No longer babies...

When we lived in West Virginia, I would watch one of my neighbors sons on Mondays for a couple of hours... She's a teacher, and today she had a training, and so did her hubby, so I watched their kids for them. We've stayed close friends with them since we moved... Today actually turned out to be an easy day... I remember watching her son when he was around 3, and Chris was a baby... Now between the two of us, we have 5 kids! She has two daughters and Addie had a blast playing with them. I have now determined that my favorite sound in the world is little girls giggling! The three girls were building legos in such a girl way- They were building "towers". When I went to see how they were doing, one tower was all yellow, one tower was all blue, and one was all green. I asked why... and they acted like I was crazy because I didn't know... "Blue was cinderella's tower, yellow was Belle's tower, and green was Ariel's tower." Ha! It was so cute just watching Addie play with girls and I realized how much she has grown up. She also loved playing kitchen... But it cracked me up~ I told Addie to put the pizza in the oven, and she put it in the microwave... oops, she's just like her mama:) Chris and Riley got along sooo good and they were such boys playing video games. The day worked out so well that for a split second, I thought, man, this is nice... I think I should have more kids and homeschool... and then I came back to reality!

Just two months early...

Yes, we got the memo that today was August 31st, not October 31st. We rode our bikes around the neighborhood and Chris thought he was the coolest kid in town in his spiderman costume from last year. He was sure to stop and show the lifeguards and he thought it was great when the older kids playing basketball yelled, "Hey Spidey, you're my favorite." It made his night... Now I'm just hoping he doesn't want to make wearing his costume a nightly tradition!

I tried to get a picture, but I couldn't figure out how to do it safely since the bike doesn't have a kickstand... My dad found a bike that was like new out with someone's trash... He's quite the dumpster diver from all those nights delivering papers:) It actually had one of those old-school carseat seats on the back of it-perfect for Ms. Addie. I gladly took it, and we've been having soooo much fun crusing around the neighborhood at night! Chris has been able to ride a bike without training wheels since he was three!... so he rides fast enough to keep up with me... we're able to make it to parks in a flash:)

Leesburg Airport Open House

On Saturday, we had a fun family day at the Leesburg Airport Open House... The kids loved seeing the planes and of course it was right up Brendan's alley.

We also took my grandfather, Pappy. He flew on a B-17 during World War II and really wanted to see it. Unfortunatly, Pappy told us that there wasn't a B-17 at the air show. He said that the plane in front of us wasn't a B-17 and those people didn't know what they were talking about. Oh well, at least we had fun hanging out together:)

P.S.... It was a B-17:)

Another fun weekend at SML

We had another great weekend at SML... We boated, jet-ski'd, swam, visited Booker T. National Park, ate way too much, got ice cream from the ice cream boat that comes right to your dock, shopped, and played games at night:) Nanny and Pappy made the trip down with my parents this weekend, so it was great for them to get to see the kids... they are true fish in the water. I was bad about taking my camera out and wish I had more pictures, but here are a few!

Sweets for my Sweets

Whenever we visit the lake for a weekend, Joanie always takes special requests from us! This weekend she made me my favorite burritos... and Chris had requested spiderman cupcakes the night before we left... Of course Gram followed through and surpised Chris with his spidey cupcakes- Look how happy this little boy is:)

And poor Addie Tay was soooo scared of them! It was hillarious- whenever we put the spider cupcakes near her, she freaked out!


After Gram showed the spider cupcakes, she surprised Addie with her own, girlie polka-dotted cupcakes... Gram to the rescue... happy girl:)

Continuing the park tour...

Of course we couldn't go a weekend without visiting a park:) We enjoyed time at the park with Pop Pop and Gram at the lake:)

Just when you think they are being good...

I love my children with all of my heart, but I will be the first to say... they are not good car riders. We travel equipped with drinks, snacks, books, toys, kid's c.d.'s... And I'm beginning to really think we need to replace our DVD player that broke. Finally, Brendan and I had a moment's peace on the way to the lake... and when I turned around, this is what I found!


She does anything her brother does!

So much for my creativity...

Lately, Chris has been really into doing dot to dots. While we were at the lake, we had a passing rainstorm and I was trying to keep him entertained, so I decided to surprise him and make a dot to dot of a gun. Maybe my mind is in the gutter... but it reminds me of something else- or as my mother-in-law said, "This is my rifle, this is my gun. One is for killing, one is for FUN!" Ha!

To my defense, Chris did miss the numbers 8 and 9, and I think that would have made all the difference:)

What was I thinking...?

