The Year in Review...

Well, we are hip-deep into the holiday season, so I figured, what better time to recap, well, the entire year???  Oy vey! Well, I guess we “only” have to go back as far as April, since I last posted in March for Tyler’s birthday.  We’d better get started!!

April:

The beginning of Spring brought some new and fun things to the Bath family!!  Madelyn got her FIRST HAIRCUT!!!!  I was trying to hold out as long as possible, but it was just getting so unmanageable that we had to do something about it.  Once I convinced her that we were just going to have a little bit taken off and it would help with the ouchy tangles, she was fine with it.

 

Before and after!

 

Not a tremendous difference in length, but definitely neatened up and much easier to manage!

 

And, it also brought BASEBALL!!!  I was so excited that Tyler was interested in playing Little League!  What fun we had throughout the Spring watching him practice and play!

May:

In May, we had a few adventures.  We took the kids to the Dulles Expo Center for the Dinosaurs Live! show.  They had fun, and got dig for fossils and ride a dragon!

 

 

 

And of course, it was Evan’s turn to go on the kindergarten field trip to the National Zoo!! I chaperoned again, and we had a lot of fun.  A couple of the other chaperones and I decided to stay together with our groups and the kids had a great time.

 

That bottom right picture is of Evan with his best buddy, John Henry, who sadly moved away at the end of the school year.  They've seen each other once since, but I have been a bad mommy in trying to follow up and set up another get-together.  Maybe over the winter....

But the BIGGEST adventure in May – probably the biggest adventure of the YEAR! – was a trip to Savannah and St. Simon’s Island for Fammy and Granddad’s 50^th Anniversary!!!

Such a great trip!  The kid’s first time on a plane, Savannah is a beautiful city, St. Simon’s Island is beautiful, the house was gorgeous, there was much to explore everywhere and we saw as much as we could in a four day trip!

Airport fun!

 

 

Fun on the plane!  And OF COURSE, Bunny came along for the trip.

 

 

Views from the house balcony on the island....

 

 

Nice deck to hang out on!

 

 

 

 

We made it to the top of the lighthouse!

 

 

My little sillies....

 

 

Costume fun at an historical site... some fort... Please don't ask me to remember details. I'm lucky I remembered to put pants on this morning.....

 

 

 

 

Precious cousin time!

 

 

Some final shots before leaving the house.

 

 

Time to head back home!  Fasten your seat belts!!

 

 

And here they are - the couple of honor!!



 

 

Happy 50th Anniversary to my wonderful in-laws!  Here's to 50 more!! :)

 

June:

June brought the usual excitement of the end of school!  For the boys, it was just a last day,

 

for Maddy, it was a little mini graduation from the 3’s class.

Her beloved teacher - Mrs. K!!!!!!

 

It also brought the end of baseball --- and the CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!

 

 

Woo-hoo!!  Go Bulldogs!!

The end of some things, but the start of others – POOL SEASON! 

 

My kids are turning into fish just like their father.  We skipped lessons this year and just did our own thing and the kids’ skills improved immensely.  We’ll probably sign back up for lessons next summer.

 

July:

July brought lots of indoor and outdoor fun!

 Girly playdates:

 

 

A festive 4^th:

 

Summer camp for Maddy and her BFF!

 

 

Summer school… Ok, not ALL fun…

 

 

Dollar movie Tuesdays!!

 

 

And picnics in the park…

 

 

 

August:

First time bowling.  This was fun. And I KID YOU NOT – first time up, FIRST TIME, Tyler chucks the ball and gets a strike!!  I swear, when it comes to any type of sport, this kid can’t lose.

 

We bowled two games, and Tyler beat all of us – including Mimi and me.  And yes, my daughter bowled in a dress.

 

More girly stuff – a Saturday morning ballet class!  Simply adorable!

 

 

 

I just LOVE these girls!!

A wonderful trip with the family to a lake house on Lydia Mountain.  Great place, fun times, and lots of good memories created for the cousins!!

 

 
In keeping with the "Tyler can't lose at a sport" theme - this kid was DETERMINED to fish ALL WEEK.  He kept at it and at it.  And, of course, he was the ONLY one that caught a fish.  Luckily, Aunt Ashley snapped this picture before it wriggled it's way back into the water!!
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
Trapping fire flies!!
 

And our second annual cousin shot for the Kids Post!!  We got published in the big end of summer wrap-up edition. :)

 

Summer camp for the boys!

 

They joined cousin Nathan for a week at a Nature Camp and had a blast!!

 

 

And more pool time…

 

 

 

My goodness – my kids are SO happy in/on/around the water!!!!

September:

Of course, September means BACK TO SCHOOL!!!!!  YAY!!!!!  Oh, sorry, don’t mean to sound too excited….

 

 

 

A fun trip for the boys – Mitch surprised them with the Marvel Superhero Live! show!!

 

And another hair trim for Mads – she’s becoming a pro at it!

October:

October brought LOTS OF FUN!! 

A visit from Mitch’s beloved Uncle Terry from Sydney, Australia!  The kids really enjoyed meeting him and spending time with him.  We hope it won’t be such a long time before it happens again.

A celebration for Granddad's birthday!

 

And, a visit from my wonderful Uncle David!  He only lives in Florida, and it’s been longer since I’ve seen him since I last saw Terry.  David and his partner – also named David! – were in DC for the "tourist thing".  They came out on a Sunday afternoon and took us to dinner.  My kids LOVED them and we had such a nice little visit.  Methinks we’ll have to take advantage of the fact that we have family in Florida and go visit them soon….

 

Our annual trek to the pumpkin patch…

 

 

We're a good looking family, don't you think?? :)

 

 

A surprise trip for Maddy to the Disney on Ice presents FROZEN!  A fun, magical night!

 

 

A great show, and a great evening spent with friends.

 

And HALLOWEEN!!!!!

November:

November brought a fun gymnastics birthday celebration for Charlotte,

 

and a snowy Thanksgiving!!

 

We had visitors for the holiday – my nephew Jared and his wonderful fiancée Chelsea, and my brother Doug and his boys Jake and Max.  And can you believe ??  I took NO pictures!!!  I was pretty busy I guess…

 

And now we are in December – which started off with a BANG!!  Mitchell turned 50!!  We celebrated over Thanksgiving weekend while everyone was still visiting.

 

 

Maddy had her final Daytime Playtime holiday show:

 

 

And we have our Christmas tree.  The kids did a wonderful job decorating it!!

 

Before and after...

Yup, it’s December.  Busier, I could not be.  The holidays, birthdays, school activities, and it seems, endless doctor’s appointments this month.  It just keeps piling on.  But we’re nearly half-way through, and I just have to survive a little longer….

Next week will be big.  Evan is turning 7!!!  And Maddy turns 5.  I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m having a HARD time with that one.  For months, I’ve been freaking out.  My baby is turning 5.  Not sure I can handle it.  I guess time will tell.  Parties galore this weekend, so time to enjoy!!