{4 Under 7}

Large Family Ideas...

2012-02-06T15:16:00.003-05:00

We have had a lot of playdates in the past two weeks! Whenever the moms come over, I always get the same comments on certain things in the house. The first thing is this corkboard that I just made last week. I copied the idea from my friend Candi and it has been a HUGE success in the house. Less cups and everyone is on board. It really helps at dinnertime when we ask one of the kids to set the table.

This is the next thing and it has also been a really big success. The kids are totally on board with it. I made it at my MOPS group and it was supposed to be a plate that you just write your meals on, etc. But I knew that dinner chores would be worthwhile to allocate in my house. The kids love these systems.

This is an old system but I still get a lot of comments on this. We don't have a mudroom but when you walk into our house, I use our wall on the left for our coats and jacket dump spot. The hooks are from Pier One and Nate installed them very well so that they are really sturdy and durable. They don't pull out from the wall. They know to hang up their coats and shoes are to be neat under the jackets. We are finding that it is really important to start these systems because things were quickly getting out of control as we moved into our new home and Ellen became a "big person." My next project is to figure out how to cook for my family and still have leftovers!

Culinary Experiences

2012-01-21T12:05:00.002-05:00

Making Nate's Sandwiches for the week...

Making Caramel popcorn....

Potty Training... WHAT???

2012-01-21T12:04:00.002-05:00

Trip to Michigan

2012-01-21T11:59:00.004-05:00

I didn't take too many photos while in Michigan this year so these are what we captured on our cell phone. Here is Nate's grandma with Sammy. We went over for a visit to his grandparents house and Sammy loved it.

This is a house in Nate's grandparents basement. The kids loved to play in it.

Nate, his dad, and Uncle Marv went to hang out one day. They love Uncle Marv!

Don't Ask, Don't Tell (Vol. 29)

2012-01-21T11:58:00.001-05:00

Can you see what is happening in this photo??

Our little dude...

2012-01-21T11:50:00.004-05:00

We love that Sammy is our only boy and he is 100% full boy. It is so interesting to see him do things that the girls would never do. For starters, he loves to hang out with other dudes. He is really drawn to older guys as you can see below. We went to a chili place for dinner one night and while we were waiting, he hopped up on the bar stool with some other guys to watch the cook make the food.

. Happy bday to Gpa V!

Here he is with another one of his favorite dudes, Uncle Marvin. This is Nate's brother. We saw them over Christmas break in Michigan.

Sammy loves to go to naptime with Nate reading his truck books.

He also has a love for cherry tomatoes, olives and celery!

We went to a Tebow party and there were a ton of college dudes there eating a lot of hot dogs and mac-n-cheese. Sammy loved just sitting by them and hanging out. We get a kick out of it seeing his personality develop so differently than the girls.

Post Office Museum

2012-01-21T11:46:00.006-05:00

My favorite Smithsonian Museum is the United States Post Office Museum. So we went on a trip there during Christmas break also. The museum is never crowded and is not too big so it is manageable in a few hours. The kids really enjoyed it also and learned a little about zip codes and mail fraud!

Here is the kids in the mail wagon. They learned that mailing the packages meant for a crowded wagon ride across the US because they would continue to add more and more packages.

Here they are practicing the zip code sorting system....

This is a large video room that they enjoyed rolling all over.

This is all sorts of mailboxes through the years...

Baxter the Library Dog

2012-01-21T11:42:00.004-05:00

Another adventure we did during Christmas break was that we took the kids to see Baxter the library dog. Apparently kids are more apt to read to dogs than adults so our library puts on this program with a trained dog to encourage kids to read aloud. It did the trick with my kids. Baxter even put his head on Grace's lap. They really enjoyed it! Ellen brushed the dog and Sam fed the dog treats (Cheerios).

Josie's Yogurt

2012-01-21T11:26:00.003-05:00

There is a new yogurt shop in town that I took the kids during Christmas break. It is not probiotic yogurt but more like TCBY. It was a reward for a new system that we have come up. Everytime the kids do something kind, obedient or out of the ordinary, they receive a ticket. Then they can redeem their tickets for various things like 20 tickets for a trip to the ice cream store, 5 tickets for a tv show, and so forth. They can also lose tickets.

Don't Ask Don't Tell (Vol. 28)

2012-01-21T11:24:00.003-05:00

You will remember our gingerbread houses?

Nate's birthday night out...

2012-01-21T11:17:00.004-05:00

For Nate's birthday gift, he asked for a guy's night out at Texas De Brazil. It is a (delicious) all you can eat meat steakhouse. He invited his friend Brett and Sammy. Sammy kept up really well with the activities.
"Meat comma"

Don't Ask, Don't Tell (Vol. 27)

2012-01-07T12:36:00.003-05:00

The title of this is:

Mommy's makeup in her gym bag

Christmas Part 2

2012-01-07T12:21:00.002-05:00

On Christmas Eve, we ate our subs (last year of that tradition - Subway is so bad on Christmas Even), went to church, and came home to leave out the cookies.

This is the girls at 7 am Christmas morning. They couldn't get out of their room until Nana and Papa arrived at 7 am. They were so excited!

This was how we spent Christmas morning relaxing. It was so nice to just be together as a family and take our time. Christmas was very energy zapping for me this year!! The kids had 11 days off of school, I didn't get out much to get gifts, my favorite things were left undone and we left for Michigan on the 27th after hosting dinner for my family and brother's family. Despite all of that, it was wonderful to be with my family, parents, brother Brian and family, and Nate's family. That quality time was better than in the past. I loved being with Brian and Alayna at the indoor pool the day after Christmas (tradition!), spending Christmas Eve with Nate assembling the big gift, and spending time with Nate's siblings who came over a lot to visit us in Michigan. The kids didn't notice less gifts AT ALL and I gave Nate the gift of a debt-free, no bills in January Christmas - the best kind! I was able to really relax in Michigan and nap a lot... thanks to my in-laws... so we are ready for the New YEAR!

This was the best and biggest gift. We got Ellen a new pink kitchen set. There is a great story behind it. I found it on a deal website for $13. I think it was mismarked. They kept delaying the order over and over. Finally I called the company and reordered it for the full price and asked for a price adjustment. They ended up canceling my original order, adjusting the price of the new one from $200+ to $13, and it arrived the week before Christmas. So fun!

Ellen with Sam's loot behind the couch.

December Part One

2012-01-07T12:14:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday Ellen, Daddy and Nana!

This is Grace and Rita's Christmas Concert at School. All the children have to wear Christmas dresses and boys must be in ties. It is just precious. This is her teacher who is just fabulous. Grace and her are a match made in heaven.
This is Rita at the concert with her classmate Nathan.
This is the Christmas luncheon in Grace's class. We made angel ornaments out of coffee filters. They are adorable keepsakes.
Santa came to our house again this year. It was pretty uneventful as all the kids were outside playing and I was the only one inside except for Ellen - who freaked out. When Sam came inside and saw him, he jumped on his lap like Santa was his old friend. Santa also brought them one gift each.

Arizona Girls Weekend Part 2

2011-12-26T15:32:00.005-05:00

Those of you that got our Christmas card saw that my highlight of the year was going to Arizona with my girlfirends. After I got back in November, I accidently deleted some photos off of my camera. My brother was able to recover them yesterday and I wanted to post them as a little Christmas gift to myself! Enjoy.

This was on our hike up the terrain... this is Pam, Pam's baby Sarah, and Allison.
The hike was beautiful.

This was during the clothing swap. Everyone was deciding what they wanted to take during the Round Robin.

Group shot right before we did the final Round Robin.

These are funny photos because they were taken during the book swap and you can see that Jen fell asleep! We tried everything to get her awake. The best part was that the next morning, she said, "What did I miss?"

This is the most amazing bruscetta that has ever been made... delcious.

One last shot before we left... Kelly is moving out of Phoenix to Newport Beach California so we will probably never be back to Phoenix. I am so glad we could go and Nate was able to manage at home.

License Plate

2011-12-18T16:34:00.001-05:00

This is the new license plate I want for Christmas...

