Lisa's Three Little Loves

Party Girls!!!

2009-03-05T21:15:00.012-05:00

Join us for a makeover slumber party....bring you favorite dress-up clothes, sleeping bag and pillow and come ready to party at 4 p.m.!!! That was the invite that 8 girls received from Alyssa & McKenna to celebrate their birthday last Saturday...and party we DID!!!

The birthday girls waiting for guests to arrive
A HUGE THANK YOU to my mom, Kerry, Melissa and my hubby for helping me pull off their best party ever. Seriously we had fun :-) We played musical chairs (Jayci won), "Spa" Bingo that I created online (Alex won) and Twister....gosh it's been years and years since I watched or played a game of Twister....this time I chose to watch and it was very entertaining!!

Playing musical chairs

Jayci going in for the win!

I set-up "stations" ... one for hair, one for nails and one for make-up.

My mom was the make-up artist, Melissa did hair and Kerry & I did nails. Each girl rotated between the 3 stations until they were completely glamorous! They completed their look with a fancy outfit and then I took pictures of them individually and as a group.

The group before their makeovers

Once everyone was amazingly beautiful we had pizza, ice cream cake and then watched the twins open their gifts. They got a lot of really nice stuff.

After the makeover - what a gorgeous group of girls!

My beautiful daughter - McKenna

My gorgeous DIVA - Alyssa

Tasty ice cream cake!

Back to the basement the little Divas went for another game of Twister and some serious DANCING :-) We did the Cha Cha slide, freeze dancing (kinda like musical chairs, but when the song gets turned down you freeze - so funny!) and I even joined in on the fun - jumping around and dancing like a fool. They LOVED IT! We finished the night off with more popcorn than a movie theater (he he), soda, water and the movie Open Season 2. Finally....finally....at midnight (ish) all, but 3 of the girls went to bed. The last 3 eventually crashed around 2 a.m. Yes, 2 a.m.!! David and I were snoring by then :-)

McKenna playing Twister

Dancing queens

The next morning started at 8 a.m. with donuts, chocolate chip mini muffins and juice. Yea I know- not the most nutritional b'fast - but it works for 7 and 8 year olds. The girls played cops and robbers until everyone left around 11 a.m. with a goodie bag in hand.

Megan & Alyssa the next morning

I had more fun planning this party than any other party they've ever had. I know they had just as much fun...and it warmed my heart to hear their friends say "this is the most fun I've EVER had at a bday party"! Thanks girls...after a fun, but extremely exhausting time, it was so nice to hear that :-)

The Twins Turn EIGHT!!!

2009-02-27T16:14:00.006-05:00

Somehow I blinked and my "baby" girls turned 8 today...I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in Dr. Aron's office (my OB/GYN) listening to him say "yes it's twins" and watching Kerry scream with delight - delight cuz it was ME who was expecting twins :-) I was so scared of having 2 babies at the same time...how would we afford it? How would we handle it? Did we know how to take care of 2 babies ... at the same time? Well...here we are 8 years later and we have 2 beautiful, smart, thriving daughters so I guess everything always works out in the end!

Alyssa was born first and she is the typical "first born".

She is a miniature version of me....and that's good and bad! She's a very strong-willed girl with a very social and outgoing personality. She loves to make friends and can talk to anyone who will listen. She is an excellent older sister to Brennan and absolutely adores him. Like me, she has a thing for babies. She just loves her baby cousins in FL and does such a good job "taking care" of them when we visit. Over the past several months she has become obsessed with dancing. She takes tap and jazz, but also spends her entire weekend making up dances to songs in our basement and then "performing" them for us! She's an excellent reader and excels in school. She's a very inquisitive child (this translates to LOTS of questions!!!) and often wants to help around the house with cleaning, cooking, etc. I wonder how long that will last!!! She's much girlier than McKenna and in the near future I suspect she'll be my shopping buddy :-) She's an amazing child and David & I love her dearly.

McKenna came 2 minutes after Alyssa ... she's our little peanut!

McKenna is a mini-David. She's very quiet and an introvert. She often does her own thing and doesn't really require much from people. Her friends are limited, but the ones she has are important to her. She's got an artisitic ability that amazes me and also excels in school. Soccer is her favorite sport and I must say, she's pretty darn good at it! She's a very caring child and always thinks about others. We're often faced with questions from McKenna that we can't answer (!!!) - she's been classified as a "deep thinker" by her teachers and it's certainly a great way to describe her! She's definitely much more shy than her sister and pretty independent. She loves to cook, read and ride her bike....and she never gives up until she's perfected something. She's a hunter and a dancer....my tomboy who can be girlie when needed....the best of both worlds I guess! She brings joy to our lives and David & I love her to pieces! EIGHT YEARS.....in 8 more years they'll be driving...how scary is that?!!!

HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY ALYSSA & MCKENNA....
we love you and are so proud to call you our daughters!!!

Time for a change...

2009-02-26T21:49:00.002-05:00

In the spirit of the girls upcoming spa makeover birthday party, I decided it was time for the blog to get a makeover too! SO here's my new look....do you like it?!

TAGGED - 6 Random Things

2009-02-25T22:48:00.002-05:00

THE RULES:
1- Post the rules on your blog
2- List 6 random things about yourself.
3- Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
4- Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
5- Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I have had 5 surgeries in 5 years. And I hope I'm done. This includes c-sections, back surgery and some personal alterations!!

2. I love reality TV. Biggest Loser. American Idol. The Bachelor. True Beauty. I love them all!! It's my "brain dead"time at night :-)

3. I suck at cardio. I go to the gym consistently. I try new activities on a regular basis. But in the end, my cardio abilities suck and I hate it.

4. I am addicted to Facebook. If you're on there you understand. If you haven't tried it you should. Sure it's addicting and steals hours before you realize it, but it's FUN!

5. I manage my daughter's Destination Imagination team. They needed a manager/coach or else McKenna couldn't do it.....so I got suckered into it along with my friend Michelle. Neither of us have a clue what we're doing and at this point, we can't wait for it to end...MARCH 14th :-)

6. I love to eat out. I could eat out 4-5 times a week. Eventually I do want a home cooked meal, but I really love to eat out. Mexican, Seafood, Italian, Subs....it's just one of my fave things to do. Too bad it's expensive and typically fattening!

OK! I tag:
Jenn
Krissy
Ruhiyyih

Sadly enough, I only have 3 people I can tag! O'well - it was still fun :-)

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T22:24:00.009-05:00

So I've been MIA for over a month now and I must confess....Facebook is to blame :-) So I thought I'd take a few minutes to share about my Valentine's Day weekend.

The celebration started on Friday with the kids parties at school....and grandparents day for the girls. Maw Maw Barbara attended the party (Maw Maw Linda was skiing so she had to miss it) and the kids had a blast. They got to exchange Valentine's with all their friends and enjoy lots of goodies at school!

Ready for school

Celebrating with Maw Maw Barbara

Friday night David & I went to dinner while Katie babysat for us. We went to Docksides in Colonial Beach, VA for a nice, quiet dinner. It was delish!! David had steak (what a surprise!) and I had crabcakes that were soooo yummy. After dinner we spent some time shopping in Target....I know, romantic huh?! ha ha

Today I took McKenna & Brennan ice skating with Kerry, Jayci & Connor while David & Alyssa hung out at home...it was her choice!

Getting ready to skate

We had a great time skating although Brennan wasn't too graceful on the ice :-) He spent quite a bit of time falling, but was pretty good about it....until him and I tried to go around the ice together - me holding his hand - he got wobbly, then I did and BOOM down I went. O M G did that hurt! I was holding his hand on my right side so I fell to the left to try and avoid crushing him....I thought I did ok until I heard him sobbing. At first I thought he was crying b/c I was hurt, but no, he hit his head on the ice. Ugh! He's ok...and so am I....except for my arm which is going to be badly bruised I'm sure. We took a break and had some Chick Fil A before heading back out. He was much more timid after that ... but then again, so was I :-)

Before the fall!!

Connor, Brennan, Jayci & McKenna

From there we met up with David and took the kids to Toys R Us. They had some gift cards left over from Cmas that they wanted to spend. We finished up the day at Jerry's Subs for dinner.

David & I got new Blackberry Storm phones for Valentine's Day and the kids got candy, bean bags, movies, Pixos and a Webkinz from my mom. Almost sounds like Cmas huh?!

David with the kids and their new bean bags

Hope everyone had a great Valentines Day!

Happy Birthday DAD

2009-01-11T17:43:00.004-05:00

Believe it or not, my parents bdays are only 5 days apart...and they're the same age (although my Dad will remind you that he's younger!!!). So now it's my Dad's turn to celebrate another year of life.

Although my parents have been separated since I was 3 and divorced since I was 6, my Dad has always been a HUGE part of my life. He gave me a baby sister when I was 8 years old

Me, my Dad & my "baby" sister Jenn

and later brought Lisa into my life (an amazing stepmom) along with her son Jeremy who is now like a brother to me. Like most dad's, he's a strong and loving man with a passion for success. He's a hard worker and a devoted family man. Growing up, some of my fondest memories are spending weekends with him at the racetrack watching him race. I also remember, and treasure, the time we spent with his brothers, parents and extended family on a regular basis. My cousins became like brothers to me and we had such good times eating crabs in the summer and spending Christmas together.

When I was in highschool he "adopted" my best friend Laurie after her mom died and helped her (and I) through some difficult times. If it wasn't for him, Laurie & I wouldn't be friends today!! He's always been there for me when I need advice and has often made me realize things that I wasn't seeing on my own. He taught me to drive a stick shift and was there in the hospital the day I was in a car wreck (b/c my mom was on a dinner cruise). He's tough, but he's tender and as I've grown and had kids of my own, he's become an incredible friend.

He moved to FL when I was 21 and I was crushed! In the end, it was the best move he made and he's been happier ever since. He's a fantastic Pop Pop and my kids enjoy spending time with him & Lisa whenever they can.

Pop Pop & Lisa with Alyssa, McKenna & Brennan

Happy Birthday Dad - WE love you!

Happy Birthday MOM

2009-01-03T18:54:00.006-05:00

(I actually wrote this post on January 3rd in anticipation of her bday on Jan. 6th, but completely forgot to post it! Better late than never I guess.)

Tuesday was my mom's birthday and I thought I'd take a minute to talk about what a wonderfully amazing mom and woman she is!! She is my best friend and I'm not sure what I would do without her. She's always there when I need her whether it's just to listen, lend a hand or tell me that everything will be ok. Her entire life has been devoted to me and her friends and she's always the first one willing to pitch in and give a helping hand. She's the most soft-hearted, kind person I know and I hope and pray that when my daughters (and son too!) are grown they have the same relationship with me that I have with my mom. No doubt about it, shopping is our favorite thing to do together, but we also find time to support each other at the gym, go out to eat, attend Redskins games and spend time with my kids. She's a dedicated volunteer (who sometimes doesn't know how to say NO!), a devoted friend and a woman with a huge heart. Anyone who meets her likes her.

My mom and I on Christmas Day

Maw-Maw - as she's known to my kids - is AMAZING. She's the best grandma a child could ask for and my kids adore her. She's always there to see them play sports, sing at school or help us shutle them around as needed. She loves spending time with them and certainly does a great job at spoiling them - hey that's what Maw-Maw's are for right?!! I strive to teach my kids many of the same lessons she taught me and I can only hope that my kids turn out like I did!!! I know -that sounds conceited - but seriously I could've been way worse!

Maw Maw Linda with Alyssa, McKenna & Brennan

Happy Birthday Mom - you're the best and I love you with all my heart.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T21:19:00.003-05:00

Well....the cookies are in place, the gifts are wrapped and my kids are tucked in bed waiting for the man in the big red suit (aka SANTA) to come. They're soooo excited...especially Brennan. I'm hoping they'll sleep till at least 7:30 - that's early for them - or else the rest of the day will be filled with whiny, sleepy children!! I can't wait to see their faces in the morning and I hope they're happy with everything they're going to get.

From our family to yours, I hope everyone has a healthy, happy and safe holiday season. I will post pics from Christmas Day as soon as I can - we're going to be super busy with family over the next week so I will have lots of photos to share.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Holiday Fun!

2008-12-20T20:50:00.008-05:00

The day started off with David & I tackling the (dreaded) basement!! That's basically the kids "space" and neither of us go down there very often. Well it was that time of year again...cleaning out the basement and getting rid of toys that they don't use anymore. Every year my mom's volunteer organization holds a "Christmas Store" where people like me donate toys and then next Tuesday the needy can come in and "shop" without paying. They take new and gently used toys that still have all the parts and are in working order. This year I said I was REALLY going to gut their toy boxes and boy did I!! Surprisingly enough, they were really good about it. So we went from 2 stuffed toy boxes to 2 that aren't even 1/2 way full now. It felt so good to declutter. While I was doing that, David was dusting, vacuuming, cleaning out the bathroom closet and getting all those yucky cobwebs out of the corners. We now have one clean and organized basement that's ready for Santa to arrive! After that I still had more energy, so I headed upstairs and cleaned the kids rooms and David followed by vacuuming the entire upstairs. I did our bathroom, cleaned our linen closet and then helped David make another batch of chocolate chip cookies. Whew I am tired! So I'm sure by now you're wondering why I titled this post Holiday Fun?!! After dinner, as promised, I helped the kids make a gingerbread house. Each morning we put our neighbor's daughter on the bus so as a thank you she gave us the gingerbread house kit. We had a good time and they worked really well together. The girls did one side and Brennan did the other....and I of course took photos....see below! This is where the holiday fun came in and now I am relaxing and watching Saturday night football. Go RAVENS!

Ready to decorate - such concentration!

Brennan's working hard on his side

Almost done...

The finished product....great job!

It's the beginning of our holiday week and tons of holiday fun -I can't wait to see their little faces next Thursday :-)

Breakfast with Santa & the weekend

2008-12-14T19:27:00.009-05:00

On Saturday, the kids school hosted Breakfast with Santa.

Ready to go!

Of course Santa was there handing out pictures and books and they had crafts for the kids to do, wreaths that each class had made that you could bid on and coloring stations. Alyssa & Brennan chose to do the same 2 crafts - making a wooden snowman measuring stick and doing a letter to Santa ornament. McKenna picked the beaded snowman pin and the gingerbread house picture frame.

Brennan & Alyssa with their snow measuring sticks

McKenna with her beaded snowman pin

McKenna, Megan & Alyssa with Santa

Brennan with Santa

After they finished their crafts and got their picture taken with Santa my mom picked them up for the night. She joined my MIL, niece Alexis and my SIL with niece Megan & nephew Trevor at the Swim with Santa event. Yes, Santa is swimming and they take underwater photos with the kids. For those that don't want underwater - like McKenna & Brennan - they do photos of them sitting in a chair inside the pool. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics to share of this event, but they had a BLAST!!! Next year I have to go to this, but this year David & I were finishing our shopping and enjoying a belated anniversary dinner. We had a great day and we think we are done shopping - think being the key word :-)

Today, David and I embarked on a bake-a-thon!!! We made chocolate chip cookies, pecan snowball cookies, double chocolate chip toffee cookies, chocolate covered peanut butter balls and english toffee.

Alyssa helping me make cookies

Everything, but the toffee turned out ok - David tried twice, but both batches made it to the trash. All we have left are peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses and then we'll be done! These are for us as well as the kids teachers, bus driver and our trash men. I'm baked out....'tis the season!

Huntin' Buddy?

2008-12-07T18:46:00.003-05:00

Saturday was Alyssa's turn to try deer hunting with David...it wasn't nearly as successful as his day with McKenna :-) We both knew the chances of her really liking it were slim, but thought we needed to let her decide for herself. Well she has NO intentions going again!!! It was extremely cold yesterday - I mean VERY cold - and she was frozen by the time they got back. Her poor little cheeks and nose were so red and her hands were like ice cubes. David said she tried to think of every excuse she could to come back early and all he kept saying was "she is definitely YOUR daughter! She is sooo you!" Nothing wrong with that right?!!

