Family Photos

From my family to yours, we hope you had a wonderful 2019 and that 2020 has great things in store!

(Thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law, Becky, for this year's family photos!)

A Year in Review: 2019

They say that days go by slowly, but years go by quickly. It was certainly true this year. When I look back on the things we did in January and February, I can hardly believe it was this year. Here's my attempt to review the year.

WINTER
January started off just dandy for Edith, who finally took a ballet class. Luckily, I think it got ballet out of her system since she doesn't talk about it much at all anymore. In February, Paul and I saw Hamilton, which was something I'd been looking forward to for maybe two years. It was as good as I had hoped. In March, our street started what I hope will be a new tradition -- a progressive dinner with food and drink at several houses throughout the block. Neighbors are already looking forward to the 2020 edition!

SPRING
In April, Atticus turned 4. It was also the first full month of Friday art classes for Atticus, something we continue to this day (minus the summer and a few odd weeks here and there). He loves it! In May we again hosted a Crap Swap, although it got rained out on the scheduled Saturday and was pushed back til Sunday. We (and friends) had a record amount of crap, and fun was had by all. We also resurrected the block party planning party, which was basically a happy hour to plan one of our favorite days of the summer, if not the year.

SUMMER
June started off with a bang -- one week in Ocean Isle, North Carolina, sharing a beachfront house with nine other families. It was an amazing, tiring week. Edith started swim lessons when we returned and continued throughout July as well. And then there was the block party -- this year with a live acoustic guitarist. July was actually the calmest month of the summer, with swimming, a week of Vacation Bible School and our church's annual festival. But then August ... we spent about a week and a half at Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and Salt Lake City. It was an amazing vacation, seeing sights that were hard to believe reside anywhere in this country. The week after we returned, Edith started first grade. A few days later, Atticus began preschool.

AUTUMN
In September we got into our new school routine and ended the month with a blockwide chili cook-off. In addition, Edith started a glass class which Atticus and I have also participated in, making suncatchers and other art projects out of glass. I'm honestly not sure who enjoys it the most out of the three of us. In October we spent a weekend at Burr Oak, in the Hocking Hills region, again renting a group of cabins with a group of friends. It was chilly, but it least it wasn't rainy like last year! In November, Edith turned 7. Which brings us to December -- Christmas hasn't yet arrived, so the most exciting thing this month might be the delivery of our new dishwasher! All in all, not a bad year at all.

2019 in 19 Photos

Some of my favorite photos of 2019, with at least one from each month of the year. And what a year it has been!

January

February

March

April

Turning 4!

May

Lost tooth!

June

Ocean Isle Beach

July

August

September

October

November

Turning 7!

December

Another Year, Another Santa

Our favorite place to visit Santa is at the Ohio Statehouse, during the annual holiday festival. This year was no exception. The result was much the same as last year -- both kids happy to see St. Nick, but Atticus not venturing too close. Close enough to tell him what he wanted, though!

Gov. Mike DeWine was there for the tree lighting.

The Holiday Season Begins

The long holiday weekend was so full but relaxing that I nearly forgot that it was blog day!

It's been a busy week -- last Tuesday Edith had some eight girls over after school to celebrate her birthday. Wednesday we purchased a new dishwasher. Thursday was Thanksgiving, of course, although it ended up being very relaxing since it was just our family and Paul's mom (although that didn't stop us -- ok, mostly her -- from cooking up a full spread). Friday we decorated for Christmas, inside and out. Saturday was the Ohio State-Michigan football game, followed by another trip to visit with Paul's family to celebrate his mom's birthday. And Sunday I didn't leave the house -- although I did read nearly 200 pages of a book that's been sitting on my bookshelf for longer than I care to admit.

Most Christmas presents are purchased. Decorations are hung. The weather is cold but not bitingly so. Just less than three weeks of school before break. The holidays are in full swing, and I think I'm ready for them.

Edith Turns 7

 
Edith's birthday was last Thursday, but it's not over yet! She had a birthday party with family on Sunday, but after school today a number of friends are coming to our house for games, crafts and pizza. I think she has been more excited about that than actually getting older!