LVN8&TBO

Beautiful Gingerbread Houses

2011-12-12T10:16:00.006-05:00

As a child, I have awesome memories of my mom taking me to a gingerbread workshop at a local high school. It was a two day event and I remember the large amounts of candy and being so proud of my house!

So I bought tickets for the older girls to go to a gingerbread house event downtown. The tickets were sold out and there was a long waiting list. I was so glad we did this. We invited my mom along, it was her birthday, and we had so much fun and laughed so much. When we arrived to the event, there were secret service men swarming the place. My mom spotted them with their ear pieces and suits. That was really fun for the girls!

When we walked into the ballroom, there were three tables set up with candy buffets. Everything was done SO well (reminded me of Disney.) We were greeted and the girls had the biggest eyes.

They picked their station and stood in front of their already formed houses. They smelled so good, the Christmas music was playing, it was beautiful!

The attendants in the room assisted the girls with their pastry hats and their very own aprons. Every child had an attendant to help them if they needed help.

These are the beautiful Christmas cookies that they served. My favorite is the cardinal. We took two of them for Grace and Rita's school teachers.

I was also very excited about the candy buffets. This is one of the pastry chefs. Her name was Hannah and she was awesome at doing details on the houses. She decorated houses while we did our decorating. We asked her for a lot of help and ideas!

This was how the afternoon began... the attendants dished out all the candy. By the end of the event, kids were running around screaming (too much candy), dishing it out themselves, M&Ms everywhere! My girls were so well behaved, we were so proud of them. They were just staring in disbelief at all the candy... and eating it of course.

They each got three pastry bags full of the type of frosting that hardens after 12 hours. The chefs came and assisted us in different techniques.

This was the Executive Pastry Chef. He told us he was from Bali and they don't celebrate Christmas there too much. It was so funny because my mom said, "are you a Christian?" She misunderstood what he was saying and we got a good laugh out of that. We couldn't understand what he was saying until he explained that Bali is full of tourist and there isn't the "holidays" there. He helped Grace with Christmas Lights on the house, a snowman, a mailbox, a chimney, and my favorite... icicles.

These are the final products. They are truly beautiful. The house is shaped so pretty and the candy is so colorful. The frosting all hardened today and the kids just LOVE them. Grace said she wants to eat it before it was rotten. Rita kepts saying, "I am going to stay away from sweets for a while." What a memorable day!

Christmas Downtown DC

2011-12-12T10:10:00.003-05:00

This was a busy weekend. Nate and Ellen's birthday was on Saturday and my mom's birthday on Sunday. On Sunday, I took Grace and Rita downtown to a pretty hotel. We invited my mom to join us. There was a reason we went downtown and my next post will show the FUN we had. One of the best Christmas events I have ever done with my kids...
I love fancy hotels at Christmastime, they are always so pretty with beautiful fresh trees and flowers.

Grace is peeking into a special room... wonder what is in there????

This was at the hotel lobby, it was a candy bar. A little taste of what we were to see in a few minutes....

Field Trip to Senior Center

2011-12-09T14:40:00.002-05:00

This was officially the first field trip I have ever been on. I went with Rita's Kindergarten class to the Sunrise Senior Home. They read the Christmas story, sang some Christmas songs, handed out socks and raffled off two blankets that the class made. It was really fun and funny. The bus ride over, Rita was thrilled!
Here the kids are getting lined up to sing the First Noel and Silent Night.

Mrs Connor is reading the Christmas story from the Bible. The kids are so attentive and cooperative!

This is a portion of the residents that came to enjoy the show. Most were in wheel chairs.

Mrs Connor got on the bus after the field trip and prayed and started to get emotional (I LOVE IT!) because the two residents that won the raffle for the quilts were the ONLY residents that don't have any family. She said that God knew they needed those quilts and got very emotional. I love that about her!

School Birthday Party

2011-12-07T16:59:00.002-05:00

I came into Rita's class on her birthday to celebrate with cupcakes. It was very cute. The teacher prayed for her and did a little song and she got to wear a hate. We also brought a cupcake to Grace in her class.

Journaling (Volume 5)

2011-11-24T08:30:00.002-05:00

This is Grace's (2nd Grade) Bible Test. The last question is hilarious.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T08:18:00.002-05:00

We are enjoying our Thanksgiving break from work and school. We aren't having relatives coming and we aren't going anywhere. It is a nice relaxing break for us. Last night, we ran a few errands and had dessert and coffee at Nordstroms.
We went to the zoo on Tuesday in the drizzling rain. It was being set up for Zoolights and there was NO ONE there. We saw two school groups and a few other people. It was wonderful to get a great parking spot, get into all the exhibits, and enjoy being together. Usually I am so scared that the kids will get lost in the crowds. Not on Tuesday! Unfortunately (my brothers will be sad about this), they shut down "The Cereal Bowl." It was a fun breakfast place by the zoo where you could order... you guessed it... cereal. Any type of hot or cold cereal that your heart could imagine. It was perfect but I guess the concept wasn't very popular with anyone other than my kids.

We saw the elephants. This really got Ellen excited! She loves elephants and didn't want to leave this little area.

We got close to the Red Pandas. You can see the video camera in the background. They were doing some footage for the FONZ (Friends of the National Zoo) website and the pandas were being so cute!

We spent a lot of time with the Panda Bears. They were doing what they do best... eating bamboo. We could not believe we were so close with NO ONE around! What a blessing.

Funny Things They Say (Volume 9)

2011-11-22T16:29:00.002-05:00

"Dora and her family have big mouths" -Sam.

"Rita how old are you?" -Neighbor "I am plain 6." -Rita

Kris and Mikey

2011-11-21T12:55:00.006-05:00

This is a special post for my cousins. Kris and Mikey are my cousins. They are siblings. Mikey (and Bethany) had their first baby about a year ago and the one baby was actually TWIN boys! No fertility drugs or anything!

Kris has a sweet little spunky girl named Sterling. After having Sterling, Kris found out that she is pregnant. You guessed it. With TWINS! What is so fun about it all is that 1. She looks great. 2. She is not overwhelmed (or acting like it). 3. She is not finding out genders!! So they have this system worked out with the names based on what baby comes out first and whether it is a girl and boy. I think it is so fun to hear all this.

My Uncle Mike (my dad's brother) and Aunt Arden will have 5 grandchildren under the age of 2 from 2 children! I think I got that right! What a crazy blessing!!!

That is one thin mom of 30 week old twins!!!

Don't be late... for an important date!

2011-11-19T21:43:00.009-05:00

Let the party begin! The kids arrived and we partied in that Rabbit Hole until the box was broken... Then the surprise came... we couldn't believe our eyes when Alice stepped into our home! She was the real deal with a real rabbit with a watch on the rabbit's neck! Unbelievable!

Isn't she the best Alice in Wonderland you've ever seen?

We took photos with all the kids individually with Alice and Rita and the white hare. And you will not believe that Alice got them all to quiet down so she could read the Alice in Wonderland book to them. They listened so well... even Ellen!

We took a family photo with Alice and the rabbit...

Alice and her mother are faithful blog followers of ours and we love them so much! Isn't this just precious?!?!
After lunch we colored Alice coloring sheets, those were a big hit with the kids!

Cake time!

Rita was so excited about her gifts. I honestly attribute it to the fact that I never buy them gifts so to be spoiled for a day like this was unreal to her. These facial expressions are hilarious.

Who knew a kid could be so excited about gum!?!?!
We aren't too excited about the American Girl Doll brush from Great Grandma and Grandpa Palmer... I am sorry Rita, it was all we could afford this year at the Amercian Doll store....
Just KIDDING!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Aftermath.

Alice in Wonderland Party Prep!

2011-11-19T21:27:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago, we were at dinner as a family talking about Rita's upcoming birthday. We were trying to decide a theme and Nate suggested Alice in Wonderland. Rita loved it and we ran with it! We sent out Mad Hatter "unbirthday" invites to 5 children (5 + 4 of my own = 9! AH!) They all RSVPed yes to the Queen of Hearts and so the day came! Nate and I literally began to decorate for the party the night before since I had been gone for the two weekends prior. But, it ended up being perfect - simple and fun. We had one surprise that I will post soon ... I will give you a preview below.