They didn't see any deer - just squirrels - and she was more than happy when it was time to head home. Here's a pic of her & David before they left...she looks happy here!

Brennan's turn is next...if he decides he wants to go still. He changes his mind a lot. He's supposed to go Tuesday - it's early dismissal day - so we'll see what he decides. For now, the only kid who qualifies as a "huntin' buddy" is McKenna!

Thanksgiving Weekend Highlights

2008-12-03T11:30:00.010-05:00

I'm a little late in getting this post up, but I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We had a nice, relaxing day surrounded by our family and tasty food! David's cousin hosted and was sweet enough to invite my mom so she wasn't alone on T'giving Day. I truly appreciated her hospitality! Just like everyone else, we had a HUGE spread of food followed by lots of yummy desserts. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and even spent some time outside playing baseball. Here are a few pics from our day.

McKenna, Megan, Alexis & Alyssa

Trevor & Brennan

On Friday my mom and I braved the crowds and went shopping. It actually wasn't that bad - crowded yes - but we didn't find a bunch of rude people. We did find several good deals and I was happy to get some Cmas shopping accomplished. Back at home, David managed to get 2 of our 3 Cmas trees up so I could decorate on Saturday.

Saturday was McKenna's big day! That afternoon David took her deer hunting and although they didn't get anything, she had a BLAST!!

Her little nose and fingers were soooo cold when they got back that night, but she really enjoyed her time in the woods. Up next - Alyssa - this outta be interesting :-) I'll let you know how that turns out after this weekend.

While they were gone, I got both trees decorated with Alyssa & Brennan's help and started putting out the rest of our decorations. I'm still not done yet! The girls stayed at Maw Maw Barbara's Sat. night so David & I took Brennan to Carvel for ice cream and then we had popcorn and watched Fred Klaus. He had fun spending alone time with us!

Sunday I went to the RAINY Redskins game - which they lost - but I did get to take part in the Sean Taylor memorial celebration which was touching and beautiful.

All in all it was a great weekend....now I have to focus on finishing my shopping and getting ready for December 25th!

Random Updates

2008-11-24T19:50:00.014-05:00

We've had random things going on lately so I thought I'd share an update on our family happenings!

Alyssa

Well her and Tristan "broke up" and although she's sad, she was over it in a day! I'm sure this is just one of many break up's to come in her life - let's hope they're all this simple :-) HA...wishful thinking I know. She IS a drama queen after all, but she's my drama queen and I do love her.

McKenna

Today was a BIG day for McKenna...she finally (after 8 months) had the appliance taken out of her mouth that was in there to help her stop sucking on her fingers. It worked pretty much the same day, but because it was such a strong habit they decided to leave it in there extra long just to be doubly sure it would work and the habit wouldn't return! Well let's hope 8 months was long enough. McKenna sure was happy to get it out and the first thing she wanted was bubblegum! Of course I obliged...it has been 8 months since she last had any and although it's not something she (or they) chew all the time I had to let her enjoy a piece tonight.
Here she is attempting to blow big bubbles.

Other big news for McKenna is coming up on Saturday, Nov. 29th - the first day of deer hunting season. As petite and cute as she is, my beautiful daughter LOVES to don her camo gear and go "act like a tree" while hunting with her daddy...oh how proud that makes me (can you "hear" the sarcasm here?!!). David bought her new camo pants and a hat which she adores. Seriously - how can she possibly be related to me?!! ha ha He also bought her a very trendy hunting hat shown here - this is actually acceptable by mommy.

Model turned hunter?!!! Boy does she love to pose!

Brennan

Not much is happening with my lil man. He has been much better at school lately and has been staying on his "green light" daily. That makes me happy! He is learning to read more and more each day - I just can't believe how fast they learn. Today he looked especially cute for school so I had to snap a few pics of him. It's always nice to have him wear Skins stuff on Monday's - it means they WON!

On Saturday the girls and I went to see the Beauty & the Beast play with their Brownie troop. Kerry & Jayci joined us for the show. It ended up being pretty good.

Ready for the play

After it was over, Taylor (one of their friends) came to spend the night. They had a good time dancing, playing games and dressing up. Unfortunately they woke up at 6 A.M. (OMG) - needless to say last night McKenna was asleep before the lights were out.

Thanks for bearing with me and my long post....my random updates took longer than I thought.

Grandparents Day

2008-11-20T20:41:00.005-05:00

Last week the kindergarten classes at Brennan's school held Grandparents/Special Person's Day. My mom and I went down and were treated to 2 very cute songs by the three kindergarten classes. Brennan only sung about 1/2 of the first song, but he BELTED out the 2nd one called "Mimi Mouse" - a video is below. They use songs to teach them a particular letter and that week they were studying the letter M. He just loved that song.

Singing was followed by cookies and punch -certainly his favorite part - and then my mom and him made a family tree. It was a quick little program, but very cute.

Birthday celebration!

2008-11-09T12:40:00.008-05:00

Yesterday was David's 34th birthday - Happy Birthday honey! We had a pretty lazy day - his mom came over with a card and homemade pound cake (yum) and then Lauren came to babysit so we could go out to dinner with friends. Alyssa & McKenna picked out his cake and the kids couldn't wait to tear into the ice cream cake....it was good! The girls made him some cards and they each picked out a gift for him.

McKenna got him golf balls - always a good pick.
Brennan got him boxers - he just thought this was HILARIOUS!

Alyssa got him a golf glove- another good pick
I got him chest waders and gloves for duck hunting. Thanks to my dad - he helped me understand the "science" of choosing the right waders!!!

We went to Jasper's American Grill for dinner - it was pretty good. It was us, Robert/Wendy, Mike/Theresa, Jimmy/Melissa and Dale/Kay. We hung out at the bar and even got to enjoy Melissa singing "Bust a move" during Karaoke. We finished out the night at our house with a few more adult beverages!

Happy Birthday David - I hope you enjoyed your day!

So pretty

2008-11-07T10:24:00.004-05:00

As promised, here are a few pics of Alyssa before school this morning...all prettied up with her hair done!! I simply can't believe clothes and hair are already important...yikes! I must say - she looked pretty darn cute :-)

And they call it Puppy Love...

2008-11-06T20:02:00.003-05:00

Yes my friends, my daughter Alyssa is in "love". This is the text message David sent me on my way home from work "it's official...Alyssa & Tristan are an item"!!! Earlier this week she informed us at dinner that Tristan told her she was HOT....WHAT???? She's in 2nd grade - they're 7 years old - and he's telling her she's hot - O M G!!! On Monday she claimed she didn't like him...tonight is a totally different story.

So I asked her if she kissed him and she said no (shew - thank god!), but went on to tell us that her friend Taylor kissed her "boyfriend" Brandon. Again - O M G!!! Are you KIDDING ME?! At that point David had his eyeballs popping out. I quickly told her that she's WAY too young to be kissing boys and it's fine to have him as her boyfriend (if that's what you wanna call it), but no kissing. Good grief - I know they start young - but SECOND GRADE! Lord help me!

As I was getting her clothes ready for school tomorrow I picked out a super cute outfit my mom bought her and had her try it on...and I jokingly said "I want you to look cute for Tristan tomorrow" and she was bowled over by that. I overheard her & McKenna talking in the bathtub about how she thought it was "so cool" that I wanted her to look cute for Tristan....I think the next 11 years of my life will make me gray for sure :-)

Puppy love already...boy do they grow up too fast. I'll share pics of her outfit tomorrow...and her hair since she told me I HAVE to make her hair pretty too. That's where David ended our conversation...hehe!

Soccer finale

2008-11-04T12:37:00.004-05:00

Brennan had his last soccer game of the season last week followed by a little pizza party...in the cold!!! He really enjoyed playing this year and has decided to play that again the spring instead of tball...which I can't blame him...tball is slow and boring :-) I think he'll play baseball once he's older, but for now, soccer is much more energizing and he needs that. Here are some pictures from his party.

Enjoying his pizza

Getting his trophy from Coach Brianna

He loves the trophy (and goodie bag)!

Such a cute cake

Halloween Fun

2008-11-02T14:54:00.009-05:00

The kids got lots of treats and not too many tricks on Friday. The day started off with a parade at their school. My mom, David's mom and I attended. Brennan was very excited to have me in his classroom and by golly, my baby has a crush :-) Here's the little girl who's captured his attention!!!

I must say she is a little cutie, but jeesh, he's only FIVE. It's so funny when he talks about her...he gets all shy.

McKenna & Alyssa at their school

Brennan headed out to the parade

Anyhow, after the parade the parents are kicked out (in a nice way) and the kids have a party in the afternoon. That night, we headed over to his mom's to trick or treat with Megan, Trevor & Alexis.

Ready for trick or treating!

Alyssa's ready to get some candy!

We covered almost the entire neighborhood and by 8 p.m. every kid was worn out and complaining that their legs hurt - HA - go figure! Needless to say, everyone had a blast and we have entirely too much candy in our house.

Alyssa, Megan, Trevor, Alexis, Brennan & McKenna

The kids with Maw Maw Barbara & Pop Pop Henry

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Belvedere Plantation

2008-10-29T21:19:00.010-04:00

Tucked away in Southern VA is an awesome place to visit in the fall called Belvedere Plantation. It's a huge farm filled with fun things for kids to do. Ziplines, slides, trails to drive tractors on, a huge corn maze, hay rides and of course, a great pumpkin patch! David,the kids and I were joined by Kerry , Jacyci and Connor for several hours of entertainment. They got their faces painted, tried to climb the "moving" ladder, swung on the rope swings inside the barn, drove the pedal tractors and took turns leading us through the maze. Here are some pics of our day!

Preparing for the fun

McKenna trying to climb the ladder

Exiting the great pumpkin slide

On the hayride to get our pumpkins

McKenna waiting to get her face painted

I'm baaack...and convention is over!

2008-10-28T21:17:00.006-04:00

Woo hoo :-) Can you hear the excitement in my "voice"? For the past 8 days I've been attending and working my annual convention and expo....and putting in some ridiculous long days! I am so not a morning person, but during this past week I had to be up and functioning at 5:15 a.m. - it about killed me :-) he he

The view from my Marriott suite

On the bright side, we were in sunny San Diego where the weather was amazing. Blue skies, sunny and 75-80 degrees daily. It's just beautiful there. I wish I had found more time to be outside and enjoy the city, but duty called all week.

The gorgeous pools I never got to use!

I took an extra day for myself with Karen & Toby, but we were so tired we could barely move! We managed to find a sports bar for the Redskins game on Sunday and then a short trip to Coronado where we got to dip our toes in the Pacific Ocean - good grief it was freeezing!

Coronado beach

Overall it was a great week, but I'm so happy to be home. There's nothing sweeter than hearing your kids squeal "mommmmy" with delight followed by super squeezy hugs!

Reviewing the rules of the game

2008-10-13T20:26:00.003-04:00

And no, I don't mean football games - don't even get me started after the Redskins game yesterday. These rules are related to playing board games with elementary aged children! Let me explain...

Last year during my week at convention, David emailed me the rules of the game that he learned while playing Monopoly Jr., Sorry and Candyland with the kids while I was gone. With my departure for this year's convention just a few days away, I thought I'd take a look back in time at what he learned last year and wonder what he might learn from our little angels this year...I mean they are a year older now :-)

So the rules of board games according to Alyssa & McKenna (age 6 at the time) and Brennan (age 4 at the time):

1. You are not allowed to win. No matter what the circumstances are.

2. Your children are allowed to cheat and in fact it is encouraged amongst them.

3. You are not allowed to cheat. Exception to this is you are allowed to cheat if it benefits one of them.

4. In Monopoly you are not allowed to be the banker. You are the bank everyday its their turn.

5. In the game Sorry it's really what they think of you.

6. Any rule can be changed on the fly at their discretion. Altering rules is completely legal as long as it's not you changing them. That is prohibited.

7. Did I mention you are not allowed to win?

8. You are not allowed to quit. They can quit whenever they want.

9. You are not allowed to go first.

10. In Monopoly Jr. the horse game piece is off limits. Don't even ask! (anyone who knows our kids gets this rule right away!)

I laughed so hard when he sent this to me last year - it was the comic relief I needed during an incredibly crazy week. I hope this year while I'm gone he has just as much fun (haha)...I'm so thankful I have him....I don't worry at all when I'm gone. Of course I know they probably won't be dressed the way I want them to, but I"ve learned to just accept that they're dressed and he's doing it all by himself so that's good enough for me!

So the next time you sit down to play board games with your kids remember the rules above...and have fun :-)

"IN THEIR HOUSE"

2008-10-05T16:03:00.005-04:00

It's another week of celebrating for REDSKIN fans :-) WOO HOO!!!! We went to "their house" as the Philadelphia Eagles like to call it and WE WON!!

Final score:

Redskins 23
Eagles 17

No one gives us credit and they can keep on dissin' us....we will just have to keep proving all the critics wrong.

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS

Softball Diva

2008-09-30T21:51:00.006-04:00

Tonight Alyssa played her 2nd softball game - I missed the 1st one because I was attending soccer games - but it was fun to be there tonight. Each week she continues to improve and although she never scored a run, she did make good contact with the ball. The best part is that she's enjoying it and having fun...that's the key right now :-) Here are a a few pics from her game tonight.

How about those Skins???!!!

2008-09-28T21:19:00.004-04:00

OH MY GOSH....OH MY GOSH!!!! I never thought we'd beat the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas, but folks, WE DID IT :-) WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

To quote my son "the Cowboys suck!" - oh boy do they ever :-) To all of our critics out there, look at us now. Man, no one, including myself, gave us a chance to win and all of us were wrong. My dad called when it was over and I answered the phone with a cheer...his question/comment to me...."I guess after all these years, it still feels good to beat the Cowboys??" You bet it does!

Of course we have a long ways to go before the season ends...up next, the Eagles in their house, no easy task. But each week we get better and better....congrats Redskins....you deserved the win!

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS :-)
Redskins 26 - Dallas 24

And she SCORES...

2008-09-28T09:35:00.008-04:00

Yesterday we got up early to get ready for Brennan's 9 a.m. soccer game, Alyssa's 10 a.m. softball game and McKenna's 12:45 p.m. soccer game...only to find out at 8:35 a.m. that Brennan & Alyssa's games had both been cancelled due to wet fields. So I called our sitter for the afternoon and asked her to come an hour earlier assuming that McKenna's game would be cancelled too. David's mom called at 12:15 to confirm it was cancelled- I quickly replied yes - and we hung up. At that point David realized 'wait a second - her coach never called to say it was cancelled - we better confirm'...and confirm we did....that she DID have a game and we had 25 minutes to get ready and get there....it's a good 15 minutes from our house :-)

So we arrived with 4 minutes to spare shielded by our umbrellas because at this point it's POURING! We slush our way out to the field and about 5 minutes into her game the sky cleared, the rain stopped and the humidity went waaaaay up!!! But let me just say how happy I am that we made the game...McKenna scored her 1st goal of the season AND THEY WON!!!!!! They've played 3 games including yesterday and they are 1-2 so far....it felt so good to see them win. She was ecstatic of course - the coach tends to put her on defense, but I think she proved yesterday that she deserves a chance to play offense too. She may be littler than most, but she's not afraid to go in after the ball! Unfortunately, because it was raining when we got there, I didn't have my camera with me so no pics to share of their victory. Congrats Purple Dragons!

After the game David & I enjoyed a little adult time playing golf (I shot a 107 - very happy about that!) and then dinner. All in all it was a great day...and when we arrived home we found our kids had been replaced with a tiger, a bear and a white tiger...see below :-)

Our babysitter Molly painted their faces and they turned out really good...she's so good with them. They painted pictures, played cards, read books, had popcorn & ice cream...all within a matter of 5 hours. It's nice to know they're in good hands when we're gone!

