A Year In Review: 2013 Part 1

 

Our computer crashed in the beginning of 2013 and I wasn't able to download or edit pictures from my camera.  I had great intentions of catching up but our crazy life took over and before I knew it the year had come and gone and nothing had been documented.  This is my attempt at catching up on this busy, fun and crazy life we live. 

 

JANUARY: 

 In January Cassidy became a Sunbeam at church.  She loves being in with the big kids!  She often will leave her class and go sit with her "big girls friends" - the older girls who babysit for us or with Cami's friends.  She really thinks she is one of the big girls.  Singing time is her favorite part of Primary. 

 

We went skiing a few times and had a lot of fun. Cassidy was able to ski for the first time and loved it!  By the end of the day she was skiing on her own down the bunny hill and going through the tunnels the ski school had set up.  Cami has learned to carve and not just go straight down the hill at lightning speed - much safer this way.  The boys both had a blast snowboarding and are working on their jumps and tricks. 

 

 FEBRUARY:

We flew down to CA and spent a few days at The Happiest Place on Earth.

We love going to sunny California in the middle of a cold Washington winter,  We were able to spend time at Disney with some of my family.  As usual Cassidy and Abby were inseparable and loved going on rides together and seeing the princesses.  Cami thinks she is getting too cool to dress up and see the princesses but I think the little girls have her convinced to keep doing it!

 

MARCH:

March was wresting month.  Chris coached the Ephrata Little Guys club and every Saturday was spent at a different tournament with Cade and Carter. This was Cade's last year of participating in Little Guys.  Both boys did well.  Doesn't Carter look thrilled to be winning a medal?  Must be his tough guy smile.

  

Cami also played spring soccer in March however for some reason I am missing a lot of pictures from March - June including soccer pictures. 

We celebrated Easter this month.  The kids dyed eggs and ate lots of candy.  I tortured them by making them pose for a picture in their Easter outfits on Easter Sunday.  Apparently having to stand by your siblings and smile proved too much for them to handle this day resulting in horrible pictures.

 

APRIL:

We started off April with Cade having surgery on both legs.  He had his Achilles tendons lengthened April 2nd allowing him to walk with flat feet instead of on his toes.  He was in leg casts on both legs for 6 weeks.  I'm sure you can imagine how much fun it was to have an active teenage boy who was unable to walk or do anything on his own for awhile.  We pulled him out of school and home schooled him for the last semester of middle school so that he could rehab and not worry about getting around school in a wheel chair and on crutches.  He was not the best patient and broke through both casts at about week 4 by playing basketball and airsoft in them, requiring a quick trip to Children's hospital in Seattle to recast him. 

Famous last words - "Mom, I'm fine, it won't hurt anything to not wear the walking boots!  The dr. didn't say don't play basketball."  Umm, I thought that would have been a given but what does mom know?

 

 In April 2 of my good friends and I ran our first half marathon - the Wenatchee Half Marathon.  We all survived and ran the whole thing.  I had a lot of fun training with these girls! We are looking forward to doing it again this year.  I've decided it's a lot like giving birth - horrible when you are going through it and you swear you will never do it again but after some time you forget all that and do it again anyway.

 This little cutie and I spend lots of time together while the older kids are at school.  She goes to work with me several days a week and can always convince her Daddy to take her to lunch and buy her a milkshake.  He can't resist those big brown deer eyes.

Cade turned 14 on April 13th.  He had a pretty low key birthday since he was in casts.

 We celebrated Memorial Day with the extended Cox Family.  It's always fun to get together with the entire family. 

 Cassidy had her first ballet recital.  It was very cute to watch and pretty funny because none of them really watched the teacher, they just did their own thing.  The highlight for her was receiving her rose at the end.

 

 

MAY:

In May some friends and I participated in a Glow Run in Tri Cities.  We had a blast!

Cade was able to go into walking casts in the middle of May and then go into regular shoes by June.  He did physical therapy through the summer (he had an awesome therapist) and was able to play freshman football in the fall.

In March Cassidy and I flew down to Las Vegas and surprised my mom for Mothers Day.  We got to meet sweet little baby Emi for the first time.  Cassidy was so excited to meet Emi and play with her Las Vegas cousins. 

 

JUNE:

In June the kids finished out the school year and we started our busy summer.  I was able to do a Color Run in Spokane with a group of friends.  It was one of the most fun races I've done.  This is the before and after pictures.

Chris started the NFL Flag Football League here in Ephrata and they had a great inaugural season.  Carter and Cami both played and had a blast. 

 I love this picture of Cami playing a clapping game in the background.  She is a girly girl - even playing football.  Her team was over half girls and they were so cute.  Making up cheers on the sidelines and giving each other hugs after each play.  Chris just rolled his eyes.  She was very into having cool socks to go with her uniform. But despite her team acting like cheerleaders half the time instead of football players they had an undefeated season.  

 

 Cami's touchdown

Chris coached Carters team.  Carter was a little all star scoring touchdowns in most of his games.   

 He's got some moves.

 

All three older kids did swim team this summer as well.

And that my friends is the first half of the year in a nutshell.