Well, it happened. We have two teenagers. We celebrated Lauren’s birthday after Christmas with her “ideal day.” Breakfast a Hymies, a facial (her first), a manicure, lunch at Chipotle, shopping on Walnut Street, dinner from Taqueria Amore, and a chocolate matcha cake from A La Mousse. Perfection!
Becky and Ari came up to celebrate and Ari joined Lauren in all the activities, although not her “thing,” she was a good sport.
Happy Birthday to our happy girl! We love you so much!
We hosted Christmas again this year – for a very manageable crowd of 16. It was lovely and especially as I didn’t have to lift a finger as I continue to recover from the donation surgery. I’m feeling great and healing well, but still supposed to keep lifting or strenuous movement to a minimum. I’m very grateful for Dave and his mom, who did all the heavy lifting (which, if we’re telling the truth, they do every year!).
I’ll blame it on my being so relaxed, but I completely forgot to take any picture of the afternoon with everyone so we’ll just have to imagine everyone sitting around the living room opening presents and our long dining room table stretching into the living.
The day started with a nice and quiet Christmas morning with the girls opening presents and Dave and Kathy joining us for breakfast.
On December 17, 2025, I donated my left kidney! It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for some time and actually started the process last year. It finally happened and I’m so happy I did it. I don’t know who it went to – only that it went to a woman in her 30’s in Massachusetts and that she’s doing well now. Recovery so far has been fine. First week was tough with swelling, pain and general exhaustion, but each day is a little better.
It’s been a pretty cold winter so far. We’ve already had a few snowfalls, one pretty big one and the others just a dusting. Lauren is very happy about this! No skiing or snowboard yet, but everyone is looking forward to it in the coming weeks/months. Here’s a picture of our house after the first big snowfall.
At the beginning of December, Lauren hosted a cookie exchange with a few of her friends. They all brought their favorite cookies and then decorated sugar cookies together. The dogs also enjoyed the get together 😉
Ashwini participated in Girls on the Run for the first time this year and each runner needs a running buddy so Lauren joined her as the buddy. They ran a 5K together at the Navy Yard in South Philly. Both did a great job!
We headed back to Yaeger’s Farm to cut down our tree this year. It was a brisk day and super crowded – I guess we’re not the only ones anymore who like to cut down our own tree. There was pretty universal agreement on the tree this year and it was perfect, if I do say so myself.
This year we went back to Ocean City for Thanksgiving. Diane and Graeme came in from Colorado and shared a house with mom, dad, Becky, Ari, Doug and Vicki. Joan, Dan, Maithili and the kids and Julia got a house a few blocks away. The girls and I went down for just one night and Dave came in just for Thanksgiving dinner. Dick, Suzy, Quinn and Carley came in for the day as well. The weather was blustery, but nice. And of course we his Asbury on Black Friday to kick off the holiday shopping!
It was a lovely and relaxing time with the family.
We did a lot of celebrating at the end of fall. First was Hayley and Tim’s wedding a Aronomick, which brought together most of the family.
And the following day we had Ava Devine’s Bat Mitzvah at the Union League, which was a total blast. While the kids have attended many, Dave and I have only attended a few of these, and every time we have so much fun!
And finally, a few weeks later we celebrated Dylan and Catherine getting married in Rock Hall! It was a lovely wedding at Osprey Point.
And, while not a wedding, it was still a celebration when I headed down to Virginia to celebrate Aleen being recognized by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for being an ambassador. The event was a good fest – my favorite kinds!
Really a fantastic and fun couple of weeks!
This fall, Lauren played volleyball for the first time. Now that she’s in 7th grade, she can try out for the team and made it! She spent a lot of the summer hanging out with her friend Jane, who also plays, and taught her a lot. She really enjoyed it and turns out she has a pretty mean serve. Unfortunately, the 7th grade team didn’t do great this year, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. She and Jane are going to do a winter workshop and hopefully she’ll continue with it.
At the end of September Dave and I competed in the Kinetic Multisport Rock Hall Triathlon again – on Saturday doing the Olympic distance and for the first time on Sunday doing the relay with Lauren! It was an amazing weekend! Dave and I both took FIRST in our age group!! And our relay team took SECOND in the mixed category! For that one, I did the swim, Dave did the bike ride, and Lauren did the run. And girl was a hauling!
So much fun! Looking forward to doing it again in the spring!
We’re off to another year – 10th and 7th!
First day of school pics for both girls. Lauren walks to Bala Cynwyd Middle School and Sophie takes the bus to AIM Academy.
And Lauren’s school pic. Sophia’s has mysteriously not arrived… it’s possible she never had it taken. We may never know.
And a few days after the start of school we celebrated Dave’s birthday! He’s really enjoying 29.
