What a fabulous year 2010 was to our family! In brief, here's the recap on our 2010:
JANUARY - Elizabeth cheered for the West Liberty Hilltoppers! Her favorite players were Tori Hansen, Laura Malernee...and John Wolosinczuk! She loves watching John play so much that when he wasn't on the floor, she would often turn her back on the court in protest. (I mean seriously, with nothing but 20+ win seasons every year, what in the heck does Coach Crutchfield know about coaching hoops -- more Wolosinczuk!) Yes, she can say his name, too -- much to the delight of everyone and the demise of TV sports reporters! (wol-oh-SIN-chuck)
Elizabeth celebrated her 4th birthday (actual birthday) with a modest at-home event with Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma. We enjoyed dinner at Fusion with cake and presents at home where Elizabeth got her first Barbie from Aunt Anne (the start of another obsession I'm afraid!)
Three days later, Elizabeth had her tonsils and adenoids removed and tubes put in her ears. Her ENT told us that her poor little ears were more infected than he thought they were and that her adenoids completely blocked her nasal passage -- making it all the more amazing that she didn't complain (EVER!) about her ears hurting and that she has always been such a good eater! In addition to the obvious reasons for which we were thankful following her surgery, I am additionally thankful that she doesn't take after me with allergic reactions to pain medication...but also frightened that hydrocodone causes her to strip naked and dance late at night. (At least her last dose of the good stuff caused her to do that, at which point we made the executive decision to stop giving it to her!)
We rounded out the month with her Sesame Street 4th Birthday Party! We were so thrilled to have Grandma, Nana & Papa, Rikki & (a guilt-ridden) Doug, and the Koeglers - Jason, Sarah, Campbell & Will as guests. (Papi wasn't able to make it due to weather. Doug was guilted by Elizabeth into taking whatever measures were necessary to ensure coming as she gently pointed out to him that he had never been to her birthday party and that she wanted him to come and bring her Aqua Sand. He complied, but perhaps in future years, I need to train her to ask for more expensive presents like a car or a college education...)
FEBRUARY - We continued to cheer on the Hilltoppers (the men's team was undefeated in January & February!). E's man, John Wolosinczuk, was featured on the Dorm Room website on Valentine's Day no less! Elizabeth was the darling of so many admirers at the West Liberty games in her uniform (custom made by Nana!) She got so many compliments on her game-day attire!
We got pummeled with snow (I didn't consider that part of our good fortune, but Elizabeth did when we went to Oglebay to sled ride and play in the white crap!)
MARCH - We were so excited to have the Martin family (Jason, P.J., John Patrick, and Jackson) move from Florida to Wheeling!!!
The Hilltoppers capped off great seasons. Hansen was a DII All-American, Malernee DII's two-time 3-point leader, the men were the 2009-2010 WVIAC Conference Champs! Despite her love and adoration of John Wolosinczuk, Elizabeth still refused to talk with him and she cowered behind either Reid or me when he came over to say hi or give her a high 5. She has more of a long-distance love affair with John...
March was basketball heaven for the Amoses and our fellow Mountaineer fans! The WVU men's basketball team, behind the leadership of Da'Sean Butler, won the Big East Championship endearing the team to many more fans in the metro-NY area (as so many of the team members were from that area) earning them a new nickname in NYC, the Metro'neers...much to the delight of Anne, Sean, & Alex (who, at 2-1/2 does a mean John Flowers impersonation and when asked who his coach is will reply, "Coach Huggins.") We went C-R-A-Z-Y here in the Amos household when the #2 seed West Virginia Mountaineers upset the #1 seeded Kentucky to reach the Final Four!!!
