Four years old is the best. I like it so much that I'm six months late writing this entry. Please note that these photos are one year to six months old- so don't worry that Nancy Mahlen has had her baby already, or that Eva Pepper is growing smaller rather than bigger.
This was one of busiest years of our lives- but we have survived (although Chris is now bald.)
Liam and Oliver are sweet and funny little boys who make our lives busier and much happier. They love to have Foo Fighter dance parties, ride their bikes, go to the park, read books, and eat white squishy bread. When presented with the choice of ice cream or white squishy bread, Liam will take the bread any time. I just asked Oliver what he likes doing best and he said flying a jet.
This year Liam showed talent in rock climbing and Oliver showed talent in being the class clown. A few fun stories:
-At Christmas time, Oliver was talking with his Gammy about the baby Jejus (that's how they pronounce it.) He thought about Jejus, and proclaimed to my devout parents that "I like the girl Jejus better." I am proud.
-Also at Christmas, Liam was looking at a place mat of the American presidents. Gammy asked him if he recognized anyone, and Liam pointed out President Obama. Then my mom asked him if he knew what McDonald's was. Liam scoured the place mat, and finally picked out VanBuren, saying "This one is farmer McDonald, right?"
-For weeks after my parents took Liam and Oliver to a Catholic mass, the boys enjoyed playing "Church." This consisted of asking me to walk around in circles while Liam handed out "apple peels" from a bowl. Next, Oliver gave a sermon. He stood on the coffee table, spread his arms and said "You can pick your nose, and your friend can pick HIS nose. But YOU can NOT pick the nose on your FRIEND."
-Oliver and Liam walk around with measuring tapes measuring the length of various items, and then saying "5 o'clock" or "10 o'clock."
-I overheard this conversation between Liam, Oliver and Chris:
L: I'm going to marry Oliver when I grow up.
O: No! You're my children!
L: Then I'll marry a princess.
C: Boys, I'm here to tell you that dating a princess might seem like a good idea, but you should stay far, far away. A princess is a whole bucket of crazy.
Last summer was awesome. We spent many weekends at the Ivers' cottage in the Catskills. The boys went golfing with Aunt Judy and Uncle Marty, fished with their dad and Grampy, read books with Babcia, tried a lobster, and celebrated the fourth of July and Grampy's birthday.
Our dear friends Harry, Dina, Simon and Noah Marenstein came for a visit during which we went to a baseball game, ate too much, and had a blast.
Liam and Oliver visited both sets of Grandparents in addition to Tia Lu and Uncle Ick while I gallivanted around Berlin, Prague, Krakow and Budapest on a Cornell grant. (It was terrific!!!!!) I came home with stories about the dragon of Krakow which the boys will tell you if you ask.
(Also as a side note, I was picking the kids up from day-care recently when their teacher informed me that Oliver and Liam had been talking about a crack house and a dragon all day. I laughed, called the boys over, and asked them where KRAKOW is. They answered "in Europe." All of the teachers got a huge laugh out of this misunderstanding!!)
We had a lovely time visiting Uncle Joe, Aunt Katie, Johnny, Andy and Aunt Sarah in Pittsburgh in August. We celebrated Johnny's 7th and Andy's 4th birthdays!
The boys took gymnastics lessons all summer, which was darling.
We also took our annual 5-families vacation to the high peaks region of the Adirondacks for a week. We ate, hiked, ate, ran, ate, climbed, ate, kayaked, ate, swam, ate, creek-walked, drank, danced, ate, went to the river, and ate. I love my friends!!!
Chris and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary on August 18. Chris had a ring made for me in the arts and crafts style. WOW!!!
In late August, we had a lovely visit from our friends Keith, Annette and Colin Pellerin, who just built their new home- congrats!
In September, Aunt Nancy turned 65!!! We had a wonderful party in Buffalo to celebrate what an awesome human she is.
The next day, Tania and I ran a brutal half Marathon in Geneseo in heat, humidity and up hills, hills, hills.
Later in the month, we went to Jellystone Camp for a Scherer/Brent/Miller weekend. Super fun to have the whole family together!
In October, we had a wonderful outing with the Pittsburgh Scherers, and Margeaouzinoue Reinert to pick apples and celebrate Gammy, Liam and Oliver's birthdays. The next day, we had a wicked party for the boys- WITH A BOUNCE HOUSE. Even Aunt Judy and Uncle Marty made it up from Florida! The boys turned 4 and Mom turned considerably older.
Lauren, Chris, Shelly Jansen and I ran the George Eastman 5k and all got our personal bests.
Ben and I ran the Niagara Falls half marathon, and then had a big party at the falls with Aunt Nanny, Mimi, my parents, Nancy, and the Giorgises. Then we exorcised the run with Duff's chicken wings. MMMMMMmmmm.
Halloween was fun with a one-eyed blue monster and a green dragon. We went to Lena's third birthday party for one Halloween celebration (!), and then- for the first time- trick-or-treating in Avon with the Giorgises.
In November we had complete crazy house issues. There was drama on top of drama. We sold our home and bought a home, but it almost didn't work out. And then we had ONE day to move. Thank goodness for our amazing friends for helping. Oh, and movers. So we moved into my dream house in Geneseo the last day of November and then all the drama ended and we love love love our new home.
We also went to the Ivers' for Thanksgiving in Ithaca, and got to see some of our favorite people, like the Ivers, Rene and Cam, the Funkes, and the Pellerins.
Also, the boys went to Paige Brent's birthday party at a roller rink! And Our friend Elena Giorgis turned four!
In December, Tia Lu took our family to the Muppet Movie- the first movie our boys ever went to! And boy, was it worth it.
We went to Gammy and PopPop's for the Scherer Christmas and it was wonderful and magical for Liam and Oliver. The McGinley Family came over on Christmas Eve, and Uncle Tom played us Christmas carols.
The Ivers and Charon's came to our home this year for the Ivers' Christmas! It was relaxing and fun.
Joe, Katie, John and Andy had a lovely visit to our new home that netted us some sweet new Star Trek glasses-HA!
Our dear old friends Hao and Liz journeyed from New Hampshire to visit us for New Years this year. It was fantastic to see them. The party to ring in the new year was wonderful- but somehow not as wild as it used to be pre-children.
In January, we celebrated PopPop's birthday! We took the month to relax into our new home.
In Februrary, sweet little Eva Pepper turned ONE!!! Lu and Ick hosted a fantastic party at Mendon Ponds park with great food, friends and family. We love you, EvaP!!!
Our dear friend Dan Repinski turned a grand age in February as well, and we were able to celebrate his milestone and friendship over a swanky Mexican meal.
We took advantage of our new house space and co-hosted a fracking informational meeting with Maggie and Dan in February. It was fascinating and fun.
Also in February, Babcia and Grampy came to stay with Oliver and Liam for a long weekend while Chris and I traveled to Toronto for an irresponsible weekend away. Thanks, grandparents!!
Happy Birthday to Lauren, Sarah and Poppy!
A few shout-outs:
Congrats to Ben and Nancy on the impending birth of Jermicheal!!
And congrats to the expectant parents Hao and Liz!
Congrats to Lipa and Chris who will be married in December!
I will try to get a more updated blog out very soon. Until then, happy summer and happy days!!!
