March

 Bridgette and Rooke's basketball teams were still in full swing as March started.  They are both the tallest players on their respective teams, so the games typically started with Bridgette or Rooke doing the tip.

Bridgette's fan club, cheering her on during the All-Stars game, which she was selected to play in.

Meanwhile, if Rooke's not practicing or playing with his team, he's usually playing with friends in the neighborhood.  This photo cracks me up!  He is big, but the perspective of this photo makes him look like a GIANT!!

Teenage boys make me laugh!

March Madness family brackets (spoiler: Bridgette won!)

We celebrated Bridgette's 11th birthday!!  Ryan and Bridgette have a tradition of getting cronoughts together for birthday breakfast - yum!

Bridgette wanted to go to a trampoline park as a family after church on her birthday.  She held her own for a game of bouncy basketball.

Fun friends joined us for a birthday party!  Girls came over for games, a craft, make-your-own-pizza, and german chocolate cake.

The science fair at Granite was better than expected.  All three of the kids participated with their respective projects/experiment.  Bridgette had a very elaborate Rube Goldberg machine that she demonstrated.  Gretchen presented her experiment with a poster board on how much sight affects taste.  And Rooke used a slideshow to explain his experiment in testing electrolytes of different energy sports drinks.  

They are growing up SO fast - ah!

Catey is one of my dear friends, and Bridgette goes once a week to be her "mother's helper."  Catey kindly gifted both of us a pair of these fun sunglasses for our birthdays!

Gorgeous Gretchen getting ready for a school dance!  She went with a big group of girls to the dance that our homeschool co-op hosted and had a wonderful time!

Just trying to walk through the kitchen with my 6'5" son hanging on me.

Bridgette and Rooke participated in Teen Pact for the first time.  Part of Bridgette's homework was to write to her senator.  She took the letter seriously!

Teen Pact has a strict dress code, but nothing the thrift store couldn't help us with.  Bridgette went for a one-day class with friends.

Rooke's class was four days long.

And, thankfully, with all the Teen Pact, basketball, babysitting, youth group and other activities going on . . . Kaye K and Big Daddy came for a short weekend visit and were a huge help with carpooling and cooking and bringing the fun!  Kaye K gave Bridgette an Exit game for her birthday and they got to figure it out together.

What a treat to join Mom and Dad in seeing Uncle Steve perform as the lead role in "Ben Butler."  

Dad had never seen the cherry blossoms in bloom in DC.  What?!  The three of us snuck away on Friday morning for a walk around the Tidal Basin and caught the beauty of the blooms as they were starting to blow away.  

February

Among other things, February included a LOT of basketball, a birthday celebration, and science projects.  We packed a lot in to the month with the fewest days!

Go Rooke!

Cuddling with Dad makes her role as basketball spectator a little more enjoyable.

A belated birthday present: Ryan took Rooke to see the Wizards vs. Hornets NBA game

Go Bridgette!

Bridgette had a great intramural coach this year who really encouraged Bridgette's enjoyment of the sport and inspired her to keep working on her skills in the off-season.

Being the tallest on her team (like her brother!), Bridgette always took center court for the jump ball.  She was always aggressive, even when facing an intimidating opponent!

Happy Valentine's Day breakfast!

Every now and then I try to be a cool mom who sends her son a preview photo of his favorite cereal coming home.

Shenanigans I find on my phone!

Ryan participating in Gretchen's science experiment about how sight affects taste.

Bridgette's science project in the works: a Rube Goldberg machine that salts popcorn

Ryan's experiment of comparing electrolytes in different sports drinks (and orange juice!).  You'll have to ask him for his recommendation on which drink you should purchase after basketball practice =) 

Our church celebrated God's faithfulness for five years since we planted in 2018!  During the service, Bridgette eloquently shared a brief example of how our church has been a blessing to her:

We took advantage of our winter break to go to Williamsburg for a few nights, and our first day down there was my birthday!  After church, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch.  Yum!  

My birthday is the one day that I don't hold back on asking the kids to take photos!

 I taught Rooke what a Leg War is, but since his legs are over half the length of his body, I got crushed and we ended up just laughing a lot

One of our days in Williamsburg was spent at Busch Gardens!  We cashed in a few free tickets from the military and smiled all day riding roller coasters.  It's super fun that all our kids are big enough to ride everything, and they WANT to ride everything!

While Ryan was working, the kids and I explored downtown Colonial Williamsburg and stopped at a shop we've enjoyed in the past to grab a few picnic snacks.

My friend, Jessie, hooked us up with a great deal on lodging for our time away.  We played the putt putt golf course twice, taught the kids how to play pickle ball, and even had the indoor pool to ourselves one day.  It's always a lot of work to get away, but worth it!

January

January started with a milestone celebration: our 20-year anniversary! 

We'd been saving and planning for months to take a special trip to celebrate.  We spent five nights at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico.  It was an incredible week!  All aspects of the week were fantastic: travel, food, weather, conversation, setting, whale sighting, uninterrupted conversation, good sleep, pickle ball, unplugged from daily routine and responsibilities, sunshine . . . I could go on!  We are grateful for this restful vacation, and for my parents who made it possible (see below!). 

Enjoying the sunrise on our last day.

Meanwhile, Kaye K and Big Daddy kept the machine running at home.  They took on the teaching, cleaning, driving, cooking, and so much more while we were away.  Looking back, everything was in such good control that Ryan and I should have stayed for another night or two!  Next time =)

We had another big celebration upon our return home: Rooke turned 15!!  Celebrations included a meal with Big Daddy's enchiladas, Kaye K's carrot cake, and Uncle Steve and Aunt Vallerie (who bring the fun!).  Rooke is into all things basketball these days, so most of his gifts were focused on that sport and much of his free time is spent playing basketball with friends.

Bridgette's weekly violin lesson in next to small horse paddy.  We like saying "hello" to the horses after her lesson.

We went to the downtown DC library to get the kids passports renewed and had so much fun exploring the huge children's section, which included this massively long and fun slide!  Inside the library!

Rooke's homeschool "health class" one week was learning how to make sourdough sandwich bread.  Yum!