A sigh of relief...

This will always be one of my favorite pictures... Four generations! My Nanny was admitted to the hospital on Saturday... A year ago, she beat thyroid cancer, and when we were told this weekend that she has something blocking her esophogus, I'll have to admit, I thought the cancer had returned... But today, she had a procedure... and it looks like it's ulcers- that are treatable. Praise the Lord! She is the matriarch of our family and I don't know what we'll ever do without her:) Hang in there Nanny... and if you have time, please say a prayer for her:)

Happy Birthday Sweet Addison!

Two years ago today, we became a family of four...

and we welcomed our baby girl into this world....

The time has flown by and our little princess has brought so much joy to our life

Addie Tay, our lives would not be the same without you... you are our little Punky Brewster, full of spunk

full of life,

and simply full of joy...

and brother's best friend in the world!

We love you Addison Taylor!

Birthday Bash

At the lake, we had a birthday cookout and party for Little Miss Addie Tay at the McCullers house! Thanks everyone for sharing her special day- you all made it so perfect:)

Our princess cake for our princess

Chris had a mini meltdown... and Pop Pop joined in

My sweet Mage

Gotta Love Jack's candy necklace:)

Best friends

More of the crowd

The young crew posing for the slog:)

Gram and the kids:)

The most wonderful place on earth...

After visting in Nova for the week, Ashley and her family followed us down to Smith Mountain Lake for a fun-filled weekend... Thanks soooo much Joanie for letting us all stay at your house and taking care of us:) We spent hours... and I do mean hours on the jet ski, the kids swam in the lake, fished, we beat the boys in Trivial Pursuit, and just had a great weekend... Ashley, I'm waiting on pictures of the kids in the lake:)

We stayed sane...

I'll be the first to admit I was a little worried about spending a full week with Ashley and all four kids... but Lucy and Ethel managed to stay busy the entire week... and I'll have to say- we miss them this week- Even Chris had to talk to Betsey on the phone today!

What all did we do... we visited about ten parks between Leesburg, Brambleton, and Ashburn, visited my grandparents, had lunch at Johnny Rockett's (with my friend Rosie and her two kids... I think we were the waitress's nightmare- a table of 3 adults and 6 kids 4 and under), went swimming at Ida Lee, cheered on our family softball team, visited Lola's- a bakery in Leesburg that has been featured on Rachel Ray- yum yum!, the list goes on...

The gang


Of course I had to get pictures of sweet Elle...

And we finished the week off with a cookout at my parent's house with the Curtis family. I really think little Greyson makes the Yo-Yo's proud... he's starting early:)

Chris's Last Day of School

Chris had his last day of preschool on Wednesday and they celebrated with a Luau. We couldn't have been happier with his preschool- everything about it was great~ and I'm sad to see it ending so early... I got all sentimental when I picked him up from school- they gave me a picture of him taken on his first day of school- and he has grown up soooo much:( Where has the time gone? Here he is on the last day of school...

And here he is from last September... hasn't he grown into a little boy?!

The National Zoo

So, Ash and I decided that we owed it to the kids to have an adventure... so we chose to drive to D.C. and visit the National Zoo... and visit we did. We managed to spend the ENTIRE day looking at animals, picnicing, and playing at the zoo and we had a great time. The kids were so good. It was a great day until we left the zoo and realized we didn't have directions home, and the only road we new was Pennsylvania Avenue. I made the mistake of saying we were going to the President's house and Chris mentioned "Barack Obama" and that's when all hell broke loose. Betsey cries if she hears his name, and Chris kept egging her on. She only wanted to go to John McCain's house. We haven't brainwashed our children or anything. After touring all of D.C., we managed to get Brendan on the phone, and he guided us home- Thanks B!

Rusty's Field Trip

Speaking of boredom... Rusty and Fam drove up from Alabama to spend the week with us. Rusty decided we needed to have an educational day, so we visited New Market, VA for a Civil War Reenactment. After two hours in the car, we saw a glorious 20 minute battle. It was fun while it lasted... we tracked through the mud, our children had bathroom troubles, the cannons freaked Ashley out, and Rusty enjoyed himself. I did learn one thing... the South won

THAT BATTLE.

BE JEALOUS!!!

We went to Big Truck Day in Philomont for a day filled with... big trucks. I was bored out of my mind... but after it was over, we got in the car, and Chris said, "Mommy, that was a nice time." It melted my heart, and it was so worth the boredom:)

Quick Preview...

Bethany Beach

We actually stayed at Bethany Beach on our little getwaway. The house was great thanks to Todd's work and we all had a great time. The kids couldn't get enough of each other. We had this great screened in porch off the main living area, and the kids would run around for hours just playing together. We would all take turns entertaining the kids on the porch... One time I walked outside when it was Todd's turn and he had them all lined up against a wall. I was quite impressed... I was thinking, "Awww, they are playing Mother May I, maybe Simon Says, or something along that line." Nope. Todd had a box of those white snappers- the things you throw and then they make a sound like a gun... Todd had the kids against a wall and they were playing "Dodge the snapper." Only my family:)

We did do some educational touring of the area and visited Lewes, DE, the oldest city. Brendan had fun learning about the history of the area, while I enjoyed the antique shops:)