Like everything this year things were a little different for Halloween but one thing stayed the same: Crystal continued to up her game when it comes to the family costume. This years “Space Theme” was our best one yet!
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COVID delayed the start of the school year but on October 5th Cobb County resumed in person learning. Since Brielle was going to be going back, we also decided to send Brendan to preschool. He started at a new school this year called Primrose which is run by our neighbor a few doors down from us.
Brielle did a great job making the best of virtual learning but she was ready to go back! After seeing her teacher and classmates on screen for so long she was so excited to meet all of them that she could barely contain herself this morning!
Crystal and I had gone apple picking years ago when we first moved to Georgia but we had not taken the kids yet. What better time to do it when everything is closed due to COVID! We drove up to BJ Reece Orchard in Elijay and had a great time picking some “Rome Beauty” apples. Crystal then baked some delicious apple pies with all the apples we picked!
It has been a crazy year and COVID continues to impact everything around us. We never thought that the 2020 school year would be at risk of starting virtual but as the cases counts kept growing over the summer the district made the decision o start the year with virtual learning. Even though Brielle did not get to go to school we still took her first day pictures!
It was not the same this year with the COVID restrictions but the kids still had fun decorating bikes and riding around the neighborhood.
This was not the kind of last day of school we had envisioned this year but we made the best of it. The kids have grown up so much this year!
Brendan finished the Pre-School Twos at Mt. Bethel Christian Academy:
Brielle finished Kindergarten at Mt Bethel Elementary School:
Brielle’s teachers even stopped by to congratulate her and wish her well on her way to first grade which was really sweet of them!
We hosted 10 Kindergarten girls at our house yesterday for Brielle’s 6th birthday party. The theme that Crystal created this year was an “Art Party”. The kids first decorated their aprons with fabric markers and then each of them got a canvas to paint.
We have not got around to getting a dining room table yet so the dining room became the “Art Studio” with a few table cloths on the floor. Before the kids arrived, Crystal initialed each canvas with blue painters tape.
After all the canvases were painted we pulled the painters tape away to reveal some beautiful artwork!
No party at our house would be complete without one of Crystal’s cakes. She delivered another masterpiece cake creation!
Happy Birthday Brielle! I can’t believe she is already 6 years old! She was pretty excited to add a second hand with her fingers today. Crystal brought in cupcakes to school today and she got to wear her “birthday crown” for the day. For dinner, she requested spaghetti and meatballs and then for dessert Oreo ice cream with chocolate chip cookies! Not a bad choice!
We did something new this year and recorded a video interview with her. We will see if we can make this an annual tradition now to see how her answers change as she grows up!
2019 was a great year with lots of milestones and events to celebrate. The speed at which our family continues to grow amazes me. At the same time, it also scares me! Many of my older friends tell me how quickly this time passes and before you know it your kids are off to college. While having two young children presents its own set of challenges, it is a good reminder to cherish these times we have as a family.
We started out the year celebrating Brielle’s 5th birthday in January with a small party at our old house with some of her friends.
In April and May we were focused on buying our new house and moving from Mableton to East Cobb in Marietta
In May, Brielle graduated Pre-K from Kids R Kids in Mableton.
In June we went to Boston for our Niece’s birthday. The kids love getting to see their cousin and a lot of fun is had by all!
In July we went on a vacation to Hilton Head Island with the Forester family. This is the 3rd year we have done this and it is something that we look forward to each year! We are already planning Hilton Head 2020!
After Hilton Head, I headed out on a long around the world work trip while Crystal took the kids to Seattle to see her friend Tricia and her family.
After a whirlwind summer with lots of travel, it was now time to go back to school with Brielle starting Kindergarten in Ms. Menear’s class at Mt Bethel Elementary School and Brendan starting pre-school at Mt Bethel Christian Academy.
In September we went to Blue Ridge Lake for a weekend to stay with my friend Greg and his family. The kids loved the lake and even got to take their first ride on a jet-ski!
FallBrielle joined her first soccer team “The Fire” and had a great time playing this season. She scored her first goal and is already signed up to play again in the spring!
For Labor Day our community hosts a “Cardboard Boat Regatta” that is a lot of fun. We entered with “Pinkatastic” and won the peoples choice award for best boat!
No year in review could be complete without an official school photo! I look forward to stringing these classic pictures along for many years to come!
We celebrated Brendan’s 3rd birthday with a dump truck cake and some candles that he really enjoyed blowing out!
In September we headed back to Boston to meet my new niece Maeve who was born this summer. We also made a visit to the Canobie Lake Amusement Park .
After coming back from Boston, the kids were ready to celebrate Halloween for the whole month of October. It started with our Halloween Cards and T-shirts and continued with our family themed costumes. This year’s theme was pirates! Arggggggg!
Two days after Halloween Mt Bethel hosted their 33rd annual fun run. Brielle did great and got 4th place in her grade with a time of 4:17 for the half mile!
With Halloween behind us, the kids were excited to start thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas! We got our holiday photo shoot done early this year so we could get our cards out with our new address:
Crystal continued her tradition of The Adventures of Snowflake our Elf on the Shelf. Her creative ideas keep the kids mesmerized each morning looking for her and what she could possibly be up to!
No Christmas season would be complete without a visit with the big guy himself. We had two Santa visits this year, one with Atlanta Swim and the other in our neighborhood
We had a great Christmas that included some matching Carter’s family PJ’s!
Managing the International Business for Carter’s kept me busy this year. I had 9 work trips: 3 domestic (all to New York) and 6 international trips flying a total of 140k MQM‘s on Delta. This was the 3rd year in a row that I made Diamond Medallion status. Here are all the places I went:
1) 2/26 New York
2) 4/10 New York
3) 4/13 Santiago , Chile
4) 5/20 London, UK
5) 6/08 Jakarta, Indonesia with additional stops in Bangkok , Thailand and Seoul, South Korea
6) 7/15 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with additional stops in Dubai, UAE; Pune, India; Delhi, India; and Shanghai, China
7) 8/7 New York
8) 9/12 Moscow, Russia with additional stops in Warsaw, Poland; Berlin, Germany; and Cologne, Germany
9) 10/8 Sao Paulo, Brazil
We wish everybody a happy and prosperous 2020! Onto the next decade!
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