Growing Up

It seems like every time we turn around one of the girls has grown an inch or learned how to do something new.  They are both getting old far too quickly.  And we have the numbers to prove it.

So let us clear up something first.  Our records are not as consistent as we would like them to be.  For instance, annual check-ups should come right around a child's birthday.  Well, at this point Callie has her annual check-up about five months after her birthday.  For Reese, it is just a couple of months behind.  Now, the good thing is that the girls have been so darn healthy that the only time we get to see Dr. Warner is for the annual check-up.  But it also means that we now have a tough time figuring out how much growing they have done in a full year.

So Callie's six-year numbers that include the four months after her sixth birthday, are as follows.  She was 47 inches and in the 75th percentile.  And her weight of a whopping 42.5 lbs put her in the 25th percentile.  Reese's three year plus two month numbers are 37 1/4 inches tall, in the 55th percentile.  Her weight of 26.5 lbs placed her in the 10th percentile.  Believe it or not, this was actually a percentile increase for her in weight over her two year check-up.  And as Dr. Warner says, both Callie and Reese are growing like Bowes girls grow.

Taking the girls together for their annual check-ups was efficient as well as helpful since Callie stepped into her big sister mode and really supported Reese throughout the process.  When the appointment was over each girl received a Chick-Fil-A certificate of bravery which didn't sit unused for long. To honor their good behavior they cashed in those certificates for a meal at Chick-Fil-A that night.

Reese especially loves the idea that she is constantly growing.  We try to push down on her head, but she just pops right back up and proclaims "I'm getting taller!"  Based on their numbers we thought it would be fun to take a picture of all four us standing one behind the other because from Reese to Callie to Sarah to John there is now about a one foot difference at each step.  It would have made a great picture but Reese refused to cooperate.  So this is what you get.

Callie also enjoys the idea that she is getting taller and older. And she really enjoys the idea of almost as being as tall as her mom. We shall see how things play out over the next couple of years, but as of February 2014 she only had about 15 inches to go. The race is on!

But for all the physical growth, there is also some mental and emotional growth that still needs to happen.  We present you with Exhibit A for Callie Alexis Bowes.  She received a "reteach" from Mrs. Bradley one day because she had shut her friend Garrett into his locker at school.  Yes, our sweet Callie closed the locker door on poor Garrett, who is a very sweet kid with a huge smile.  The truth of the event only came to light through some persistent questioning from John over the course of a car ride.  Callie was not ready at first to admit that she knew Garrett was in the locker when she closed it on him.  However, she finally came clean.  Later, when Sarah reexamined her, she fessed up quicker.  Sarah reinforced the importance of telling the truth and told Callie she was glad that Callie had been honest with her.  Callie said, "Yeah, when I talked to Dad about it we had to talk for a long, long time."  Then Sarah made her write an apology to Garrett and fortunately for all of us she had the right idea of taking a picture of the assembled evidence for future purposes like this.  The best part of this story is the following weekend when we ran into Garrett and his mom at the playground where Sarah had to apologize on behalf of the Bowes family for Callie's actions.  Thankfully, neither Garrett nor his mom were upset about it, and we quickly were able to laugh about the whole thing.  So Callie learned that telling the truth is important.  And we learned that Callie might be able to hold her own against the boys.

Surviving the Cold 2014

Now, we know we have family in Connecticut, Colorado, Massachusetts, and Alaska who might laugh at Kentucky's idea of cold. And yes, it is true that of our 13 total snow days over the winter, probably two of them would have qualified as snow days elsewhere.  But seriously, it was a very cold and long winter here!  Trust us.  Fortunately, we were able to keep ourselves occupied.

The University of Kentucky gymnastics team always gives us a reason to look forward to January. Every year since we have been in Lexington we have gone to a couple of meets, but the first home meet is Excite Night, and that is something you don't want to miss.  We in fact have started a tradition of grabbing dinner with the Abrahams and then spending the evening critiquing the new squad.  We are happy to report that the team looked impressive even though the budget for Excite Night festivities appeared to have been slashed.