7-year old Edith's favorite ...
In her own words / [what I guessed]

• Food: Macaroni / [macaroni and cheese, spaghetti]

• Toy:  Chelsea trailer [basically a Barbie accessory] / [Barbies]

• Book: Betsy-Tacy / [anything Henry and Mudge]

• TV Show: Pinkalicious / [Molly of Denali]

• Movie: Cinderella and Frozen / [Frozen]

• Recess activity: Play with friends / [playing games with friends]

• Color: Pink, gold and purple / [pink and purple]

• Animal: Elephant / [cheetah]

• Song: All songs by Laurie Berkner, and Let It Go [from Frozen] / [Honky Cat]

• Game: Dominoes / [dominoes]

• Fruit: Strawberries / [strawberries]

• Vegetable:  Tomatoes / [carrots with ranch dressing]

• Breakfast: Froot Loops [generic kind!] and milk / [Oatmeal with sugar and cinnamon]

• Restaurant: Graeter's [for ice cream] / [Spaghetti Warehouse]

• Thing about school:  Art / [Art class, playing with friends]

• Anything else she wants to add: "I still love unicorns. I love art still, and I love drawing unicorns."

I was pretty proud of the unicorn cake I made, and Edith loved it!

It's Been a While: Living in Columbus

Paul and I hit a milestone earlier this year -- the longest we've ever lived in a single place together. So far:

Clintonville (Columbus, Ohio): 6 years, 3 months
Brooklyn, New York: 5 years, 9 months
Galloway (Columbus suburb): 4 years, 2 months

As sad as I was to leave Brooklyn (truthfully, I was downright hostile to the idea for a while), I'm glad we made the move. Even more specifically, I'm glad we moved at the exact time that we did, down to the day. Paul moved back to Columbus in July 2013 -- on my birthday, believe it or not -- leaving me and 8-month-old Edith to await the moving truck later that week. He drove back to Brooklyn the following weekend to pick us up and that was it -- we officially moved to Columbus.

We had been house hunting on trips back to Ohio and even came close to putting in an offer on a house in Upper Arlington. But the first house we looked at on our first full day as Columbus residents was the one. We moved in a month later, and now our neighbors are such good friends that I can't imagine leaving.

Of course it's wonderful being so close to family, too -- that was the biggest reason we came back to begin with. And I love having a driveway, garage and washer and dryer. I miss the buzz and excitement that is ever present in New York City, and I miss the food (although a few of my favorite restaurants there don't exist anymore anyway). I get pangs in which I wish we still lived there, but overall I think I'm happiest here.

The worst part of being in one place for so long is all of the "stuff" that has accumulated. Since we haven't moved lately and have no plans of doing so anytime soon, there's been no reason to purge! But it's a small price to pay for being so happy in the place we love most.

Photos: August, September & October Highlights

Some favorite photos and some others that never made the blog!

August 21, 2019 - COSI

August 22, 2019 - Edith's first day of first grade.

August 27, 2019 - Atticus's first day of preschool.

September 16, 2019 - Atticus on the Statehouse grounds.

September 16, 2019 - At the Statehouse.

September 17, 2019 - Hanging out at the playground.

September 19, 2019 - Atticus loves the blocks at the library.

September 25, 2019 - Atticus climbs up, up, up!

October 1, 2019 - Bouncing around.

October 12, 2019 - Atticus at Burr Oak.

October 15, 2019 - Being lazy at the playground.

October 16, 2019 - Atticus's Wall-E obsession continues, even with dominoes.

October 22, 2019 - Atticus makes the playground rounds.

October 23, 2019 - COSI's climbing wall.

October 26, 2019 - Atticus bundles up with Daddy's glasses.

Halloween 2019: Princess to Crime Fighters

 
Halloween was more cold than spooky this year, with high winds and falling temperatures. Luckily it had stopped raining earlier in the day, so we could put away the umbrellas and make do with layering up the kids under their costumes.

Edith's costume throughout the Halloween season varied between Belle (at school functions) and Owlette from PJ Masks (for trick or treating, particularly since Atticus was Catboy and a neighbor was Gekko from the same show). In any case, they each brought home enough chocolate to keep us stocked for months!

A Summer Afternoon in Park City, Utah

I'm not a skier, but even if I were I wouldn't find much of it in Park City, Utah, in August. Nevertheless, I was interested in seeing the ski resort area during our recent visit to Salt Lake City. At only 40 minutes away, it was an easy goal to accomplish.

Why did I want to visit? Maybe it was my memories of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, of which there are still many signs and reminders. And when I came across the Atticus Coffee & Teahouse online, I knew we had to pay a visit.

We arrived in Park City in time to eat a very late lunch at the town's Wasatch Brew Pub location, then we walked up and down the crowded Main Street. Of course I took many photos of Atticus in front of "his" Atticus shop!

The street seemed like the main street of any small tourist town, except with a ski-and-outdoor bent. Interestingly, several restaurants had "patios" on the other side of the sidewalk, essentially taking up a parking space or two, and on a platform so they would sit flat on the steep hill.

Park City was a fun detour and a good way to spend the afternoon, if only for the photos of Atticus!