Yuletide Meet 2019

Ryleigh had a stellar Yuletide Meet on December 8.  She was a bit nervous, but I think she figured out how to make her nerves work for her.  Check out how great she did!

In other news, I passed my Accredited Financial Counselor exam.  Phew.  So glad to have done well and to have it over with.  Now I have 32 months to finish up for my practicum hours.  I'm only about 10% done, so I'm hoping to really hit the volunteer hours hard after the holidays and hopefully rack up some counseling time.

This week is the last week of school for the kids until 2020.  They are already getting a little squirrelly, so I'm sure they'll be driving us completely crazy by Friday.  They are looking forward to their classroom parties and some time off.  Jip will be acting Commanding Officer for a good part of the holiday break, but hopefully it will be pretty quiet and he can enjoy tinkering on little projects around the house on the days he doesn't have to go in.

Until next time, cheers!

Road Trip!

We had a non-Traditional Thanksgiving.  We decided to motor to central Pennsylvania to take in some Christmas lights that have been on ABC's Christmas Light Fight, HGTV, and the Today Show.  The kids enjoyed it.  Mom and Dad thought it looked better on TV.  :)

The next day, we went to the Bethlehem Christmas Market at the old Bethlehem Steel Mill.  We walked around 4 tents of booths, enjoyed some yummy lunch, and then took in a tour of the old steel mill.  RJ was most excited that the mill was used as a setting in Transformers 2--they just put up some Kanji lettering to make it look like it was in Asia.  Jip and I enjoyed the history, but we were all glad when the tour was over--it was chilly!!

We drove home on Saturday and immediately got to work on Christmas-fying the house.  We ended up buying a new tree thanks to the old one (purchased in 2003) deciding to half-way die.  Thankfully I found a lovely one--but not on sale, of course.  Most importantly, Jip and I finished our beautiful new porch decorations.  Over the summer, I showed Jip a catalog picture of boxes that look like a stack of presents and then nest inside of each other during the off-season.  He engineered his way through making the boxes the right sizes and the right weight.  I made vinyl stencils to create the painted patterns and did a bunch of free-hand touch-ups when my stencils failed me.  We know what we would do differently next time (hopefully there won't be a next time), but all of the headaches were completely worth it!

This weekend, Ryleigh has another meet.  Jip and I have a holiday party and the kids get their favorite teenager, Meghan, to hang out with them.  As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!

Commonwealth Cup 2019

Ryleigh had her first truly competitive meet on November 23.  She was a little nervous, but we are all very pleased with her performance.  Ryleigh learned what it is like to use another gym's equipment (not always the best experience), which will be a valuable lesson for the future.  The best part of the meet was that Ryleigh's combined score qualified her for the State meet in May.  Go, RyJo!

After the meet, we stayed in Fredericksburg an extra day to let the kids swim and just enjoy being away from home.  Then we all took in Frozen 2 Saturday evening.

Just Plugging Away

The Mosman Clan is just plugging away.  Jip is busy with work.  Amy is busy with volunteering and driving kiddos where they need to go.  RJ is busy with Ninja Zone, Code Ninja, Hip Hop, and of course,  playing video games.  Ryleigh is busy with gymnastics, ballet, and playing with Audrey.  The kids are both doing great in school, as described in their parent-teacher conferences.  We're keeping on and keeping up.

Jip and I have also been plugging away on our porch decoration project.  We thought we'd finish this weekend.  We were so wrong.  But, we're okay with taking our time and making it look amazing.  Pics to come when it is done.

Picture-wise, I only have a couple of pics to share this week.  One is a snap of RJ on Saturday morning.  He was the first one up on Saturday morning.  This is what Jip found when he came downstairs.

And, this is what I found on Facebook earlier this week.  Jip said a few words at the Shipyard's quarterly Big Rocks ceremony, a time when the Shipyard celebrates meeting its various goals.

This weekend, Ryleigh has a gymnastics meet.  It is in Fredericksburg, about 2.5 hours away.  So, we're making a little family trip out of it to include a hotel with a pool and a movie (already bought tickets to see Frozen 2).  Ryleigh will compete all 4 events, and we're looking forward to being just parents and watching her without having to worry about helping out at the gym.  Of course, pics to come--but it is at a convention center, so don't count on me being close enough to even be able to distinguish whether or not it is Ryleigh. :)

Until next time, cheers!

Another Month, Another Special Me

Last month, Ryleigh was the Special Me awardee for her class.  This month, RJ is the Special Me awardee for his class.  We had the ceremony on Thursday.  Jip was able to join in, and RJ was so delighted.

I then popped back into the school to surprise the kiddos for lunch.

Over the long holiday weekend, we did our best to just chill out at the house.  Jip and I are working on new porch decorations for Christmas, so he spent lots of time in the garage, and I spent lots of time cutting stencils with my cutting machine.  Results will be post-able in another week or so, but so far, so good.

Ryleigh wanted to get in on the project action.  So, she asked Jip to help her make a sitting area for a Barbie.

For some reason, she wrote a word on the back of the cardboard before Jip assembled it.

So, now Ryleigh has her very own crack house.

Then Ryleigh decided she wanted a guitar out of cardboard.  So, Jip asked her to draw it.  This was the neck before Jip intervened.

Someday she'll look at this blog and be really mad.  :)  Until then, enjoy a chuckle!

Tomorrow we're expecting our first kiss of wintry weather, as we are supposed to get a rain/snow mix and even some bay-effect snow (rare, but not unheard of).  It shouldn't stick, so it shouldn't affect school.  But, it should make for some interesting driving tomorrow evening as we go to dance and return home.  The rest of the week should be pretty normal.  As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!