APRIL - Reid & I made the trip to Indianapolis to watch the Mountaineers in the Final Four (while Elizabeth celebrated Easter with the Mortons). We
were obviously disappointed that the Mountaineers didn't win the national title, but what a fabulous trip we had in spite of the team's loss! While enjoying a couple of beers at a pub before taking in the Indiana Pacers' game (thanks to former WJU men's basketball and current Pacers' assistant coach Jay DeFruscio for the free tickets, I took in my first NBA game!) we met Butler's assistant SID, Josh Rattray. He's a fabulous guy -- and gave us a tour of historic Hinkle Field House the afternoon before Bulter played in the championship game, which they ultimately lost to Duke (blech! I hate Duke after that weekend more than I thought possible!) On our trip back home, we stopped by Historic Hoosier Gym (where the home games for the movie Hoosiers was filmed) and got to shoot some hoops and hang out in the locker room before stopping at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
After having four previous miscarriages, we are cautiously optimistic when I get pregnant again. I teased Reid by telling him that we would be obligated to name this "Final Four baby" Bobby John Da'Sean Amos if it was a boy -- in honor of the Mountaineers...
MAY - Hans graduated from WJU with a degree in nursing! We're so proud of you, Hans!!! We're bummed that he would be moving back to Philadelphia, but can't say that we will miss his Communist soccer games ;-) Congratulations to Hans, too, for being named 1st Team All-WVIAC and 2nd Team NSCAA All-Atlantic Region!!!
We rounded out the end of May with a surprise 80th birthday party for "Grandma" Helen Wine and Alex's 4th birthday!!!
Reid got the opportunity to broadcast the MCLA Championship (lacrosse) in Denver, despite never having watched a live lacrosse game. He was fabulous!!! No surprise there as he is such a talented broadcaster! (Anne noted that Reid was the Keith Jackson of lacrosse -- "Woah Nelly!")
JUNE - My pregnancy progressed well, but we were still nervous...
Elizabeth got to watch her Daddy play golf (at least a few holes) for the first time. Mind you, I told her she HAD to be quiet...that she HAD to whisper...when Reid & Jason are approaching the area 
where we are sitting with Sarah, Campbell, and Will, and Elizabeth belted out a big "Hi Daaaaady!" before I knew it! Fortunately, he and Jason were amused by her...and they made the cut in the tournament...
Elizabeth got her very own set of golf clubs -- complete with the panda bear head cover...
Elizabeth was really taking off in the 
water with the help of her swim vest. She didn't at all complain with having wear the ear plugs, which we had our concerns about that being a battle before the start of summer...
JULY - We celebrated July 4th with the Cunninghams...getting to be with Alex for his first fireworks display (in the big town of Gassaway) was a lot of fun!
Elizabeth got to spend a week in Sutton with Grandma & Papi -- and Aunt Anne, Sean, & Alex! Swimming every day was the highlight of her time in Sutton! (In order to sound like Elizabeth, you have to make your voice rather nasal-ly and say "Aunt Anne" rather quickly, loudly, and very, very frequently! I don't recall her saying just Anne, it's always "Aunt Anne! Aunt Anne!")
Elizabeth began swimming independently (no vest!) E and I were at the pool at Oglebay and she said that she wanted to take off the vest to which I said sure. She jumped in and swam right over to me without hesitation. She never looked back at wanting that vest. A couple of days later when Reid was able to join us at Oglebay we surprised him when she jumped in and swam to me without her vest! She is truly remarkable!
Reid and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary! :-)
Late in the month I discovered that removing the wallpaper in the dining room wasn't going to be the complete headache that I was anticipating it to be...the exorcism began!
Reid began tearing up the bricks on the side of the back side "lot" at our house to make way for a small spot where we can get some grass growing to eventually put in a playground for Elizabeth.
AUGUST - My pregnancy was going well and we were able to 
breathe a bit easier with that!
We took 
Elizabeth to Idlewild for a day of fun. (I went along basically to serve as Reid & Elizabeth's personal photographer as being pregnant you aren't allowed on any of the rides.) Idlewild was great fun, but I cannot recommend it to anyone who is in the family way...
Elizabeth went off the diving board by herself! She was amazing!!!
We took Nana with us as we made our annual Amos family visit to "the Big City" of Washington, D.C. to spend some quality time with Rikki & Doug. Each year we take in the National Zoo -- the giant pandas remained Elizabeth's favorite. This year's trip was made even more special (Reid 
would say by his continuing bro-mance with Doug) with the celebration of Rikki & Doug's impending nuptials with a bridal shower in honor of Rikki! My favorite moment from the shower was when Rikki, with the help of Elisa, started opening the picture quilt that Carol made for her...and everyone that was there just got up and started gathering around the quilt. Everyone was holding a part of it and pointing out pictures -- truly sweet! Some other brief highlights of our trip: Carol learned from her future son-in-law that the public begins on the other side of the front door of their house...and we learned that Doug especially loves the adult mac & cheese...