Let the games begin

2008-09-19T21:46:00.007-04:00

Brennan, McKenna and Alyssa kicked off the fall sports season last Saturday with their first game. Brennan & McKenna are playing soccer and Alyssa is playing softball. Since they're at separate fields, I took M & B and David took Alyssa....hence the reason I only have pics of M & B.

Team Hot Shots - #4

I will make sure to get some of Alyssa at her next game. She's doing really great with softball and for the most part, enjoys it! She's also taking dance - tap & jazz - and is really enjoying that so we may have found her "thing" in life...for now.

Brennan's team played first and he was SO EXCITED!!! He likes practice, but he LOVES playing a "real game" - that's what he calls it! I know he's my son, but let me tell ya - he's fast.

Getting ready for the corner kick

He did a great job at his first game- didn't score any goals - but he sure did block a few. He had a really good time and at this age, that's really all that matters.

McKenna's team went 2nd and while they lost 3-1, they played a great game. They really played together well as a team and did a good job of staying in position. For her age group, that's what they work on the most and considering she's got a very "young" team, they're doing good.

Team Purple Dragons #3

The only downfall to the entire day was the incredible heat. Ugh - I'm not sure how those kids played :-) More games tomorrow - Alyssa has a bye - so I'll share some updates later on how they did.

"Camping" and Busch Gardens

2008-09-15T20:03:00.011-04:00

On Thursday when the kids got out of school we packed up and headed to the KOA Kampground in Williamsburg, VA. And when I say we packed up, I mean we PACKED UP! We were going to be gone for less than 48 hours and our truck was jam packed. Cooler, grill, food, drinks, suitcases, blankets, pillows, flashlights, lantern (thanks Karen!) and other odds and ends...all for 1 night and 1.5 days! ha ha Can you say beginner camper??! And when I say camping, I mean the wimpy way of camping...in a cabin! That's the only way I am willing to camp - tents, bugs and 3 kids doesn't cut it! Anyhow we had a one-room cabin with electricity, air conditioning, 1 double bed and 1 set of bunk beds....perfect. No bathroom -and no TV to Alyssa's dismay - but beds and a door ... that was enough for me!

The inside of our cabin

We arrived Thursday evening and joined approximately 12-14 other families. All of us were in the same section of the campground so all the kids could play together.

Brennan on the pillow bounce

We cooked out while the kids played on the pillow bounce - think a HUGE moon bounce without the sides and top - and once the sun went down the marshmallow roasting and smore making began! Several families brought glow sticks to share so the kids were able to play tag and cops 'n robbers using that as their "light"! It was really a good time....relaxing for the most part. On Friday the entire group headed to Busch Gardens.

The Family at Busch Gardens

The weather was pretty good - a little humid - but not super hot and it only rained for about 10 minutes. It was even better because the VA kids had school on Friday, but our kids were off so the park was empty. We never had to wait in line for one ride and most of the time we could ride over and over without getting off - it was perfect! The park is nice - LOTS of walking and LOTS of hills -but very nice.

Let the fun begin!

The favorite ride of the day for most of the kids was the Big Bad Wolf - a big roller coaster that thankfully all of my kids could ride. We hung out with Kerry, Jayci, Sean, Connor & Austin all day - the rest of the families broke up into smaller groups.

McKenna, Jayci & Alyssa in Dinosaur Land

Austin, Josh, Alyssa (in the back rown)...Connor, McKenna & Jayci with the Bald Eagle

One of our favorite roller coasters was the Griffon-it was very smooth and different! Here's a picture of it "hanging" at the top of the hill before it finally drops you down!

I was scared to ride it at first - I don't do upside down coasters - but I ended up riding it twice in a row. It really was fun!

Trying to get that many people through an amusement park together would be entirely too difficult! We got to the park at 10 a.m. and stayed til the bitter end at 6 p.m. when they closed.

Connor & Brennan

My Little Loves- still smiling at the end of the day!

From there we headed to Sonic for dinner.....yummmm Sonic! Then we went back to the campground and hung out til about 9:30 p.m. More smores,more cops 'n robbers, and more chatting around the campfire for the parents. It was really nice. We loaded up and headed home around 9:30 so we could be here for the kids soccer and softball games & pics first thing Sat. morning. We had a great time "camping" and look forward to the trip next year!

What a concert!

2008-09-13T19:25:00.006-04:00

She opened in this dress.

Last Monday I went to the Celine Dion concert at Verizon Center. I gotta admit - I wasn't very excited and questioned why I ever bought a ticket....but let me tell you....she was AWESOME!

2nd outfit of the night

I had chills, tears in my eyes and just thoroughly enjoyed her performance. She has the most powerful and beautiful voice and really is an entertainer.

3rd outfit - a little bizarre

Still not done changing...

Thanks to Kerry - and my camera - for the pics. She was 10 rows from the stage and had a great view. I was much higher up, but I still can't complain. It was a great concert :-)

House Rules

2008-09-13T19:09:00.010-04:00

Well I finally did it - I followed a few other people's leads and made a house rules, chores and rewards chart for the kids...with their help! Surprisingly enough, they had several suggestions - some I used and some I didn't

Before we started, I decided to make cup cakes with all of them. While they were baking, we started the charts.

The girls have their own chores chart

and Brennan has his

and then there are the house rules that everyone must follow.

They will earn coins for doing their chores - or going above and beyond - and lose coins for breaking the house rules. After they earn so many coins they can "cash" them in for a reward.

Such concentration!

Everyone had to take a turn putting on the icing

Almost done...and ready to eat!

While we waited for our cupcakes to finish, we finalized the charts...and they added a few decorations to their chores chart. Here's hoping this will create more balance and less chaos in our house :-) Now on to those cupcakes...

Introducing Cole Alexander

2008-09-04T20:34:00.007-04:00

My sister welcomed her 2nd baby boy on September 2nd at 12:58 a.m....Cole Alexander. He weighed 8 lbs., 4 oz., and was 21 inches long. I've gotta give Jenn (my sister) props...she went drug free during the entire delivery! Not by choice - waiting for the doc she dialated pretty fast and before she knew it they were past the point of giving her an epidural so drug free it was for her. She's my HERO now! I told her that her hubby owes her a big time spa trip for all that pain!! he he

Isn't he sweet?

But in the end she got the most perfect baby boy who is incredibly sweet and adorable. Not that I'm biased or anything! I can't wait to meet him - which might not be until Christmas (I hate living so far away) so until then I will have to survive by just seeing pictures of him.

The Happy Family

Congrats Jenn, Nick and big brother Chase....he's perfect and I'm so happy to have another nephew!

Are you ready for some football?!

2008-09-04T20:19:00.003-04:00

I sure am! I absolutely LOVE football season - specifically pro football and the Redskins - and I'm so happy the season kicked off again tonight. The game is on right now and although I'm not happy with their performance so far (it's 16-0 with 1 minute left in the half)
I'm so glad football is back.

GO SKINS!!!

Not only do we have something to watch all day Sunday and Monday night, but it also means the shows I love are coming back on soon...sure it means we've hit homework hell with our kids, the sports shuttle (aka my truck!) is running full steam and my hours at work are increasing, but I love fall, I love football and I love being a sports mom...I know...I'm goofy!

Update on the game...we just scored (FINALLY) so it's now 16-7. Jeesh we need to get it together!!!

Happy football season! I need to get back to paying attention to my Skins.

McKenna's "accident"

2008-08-29T15:10:00.006-04:00

Last weekend David took on the somewhat daunting task of teaching Alyssa & McKenna to ride their bikes without training wheels while I was golfing. McKenna is a very determined little girl who told her daddy she wanted to learn how to ride it like that before her sister!! A little sibling competition is good for the soul right?! ha ha They spent several hours outside in the grass mastering their skills and when I came home progressed to the driveway. Alyssa isn't nearly as determined as McKenna - she gives up much easier and has little to no patience (hmmm...wonder who she gets that from! he he) - but I'm happy to say they both had it under control for the most part by that evening.

McKenna

Of course they wanted to show off their new skill for their friends and family so we headed down the street to Wendy & Scooty's house (David's cousin) where they had tons of people to show...5 other kids including their cousin's Megan & Trevor, my bro and sis-in-law (Melissa & Jimmy) and Scooty's parents.

Alyssa

It's a gorgeous night - I grab a beer and a seat in the comfy adirondack chair and begin to chat. Not 10 minutes later we hear a LOUD THUMP and about 10 seconds later someone screams "OH MY GOD, SHE'S BLEEDING!"....she being McKenna. The determined little girl had drove her bike right into the back of my parked SUV...nose first :-( Naturally there was lots (and lots) of bleeding, but lucky for me, Scooty is an EMT so he took control. I wasn't freaking out at all - I was talking to her the entire time and holding her hair back as he worked to control the bleeding. Good news - all her teeth were still in place and she was only injured on the nose. Bad news -her nose had swollen up instantly and was turning black & blue so we decided a little trip to the ER was for the best.

It's hard to tell, but notice the blood on her bow on the shirt...and her one nostril is dark...that's blood!

Thanks to Melissa & Jimmy - they kept Alyssa & Brennan (who was gagging when he saw the blood!!!) - while we went to the ER. We arrived at 8:18 p.m. and we left at 2:30 a.m. Yes, SIX HOURS later we were finally released with a bruised and scratched up daughter, but no broken or fractured nose...thank goodness! She slept from 10 p.m. - 1 a.m. while we waited to have x-rays taken so at least she caught a good cat nap. David & I on the other hand, were super tired - not to mention bored - but happy to find out it wasn't broken.

It's blurry - but it was taken at 3 a.m. Notice the bruising - it's hard to see!

The very next day we headed over to my mother-in-law's house so McKenna, and Alyssa, could show off their new bike riding skills. I'm happy to report that no one crashed and burned...and that McKenna was brave enough to get back on the bike less than 24 hours later. The bike riding continues...and I'm sure we'll have more bumps and bruises along the way...but for now things have calmed down some in our house. Thank goodness :-)

Mother's Instinct

2008-08-26T21:29:00.009-04:00

Last Friday I took Alyssa & Brennan to the Blue Crabs game...a minor league baseball team that recently opened in our county. Melissa, Megan, Kerry and Jayci joined us and we met Joanne there with her granddaughter Gracie. The theme of the night was Skins vs. Dallas so naturally our entire group was DECKED out in Redskins gear! Booo Dallas :-)

Alyssa, Megan, Jayci & Brennan

My mom and a few of her friends also attended the game...we sat behind the Blue Crabs dugout and they sat behind the opposing team's dugout.

Me, Melissa & Kerry

Kerry, Jayci, Megan & Melissa singing Hail to the Redskins!

The night started out great. The weather was beautiful, Joanne was able to get us seats in her section - 4 rows from the field, right behind the home team dugout - it was perfect. Not soon after we sat down Joanne called her daughter Shelby - who works for the Blue Crabs - to see if she could get all 5 kids down on the field for a carnvial like game in between innings. Shelby quickly called back and said yes and within a few minutes she was standing at the top of the stairs in our section waiting for them to go up to her.

Melissa called my mom to let her know to look out for them and I got my camera ready....my last words to Melissa were "please don't let that girl lose my kid" to which she replied "don't be ridiculous - they are FINE!"

So off they go - up to Shelby - back down to the field and they're playing a game where you have to throw a ball (or bean bag) into the clown's mouth on the big wooden board....I'm taking pics and then I suddenly realize BRENNAN IS NOT ON THE FIELD!!!!

Notice - no Brennan - no #89 jersey anywhere on that field...this is where the night went downhill!

My panic level rises slightly - Melissa asks my mom if she can see him from her seats...no. I ask Kerry if she sees him...no. Then the kids are coming back up the stairs, off the field and I yell to Alyssa "where's Brennan?" and she shrugs her shoulders and says I dunno. OH MY GOD...OH MY GOD - are you serious?! Melissa hangs up with my mom, I drop everything in my hands and immediately start crying....and running.

I run up the stairs searching - looking at every little face I can see - and none of them are my baby. My 5 year old is missing and I'm a hysterical mess. I finally find a cop and tell him my problem....he asks for his stats....name, height, age, what's he wearing....this is when i realize that he's not wearing anything that will make him stand out in the crowd...he's wearing a Santana Moss (89) Redskins jersey and so are 90% of the people there (ok maybe not Moss, but a jersey!). He seemed rather uniniterested.

About 10 minutes has gone by at this time. I am sobbing. My mom is crying. Melissa is searching the men's bathrooms. The entire section I was sitting in is looking for him...and still my 5 year old baby is missing. How can this be?! HOW?

And then - finally -a lifetime later.....Kerry SEES HIM. OH MY GOD - she sees him and I take off sprinting in the direction she pointed. Still crying HARD - running fast - and I see him. He's really still here - holding an usher's hand - sobbing. I fall to the ground - literally - and hug him tighter than I thought possible. I just kept apologizing to him - I'm sooooo sorry buddy - I'm so sorry :-( People are watching us - my mom is crying - Melissa is crying - and people are just watching. The usher finally moves us into the nurse's station so we can regroup and calm down. I thanked him a million times and that wasn't enough. We cried and hugged more and my mom went to calm Alyssa down - who I forgot to mention was also sobbing for her little brother.

Back together again - so very happy!

In my entire life -I'm not sure I've ever felt panic like that. Not even when I was robbed at gunpoint a few years back. Nothing in my life has ever prepared me for that feeling and I hope for the rest of my life I never feel that type of panic again...ever. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. I held him tight for the rest of the evening - treated him to ice cream and plenty of hugs & kisses.

Alyssa with the Blue Crabs mascot

Enjoying the slide before we left

It still brings tears to my eyes when I think I might have never found him. Two lessons learned from this terrible incident:

1. Make sure your kids know your first and last name....during his panic he couldn't remember our last name - poor baby :-(

2. Always go with your mother's instinct. My gut said he shouldn't go with that girl - I said it out loud to Melissa "please don't let that girl lose my kid" and I let him go anyhow. NEVER again will I ignore my mother's instinct....ever.

Oh I how LOVE this child....

First Day of School

2008-08-25T14:40:00.007-04:00

Another year has begun - it's hard to believe how quickly the summer went by - but today was the first day of school! Alyssa & McKenna are officially 2nd graders and "my baby" is a kindergartner!!! Where did the time go?

Alyssa waiting to leave

So proud of his backpack!

McKenna

McKenna didn't get to ride the bus on the first day - more to come on that - but we were at the doc's office having her nose examined after she rode her bike into my SUV on Saturday night!!!

Brennan did great getting on the bus - he gave me a big smile, a big kiss and big wave good-bye and off he went.

Getting on the bus

Alyssa was sitting with him on the bus - being a good big sister. I was super proud of myself - not one tear was shed :-)

The Family

Let the fun of school and homework begin...hope everyone else had a great first day of school - or your kids did!

ASA Clambake

2008-08-24T19:37:00.013-04:00

Every year my company does some sort of event for staff and/or family in the summer. The past few years we've had a company picnic and brought our families along. This year they changed it up and on Friday we had the first ever ASA Clambake at that National Harbor. Fosters Downeast Clambake were our hosts and everyone had a blast!

Melissa, Karen and I

Believe it or not, the weather was perfect (yes, it's still August in DC!) and we were under a tent right on the Potomac River. It was gorgeous! We indulged on New England Clam Chowder, Steamed Mussels & Clams and then a choice of BBQ chicken or a whole maine lobster, red potatoes and corn on the cob. I chose the lobster and it was delightful - so tasty :-)

Our yummy lunch!

Karen & I trying our first ever steamed clam....they were good!

Melissa & Toby

After that feast we finished with blueberry crumb cake wihch was very tasty too. And of course it wouldn't be an ASA event without booze and games! We played our own version of "The Office" Olympics and had a great time.

