Mommyhood

Getting away for a few days was great, but I missed my boogers soooo much! We're back in the swing of things around here and are out and about... On Tuesday, we went to the free movies at Brambleton... gotta luv free activities:) Sarah and the boys, and Rosie and D.J. (our neighborhood friends and Addie's future hubby) met up with us to take in Kung-Fu Panda... which to my surprise we made it through the whole movie!

Good girl Add, train him right:)

Awww...

Oops- who let their kids sit in the aisle and spill their popcorn... Not us, right? Don't worry, we cleaned it up:)

After the movies, we had a playdate at the park with these peeps and met up with my college roomie, Katie, and her two kids... I swear I'm not making these playdates with Katie up... the camera is coming out next time:) The kids took a beautiful nap and then we joined up with some neighbors at the pool... The night before, the kids were watching a little bit of the Bachelorette with me- Yes, they were up way too late, but when you're the local pool rats and shut the pool down, by the time we get showers, it's late:) It was so funny because Addie was soooo upset when she saw Kiptyn ride away- he didn't have his seatbelt on- She kept saying, "Oh no Mommy, no seatbelt." That girl is too funny- we have to have our seatbelts on- and the doors have to be locked when we are driving, if not, she lets us know! And for the record, Reid totally should have been the one~ what was Jillian thinking? I can't wait for the next season of the Bachelor- word on the street is that I know one of the bachelorettes... and Eric's prediction is that she'll win:)

Today, we went to the good ol' Loudoun County Fair. We had a full day of seeing animals, a motorcycle show, a magic show, and riding extremely expensive and probably unsafe fair rides... entertainment at it's finest. The kids had a blast, but I'll have to say it wasn't my favorite outing... It was rainy, my hair frizzed, and when we got home, B said we smelled like animals- YUCK! The kids got to hang out with their besties, Jason and Katelyn from down the street, so they loved it!

'

Chris won a blown up army gun at the fair... and all day, Addie kept saying, "Wanna play, Chrisey?" She will do absolutly anything to play with him... so she spent the afternoon running around, being shot by Chris, and playing dead. Probably a little inappropriate, but they were having fun. It was actually kind of cute- they have such and bond and love each other so much. Well, I take that back... it was cute until I came downstairs and saw Addie laying "dead" on the carpet with blood on her chest. Thank goodness I came when I did... I was gone for a few seconds, and when I came back, Chris had busted out the ketchup and fingerpainted Addie with "blood." If it had gotten on my carpet, I might have lost it, but I came in time- Chris was lucky- I cracked up:) That was actually pretty creative, don't ya think? Never a dull moment around here!

Mr. and Mrs. Brock Hammill

The main reason for our Reno adventure was to see Brendan's cousin get married! Woo Hoo!!! The wedding was amazing and it was great to get to see all of Brendan's family. I always get nervous going to see Brendan's family, and then I realize that it's really stupid that I do, because they are the best bunch of people you could meet. Brendan always tells me that they are like my family but up in New Jersey... a really close family. And I can see what he means... Whenever we're with them, it's like we're with them all the time... We hug, kiss, and it feels natural:) They are all soooo sweet and it really doesn't feel like we only see them like once a year... they know everything about our kids and it just feels like we don't miss a beat.

The wedding was breathtaking... It was up on a mountain that overlooks the valley... and at night you could see the lights from the city... so romantic.

Brendan's cousin, Paul... I always have felt a special connection with him:)

The bride and her mom, Aunt Anne, how hot are they?!?

More and More like my family... the wedding turned into a par-tay!

Simply gorgeous!

Thanks for having us, and letting us share our special day with you!!!

RENO!!!

Reno was soooooo beautiful and picturesque. Picturesque (is that even a word?) is not something I would use to describe Northern Virginia... and it made us wonder whey we love living here so much! We spent a lot of time exploring the area, downtown, and my new favorite spot- the casinos!!! It was my first time playing tables... and I won $170 off of $20 playing blackjack. Thank God that they didn't pass the gaming tables in Charles Town, because I'm afraid I could get way too addicted!!! Our favorite part of the trip was visiting Lake Tahoe. We liked it so much that we went two days in a row. We borrowed beach chairs, got a prime spot at Sand Harbor and enjoyed just relaxing... We also braved the water- which wasn't as cold as I was expecting. We dove off rocks, well, more like jumped off the baby ones... and were amazed at how clear the water was!

