Kentucky Bound!

"It's catch up time again!!"

In early August, my mother in law and I packed up the boys and headed out on a 10 hour driving trip to Kentucky to visit my sister in law, Jill and Jackson. The trip out went rather smoothly- thank God for the DVD players attached to the back of our seats! The boys listened to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and we had Patch the Pirate on repeat since it was the only CD we had remembered to bring along! Whoops! :) Starbucks snags during rest stop visits helped to keep the front seat passengers awake, and before we knew it...we were there!!

We all had a great time together visiting the Cincinnati Zoo and just hanging around the house playing! Here are a few "highlight reel" pictures from our fun filled 48 hour visit! (although bathtime was probably one of the highlights...picture three active boys in the tub together...I decided to leave those pictures out for obvious reasons) ;)

Landon and Jackson are quite the pair!

Aunt Jilly, Jackson, Landon, and Mommom at our Cincinnati Zoo Visit!

Ethan trying to climb the tiger

Landon: "No, Ethan, this is how you do it!"

Our attempt at a cousins picture!

Mommy and Ethan looking at the elephants (we don't have elephants at our zoo!)

Landon posing for a picture with his chocolate milk

Dinner time with 3 toddlers was quite the adventure!

Never too young to wrestle! All boy!!

Three boys playing fetch with Braidee!

After a long day, mommom and the boys loved cuddling up together on the couch!

 

 

 

We will definitely be making a tradition out of this trip! What a fun time we all had! It is so exciting to think of all the fun years we have ahead of us with all these boys in the family!! :)

Sandy Cove Fun!

Amidst all of our construction and house repairs this summer, we took a few fun trips! I know...it's Fall and I'm just now blogging about our summer. Life has been super busy! Hopefully I'll have a chance to catch up on my blogging over the next few weeks so you can see JUST how busy! :)

In July, we went on our annual family vacation to Sandy Cove. My entire family has been going (more than 25 of us!) since I was a baby. Each year we all have a BLAST and are physically and spiritually refreshed! There are just

So SOOO many memories that I love creating with our family each year!

Water FUN!

Ethan got REALLY comfortable in a pool this year! Often just wanting to be left alone to swim and move around at his own pace!

 

Greg and Ethan enjoying some pool time!

Greg and I rode the Wave Cutter a few times with my dad, sister, cousins, aunt, and uncle.

Thrilling fun I hadn't had in years!

 

Landon really enjoyed water balloon fun with his friends from Club Cove!

 

 

FAMILY MEMORIES!!!

Teaching Granddad (my granddad, Ethan's GREAT granddad!) how to play the Leapster

Leah re-living her baby years! ;)

Stencils and drawing fun with Aunt Sue!

 

Puzzle time with Nana!

 

Family Worship!

Landon's oldest cousin, Jed...whom Landon is a HUGE fan of! ;)

 

 

 

Mini Golf Fun!

I have a funny feeling Greg will have two more golf buddies in a few more years!

 

Ethan was a little more interested in....

running to the water! Thanks to Nana who helped me block him! We were the comic relief for other families!

Landon spent literally every waking moment with one...or all...of his cousins! I absolutely love how close they are!

 

 



Bubble Fun thanks to Uncle Pat who bought all the kids their own bubble wands!!

 

 

Speaking of Uncle Pat (wish I had gotten a picture!), he and I began three of our vacation early mornings on a 4-5 mile run through the beautiful Sandy Cove grounds, along the Chesapeake as a part of my marathon training. Even though it was early, the heat and humidity definitely made those runs a challenge! I'm sure it had nothing to do with my ice cream intake the nights before! :-)

 



 

Me and my hubby! Isn't he handsome? ;)

 

 

Each day Greg and I got to spend about 40 minutes each day sitting in the chars you see behind us, talking about how to make our family and marriage the best it can be. Having a week to daily be able to talk,  share our dreams, and pray together was another favorite part of our week at Sandy Cove.

 

 

 

Me and my baby sister all dressed up for the dinner.



 

Eating ice cream with our family every night was the perfect ending to each hot day!

 

 

Each year there is a different speaker at Sandy Cove. This year we were so happy to have been able to sit under the encouragement and direction of Ted Cunningham who works with Gary Smalley developing strong families and marriages across the nation. He developed a comic relationship with my grandparents early on in the week- they are the epitome of a great marriage. Ted spotted that early on, so they became the daily example in his messages each day.