Nate created a "rabbit hole." We didn't want to go too crazy with the theme since most of the Alice books are above a 6 year old's thinking (not to mention she seems like she is on drugs) so we kept it simple. We just replaced a toliet, kept the box, and BRAVO! A rabbit hole. This provided more entertainment the morning of the party than any balloon, cake, or clown could ever provide! And that is the $15 yard sale horse that has also given us more fun than any toy we have EVER OWNED.

Cake... Yes that is Belle on the cake but again, a 6 year old doesn't know the difference between Belle or Alice or a gourmet cake or a box mix.

This is my dad, he stopped by briefly to say Happy Birthday and to help hold a basket with something that had a watch on it... hint hint. The kids had no idea... can you see something?

My mom and Ellen decorated the cake - pretty much the only "job" that Ellen could do the whole morning.

You can see "pin the bow" on Rita in the background. We used a family canvas print for that. The tea party table is set for lunch.

Rita's chair is also set at the head of the table... we are ready for our guests to arrive!

Favors are all in place... nothing like a used book on Amazon for a party favor. That is another crazy story. I ordered all of these book used on Amazon a few weeks in advance. They were all listed as in Excellent condition. Many of them came and had writing inside them that read things like, "Happy Easter Emily, Love, Grandma 2009". I always contacted the company if that was the case and they refunded me each time! Amazing!

Playing cards (i.e. Queen of Hearts) hanging from the door frame. The kids didn't even notice these so I would skip this next time. We also chalked the front sidewalk "Follow the White Rabbit"... that wasn't noticed either. So many details for parties are honestly for the parents than the kids.

Arizona Girls Weekend

2011-11-19T21:12:00.010-05:00

Spent a few days with some of my best friends from college in Arizona. It was a precious time. This is breakfast at Kelly's house, isn't her house just great? Very modern and clean!

This is Kelly and I. We woke up very early and stayed up late each night. She made wonderful food, it was so nice to be treated like a queen! She even rented a huge Cadillac SUV for the weekend so we all could fit together.

This is Allison. She is living in LA right now and a wonderful photographer. This is Pam's baby that made an appearance at girl's weekend - which we didn't mind at all! Her smiles were just precious all weekend. A sweet little girl with a full head of hair.

Kelly's decor is really cool as you can see. Her dad is a vet and mailed these nests to her in Phoenix. You can also see she spray painted her pumpkins. It is odd to see orange pumpkins in Phoenix I must say!

This is a typical Arizona home. I love the turquoise door! We went on a hike through the terrain and saw many awesome things but my photos got deleted.
This is Erin and Pam talking... we talk the entire weekend.

This is Allison with Baby Sarah in front of Kelly's backyard and her citrus trees.

Full fridge...

This is Pam and I. Pam is the mom of the baby. I missed my flight on the way out and Pam missed it on the way back. It all worked out. Allison and Kelly made 16 trips to the airport!

I don't have photos of the annual clothing swap and book swap. We always end up bringing tons of suitcases and trading clothes. It is really fun and funny. It is a great way to refresh our wardrobes - it truly works out. Everyone is different sizes and styles but we always end up with TONS of things. The book swap is also very meaningful as we share books we have read, recommend and trade one actual book. The last thing we do is that one of the girls makes up a list of 15 thoughtful questions that we go around and answer throughout the weekend. It keeps our time together quality and we can reflect on purposeful things that have happened throughout the year. Keeps our conversations meaningful. We spent time in prayer together also. I am sad the weekend is over but look forward to next October!

Thanksgiving Feast

2011-11-17T17:32:00.002-05:00

My camera is being fixed by my brother right now so I am missing some photos. But these two photos are from Grace's Thanksgiving feast at school. The first one is of our good family friend Ryan. Him and Grace have been in the same class at school for three years and have been in Sunday School together since birth. Ryan is one of Grace's best buddies. His mom is on a missions trip in Turkey right now - really neat family.

The second photo is just precious to me. If you notice, the kids are praying before their thanksgiving feast. Their prayer is a song so that is probably why many of them are looking up. But it is precious. Enough said.

USA women's water POLO #1 fan!!!

2011-11-15T23:10:00.006-05:00

This past weekend I flew to Arizona to visit 6 of my best friends from college. Kelly lives in Phoenix so we had planned last year to make this trip. It was a wonderful trip in so many ways but I need to write about the first few hours of the trip before I begin.

My non stop flight was scheduled to leave at 4:55 pm on Thursday and I left the house at 3:15. I planned to park, check luggage and checked in online. LESSON LEARNED: I cut it way too close - my fault completely - and missed my flight. Thankfully, I was rerouted to LA on standby and then on another standby flight to Phoenix. It was a much longer flight than my original nonstop but I was sure that God had a reason for all this nonsense!

On my flight to LA, I was so surprised to see it is one of those flights that have 9 seats across. I got the window. I sat next to a lady from Santa Barbara, she was 71, and flying home from Paris. She struck up a conversation with the blonde next to her across the aisle because they were both from Santa Barbara. I heard bits and pieces and just began to get situated when she tapped on my shoulder and said, "She was in the Olympics!"

So I met superfun Kami Craig (Hi Kami!) nubmer 12 on the women's USA water polo team - she was so fun. We were laughing, she let me wear the gold medal, we took a bunch of photos, I tried to get people to notice her and of course some free food from the flight attendant (he wouldn't take the bait but he did try on the medal!) I told Kami I was now her number one fan and would watch her team faithfully with my kids. She was so fun, open, likeable, interesting, good at answering my questions about her diet, her family, Indonesia, her boyfriend, long term relationships, the sport, Olympics, you name it. What a treat - four hours (or so) of FUN!

Meanwhile the sweet 71 year old lady became my BFF too but she got nervous at me when we landed because I turned on my cell phone too soon and I didn't get her name and number when we got off the plane. She was reading a Francis Chan book so we had a fascinating conversation about God, my faith, my awesome Bible Study, her dental hygenist, and her "journey to find purpose".

Funny Things They Say (Volume 8)

2011-11-15T21:52:00.002-05:00

Sam: "I'm sweaty."

Rita: "Mrs Connor says boys sweat and girls panic."

Cedarville visit!!

2011-11-06T21:20:00.003-05:00

This past weekend, we got to go to Cedarville for an alumni conference. It was really really fun for Nate and I to do this since we couldn't go out for our 10 year Homcoming this year. Nate's parents graciously met us halfway in Ohio and watched the kids for us during the day on Friday and Saturday. They went swimming in the hotel zoo, putt putt golf, petting farm, Bob Evans and the Columbus Zoo!! They can't stop talking about their fun adventures.

We enjoyed spending time with some other alumni and making new friends at this conference. Nate and I went to an amazing university that we could go on and on about if you ask us.

A highlight of the weekend was getting together with 2 of my besties and spouses at Pam's home in Dayton. Both Christy and Pam just had their third babies and our children have never all been together at the same time. It was so fun to hold 3 week old Drew and 13 week old Sarah AND let's not forget 22 month old Ellen! Ha, ha.

The older kiddos on the steps. This photos is funny because Peyton is hugging Rita after meeting her 10 minutes prior for the first time. Isn't Pam's home beautiful??

Christy, Pam, me and the triplets! (They look like triplets don't they?!?!?)

Rita enjoying the dining hall at Cedarville. I am so disappointed I didn't get a photo of Kirsten. She was one of the most special people to me while at Cedarville and I don't get to be in touch with her much anymore. She met us for lunch and my kids loved her. They talked about her taking them over to get pudding with sprinkles. I wish she lived closer.

Things have changed around campus... there are skateboards everywhere! At Cedarville, nothing is locked up.

Trick or Treat

2011-11-06T21:11:00.002-05:00

Well we got through Halloween and trick or treating! Our new neighborhood is a little more busy with trick or treaters so we actually started to run out of candy! We had huge candy bars. The highlights of trick or treating this year was that they kid had to sing at a neighbor's house to get a king size candy bar. That was fun. They also went to their grandparents to Trick or Treat. And of course we went to BOO-rito at Chipotle before we went out. That was mommy and daddy's trick to get free burritos.

