Where did 2013 go?

With kids, I always say how fast the years go by, but 2013 came and went in the blink of an eye. It was a great year. So many life changing events took place and it was the first year we didn't have a baby in the house. Some highlights:
*Chad joined the Air Force as a Health Facilitating Officer.
*We sold our home in Denver (sad)
*Spent the summer in Nebraska-it was a new and amazing experience for my city kids to get a taste of country living.
*Made the long drive to San Antonio (in 1 day, with perfect kids)
*Stayed in a hotel for another 10 days while we slowly moved into our new home (which we bought before we'd even seen it! Turned out to be BEAUTIFUL!)
*Spent the last month of summer at the pool and getting the kids all ready to begin at their new schools.
*I became a true stay-at-home mom (working from home didn't count)
*Lots of visiting family over the holidays
*A great Christmas in our new home....in shorts and t-shirts. WHAT!?!?
*Missing our Denver friends/family/church everyday, but a 70 degree winter is much more enjoyable than a cold, snowy one. We are Southern state people now and we aren't moving north without a fight. :)

2014
It's only 8 days into the new year, but it's an exciting year already! In January, we started to renovate our backyard. Over school break, we took the kids to the Children's museum, The Jumpy Place (a big room filled with bouncy houses, slides, obstacle courses, etc. ), the movie theater, lots of walks and visits to the park, and broke in all the new toys Santa brought-family nerf gun fights were a favorite activity.
In March, we are taking a week long trip to AZ and CA for some golfing, swimming, R&R, and DISNEYLAND!!
In May, Kiley will go in for her first visit with an Orthodontist to discuss braces. :(
Summer will be filled with daily visits to the pool and waterpark. We are hoping to make it down to Corpus Christi many times (Chad wants to begin looking for a beach house, not sure if I am on board with that). We plan to take the kids to Sea World and Schlitterban this summer.
We will spend Thanksgiving at home in Texas this year, but will make the trip back to Nebraska for Christmas-always great to see family, but a mid-west winter is nothing short of miserable.

Chad is still enjoying his job and I am loving staying at home.

Kiley is still doing tumbling-although not a motivated or disciplined athlete at all. She wants to learn piano. Even though I can play, I don't want to be the one to teach her because she doesn't listen well to me, preteens....So, I have started to look around the area for a teacher, college kid, stay at home mom, anyone who would be willing to come to our house and teach her. I am trying to encourage her to find a sport she likes too. She doesn't like any of the typical school sports, so I am suggesting tennis. She hasn't jumped on the idea yet, but hasn't shot it down either.

Creighton loved baseball last fall. He starts basketball in 2 weeks, which will go into March, then he will start soccer. Summer will be swimming and then back to baseball in the fall. He also wants to do karate-suggested age to start is 7, so we will wait a year. He has also asked to take golf lessons (he is 5!) He does love golf and I have pics to prove he has a great swing! We'll take him a few times when we are in AZ and he has his own clubs, balls, and net to begin practicing in the backyard. He is also a little artist, like Kiley and his daddy. He spends at least an hour a day coloring or painting.

Cort is our swimmer and runner! He is long and lean and has unbelievable endurance. I guess he got that from his cross-country running daddy. He will take some more swim lessons this summer with the other kiddos and I am sure he will learn some skills on his own spending every day at the community pool. Having just turned 4 a couple months ago, we will wait on the organized sports for another year. Having the most similarities to his daddy of all our kids, I am sure Cort will be a great athlete and excel at any sport he chooses.  Cort is loving preschool, learning so much, and making so many friends.

Cheyenne is interested in everything. She loves dance and gymnastics. She is a social butterfly. She loves reading. She loves all sports. Thank goodness she is only 2 and I have some time still to work out a schedule with 4 kids in sports. Next year, she will start preschool at our local swim and gymnastics school. It's 2 days a week and they include gymnastics in each class and swim about once a month.

Life with 4 kids-all growing up way too fast-is busy but amazing.