Bryce is 13

Bryce is officially a teenager!!!

Height: 57 1/4 (13th percentile)

Weight: 81.5 (9th percentile)

Blood pressure: 90/52

I cannot believe this day is already here, but man are we proud of this boy of ours.

It's not a birthday without donuts!  Bryce had a low key celebration on Friday for his birthday.  He had a few friends come over after school and they spent the evening outside playing basketball. 

We went out to dinner on Thursday night with all the grandparents and then had the whole family over to our house for cake and ice cream. 

We didn't have school the Monday of Bryce's birthday week so Jason took him snowboarding with one of his baseball buddies.  He went for the first time last year and enjoyed it and was excited to go back.  It was a bit of a learning curve, but he caught on and had a great time. 

Instead of a party, Bryce wanted to go to the UR vs VCU basketball game to celebrate.  The game was last Friday night and he had a great time with Jason and PaPa.

I think he had a great birthday week with friends and family!  And he's off to Florida next weekend for a little more fun!

valentines day and a meet

Emmy got a soft serve maker for her birthday and we've been enjoying it!

We've made a batch of chocolate and a batch of vanilla and we've been so impressed with how smooth and creamy the ice cream is.  We give it two thumbs up!

Bryce had a Super Bowl party with the youth group and Jason went to his parents' house and Emmy and I stayed home and had an unconventional football night and made fried rice!

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite days to spoil the kids.  This year they got pajamas, candy and a little treat!

MeMa sent us home from church with Valentine donuts so we were all set for breakfast.

I even tried to make their lunches festive. 

We celebrated February birthdays with Paul's family on Thursday night.

Today was meet day for Emmy!

She had a great meet.  She got her highest floor and beam score of the season today.  She has been working on confidence on the beam and she rocked it today!

Emmy found herself on the podium for vault and all around. She was 3rd in both.  It's always fun to be at the top of the podium!

Her team won second place!

It's so fun watching her do gymnastics and improve at each meet.

With a friend (and her brother) after the meet.  We went to high school with her dad so it's been fun having the girls on the same team and bonding at the gym and at friend gatherings.  

 

Emmy is 10

Jason's parents planned a fun winter weekend for Emmy's birthday again this year.  We headed up to Massanutten on Friday night and met up with all of the family.

Last year the kids tried skiing for the first time because we weren't able to get tubing tickets.  This year we didn't ski because we were able to get tubing tickets!

It was a COLD morning, but we had lots of fun.

When we got back to the house, we had Emmy's birthday lunch followed by cookie cake!

Jason's mom was able to get a second round of tubing tickets for the evening.  

The lights make night tubing so fun!

Even though we did the birthday celebration on Saturday, we still had to make today, her actual birthday, just as special.  We started with donuts of course!

Double digits!

Height: 51 inches (10th percentile)

Weight: 58 pounds (10th percentile)

Blood pressure: 90/62

This birthday was a perfect 10!

She was so excited about her present from us!

We had a yard sign delivered to greet her when we got home!

We ended the day with her favorite dinner, Noodles, and ice cream at Sweet Frog.

She is such a joy, and we love her to pieces.  It's so easy and fun to celebrate her!

 

make a wish

The Make a Wish meet was on Friday.

Emmy had a great meet and got her highest vault and bar scores of the season.

She placed 2nd on vault and 4th on bars and was 6th all around.

She filled up her medal hanger after this meet.  Looks like we need a new one!

We ran errands on Saturday and ate at a new restaurant.  Jason enjoyed it!  

Bryce took shop class this semester and brough home his cutting board he's been working on.  It looks so good!  He's hoping to take the year long course next year.

 

a slow week

Tuesday marked three years since we lost my Nanny.  We remember her every day, but on this day and her birthday we like to honor her a little extra.  We didn't have a chance to go out and get Frosty's like we normally would, but Jason enjoyed some Frosty cereal instead.

Bryce's middle school wrestling team went to the championship on Wednesday.  This season has had its ups and downs.  I was excited for Bryce to try something new.  He really enjoyed it and learned a lot.  He's going to do some camps in the off season in hopes of improving for next year.  Unfortunately, covid close contacts have had their effects on Bryce and he had to miss two matches this season.  The last of which was the championship for their undefeated season.  It was hard for him to not be a part of it and this picture broke his heart, but it's still worth documenting here for memories down the road.  

 

sports and friends

There was lots of wrestling this week!  Bryce and Hunter (on the left) are on the middle school wrestling team.  Their friend Charlie (on the right) came to watch their away match on Tuesday because his dad is the athletic director at the school where the match was.  He's in the red shirt in the back.

Wednesday was another match at home.  I didn't take any pictures at Thursday's match, but they were in the playoffs and continued their undefeated season and are going to the championship next week!

The boys got to go to Charlottesville after the match on Wednesday to watch the UVA vs VT basketball game.  

We went out for ice cream on Friday night!  It was so nice to all be home together after a busy week.  

Emmy had another gymnastics meet today.  

She has learned many new skills this year and is now working on cleaning up her routines to improve her scores.

She placed 2nd on vault with her highest vault score of the season (8.9).  She was in the lead until the very last vaulter went and knocked her out by .100.  Such a nail biter.

She ended up placing 5th on beam (8.725), floor (8.775), and all around.  She had fall on the bar that put her in 8th (8.1).  

She's always happy when she brings home some hardware!

These girls become great friends after spending 12 hours a week together at the gym.