SEPTEMBER - Reid interviewed the legendary Jerry West at the Greenbrier while at the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting and Business Summit! Awesomeness!!!
We took Elizabeth to her first Mountaineer football game...I thought I could pass out from heat exhaustion! Seriously...I don't think I've even been that hot before -- the extra weight from the pregnancy didn't help matters! WVU beat "the bad guys" (from) Maryland 31-17!
We traveled to The Homestead for the wedding of Rikki Amos and Doug Eckstein on September 25th! On the drive over the mountains on Thursday evening, I don't believe I've ever seen the moon look so large...unfortunately a camera wasn't handy for me to snap a picture of it! I wasn't on my camera A-game on Thursday at all, as I forgot to put the SD card in before we headed over to Sam Snead's Tavern...I wouldn't make that mistake again! Over the next three days, I took more pictures than could be counted. Elizabeth became instant friends with Lexi and Stella! After the rehearsal we all enjoyed getting to hang out at the Presidents Lounge (the boys enjoyed hanging out a wee bit more on the front porch...and raided the kitchen...and eventually retired at 4AM!), the wedding was simply beautiful and touching, we danced for hours at the reception...and before heading home, Elizabeth went bowling for the first time -- and even bowled a strike under the tutelage of Doug!
OCTOBER - We completed the dining room make-over (aka exorcism!) We love the room now (as opposed to cringing with the hideous 80's flowered wallpaper and border)!
We had a great time at my 20-year high school reunion! (20 years?!? Man, I'm old!) Everyone continues to Blame Palmer...some things, I guess, will never change!
We thoroughly enjoyed the time we had with the Perrys (Kristin, William, & Greer) as they were able to make the time to come to West Virginia during their trip to the US from Berlin! My friendship with Kristin is so incredible -- that we can have a great time doing nothing exciting (well at least "going Krogering" isn't exciting for me, but Kristin is excited to shop when she's in America as we have so much crap on our store shelves!) Reid took William out to golf with some of his buddies, who were all charmed by his Scottish wit! Elizabeth and Greer became great friends, too! It was especially fun to get to share my last big ultrasound with Kristin, who is preggers too (with
an Alpha Gam legacy!)Elizabeth dressed as Jessie from Toy Story 3 for Halloween! Nana, of course, was once again to thank for her over-the-top costume!
NOVEMBER - We were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby Cate...who gave us a "scare" that she would come sooner than expected. We quickly learned the efforts that people (not just family members) would go through to help us welcome our baby!
Reid and Elizabeth went to the Wheeling Christmas parade and got prime seating thanks to Bill & Debby Koegler!
We feasted at Thanksgiving (seriously feasted!) and were delighted to host Grandma (who had come to stay with us until some time after the arrival of Baby Cate), Nana, Papa, Rikki & Doug. We feasted (did I say seriously feasted?) on turkey (highly recommend brining the bird!), mashed potatoes, stuffing, oyster casserole, corn pudding, green beans, rolls, pumpkin pie, peanut blossom cookies, and Pilgrim hat cookies.
DECEMBER - Victoria Catherine Amos arrived at 11:00 AM
kicking off the month and rounding out a quite perfect year! After all of the issues I had experienced the previous two years, we have felt additionally blessed with the addition of Cate! She brings us such joy!!!Although we were most saddened with the news of the fire that destructed the Koegler's home, we were happy that no one was home at the time of the incident, no one was harmed...and happy to be a part of the group of friends that helped set them up in their temporary residence (before the real temporary residence) shortly before Christmas. Wheeling is a wonderfully friendly place to live and this effort was a testament to the people we have had the good fortune of meeting in our brief time here!
We celebrated the end of the year at Christmas getting to introduce Cate to her family and rang in the new year with just the four of us -- watching the ball in NYC's Times Square drop with Dick Clark doing the countdown.
2010 was a truly awesomely great year!
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