Grace is at such a fun age... she loved dividing up the candy.

EWWWwwwwwww

2011-10-27T15:29:00.002-04:00

Just another snake in the sticky trap in our basement. We are trying to take care of the "issue" calmly. We also have three new appliances coming to our house and I have three rugs that are new... I will take photos and share stories soon!

Bunny FEVER

2011-10-27T08:22:00.005-04:00

Our neighbor's bunnies had bunnies! They are precious and at an adorable age - 4 weeks. We are not taking one but she had handed them out to many other neighbors. The kids have loved them, especially Ellen. She just laughs and laughs.

daddy daughter night

2011-10-26T09:55:00.005-04:00

The girls went with their daddy to date night 2 weeks ago and got a surprise! A real limo ride! Fabulous!

Ok so since I posted this, I have had a lot of emails asking where the limo came from... was it a groupon? A neighbor? Come on people, you don't think Nate would get the girls a limo ride? You are right, no, he didn't. Chick Fil A does it right. They treated the girls to a limo ride around Fairfax with their daddy. It was part of their daddy daughter date night. I am SO thankful Nate took photos. They had no idea that this was going to happen! They didn't have to wear seat belts, could eat in the limo and even Ellen could wander around the inside. What a treat!

carpool FUN

2011-10-07T11:47:00.002-04:00

Sam and Ellen are in the car a lot driving to and from school. Now that I have my new phone with camera, I can document our happenings. I always say, "What happens in carpool stays in carpool!"

MUST GET FROSTY!

Throwing up in the Slurpee cup, poor Sammy.

Standing out my window

This one was classic... another child waiting nicely for his brothers and sisters was playing matchbox cars through the sunroof...

Break out the organic chips - it is CARPOOL HAPPY HOUR!

Want to join us? We love carpool playdates!

Sites of Boston

2011-10-07T11:21:00.004-04:00

These are some of the photos from our weekend away in Boston and Plymouth. We had such a wonderful time together. Nate and I really love to check out new restaurants and coffee shops and dessert places... so that is a lot of the photos: food.

Harvard Square coffee shop - delicious! Nate is the one bending over choosing his cookie! We had our coffee in Harvard Square, listening to musicians and people watching. So fun for us!

This was a darling cupcake shop also in Harvard Square. We didn't buy any because they were expensive and I knew I could do better at home!
Darling wallpaper!

If anyone knows anything about this place, let me know - Lilly maybe? A Curious George shop opening soon! We may be back.

This was the replica of the Mayflower - kind of lame actually - touristy.

This is it... Plymouth ROCK!

Nate enjoys his bottomless pancakes without kids dripping syrup all over the kitchen!

Nate likes his hot sauce! We were so tired after a day of work, school, carpooling, Metro, flying to Boston, walking around, driving to Plymouth and now... dinner alone. His ring is still shining strong.. 10 years old!

Like French Fries but Green Beans! yum-O

What a wonderful time! We can't wait to do it again!

Second Grade Journaling (Volume 5)

2011-10-07T10:34:00.002-04:00

Toddler L-O-V-E

2011-10-07T10:08:00.003-04:00

I have had a little more one on one time with Ellen this school year. What fun to have a little active amazing toddler. These are some of our adventures caught on my new camera!

Pastry shop choices...

Potty training... she does what Sammy does - stands up!

Calling Grandma and Nana...

Brushing Teeth (ignore the bathroom... we are working on it)

Eating watermelon with Snow Boots!

Grace is her big buddy. She takes her out of the crib and this picture is one of my favorites because Ellen has her head on Grace... 7:30 AM on the way to school

Inside the new dollhouse that John Kuspa built for us! Thank you Mr Kuspa!

Drinking water by herself

Karina, Keira, Sam and Ellen!

2011-10-07T09:49:00.004-04:00

We have some friends that go to our church with two precious girls, Karina and Keira. We have started to do a "swap" during the week and watch each other's kids. This has been a highlight of my fall - a mini preschool at home! Every Monday we do fun activities with our friend "Kee-na." (That is what Ellen calls her.)

Lady and the Tramp

mall play area and pretzels
Fingerpaints!
Snacktime!

Playdate at the Doctor's office! Good times.

Horse, soccer ball and FLOOD

2011-10-07T08:03:00.003-04:00

What a week! Earlier this week, I left for a friend's house and the washing machine hose came out of the utility sink and poured out water for 2 1/2 hours. Whew! I came home to a huge wet mess. Our basement flooded through the ceiling and was a big puddle. We are working on some insurance claims, getting a new washing machine and all that stuff. I am so thankful it wasn't worse - we are safe, the hardwood floors didn't get ruined and we don't have wall to wall carpeting in the basement.

Yesterday our neighbor across the street had to call 911 because their back up generator was on fire. Our other neighbor Pam just had a dozen baby bunnies born to her big white rabbit.

I also got pulled over yesterday morning. Thanks to one of my kids, the registration sticker got pulled off my license plate. But, my registration was overdue by 7 days. I explained that we recently moved and they never sent the new forms to us and life got busy. So off to court in a month! Then Ellen called the fireman button on the elevator at MOPS. That honestly wasn't a big deal but it really freaked out the other kids on the elevator.

After the flood, I ran over to Lowes to look for a remnant to lay down in the basement for the kids to play on something soft. I found this round 3 foot soccer ball rug in the clearance section. I went up the customer service and they told me it was $12.5, originally $49.50. I told them "that isn't good enough" and that I would only buy it if it was $2 or less. So he marked them down to $2. Seriously, Sam has never loved anything more. He sleeps with it and rolls it up and walks around the house with it. That and the lifesize singing horse I got at a yard sale in the rain last Sat. It is HUGE.

The draining process was very involved...

Wet Vac that we got from our realtor... great gift.
My dad supervising Nate - what a mess! Closet mess and I am so thankful that my "swap stuff" was off the floor.
Laundry Room... now we are looking for a new machine And here is the horse!! She didn't get wet. Her name is Sparkle.

new phone

2011-10-01T10:38:00.002-04:00

I have a new handy dandy phone which means I don't post as much. I love it because I am not on the computer anymore at all. The kids are happier, my house is cleaner, and dinners are made... Success! I rejoined the gym and feel great. I am in a new nighttime Bible Study with some women at my church - learning a lot.

Sam almost got hit this morning in the parking lot at the gym. I became one of those moms that went crazy. I saw her coming, the SUV didn't see him and cut it way too close. I saw her and started hitting her car screaming like a crazy woman. She didn't know what was happening. He is safe and sound.

I am going to post some photos from my phone... Snapshots of life around here.

Get AWAY!

2011-09-18T21:16:00.002-04:00

We just got back from a wonderful weekend by ourselves. Well, it wasn't all by ourselves but it was without kids. We flew to Boston, got a really sweet car (a Fiat!), spent the day in Boston having coffee, eating out, Nate got a haircut in Harvard Square, walking around Cambridge, and talking. Then we headed towards the Cape and went to a fun Tapas restaurant for dinner (total bill was $35! - good prices there.) We stayed at a guesthouse that evening near the water. The next morning, we went out for breakfast where Nate got his bottomless pancakes at a local breakfast spot. He was very happy about that. Then we did some walking around Plymouth Rock and the town.

We then met up with my side of the family. My cousin Andrew was getting married in Plymouth and we combined our getaway with this wedding. It was the most beautiful location I have EVER been in for a wedding. A big beautiful white tent outside overlooking the harbor, gardens and Plymouth. This wedding was a huge "celebration" as the father of the bride announced. Andrew and Nicole have been dating for a very LONG time so we were celebrating for sure! We have never danced as much at a wedding as we did last night. My hips hurt today - Nate said it isn't the dancing but because I have had four children. I don't know.

Today we had breakfast with my cousins in a quaint cafe in Plymouth and laughed so much. We were sad to go home but SOO happy to see our kiddos. They were split up with some friends and my brother. We were so thankful to be able to do that. Pictures will be coming... but for now I must go to sleep.