It doesn't get better than this- chillin' with my trash magazine:)

Virginia City

Brendan and I had a great time traveling out to Reno, NV for a family wedding... We loved the area and had fun being "tourists." We visited Virginia City... where it's like an old western town. There are still saloons that people like Wyatt Earp, Mark Twain, and Doc Holiday hung out at. It was so much fun going off on our own little adventures;)

Nana and Papa kept Chris and Addie for us while we were gone, and they made it out alive. Chris did come home with a busted lip and scratched up face from "running into a tree." Hmmmmm.

They stayed busy with their own adventures... they had Chris's swim team party where he received a trophy, they went downtown and explored the building museum and saw "Obama's house." They also went to the batting cage, golfing, to Caleb's birthday party- where they are still talking about their cousin Caleb (who is only three) and how he could stand on his head for five minutes!, to the movies, and of course parks:)

Chris came home with lots of stories... I think the cutest was:

"Mommy and Daddy, Pepper (my parent's new dog) was biting me. Papa kept saying they weren't bites they were just nips. He said she was just nipping me. But Mama, those were really bites!"

A shout out to my girls...

O.K. Ya-Ya's... I don't have many vacay's planned for the rest of the year/early next year and I miss you girls sooo much. We need to plan something before one of us is knocked up again! Brendan and I saw this in Reno... We still want to drive out west with the kids and visit national parks... Can you dig it? But before that, we definatly need a girl's weekend... where are we going?

Tradition Continues

Every year, Brendan and I visit the sand dunes... Most of our family doesn't make the trip or find it nearly as exciting as we do, but we are trying to keep it a McCullers tradition:) I ran down the dunes when I was big and pregnant with Chris, and he has run down them every year since:) Addie was a little unsure of them this year... She wanted Daddy to "care-o" (her word for carry) her down.


Chris of course ran down as fast as he could, wiped out a million times, was covered in sand, and loved every second of it.


Nana LOVES the sand dunes. She goes every year with us. Give Nana the dunes or the banana boat, and she turns into a kid again... She does manage to "trot gracefully" down the dunes in pure Nana style.

Katie and Nathan made the trip with us... they are always game... and Chris was in heavan with Katie being there. Oh, and I totally blame Nathan for teaching Chris to wipeout on purpose. Nathan is the king of good falls on the dunes.

A great end to a long day on the beach:)

Bradley Kyle

Brad- I hate to break it to ya- but I think Addie thinks you are crazy...

...

and so do I... J/K! We love ya:)

My love

So, I waited until the last day to get a good picture of us in coordinating outfits on the beach... and the rain came in, so that didn't happen. But I did manage to get a few good pictures of what makes my world go 'round...

Does it get any better than this? So sweet:)

What happens when Uncle Dave and Aunt Ra-Ra babysit...

Uncle Dave and Aunt Ra-Ra decided to watch the kids for a little bit... It's always good to have 4 kids in a hot tub while drinking beer... Kids are always supposed to be in hot tubs... At least they thought to put on life jackets...

Sweet Mage


Jack- look at those baby blues!

Addie playing with chemicals

Uncle Dave giving Chris lessons...

*Note to CPS... all of these pictures were taken in fun... under adult supervision and no children were harmed in the process.

51 weeks and counting...

Until we return to the Outer Banks... and I can't wait!!! We had so much fun... I had high hopes of breaking out my camera and getting some great pictures this week... but we were too busy having too much fun to have my "photo shoots." Either that, or people were hiding from my camera because they know they are going to make the slog:) Here are a few random pictures I snapped... I love my family so much... they are THE best:)

Jenna Benna

Mikey and Krista

Ave and Brian

Ave- why are you soooo happy in this picture?

Just precious!

Total Gayness... Gay.D. and Butt-Butt

It's hard to see- but Nanny and Pappy looking down on us in the pool:)

Sweet girl

Averey, Brad, and Jenny... I made them pose... ha ha!

Chris and Addie- we always have a "light stick" night on the beach... I found these matching glow in the dark outfits... Super cute, but they never glowed for us... But they make me soooo happy just looking at them. Growing up, we always caught lightning bugs in mason jars at Nanny and Pappy's. These shirts make me thing of that- oh, the memories:)