September 2009 Review

I'm not even going to try to make up excuses for my lack of posts this past year. Let's just say....we've been busy. I'm going to attempt to start back up again! I'm also not going to try to review the past year. Instead we'll start with the past month and go from there.

Here's what we've been up to this past month:

2009-10 School Year Begins!

The new school year has begun! The boys were SO ready to go back to school and see their friends (and away from the daycare!).

Adam--3rd grade:Dylan--1st grade:

Hockey & Soccer!
Soccer and hockey resume! Dylan started 5 on 5 soccer with the AYSO league. He loves being a part of a team again and making new friends. Go Shockers!

Adam spent 2 weeks trying out for the Cedar Rapids Mite travel team---and made it! He is really excited to get back on the ice and start the new season as a Junior Roughrider.
(photos will come next month!)

UNI Mini-Reunion:Labor Day weekend Tim's college friends gathered together for a mini-reunion in Des Moines. It was so great to see everyone again and meet all their families. Hopefully we can make this an annual event. Friends like this are great to have around.

Colorado Trip:Tim and Sarah took a quick trip to Denver, Colorado to visit some friends and attend a wedding. It was a whirlwind trip, spent mostly driving, but great to see old friends again.

Friday:
Friday night we went to the Great American Beer Festival downtown Denver. Tim was in heaven with the "sheer amount of beer" available to sample. Very happy to have the pretzel necklaces to nibble on through the night :)

Saturday:

Saturday we all drove 2 hours north to Estes Park. Always cool going up a mountain! That evening we attended Justin Jones' wedding with a fantastic view. Beautiful wedding with great music.

Sunday:Sunday we had a quick breakfast and said our good-byes. The view down the mountain was spectacular! (I made Tim to take a few photos, including a mountain goat!).

Adam & Dylan:Adam and Dylan spent 3 days with Grandma and Grandpa Patrick. Sunday they took a roadtrip to a Ballou family reunion. They stopped on the way to see the largest frying pan in Bandon, IA.

That's about it in a nutshell! I'm going to try hard to remember next month to update you with photos of Hallween! Stay warm on this very chilly fall day!

September Review

Time for an update! We've been SUPER busy this past month! To prove it here is a picture of our calendar:
Pretty much every night has been filled with "something". Keeping up with everyone's schedules has been crazy, but we are having FUN!

Here's a run-down of what everyone has been up to this month:

Adam

• Adam attended 4 hockey skills clinics at the ice arena this month. He's SUPER excited to start house leagues in October.
• Cub Scouts is in full swing with den meetings, pack meetings, and outings. This past week he started his popcorn sales!
  
• On September 4th Adam auditioned for the Cedar Rapids Odyssey Choir and MADE IT!!! The choir is put together by the Cedar Rapids Symphony School for 2 & 3rd grade kids. They practice once a week and have 7 performances throughout the year. This is a great opportunity for him to learn more about music.

Dylan

• This month Dylan started soccer! He is very excited about being on a team and having his own practices and games to attend (and not his brothers!).
  
• Dylan has made some new friends at school and attended his first school birthday party at Pump it Up. Thanks to his new best friends--Jack and Luke for the great birthday party!
• September 25th Adam and Dylan gave us a tour of their classrooms and school at the Pierce Elementary Open House. Dylan was especially excited about this and had to show us EVERYTHING! Grandma and Grandpa Patrick also joined us for the tour.

Sarah

• Sarah has expanded her scrapbooking resume this month by joining 2 more design teams! All About Pictures, the new scrapbooking store in town, has asked her to join their team. She designs layouts to showcase for the store and also attends a monthly meeting to brainstorm new ideas. She was also accepted onto a new scrapbooking challenge blog this past month---Scrap Whispers. Now she has even MORE excuses to scrap!
• Sarah helped plan her sister Jenny's bachlorette party! The girls started the night with a great meal at Kaji Japanese Steakhouse and continued on to many other locations throughout the night. A great time was had by all--including mom!!!

Tim

• Tim has been busy this past month getting back into his brewing! The Beer Nuts hosted a table in Waterloo. Tim brought a keg of his own to distribute. He had lots of fun with this group and plans to attend many more functions like this in the future!

That's September in a nutshell. Stop back next month to see pictures of Jenny's wedding!!!

April-August Update

I know, I know, I know.....I have NOT been keeping up with our blog. I've been reminded by many people to update. I finally have a free moment on this lovely 3 day weekend so I thought I'd give everyone an update. Here is a run-down of what we have been up to during the past 5 months. I promise to "try" to stay ontop of it more during the rest of this year.....