Jack Donaldson

2011-09-15T22:03:00.003-04:00

Last week, a family I would sat that I "know of" experienced their worst nightmare. I know the mom because she is a neighbor to a few of my friends in Vienna, used to attend my Bible study and works in a bookstore in town. Her kids go to a local Christian school with some of my friends. A horrible accident happened and her son was killed during our storms last Thursday. It has been a week now and I am so deeply affected by this and don't have the words tovsay how I feel. I left the service hopeful and missing Jack - the 12 year old fiesty boy from Vienna. Please please read this blog to meet Jack's beautiful mama Anna: aninchofgray.blogspot.com.

First Day of Kindergarten and 2nd Grade!

2011-09-07T11:38:00.003-04:00

7:15 and we are ready to Rock-n-Roll! It is so much easier getting them ready this year because I have been doing it for 2 years now. Grace can do everything herself except for her hair.

Rita's first day of kindergarten - so precious. She was so excited and nervous and brave and ready to go! No tears by anyone!

Grace told me, "If you cry mama, I am outta there." She also did not want me to walk her to her room because she can "do it herself" now that she is in 2nd grade! Oh boy, way to break my heart.

The carpool crew - we come as a package to school. Sam wanted to wear the medal to school and don't be fooled... it is their "second breakfast" in their hands.

Grace is unpacking her backpack as if she has done this for years.
Rita putting away her things. That is another one of her teachers, Mrs Daum. It is so nice that they require the students to have a pair of sneakers at school. That way, they don't ruin their leather uniform shoes.

/> On the way out of the school, I peeked in on Rita and she was all nestled in her room and doing great. So thankful for the wonderful morning. We got rear ended pretty badly on the way to school that morning. We are all safe and I don't want that to overshadow Rita's wonderful first day of KINDERGARTEN! I told the lady that hit me that I couldn't discuss insurance because I had a "First day of school" to get to!

School Prep

2011-09-07T11:06:00.002-04:00

This is Rita at her open house for kindergarten. This is her teacher, Mrs. Conner and two little girls in her class. It is so precious how kind and gentle the teacher is with them.

Rita talking to the bear puppet about her name.
Little ladies must get their nails done with mommy before school starts.

"Elephantastic Pink" is the color we picked out!

Big day coming up!!

Pool Party and Dinner

2011-09-03T20:52:00.002-04:00

We just spent a evening celebrating my sister in law Alayna's birthday (both my sister in laws share a bday!) with family and some close friends at the pool. We had such a good time catching up and enjoying our 10 children at dinner. Jon and Brenda just adopted their third child after a SIX year wait and we enjoyed hearing about what that experience was like. The best part was that they told me about their "Homecoming" video on Youtube and I just LOVE adoption videos so I was ALL OVER THAT. A lot of people are doing this with adoptions these days (blogs and videos) but what is really neat is that Jon and Brenda don't have a blog or make a big fuss about things. I had to ask them if they had a video and she casually mentioned that a friend made them one and it is just PRECIOUS!

Click HERE to see it (about 3 minutes long).

new faces!

2011-08-29T14:44:00.002-04:00

This is a before and after shot...

I had a mysterious bump show up on my face about a year ago. We think it is a colorless mole and I had it removed last week. I went to a plastic surgeon and he did a nice little stitching job - should be good as new! You can't even see the scar from his work on my lip last summer to remove that bump that was right below.

Earthquakes and Hurricanes - OH my!

2011-08-29T14:13:00.002-04:00

I need to do a little weather update here before life slips by! Last week, we experienced our first earthquake around 1 pm. I was laying down in my bed and the kids were having some quiet time. Ellen was sleeping in her crib and the other kids were just playing and lying on their beds in their rooms.

I started to hear a loud noise that sounded like our attic fan rumbling but it was a much stronger vibration. Many things went though my mind like

- is this the attic fan going crazy?

- are the kids moving Ellen's crib across her room (she was briefly screaming)?

- where are the kids? in the basement messing with the AC unit?

- why am I shaking? Am I panicking? my hands won't stop!

- is this just my house that is shaking?

I got out of bed slowly and walked down my hallway. I immediately walked towards the furthest bedroom and was yelling, "where are you?" Next thing I knew (all in slow motion like a car accident) one of my kids was screaming at the top of her lungs, "stop it!" while standing in her doorway. She was petrified and I grabbed her and asked what is wrong. I thought that a tradegy of some sort had happened - I won't go down that thought process but I was scared and trying to sort through what was happening. My oldest three all came in the hallway and I told them to get in my bed immediately.

I still didn't know an earthquake had occurred as everything was a blur, we were scared, my hands were shaking and I was panicked. It lasted about 40-50 seconds, we were all shaken up. Ellen briefly screamed but seemed okay sleeping in her crib.

I told one child to go to the laundry room to see if the dryer had moved. I told another child to go to one of the bedrooms where we heard a crash. I told the last child to get my purse. They all moved quickly, came back and I tried to call Nate - cell phones dead. Then Grace heard someone outside and I told them all to follow me outside and we ran down the street to my neighbor. She said, "I think we had an earthquake." I was in shock. I turned on the TV, nothing was on, but I thought it was weird the cell phones were working.

Well sure enough we had an earthquake and we are fine! My kids adjust well to change but we have been edgy around here, very clingy, and not sleeping too well since. The one big aftershock woke me up at night but I was the only one that felt it and went back to sleep.

Nate was fine at work - that is a whole different story but basically he wasn't freaked out at all and NO he did not think it was a bomb in DC!

Hurricane Irene wasn't much of anything - more of a rain storm.

This is what fell in Ellen's room... one toy and a pack of diapers.

The portraits were all askew.

Close call on Sam's shelf...

Close call on the money jar...

The bear, helmet and Thomas book fell.

Cape Cod 2011 #2

2011-08-25T07:53:00.001-04:00

Feeding the ducks
10 years next week!

More cousins

Cape Cod 2011

2011-08-25T07:36:00.001-04:00

Just a glimpse into our vacation...

Cousins on the beach

Road Race Racers

BINGO night!
Aquarium visit

2011-08-24T07:49:00.002-04:00

Earthcake update coming soon...

My cousin Andrew is marrying Nicole in three weeks. I went to the most beautiful bridal shower hosted by my aunts while in Cape Cod last week. Here are a few photos, I wish I took more ....

Karen's pool - so beautiful and so much fun to play in!

This is my Aunt Karen and Nicole. She was saying how happy she is that Nicole will be her first daughter-in-law. Nate and I will be going to the wedding in 3 weeks - we can't wait!

This is my cousin Molly. She is working on Nantucket this summer and came in for the weekend. She is so fun.

Happy 4th Bday SAMMY!

2011-08-23T18:08:00.005-04:00

I love love little BIG boy Sam. He told an elderly lady at IHOP today that he was four and held up four fingers. That was cute b/c he still thinks he is two sometimes! We had a fun little day celebrating Sammy!

Gift on the mantel...

Homemade cake that didn't frost right so it looked like cookies-n-cream!
Perfect gift for a four year old boy with sisters that have many princess dresses!

Thank you FUN-cle Marvin and Aunt Lindsay.

Thank you Nana!

Pirate ship fun!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for my baseball bat!

Funny Things They Say (Volume 7) - on vacation

2011-08-20T21:01:00.002-04:00

In reference to a couple kissing in a parking lot, Rita says, "Mommy look they are falling in love."

After having dessert and watching TV, my niece Joy whispered to me, "we let things slide a lot when we are on vacation."

Rita said to my vegan nephew, "Is it a hard life eating fruits and vegetables all the time?"

Rita said about some friends that are dating, "when is their royal wedding?"

One girl cousin says, "I want to be a princess." The other girl cousin says, "I want to be a queen with no kids."

While on vacation, my kids and their cousins found 2 baby rabbits in a nest. My nephew Bryce got all excited and asked my dad for a piece of paper. My dad said, "why do you need paper?" Bryce says, "I need to make a licensing agreement." "For what Bryce?" "To let others see the bunnies."