My Olympics team...Katie, Luanne, Lyn, Steve, Emily, Melissa, Brandon & Sarah

We did platform diving (think oversized paper clip being dropped in a coffee cup), javelin (paper airplanes), shotput (throwing staplers!), Olympic trivia, artistic gymnastics (charades) and basketball (cups filled with water were the baskets - the balls were ping pong balls). Unfortunately my team didn't win, but here's a shot of the gold medal winners...I think they cheated :-) ha ha

The Gold Medalists...Dawn, Karen, Joy, Ray, Michelle, Karen, Andrea & Tracy

Before we knew it the day had ended and most of the staff boarded the
water taxi and headed home.

A view from the tent

For anyone in the area, I'd highly recommend a visit to the National Harbor if you haven't seen it yet - it's very pretty and has lots of great restaurants to choose from...including Fosters!

Beach Bums!

2008-08-21T13:14:00.019-04:00

As promised, here's another update on our summer fun...our trip to Panama City Beach (PCB), FL. Luckily for us, my dad and stepmom bought a townhouse at the beach and hurried to have it ready for our arrival in mid-July. We drove down...what an adventure that was...and arrived ready to have fun. On the way down we stopped for gas at 11:30 p.m., 3 kids and a dog in the truck, and when David went to start it up again all we got was this CLICK, CLICK, CLICK....a DEAD BATTERY!!! Of course the first words out of my hubby's mouth were "I KNEW you needed a new battery!" As you can imagine, that didn't make the situation any better. We got a jump, stopped at the next exit to get a new battery at the 24-hour Walmart and were on our way again. What a mess!

While in PCB we went to the beach 4 times (the water is amazingly beautiful there), went to the pool everyday, David & I got to play golf twice (thanks Dad & Lisa for babysitting), played mini-golf twice, ate WAY too much (he he) and got some good quality time with my nephews Chase & Braden.

Our first day on the beach - with Lisa

Dinner at the Treasure Ship

Surfin' the waves - boy did they have fun doing that!

Sadly enough, this is the only family shot we got all week!

One of the best parts of our trip was our day on the Sea Dragon...a Pirate Ship cruise.

Chase, Alyssa & Braden headed for the pirate ship

The Sea Dragon Pirate Ship

The 5 of us were joined by my stepmom Lisa, Braden & Chase for a 2-hour cruise. Boy did they keep those kids busy! They had the boys swab the deck (mop), they all got their faces painted (well not Chase - he didn't think that was so cool!), they read them a pirate story, went hunting for a treasure, got to enjoy the treasure, played limbo, danced with tamborines, and the best part....a real, live water gun fight with another boat. It was hysterical and those kids were drenched when it was over :-)

My lil pirate...swabbing the deck

Braden

Arrggh!

Another fun day was spent at Gulf World where we got to enjoy a dolphin show, sea lion show, and a reptile show. Here is my crazy daughter McKenna holding a Columbian Python. GROSS! She does not get her love for animals from her mommy that's for sure! And yes, he is real!

FORE! An evening of mini-golf

All in all, our time in PCB went by extremely too fast, but we filled every moment with fun things that given us memories to last a lifetime. My kids are still talking about Pop Pop & Lisa's beach house! They can't wait to go back...and neither can I :-)

Alyssa enjoying the weather at dinner - I love this pic!

Chase & McKenna

After we left PCB we headed to my dad's house in Tallahassee for a few days where I got to meet my beautiful niece Madelyn (aka Maddie). I spent hours holding her (no it didn't make me want another one!!) and we got to see my grandma too.

Madelyn Grace

Pop Pop, Lisa and all the grandkids. This was the best shot we could get!

When we left FL we were KID FREE -woo hoo!!! Thanks again Dad & Lisa for keeping the kids - they had such a good time.

David I headed home alone and took a short pitstop in Lake Norman, NC - outside Charlotte. We spent 2 days there golfing and house hunting....we think we've found our future home, but when is the 10 million dollar question!

As always, vacations come to an end way too fast and before we knew it we were back in Simpsonville (what I call where we live) and headed back to work....but we did manage to get in TONS and TONS of golf while the kids were gone. More on that later...

Summer Update

2008-08-13T20:36:00.005-04:00

I thought it was time for me to give another summer update since it was 1 1/2 months ago since I last posted! It's been a very busy, but fun summer so I will break these up into several posts so they aren't overwhelming! First...

Warder Family Reunion in July

My mom's family - mom, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews...you get the idea!

Every other year my mom's family holds a family reunion and this was the year for the big gathering!

Our family before the festivities started

The reunion draws people from all over the country and can have anywhere up to 150 attendees....lots of family members to visit with during the weekend :-)

My mom, Brennan and my Grandma (mom's mom)

It starts on Friday night when we go to eat crabs - they were delicious this year. On Saturday we all gather at Marbury Run Park for a day filled with food, fun and laughter. Each family brings a dish and it goes on the table family style - boy did Brennan like that idea! ha ha The kids got to participate in a bubble gum blowing contest,

Alyssa won this contest!

McKenna preparing to eat the apple...with no front teeth!

apple eating contest (no hands allowed), water balloon throwing contest and tug-o-war. The weather, surprisingly enough, wasn't overly hot and we had a really good time. Unfortunately, not as many people showed up this year - especially kids - but that meant my kids got to win lots of prizes!! The big hit all day was the tree swing (man it's old - I used to get on it when I was a kid!!) and the creek - couldn't keep my kids outta there for some reason :-)

On Sunday we went to Capt. John's Crabhouse for another round of crabs and finished up the weekend Monday with a trip to Kings Dominion. Needless to say, the kids really loved that!

Brennan, Alyssa, McKenna, Jayci & Cousin Callie at Kings Dominion

Alyssa rode every wooden roller coaster at the park....Grizzly, Rebel Yell, Scooby Doo...over and over. Unfortunately, McKenna still isn't tall enough so she didn't get to ride all of them. But she still had a good time and really loved the waterslides....especially watching how scared her mommy was on them! ha ha Hopefully next year she'll hit the magical height to ride all the coasters.

Next post...Florida vacation...coming soon!

Where in the world is....

2008-07-01T22:08:00.007-04:00

the owner of this blog?! Well I'm here, but having an incredibly busy summer. I'm sorry I've been so out of touch lately - over a month 1/2 now (wow time flies!) - so I'll do a quick recap of the past 45 days.

Alyssa, Megan, McKenna & Brennan

School is obviously over - I can't believe Brennan has graduated from pre-k, is moving on to Kindergarten this fall and will finally RIDE THE BIG YELLOW BUS!!!

With his pre-k teacher, Mrs. Anderson, on the last day of school

I'm happy for him, but sad for me, as it means he's just growing up so fast.

The girls finished 1st grade with glowing remarks from the teacher and principal. They had awesome test scores during the 4th quarter in both math and reading and are ready for 2nd grade...already!

Soccer & tball ended...
Alyssa with her soccer medal

and we quickly jumped into the Swan Point swim team (Alyssa) and that has been keeping up super busy since mid-June. She's learning a lot and doing great...and even won FIRST place in the breaststroke competition last week. I was so proud of her. The best part is she enjoys it and that's 1/2 the battle with her...if not more :-)

Proudly showing her heat winner ribbon from the breaststroke

McKenna took a week long golf class that she thoroughly enjoyed. At the conclusion of the class, they got to play 4 holes at the course I play each week and had a little cookout. It was very cute!

Waiting to make her first tee shot!

Brennan's been busy enjoying his summer at Miss Donna's this year. He finished tball with a bang - he just really improved and had a great time!

Brennan & Daddy with his t-ball trophy

In addition to being busy at Miss Donna's, he's been going to bday parties, swimming and playing his Wii. He's having a great summer and looking forward to our Florida vacation coming up soon.

At the park watching the ducks

This month we have my bi-annual family reunion and a trip to Kings Dominion to look forward to....more golf, eating crabs, swimming, more golf (!!) and before I know, summer will be over and we'll be back to school, homework and oh yea - my convention in San Diego this October. It's amazing how quickly time goes by the older I get.

I'll try to post more often, but in the meantime, I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T12:07:00.007-04:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing day today. So far mine has been great...I got to sleep in (it's rainy and chilly here - perfect weather for sleeping in!) and then I woke up to the smell of scrambled eggs, fried potatoes and biscuits. YUMMMMY!

After breakfast David and the kids gave me some AWESOME Mom's day gifts....

picture frame

CD - Leona Lewis

book

heart rate monitor watch (I asked for this)

stepping stone for the garden - Brennan made this at school

pictures of the girls with magnets on the back - they made these at school

tote bag with their handprints on it - and their names - they made these at aftercare and it is sooooo cute.

I have a "thing" for any gifts with their handprints on them so this was very special to me. I owe my daycare provider a BIG thank you for being so thoughtful!

We went to dinner with my mom, his mom, Henry, Alexis, Melissa, Jimmy, Megan, Trevor, Jennifer (his sister) and Steve (her boyfriend). I must say - the kids behaved WONDERFULLY throughout dinner....and a trip for ice cream. A complete stranger even complimented on us on how well-behaved they were - really made us mom's (and dad's) proud!

Happy Mom's Day!

The Last Hurrah

2008-05-11T12:02:00.007-04:00

Brennan had his 3rd and final bday party last Friday when my dad was here visiting. Maw Maw Barbara, Pop Pop Henry and Alexis also came over for cake and presents. This time the cake was a Carvel ice cream cake - yum! He had a great time and my Dad/Lisa were happy they were here to celebrate his bday with him.

Don't miss the post below...

Family Time

2008-05-11T11:28:00.013-04:00

Last week my dad, Lisa and grandma came to visit from Florida. We hadn't seen them since New Year's so it was nice to have them up for a few days.

The weather was absolutely beautiful while they were here and we had such a great time together. The kids found a turtle - that was a HUGE hit. Lisa convinced them to put the turtle under a bush and by dinner time, he was gone. Thank goodness - we don't need anymore pets!

Alyssa & McKenna had soccer games and Brennan had 2 t-ball games so they were able to see all 3 of them play sports.

Lisa & I got a pedicure - so relaxing (!) - and we ate WAY too much good food :-) Pizza, steak 'n cheese, fried chicken, guacamole, chips 'n dip, cake....yummmmy.

Friday & Saturday nights, the kids "camped out" in our basement in the tents that Pop Pop and Lisa got them for Cmas. They thought this was so cool! Needless to say, they went to bed super late and were up super early so by Sunday night, they were worn out.

On Saturday it was my nephew Trevor's bday party - they had a cookout - so we went to that and Lisa came along for the party. We had a really good time and hung out a little longer than expected. But the beer was cold, the food was good and we were having fun chatting so it was hard to leave.

Sunday my cousins came down to visit....Jeff, Stephanie and their daughter Jillian

Kristin and her son Landon

and Andy. We had a nice cookout and great weather so the kids were able to play outside most of the day. The waterslide they got for Cmas from my dad/Lisa made it's way back to us during their trip so they had a blast with that.

My dad played basketball with the kids,

the swingset got a great workout and we played Pictionary Jr. with all the kids.

Of course their time here went by too fast and they headed back to FL last Wednesday. We were sad to see them go, but we're looking forward to another visit in July...and to the kids getting 2 weeks with them while we come back home and try to figure out what to do with our free time...HA! As if we can't figure that one out :-)

Celebration Number 2

2008-05-01T15:07:00.020-04:00

Yesterday was Brennan's "official" birthday - so hard for me to believe that he's FIVE years old already.

Showing off his B-Day hat from school

It seems like just yesterday we found out we were having a boy and just like that he's 5 already. He's such a wonderful, funny little boy who brings so much joy into our lives.

His very busy day started with a cupcake celebration in his classroom which his Daddy attended! From there he spent the afternoon with his "Maw Maw Winda (Linda)" who so kindly picked him up from school at noon, took him to lunch at the Greene Turtle, then to Target to buy 2 new toys and then home to get his birthday presents from her. His presents included a new Wii racing game with the steering wheel (boy does he LOVE that!!!), some clothes (which he says are a boring present!!!) and some Iron Man action figure toys.

After a trip to the gym with my mom and I, he went to play his tball game before heading home. Yellow cake with Chocolate icing - yummmmy -

C'mon - gimme some cake!

and more presents finished the day for him! Mommy & Daddy got him a basketball hoop and basketball - can't wait to play - and a new Iron Man dress-up mask and shooter thing (that's what he calls it)!

IRON MAN

Alyssa & McKenna got him some new army tanks, army men, army motorcycle, etc. And Aunt Jenn & Uncle Nick got him the "Playground" game for his Wii. Check out those army toys - aren't they cool?!

Happy 5th Birthday Brennan!

A Spongey Party

2008-04-28T19:35:00.011-04:00

Brennan had his kid's birthday party on Saturday at One Stop Family Adventure Center - and he had a BLAST!

Getting ready to leave

The center has lots of different moon bounces, arcade games, slides,

air hockey and a go kart track.

Originally he wanted a Superman party, but this place is all-inclusive so to get the most bang for our buck he had to switch to a Spongebob party. The price included 10 kids, pizza, soda, a customized Spongebob cake, plates, balloons and tablecloths (all themed), pictures in his theme, go kart rides (2 per kid) and tokens to use in the arcade.

Needless to say, from a parent's perspective it was fantastic - we literally had to just show up! No set-up, no serving, no clean-up ... what more could I ask for :-) The sad part for me - if sad is the right word - is that we only had 9 kids show up for the party including my own, but in the end Brennan had fun and that's all that matters.

The party crew!

The girls spent almost all their time - and tons of our money (and Maw Maw Barbara's) on the "claw" machine. At the end of it all, I think we came home with approximately 15 stuffed animals...ugh! The go kart rides were a huge hit. None of the kids were old enough - or rather tall enough -to drive, but that didn't matter. The pizza was good, the cake was yummy and he got some nice gifts....all in all it was a good day.

This of course is just round one of his birthday celebration...Wed. is the official day so he'll celebrate at school with cupcakes. And then Friday my dad is coming up from Florida so we'll celebrate yet again with him. It's just a big birthday week for my "baby"! I'll post more after the rest of his parties happen.

Happy early birthday Bud!

Water logged

2008-04-21T21:25:00.015-04:00

I'm a little late getting this post up, but hey, better late than never right! A week 1/2 ago we went to Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA.

Connor, Jayci, Brennan, Alyssa, Chase & Austin

We had such a GREAT time! There is really something there for every age. When you drive up you are greeted by the lodge. It's an amazing resort that truly gives you that "lodge" feel. It's very rustic inside with animals on the walls, lanterns made from deer antlers and logs all around.

There's an awesome fireplace in the main lobby along with cozy leather chairs and couches to gather around. All the rooms are decorated with wilderness accents and wallpaper and come with a balcony. And then you enter the indoor waterpark....WOW!

They have a wave pool, kiddie pool with slides, the treehouse with mid-level slides and a bucket that fills up and then dumps all over everyone, the surf pool, 4 adults slides and the tornado slide!!! I'm happy to say I rode all of the slides EXCEPT for the tornado. That's too much for me :-) But my mom rode it and so did my mother-in-law - crazy fools! We arrived on Sat. and headed straight for the water.

Brennan's favorite part - the water that came up out of the floor!

Trevor, Brennan, Megan & Alyssa

We were there from probably noon - 7 p.m. before we finally called it a night. The kids...and the grownups....thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We rode the slides, rode the waves and some of us even rode the surf.

Alyssa surfing!

After showering and making ourselves somewhat presentable, we headed downstairs for dinner....finally at 8:30 p.m.! We stayed at the lodge and had a really good buffet. It had everything you can think of and was quick, easy and affordable! After dinner we hung out by the fire before heading to bed.

Sunday we spent several more hours at the waterpark - getting our fill - before finally drying off to drive back home. But first there was a stop at Sonic for lunch. Yay Sonic!!!

Having seen the pictures and heard the stories, McKenna is very anxious to go to the lodge. Not sure when we'll go back, but we will go back. Other than coming home and ending up sick (cold and/or stomach thing), the trip to Great Wolf was a huge success and I highly recommend it!

