Our Nugget is growing up!

Ooops... A bonus blog... One I wrote in June and never posted. :) Happy New Year!

When I was pregnant with Katherine everyone told me the time would go by quickly. I would nod and smile all the while thinking... "Please let us get to the sleep through the night part fast!"

Thankfully we did.  Two months on the dot. 

Then I wanted to slow things down. Every once in a while I do a once over on K not looking for bruises, bug bites or a little too much sun... No, I'm looking for the pause button. I asked her last week to stop growing up. She told me to stop feeding her and threw in if I let her stay up all night that she'd stop growing.  I'm onto her ways so I didn't fall for it.

Over the last two weeks Katherine had her 2nd ballet / tap recital and graduated from pre-school. The latter being a pretty stressful event (for me). Seeing K in her little cap and gown and talking and preparing for her to start Kindergarten in about 6 weeks.. WHOA. Seriously (turning K upside down) WHERE IS THAT BUTTON?!  

She's turning into quite the little comedian. And she's starting to catch on to sarcasm. I'm sure you're stunned by the latter.  I'm not sure if she knows all of the time how funny she is but I'm pretty certain she does a good 50% of the time. 

2013 In Review...

As we end 2013 and bring in 2014 I thought I'd share the year in review, in photos. I have more than a thousand photos but these were some of my favorites and some of my favorite moments of 2013. 

I continue to be extremely blessed to have a supportive and loving husband and a child who knows no limits with the love that she shows and who's intelligence amazes me daily. (I give that credit all to her Daddy!) More and more frequently as she does or says various things we find ourselves looking at each other saying "all you!!!" Make no mistake though... she is her own girl! And we love that! 

Some of my highlights of 2013:

Katherine graduated from Primrose. We had 3 amazing years at Primrose and made some fantastic friends.  We continue to stay in touch and schedule play dates and parent get togethers. 

Katherine started Kindergarten in July and is doing very well. She's made some new friends and is learning by leaps and bounds. By the end of 2013 she was reading short stories, doing addition and subtraction, counting by 2s, 5s and 10s and continues to astonish us by what she has learned.  She's identifying the phase of the moon... Phase of the moon? Whahuh? If this is kindergarten I'm totally screwed in 1st grade. 

We welcomed a little niece into the family (Isabella) and a new brother (Danny). We love both immensely and are so excited to have grown the family! 

My sister in law Sofi officially became a Sands this year too! Sofi and Nikki continue our tradition of Sunday dinners. We love being able to spend time with them. They welcomed little Phoebe into the family this year too. ;) 

Stephen celebrated 15 years with the same company. I'm so proud of all he's accomplished and continues to do so. He continues his education pursuits and has done exceptionally well. I think he and Katherine are battling to see who gets better grades. (It's pretty even at this point!! Both have straight A's!!!) 

Stephen and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. One of our dear friends kept Katherine for the weekend while Stephen and I headed to the mountains for a little weekend get-away. It was amazing... We were completely disconnected. (Albeit that brought on a little angst because we weren't able to call/check-in with Katherine but we knew she was in good hands.) We took a train ride, hung out and watched far too much HGTV for our own good, visited a winery and spent some quality time together. 

We spent Thanksgiving in New Jersey and had the opportunity to visit much of the family over the 4 day trip.  We made it to our nephews Senior Night football game, visited our new little niece Isa and my sister and brother in law, visited my brother in Cape May and had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner celebration. Black Friday shopping was done primarily online but we did manage to wake up a bit early and head out for some "shopping in the dark" with the whole family. Katherine finds it quite entertaining! And she's a great helper! 

We continued many of our other annual traditions like heading to Williamsburg for family vacation, hitting Busch Gardens, Colonial Williamsburg (+ cheese shop & Williamsburg in for beverages), 4th of July in Myrtle Beach, Orlando in September, Christmas tree shopping in the mountains and spent New Years in South Carolina. 

2013 was a wonderful year filled with new additions to the family, lots of memories and love all around. I'm looking forward to 2014 and what He has in store for us. 

Orthodox Christmas 2013 Gingerbread house making fun with Katherine's cousin (our niece) Tasha

Cousins hanging out at dinner... Pizza anyone? 

Enjoying a little "cold hot chocolate" from Starbucks. A favorite beverage of our girl. 

Annual Trip to Williamsburg! Laying on the grass after our tradition go wine & cheese at the cheese shop.

She's not competitive at all... (winning at CandyLand)

Williamsburg Busch Gardens

Tea Cup craziness!!

Beach time with my girlie!! 

Building dinosaurs on the beach with Daddy! 

Making some cake! 

A family favorite... Watching the Hurricanes!! 

Goofballs?? No. Never. ;) 

Mean face!!!

Katherine & her BFF Mia

2013 Ballet Recital

Our little Graduate: Primrose Class of 2013

Durham Bulls Game... They announced her birthday at the Stadium. She'd had a *bit* of sugar. ;) 

Bye-bye toddler bed.. Hello Big girl bunk beds in Myrtle Beach

Enjoying some Kohr Bros ice cream (with JIMMIES) in Wildwood 

Katherine's birthday party at the bowling alley... The cake came to get her nose. Or Daddy stuffed her face in it. :) 

Uncle Stephen cuddles with little Isa

Goodberry's ice cream picnic? Yes, please!!