After two years of tagging along with her sister to dance class, Reese would no longer be denied her own spot on the dance floor.  In fact, her strong personality persevered and she managed to undermine her parent's wonderful plan for only one night of dance class.  Instead of submitting to this master plan where she would have class and then Callie would have class on the same night, Reese had her own idea of what needed to happen.

And what needed to happen, as far as Reese was concerned, is that she needed to have Miss Lauren, the same teacher who has so gently guided Callie to dance success over the past two and a half years. All other teachers were sub-par to Miss Lauren, and therefore we schlepped our way to the dance studio twice a week. However, Callie took advantage of this situation and wiggled her way into becoming Miss Lauren's assistant teacher in Reese's class. Fortunately, Reese didn't mind sharing.

As we said, there were lots of snow days this winter.  And as it so happened, every single one happened to fall on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, which meant they were days of the week John was on duty.  A Tuesday/Thursday teaching schedule sounded so nice at first.  But he and the girls did have some fun outside, at least during those precious moments they were able to shake off their California heritage and embrace the snow like a good New Englander should.

Although their endeavors into the great outdoors did not always last long on those cold, snowy days, Callie and Reese managed to make the most of their time outside.  Snow angels were a must, of course, and Callie made sure Reese knew exactly how to do it right.  And at times they even found the time to help their dad shovel the driveway a little bit.

There was enough snow at times that we were able to make a small (very small) sledding hill in our backyard.  The girls had a great time on the slope, a ride that lasted all of 2 seconds tops.  This trip also involved very little effort on their part even as it served as a great workout for John.  He had to shovel the snow from the driveway, make it into the pile, lift the girls onto the sled at the top of the mound, and then push them down.  However, it did the trick and got them thirsty for bigger hills.

Fortunately for us, a bigger hill is right around the corner.  A very popular sledding spot is the hill at the Shriner's hospital, and we joined quite a few other folks for an afternoon of fun.  Callie loved every minute of it and wanted to go as fast as possible on the little saucer sleds we have.  However, she had no interest in going by herself, which made it a tight fit on the sleds.

Reese, on the other hand, was surprisingly more apprehensive about the whole experience.  And as you can see from her nose in this picture, she was also a tad cold, which did not help out her mood.  She went for a couple of rides and then was ready to be done.  Still, we were happy to know that the girls both got in some good sledding before the winter was done.

All good snow days need to be capped with a cup of hot chocolate, of course.  This was probably their favorite part of the whole experience, especially since we added an abundance of mini-marshmallows to their drinks.  It made the cold winter day that much better.

Unfortunately the winter brought many weekends where Sarah had to work.  This meant John often had the girls to himself on Saturday or Sunday mornings.  We knew that this routine might be becoming an issue when John introduced the girls to sprinkle-covered heart doughnuts from Dunkin Donuts.  This type of behavior was something that the girls could expect from their mom, but when dad got in on the act something seemed a bit out of whack.

Another unexpected surprise for February was a visit from Andy Downing, SJ, one of John's college roommates.  Andy made the trek down from Chicago for a brief visit before he headed off to Italy where he is going to be teaching at the Gregorian University in Rome.  It was great to catch up with him and the girls, Reese in particular, loved having him around.  Andy has quite a few nieces and nephews, so he had no problem handling the craziness, including a night of mini-golf.

We will never know, but his coping mechanism could have been the knowledge that once the girls were in bed John would be pouring out some Woodford Reserve to ease the burdens of the day.  Hopefully we will one day be able to visit Andy in Italy, where he can take us around and show us all the sights.  And if all has gone well, by that point he should be fluent in Italian and can teach the girls how to count to ten in yet another language.

As you can imagine, bookstores are always a great place to hang out on cold days.  Lucky for us, Morris Book Shop is just a mile away, and it has some very cool places to sit and read.  Here Reese is sitting in one of the stacked cubes they have outfitted with pillows for all of your reading needs.  The only thing we wish for is an adult-sized version of these cubes.

