Quarterly (Maybe even Semi-Annual) Report

The Magee Family blog might as well be as much of a lost cause these days as some floundering Wall Street companies. Nevertheless, I have some free time tonight while Patrick is away at his hero Jimmy Buffett’s concert, so I figured I’d add some pictures and stories to our online scrapbook. Since its been a while (months, actually) since I did a real blog post, I figured this would be more of a quarterly report entry. I wish I could just do some summary charts and graphs (along with some fancy collages of pictures), but our life is not that structured. I can barely organize my tupperware cabinet, much less photos, stories, life lessons, etc. So let’s just take this month by month . . . .

January

Anne Louise started looking forward to January back in November. Literally. I have never seen a little girl SO obsessed enthusiastic about her birthday. Once we decided we were going to have a bounce house birthday party, Anne Louise started the countdown. In November. We truly had to tell her that Jesus’s birthday (Christmas) came before her birthday. “My birf-day Jan-ooo-airy Six” became a daily (sometimes three times a day) comment from Anne Louise. Starting in November. Anyway, when the big day arrived, we could NOT let our little birthday queen down. So we decorated the house, had special breakfast (“cinny rolls”), and took cupcakes to school. And to top it off, AL’s present was her very own “yes-we-get-to-keep-it” bounce house. Sort of. We split it with Will-Ba’s parents (they are the birthday twins, I mean triplets, of course). That afternoon, after birthday party 2 at school (we’ll count breakfast as #1), we headed over to Will-Ba’s for the present and party #3. The triplets were ecstatic. The birthday party fun continued as Anne Louise learned the true meaning of “My Birthday Week,” since her party at a real-live-thank-goodness-I-don’t-have-to-clean-my-house-for-this-party Bounce House place called Space Kidets. She had a great time at Birthday Party #5 (we had a family bday party #4 in between). Here are some of the best pictures from the festivities.

I wish I could say we had lots more happen in January, but AL’s bday seemed to last all month and pretty much took over our social calendar. Oh yeah, I turned 31 again for the third year in a row and ended my maternity leave in January, too. We also got a BIG snowstorm, which was LOTS of fun, especially when Honk Honk Neese, Anne-Ross-Hill walked up to play!

February

In February I went back to work and some normalcy began to rear its head in the Magee house. For at least a week (ok, maybe three days), we made lunches and bottles at night, laid out clothes, got in bed early, and made it to work on time with two kids in day care. Then Patrick started his new job. Not just any job, but his OWNER job. Patrick is now a partner in a local mortgage firm, Bridgewater Capital, and he couldn’t be happier. The highlight of February, however, was a trip to Beaufort, South Carolina, with our best buds the Moodys. Anne Louise was SO excited to be sleeping under the same roof as Will-Ba. My favorite was when she would wake up in the morning, and instead of screaming for Mama or Daddy, she would scream for Barrett. Hysterical. The triplets had a blast (and so did all the grown-ups, thanks to a babysitter).

March

Spencer turned six months in March, but just like months 2, 3, 4, and 5, our poor little second child didn’t get a picture to mark the occasion. Our little Buggy (as in Lady Bug, not yucky bugs) joined the land of solid food and formula, as my return to work and upcoming trips put an end to the nursing. Similar to her big sis, she still hasn’t met a food she doesn’t like. In fact, she eats them all so well, I can’t even say she has a fave at this point. March marked a big month for Mama and Daddy, too. We had TWO bigtime, superfun, adultsonly trips. First, we headed to New Orleans for a wedding. Thanks to Aunt CC for watching the munchkins, we had a GREAT time taking in all the sights for our first time in that city. Patrick even managed to play guitar and sing on Bourbon Street. In a bar. With an audience. For free. And get an applause. It was awesome. The highlight of March, however, was a CRUISE! I like to call it Wilson Sisters Spring Break. Nana treated everyone to amazing spa balcony rooms for a cruise through the Carribean, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. We stayed up late, slept in, got up early, lost some money, made some money, laid out, went swimming, shopped, ate, had cocktails (multiple. ok, lots.), and overall just enjoyed ourselves for a week. And didn’t take lots of pictures. Sadly. Grandi and Granny came to watch the munchkins, and we are not sure who had more fun – the kids or the grandmothers (actually, I have to say that Patrick and I win, for sure, but it was a tie for second for the rest of them).The jackets are because its an ice bar. a FREEZING ice bar. the glasses were made of ice, the seats made of ice, and the walls COVERED in ice. basically, we were hanging out in a meat locker. luckily, the martinis jackets kept us warm.

On the way back from the cruise to California, Gogo managed to sneak in a less-than-two-hour layover, during which she INSISTED on coming to see her Anne-Weez and ‘Pencer. Anne Louise was thrilled.

April

That brings us to April. Which is almost over. April has been BUSY catching up from all our vacays and getting ready for a bunch of weddings we have in May and June. We’ve relaxed, hung out on the boat (AL will tell you that she DROVE the boat), and just enjoyed being a family (minus one – Sydney – who retired to the beach with a wonderful family that is taking unbelievable care of her and letting her swim, take long walks on the beach, and get lots of attention; AL has been sad about losing Sydney-Gurl, but we sure don’t miss chasing her around the neighborhood). The weather has been AMAZING!! We have a new after-school ritual of swinging in the front yard until Daddy gets home. Sometimes our friends from the street will walk down – I truly love our neighborhood and our friends here. I can honestly say Anne Louise feels the SAME way. As we get ready for the end of Spring and beginning of Summer (BRING ON HIGH HAMPTON and the return of the annual beach trip to AB), it’s nice to reflect back on how much fun we’ve had as a family over the past few months. Easter is coming up this weekend, and we’ve had lots of fun with egg hunts, but the highlight has been saying “Good Morning Jesus” to the sign at school. Its their Lent banner that has a picture of Jesus on it – AL is OBSESSED. Quick story – the other day, we had a big storm and the wind was terrible. when we got to school, Anne Louise started saying “Oh No!! Oh No!!” Thinking something was wrong with Spencer, I panicked and said, “What? What?” Anne Louise said, as she was crying, “Where is Jesus? Where’s Jesus, Mama?” I told her the sign had fallen (and also threw in a good, “Jesus is everywhere Anne Louise; He’s even in your heart.”). She said, “Jesus falled down, Mama? I pick him up.” With the hope of being motivated to get some of the great egg hunt pictures online, I’m planning to have a separate Easter post. Or maybe I’ll combine it with Spencer’s baptism post, which is next week. Or maybe even combine it with our next Quarterly Report.