February

Ezra was the star of February 2015!  He turned 8 and was baptized 2 days later.   We had a small party at home due to Mike's work schedule.  There is talk of another trip to Great Wolf Lodge for a "late" birthday trip.   Here are some pictures from his birthday.

 

Both the boys are doing Cub Scouts this year.  Here is a picture of the boys in uniform on Scout Sunday.

 This was a fun night out the week of Ezra's birthday:  A trip to Fuddruckers in Annapolis.  It also happened to be kids night so they had their faces painted. 

 Mike had to work on Valentine's Day this year so the kiddos and I celebrated with heart-shaped quesadillas by candlelight.  Judith loved the whole ambiance (like the girly girl she is) and thanked me profusely for such a "lovely dinner".  Ezra and Jonas just wanted to play with the fire (like the boys they are).

Ezra received a Veggie Tales story book Bible (which he is super in to right now) from Torre and Scarlet.  We also gave him a study Bible which he has also been reading every night.

Ezra with his baptism certificate.

 

 

We had some snow day fun with our neighbor Kanny at Pump it Up.

Jonas and Judith built a snowman on yet another snow day off school.

I tried uploading the video from Ezra's baptism, but it's not cooperating right now.  Maybe I'll try again later...

January

Tragedy has prompted me to begin blogging once again.  Technology failed me and I lost most of the photos on my phone from July through December of last year.  In the past, something like that might have happened but when I kept up with the blog, my treasured images were always stored in several different places (computer, Shutterfly, and the blog).  So, I am endeavoring to blog (hopefully monthly) in order that I might regularly upload my photos in more than one place.

I think I stopped blogging because it didn't feel like we were doing anything "cool enough" for other people to care about--such as traveling Europe.  However, I think my mission for blogging has changed from "tell other people about the places we go" to "Erin's personal archives".

So, here are the slightly amusing details and pictures from our January:

New Years Eve:  Mike had to work, so we rang in 2015 with our neighbors.

Jonas received a kids cook book and personalized hat and apron from Nana for Christmas.  He's enjoyed making several things.  Here, he's making cinnamon rolls and below he's enjoying some donuts.

We had our first real snow.  It should have been a snow day, but the boys still had to go to school.  (The school district had to release a statement apologizing for not canceling school).  Judith enjoyed it though!  We went sledding on the hill behind the school in the afternoon.

Judith has been enjoying ballet.

We went snow tubing at Liberty Mountain in Pennsylvania with Howard County Autism Society.

We decided to stay overnight in Gettysburg and watch the snow fall from our hotel window while we played in the pool.  Jonas and I hit the outlet mall across from our hotel.  Then we headed for the battlefields.  

The Saturday in January, we had fun at the Boy Scout Pinewood Derby.

So.  That's January.  :)