12 Years Old!

Last week was a busy one with year-end activities, but the biggest highlight was celebrating Noah's 12th birthday!  Noah is a kid who lives his days to the fullest, and his enthusiasm is contagious.  It was easy to get on board with celebrating this fun-loving, cheerful kid!  He started his day with gifts and homemade cinnamon buns, and after getting home from school, he continued celebrating with a trip to the pool with Evie (he's now old enough to go without an adult!), and then a family party in the evening complete with a homemade Ben & Jerry's cake.  It was a great day, and the festivities continued with a friend party over the weekend with Noah's friends at Talent Skatepark.  It was the second year in a row that he has wanted to celebrate there, because it's such a fun place for the boys to run around and expend a bunch of energy.  

Don't mind the nose plug - he woke up with a nosebleed, but that couldn't stop him from opening gifts!

Cinnamon Buns!

Trip to the pool without any parents

Grandma and Grandpa

Cousins!

Aunt Pea

Aside from the birthday festivities, Noah had his final band concert and Evie had a violin performance last week to wrap up her year of private lessons with Mrs. Skinner and Lottie.  While it's sometimes a grind to practice and get to rehearsals throughout the year, it was great to see and hear their progress from a year of hard work.

The Little League regular season is coming to a close this week, and Noah had a couple games and the Home Run Derby over the weekend.  He was thrilled to finish 2nd in the Derby - congrats Noah!

Getting a little batting practice in at home

Saturday morning games call for Munchkins!

Moms running the snack shack

Noah and Cam - a fierce pitcher/catcher duo and great buddies!

A dreary day for the home run derby

Noah and Gerry

Top three finishers

Paddy, Noah and Reed - more baseball buddies!

Gorgeous views from this field in Underhill

I love my ball player!

Evie is continuing to keep busy with dance practice as she gets ready for Nationals next month, and everyone was thrilled to have Miss Beth back for a visit at class last week with her baby.  He fell asleep while they were practicing their hard shoe dances, so we think he's going to be a great Irish dance baby!

Evie and her friends also helped out at a community event over the weekend doing face painting.  It was a very chilly morning, but the girls braved the elements and did an awesome job!  

Unfortunately, Evie ended up not feeling well for most of the weekend.  Hopefully she rebounds quickly since this is her last week of classes before exams!

Last but not least, we also had a service-learning field trip last week that I was able to attend with Noah's 6th grade team at Ethan Allen Homestead.  We worked for the whole morning helping to clear out/weed the gardens, and then we got a tour of the homestead.  It's a beautiful place, and I can't believe I've never visited it in all my years of being a Vermonter!  We rounded out the week with a little yard work at home for icing on the cake!  

It's time for our annual sod replacement where grass refuses to grow in the spring!

Taking a momentary pause from the craziness for a game of ping-pong