Americanism

2008-04-13T20:34:00.006-04:00

I can honestly say I have never heard that word before...until McKenna's art work of a bald eagle was selected to be judged in the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Americanism art competition. On Saturday David & McKenna attended a ceremony and reception to honor the winners - who were chosen from a pool of approximately 50 pictures - and it was a very proud day for Daddy! In the end, there were 12 winners and the art work included bald eagles, American Flags, and the Capitol.

McKenna showing off her artwork with Mrs. Cowan (art teacher)

The program included remarks by the hosts, the students "showcasing" their work to the audience by walking it around to each table (about 30 people attended), and then an individual award presentation to each student.

Accepting her award

Proudly displaying the award certificate

Each child received a framed certificate and am American Flag gift bag that included a beanie baby Bald Eagle, a camo teddy bear, a $5 gift card to McDonald's, along with crayons, flag paper and other goodies.

But her fun weekend didn't stop there - she had 2 full days of one-on-one time with David which they both throughly enjoyed! After the awards presentation he took her to dinner at the Greene Turtle and then to Bert's for ice cream. They went to Toys R Us, rented "Alvin & the Chipmunks", and had popcorn together, cut the grass, watched Animal Planet, made brownies and played board games. Needless to say, she loved every minute of it and kept telling David "this is the best day ever!!!" Although I missed having her with us at Great Wolf Lodge, I'm very happy she had a great weekend with Daddy :-)

I'll post about our weekend at Great Wolf Lodge when I get pics from Kerry - I had to leave my camera for David so I could see what I was missing!

Our budding artist

2008-04-08T21:22:00.003-04:00

David called me on my way home today and said McKenna came bouncing off the bus with 2 letters in her hand - the school had sent them home. At first, I must admit, I thought she had done something wrong. Boy was I WAY off base (thank goodness)!

The letters were from her art teacher. The first one informed us that her art work had been submitted to the VFW Americanism contest and she had won either 1st, 2nd, 3rd or honorable mention out of all the entires submitted for the ENTIRE state of Maryland. Not just our school, or our county, but the entire state. I was amazed! And she is sooooo incredibly proud - it's just so cute.

So this Saturday the VFW is hosting a reception to announce what place each person won and honor them at an award's ceremony for the Americanism contest. Sounds great right?! Well yes....except....we have tickets and a hotel room at Great Wolf Lodge. What to do?! Well we gave her the option and as of now, David & McKenna will be staying home to attend her ceremony (which he will videotape for me to see later) and I will be taking Alyssa & Brennan to the indoor water park with my mom and the rest of the folks scheduled to go with us.

I'm disappointed that I can't attend the ceremony, but at the same time, I can't make Alyssa & Brennan miss out on a weekend they're very excited about. And needless to say, David & I are so very proud of McKenna's accomplishments! The good news is I will get to see the video of it AND she's being honored at another reception on April 24th for the piece that was selected to be on display at the Board of Ed...so I'll at least get to see that!

WAY TO GO MCKENNA...we're so proud of you!

The years go by too fast

2008-04-04T14:46:00.007-04:00

How in the world did 5 years (almost) go by so fast? What happened to my baby boy?!!! On April 30, Brennan will turn 5 and for me that's always been when it went from feeling like a "toddler" was in the house to having a "kid" in the house. It just seems like when they hit 5 years old they've crossed a line of sorts - they're more "grown up". While I don't always miss the craziness of him being a baby...who had reflux, colic and sleep apnea (ugh!)... sometimes I wish time would slow down just a little...I guess we all do :-) Here's a look back in time - some of my fave photos of him - from not so long ago.

My dad & Lisa bought this outfit for Brennan-their first grandson- and I have always just LOVED this picture of him. He's about 8 months old here and holding one of my dad's duck calls. He's not a hunter yet, but David hasn't give up on that either!

The hat says "Papa's Little Hunter"

In this next picture, Brennan is 1 1/2 years old. We decided on a whim to go to VA Beach over Labor Day - just the 5 of us - and we had the best time! As you can see, he loves ice cream :-)

Here's my lil man having fun at my brother's rehearsal dinner...he was just barely ONE!

And last but not least, doing one of his most favorite things...EATING! He's 20 months old here.

Thank goodness for pictures and videos. They help me hold onto him as a baby while he continues to grow up right before my very eyes.

A sleepover with cousins

2008-04-02T21:58:00.005-04:00

Last Friday Megan & Trevor - our niece and nephew - came over for a slumber party. A month or so ago we had invited them over, but Megan got sick and was unable to stay - Trevor did - but she missed out. SO, we tried again and this time were successful!

Strike a pose!

We had pizza, ice cream sundaes and the kids spent most of the night playing before it was time for a movie and bed. Dress-up was the theme of the night....from Batman to Belle (the princess) to Batgirl....we had a variety of "celebrities" hanging out with us that night!

Brennan (as himself), McKenna (cheetah girl), Megan (Belle),

Alyssa (Batgirl), Trevor (Spidey)

Unfortunately, Saturday morning came WAY too early in our house...they woke up at 7:15 a.m. UGH! Luckily they watched a movie that allowed David & I...along with Brennan who found his way into our room (as usual!) during the middle of the night...a chance to sleep in some. We finished off the slumber party with breakfast, more "celebrity" sightings and lunch before Jimmy came to get them.

Show me your muscles!

I think everyone had fun and they're looking forward to their next sleepover!

Fun at the Circus

2008-04-02T21:25:00.014-04:00

Last week, Kerry, David, Jayci, Alyssa, McKenna, Brennan and I went to opening night at Verizon Center to see the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Waiting to go in

This was the 1st time our kids had been and overall, they had a really good time! Brennan got a little antsy towards the end, but he still had fun.

From a parent's perspective - a bit boring at times, ridiculously expensive (think $12 for cotton candy!!!), but fun to watch the looks on the kids faces :-) Of course all of my kids LOVE animals and were delighted to see zebras, horses, dancing dogs, elephants, lions, tigers....along with clowns, gymnasts and dancers. The best part - believe it or not - was the dogs. They were hilarious- dancing in tutus, riding scooters...yes, really riding a scooter and pushing it along with one paw - doing crazy jumps....just all kinds of fun and entertaining stuff.

Pretending to be clowns....or wait, are they pretending?!

Enjoying the confetti that fell at the end - I just love this picture!

Before the show, we got to go down on the floor to interact with the clowns, try on their outfits and supposedly get up close to some of the animals. Well that part never happened - it was way too crowded to even think about that happening! Brennan was scared so him & David headed for our seats - which were surprisingly close - and the rest of held out a bit longer. McKenna was the most willing to participate

Alyssa had to be forced to try on this outfit!

Hey - I paid a lot of money for those tickets - I wanted some participation from the kiddies :-)
HA HA!

Jayci showing off her crazy hat and clown nose

Yay - a family shot!

McKenna enjoying the confetti ending

Finally, after a long drive home, we got in bed at 11:30 p.m. Thank goodness it was spring break week for them - and the next day was Friday - they were tired babes!

Hoppy Easter!

2008-03-24T20:16:00.026-04:00

WARNING: Long post ahead with lots of pictures!!

We had a fantastic day yesterday. The kids woke up around 7:45 a.m. and were ready to GO! David & I had put together the baskets the night before and as usual, hid them to make it more fun for the kids. Here are the baskets after we finished assembling them.

The girls got yet another Webkinz and Brennan's basket had a bat, ball and glove....plus candy of course. When we came down the stairs Easter morning this is what we saw...yes, Daddy had gone above and beyond AGAIN and bought each of them a set of golf clubs including the bag, headcovers, balls and tees!

They weren't overly thrilled with those...at first...but after awhile they got excited about those.

Brennan's basket was found first - and he was excited.

Then Alyssa found her's

and finally McKenna....

and boy were they thrilled about their Webkinz!!! When I came back into the family room I found Brennan curled up in a bawl, crying his eyes out....and you know why?! Because the Easter Bunny didn't bring him a Webkinz :-) I was like WHAT?!! He was super upset which broke our hearts because we thought for sure he'd love what his basket had in it...not to mention the golf clubs! I calmed him down, the candy brought his spirits back up and the tears subsided....oh and I had to promise him I'd buy him a Webkinz this week too....yea, yea, I'm a sucker :-)

After we got ready a round of pictures ensued

and then we headed to his mom's. Another round of baskets - more candy, an outfit for each and some other goodies. Ham, biscuits, some chit chat and we hit the road running again.

Alyssa, Megan, Alexis, McKenna, Brennan & Trevor

From there we went to his aunt's house right across the street from us and had an absolute fantastic time. She does the best job putting on the Easter party and much to the kids delight, had filled 300....yes 300....eggs for the Easter egg hunt! We hid 100 at a time to prolong the fun...and boy did they have fun! They climbed trees

That's my girl - climbing a tree with a skirt on!

Brennan was right there with her.

(Brennan fell out face first, but he's ok), played on the swings,

slide, tire swings

WHEEEEE!!!!!

and played basketball,

soccer, tag, frisbee and anything else they could think of! Needless to say, they (shoot me) were completely worn out...and yet, our day wasn't over!

We came home and waited for my mom to arrive....for yet another round of baskets!!! Can you say SPOILED?! She found the prettiest baskets for them

and filled them with some neat stuff. A little candy, another Webkinz for the girls (luckily Brennan was occupied with a movie so this didn't send him into another round of tears!), a Spiderman bouncy ball for him...all kinds of fun stuff.

Finally at 9 p.m. they went to bed and I wasn't far behind! Happy Easter everyone :-)

Easter Came Early...

2008-03-22T17:22:00.009-04:00

for the kids. My Aunt Julie from Florida ALWAYS remembers them on every holiday and Easter was no different. When we came home from soccer practice Thursday night there was a box waiting for them and they were delighted. Inside were little easter baskets filled with candy and other little goodies.

Checking out the goodies!

As Brennan put it "Aunt Julie sends us the BEST presents!".

Alyssa admires her new bracelet

Showing off their baskets of candy and gifts...thank you Aunt Julie!!!

Included in the basket was lots of bubblegum.

McKenna was VERY excited to blow her 1st bubble :-)

Tomorrow is Easter and the kids are getting very excited. We have a busy day planned....I'll share more of that tomorrow.

HAPPY EASTER!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-17T14:08:00.007-04:00

Hello all -

I've been MIA for quite some time now, but I'm back now! Just tired at night and don't feel much like getting on the computer after being on it all day for work. I'll try harder to keep up more often.

We're getting ready to be heavily involved with the kids sports programs again....soccer for the girls and tball for Brennan. I love watching them play - it' s a part of parenthood I have looked forward to for so long. Yes, it gets hectic running the roads all week for practice...and yes, the games at this age aren't quite so entertaining....but it's fun and I love it! I mean where else can you watch the cutest kids ever pick grass than at a tball game :-) ha ha McKenna moved up to a new level of soccer that involves goalies so it should be more competitive and a bigger challenge for her. I'll let you know how it goes this season.

Other than that, not much happening right now. This is a boring time of the year for me - no Skins games. No golf. No sports that I enjoy on TV. BUT it's going to change soon. So for now, it's a downtime for us, but as we get closer to Spring, it'll get more exciting and busy.

Happy St. Patty's Day and to anyone going out for green beer today - BE SAFE!

Here are some pics of the girls actual bday and a few others to catch you up. Enjoy!

McKenna and her Webkinz!

Alexis, McKenna, Megan & Alyssa

The family - Feb. 28

Brennan on hat day

Birthday Bash

2008-02-25T21:24:00.004-05:00

The girls celebrated their 7th birthday (a few days early) at Color Me Mine pottery studio on Saturday...it's a paint your own pottery place.

The theme was puppies, but that was really only for the plates and cups - the cake was pretty traditional. They had such a good time.

Each girl had to pick one piece of pottery to paint....they had a choice of a horse, bunny, starfish, cupcake trinket box, sea turtles or a dog...and I must say the majority of them chose the horse and cupcake. Except for McKenna - she chose the bunny.

Sydney, Hannah, Katie & Alex

All of the girls did such a great job creating their masterpieces - all 13 of them - and really had a good time doing it.

The party crew

After they were done painting, we had ice cream cake (yum!)

Then it was time to open presents! They were so happy - they each got FOUR webkinz (this makes 12 total for each of them!), lots of arts and crafts, gift cards and a few "real" toys.

The loot!

On Thursday - their actual birthday - we will celebrate with family and more cake after dinner. Oh...and let's not forget cupcakes for their class!!!

They've been getting cards and presents in the mail all week - it's the birthday that never ends :-) But they love it and it's fun enjoying it with them.

Happy Birthday (early) Alyssa & McKenna - I simply cannot believe you're almost 7 years old.

Adventures in ice skating

2008-02-24T21:08:00.007-05:00

The girls Brownie troop rented out the ice skating rink last weekend and the girls had their first adventure in ice skating! I must say - I was pleasantly surprised at how well they did.

McKenna & Morgan

I can't skate so I figured they'd be better trying it by themselves...and I just watched and took pictures. Both of them took 2 laps around the rink with the assistance of the wall and then they went for it! They took a few spills of course...

but they laughed hysterically which was great.

Towards the end Alyssa took a fall and hit her head on the ice - that ended her adventure for the night - but McKenna hung in there till they kicked them off the ice.

And now they've decided they want ice skates for their birthday - I'm not sure we're quite ready for that just yet! Lessons maybe? We'll see.

No Cavities!

2008-02-22T21:00:00.008-05:00

I took all 3 kids to the dentist last week and I'm happy to report that no one has a cavity! I absolutely LOVE this dentist. It's decorated in an "under the sea" theme and it's very bright and cheery. Everyone who works there is incredibly friendly and patient and unfortunately, Dr. Sona, the dentist we've always seen is moving to Greensboro, NC later this summer. We'll be turned over to good hands I'm sure, but we sure will miss her!

One of the "tricks" they use to help kids relax in the chair is sunglasses. Here's Brennan modeling his turn in the chair sporting the adult-sized glasses - too cute!

He did ok - he started gagging during the teeth brushing part, but overall, he did a great job.

Alyssa did awesome - she went first for both her bitewing x-rays and her cleaning. Her teeth are in great shape, x-ray looked great and her 2 top teeth are finally coming in. She got an "A" on her report!

As for McKenna...she was my lil trooper. I was so proud of her at the end I almost cried. Not only did she have bitewing x-rays and a cleaning, but she had to be fitted for a finger sucking appliance....an applicance that is somewhat like a retainer that she'll have to wear until she quits sucking her 2 fingers. She's done this since she was a baby and no matter how many bribes we've tried, she just can't quit. It's not that she won't really - she can't - it's a subconscious habit that she can't break.

So they make the vanilla scented mold, put it in the tray and insert the tray in her mouth. She lasts for about 15 seconds before she vomits on herself. Alyssa begins to gag, Brennan is asking a million questions and I'm about to lose my mind. David makes the kids disappear with him in the waiting room, the nurse cleans up McKenna and gives her a t-shirt from their office....and we start all over. She was a little panicked at that point, but I taught her to breathe in and out her nose and finally on the 3rd try they got a perfect impression so they can make the appliance! She was so patient and worked so hard on her breathing that she made it through without vomiting - and I was so incredibly proud of her. She was able to choose our dinner location for the night as a reward for being so good!

All in all it was a great visit and besides the appliance installation, we don't have to go back for another 6 months.

Say CHEESE!

And the winner is...

2008-02-18T19:12:00.002-05:00

DAVID!!!! We completed our weight loss challenge today and he won 1st place. He lost 25.1 pounds during the 6 week program, but he gained much more...$294 to be exact :-) I'm very proud of him and he looks great.

Unfortunately, I didn't do as well - I only lost .6 this week for a total lost of 6.6. I'm not sure what is wrong or why it's taking so long, but I'm determined not to quit. Any suggestions that have worked for you in the past are definitely wanted and welcomed at this point.

