Herrel Winter Olympics

Posted on May 24, 2018 by Rachel

February 2018

We were pretty excited about the Winter Olympics this year! Since the kids had learned how to ski, they were interested in watching some skiing. Their favorite ski event ended up being ski jumping, and they also enjoyed the biathlon, figure skating, bobsled, speed skating, curling, etc. Michael was very creative and he decided to create our own Herrel Winter Olympics. 🙂 Every night we would watch a few highlights from the Olympic events of the day, and then we participated in our Herrel event. Here are some of the highlights:

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More Skiing

Posted on May 24, 2018 by Rachel

January & February 2018

We went skiing two more times this winter. The second time Uncle Patrick joined us for a day on the sl0pes. The third time we went skiing the kids were amazing! We got to the slopes around 10am and we didn’t leave until 6pm! The kids had so much fun skiing and really did a great job. By the end of the day Samuel was skiing down the hill without waiting for us or looking back to find us. He was so brave! Leah also did a great job and was skiing next to one of us without holding on. We can’t wait to go skiing again next winter!

Skiing Video

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Skiing

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Rachel

January 3, 2018

To start off the new year, we took the kids skiing for the very first time! Samuel was super excited, Leah was a bit nervous, and Michael and I had no idea what to expect from the kids once we got them out there… On our way to the slopes we stopped at a ski store and got skis and boots for the kids. Once we got to the slopes it was still quite a process to get 4 people dressed, in boots, and outside to ski. We got the kids in their skis and made our way over to a tiny bump of snow where we taught the kids the basics of skiing. We spent about 1/2 hour on the tiny bump of snow, letting the kids “ski” down and pulling them back up to the top. It was clear that they both liked skiing, and the kept eyeing the “big hill,” so we decided to go for it and we bought lift tickets for all of us. We spent the next 2 1/2 hours riding the “magic carpet” up to the top of the bunny hill and skiing down. Both kids were super brave and adventurous! They both spent time skiing between our legs, skiing towards us as we skiied backwards down the hill, and even skiing a bit all on their own!!! Samuel skiied down the hill several times on his own (with a few falls) and Leah skiied down almost all on her own, with just a bit of light assistance. We were so proud of our two skiiers! They both loved it and are very excited to go skiing again sometime soon!

*Unfortunately, we were so busy skiing with the kids that we got zero videos of them actually skiing!!! 🙁 We’ll try again next time!

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Christmas!

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Rachel

December 24 – 26, 2017

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… Everyone was excited for Christmas this year! We had three solid days of celebrating with different family members. We spent all day Christmas Eve with Grandma & Grandpa, Great-Grandma, and Uncle Matt & Lisa. We had brunch, opened presents, played with new toys, went to Christmas Eve mass, and ended the day with Daddy reading “The Night Before Christmas.”

On Christmas morning, Leah slept until 7am, but Samuel was so excited he was awake by 4am and could not go back to sleep… We started the morning by opening presents from Santa! Leah received Princess dresses, Princess shoes, a ballerina Barbie, and a fairy house with fairies. Samuel received Magic School Bus books, Magic School bus toys, a Secret Decoder Spy Pack, and a basketball and basketball hoop for our driveway. After opening Santa’s awesome gifts, we opened presents from each other. 🙂 Then we had breakfast and the kids played for a while with their new items.

Around lunchtime on Christmas Day we headed up to Columbus and spent the day with Mama & Papa and family. We spent the night at Grammy’s and Gramps’ house and opened presents the next morning with them and Uncle Patrick. We spent the rest of the day playing at Grammy’s and Gramps’ before heading home that evening. It was a busy 3 days, but so much fun!

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Xavier Basketball Game

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Rachel

December 16, 2017

We took the kids to a Xavier Men’s Basketball game in December. They enjoyed the game, as always, but the highlight for the kids was being allowed to go out on the court after the game and shoot some layups. Leah needed a boost from Daddy to try to make her shots, but Samuel was big enough to do it all by himself. He was surprised and super proud of himself when he scored a basket on his very first attempt! 🙂

Shooting Hoops at Xavier

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December Fun

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Rachel

December 2017

The kids were super excited for the Advent and Christmas seasons to begin after Thanksgiving. We put up our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving and packed in as much Christmas fun as we could during the month of December. We spent time downtown at the Downtown Dazzle watching Santa rappel from Macy’s and a cool fireworks show; plus, we visited the giant Christmas tree display in the Westin. We took the kids to their very first ballet – The Nutcracker – and they LOVED it! 🙂 We also spent time at the Festival of Lights, where we visited with Santa, rode the train and carousel, and saw all of the lights. A final highlight was seeing the train display at the Krohn Conservatory and visiting the Nativity scene at the Comboni missions with Grandma & Grandpa. It was a busy December, but we had a lot of fun!!!

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Ballet Observation Day

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Rachel

December 6, 2017

Leah has been taking ballet since September. She is really enjoying it and learning quite a few moves! In early December there was a parent observation day for her ballet class. Samuel and I really enjoyed watching Leah and her class show us some of their moves. She is an excellent ballerina!

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Leah Ballet Observation

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Ohio State Buckeyes fun!

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Rachel

November 2017

We had some fun cheering on the Buckeyes this November! Michael and I went to the November 18 game versus Illinois. We had pleasant weather to start the game, which turned into a torrential downpour at halftime! The Buckeyes had the game easily under control, so we left during the third quarter. The kids had fun cheering on the Buckeyes with Grammy & Gramps from their dry house! 🙂

We also made Buckeye candies in November (an annual tradition) to celebrate the Buckeyes playing (and beating!) Michigan.

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Family Photos

Posted on November 2, 2017 by Rachel

This fall we had some new photos taken of the kids and our family of 4. My friend, Liz, a very talented photographer, was gracious enough to take our pictures again. She has been taking photos of the kids and all of us since Samuel was 6 months old. 🙂

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Happy Halloween!

Posted on November 2, 2017 by Rachel

Happy Halloween! Every year Michael takes the time to create homemade costumes for both Samuel and Leah for Halloween. They get to choose exactly what they want to be and Michael makes their dreams a reality. 🙂 This year, Leah really wanted to be Elsa (from the movie Frozen) and Samuel wanted to be his favorite dinosaur – a Parasaurolophus. It’s safe to say Samuel and Leah have the best Dad ever!!!

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