Although this picture may not seem to show it, we did manage to stay sane over the course of the long cold winter we had this year. And when all was said and done, it was probably because we had these two goofballs to entertain us. They are truly funnier than we will ever let them know, and we are very lucky to be their parents.

Reese Evaluation

Reese, of course, is our next little bundle of joy in need of evaluation.  And there is quite a bit of joy in that little bundle.  There is a lot of other stuff in there too, but joy expresses itself most often, thankfully.

Reese is definitely growing.  Although she is a little more petite than her sister was at this age, there is no denying that she is no longer a toddler.  In fact, most of the time, Reese thinks that she is Callie's age and can do anything her sister can.  And often, not only is she right, but she sometimes is willing to try things her sister won't.

This evaluation could best be summed up by the phrase, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Looking at her evaluation from last year, here are the things that have not changed.  She is still incredibly expressive and shows dangerous signs of future class clowndom.  She remains a nightmare at bedtime.  She loves to dance, and started her first dance class in January.  She eats a lot and constantly says that she is hungry.  And she continues to live life at full speed.  If you see her smile at you from across the room, you better get ready because she is going to run at you and jump on you.

That being said, there are some wonderful new facets to her life.  She pushes and pushes and pushes, and then when she knows you are at the breaking point she looks you square in the eye and says one of two things:  "I love you" or "I want to give you a hug."  She is dangerous and we only hope she will use her powers for good.

This has also been a big year of learning.  She can count to ten in three languages because that is one of the things we do when we brush teeth.  In fact she also knows many of the presidents since that is one of the alternate tooth brushing methods.  Reese can snap her fingers, loves the song Call Me Maybe, and can belt out Adele like nobody's business.  She has also learned numerous nursery rhymes and can "read" a book of them to you without hesitation.  Reese also loves her big sister.  Fashion continues to be something she desires full control over.  We had to do wash weekly to ensure the blue button dress could get maximum use.  John also had a hard time persuading her that tights should not be worn in 90 degree weather.

It is remarkable how strong her personality is in a very good way.  She has the ability to connect with just about anyone.  If they are at our house, and she sees that they are our friends or family, then that is all she needs to sit in someone's lap or give him/her a hug.  Loveable is a great word to describe her.  Sassy is too, but we will keep that on the down low for the next couple of years.

Callie Evaluation

Okay, so before we get started, we need to address the elephant in the room.  Or the frog, as the case may be.  It has been a long time since we posted.  Indeed, here we are approaching the end of July and we have yet to post about anything that has happened in 2014.  The good news is that there is a very good chance you will get a slew of posts over the next couple of weeks.  That means 7 months of exciting (to us) Bowes adventures in a very short period of time.  

As happens every year, however, we also need to evaluate the growth, behavior, and performance of our little bundles of joy.  We start with the biggest little bundle, pictured below.

Funny thing about the growth part.  Long story short, we won't have a real growth report until a later post because of delayed doctor's appointments.  We can report, as anyone who has seen her can attest, that she is tall and she is slenderly built, very similar to her father.

2013 was a big year for Callie as she learned a ton and officially entered kindergarten.  That meant, among other things, learning how to read, add, subtract, and a host of other great things.  Her teacher, Mrs. Bradley, was wonderful and we could not have asked for a better person to welcome Callie into her academic life.  She supported a great balance of learning and being a kid.  And it was clear in our meetings with her that she really knew Callie as we know Callie.  Mrs. Bradley told us how sweet she is and how quick she is at learning things.  But she also described Callie as "busy," in that our little girl loved to check in on what other kids were doing whenever she had a chance.  She still got her work done, but always managed to make things a bit more interesting for herself.

Callie's overall demeanor continues to blossom.  Her compassion shows up in a variety of ways, from crying over a sad cartoon to talking about how she is always nice to a girl in her class who was struggling in kindergarten.  But she is also quirky in a number of ways as well.  The picture above shows off some of her fashion sense and she enjoys opening conversations with, "Can I tell you something?"  She loves to be goofy, loves to dance, and loves being a big sister.  Her cartwheels are getting better and she is getting braver every day on the playground.

