a delicious dinner with our quarantine buddies!

We finished up the month with the first snow and two zoom craft sessions in one day: Cake Pops and Decoupage Birdhouses!

Halloween 2020

Our October was filled with pumpkin patches, creating decorations for our “It’s A Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” trunk or treat, pumpkin carving, and of course a Ninja, Rey, and R2D2!

Shaw Farms corn maze and tractor rides:

Charlotte working hard on painting and the finished product (C not pictured as she was at a birthday party):

Pumpkin craving with Grandpa and Gibby and some pumpkin seed sorting and washing:

A perfect night for trick or treating:

We hope everyone had a wonderful October filled with tractor rides, pumpkins, and some cute trick or treaters!

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Fall Beach Break

We had a wonderful opportunity to go spend the week working from the beach at Atlantic Beach this past week. The week was so nice, we spent each morning doing school until about lunchtime and then had fun going to the beach, aquarium, the Marine base where Grandpa use to work, Tryon Palace, and the skate park. Here is a few shots from our time at the beach.

Everyone missed the Aquarium when we were here earlier in the summer when they were closed, so we got to visit and see all of our fishy friends. One afternoon we split up and the girls went to Tryon Palace and the boys went to the base the Grandpa use to serve. Other afternoons we spent at one of their favorite places in Atlantic Beach, the skate park!

On one of of the last nights that we were in town, Grandpa took us on a dolphin and wild horse cruise! We got to see plenty of both and everyone loved it!

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We had a great week at the beach and June had a great week at the Log with Grandpa and Gibby, but she was happy when we picked her up on the way home!