Don't Ask, Don't Tell (Volume 26)

2011-08-20T19:37:00.002-04:00

WARNING: Long post!

This isn't really a funny "don't ask, don't tell" but it is a true "DADT." After I had my dessert party a few weeks ago, I thought I had vaccumed and cleaned up. But... a few days later one of my children stepped on a gold lighthouse earring and briefly showed it to me when we were outside playing one evening. She was more interested in the earring than her foot.

Fast forward to 10 days later. My mom had Rita over to her house for dinner. My mom - a nurse - called me and asked if I had seen Rita's foot lately. "No why mom?" "There looks like there is an infection of some sort. I think you should soak it." So that I soaked it that evening.

The next morning, 1st day of VBS at church, she had a big yellow Jello-like, the size of a quarter, spot on the bottom of her foot with a mysterious red line traveling up her ankle like a piece of yarn. I called our "fabulous, trustworthy, calls me at home often, small town peditrician" and got Rita in. She cultured it and put her on meds. The culture came back and according to our ped, she has "MIRSA (a type of staph), strep, and a bunch of nasty things going on, you need to be suspicious." A week went by, good news, the antibiotic worked fine! Story is NOT over.

The day she finished her meds, we were getting ready for our trip to Cape Cod. We were leaving the next day and Rita woke up with what appeared to be a sunburn on her face. When I changed her, I saw that her entire body was full of a horrible hot rash. She had an allergic reaction of some sort the day AFTER her last meds. Poor thing. We still left for vacation and appears to be doing great once the rash cleared up! Lesson taught to her... MUST TELL MOMMY IF YOUR FOOT HURTS!

Family Photo Shoot with Nate's family...

2011-08-20T19:14:00.003-04:00

When in Michigan, Nate's family got professional photos done to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa's 65th wedding anniversary. Here are some highlights. If you want to see more of them, click on this link!

I love this photo, do you notice we are on an island!

Nate's grandparents Grace and Marvin

Grace and Rita

Dinner in Georgetown

2011-08-08T08:10:00.004-04:00

My friend Tonya had a birthday last week and we celebrated with a fancy dinner in Georgetown with another couple. It was so fun and I ran into some friends from high school too!

Tonya's good friend LeeAnn and her husband Don.

Tonya and Mark...

Tonya holding the watermelon salad that I ordered. Very delicious!

Nate and I...

Nate doesn't look as excited as me to take a photo.

Ta-DA! Dining Room Table!

2011-08-04T20:29:00.004-04:00

So here is the big reveal of our dining room table. I wasn't looking too long on Craigslist before I found this beaut'. I love the table legs. I love that it has two leaves. I love that the chairs are narrow. I love having more ROOM to eat! Eating is very important to my family...as if I never mentioned that.

The lady who sold it to me was really great. She let us have the chair covers which are very handy for the spills from the kids. I love that the table is a "rustic" look and therefore it won't show as much wear as time goes on.
You will see the old dining room table in the background. I got that out quickly last night on Craigslist and some dude from Georgetown came and got it at 9 PM. I told him I had a lot of memories at that table and to send me a photo of him playing poker at it with his dude friends. Nate thought that was ridiculous!
Happy Birthday to Sam today! He is a spiffy four year old. His teachers (Hi Kristin!) were so nice to him at Bible Camp today. Special Day for him means no nap and the whole afternoon on the slip and slide.
Happy "birth" day to my dear friend Pam's new baby... I won't reveal the gender in case others don't know yet but it was a good gender.

Kitchen Before and Afters!

2011-08-02T21:05:00.009-04:00

I am trying to do some great before and after photos of our kitchen. It is 98% finished. The last final touch would be a turquoise KitchenAid mixer! Here are some photos so I hope you enjoy.

We are trying to figure out still what to do with our cordless phone on the wall and will eventually upgrade our fridge and dishwasher... when it breaks of course!

It took a lot of work to clean, sand, clean, prime, paint all the interior and exteriors (shelves included) of all the cabinets. That is why this project has taken probably 10 months with 4 kids! This is my one and only pantry and it works great. I am not one to keep a lot of food on hand for storage or stockpiling. Here is the after shot! We took down the bannister at the top of the cabinets, added the chalkboard, and spray painted all of the knobs and hinges. The tables and barstools have been great for the kids and when I cook or bake a lot, I make them into an island in the middle of the kitchen.

Before: After!! The walls are painted grey, we added a bamboo shade, got a new oven and hood and my favorite addition was my new rag rug that I had custom made! It is made from tie dyed tee shirts.

This is a photo I found of the close up of our cabinets before and how awful our oven was... so we treated ourselves to a new oven after I got paid for doing some freelance marketing for my brother's company.

The new oven and hood looks great, doesn't it? I am not as bothered by the countertops as I was initially. I had to get rid of the wood cabinets. Way too much WOOD!

This is another before shot and you can see how we had this "table structure" sticking out from our wall. I thought I would like it but love that it is gone. This is another shot of our chalkboard. It is our organizing tool for everyone in our family. Some certain people in my little family love their meals and he needs to know what is for dinner everynight ahead of time!!

Another shot of the crazy table we took out!

This is what we did in place of the table. I really wanted my depression glass to be on display and this was the best I could do for displaying it. I also framed my favorite pastel drawing that Grace made this year of a rooster.

Hope you like it! I have been waiting to post this until I got the rag rug. When I get the new mixer (someday) I will post that too. Tomorrow I will try to post my new dining room table!!

Lost Dog...

2011-07-29T15:16:00.003-04:00

We found a dog this morning. It was the sweetest dog. We took it for a walk and pet it and then called the dog catcher.

We got a phone call! They contacted the owners (the tag didn't have the address). They were away on vacation and the dog got out. Thank goodness. After 12 days, the sweet dog would of been adopted.

Meanwhile, I saw this license plate this week... so fun!

friends...

2011-07-27T13:56:00.001-04:00

We had over our close friends from college that live in the area... the kids were all eating cookies on the doorstep.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell (Volume 25)

2011-07-27T13:54:00.001-04:00

If I had a penny for every "mystery" photo I delete from my camera, I would be rich. This one was funny to me.

Cape Cod 2 weeks and counting

2011-07-27T13:50:00.002-04:00

These are some of the reasons I am so excited about our trip to Cape Cod in 2 weeks! This year one of my best friends from college is coming for a day or two with her boyfriend - I cannot wait to see my family and nieces and nephews too.

Black Flowers

2011-07-20T07:56:00.000-04:00

Does anyone know where to buy black flowers around here???

Mackinac Island Vacation

2011-07-20T07:37:00.004-04:00

We enjoyed our time at Mackinac Island. We stayed three nights and it was perfect! There are no cars or vehicles on the island and the only way to arrive is by ferry. I enjoyed seeing the UPS man all weekend on a horse-drawn carriage.

This was our 20 minute ferry ride over to the island.

Riding over to the island. You can see the bridge behind the kids that connects the Upper part of Michigan to the Lower part of Michigan.

The food at the hotel is amazing. We enjoyed all the meals and Sammy did as well! The kids participated in the kids programs while we were there and they were so well done. They got to go to the Island Library, private duck pin bowling and go to the owner of the hotel's private residence to play games.

This was our room. Every room is decorated differently.

So happy to have dinner alone! We had a hotel babysitter for the younger two and the older two played with the kids in the kids program.

Ellen in the child size chair.

They have a lot of fudge shops around town. One of the shops has a gumball machine that has special gumballs that get you a free slice of fudge. Of COURSE Sammy won.

Playing on the porch on a rainy morning...

July Fun!

2011-07-16T20:43:00.004-04:00

So far we have been having fun this summer! We had Nate's sister visit from Michigan, some friends from college visit from Ohio, and have done some things around town. We just got back from a wonderful FUN week in Michigan.

This is Joy. We met up with her at Chick Fil A for lunch. I used to babysit her when she was the age fo MY KIDS.

This is the Noodle and Company Summertime Party that we participated in. It was fun. We arrived 30 minutes early on a certain day and waited in line. The first 50 got shirts to redeem for free salads this summer!