I'm off to San Diego tomorrow for work - returning Thursday night - so no posts until then. I have a few to catch up on....our trip to the dentist with the kids and ice skating yesterday so stay tuned.

Have a great week!

Kudos to David!

2008-02-15T16:10:00.007-05:00

First - Happy Valentines Day! I'm a day behind, but when I got home last night I was battling flu-like symptoms so doing a post wasn't on my list of things to accomplish before I made my way to the recliner with my big, red fluffy blanket!

Second - I just have to say what an AWESOME husband I have!!! He left for work very early yesterday morning and when the kids and I came downstairs, to my complete surprise, we found gifts for all of us! I had no idea he had gone and bought stuff for them (I had done the same, but he knew about it) and not only did it include the standard candy and toy, but it also included flowers for Alyssa & McKenna....AND....this is the best part....a card for each of them with the nicest handwritten note to each of them from their daddy! Needless to say, I cried as I read the cards and they were looking at me like I was a fool :-) ha ha

The girls with their bouquets from daddy!

Brennan with his power rangers gift from Daddy!

To summarize, he told each of them how special they were to him, how proud he was to be their daddy and how much he loved them. It was simply awesome. I've always known he's an amazing father (and hubby), but yesterday just touched my heart.

I got red roses, a beautiful letter and card and a new pair of running shoes which I desperately
wanted and needed! THANKS HONEY - you're the best!

My beautiful roses!

How was your Valentine's Day?!

Weekend and weight loss...

2008-02-11T20:00:00.000-05:00

if you want to call it a loss. I weighed in today - and posted a whopping .8 loss. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy or encouraged by that number. I'm now at a total of 6 pounds lost, which is good, but I'm really working hard and it doesn't seem to making much difference.

This weekend was the first official sleepover for the kids. It started with us watching Jayci overnight since Kerry was on a cruise, but it turned into Jayci, Megan, Alexis and Trevor. Unfortunately, Megan ended up sick so we ended up with 6 kids Friday night including our own. We had pizza, ice cream sundaes, and popcorn while the kids enjoyed a movie (Snow Buddies), playing the Wii (over and over!) and playing in the basement. Everyone went to bed as told, slept through the night and got along...for the most part. All in all it was a huge success and we weren't left thinking "we'd never do it again"! The kids had a blast and it made them happy lil campers. Here are some pics from that night.

As for the rest of the weekend - well it was somewhat less exciting. We went freezer shopping....I know, I know .... you're all jealous!!! We did laundry (it's getting better isn't it?), we went to BJ's to scout prices so we could decide whether we wanted a membership (the jury is still out on that one) and finally, we relaxed!

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Such a SLOW process...

2008-02-04T20:47:00.000-05:00

That's how losing weight feels to me. I know they say it's healthy to lose it slow - it will stay off if you lose it slow - but I want to lose it FAST!!! I went for my weekly weigh-in this afternoon and low and behold, I'm down another 1.5 pounds for a total of 5.2 lost. I'm happy with that - I'll always wish it was more - but it's better than gaining! Weighing in on Monday's definitely keeps you "honest" through the weekend ... EVEN on Superbowl Sunday :-) No beer, no chips with Helluva good dip, no nachos - none of that fun stuff. But it paid off and it gave me the motivation to continue yet another week. Stay tuned for the next weigh-in...

My First Meme

2008-01-31T21:07:00.000-05:00

Karen tagged me for a meme yesterday so here goes!

How does it work?
Post two wish lists: 5 material wishes and 5 spiritual or more meaningful wishes. Invite five other bloggers to play along.

5 Material Wishes
1. A 2008 Toyota Sequoia Limited - fully loaded
2. A personal trainer for a year
3. $50,000 to decorate my house, make upgrades, etc.
4. Swimming pool
5. Professional landscaping for our yard (I stole your idea Karen!)

5 Meaningful Wishes
1. Find a way to be more patient with my kids and slow down to enjoy them at every stage of their growth
2. To show my husband more how much I appreciate and love him instead of assuming he knows it
3. Stop caring so much about how I look physically and be more concerned with how I feel on the inside - be more concerned about my health
4. For my kids to be safe as they grow up and not experience pain (I know - not so easy to achieve huh?)
5. Take more time to reach out to my grandma who moved to FL and used to be one of my closest friends.

Ok, now I'm supposed to tag 5 other bloggers, but the problem is, the ones I "know" have already been tagged....so this post will end here :-)

3 down...

2008-01-28T15:53:00.000-05:00

and too many more to go! But hey, I weighed in today and lost 3 lbs. over the past week so I'm excited and re-energized to keep it up for another week at least. Yay! The first week was horrible so this was much better. Another update in a week - at least on this subject.

Heaven in a bottle!

2008-01-27T15:11:00.000-05:00

To me, that's what this orange bottle of Reese's peanut butter sauce is - heaven in a bottle :-) Worst part is, I can't even eat it right now since I'm in the middle of my weight loss challenge. Wasn't it sweet of my husband to bring this home today?!! Actually, he brought all of this home as a treat for the kids and their friend Taylor who is over visiting today - it was ice cream sundae day. YUMMMM! I'm going to resist ... for now ... but one day real soon I will indulge in a bit of that "heaven in a bottle". Here's one of the delightful sundaes that the kids made...makes you hungry doesn't it?!!!

Friday night David's mom had the kids overnight and we didn't have any plans - very hard to believe when it comes to us. We're both so focused on losing weight that eating out wasn't an option so we had a big night out Friday - at Safeway! Then we watched "Suburban Girl" - I don't recommend it - and relaxed. It was actually quite nice.

Below are some recent pics of the kids that I really liked...thought I'd share. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Just say something...

2008-01-23T21:09:00.000-05:00

That's the message I got from Karen today - just put something, anything on your blog so it doesn't end with the day Redskins Sean Taylor died.

So that's what I'm doing - just for her!

It's been almost 2 months since I last posted and I can't promise that I'll do it with much more regularity than I have to date....it's not that I don't have things to post about...it's just not always so convenient. When I am in the office, it's rare that I am at my desk (meetings most of the time). When I'm home, uploading pics takes way too long for my impatient self ... and a post without pics seems so boring to me :-)

The family is doing great - hard to believe it's 2008 already and my girls are going to be SEVEN YEARS OLD next month. How in the world is that possible? It's gone by so fast. I was looking at old pics earlier today reliving moments from when they just born - boy that was fun!

The family on Cmas day

As for me, well I'm trying really hard to lose weight this year once and for all. Since November I've been doing Herbalife - basically it's a shake for 2 meals a day and then a normal meal - ultimately focusing on getting lots of protein. So far - not so good. I joined a weight loss challenge with my hubby - first week he lost 4.5, my mom lost 2.7 and I lost....you ready for this....a whopping .7 - WHAT?!!!! .7 - that's just ridiculous. I haven't given up - yet. This week I am trying to cut calories even more, eat more fruits/veggies and workout more. So far, so good. I weigh-in again on Monday and will let you know how it goes (hopefully).

So there you go Karen - a fresh post. Enjoy!

RIP #21 - We'll Miss You :-(

2007-11-27T15:03:00.000-05:00

I thought yesterday was bad, but this morning it went completely downhill when I learned about the passing of Redskins safety Sean Taylor. Shocked, stunned, at a loss for words - that describes exactly how I felt and how I continue to feel hours later. I've cried, I've listened to radio coverage and read every article I can to try and make sense of this...but I just can't. Our home game this weekend is going to be extremely emotional, but at the same time, there's no other place I'd rather be than surrounded by my Redskins "family". Thanks to Karen for finding my mom and I a Taylor jersey this morning on her day off - we sincerely appreciate it and will wear it with pride Sunday.

My thoughts and prayers are with Sean's family and friends...we'll never forget you #21.

#21

SEAN TAYLOR

1983-2007

In our thoughts and prayers

2007-11-26T21:14:00.000-05:00

It's been a terribly sad day for Redskins fans today, but not because of the loss on Sunday, but because of the scary news that came out of Miami this morning. #21 Sean Taylor is fighting for his life after being shot and all football fans - whether they cheer for the Skins or not - are in shock right now. He's been on my mind all day and I can't do much beyond pray for him to recover. I hope anyone reading my blog will do the same and say a quick prayer for him and his family.

Wrappin' Up The Weekend

2007-11-25T20:52:00.001-05:00

It's hard to believe, but the long weekend is already coming to a close! It's been a really nice weekend and our transformation to a Christmas house has begun. David & I had the most relaxing, fantastic Thanksgiving we've ever had....and it was so nice. We stayed home - he cooked - and my mom, Kerry & Michael came over for dinner. After we successfully stuffed ourselves, we played a dice came called LCR and it was soooo fun! For anyone who enjoys games, you gotta get this one. It involves some light gambling....or heavy if you prefer....but it's fast paced and really fun. You can buy it at Spencers. After that ended, we played Cranium and laughed so hard we cried at times :-) What I can't believe is that I didn't take one picture all day of our Thanksgiving holiday....that's so unlike me!

Friday I experienced my first Black Friday shopping day! It wasn't as bad as I expected. My mom and I went to Central Park in Fredericksburg and the worst store there was Kohls....the line was from the front door to the back of the building. We both agreed there wasn't anything in that store worth an hour long wait! In the end, we both had a successful day of shopping and by 9:30 we were home and exhausted!

Saturday I found my way to the gym (woo hoo!) and then had a movie marathon. First I watched "Evan Almighty" with the kids while David went deer hunting (he wasn't successful). That was a really cute movie! Next was the all time classic "A Christmas Story" which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. And then once they were nestled in their beds, David & I watched "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" which was hilarious!

Today was all about football and Christmas decorating!

Our Christmas Tree

Once again the Redskins completely let me down (boooo) - you'd think by now I'd be getting used to this, but I just can't :-( We managed to get 2 of our 3 Christmas trees up and the one that's not up yet is our Redskins themed tree....after today I'm not sure I have the heart to put that one up! We'll see.

So as I close out this post, the long weekend is almost officially over and Christmas is only 30 days away....are you ready?!!! If not, let me take you back a few weeks and get caught up on my pics....see below!

Flash - aka Brennan - on Halloween

Batgirl (Alyssa) and the Cheetah (McKenna) on Halloween

Daddy's Birthday Party!

Mommy & Brennan at his school's Thanksgiving celebration.

Alyssa, McKenna & Brennan showing their holiday smiles!

Even Snickers is getting in the Cmas spirit!!!

Seven Random Things About Me

2007-11-15T20:11:00.000-05:00

I was tagged by Karen to list seven random things about me so here goes...not sure if they're interesting or not...but they are random!

1. I've held many jobs in my life...including a waitress, bank teller, travel agent (I even went to a special school for this!), Mary Kay consultant, secretary (and I'm terrible at that) and now a Meeting Planner...finally I've found my career place in this world!

2. I break bones on things with wheels...I broke my arm on rollerskates in my house when I was 12. I was on my way outside when my wheels got caught in this woven rug at my mom's house. I broke my leg in 9th grade trying to show off my skateboarding skills...I'm no good!

3. I didn't graduate college until I was 27...not because it took me 10 years to complete college, but because I went for a year after highschool, quit b/c I had no clue what I wanted to study, and then decided at 24 that a degree was necessary if I ever wanted to be successful. So I went back, paid for 2/3 of it on my own and graduated right before my 27th bday. It was a proud moment!

4. I was born on King Kameameah's bday...He was the King of Hawaii when I was born, my grandparents were in Hawaii visiting at the time, and wanted my parents to name me Kameameah and call me Kami. THANK GOD my mom had more sense than that!

5. I conceived my twins naturally...which I find is unusual these days with all of the fertility drugs in our world now. Not that I'm against them - I'm so happy they've found a way for people who can't conceive to get pregnant - but multiples are much more common now and conceiving them "natural" is less and less common.

6. My grandmother, mother and I graduated from the same highschool...yes, that's totally true. Not just one of my grandmother's, but both of them graduated from the same highschool as me...we all attended in a different building, but it was always Lackey Highschool!

7. I didn't get my driver's license when I turned 16...even though I could, I opted not to because 4 days before my 16th bday my girlfriend wrecked the car I was in, throwing me through the windshield and scaring the CRAP out of me. I was too scared to drive after that so I waited until 3 1/2 months after I turned 16 to finally take the leap!

Now it's my job to tag someone, so I pick Ruhiyyih!

It's a sad day for Redskin's Fans

2007-11-11T20:27:00.000-05:00

BOOOOOOOOOOOOO :-( I am so completely annoyed with the Skins after today's disappointing loss to the Eagles...33-25. We had that game - we out played them almost all day - key word ALMOST! It's the same story, different week - we're winning and then enter the 4th quarter - the quarter that the Redskins forget they have to complete to finish the game. ERRRRR! Once again I sat at the game, horrified at what I saw before my eyes. When will we have a winning team? When? We have a good coach (I think?), we have talent, but for whatever reason, we cannot pull it together at the end when it counts. Next week we face Dallas on their home turf....I can only imagine how that one will end. I'm frustrated, I'm disappointed and I'm just plain sick about today's loss. BOOOOOOOOOO :-(

Other than that, it's been a good weekend. It was definitely great football weather today - there's finding a bright spot in a very dull day!!! ha ha I had a party yesterday with purses, jewelry, baskets and home goods. Thanks to Karen for coming all the way down. I got to visit with Griffin - boy what a cutie! I think he liked me :-) I had a few beers with friends before heading home last night.

Tomorrow Kerry, Jayci and I are going to the movies...with my gang...to see The Bee Movie. I've heard it's good...let's hope. Happy Veterans Day...Happy Monday off!

Just plain disgusted

2007-11-09T21:32:00.000-05:00

That's how I'm feeling right now...for a few reasons. First and foremost, my back is KILLING me again today and I know why and I know it's my fault. I haven't been to the gym on a consistent basis since probably September. Between convention hours and my laziness (ok maybe some because I'm busy too!) since we've come back, I just haven't gotten back into the rhythm. Which means that my back hurts and I feel the fattest I've felt in almost 2 years. I've been beating myself up bad tonight - which is fine for one night - but tomorrow I am going to reacquaint myself with my gym and the treadmill in my basement. Any and all encouragement to do that, and watch my diet again, are greatly appreciated :-) Here's a picture of me with Karen & Kristen from my office at Happy Hour the other night...can you see my triple chins?!

Second I'm frustrated tonight because I've had my first run-in with FLEAS :-( EWWWWW! I feel so dirty and I feel like our house is super dirty. Snickers was dropped off at Petco this morning for a random grooming appointment. What started out as random turned into a milk bath, flea and tick bath and me leaving there after dropping $140 AND an appointment at the vet tomorrow morning because he has scratched/chewed his back raw. UGH! I blame us and it makes me mad. A simple dose of Frontline every month and fleas are easily avoided.

I'm in a funk tonight - no doubt about it. I just hope by tomorrow it fades, I find myself downstairs on the treadmill before the vet, find good news at the vet, and then find a good mood at my party tomorrow afternoon...wish me luck with those goals...and more importantly, with the goal to get fit and healthy again.

Have a great weekend everyone!

School update and my funny lil man

2007-11-08T21:55:00.000-05:00

I had my first parent/teacher conference with the girls school and things went really well! I am so proud of them - they're both doing awesome in 1st grade - and lil Miss McKenna has been pegged for the Gifted and Talented team once she moves to 2nd grade. What a proud moment for her mommy?! They're both exceling in school - McKenna is a math whiz and Alyssa's strong subject is reading....she's in the 1st grade and is already reading at the level of a 2nd grader who is halfway through 2nd grade :-) I always thought they were smart...now I know they really do have it together!

As for my lil buddy - he has been cracking me up lately with the things he says...so I thought I'd share a few!