O.k... so, one day I was at the gym and I saw a press conference featuring Michael Vick and it really struck a nerve... Since I love writing, I fired an e-mail off to my cousin~ My cousin, Douglas, has one of the premier sports blogs in the D.C. area... and today he featured the post that I wrote to him:) I know some of you may disagree with how I feel... but once a Hokie, always a Hokie! Go check it out at Fatpickled... and just go along with the "hot" part:)!

www.budlightthoughts.blogspot.com

Joe's worst nightmare...

If you follow along, I've mentioned how my college roommate and I have been hanging out... It's been so much fun... Katie put up with a lot from me... and her hubby, Joe, knows me from college... so this is probably his worst nightmare...

Chris helping his daughter:)

We hung out at Katie and Joe's neighborhood pool today, and the kids had a great time... Funny story~ I call her hubby, Joe, because that's what he introduced himself as to Katie. When she went to look him up on the computer, she couldn't find a "Joe" on the cross country team... because he gave a made-up name. He's still Joe to me... and I'll probably never call him anything else. Some of you college friends have been asking for pictures of their kids... They are super cute... I can't believe Joe produced these angels... J/K:)

Lleyton

and Lucy

My Topher

and my Add... you know... because every little girl needs to swim with Spiderman sunglasses on:)

Oh, the memories...

This week, Brendan has been gone for training, so the kids and I have been busy scouring Loudoun for things to do... We visited Alogonkian Park- which was a blast, and the kids LOVED the water slides:) We've been out and about, and we spent one afternoon at one of my favorite parks in Ashburn... Hello Ya-Ya's, Sethie, and a few others... do you remember this park? I don't know the real name, but this park is located in Ashburn and we all call it the Dinasour Park. It was built some time during our high school years and we all have some fond memories of it... some more that others... LOL:)

I remember one night, we were all there hanging out... and I promise you, we were really just being good kids and looking at the lightning bugs in the field. To make a long story short, the cops came and thought we were drinking and up to no good. I worked with one of the cops at Brambleton Golf Course, and I told him we were really just looking at lightning bugs and hanging out. He sooooo didn't believe us, but went along with it and let us all go. Nowadays, Suwit is one of the cops that patrols the Dulles Town Center mall, and every time I see him, he laughs, and asks me if I've seen any lightning bugs lately:) I swear (and I know I shouldn't do that) that that night that is all we were really doing, and I still tell him that... Chris always wonders why the po-po is talking to me!!!


As you can see, the kids love this park... just like their Mommy:)

Bloggin's Mama

Even Chris and Addie know that I blog... and they always like to see their pictures on the computer. This morning, Chris was so funny... He got out of the shower, wrapped a towel around both him and Addie, and then said, "Mommy, take a picture. Aren't we cute, we're sharing." Yes you are sweetie:)

And these are a few of my favorite things...

My kids, my Nanny and Pappy, a hot summer day, and a visit from the old-fashioned ice cream man... doesn't get much better than this:)

Are you ready for some football?

We have officially signed Chris up for flag football this fall! Watch out... I bet he'll be the only 70 pounder 4 year old:) Do you think he's ready? This is how we found him sleeping the other night... And don't mind his p.j.'s... He says he likes to be "hot." He normally sleeps under his covers- even in his hot, stuffy room in the middle of the summer. This night, he found his beloved flannel p.j.'s and had to wear them to bed... Some things just aren't worth fighting about:)

Melt my heart...

We were riding in the car this morning, and out of the blue I hear Addie say... "Hey Mom- I happy, Mommy. I happy." Awwwwwwwwwwww. It's a good day:)

Hanging with friends... old and new

The kids LOVE playing with their friends... We hung out with our friends from our old subdivision in West Virginia... they just moved back to Loudoun, so we hope to spend more time with them!


Ice cream sandwiches on a hot summer day... perfect:)


Chris's buddy Riley~ Chris looks up to him sooo much:)

We also had a blast last night hosting our friends in this hood for dinner. It was going to be a great dinner... until we ran out of gas for our grill in the middle of grilling our steaks... and until I messed up the mac-n-cheese by pouring a bag of "mexican" cheese on it instead of the bag of cheddar... It sure made for an interesting twist on my dish! One day, I'll learn to cook. At least we had fun and enjoyed our company... Here's Addie's future hubby and best playmate, D.J.

And this is D.J.'s sister Mya- She's so sweet, but I need to stop holding her so I don't get the baby bug!

A milestone...

Do you notice anything different about Addie's hair? This is after we were out running around all day, so I'll have to get a better picture... but she had her first real pony tail! Am I crazy because I wanted to cry... She's growing up way to fast... but it was oh so cute:)

The kids and I have been busy, busy, busy this week. We've managed to hit up the pool every day, visit the fountains and have a smoothie date at Lansdowne, visit with friends, and have a date day with Nana. She treated both kids to a toy at Target (Todd, don't go crazy reading this, she said it's Mage and Jack's turn next week:)) and then we had lunch out. The kids have of course kept me laughing...