One specific story that is worth telling provides good insight into the type of person Callie is.  It is also worth telling because it makes John proud and Sarah mad.  Sarah had the two girls in the car and went through a drive through to get a Diet Coke.  Callie piped up from the back and asked, "Why are you getting a Diet Coke?  Don't we have some at home?"  Sarah quickly replied, "Yes, but I want a fountain soda with ice and a straw."  Callie responded, "We have ice and straws at home, Mom."  And to top it all off, as they approached the window, Callie reminded Sarah that she would need to turn down the radio in order to hear the person in the window.  At this point Sarah could not talk.  Somewhere else in Lexington, however, John knew that all was all right with the world.

All in all, it is safe to say that Callie is truly growing up.  And with each new achievement and development we love her more and more.

Happy 2014

We were fortunate in that we were able to bring the new year in with family this year and didn't have to fly out until later in the afternoon on January 1.  So the whole Bowes, Balestracci, and Hannen clans gathered at the Balestracci household for one final celebration to end 2013 with a bang.

Callie and Reese were very excited to take part in all of the festivities.  They put the new year accessories to work right away and prepared for the evening's activities with their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

It was such a festive occasion that we even convinced Mike to put on his party hat and hang out with us for a little while before he headed out the tackle the Guilford high school New Year's Eve scene.  We were happy to make the cut and believe that Mike thoroughly enjoyed his time with us.  But he did make sure to leave his hat at the house before he left.  Understandable.

The party spirit gripped everyone in the house, and flashbulbs popped as we prepared for great appetizers made by Suzy and scarfed down by everyone.  Katie worked hard to put together a great main course while Chris ensured that everyone had the fine wine they needed to complement it all.  It was a wonderful feast, and this restaurant didn't even have a minimum gratuity despite the size of our party.

We even made time for some post dinner entertainment.  John, Mike, Brian, Callie, and Brendan all played the new game the Balestracci boys received from Suzy, Brian, and Zoey for Christmas.  The name of the game eludes us at the moment, but there were villages, smithies, and other assorted action cards that made for a good time.  John was particularly fortunate that Brian not only explains the rules of these games well but also does not take advantage of the naiveté of his competitors.

This picture highlights the age of all three of the girls.  The youngest, Zoey, looks at the dessert longingly and with some hint of sadness is not sure if they are just for decoration or if she will actually get a taste.  Then you have Reese, who is a little older, and has the experience to know that if she smiles for the picture she is sure to get the goodies on display in front of her.  But you can tell from her forced smile that she is not completely secure in that conclusion.  Callie, on the other hand, exudes the cool confidence of a child who knows that on a night like this, the kids will not only get the dessert, but will probably get more than usual because the parents are caught up in the excitement of the evening.

Since Suzy and Katie took on the nutritional part of the menu, it was only fitting that Sarah provided ample amounts of sugar and a high degree of messiness.  With that being said, it was a sure thing when it came to family fun.  We first painted the cones with melted chocolate and put them outside to harden.  Then we got to sit around the table and decorate the cones with an array of fine candied goods.  And last but certainly not least, we put ice cream in those cones and ate them up.

It was fun to have activities like this that engaged all age groups and kept us all together having fun for hours on end.  Reese, as usual, needed a little extra adult attention since she has a habit of using the array of candied goods for personal use more than communal decoration.  In short, Reese is no dummy, and her cute smile is a good cover for the scheming mind behind it.

This year we added a great new tradition that we hope will stick.  We created time capsule informational sheets that included a variety of questions.  For example, one question asked for your favorite movie and another asked your height.  We spent some time answering these questions and the goal will be that next year, when we go to make new ones, we will get to look at the previous year's answers to see what has changed.  It should be fun, as long as we can remember where we put the sheets.  We are sure they are in a safe place.


All in all, we had a lot of great memories to reflect back on as a family as we brought an end to 2013.  We are very lucky to have each other.

And of course, we are lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family that surround us from near and far.  We can only hope that 2014 brings even more good times.

Nana Banana turns 70!

The next big event on the schedule was a birthday party for Nana Banana, who had turned 70 earlier in December.  Now was our chance to celebrate in style with her extended family gathered around her.