Tonight driving home I said to him "Who's my baby?" and he said NOT ME. I said "awww come on, why not buddy?" and his response was "Chase is your baby mommy - I am you're BIG BOY!" Chase is my nephew who lives in FL and I thought it was so cute that he remembered him and reminded me that he's small like a baby...not Brennan!

When I picked him up from school tonight, his first question was "where's the cake? where's the cake?" - this in honor of David's bday which is today. Apparently, Brennan had talked about Daddy's bday ALL Day - so much so - that the teachers made him a card with Happy Bday from the GLS staff!

Brennan is constantly reminding me how smart is he too...if it's for knowing what day comes after the current day (like that tomorrow is Friday) or for being able to sing his ABC's. He's the first one to toot his own horn lately!

And last but not least, at my mom's the other night he was hiding behind my truck when he saw a car driving by. I told him to stay near me because someone might take him (I know, I know!) and I said "what would you do if someone tried to take you? I'd be so sad" and his response....welllllll, maybe you would just kick their BUTTS!

He makes me laugh on a daily basis - he is so funny and so cute (not that I'm biased or anything). God I just love that kid!

Is Christmas Still December 25th?!

2007-11-06T20:30:00.000-05:00

If it is, I could be in trouble! I haven't bought the first Cmas present and while to some people this might not seem like a big deal, to me it's huge. I am normally in full spirit by now with lists of who I need to buy for, what they want and how much I plan to spend on them. Then once I buy a gift, I write that down along with how much I spent so I can stay within budget....hey I try at least! It's now November 6 and I don't feel a bit of holiday spirit nor do I have any idea what I plan to buy for anyone...least of all my kids. The realization of how spoiled they are has hit me hard this year as I realize there isn't one thing that I can think of to get them. Oh they can think of things...as I type this the girls are beside me composing their lists...but let me assure you, they are copying words out of a toy book without any regard for the item itself! At 6 almost 7 years old, I'm out of ideas. Either they have it, they're too old for it, or they're too young for it. Talk about a tough age! Brennan isn't any better. If anyone has any great gift ideas, please, send them my way.

I don't like to buy just to buy. But I know that December 25 will come and I will need to be prepared. Here's hoping my job stress lets up some and that the Cmas spirit surprises me .... soon!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

2007-11-04T21:30:00.000-05:00

Why is it that you wait so long for your vacation to get here and then before you blink it's over?! That's how I feel about this weekend. I've waited for a long time for my mini-vacation to Myrtle Beach (adults only!) to arrive and before I knew it, I was home again. We had a GREAT time.

Played 3 rounds of golf
Indigo Creek Golf Club - this is where we played today - it was really nice

my scores were on par for me especially considering I hadn't played in almost 3 months (!!!) - we ate way, way too much food (yummy stuff though) and just had fun hangin' out with Robert & Wendy. It's always nice to get away without kids - boy how it rejuvenates the mommy & daddy system - but it's also nice to come home to screams of joy and 3 little monkeys waiting with such excitement for us to make it in the door :-) I'll never get enough of those moments!

Maw Maw Linda survived the weekend and we're so incredibly thankful we have her. They had a good time with her - and even got 2 hours at the park with Miss Kerry & Jayci.

Tomorrow is my mom's biopsy - I'll start the morning bright and early with her at the hospital. I'm thinking positive thoughts, but please keep us in your thoughts.

Trick or Treat...Smell My...!

2007-10-31T22:10:00.000-04:00

Yes, believe it or not, at 6 1/2 years old my beautiful little girls know the rest of that little "song". Thankfully we got it through their thick heads that we don't say that on Halloween if we're trying to get treats and all was well with the world tonight. Our night started at McD's and then it was off to Kerry's to get dressed, apply makeup, and hit the streets. We went to Kerry & Jayci's for trick or treating - Simpsonville has lots of houses, but they require transportation via cars & trucks - not feet - so we always escape to a friend's neighborhood. Kerry lives in a townhouse neighborhood and boy, what a nice treat that was this year!!! It was quick, easy and no one tired out until we were at the very last house. Brennan hung in there - first time ever - yelling "Today is the best daaaaaaaaayyyyy" - we were cracking up!

All of their buckets were literally overflowing with candy and they had a great time. Batgirl (Alyssa), Cheetah girl (McKenna), Flash (Brennan) and the witch (Jayci) dove right into the candy when we got back to Kerry's and within minutes were bouncing off the walls. Luckily, by the time we got them to bed (which wasn't much past our normal time), everyone settled down and they're now fast asleep!

Hope everyone else had a fun time tonight. We're headed out tomorrow afternoon so I won't be posting again until we return. Have a great "rest of the week" and weekend...and let's hope for a better end result when the Redskins take on the New York Jets on Sunday. GO SKINS!

P.S. - unfortunately I can't share any pics until next week. The cord that attaches my camera to the computer is in my office and I'm headed south this afternoon. Stay tuned...

Charlie & Snoopy anyone?

2007-10-30T21:24:00.000-04:00

So did you watch it tonight? If you have kids, did they watch it? We did - it's a tradition in our house to watch this and the Christmas one. My kids don't ever watch Charlie Brown, but they love it! It sets the tone for tomorrow night - trick or treating :-) They came home today with a small bag of treats from daycare. Sugar high will last through the weekend I'm sure - he he! Tomorrow is the girls Halloween parade at school - pics to come - and then we're joining my friend Kerry and her lil witch (aka her daughter Jayci) for trick or treating. The kids are sooo excited.

My treat for the week is a much needed get away to Myrtle Beach. David and I are going with our friends Robert & Wendy to get away, do some golfing and just have some fun adult time. Since I came back from convention it's been very hectic around here - family visiting - and I'm ready to focus on David & I for a few days! We're leaving Thursday when Wendy gets off work and we'll be back Sunday night. Thank you Maw Maw Linda for watching our kids this weekend - they're excited to be with her - and we're excited to be alone!!! haha

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween with safe treats and fun tricks for all!

I'm baaack...at least for now

2007-10-28T13:51:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone - I've decided to try and start this bloggin' thing again. If I don't keep up this time, I think I'm done for good so wish me luck :-) It's been a long time since I last posted so I won't even try to catch up - that would take forever.

Soccer is over - had the end of the season party on Sat. - minus our final game thanks to the rain. We need it, but I never like it. Following the soccer party, we went to my niece's 6th bday party, then the Fall Festival at the girls school....and then finally home...but not for rest! Oh no, we had a house full of family guests. It's ok -we loved it. My dad, stepmom and grandma were here visiting from FL (they left super early this morning) along with 3 of my cousins, their kids and spouses. We had a feast of steamed shrimp, fries, coleslaw and some yummy cream of crab soup....can you say I NEED TO GO TO THE GYM!!!

After a busy Sunday morning of changing closests from summer to fall, I'm relaxing in the recliner enjoying a good fall day of Sunday football in my pj's! Ahhhh that feels good. Until next time...

What a week it's been...

2007-08-31T10:08:00.000-04:00

Let's see - Brennan's school violation was due to a confusing and badly written policy. Bottom line is, he can't wear any tops of any kind with pictures or words on them. Lovely! We'll deal with it though - now that we know the real policy :-)

My pink eye is STILL hanging on....I can't believe it. It's been 6 days today and lucky me - it's moving to my right eye. I am treating both eyes, they're looking better and I hope by Tuesday I can wear eye makeup again. As my VP told me yesterday (yes I went to work), I looked like I was on POT. NICE huh?!!

Brennan's poison oak (or ivy) is still hanging on as well, but showing much improvement. The kids had gone through an entire bottle of Benadryl (liquid) himself. Good grief - these infectious "diseases" hang on forever.

First week of school has been good - Brennan is still Brennan when it comes to pre-k. He asked my mom if he could stay at her house last night so he didn't have to go to school today - lil stinker! When I told him that Friday was the day he could buy ice cream after lunch his song and dance changed dramatically :-) Thank goodness for ice cream. The girls are doing great...McKenna is showing slow progress with her reading which is frustrating for me since last year she seemed to be the stronger reader out of the girls. Alyssa is blowing by her and doesn't have much patience when McKenna is trying to sound out words. SO Alyssa has to read away from McKenna so that she doesn't harrass her or make her feel bad for being slower at it .... that's siblings for you I guess :-)

Bad news - our AC broke on Thursday. Good news - it's fixed now and it wasn't stifling hot on Thursday night. BAD, BAD news - it cost us almost $800 to fix it. Our house is 4 years old....that was sad :-(

But today made everything better....David had to go in for an important meeting with his boss and his bosses boss....ended up it was to congratulate him on a job WELL done regarding a project he'd been working on. He got a plague, a signed letter from the CEO of Verizon AND $500 in travelers checks!!!!!! WOO HOO :-0 Way to go honey! I told him to buy himself a new golf club, we'd celebrate this weekend and put the rest in savings to help offset the cost of our AC repairs. I'm so happy for him - he worked so hard on that project and was so stressed out, that it's nice to see he was rewarded....and more importantly, that people noticed his efforts.

It's been a crazy week, but it's Friday - long weekend ahead and the promise of beautiful weather...which means lots of golf for us, dinner out, time at the park with the kids (feeding the ducks) and some down time at home. Enjoy the holiday weekend all!

Back to school

2007-08-27T21:20:00.000-04:00

Well today was the first day of school for the girls and Brennan...and all went well...for the most part! The girls looked adorable in their new dresses (pics and a short video to come) and Brennan was cute too in his plaid shorts and polo shirt that said "Old Navy" on it. Apparently, the cute shirt that my cute boy was wearing was in violation of the school's dress code policy, but we aren't sure why yet. The policy states "t-shirts/sweatshirts should not have slogans, words or pictures on them. They will be plain, plaid or stripes, but are not allowed to have words or pictures." Case in point...my son had on a polo shirt - short sleeves, collar and buttons- NOT A T-SHIRT! So tomorrow I'm going to approach the principal with said shirt in hand, along with the un-signed violation notice and the dress code policy for a clear explanation of why his shirt was in violation. Now, don't get me wrong - I can understand policies, dress codes, etc. and I go out of my way to make sure my kids are dressed appropriately, but this is ridiculous! Stay tuned on the shirt issue!!!

The girls had a great day - Mrs. Brace is their 1st grade teacher and tonight we did our recommended reading and boy was I proud....Alyssa read great! David read with McKenna and said she did good, but was struggling with some words she shouldn't be struggling with...ing words. It's ok, we'll work with her and bring her back up to speed. Alyssa recognized words like "leather, bridle, easily" without my help - I was impressed! So the year is off to a somewhat positive start and I hope it continues in the same direction.

Pink eye still sucks - eye is burning, swollen, itchy and red - and work is probably out of the question on Tuesday....I fear retaliation if I show up tomorrow :-) Thank goodness email is accessible no matter where I am...for the most part.

G'night everyone!

From Poison Oak to PINK EYE

2007-08-26T21:01:00.000-04:00

Oh yes - it went from poison oak to pink eye ... only this time it's not Brennan who has it, it's ME :-( This is the 2nd time I've ever had pink eye and I hope it's the last. It started last night - draining, a little pink, itchy - and I knew when I woke up this morning it would be full-blown pink eye and boy was I right! Now it's red, draining constantly, was sealed shut this morning and hurts/is swollen....all like last time. But what's even better about this is that I'm supposed to be at jury duty tomorrow morning and I have no idea if this is excusable, should I call or show up, will they let me go to the doc to get some eye drops - who knows?! I know it's extremely contagious and that most people will not want me around, but when it comes to jury duty I have no idea what to expect because this is my first time for jury duty. I certainly don't want pink eye - but I definitely don't want pink eye AND being stuck in a court room all day tomorrow without access to my doctor and/or medicine. So wish me luck tomorrow and hope that they'll excuse me!

Other than that, the past week/weekend was good. Brennan's poison oak (or ivy?) is doing better, but it's still not gone. I had no idea it took this long for it to completely heal. At least his face is clear now - people won't look at him like a freak tomorrow during his first day of PRE-K....which I can't even drop him off b/c of this god awful jury duty ... as you can imagine, I'm not very happy about that OR missing the girls getting on the bus tomorrow morning to go to their first day of FIRST GRADE! Wow where has the time gone? I think the older I get, the faster it goes!

Our weekend involved lots of golf (surprise, surprise huh?!), eating out, shopping for the girls dresses for tomorrow....my first introduction to Limited Too - whoa, that is super expensive, but very adorable! I'm a sucker for cute clothes :-)

Off to watch Big Love and begin the week again. G'night!

My first look at poison oak

2007-08-21T00:25:00.000-04:00

Yep that's what Brennan has - at least that's part of what's wrong - poison oak! I had a feeling, but considering I've never had it or seen it up close and personal, I couldn't be sure. On his face, forehead, back, legs, arms and shoulders...it's disgusting! He also has a virus which is causing bumps on his stomach that are different from the poison oak patches. And he's still running an on again/off again fever...AND he has a cold. Poor lil guy :-( He's been such a trooper today. Benadryl liquid, tylenol or motrin for the fever and Benadryl cream for the actual rash. It's been quite a day for him, but he's doing well.

Tonight the girls started soccer practice. For McKenna this is easy - 3rd season for her and she loves it. But for Alyssa, this is her 1st time ever. She's not much on running so we're anxious to see how this will go for her - tonight was great. She seemed to really enjoy it and her, McKenna and Jayci had fun...down to the group hug they shared before parting ways. It was absolutely adorable...one of those moments you wish you could capture on video camera, but that never works out right.

Another thunderstorm tonight - which means no sleep for us - kids will pile in the bed one-by-one throughout the night I'm sure. Just one of those things!

That's all for tonight - just for you Karen & Kristen - a much shorter post :-)!

Oh What a Weekend!

2007-08-19T21:56:00.000-04:00

What an exciting weekend we've had around here....I'm not even sure where to begin! Let me back up to Friday and start from there...

My mom and I went to the Keith Urban concert and it was awesome :-) Thanks to my friend Carlo, we were 7 rows from the front of the stage, on the floor, and close enough to touch him. Unfortunately, there were tons of other people wanting to do the same so we weren't able to do much touching. But we got a great concert! I wasn't too thrilled about going - headache, tired - but in the end (or maybe 1/3 of the way through it) I was so happy I went. We had a fantastic time.

Saturday during my morning hugs with Brennan it dawned on me that he didn't have a pull-up on. When I asked about, David informed he had decided to let him wear big bog underwear to bed and he had a very successful night - he made it all night without peeing :-) I am sooooo proud of him, but sad at the same time - this officially marks the end of any "babyhood" with him. He was so proud of himself and since then all nights have been successful. This was pretty ironic since just last week Karen, Krissy and i were talking about him being in pull-ups still and i was certain he'd be in them for quite some time, but boy was I wrong! I'm sure he'll have an accident at some time, but that's ok - I am happy to be rid of pullups :-)

That night we hired a new babysitter and it worked out really well. David, Kerry, Michael and I got in a good round of golf (I actually shot a 120!!!) and the weather was amazing for an August afternoon. Heather did a good job with them and they realled liked her. The only problem was Brennan - he wasn't feeling well and had fallen asleep on the couch before 8 p.m. - this is simply unheard of with him or any of our kids - so we knew he wasn't feeling well. When we came in, he heard Alyssa say "mommmmeeee's home" and barely opened his eyes. I picked him up, sat him on my lap to talk to him (he was on fire - fever) and within a minute he had puked all over my nice, clean WHITE short and blue shirt.....pizza to boot. Heather was of course thankful we had gotten home when we did and I just stunk! I changed, David (bless his heart) got my shorts clean and we headed off to bed....until about 3 a.m. when Brennan woke up again. Gave him more medicine (again he was on fire) and not 5 minutes later all the medicine was back up again - yes, more vomiting. Carpet, ladder to his bed, him...another big mess. So on our floor he went (not trying to be mean to him, but didn't want our bed to be next!!! ha ha) - I made him a pallet on the floor and at 3:30 a.m. he's watching Scooby Doo, burning up and just plain pitiful :-( He did sleep the rest of the night and was doing better this morning....

so that brings us to today (Sunday). I was a little leary, but we ended up going down to Fredericksburg in hopes of getting new shoes for all the kids for school. Alyssa - no worries - her size is easy to find. Brennan & McKenna on the other hand - oh my goodness - talk about FRUSTRATION! I went in Kohls, Penney's, Sears, Foot Locker, Champs, The Shoe Dept. and Toys R Us in hopes of finding shoes for them....I finally, finally found a decent pair of TRUS, but Brennan came home empty-handed. No such luck! I admit - I'm very picky about their shoes - but he's in a size 10 which means he hasn't moved up to the "boys" shoes - he's still in "toddlers" (same for McKenna) and this makes it tough. Unless you like Spiderman or light-up shoes (which I don't - AT ALL!) - then it's hard to find anything. So to the web I will go to solve that problem!

