What's new? Ken and Mary Edition

A lot has changed since 2013.

We moved in 2015. Our "new" house is just over a mile from the old house. We love the quiet cul-de-sac life we are living! We have the best of town and county...pizza delivery out front, wildlife out back

Rood Wildlife Preserve

The week we moved, Ken changed jobs. He stayed in the sporting goods industry, but made the move to apparel with Augusta Sportswear. We have no idea what we wore before he worked there! The company recently acquired Pacific Headwear and he is thrilled to be back as "Hat Guy".

I am still teaching, but I made the move to 4th grade 5 years ago. I have enjoyed the change and the maturity of the kids. Three years ago my teaching soulmate came into my life!! When we finished each others sentence at the interview, I knew we were going to be a great duo. And if you ask us, WE ARE!!

We did not plan this great outfit combo, it just happens.

As the kids have grown, Ken and I have added to our family hobbies. We were so excited in 2014 when we bought a camper. We wanted to be able to camp and make memories as a family and we have. It has been one of the best decisions we have ever made! Camping is going to be getting a post of its own this summer!

We lasted a few years of camping before we got the itch for some water toys. We started with 1 and quickly realized we really needed 2! We spend a lot of time at the lake in the summer, somehow it's just never enough though. It won't be long and Connor will be fighting me for the drivers position!

Date night on the water!

I was asked by my running friends to run a half marathon with them in 2018. I immediately said no way, I could never. Ken encouraged me to go for it and he said he would join. So not only did we survive 2018, we went back for more in 2019!

In 2018, we froze!

Much better weather in 2019!

In 2017, my dad lost his battle with cancer. It was a long painful road. I have never experienced such  hurt before. He still lives in all of us and we talk about him often because I want my kids to remember him. I love this picture of them at our Veteran's Day celebration at school. I can hear him now, telling people about how he had to get out of the house early to go eat donuts with the grand kids! 

I have continued to bake and decorate cookies. It is my therapy and I enjoy it tremendously. I have trained some great help and they have really increased by productivity. 

                 

Very recently, I have acquired a new hobby...stay tuned, I'm going to be making some t-shirts! With help from my side kick!

Phew, that was our past few years in a nutshell. I'm going to update the kids too, at some point :)

Easter 2020...

The one where we were quarantined!

Easter looked different this year for sure, but we still tried to add some "normal" Easter for our family.

What does that mean?

We still decorated eggs and cookies. Well the girls did.

Instead of attending mass at church, we attended in the basement. The highlight may have been wearing our pajamas.

We had an Easter meal with just our family. Having more time on our hands meant time for even more baking. This time, a delicious carrot cake.

Instead of an egg hunt with family, we had our First Annual Socially Distanced Cul-de-sac Kids Easter Egg Scavenger. I say First Annual because I see this tradition continuing. This was probably the highlight for the kids. Since Connor was a baby, my sister-in-law has done an Easter Egg Hunt, turned Scavenger Hunt for the cousins. They always look forward to it!

Connor hunting, 2009

2018

2019

When one of the neighbors suggested a neighborhood egg hunt, I took the idea and ran with it!
There were  kids that participated from ages 3-13. They followed clues from basket to basket where they each had an egg and a fun activity to do. The weather was perfect for outdoor fun!

 

Before we indulged in our Easter meal, we were introduced to "Daddy's Driveway Workout". Four of us got our sweat on while one of us decided to opt out. They are begging for more of this!! This is what quarantine does to them :)!

I leave you with our family Easter picture, 2020

We're back!

It's been a loonnng time, but I am hoping to get back into blogging!

Why now?

The blog came up the other night at dinner and the kids about died when they heard I had a blog that I actually posted things on at one time. Molly asked to see it and her face when she was going through the posts were priceless. I don't scrapbook or print pictures unless they are needed for a project to fill a specific frame.

So, this a my gift to my kids. Memories they will always have to go back and look at. Recipes that we make that they can easily access some day. Special events that our family was a part of. I hope to post more of all these things and much more.

Here we are. My how they've grown right before my eyes. Join me as the Rood's continue to roll though life!