Such events would not count unless the Skonieczny's were involved in some manner.  It is highly possible that there is an official Skonieczny quota for Bowes events to count as official.  On the left we have two of the Skonieczny representatives in the persons of Melanie Loeber and her son Jack.  Jack may very well be one of the sweetest and well behaved gentle soul we have ever met.  We were scared what Reese might be able to teach him in such a short period of time.   We don't think she did any permanent damage fortunately.

As mentioned in an earlier post, Santa brought Callie exactly what she wanted, a rainbow loom.  And as a special treat, we let Callie bring her rainbow loom to CT.  She proceeded to take orders from all of her relatives so that she could make bracelets in each person's favorite colors.  Here she shows her Great Aunt Terry how she puts it all together.  It was so much fun to watch Callie give gifts to all the people who have been so incredibly generous to her over the years.

Another special treat that evening was Jay making his famous Cherry's Jubilee.  Of course, that is not the only reason he is getting such a big hug from Brendan.  However, Brendan wanted to be by his grandfather's side so that he could observe and learn about the dessert that specifically requires you to light things on fire.  Seriously though, this is such a sweet picture, and it really was wonderful to see the two of them working together to get the dessert ready.

All good parties have more than one dessert, and here we see the guest of honor blowing out the candles on her birthday cake with the assistance of Callie and Reese.  The girls are more than happy to be involved in anything that might lead to getting dessert.  And Nana Banana ensured they were first in line to get a taste.

Because of the scheduled events we got to spend an entire day with Tommy and Terry, which is a gift in and of itself.  They both work too hard, and we don't get to see them as often as we would like.  Hopefully one day we will be successful in getting them to come to Kentucky for a little horse racing or some college basketball.  We happen to be pretty good at both of those things down here.  Just saying.

The great times continued long into the evening, and another highlight was watching Callie and Reese spend time with the Skonieczny kids.  Here is Ella, Mike and Kristen's oldest, reading to the girls and Jack.  We would be quite happy if the girls simply followed in Ella's path.  She is a wonderful girl and has a joy for life that is fun to see.

One other event that is a must do each year is the sibling dinner.  This time we managed to fit it in the night after the birthday party and headed out to Branford all packed into one vehicle.  It is safe to say that John could not have asked for better brothers-in-law.  Chris and Brian are both easy going, fun to spend time with, and genuine to the core.

It's great that all of us get along so well and want to make the effort to be with each other.  And it always helps that Nana Banana, Sport, and the older cousins are willing to take on the little ones for the night so that we can all go out.  And in case you missed the theme of the CT posts so far, we will say that the good times were not over by far.  There was still a big night to come!

Christmas on the East Coast

Once Christmas was wrapped up in Kentucky, we woke up the next morning before the sun rose and jumped on a plane to kept the party going in Connecticut.  Within hours we were at Nana Banana and Sport's house with all of the cousins enjoying a second Christmas dinner.

And of course, it was not just a second round of good food.  It was a second round of presents.  So as you can imagine, the girls had no problem adjusting to the travel fatigue since it meant more packages to open.

Aunt Suzy and Aunt Katie seem to always spoil Callie and Reese at Christmastime, and we have no problem with that.  Especially when Aunt Suzy showcases her sewing talents by making the girls their own superhero capes with initials and everything.  We'll be honest, we were a little sad that there wasn't a package with adult-sized capes with a J and an S.  Maybe next year.

Suzy wasn't the only one to showcase her talent.  Nana Banana presented Reese with her edition of the Christmas family heirloom.  If you can't tell what it is from the picture, it is a felt ornament of Reese in her mouse costume from Halloween 2012.  Nana Banana made one for Callie several years ago, and of course there are the original three of Katie, Suzy, and John that annually vie for top of the tree at the Bowes household.  We hope the girls keep up the tradition as well.  As you can see here, Reese made sure to inspect the ornament closely to ensure it had the quality to last for years to come.

