All things NEW

I have been sitting here for an hour reading old blogposts, eating guacamole with blue corn chips and trying to figure out how to get in the groove again.

It has been over a year since I have written on this lovely little blog of mine.  

We had some computer problems and I have genuinely missed keeping this up to date.  

Daniel surprised me with a new computer for Christmas and has asked me everyday since if I have written on the blog.  

I guess I will take the hint.

No better time to start than the New Year right?

2013 was a great year in the Packer household

Lewis. Lew.  Lewie.-  Spent his days playing with trains and dressing up as a superhero.  He can sit for hours playing with his "guys" and making fighting sounds.  This kid has a great imagination.  Just ask him about his dreams and you will see!  He potty trained!  He is ridiculously determined.  He loves wearing shorts and a t-shirt.  It is a fight to get him into anything else.  He usually ends up wearing them under his normal clothes. He had his 3rd birthday bash, but he will tell you that he turned 5.  We had a party with friends at the park and cookies.  A favorite of his!  He is hilarious.  Loves to joke and make people laugh.  He is sweet as pie unless you get him mad and then he will let you know.  He likes to dance.  Loves playing basketball and going to Bayhawk games.  Got a bike and a scooter in the summer and is a wild man on both.  He took swimming lessons this summer and loves the water.  He has a sweet tooth.  He loved flying on the airplanes to visit his friends Ty and Brady in Idaho.  If he is ever missing he will be found on our bed with the iPad watching a show.  He is very adventurous and brave.  When sledding he wanted to go alone.  When at the swimming pool he wanted to go down the big slides alone.  Playing in the snow he wants to jump off the deck alone.  Lewis changed this year from our little toddler to a full grown little boy!  

Thomas.  T-man.-  Finished up his first year of preschool.  He loved his teachers Ms. Amy and Ms.  Kelsey and was sad to leave his friends behind.  He spends most of his time drawing, coloring, playing legos and dressing up like a superhero.  He can be found wrestling his dad and brother in his bedroom and doing "tricks" around the house.  He very rarely sits still.  He asks question after question and none of the answers we give him seem to be enough.  He loves riding his bike and scooter during the summer time.  He turned 5 and had a movie night party with his friends. He also took swimming lessons and became quite the swimmer.  He is a little more timid at first until he gets comfortable and then he becomes very brave and adventurous.  He started fishing this year.  He didn't have much luck catching any fish just his own leg.  He loves climbing trees and hiding in them even more.  He surprised all of us by riding his first sheep at the Jackson Hole Rodeo this summer. Thanks Uncle Nick.  He fell in love with the break dancers at the Bayhawks games and came up with his own routine to perform at the ward talent show.  He did it flawlessly even with the stomach flu.  He is quite the helper around the house and has taken on many chores that he does all by himself.  He started Kindergarten and his teachers name is Mrs.  Becker.  He is very social at school and is one smart cookie.

Daniel.  Big Daddy.-  Has really loved his job and is really getting into the swing of things.  He has become quite the frequent flyer with his travels and enjoys all of the good food he gets to eat.  Not to mention he loves watching basketball in the hotel!   He is the boys number one fan and their number one role model.  They want to be just like him!  There is always a fight over who gets to sit by dad at the dinner table.  I often smell his cologne on the boys, see his watches on their wrists and Thomas has picked up the habit of tucking in his shirts, just so he can be like dad.  This year Daniel hiked table rock with his dad, brother and nephew.  He started running during his lunch breaks.  He is learning to love the snow and started to build a fort in the back yard with the boys.  He stays busy with work and scouting and wrestling the boys at home.  He does a great job keeping our cars cleaned on the weekends and makes mad chinese food for us every sunday after church.  He went to his first NFL game in Cleveland.  Go Browns.   He picked up many admirers when we caroled at the nursing home this Christmas while he serenaded us on his guitar and he stole the show at the ward talent show singing "I'm a believer."  Swoon worthy.

Sadie.  Momma.-  I stayed busy keeping up with all of the shenanigans of my 3 men.  I managed to break a washing machine and my dryer this year.  It must be the dirty clothes from all of the fun adventures we are having!  I started doing turbofire again and have enjoyed doing something for myself.  I ran my first 5k in 6 years and I finished under my goal time.  It was the snowflake 5k down on Presque Isle.  I have an exercise group with friends and love walking at Penn State during the summer time.  I was surprised by Daniel with my first massage on my birthday.  I love adventures and keep the boys busy all year round.  We took a weekend getaway to Pittsburgh in the spring and went to the Museum of Natural History.  The boys took me on a mothers day trip to see the church sites in Palmyra.  We visited the finger lakes and ate at a crepe cafe.  In the summer we loved going to the beach, the swimming pool and the park.  We loved going to the zoo this year and watching the monkeys for hours.  We took a trip to Idaho, Utah, Montana and Wyoming for 3 weeks and packed it full of everything fun.  It was the perfect trip full of love, food, family and great memories.  We came home exhausted in the best way possible.  I got all of us razor scooters for our birthdays.  Thats right.  ALL OF US.  I may have been having so much fun that I forgot how old I am getting and my knee still bares the scar.  It was a crazy year sending Thomas off to school and I can't believe how quiet our home is without him.  Actually I can believe it, I just don't like it.

We feel so blessed and happy to be sharing this life and these adventures with one another.  We have loved living in this beautiful part of the country and exploring so many fun things together.  We also realize that because we live so far away from so many family members and friends that they don't get to be a part of our lives and we don't love that.   We miss you all dearly and we hope that by starting this blog again that we can help stay connected with all of you that mean so much to us!