April

Adam starts Flag Football

Adam decided that he wanted to try his skills at a new sport this past spring--Flag Football. While his team may not have been the best, he still had a lot of fun.

Adam's 7th Birthday

Can you believe that Adam is 7 already??!! My baby is growing up! Adam decided that the perfect way to spend his birthday is at a hockey game--surprise, surprise. He invited 2 friends to join him at the game and then spend the night.

May
10 year anniversary!

While I don't have any photos to show---Tim and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary in May!

Mother's Day

Dylan turn's 5!!!

Once again, my other baby is growing up. Dylan turned 5 years old this May. He celebrated with a party at the PlayStation in Cedar Rapids.

1st Grade Music Concert

Adam's the one in the middle with a silly grin on his face!

Daycare Field Trip

The daycare took it's first field trip this May to Backyard Adventures. The kids had a blast running around and playing on all the playground equipment.

Camping

We took our first (and possibly ONLY) camping trip of the year at Sugarbottom Campground in Coralville with our friends the Mundell's. While we did have to cut the trip short with the threat of tornados all around us.....we still managed to have a lot of fun.

June

Cub Scout Day Camp

Adam enjoyed his first year at Cub Scout Day Camp! The camp was cut short when the flooding began in Cedar Rapids, but Adam had a ton of fun during the 3 days he did get to attend. His favorite part was practicing with a bb gun!

Mini-Patrick Reunion

Sarah and the boys enjoyed a fun weekend in Orient, Iowa visiting with the Patrick family.

July
4th of July Party

The Sines family hosted it's 3rd annual 4th of July family bbq. No fires this year!!!! We had LOTS and LOTS of pork to share! We spent the evening around a campfire shooting off fireworks! Dylan said "This was the best day ever!"

Splash Pad FUN

The boys enjoyed spending a few afternoons at the splash pad playing in the water!

August
MN Vacation

We had another fantastic year at the lake! Tim and Adam spent most of their time fishing. By the end of the week Adam was baiting his own hook and taking the fish off! He claims that he is now a "Jr. Fisherman". Dylan spent most of his time in the water--swimming and playing with his cousins. Sarah just enjoyed spending some quiet stress free days by the lake. A great week was had by all and it was VERY difficult to leave.

Ashlee's Wedding

Sarah's cousin Ashlee got married and Dylan was lucky enough to be the ring bearer. He was very excited and proud to take on this role. He was very handsome!

School!!!!

Both Adam and Dylan are off to school!!!! Dylan is SUPER excited to start Kindergarten this year and Adam is now in 2nd grade. My babies are all grown up!!!!!!

Iowa Festival of Beers

It's official Tim is a "Beer Nut"! Tim joined the local homebrew club. He enjoyed his first festival as a new member at the Iowa Festival of Beers in Amana.

February Update

We are a few days late with our February update--but here it is!!! It was a little more low key than the past few months, but full nonetheless.

Baby Zach is here!

First up we have to introduce you to the newest member of our extended family---Zachary David! Our new nephew/cousin was born on Thursday, February 28th (15 minutes short of being a leap year baby!). He weighed in at 8lbs. 8oz and 22 inches long. Jenny and baby are doing great! I'm sure we will be posting lots more pictures on here in the future. Here are a few pictures taken just minutes after he was born and 1 of cousin Dylan saying hello for the first time.

Pinewood Derby Race:

Adam participated in a Pinewood Derby race this month with Cub Scouts. He was given a block of wood and wheels to make into a race car. Although his car was not exactly the fastest one in the race, he did win a prize for originality.

GO GIANTS!!

Tim was on cloud 9 for most of the month when his New York Giants won the SUPER BOWL.

Valentine's Day:

The daycare celebrated Valentine's Day with a party! Dylan had fun writing out his own valentine's and handing them out.

That's about it! Adam continues to have hockey twice a week. Dylan completed level one of his Snowplow Sam ice skating class. Other activities this month:

• Sarah attended a scrapbooking retreat with some friends in Marion at the beginning of the month. She enjoyed having some time to herself and creating until the wee hours of the night.
• Dylan was super excited to attend Kindergarten round-up at Pierce Elementary school this past month. He visited each classroom and had a guided tour of the school from his big brother.
• New camera! With our old camera slowing down with every picture, we took a small portion of our tax return to purchase a new camera--a Canon Powershot S5 IS.