Where has the time gone?

It's hard to believe that the summer is almost over and our blog has remained empty for the past 4 months or so. As much time as I spend reading other people's blogs - especially any of those polticial blogs on politico.com or washingtonpost.com, you'd think that I'd update our every once in a while. Oh well... I'm doing it now.

The summer has been rather busy and it's supposed to be the one time during the year where we actually get a break from coaching and leading our Awana group. I've spent most of the summer at work with little or no play, while Jen and the kids spent a lot of the summer at the pool getting tan and having fun. But I'm not bitter or anything.... Emily had lots of fun with a nice group of kids and Matthew just loves the water. It's so funny even now when he hears the water running in the tub... he comes to the bathroom as fast as he can crawl.

We've started back with coaching soccer, playing church coed softball and Awanas so that takes care of Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Jen plays soccer and I play volleyball on Tuesday... getting done just in time to make it to Nerd Bowl a.k.a Trivia over at the Glory Days Grill. We won the league title last year and made it to the state finals where we promptly got destroyed by teams even nerdier than ours. Our secret weapon Mikapedia decided that he'd rather go to Maine and take pictures of rocks and ferns than help us win $2,000 in the finals so we knew we were toast. It was fun anyway and we've started back up with Season 21 - maybe Mike will plan his vacations a little better this time.

Matthew turned 1 year old on August 18th and we had a small family party here in Maryland. He was spoiled to death of course and was the first baby I've seen who wasn't interested in putting his face and hands into his cake. He wouldn't even really eat it so that was kind of a bummer. I expected lots of pictures of him with it in his hair and down his shirt but no such luck.

Emily has started her freshman year at Annapolis Area Christian School and has started the year off doing very well. She seems to have found a very nice group of friends and has a part in the upcoming school production of Narnia. She plays the Big Bad Wolf - forget his real name - and is working hard to be ready for November's performances. She is also doing well playing soccer and scored 2 goals this past Saturday in our first game.

Well that's all for now.... promise that I'll write more in the future. Here is Matthew's 10 month old picture. Will post more pics later.

Stan

Father/Daughter Banquet

This was a banquet on Friday night that some parents put on for all the 6th-8th grade girls and their fathers at Annapolis Area Christian School. It was a night of fun and bonding. I was able to do Emily's hair for the banquet and it was a very special time for us to enjoy together. She was very excited about this night. It was a special night and I am thankful that Emily and Stan had the opportunity to have this night together as Father and Daughter.

Pictures!

These are all the pictures from Matthew's dedication.

These are the pictures from Matthew's first baseball game!

These are just pictures throughout his 8 month of life. The messy ones are when he had his first biter biscuit.

Here is his 8 month picture. It is our personal favorite. The arm on the bench he was sitting on was all him. He sat down and put his arm right up there. Our little man!

Nine Months Today

Today, Matthew celebrated his 9 month birthday - hard to believe that he's been with us for nearly a year. We started the day at church with Nana Major and Grandma and Grandpa Kemmerer to witness the "first of six" baby dedications. Even though he was fighting a cold, the little guy was still all smiles today and we had a good time visiting with everyone.

Last night, Matthew went to his first ballgame down in Waldorf to see the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. The game was pretty boring but he ended up on the big screen with beef macaroni all over his face. Pretty cool stuff.

Emily - "Big Sis" - has been involved in all kinds of things since we last wrote. She's finishing up the last two weeks of school and has worked really hard this last semester. All of the hard work has paid off though and we're all really proud of her efforts. We can't believe that she'll be starting high school next year. It doesn't seem all that long ago that Jen had her in 2nd grade. Emily will be finishing up her spring soccer season in 2 weeks and then having fun over the summer. Lots of days at the pool with the little guy....

Emily and we have finished up Awanas until the fall and while we miss working with the kids every Sunday, it truly is a needed break. We've also finished up with our girls soccer season last weekend, but will begin tryouts for the fall in a couple of weeks. Just when things look like they're going to be a little less busy, we always have other things on our plate as coed softball has begun on Friday nights and Jen is playing soccer several nights a week.

Hope all is well with all of the readers out there.... will add some pictures tomorrow.

Stan and Jen

Seven Month Picture

Updated Pictures