I had a dessert night at my house for some longtime friends and enjoyed making these delicious desserts.

And of course... Chick Fil A cow day. Sammy is here with his best bud Peter.

Summer Playdates

2011-07-06T07:57:00.002-04:00

We went to a playdate this week at a new friend's house. It was precious. They had lemonade, ladybugs, bubbles and a playset. The ladybugs were a hit. I didn't know you could buy them at the garden store and let them go loose. The kids LOVED that.

Old Children's Books part two

2011-07-04T16:37:00.000-04:00

Another book from our neighbor... this is our favorite page!

Wedding on our Street!

2011-06-27T20:07:00.002-04:00

Here are some more photos from the unforgetable wedding last weekend. It was so fun and all the Harley people were so nice to us and our family! The kids loved seeing the bikes lined up. We counted over 30 total! This is in front of our house.

The view from our second floor.
This is the back of their yard after the bride arrived.

Photos after the ceremony.

Waiting for the "drive away" to the Legion hall.

June June June

2011-06-26T20:08:00.001-04:00

A wonderful audience...

Bathtime:

Daddy Date Night

2011-06-26T18:00:00.001-04:00

Nate took the older girls to date night at Chick fil A. It was darling when they came home so excited. Nate took some photos for me.

American Girls

2011-06-25T15:44:00.003-04:00

The American Girl store opened last week so we went for lunch with some friends. It was a girls paradise - very new and pink and pretty. The service was not very good, food was just okay but... we had so much fun being together as girls. If anyone in the area plans to go, I would suggest making a reservation and just eating dessert. It is a lot less expensive and they have a very cute dessert menu.

Harley Wedding

2011-06-25T13:48:00.002-04:00

We are starting to get to know our neighbors and love how different they are from us!!! That makes life so much more exciting doesn't it? Well, we are right now waiting for the bride to arrive at the wedding next door. We are waiting on the doorstep with our bubble machine.

Old Children's Books

2011-06-20T15:05:00.001-04:00

Our neighbor gave us some old children's books. We have been reading them to the kids and some of the pages are so hilarious. Look at this mom and what they are wearing and their hair!

Don't Ask, Don't Tell (Volume 23)

2011-06-19T21:55:00.004-04:00

After our first trip to BJ's, some of my children were fascinated by the 12 box pack of Mac-n-Cheese. Three boxes were rattles for Ellen all morning, one box was a craft project for Sammy as he opened the powder and sprinkled it around and tried to clean it with the Swiffer.

Cupcakes, Tea and Jeeps

2011-06-19T21:36:00.002-04:00

Summer has begun! Aunt Betsy came to visit last weekend for a few days and we did some really fun things. We got some great finds at a yard sale, went to Georgetown and church with her, watched a thunderstorm from the top of the Metro garages and went to DC Cupcakes. My girls LOVE this place. Betsy has better photos on her blog so click here to see them.

On Sunday, I went to a good bye party for my friend Hollie. She is moving to England and so we hosted a tea for her. It was a lot of fun. This is my friends Renee and Audra and their "tea food!"

This is Hollie. As you can tell, she is a hoot.

And then last week, Sammy had a playdate with some new friends we have made. It is rare for Sam to get to be with boys so he was in heaven as you can see - I will be having more playdates like this for him!!!

Iron Stone Farm

2011-06-03T08:26:00.003-04:00

Here are some photos from our stay in PA last weekend. I can't say enough about the place that we stayed. I found it on a list and could not find any reviews or any information about it online ANYWHERE. I was a little concerned. But once you get into the Amish country and disconnect from life, you understand... they don't communicate in the ways we communicate!

Sandbox for the kids

The owner has the most beautiful gardens!

This was a little handmade stone "playhouse" for the kids full of kitchenettes and baby dolls.

Grace at the stream - it was the cleanest stream!

Kick off the shoes!

Dinner at a BBQ place one evening.

I did not get any photos of Grace milking the cows, giving a bottle to the calves, seeing the Joseph play, Nate eating his Amish "delights", Grandma and "Grandfather" pushing the kids on the swings, and so much more!!

Can't wait for our next trip!

Amish Dairy Farm

2011-06-02T15:50:00.003-04:00

We spent the weekend in PA on a dairy farm. Here are two of the first photos I had to share...

Look closely at both of them!

Happy 7th Bday!!!!

2011-05-19T14:09:00.000-04:00

Wedding!

2011-05-16T10:45:00.006-04:00

Whew, we haven't been to a wedding in a while and this weekend's wedding was so special. Our neighbor Kathryn got married after a long, hard couple of past years. It was such a fun time to celebrate, meet their family and friends and REJOICE! I am so happy for them that I am bubbling!

My favorite things about this wedding:

Intimate - 65 guests and met/talked w/all of them

Simple but elegant - Yellow Roses and Tulips

Delicious Food - the dinner was the best wedding food ever

Bride and Groom included their children in everything

Rehersal and Reception in homes - relaxed, comfortable and classy

I could go on and on....

Wow! A family of four (and 2 OWENs!)
Kathryn had the best napkins. They all had different sayings!

My friend Sarah hosted the reception - she is a fab decorator - isn't this a great way to block the stairs??!! (Sarah does has four under four and a set of twins.)

Precious Vienna Neighbors

And on a closing note... these were the cutest appetizers. See what I mean? The wedding was full of cute stuff like this but I had to stop taking so many photos!

Taste-Mobile

2011-05-16T10:04:00.004-04:00

Last Friday, I took the kids out of school so we could go on a field trip to the Jelly Belly Taste-mobile. It was fun. They had a cupcake decorating contest and a chance to taste all these weird flavors of beans - the kids LOVED that.

Banana or Pencil Shavings?
Deciding how to decorate... the kids win $100 if they have the best cupcake. Grace did a rainbow design and Sam did a goldfish. Rita did "crazy hair."

Final Products:

Cupcakes at the Park

2011-05-16T10:01:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow is Grace's 7th birthday.

We celebrated with a park party 2 weeks ago. I won these cupcakes (3 boxes of them!) at a school auction... a good reason to have a party at the park - cupcakes!

Father Daughter Dance - 1st Grade

2011-05-06T22:26:00.004-04:00

This was a fun night for Nate and Grace. They went to the Father Daughter Dance at school. Here are some photos from before the dance...

This is hilarious.

Last year and this year, Nate has seen this dad sit in the lobby during the dance and read a book during the event.

This is Grace and two of her babysitters that we love.
Grace and two of her first grade friends Caroline and AnnaMaria...
Karissa and Mike... they are family friends from church...
This photo is of all the girls outside playing on the porch... Nate took this shot to show me what went on. I love the dresses in the background.
They did a slideshow during the event and you can see a photo of Grace and Nate at Disney on Main Street USA.
Grace and her best buddy Addie from class...

Grace came back exhausted and so excited to spend time with friends and their daddies!

Don't Ask, Don't Tell (Volume 22)

2011-05-05T13:20:00.002-04:00

And I ask over and over, "Where is my camera?" Hummm.

Funny Things They Say (Volume 6)

2011-04-27T14:11:00.002-04:00

We are going to stay at an Amish farm in Pennsylvania in a few weeks with Nate's parents. I have been reading Amish Life books to the kids in preparation for their questions. Right now, we have 2 friends over for a playdate and they are playing airplane to New Mexico. Rita is describing (I am writing it word for word) the Amish to the other two kids.

"They wear caps and no jewelry. They are very elegant. They have dolls with no faces. And they don’t like their pictures taken. We have books of them. When they get married they wear black caps. And no jewelry. After their wedding, they have the next people come into the house to get married and then they have dinner. Seriously no jewelry."

Funny Things They Say (Volume 5)

2011-04-24T21:40:00.001-04:00

Sammy was putting on his tie and shirt for Easter this morning and said to Nate, "Am I going to work too daddy?"

He was serious.

Good Easter Morning Washington DC!

2011-04-24T21:23:00.005-04:00

Here are some photos from the Easter Sunrise Service at the Lincoln Memorial. It really was not that difficult to attend this morning... even with children. Our kids wake up very early anyways so we just woke them up a little earlier and they were very excited. We got in the car around 5:15am and arrived and was parked on Constitution Ave by 5:45am.

