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brightroom event photography

brightroom event photography

DISNEY WORLD SPRING BREAK!

Plebe Parent Weekend

Ryan and I went to our 4th formal of the year. This event was Plebe Parent Weekend. This is the time the parents and families get to come visit their Plebes (Freshmen) at the Academy. They attend tours of West Point and briefings from professors and Tactical Officers (Ryan). There is a formal dinner and "hop" on Saturday night. They had a great speaker (usually do!). The eye-popper of the evening was the dessert. The cadets chose their menu and they picked this HUGE chocolate cake. 4 thick layers. And it was not sliced thin! A pdf of the nutrition label floated around on email and each slice (yes, slice) was almost 2000 calories and some ungodly number of grams of fat!

On a sad note, we paid respects to Ryan's commander, LTC Jean Hutchison, who recently passed away of an unexpected illness. Ryan and I represented 2nd Regiment in her place in the receiving line at the hop. It was neat to meet all the parents and families and see how proud and excited they were. I imagine this is a fulfilling experience for the leadership to share in the cadet's successes and experiences with their families. It was a shame not to have Jean there.

Valentines

Ryan and I went to Mohegan Sun w/another couple for Valentine's Day. We didn't strike it rich, but had a blast!

Yes, that's a guy on stilts behind us!

The Boy is ONE!!

I guess it's been a while since I've updated the blog! What can I say - too busy living life to write about it!

The Keating Krew is doing very well. Colby is our little fat man. He has a great appetite and is now walking all over the place. He's been on a couple trips to Oklahoma/Texas and is a good traveler. Ryan was gifted a new truck by his wonderful wife for Christmas and drove the family home from that OK visit.

We were visited by Ryan's folks and sister for Thanksgiving and went to see the Macy's TGiving Parade in the City. That was pretty fun to see up close!

We had a fun trip to Lake Texoma for a Morrow family reunion. It was super fun to get all the little cousins together!

We are looking forward to DISNEY WORLD for Spring Break! The kids are beside themselves!

Haley and Jake are both doing gymnastics and basketball. We're trying to figure out what to do with ourselves over the summer. We'd like to travel a bit and visit friends and family while Ryan is super-busy with work.

He is finishing up his last year as a TAC (has a company of cadets to mentor and develop militarily) and will be the Brigade Executive Officer next year (which means he assists the full-bird COL who is the Brigade TAC). We had thought we might be going to ILE (school for Majors) this summer, but they still need him here. So, one more academic year at beautiful West Point, then off to KS or wherever the Army sends us!

Here are a few pics - just what I can quickly post.

Child of God

Colby's baptism was yesterday. He's now 10 weeks old! He still has his own look, but people comment that he looks like Jake. He wore Jake's christening outfit. The Schmuckers stood in for Sandy and David as godparents. Poor Dad was under the weather all day, but toughed out the ceremony. Brother and Sister were excited and Mama was proud.

Jake got a shiner, actually 2 shiners that you see in these pics. The first he got in the bathroom @ Burger King. He came out wailing with a big goose egg on his head! I asked him about what happened as I applied ice to his bump. Through tears and some sucking of air, he told me about his urgent need to go potty and his pants being down around his ankles, then demonstrated the pee-pee dance he was doing when he lost his balance and hit his head on the toilet! I tried not to laugh! A few days later, he was weaving through tables at breakfast at a hotel and cracked his head on the corner of one of them - same spot, big goose egg again, with a little blood this time. Both whacks were in the same spot - his right temple. But now the blood is all draining down his face and it looks like he has a huge black eye. Hope it heals up for our family pics in a few weeks! He's playing Tee Ball, now, and doing pretty well. Haley is playing soccer and is still in gymnastics and piano. We're lining up what activities we're doing for the summer. It'll be new and great for Mom and kids to actually be home for summer fun!

We saw Grandpa Keating in Saratoga Springs last weekend. He was there for a SGM conference, so we shot up there over the weekend and were able to see him Sat. afternoon/evening. We also ran into him at the Battle of Saratoga site on Sunday where he was on a staff ride. S Springs is a great little town with lots of restaurants, shopping and parks. Haley and Jake ran around and played in the natural springs there. The weather was gorgeous!

Feeling Blessed

It is really wonderful to have so many friends and family who have brought us dinner, dropped off baby gifts and offered support and love with our new bundle. Thanks to Aura's mom who came out for crunch time (birth). And I had to get a picture of the kids wrapped in their blankets made by Aunt B. Thanks to all!

Columbia or Bust!

News from the Keating Krew: Aura got accepted to Columbia University! She'll start her Master's in Computing in Education in the fall. It fits in as well as such an undertaking can: classes are online and program can be spread over 5 years. Wish her luck! (And send money, ha ha!)