Mike & Cicely 2.0

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

A Year in Review, Part 2

SEPTEMBER 2013

Grace began her second year of preschool. This year my baby goes every single day! No more lazy in-between days like last year when she only went three days a week. It took some getting used to having her gone all morning, but right now she is only attending the half-day program. I couldn't bear to give her up all day, everyday! Not yet anyway. There's plenty of years of that coming soon enough. For now, I just want her and her baby sister to get as much play time together as possible before the years of full-time school and the flurry of activities begin. These early years are fleeting and I don't want to waste a single moment of it.

Poor baby sister looking on pitifully as an excited big sister gets ready for school.

Sure, they have their moments where they disagree (Grace being bossy and Claire letting her know she won't take it!), but they have plenty of these kinds of melt-your-heart moments that I know they truly do love each other.

The only other event of interest from this month was that I signed up for my first ever race, the Wicked 10K in Virginia Beach. Even though I have always admired people who could do things like that, I never saw myself as the kind of person who would. But I was encouraged (coerced!) by friends at a party and I'm so glad I was. Knowing there was a goal to be reached in a little over a month kept me focused and on track. And it was fun to be in it together with great friends. Our almost daily text messages of encouragement and support were crucial in keeping me going.

OCTOBER 2013

This Halloween we went for an Avengers theme. It was Grace's pick because ever since she watched "Captain America" in the spring, she had been obsessed. Claire was very into Elmo at the time and that was what she was going to be until we found a Captain America costume in just her size at a consignment shop. Grace insisted it would look great on Claire, muscles and all, and she wanted the two of them to be a matching duo. I felt a little guilty putting her in a full out boy's costume so I made a little tutu to go with it. I didn't want Claire getting upset with me years from now because I put her in a boy's costume on the whim of her big sister.

Our contribution to our church's trunk or treat event- Noah's Ark!

A tuckered out Elmo

We also tried out Go Ape, a ziplining adventure place here in Williamsburg. Grace was fearless. I am still in awe at her sense of adventure.

And lastly, I completed my first 10K race with some pretty awesome friends. I see now why people do these races! I felt such a sense of accomplishment crossing that finish line, especially looking back to where I began when running just one mile without stopping seemed like an impossible thing.

NOVEMBER 2013
November was a time for pumpkins...

Pilgrims...

Praying...

Celebrating friendships...

Grace's godsisters, Sadie and Lina

Claire's godmother, Michelle

Claire's other godmother, Liezel

Enjoying time with family...

And eating lots of turkey...

Post turkey nap!

DECEMBER 2013
December is my favorite time of year! And it's not just because I'm a December baby, either. In fact, I love this time of year despite being a December baby (combined birthday/Christmas presents). The joy of getting ready for Christmas, spending lots of time with family, and Santa! And I now know that this will be Mike's favorite time of year, too, because I finally gave him permission to get a leg lamp...

It was quite a hit in our neighborhood. We had neighbors stopping by to take pictures in front of it and I can't tell you how many cars stopped in our yard to take a picture of the spectacle. All of this only proved to my husband that we should have gotten the leg lamp years ago.

Looking for the perfect tree...

Warming up with some hot chocolate

Celebrating the season with family, friends, and Santa...

A quick trip to Mt. Vernon on warm December day.

Attending Simbang Gabi (A Filipino Christmas tradition) with Lolo and Lola.

Christmas Day with our families.

William and Mary friends.

Grace loved having dinner with Santa.

Claire did not.

Last, but certainly not least, especially to the kids... presents!

Baby girl has a black eye on Christmas day because the week before, she fell off a chair at church.


How lucky are these girls? Their very own bounce house, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa.

And just because it's so typical, here are the outtakes of whenever I try to take a nice picture of my girls...

Runaway baby

Uncooperative baby

Fall out on the floor

Monday, March 17, 2014

A Year in Review, Part 1

Somehow as I was looking something up on the internet the other night, I accidentally typed in my blog address. When it popped up, I was shocked that the last time I posted was a year ago. A year!! I knew it had been a while, but it's so hard to believe that the time has gone by so fast.

So here I am again, determined to start this blog back up. I would make a promise to keep it up regularly, but I've promised that before and look what happened- a year went by! This time, I'm just going to say I will do my very best. And hopefully I will update more frequently than once a year.

Here is the Augustine family's year in review. These are just the highlights, but it's a year's worth, so it's going to be lengthy...

MARCH 2013

I can't resist adding this picture of my baby in bunny costume during Grace's school's Easter Egg Hunt. She was only 11 months old here and just starting to walk.

APRIL 2013

My baby girl turned one! Why does she have to grow up so fast? Our baby ended up having two parties and four cakes. First party was just a family party where I made a butterfly cake and a smash cake. Second party was at my parents' restaurant where I made the smash cake and Grandma bought the one for guests. I know it might seem like overkill, but she's our BABY! And in many ways, the baby in the family has got it good.

Party overload!

As for Grace, she is my little bookworm and I am loving it! And she enjoys school so much, especially when she gets to go to Daddy's school.

I found her napping one day while hugging on her books.


Going with Daddy to his school for the day. She even brought her own 'coffee cup'.

MAY 2013
The big event in May was Aunt Megan's college graduation. We are very proud of her and can't wait to see what the future has in store for her.

Mother's Day was wonderful. I was served breakfast in bed and then we traveled to Virginia Beach to spend time with the other important mothers in our lives, Lola and Grandma.

Grace had Storybook Character Day at school and she dressed up as Mouse from "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie". Claire was her cookie. I had so much fun making their costumes. You can only get away with this kind of cutesie for so long!

Claire had her first visit to a water park and loved it!

And I just had to add this picture because I love it so...

JUNE 2013
June marked the beginning of lazy summer days lounging...

Sisterly love...

Trips to museums...

Mariner's Museum in Newport News

Claire's first trip to the beach, the same beach where Mike proposed to me...

Father's Day with the greatest dad and his two little ladies...

And our first kid-free vacation in a long, long time. We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary by going to Newport, Rhode Island and touring all those gorgeous mansions.