Here we are sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. So memorable!

This was the beautiful view while listening to some awesome music.

The pictures don't do it justice. We would highly recommend it to anyone who is in DC for Easter. Ellen was a little active but we contained her in the backpack (thank you Carrie!)

After the sun rose...

Beautiful weather outside...

Nate and I really liked the "mix" of people there. Many young professionals made up the crowd (with their Starbucks cups) but also there were many older people and and joggers and white dresses/hats and young families and Amish.

We were also very impressed with how professional and detailed the service was. It was all easy to hear, ushers were everywhere, seats were rented, bulletins handed out...

But most of all, it was an awesome way to put Easter into perspective and celebrate that

Jesus WAS RISEN!

Stay-Cation... "Festival Day" - Sat...

2011-04-24T21:15:00.004-04:00

Friday was a wash but Sat was great! Our church had an Easter festival. It was the best Easter Egg hunt I have ever been to. The kids had to listen to the REAL Easter story before hunting for eggs. And they had thousands of eggs all over our church property (20ish acres). This was the first egg hunt lineup.

Sammy got to play with some baby chicks.

Ellen enjoyed the stage.

Funny Things They Say (Volume 4)

2011-04-22T07:37:00.003-04:00

I was cleaning Sam's feet last night before he went to bed and he says to me, "Mommy, this is what Jesus's wife did."

Stay-Cation... "Swap Day" - Thurs

2011-04-22T07:28:00.003-04:00

On Thursday, we drove to our friend's house in our old neighborhood for a "Mommy Swap." On the way, we drove by "The Pig". This is always a highlight for the kids as you can see.

We picked up Matt, my good friend Jenni's son, for a morning of play with us. Don't tell his mom I let him play "pretty pink princess castle!!"
Then we did the SWAP! This is a huge event that my moms group throws and it is so fun. Everyone brings things to swap and you get a number. You go around and pick things that are interesting to you in a round robin style. I let the kids pick out what they wanted. I was sad to donate some of my linens but I never use them so it was time.

Here is the SWAP room.

Wendy is showing off her new Pashmina (this is Wendy's beautiful home!)

Then we came home to a special treat: Lunchables! See the kitchen in the background... it won't be like this long. I am painting... reveal is to come soon.

Stay-Cation... "Georgetown Day" - Weds

2011-04-22T07:24:00.002-04:00

So on Weds, we took a 20 minute drive to Georgetown to run a few errands. First stop, Georgetown Hospital for a little check-up. Don't be alarmed! It was just the only place we could see a Pediatric Dermatologist quickly. Nothing big!

Next stop... get Nate at work and go to Georgetown Cupcake. Well, it is Spring Break and the line had about 300 people in it. So we went to Thomas Sweet - our favorite place for ice cream!
Then to soccer practice!

Stay-Cation... "Garbage Day" - Tuesday

2011-04-20T08:21:00.002-04:00

On Tuesday, we went up to the church to meet another friend to organize some last minute items and make labels. We have even more fun on Tuesday. The kids loved it! They rode bikes and scooters all day in the church lot. My friend Candi (see below) brought only 5 of her children over with her, but we still got a lot done.

Warning LONG STORY AHEAD: We ended up having a huge - I mean huge - pile of unusable items from the clean-out the day before. We are talking old furniture that someone dumped on the church property, mice-infested banners, wasp-nest filled flower pots, etc. We jumped right in calling some junk hauling companies and asking friends and handymans to see who could take these items to the dump. We were quoted prices of $600 and up for the junk removal. What were we to do??? We have a big Easter event at the church on Sunday - it must go!!

We decided to call the church's trash removal company to make one special pickup. We knew one pickup would not be enough but it was the best we could do for under $100.

When we heard the garbage truck come to dump the dumpster, I ran out with one of our international pastors at our church to say "we were happy to see you" to the garbage man. We chit-chatted with him and asked if we could load up a little more and have him do an extra dumpster dump. He said sure. I ran over to the "crew" of kids, called the pastors that were in the office to come out, and long story short, our wonderful garbageman ended up dumping 6 dumpsters full for us while we frantically ran back and forth from the dumpters with about 15 children, wheelbarrows and wagons. We were laughing SO HARD. We tipped him way over $50 for being so kind to us! It was quite a scene. God really provided for us. God is good! We were so energized.

Here is Candi with some grain sacks...

The race is on... get the trash into the dumpster ASAP!
The garbage man brought the dumpster to us after 3 dumps!

Run people RUN! Get the garbage in - quick!

GO GO GO!

Our last load...
Another great day of SERVICE! Don't worry -

Weds is...

GEORGETOWN CUPCAKES

(and GTown Hospital)!

Stay-Cation... "Service Day" - Monday

2011-04-20T07:55:00.005-04:00

On Monday, we had planned to organize a shed at church with some friends and our kids. We had 4 adults and about 10 children. It was a really fun time. We worked from 9 AM until 3 PM and the "decorating" shed at church looks just awesome now. It is so easy to find what is needed and our church is now ready to throw a big Easter event on Saturday. Although, we never found the Crown of Thorns, we found a lot of mice.

BEFORE

AFTER
These are some in between photos. We found some really fun, funny, and laughable things that kept us going. Here is Kristen with a little wedding favor we found thrown on the floor in the shed. Kristen is a good family friend and kept making me laugh - she really helped us with the babies.
Here is Liz holding up the picket fence and some old VBS decorations before everything fell on us!
And this is what the kids did all afternoon. They played wedding, race cars, parade, house, and angels.

Another trip to the dumpster - throwing away the mice!

Ellen enjoyed herself all morning with the flags.
What a crew! This was taken around 3 PM.

Stay-Cation... Spring Break Day 1 - Sunday

2011-04-20T07:45:00.003-04:00

Because we already went to Florida and we plan to go to Lancaster in a few weeks, we decided to stay home for our Spring Break. We call it a STAY-CATION. It was kicked off on Sunday after church when we went to our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. Since we are new in the neighborhood, this is new to us. The kids loved it. We have some friends who live in our neighborhood that just had a newborn and so we also picked up their daughter and brought her with us (that is the extra little girl!)

Sam and Karina

Sisters - see the eggs in the background???
Ellen was EXTREMELY possessive of her eggs. She knew exactly what was going on at the Easter Egg Hunt and wanted all her eggs in her basket and the basket to be held by ONLY her. This is Nate trying to take it away from her.

On Sunday night, Nate told Rita that if she pulled her loose tooth out, she would get ice cream. So Rita lost her first tooth - VERY VERY exciting!

Happenings around here...

2011-04-19T07:14:00.002-04:00

Ben and Jerry Free Cone Day with friends from school...

Ellen's first free cone day!
Baptism at church - 24 were baptized on Sunday.
It was really neat.

"He is Risen!" Party

2011-04-19T06:28:00.002-04:00

Two of the moms in our class through a fabulous Easter party in Grace's class on Friday. The other 3 kids and I went to celebrate and make cute crafts with Grace.

Doing the crafts...
TThe finished "egg lamb"

Birds Nests for a treat...

Our # 1 first grader!

Beautiful Cross...

2011-04-07T15:08:00.003-04:00

Every child at Rita's preschool brought in a flower today to make this "Living Cross." It is so beautiful that I had to share.

Everyone is asking about Nate and his job.

So far we don't know.

Mystery Question

2011-04-05T13:33:00.001-04:00

Does anyone from Cedarville who read my blog know what this is?

Hint: Spray Paint

neighbors...

2011-04-04T20:58:00.001-04:00

We are getting to know our new neighbors...

We Did It! We Won!!!!

2011-04-01T14:29:00.003-04:00

I don't think Nate and I won the Patterson Biggest Loser competition but...

...more important news for our family...

Thank you all who supported Grace during the

Read-A-Thon at her school...

She completed her reading!!!

We as a family read the entire book of Acts and about 25 Psalms in 4 weeks!

The Verwys family submitted the most sponsor cards this year also!!!!!!!