 Everyone says that you should spend your holidays with friends and family.  We certainly believe that both groups of people are critically important.  So even as we made time for family we made sure to spend time with great friends as well.  In fact, truth be told, in the seven nights we were in CT we went out for three adult only dinners.  We were impressed with how much time we generously gave our family alone with our girls.  In any case, pictured here are John and his childhood friend Jason, who we see far too infrequently.  It was great to catch up with Jason and his wife Michelle.  However, as we always say, it is never enough time.

Meanwhile, as John and Jason were sampling some good bourbon, the girls had a fun night at Nana Banana and Sport's house with Aunt Suzy, Uncle Brian, and Zoey.  It is very sweet how much they enjoy hanging out with Zoey.  It's funny, they take a lot of pride in being the older cousins.  Of course, as the years go by these three girls are going to have loads of fun together.  We can't wait!

Some of the best times, though, are when everyone is just hanging out at the house.  Suzy and Brian made sure to come over bright and early many mornings and we made sure to stay in our pajamas extra late.  Katie and Chris were wonderful hosts as they did everything they could to make us feel right at home.  And we had no problem helping ourselves to everything and anything in the house.

Fortunately the weather cooperated to the extent that we were able to make some trips to the beach to get some fresh ocean air and a little exercise on the playground.  We do have to remind our children that it is not normal for a kid to see both the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean on a yearly basis.  And even more unusual is the fact that we have often found swing sets right on the beaches we visit on both coasts.


It was definitely a little windy down at the Surf Club, but it was sunny and we had a lot of fun.

It never gets old taking the girls to places that were such big parts of our childhood.  John is just thankful that the Surf Club has long since replaced the playground that he and his co-workers installed back in the summers of 1993 and 1994.  That was not exactly "safe" or "inspected by experts".

The next order of business in the Christmas schedule of events was the always highly anticipated family meal with Uncle Tommy and Aunt Terry.  It is amazing to think how big the table has gotten over the years we have been doing this.  In fact, if memory serves correctly, these holiday gatherings began before the thirteen-year-old boy to the left was even born.  Therefore, the table seating has gone from nine to fifteen.  It's gotten a bit louder and even more fun.

And then there is the kid to the right, who is now sixteen and looking at colleges.  And while he still looks like he could pass for sixteen, we are not talking about Chris.  Instead we are talking about Mike, who remains an incredible cousin to the three young girls who demand his attention whenever he walks in the room.  It's pretty impressive to watch him be so cool yet so engaged and playful with his cousins.  We are very fortunate.

Since our family has grown so much, holidays have gotten a bit trickier.  Not only do we alternate west and east coast holidays, but when we come east we alternate the family we stay with during the visit.  So while at Christmas we get a ton of time with the Balestracci clan, we don't get as much casual time over at Green Hill Road with Nana Banana and Sport.  So we try and pack as much in as possible in the moments we do have together.  And at the family meal we also get to play musical chairs to move around and chat with as many people as possible.

Sarah loves to take pictures and every once and a while gets a great shot.  We think you all would agree that this shot of Suzy and Zoey is pretty darn good. Many times Zoey is so overwhelmed and potentially in a state of shock when the whole family is together that her beautiful smile is held in reserve.  No problem here, that's for sure.  She is a very cute little girl.

And then we have Sport with his three granddaughters.  It would be difficult to find a happier person than him in that moment in time.  These are the grandkids that live farther away, so to have all three of them on his lap at once is special to say the least.  And you can see from their faces that the feeling is mutual.  We especially enjoy Zoey's casual look and demeanor.  When people say, act like you have been there before, this is exactly what they mean.


And we cap it all off with a momentous picture.  It is momentous not because we have the whole family in it or that it happened.  It is momentous because the person taking the picture had the good sense to stand back and not make people crouch.  Nor do we have anyone standing closer to the camera than anyone else and looking disproportionately large.  You think we are joking.  Take a few moments and look back at the posts from previous Christmas meals with Tommy and Terry.  Christmas 2011 is particularly special with what we like to call Giant Tommy.

Believe it or not, this was only the first three days of the trip.  We still had a couple of big events to go.