Chris and I always used to watch Jon and Kate + Eight together, but with all the stuff going on recently, I haven't been letting him watch it. Ashley told him he can't watch it because Jon is a bad, bad man and we don't like him any more. The other morning, and old episode was on when the kids were little, so I let Chris watch it. He got soooo excited and said, "Oh Mommy, I'm so glad Jon turned good again!" Ha!

When we were riding in the car yesterday, out of no where, Chris asked me when he can have his own cell phone. I told him he had to be at least 14. He then began turning the tables and lecturing me. He said, "Mommy I only have to be ten, and don't ya know I want one now so I can "type in" to my friends (a.k.a. text)." I said, "Oh really, what would you say to them." He said right back, "I'm bored, come over to my house. And Mom, I don't want a phone like yours, I want one that has the top part that goes up so I can just push letters." The boy is only four- Lord help me when he's older!

Chris is the king of one-liners... We had my parents over for dinner the other night and Chris had BBQ sauce covering his face... My dad called him over and tried to clean it off... Chris quickly looked at my dad and said, "Papa, don't ya know, I'm saving that for later!"

Also, Little Miss Addie does not miss a beat. I always read to her before naps and bedtime, and the other day, I tried to skip some pages. She quickly caught what I was doing, told me to "Hold on," turned back to the skipped pages and read them to me! Today she was also officially swimming... It's not pretty and it's underwater most of the time, but she can definatly swim to the wall!

Jersey

Don't these relatives look soooo happy to be posing for a blog picture? Sorry guys, but I had to make you take one... We spent all of last weekend in New Jersey with Brendan's family... we had such a good time, and I never pulled my camera out:(

We ventured up to New Jersey to have a little family reunion at Aunt Denise and Uncle Bruce's house... Our cousin Susan came up from Charleston, and our cousin Hank and his girlfriend, Melanie, came up from North Carolina... I can't believe I don't have a picture of them... Chris was pretty much glued to them the whole weekend since he thinks Hank rules the world. I'm sooo in love with Aunt Denise's house... It's a real log cabin that Uncle Bruce built! How cool is that?


Here's Chris helping Susan with the fresh Jersey corn... Yummy! We ate it every night, and I wasn't sick of it- we stopped at the farmer's market to get some to take home!

We also enjoyed visiting with Brendan's grandma~ She recently moved to a new home and we are glad that we got to visit and see where she's living. Her new place is quite nice and she seems to have everything down pat already~ She even took us all out to her "ice cream parlor!" Thanks Grandma!

We had such a fun time with you guys... can't wait to do it again!

Rise and Shine...

There's nothing like a hot breakfast... or in our case a little winter in August... O.K., O.K., so what if I got a little carried away with the snow... Chris and Addie loved it:)

Yay for Todd

For those of you that don't know, my brother, Todd, is about to start a two year executive M.B.A. program. I'm soooo proud of him even if it is at U.V.A. (traitor)! It's going to be an intense two years for both he and Sarah, so my parents decided to take us out to celebrate Todd's next journey and to let them know that we will be there for him every step of the way. We all (maybe not all- we missed you Jenna) ventured down to Bethesda and totally surprised Todd at work. We went to a restuaraunt downtown and had a fancy schmancy dinner. Judy got all sentimental... and then she said that when Eric gets his C.P.A. or when I reach 140 pounds they will treat us to another nice dinner... so we might be waiting a while;)

Congrats Toddie:)

Memories...

After our library trip, we stopped by Nanny and Pappy's house this week. The kids are always excited to see Nan and Pap... Nanny has been telling me to bring some books over to her house so she can read them to the kids, and I keep forgetting. Being the fiesty lady she is, she decided to find some things for the kids to play with herself. She pulled out some things from this piece of furniture in her family room, and I almost cried... The kids were so excited to play with the legos she pulled out... She also found some books, coloring books, crayons, etc. It was so crazy- my grandparents have lived in their new house for about 10 years, but when she pulled the bag of legos out, I smelled this smell... Not to worry, it was a good smell- The bag smelled exactly like their old garage from their old house. The smell was still there after all those years! It brought back so many memories. Also, when she pulled out the crayon box- an old Russel Stover's candy box- I looked at it and died laughing. I remember playing with that box of crayons like 20 years ago. Then I saw Lauren's handwriting on it and it said, "Nanny's crayons- You have to ask her to use them!" That was then crossed out- and another grandkid had written, "No- Nanny says you do NOT have to ask her." Ha! It just made me think back to all the fun times growing up at my grandparents house. And, it also made me so happy that my children are hopefully going to have some of the best memories of Nanny and Pappy of their own...