Brock's 10th Birthday

 

Happy 10th Birthday Brock! He was in a good mood from the very start of the day!

After breakfast, he opened up his gifts from his family. Nintendo switch games and Pokemon - he was thrilled!

What a treat - Pokemon InfernapeV - whatever that means, he thinks it's cool. Thank you Papa and Nana!

More pokemon from us and Chess for the Switch from Grammy & Grandpa. (there's definitely a competition here between him and Kade!)

After Saturday swim practice, he had two school friends come over for arcade fun at Dave & Buster's followed by a sleepover party. 

The original plan was for us all to have dinner at Dave & Buster's, but it was insanely crowded. We opted for burgers and french fries at Cook-Out. Too many choices and indecisiveness for the drive-through, so the boys ordered at the walk-up. 

Happy bellies, happy faces!

The fourth grade boys play soccer at recess almost every day, therefore Brock has been all about soccer lately (even though he doesn't play outside of school). Soccer themed with white vanilla cake and strawberry filling. (Brock picked out the writing on the cake)

Blow those candles out!

The rest of the night was pretty low-key. Played pac-man on Brent's mini arcade in his office, then settled in with Roblox in the playroom. 

True to typical sleepover, a late night playing games, talking & laughing; followed by an early morning of more of the same! He was a happy birthday boy!

Some notes on Brock at ten years old. He's still tall on the growth chart - 58 1/2" (94th percentile), but don't talk to him about it - he gets a little anxious thinking he's going to stand out from most kids. Brock is still progressing really well in his swimming - hitting more goals and working towards beating swim records in the 9-10 year old category this summer. He has a great imaginative side and loves to write mini stories - he's currently working on a comic book about a gill-less shark. Math is his favorite school subject and favorite colors are cyan & red. We are so excited to see what else he accomplishes this first year in double digits! Love you Brock!

Polar Plunge Meet at TAC - January 2023

 

On January 14/15, the Triangle Aquatic Center hosted the Polar Plunge Meet. TAC brought out their A class swimmers and Lifetime had been preparing so hard for this....however, Brock was getting over a sinus infection. The kid who never gets sick has been sick since Christmas practically. 

Saturday was a tough day for him, but he managed pretty good times overall. 

Brock raced in the last heat for 50y Breaststroke, with a finish time of 48.75. 

Then he raced in his 50y Freestyle, with a time of 33.73. That Robbie Ge kid from TAC was amazing - he's definitely one to watch!

After two full days of antibiotic, he was feeling much better by Sunday. He bested his time in the 50y Butterfly with a 38.11 (entry time of 38.50). 

Captured Brock's turn! (Second from the right)

And finally, his 100y Freestyle, he killed it - 1:15.73 (entry time 1:17.40) - placing 8th overall out of 49 swimmers. 

I introduced Kade to scrabble this weekend as we had some time after Brent took Brock to warm up at TAC's swim meet. We finished a whole game and he did pretty well for his first time!

Asher's First Birthday Party

Kade and I traveled down to Huntersville for a very special birthday party for my little nephew Asher! Asher was turning one!! Brent and Brock stayed home this trip - Brock was surely bummed to miss out. 

Check out his cute selfie below!

Babbling baby while eating some finger food. 

Dinner by tablet for these two the night before the party. 

Happy First Birthday baby Asher! Look at those proud parents!

So good to see Aunt Carol and Uncle Jeff - it was Uncle Jeff's birthday too!! So sad I waited to take a picture literally as they were driving away! Oops!

Kade was very content to play with the "little kids". He really loves hanging out with his little cousin - fascinated at the baby stage!

Cousins!

Aww so sweet saying goodbye! 

Christmas 2022

Finally Christmas Eve - and a cold Christmas Eve it was! A high of only 29 that day, but not a cloud in the sky. (no white Christmas here!) After a 4pm Christmas Eve church service, we returned home for yummy Rao's sauce & homemade meatballs simmering in the slow cooker. 

The boys got in their pajamas and right to work setting out milk and cookies for Santa. (Even Moose got in his pajamas!

After our holiday movie tradition of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Santa arrived! (And yes, there's no star or angel on this tree)

Christmas morning and the boys are checking it all out!

They each picked one present before breakfast. 

After a nice blueberry waffle and bacon breakfast, we returned to opening gifts. Matching drones from Grandpa and Grammy!

I guess at some point, it got really exhausting.....

Brock got a new holder for all his swim ribbons. Kade also got a new 10-belt holder for his taekwondo progress - he already had two holding out for his new rack! 

Kade has been ALL about chess lately and was thrilled to receive a chess timer! (He was also excited about an earlier present - new Minecraft themed tennis shoes - and decided to wear them through the rest of the unwrapping)

Cornhole - Carolina themed! 

Look at those happy faces!

The following day, the boys ventured outside (it was a bit warmer) to try out their new drones. 

Moose says he's tired from this cold weather!

We had a lot of epic breakfasts during the holiday break - including pancakes made with this adorable pancake mold by Aunt Katherin! 

It's a lion - just turned on its side!

After a lunch at Maggiano's with the family, we stopped by an outside fountain to let the boys finish their ice cream. We asked Brock to take a nice photo. Thanks Brock for the picture of your parents!

Happy New Year to all! Here's to a better 2023!