Hello, again! From California... California, Maryland that is

So I had a two month hiatus. In those two months we...

-moved to a different state
-started new schools
-said bye to old friends and made new ones
-reunited with friends from years past
-started a new job in a new discipline
-went on a road trip to PA and NY
-went on a road trip to celebrate a special 2 year old boy
-experienced a first in camping with girl scouts
-went on field trips
-had visitors from out of town
-celebrated Easter
-splashed in mud puddles


So we have quite a bit to tell you about. We made our big move to Maryland. The girls had adjustment period but we are now on the other side of it and I will say we faired well.

 When the house was packed in VA, the girls enjoyed hide and seek and coloring the boxes.

 Then once in Maryland, box houses were the big hit.

I will be back soon to fill you in on our lastest adventures. 

Bucket List 2014 revisited

Let's revisit Bucket list 2014 to see how we did on our adventures.

-Grow own food (Christy)

Our garden was a success for our first year. The girls loved to snack on strawberries and basil leaves while playing outside during the spring and early summer. I loved eating tomatoes and cucumber warm and straight off the vine! We still have brussel sprouts currently that have braved the sub zero temps. Can't wait to start another garden in a couple for months. 

-Go strawberry picking (Christy)

Well, the girls went strawberry picking all the time in our backyard, so this item merged into the latter one. 

-Go to 2nd grade (Brady)

Brady has done this in exemplary fashion! She is rock star in second grade. Homework time is now stress free and she is earning lots of high marks on her papers. 

-Go to kindergarten (Reese)

Reese has blown kindergarten out of the water! She loves school and looks forward to the specials and centers everyday. 

-Go to the Children's Museum (Brady)

-Start running (Elli)

Elli kicked hypotonia in the butt and has fully caught up developmentally to her peers!

-Go to DC (Karl)

We made a couple visits to DC last year. Once to visit the memorials and visit good friends that moved to Maryland. Then another time to see the SF Giants in the playoffs. We see lots more DC visits in the coming years once we move to Maryland ourselves. 

Going to see the Giants play was the highlight of the year for Karl. 

-Go overseas (Christy)

Karl and Christy celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in the grandest of styles.

-Go to the Great Wolf Lodge (Brady and Reese)

This might has been the highlight of the year for the girls!

-Go see Pop Pop's fish (Reese)

Reese (and the other girls) spent their spring break with Pop Pop while her parents explored Europe. Reese had such a great time, she demanded she sleep at Pop Pop's house, while the rest of the family stayed in a very nice beach house!

-Have a Kid free weekend on our Tenth wedding anniversary (Christy)

We spent the weekend of our anniversary in the trees! This might have been my favorite highlight of the year. The team work to manage the course was rewarding and the adventure of it all was exhilarating. 

-Attend an air show (Karl)

Although, Karl looked forward to bringing all his girls to the airshow, rain and traffic caused this to be a somewhat disappointing experience. I don't think Brady was sold on the idea. 

-Bike/run/play at Mt. Trashmore (Christy)

This time around last is least! This was the only item we didn't complete. Mount Trashmore was visited, just not as an entire family and we did bike rides, just not at Mount Trashmore, so all is good in the Orthner World!

With every move

With every move, you create new memories, new routines, new friends. But you never forget the ones you have to leave behind. You develop snapshots that in a nutshell describe the few short months or years you spend at that stop.

Here are pictures of our last week, that will most likely be my snapshots of my girls' time here in Little Creek.

Sweet sisters and sweet friends uniting over a picture book.

And, sidewalk chalk as the medium for their imagination among a great group of neighborhood friends.

This time a hopscotch that goes all the way up to 79!

The Munchkins

I love my three little munchkins! They bring me smiles daily. Life doesn't get better than this. I am a little bit behind in posting on 'events' so here are some snapshots of life here in VB lately. 

 Love is in the air!

I try to play down valentines since I feel it is a holiday about have and have nots. I don't care for a holiday that leaves people out. What I did for them this year (last minute idea) was throw together place mats that highlight their best qualities. I want to teach them that they are individuals. I love them for who they are, and I don't want them to be someone else. 

Reese is spirited, inquisitive, brave, huggable, faithful, creative, unique and smiley. 

 Creative, spirited and unique...yes sirree. She keeps me laughing!

Inquisitive, not too many five year olds want to stay inside to read instead of playing and running outside. 

 Elli is cuddly, helpful, passionate, curious, animated, bright, loyal and independent.

She found the only puddle in the whole area. Call her curious George. 

 She is one bright star. At library PJ story time, the librarian read a story we have never heard before. Elli immeadiately walked over to the book rack in the room and plucked the same book off the shelf. She had memorized the books on the rack and wanted the matching copy.

Elli is in a early interventive parent child preschool class run by the city. She is thriving in this class. I was prepared to hate it and I love everything about it. She is so independent in the class.

Brady is dedicated, affectionate, kind, supportive, thoughtful, graceful, hard-working, and understanding.

This hard-working graceful ballerina has almost perfected her leap. I am in awe of her. I thought I didn't want a daughter that liked ballet, but I am really getting a kick (no pun intended) out of this. 

Brady LOVES being a big sister. She brought Elli in for a special show and tell.

Brady loves to put on shows with her middlest sister. Here she was exploring the idea that tears can be result of happiness or sadness.

I will keep them! All while counting my lucky stars!

2013 Bucket List COMPLETED

This post is a few months behind, but I can proudly say we kicked the bucket...list in the behind! We had it completed in late October.

I orginially made this list right after our move to get us excited about the new possibilities in this new town. Remember this list was created over a year ago.

Here it is:

-go on a rocketship (Reese)

We visited the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, VA in September. We explored all sorts of air vehicles including rocketship. We also got to see a rocket take off from our front porch one night! We kept the girls up so they could witness this extraodrinary event.

-go swimming (Reese)

-Perform an Ariel show with my doll (Reese)

This is not the Ariel show pictured... but we get 'shows' on a daily basis. No really, EVERY day. Sound of Music is the most recent theme of most shows.

-go for a hike (Brady)

No hills in our hikes, but we do enjoy the mile walk through our neighborhood (base). 

-go to the zoo (Brady)

-go to where Felicity lived (Brady)

The older two girls were treated to a couple trips to Colonial Williamsburg last year. They enjoyed learning about the differences in life and culture, including tea and curtsy lessons.

-go to the Botanical Gardens (Christy)

Among our multiple trips to the Botanical Gardens to play in the World of Wonder kids' garden. We also explored the Christmas light display during the Polar Express event. The girls also got their first taste of hot cocoa.

-go to the Great Wolf Lodge (Christy)

-go to DC and watch the Giants play (Karl)....

This one wasn't completed in its original form...instead Karl go to see the Giants play in San Diego, even better right!?!?!

-go see Kaddie's (now better known as Pop Pop) fish (Christy)

-go to the Children's musuem (Reese)

-go to the Aquarium (Brady)

-eat Cheesecake Factory cheesecake (Karl)

You know he ate this too fast for me to grab a picture of it!

We did so much last year, much of which is not even listed on here. Glad that we were able to kick the bucket...list!

Stay tuned for the post previewing this year's to do list.