The kids were awesome all day - including Brennan who clearly doesn't feel well. No more stomach stuff - he ate a great lunch and held it down. But he has a cold, on/off fever and some strange rash that will be investigated tomorrow at the pediatrician's office for sure. It started on his legs, next his face, then forehead, arms and stomach...and I have no clue what it is or where it came from. I'll update on that after we see the doc. During lunch at TGIFriday's, an elderly couple complimented us on having such well-behaved children - it felt sooooo good to hear that and I was so incredibly proud of my kids today. They were very well-behaved and did such a good job as we weaved our way through a gazillion stores. We treated them to a toy at TRUS at the end and Pizza Hut for dinner....which was disastrous. Not b/c of them, but b/c the service was slow, the place was a crazy mess and our food was disgusting. David swears he's never going back there and I agree! Other than that, the day was a success and we had a great time together.

Oh, oh - how could i forget the last piece of "big" news....on our way home McKenna told me her tooth was loose. Well this has been going on for a few weeks so I didn't think much of it - until she started talking really funny and drooling ... blood! She pulled and pushed on it until...out it came :-) Her 2nd lost tooth!!! I put my hand back there to get it from her and yes, as you can imagine, she dropped it on the floor...and we have yet to find it :-( SO Daddy to the rescue, he told her we'd write a note to the tooth fairy and ask her to find the tooth to which McKenna replied "yea, cuz she's so sparkly and bright so she can find it better than you?!" Oh the way a child's mind works - so cute! So that's what i did - wrote a note to the tooth fairy and it's under her pillow waiting for it to be replaced by the money. They're growing up so fast - only 6 months left as 6 year olds and if i blink too many times those 6 months will be over. It's so fun to watch them grow and it's fun having little shoppers now...but at the same time, it's sad how fast it goes. No more pullups, another lost tooth....oh what a weekend!

Dancing Monkeys

2007-08-16T22:04:00.001-04:00

As promised, here's a video of them (attempting to) dance. It's cute!

Pretty boring week

2007-08-16T21:26:00.000-04:00

It's been a pretty boring week so far....get up, drop kids at daycare, go to work, come home, eat, bath, get clothes/lunch ready and bed....wake up and repeat! I did have dinner with Kerry the other night - always a good time - but other than that, it's been a pretty quiet week.

Maw Maw Linda took all 3 kids to the pool yesterday - what a brave woman! Luckily - or so she thought (!!) - Miss Donna's gang would be there as well. Instead of her getting help, she ended up helping Donna and went from 3 to 5 kids (add Jayci & Megan), but in the end she had a really good time...and from what she said, a pretty darn good workout as well :-) On my end, it worked out great - the kids were good and tired and so ready for bed last night. Brennan quickly changed our plan of action this week - he was supposed to be at Maw Maw's again today, but he wanted to go back to Miss Donna's and thankfully for us, she agreed to have him today and tomorrow. The ice cream truck comes tomorrow and he's decided that he wants not 1, but 2 ice creams. We'll see about that :-)

Pretty busy weekend coming up...tomorrow night my mom and I are going to the Keith Urban concert. Saturday we're trying a new sitter so David and I can go be Tiger & Annika...yes, we're golfing again (can you say addicted?!! ha ha) Sunday we've decided will be a day totally for the kids. We will start with shopping - new shoes and an outfit for the 1st day of school - followed by lots of time at FunLand. I'm sure we'll get lots of smile and laughter out of them...while we quickly empty our wallets at this place :-) O'well - it'll be worth it and I'll have pics to share after we're done.

Time for a quick snack and then it's off to bed...G'night!

Update on David's golf

2007-08-13T20:41:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, things didn't go so well for David on the golf course yesterday and he lost his match. So now we just watch the rest of the rounds to see who will be crowned Champion! It'll be fun to watch, but would be more fun if he was in it - o'well there's always next year right?!

Today Brennan went to Miss Donna's for the first time and he had a BLAST! It was "make your own ice cream sundae" day and he just loved that. He informed us tonight that he doesn't wanna go back to Miss Sue's - he wants to go to Miss Donna's everyday. Uh oh - he's going to be on unhappy camper next week when Sue returns from vacation. Only 1 more week with her and then my big boy starts pre-k - boy where has the time gone?!

Unfortunately, McKenna had to miss "sundae day" - she came home with a tummy ache and asked to take a nap - you know she's sick when that happens! But she's feeling better and Daddy made sure she got her own ice cream sundae at home with him - way to go daddy! :-)

Gonna get to posting some pics and videos tomorrow - with the help of Karen - until I get the hang of it. And here comes Brennan - 8:45 p.m. on a "school" night and he's downstairs again...back to parenting!

Tooth Fairies & Birthday Parties!

2007-08-11T20:52:00.000-04:00

It's been a pretty exciting weekend since I last posted....where do I begin?!

Last night Megan came over to babysit so we could go golfing. David and I shot 2 under par and we're pretty sure we won the league...2nd time in 3 weeks which is good for us. Up until 2 weeks ago, we hadn't won once :-) O'well - it's all about the fun right?

After golf we went to Mel & Jim's for dinner and whoa what a spread we ended up with! Let's see - tacos, grilled chicken, spinach dip, fries, pizza - yes, I'm serious about all of this (!!!!)....I think that's it! It was sooooo good. Especially since we didn't eat until close to 10 p.m. The kids were having a great time and acting crazy....except Alyssa who was walking around with her hand over her mouth, complaining that her VERY loose tooth was hurting. She kept coming to me like every minute to tell me it was looser, now looser, even looser now mommy! So Aunt Melissa offered to take it out for her - seriously for Alyssa - I think the beer had made Aunt Melissa forget that Alyssa doesn't do blood or pain...kinda like her mommy! Eventually after several attempts, Melissa convinced her to let her see it, she plucked it and out it came....onto the floor! Alyssa did ok, but the closer she got to me, the more upset she got and eventually the crying started. She was ok though - it needed to come out - and once she got over the blood, she was super excited. She knew what it meant - it meant the tooth fairy would visit us! Of course all the other adults kept telling her that the tooth fairy brings at least $20 - HA HA! Thank goodness Alyssa knew better. We quickly left - all of us were tired - and headed home to do the work of the tooth fairy. $2 which she found at the crack of dawn this morning and felt compelled to tell me about at 7 a.m. UGH! She had only just gone to bed at 11 p.m. (ish) and she was up already? It just couldn't be, but it was...unfortunately. And btw, this was the 3rd tooth that she's lost. McKenna is still holding strong at 1, with about 4 ready to come out anytime now.

###############

Today Brennan and I went to Brendan's bday party at Burke Lake Park - boy what a mouthful that was! What a gorgeous day it was too....best weather we've had recently and perfect weather for an outdoor party. He was cranky as could be - my fault for letting him stay up so late last night - but it was worse than I expected. At one point, I didn't think we'd make the party! We did - we rode the train, the carousel, ate ice cream and played...and before long we were headed home again.....after we stopped for a Wendy's frosty! Some might say I'm a sucker for my lil man....awwww, maybe just a little :-) This afternoon I golfed with Wendy G. and Mel (I was awful) and David took the kids down to the water and to McD's (sound familiar!) for dinner. They were bathed and ready for bed by the time I got home which was nice....we're all tired.

Tomorrow is David's big day at the golf course....1st round of the club championship and he has his 1st match tomorrow morning. I really hope he wins - his shoulder is bothering him - but I really hope he has a good round. If it all works out right, he'll play Jimmy (his brother) in the final round - boy won't that be fun?!!!

All in all it's been a good weekend so far and we still have Sunday on our side. I'll update again tomorrow on David's match.

An Apology and a Glass of Shiver Water

2007-08-09T21:45:00.000-04:00

First and foremost, let me send out a huge apology to my husband. What you can't see anymore was part of my blog from last night "criticizing" him for things I had no right to say. So to my hubby - I'm so very sorry I offended you and thanks for all you did around the house today! I did notice.

That covers the apology part of my title - now what about that glass of shiver water? Ever heard of it? I sure hadn't! But Brennan came down a few minutes ago - I think that was about the 10th time he had been down since he was put to bed at 8:30 (it's 9:5o now!) - to tell me that he wanted a "really, really cold water that makes you shiver to drink!!!" What an absolutely adorable way for him to ask for a glass of ice water huh?! :-) Unfortunately, the mom in me had to decline him being that it was literally at least his 6th time down here for one reason or another. You see, he's afraid of the thunder and lightning outside - especially since Alyssa voiced her fears - his went through the roof then. Up I went to calm their fears - you know, where there's thunder, there's lightning (so Alyssa told me) - but I had to reassure them of the following:

A. Thunder and lightning can't get in our house
B. Our lights aren't going to go off
C. Their windows are closed and yes, locked (they don't know me do they? I'm a freak about locked doors and windows!)

When I went back up a few minutes ago I found Alyssa huddled in McKenna's bed (McKenna is sound asleep mind you), with the covers up over her head. Poor baby :-( She feels better being with McKenna which is just so sweet. Brennan on the other hand is tired enough now to want his own bed - he'd rather tough it out alone than share his bed.

***************************

The girls got to make ice cream at daycamp today and let me tell you, McKenna said it was sooooo, sooooo, soooo good. Better than what me and her daddy buy her! And she told me "mommy you HAVE to get Miss Donna to tell you how to make it". They described the process to me and it went something like this...

McKenna "mommy, first we got a bag - everyone got a bag. then they came around and gave us salt"

Alyssa "no, it wasn't salt first. it was rich milk. no, wait, it was sugar"

McKenna "no, it was salt. then it was rich milk, then milk."

Alyssa "no, let me tell it, let me tell...it was sugar, then this brown stuff that you pour over ice cream (Huh??), then rich milk, then milk. Then they gave you a big bag of rocks (again HUH?) to put in your little bag and then you got to go upstairs.....and, and - oh I can't remember the rest. McKenna you tell her...."

And from there, Tom & Jerry caught their attention and I still have no idea exactly how they made the ice cream! But they had fun and I do intend to get the recipe so I can surprise them one day and have them make it here :-)

***************************************

So today at work I had my annual review. It went well - went a little long (THREE HOURS!) - but in the end I got a nice raise and some good remarks from my boss. I'm so glad it's past me - even when you know things are good, it's still nervewracking to wait it out and see what your boss has to say ya know?!

We're watching football - Cowboys vs. the Colts - boy this feels so good! I just love my football....even though I hate the end of summer, I sure do love the start of football and the Redskins! I'm gonna catch a few minutes of this and then catch me some shut eye. Good night!

HUNGRY, HUNGRY KIDDOS!

2007-08-08T21:46:00.000-04:00

I often wonder if other people's kids eat as much as mine do...especially Brennan. From the minute he opens his eyes until he's asleep, it's always "I'm hungry!" Tonight was no different. David went golfing...yes golfing in this ridiculous heat and humidity...so I was left to figure out dinner for me and the kids. As most of you know, me and the kitchen aren't the best of friends, but I make do when I have to :-) So what does my little buddy decide he wants for dinner...a bologna, cheese and sweet pickles sandwich of course - I mean who wouldn't love that dinner right?! Followed by more sweet pickles (only sweet - not dill for him), jello, jelly crackers, a fudgesicle and I think that rounded out his night...only because it was bedtime by then! I felt like a short order cook for about an hour when we first got home....sandwiches, crackers, hot dogs, pickles, trying to convince someone to eat yogurt or veggies (that didn't work tonight!), spaghetti out of a can that didn't go over well - Brennan was gagging at the smell and picky McKenna wouldn't dare try something new - that's just a crazy idea.

During the few hours that David was sweating his butt off at the course, I managed to get the following done:

dinner, make lunches, change our sheets, vacuum our room, clean our bathroom and the hall bath, get the kids clothes and my clothes ready for tomorrow (yes this meant ironing!), dishwasher run, sink emptied, laundry put away and cycles continuing in the laundry room, gave the kids a bath/shower (Brennan insists on a big person shower these days) and the stairs cleaned off. Needless to say it was a hectic night, but it felt so good to get part of my house cleaned....lord knows there's still plenty to do, but I'll worry about that later :-)

*****************************************************************

So this morning after I dropped the girls off at camp, Brennan decided he knew a faster way to get from their camp to his daycare - you know mom's, they don't know much compared to a 4 year old! I actually argued with him for about 5 minutes before deciding I'd just let him have his way this one time and go his route vs. the one I know is quicker. His route required us to backtrack and go past our house again - which ended up being in his favor - because low and behold, he had forgotten to bring a toy with him to Miss Sue's. I tried to convince him that he could survive with Miss Sue's toys, but that wasn't an argument I was bound to win either so I made his morning twice today - taking his route and stopping to get that special batman and spiderman toy that he could share with Austin & Dylan. He was one happy lil camper!

The rest of my day was spent working, hitting Target this morning to get McKenna goggles - which I had to take to her at the pool during lunch - she just couldn't go to pool day without those goggles! She was very excited to see me though and that made me smile so all was good! Now I'm relaxing, the kids are snuggled in their beds (for now at least - I'm sure someone will have to pee or have a bad dream that needs to be shared with me at 2 a.m.) and I'm about to snuggle in myself. Oh one last thought...McKenna's bad dream last night involved space aliens. She proceeded to tell me about this dream at 7:45 this morning followed by at least a million questions...and I still have no idea where this dream came from or why she was dreaming about aliens. I figured it would be sharks since we had watched that last night, but one just never knows now do they!?

A Love and Fear of Sharks

2007-08-07T20:14:00.000-04:00

It's been shark week on Animal Planet for like the past 2 or 3 weeks and the kids are obsessed with watching it every night before bed. As I type this, we are again watching a show about Great White Sharks. Last night we actually saw a video on this channel of a real, live shark attack - it was horrifying for me and I could hardly watch. My animal loving children on the other hand found it quite intriguing. And then Brennan informed us that when he was a big person (yes that's how he described it to us!) he was going to get in the water and feed big sharks. I told him he couldn't do it - I wouldn't let him - but he kindly reminded me that when he's a BIG PERSON he can do whatever he wants. He's getting to be a little too smart these days! Alyssa was very upset by his profession of choice last night - she told him that he would get eaten by a big shark and then she'd be very sad because she wouldn't have a brother anymore. Always the dramatic one in our family - besides me of course! McKenna is intrigued by the sharks, but is smart enough to know they're very dangerous.

During the middle of Animal Planet tonight it's turned into the WWE in our house....meaning a wrestling match on my couch :-) Lots of jumping, whining (wonder who that is!?) and flips...all while they scream that they want a piece of bacon. That's dinner tonight - eggs, bacon and toast - yummm - I can't wait! Seriously - I'm hungry :-) Brennan just informed me he's eating the "squishy part" of the bacon which translates to the nasty, disgusting FAT on it. God can he really be my child!! ha ha

Off to tuck the little ones in bed so I can relax and finally have dinner. Quick post tonight, but I promise there will be longer, and more detailed, posts in the near future...including a video of my dancing monkeys from the other night. What entertainers they are :-)