Our little girl at her new school... Kindergarten here we come!

Kindergarten diorama of the book There's No Place Like Space!

Katherine's first pony ride... at the NC State Fair

Annual trip to the Christmas tree farm! A little earlier  this year, but a tradition kept!

Katherine's first WaWa hot chocolate... She's a fan!

Senior Night game for our nephew Marek
Katherine with her cousin Tasha

Annual Disney on Ice... This year with our friends the Mondoks! :)

Katherine holding the very first book she read on her own. A booked titled "Strawberry Shortcake's Filly Friends". This book was shared with us by our dear friends The Kriemans. Special book & special moment!

Annual Christmas ornament painting fun with our Primrose friends

Cookie Making!!!

Gingerbread house 2013

Special Christmas Eve visit from Santa... A memory we hope she'll never forget. 

Many blessings and love in 2014!! xo

The grass is greener...

People say that there are moments that can change your life forever.

It wasn't when a tornado hit our house. Although that played a factor in "the moment". It wasn't when we drove up to our block realizing that something very bad had happened.  No, mine came when I realized I hadn't packed pajamas. 

I've told the story many times... and this year I find myself needing more than ever to remember my "moment". I feel like lately I've started to "forget" and I'm grateful for the anniversary to "remember". 

There was a period of about 30 minutes where I was worried our house was going to fall down. Practical? No. Realistic? No. What does one do when one thinks your house is going to fall down? Well, first you tell everyone to get the h$!! OUT!!! Except yourself. Okay - except ME and my friend Meredith. She tried to keep my head on straight. It was quite a chore I assure you. 

I made the decision when I thought my house was going to fall down that it was the time to pack. Giant suitcases full of stuff. I think I packed Katherine's entire dresser. She's small. It was totally possible to stuff all her crap in one bag. Then I packed for Stephen and I. All of the important stuff... Dress shoes, dress pants, dress shirts, dresses, heels... You know, business clothes. Oh, and my best jewelry. (I'm not all dumb!)

When we arrived safely at the home of our dear friends Andrew and Tina, Stephen looked at the pile of suitcases in the back of my mini van and said (shaking his head)...

Stephen: Okay... what needs to come in? 

Me: Um. All of it?! I don't know. I just threw stuff in!!! 

Stephen: Okay...  which bag do you think has pajamas. 

Me: (confused) Er. Um. Hm. Pajamas? I don't recall putting any of those in the suitcase(S). 

Blank stare. 

Silence.

Stephen: Dar, there are 4 suitcases here. What in hell did you pack? 

Me: (exasperated) WORK CLOTHES!!!!

Stephen: Seriously?

Me: Seriously. 

Stephen shuts minivan gate, pulls me into the house shaking his head. 

It was my moment. I didn't realize it then... but it was at the moment that I made the decision to pack work clothes instead of I don't know... something to sleep in, that made me rethink my priorities.  

Some of you may recall my work tendencies back then. 55-60 hour weeks were the norm. I occasionally had a 70 hour week. My thoughts (and I remember them distinctly even two years later) as I thought my house was going to fall down was "what am I going to wear to work on Monday... I have to go in and deliver performance evaluations to my team!!" My boss, in the wake of the events, told me "don't worry about it - you can deliver them on the phone." This was moment #2 if there was one.  I was facing questions like, can we live here? Is our home structurally sound and I was concerned about, and directed to, give my performance plans on schedule... Just "remotely". 

Two weeks ago I received a call requesting I come to the Trauma Unit at the local hospital. They wouldn't tell me what happened, just that I had to come.  I waited three hours in a family waiting room with no information imagining all sorts of horrible things.  (hard) Knock #1.  

Today a terrible tragedy occurred in Boston.  Your life can change in a split second.  Knock #2. 

I don't think I need a knock #3. Consider me reminded. 

Of what? Lately I've found myself getting sucked into the too late work days. Too many hours.  Too much time away from my family and friends "handling things" happening at work.  

I am reminding myself here and now... There will always be more work than can be done.  There will never be enough time with my family and friends.  

So the deliverables are going to start waiting... I have date nights to be had, cakes to bake, craft projects to make, ballet recitals to go to, pre-school graduations to attend, swim classes to shuttle to and Sunday family dinners to make.  I'm sure you'll understand if I don't respond to your email right away. 

I put together some pictures of then and now... I'm so proud of all of the work Stephen has done outside to restore our yard & grass.  I tease that he's like an old man out there working on his grass to make it "cushy green" but I really do appreciate it so much.  I'm full of pride when someone walking by stops to compliment him on his "lush green lawn".  

I don't cringe thinking about Katherine running around in the grass barefoot anymore. I don't worry about her playing in the garden beds and finding shards of glass, roof, siding and other assorted debris.  

Thank you honey! You're amazing!!! I love you!!! 

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