Happy New Year!

2024 was a big year for a lot of reasons: Boomer's promotion, the completion of my master's degree, an international trip, Emmy starting 2nd Grade, Eli's last year of preschool, and both kids trying new sports. We celebrated the end of 2024 at the Houstons' with the Williamses and the Whites. Emmy and I wore matching outfits, so we were sure to take a picture. I'm thankful that she still likes to match with Mommy. Zack made what has become his traditional NYE meal: low country boil, and we had wings and other snacks and treats. We toasted to the New Year around 8:30PM, and then we headed home to put our sugared-up children to bed. The four Kennedys rang in the New Year in bed with our eyes closed! Happy 2025!

Right after New Years Day, it was back to work. I had Teacher Workdays on Thursday, the 2nd and Friday, the 3rd. Emmy tagged along with me to Forbush on the 2nd. She did a great job helping with tasks like shredding, and she brought along lots of activities to keep her busy. Even though I was working, I enjoyed the time with my girl.  

After the two workdays, it was a nice surprise to be back at the weekend. And what a weekend it has been! On Friday evening, Boomer and I had an unforgettable date night. We headed to Greensboro, and we started off with dinner at 'cille & 'scoe. I got the shrimp and grit cakes, Boomer had the "Slow and Low" (short ribs and au gratin potatoes), and we shared an appetizer of popcorn cauliflower. Everything was delicious, and I also very much enjoyed my Cookie Espresso Martini. After dinner, we had a short (but very cold!) walk to the Tanger Center to see Hamilton. We had purchased our tickets back in July when the show was first announced, and we had been looking forward to it for weeks. While I have seen a couple of shows at the Tanger Center before, it was Boomer's first time, and he was wowed by the impressive venue and the talent of the performers. We love making memories with the kids, but we also love making memories just the two of us.    

After our late evening, we enjoyed a slow Saturday morning. Upward basketball games will start next Saturday, so we had this one last free Saturday until March. After breakfast, Boomer mentioned going to the Wake basketball game, and I thought surely he was joking, since the game started in less than 2 hours! With the noon tipoff so soon, ticket prices dropped, and Boomer snagged four tickets. It was around 10:15AM, and after a quick change into our gold and black, we were in the Joel about an hour later. It was an ACC matchup against NC State, and there were a lot of Wolfpack fans. We cheered loud for our Deacs, and they played very well. After leading the whole game, it was a strong victory 77-59. The game ended around 2PM, and we headed across the street to Putter's, with a crowd of other Wake fans. We snagged a table right away, which seemed like another stroke of good luck. While at Putter's, former Wake player Aaron Roundtree came to the restaurant, and the kids got a picture with him. Instead of kneeling down, he grabbed both of them in his arms, which was quite a sight. It felt like the cherry on top to a spontaneous day. 2025 is off to a great start already!