2011 in review

The collage below shows one picture from each month of 2011 (with an extra from June masking the lack of ANY pictures from September!).  It has been a great year. 2 people said the marathon driving vacation was the best part of the year, one person said visiting Lego Discovery Center was the best and the last person said that playing Fling Smash on the new Wii was the highlight. I am sure you can not possibly guess who's was who's.  :)

Wish you all a happy and healthy 2012.

Here we come a caroling... year 4

Every year I look forward to the winter solstice.  Being the day with the least amount of day light of the whole year, I am always excited when it comes-because it only gets better from there. The other reason I look forward to the solstice is because our super awesome friends the Landis' help us carry on our caroling tradition that started on a whim 4 years ago. This year we set a few records with our adventures. It was the warmest it has ever been so far, there was no snow on the ground for the 1st time, we sang to more houses than we have ever been able to hit before, and we caroled via Skype!

I hope everyone has something they are looking forward to this holiday season! Wishing we could carol to all of you.

Beauty of Fall

 I love fall in our state. I love these 2 boys too...Enjoy  the beauty of the season.

Training Camp...

In the past 12 months Nolan has chosen to pledge his football allegiance to the Cincinnati Bengal.  When summer came and it was time to choose his one camp to attend, he chose football camp.  He has officially become a football fan and we love it. When he found out  a few weeks ago that he had an ex-NFL player living a few houses away he could not wait to head over and ask the guy to show him a "few moves".  So for the past 2 weeks, Nolan has put on his football gear, tucked his Hawkeye football under his arm and knocked on this guy's door only to be disappointed again and again when no one answered. Yesterday however he had success!  The man was SO nice and came out and threw some balls with Nolan, complimented him on his awesome throwing arm and great moves. Nolan was on cloud 9 and came home to tell Jim not that he had gotten to throw balls for an ex-NFL receiver but that he had gotten a "new throwing arm".  What a great experience to end his summer break with!

The things you leave behind...

My cousin Tiffanie and I were sharing old photos recently of our dads and their parents. We came across several of Granny who passed away when we were only 5 & 6 years old. I told Tiff that I don't have very many clear memories of Granny, mainly just a feeling that she was very special in my life. Tiff agreed that while she doesn't have memories of her, she remembers feeling like Granny really loved her. She went on to say "She must have been a good grandma when that's all the five year old can remember.".  How very, very true. Thank you Granny for loving us enough for a lifetime, even when we only got to be with you for little while.

The Essence of Moms...

 

This week I came up behind Nolan and put my hands on his face and said, "Guess who?".His response..."Mom, I knew it was you. You have the warmest and softest skin.".  Don't all moms? It is the essence of who we are to our children. I will treasure this post forever.

Religion...

 Some people believe you have to go to church to know God and be spiritual. I have always thought that this (pic above) is what church really is. I often think 4 walls and a roof actually impedes my connection with God instead of strengthens it. I feel closer to God and myself after my 5 days in the mountains watching this amazing natural world, which seems to just know what to do to keep going, than I have in the last 12 months. I am thankful for the wonder of this planet and all that is in it.

Family...

The saying goes, "You can choose your friends but not your family". It is often said because of a difference of opinion or personality causing family not to get along. The words "family reunion" often cause people to cringe with anxiety of forced social gatherings.

The Miley side of my family got together last week for the 1st time since I have been alive. It was none of the things mentioned above. What it was...laughing,playing, hugging, smiling, crying, healing, understanding,comfortable...mine. I would choose them everytime.

promotions....

 We now officially have school age children. Nolan is heading to 1st grade and Quinn to 3rd. These pictures tell so much about how the kids feel about school. The 1st day pics show excited (possibly a little nervous) boys with new clothes, shoes and backpacks on.  The last day pics so 2 boys with faded shirts and relieved grins.  On a weekly basis, I am amazed at how exciting and exhausting school is for both these little guys.  I am looking forward to a summer of fun and play before all we are a headed back in August for our new adventures.

                                                     Last day of school ice cream outing!

Rite of Passage...

When you are Catholic, there are lots of events of religious nature that are celebrated in a big way. Today was one of those days for Quinn. Along with the rest of his 2nd grade class, he celebrated his First Communion. In true fashion, Quinn was practicing all the right moves right up until it was his turn. You'll be glad to know, he got it just right. :) He was very sweet in showing me what I should do when I went up with him to show that I would not be recieving communion. His understanding of how this is just something the Catholics do amazes me. He does not judge, he just knows this is part of his heritage and something he gets to be a part of because he is a Lynch.

Oh man....

A friend wrote me last month and said "Hey! I haven't seen any new blog posts, you guys ok?" and I thought it hadn't been that long since I posted. Today when I popped over to see that our year in review was the last post I  realized she had every right be to worried!  Pretty soon I am going to have to do a 1/2 year in review instead of just posting!

A couple of highlights from my hiatus of posting are:

Quinn moved up from a tiger cub to a wolf cub at scouts. They made a really neat "Wolf O Matic" machine for the boys to evolve through. 

Nolan turned 6 with his 1st big friend party!  He chose a Kung Zhu battle hamster theme (can you even read battle hamster without laughing? I can't) and the boys had a great time.

5 was such a great age for Nolan. He is really a funny, joyful addition to our family. I am hopeful that 6 is as great as 5 was for him.

 

Quinn raced his Batmobile Pinewood Derby car and came in very close to last but still loved every minute of it. 

Hopefully, I will be able to keep up more frequently! Thanks for being patient with me while I keep up with life!