January

Asher decorated the carpet with large pictures of our family. After saturating the carpet with rubbing alcohol and carpet cleaning solution I was finally able to remove most of the marks. The sad part? He said he forgot to draw daddy.

Rob celebrated the big 3_. Only a few more years until he's 40. Happy Birthday my wonderful husband!

The many faces of Rob:

We received our first snow! The kids were so excited to go play in it. Little did they know that we would have a blizzard in the next few weeks.

The Blizzard

Within a matter of hours 9 inches of snow fell and that was only the beginning. Over a couple of days it snowed 28.5 inches of snow. Schools were canceled for a week. We dug snow for hours upon hours which only included our front walkway (which is an entire 10 feet long) and around our two cars. At one point it was a literal blizzard with freezing temperatures and blinding snow. I loved it!

Asher and I digging and playing in snow

The sledding hill Rob made in our backyard made entirely of snow.

Rob: King of the Snow Mountain!

Snow is still coming down

We have finally dug ourselves out

James eating his first snowball

Rob and Asher put together Asher's new bike. Now he just needs to learn how to ride with no training wheels.

Cub Scouts at Mount Vernon

As part of my Cub Scout volunteer position the family and I accompanied our den to Mount Vernon. Our boys were able to lay a wreath next to George Washington's grave as part of a special ceremony. It was a really neat experience. Jacqueline and Asher both still talk about our trip to George Washington's house. I love living near so many neat historical sites and museums!

Rob's Surprise Graduation Party

Rob finished his graduate degree in December and when asked what he did to celebrate he often responded with line, "I installed a new dishwasher". Little did he know he'd have something more exciting to talk about and that he'd be able to celebrate with all his friends! With the help of the Berg's who let me borrow their larger house and other friends (Young's, Patterson's, Wilson's, Poulton's, Goodman and Wagner's) who cut, cooked, and came I was able to throw him a big surprise party that around 60 people showed up for. Not many pictures here because we were too busy enjoying the moment with friends. Thanks everyone for coming to celebrate with us!

Because of the blizzard we had to delay the party a week and I managed to hide everything for another week. He didn't know about it until the morning of the party when someone texted him to see if the party was still on. It's probably a good thing Rob had a head's up that something was going on because he usually doesn't do well with surprises. He was still very surprised though because he had no idea who or what exactly was going on.

It was a belated birthday and graduation party, hence the balloons.

Congratulations Wonderful. You did it!