#96. 9 Months in one Blog!

Yeah, it's been awhile.  A lot has happened in the last 9 months as the twins (and myself!) have navigated returning to school in person and completed second grade (and my 22nd year of teaching!).  There have been some highs and, sadly, there have also been some lows.  Unfortunately, this year brought challenges that made keeping up with the blog more difficult than ever.  Hopefully, summer break and next school year will bring back more normalcy and more routine opportunities to reflect and share what's been going on in the lives of our two too soon-to-be 8 year olds!!

In the fall, we headed over to one of our favorite places in Evanston, Lighthouse Beach, for a family photo shoot.  Special thanks to our friend Colleen for taking some amazing shots!

Looking good, you two!!

Sitting in front of the impressive Harley Clarke Mansion

We tried to 're-create' a similar family photo pose taken when the twins were two...

...how'd we do?!?

No swimming today, but in a 'short' 7 months the lake will be about 60 degrees and ready for their return!

We 'rocked' the family photo on the rocks!!

In summer, they swim here (you can see the lifeguard stands in the back), but it's a scenic spot for some fall photos too.

Throughout the fall and winter, the twins were active in sporting activities.  

Clare played 8 and under soccer for the first time...

...and scored quite a few goals for the 'Purple Sea Monsters'!

Luke attended karate classes at the Fonseca Dojo in Wilmette...

...where he worked his way from a yellow belt to orange (and a couple months later, green)!

Halloween was a little more 'normal' this year.  

Clare was a 'blow up' unicorn, and Luke was, well, some sort of dragon!

You need to see this from the side view too!

This year's Halloween 'opened back up' and involved more fun events, like trick-or-treating down Central St.

And, of course, it wouldn't have been Halloween without posing with the witches in our front yard!

Thanksgiving came, and it was great to have Grandpa and Grandma Knapp visiting.

We managed to squeeze everyone into this selfie right before turkey dinner!

Unfortunately, as soon as Thanksgiving passed, we (2 of us anyway) became Covid statistics.  

At least we got to isolate/quarantine together!!

The holiday season brought some cheer back into the household.  

We made our annual pilgrimage to Poor Bob's Tree Land in Evanston...

...and even got these two to help with some of the decorating!

As the big day approached, we did the usual things...

...like visiting Santa at the mall...

...'over'-decorating Christmas cookies...

...and looking cute in Christmas pjs!

For Christmas this year, we headed to the Carolinas to spend time with our 'Heald' Family.  We left on Christmas morning, so we decided to open 'non-Santa' presents on Christmas Eve.

These two didn't seem to mind!!

There were some pretty cool gifts...some were books...

...and some were games.

All of them were loved and appreciated by these two happy twins!

Christmas morning came...these two must have been good this year!!

More books!  

We flew to Charlotte on Christmas Day, and made it in time for Christmas dinner.

The grandparents and grandkids were all happy to be together.

These 4 ended up having a lot of fun!

We sure enjoyed the nice weather...which included an afternoon of 

Top Golf with a lot of the family!!

We also went on a hike to 40-acre Rock Trail in South Carolina...

...where a great hike took place with many deep conversations...

...and fantastic posing amongst the nature.

For us midwesterners, it was wonderful to be outside wearing t-shirts in December...

...getting some exercise and soaking up the scenery.  

Our family sure enjoyed the visit to the Carolinas and loved the family time!

Back home we enjoyed a New Year's Eve with some friends...

...and another fun weekend night with more family.  

In the winter, the twins played on the Kingsley 1st/2nd grade basketball team.

The team was co-ed so it was neat to watch our twins play on the same team!!

It was a short season, but the team ended up undefeated and had a lot of fun!

The next couple of months are now a blur.  February hit, 

...and we said Happy 9th Birthday to Trig!!

Sadly, Trig's time with our family came to an end a couple of weeks later.   

We loved this dog so much and were so devastated to lose her so quickly...

...but she brought so much love and happiness to our family for so many years.  

Rest in peace our sweet girl...

...we will love and miss you forever!!

Spring break came in March...

...and the farthest we made it was to Chicago's southside and the Museum of Science & Industry!

The twins enjoyed a whole day of exhibits and fun...

...and learned a lot!

Even Daddy got in on the fun...and later crashed on the couch back home (from pure exhaustion) at 7 PM!

April arrived and we took a trip to Eureka to celebrate Easter with Knapp family.  

The twins hunted in the same yard that the Easter Bunny 

dropped eggs for Daddy and Uncle Jason many (many) years ago!!

That's quite a haul, you two!!

The twins were happy to spend some time with their cousin, Keira...

...and, of course, Grandma and Grandpa Knapp too!!

Before we knew it, it was May and the end of 2nd grade (and year 22!).  It was a busy 9 months to get here and a lot of highs and lows.  The summer is upon us and it's gonna be a good one...sports camps, a trip to California, beach time on Lake Michigan, fun events with family and friends, 8th birthdays, a second trip to Cape Cod, and, hopefully, a new puppy!  I'm sure we will have a blast and have some fun blog updates (and that it won't take 9 months to put together the next post!).

So long, 2nd grade!  They learned a great a lot this year!!  On to 3rd!