 

And, as uncomfortable as it may seem...having their kids and their spouses and grandkids in the audience to witness these jokes was more hilarious than awkward! We are still laughing all these months later!

Aren't they a beautiful couple? Love them!

 

 

We ended the week singing with all the other families on the big hill overlooking the Chesapeake.

 



A last day photo op! See how tired we all were?

 

We weren't the only ones who were tired! Grandmom was tired out from all the activity too!!

 

 

A huge thank you to Aunt Wawa who took all these pictures for us...and even made a photo album for us! 

 

We are already looking forward to next year!! :) 



 



An Aunt Again!

In late June, my sister Sarah had her first baby. Silas Robert was born on June 23rd. He is such a good baby, and growing so SO fast! Here are a few pictures of the fun we have had enjoying Silas this summer!

1 day old!

 

1st time visiting his new cousin!

 

Kisses!

Landon holding Silas with his Hawaiian Punch lips, haha!

An attempted cousin photo!

 

 

Two weeks after Silas was born, Sarah spiked a fever, and had to go to the hospital. Silas wasn't able to go with her the first night, so he spent the night here with us. I enjoyed having him, and re-living the 1st weeks stage that I so enjoyed two years ago with Ethan. God truly blessed me giving me the chance to experience Mommyhood from Day 2 on. Looking back, it fulfilled that "baby" need, and I am so content to only have infant sleepless nights when I babysit! ;)

 

Ethan and Silas

Landon sneaking in a picture with Silas from a distance because he had a cough

 

Just today we went to the park with my sister and Silas. I can't believe how big he is getting! The boys had a great time and I look forward to all the years of fun we have ahead of us with our 3 boys! It's like re-living our childhood watching our boys together! :-)

Sarah and Silas

Only my son would be sweeping instead of playing on the playground! His Nana would be proud!

Mom, look! I can DRIVE!

The ever climbing Ethan!

Summer Construction

We started our summer off with some much needed and long awaited cosmetic construction in our home.

This is the "before" shot - notice the ugly pink curtains and striped wall paper? Two things I wanted removed 10 years ago when we moved in!

 

 

Here is a mid-construction picture! Try living in this state with an active 2 and 4 year old!

And, here is an "after" shot. We went a little gutsy and had a contrast wall painted. I absolutely love it!

 

 

Right after our scheduled and intended construction was finished and cleaned up, we had to call on our handyman the very next week. We noticed our duct work in the basement was raining- condensation overload! To my horror, I discovered there was mold growing on one of the ceiling tiles which led to the discovery of all the condensation. Dry wall removal around the duct work and insulation began. The coating of the house with all sorts of fiberglass and dust ensued. We were able to temporarily fix the condensation problem, but still had a humidity source to figure out. We thought that this lovely friend was the cause...

 

 

 

...only to find out that she most likely was not. Ethan cleared a row of DVD's off the shelf today, and while putting them back, we saw a 2x4 ft. area of mold growing on the backing of the shelving unit. Our problem just got bigger. We have someone coming tomorrow to see just how bad the damage and cost will be- praying it's not a foundation issue! In the meantime, we are confined to the main level of our home, and can not use the basement...wonder if this is the cause of our boys (and our) summer cold/coughs. :( 

 

Up next...the fun we had amidst all of our construction disarray!

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Our N-3 Graduate!

This past school year Landon started at a local Christian school right around the corner from where I teach. They have a Nursery 3 full time class, which runs from 8:15-3:15- couldn't be more perfect for my school hours! As I think back through this year, I have to say, his adjustment to a full time school program was super. Of course, we had short stints where he wouldn't want to leave the house in the morning, or get out of the car once we were there. Each time, I was assured by his teacher that he was fine once I left. In fact, in the month of April, a male teacher had "door duty" where we do the parent/child drop off. It was literally during that time that Landon's attitude towards me dropping him off in the mornings switched like a light switch. Then it hit me- every other month, I was saying good-bye as another woman walked him into class. Sometimes those little "quirks" remind me that even though Landon is so well adjusted, there might always be little things that trigger sadness and loss for him. I can't remember when I started this, but I started saying something before we left each other each morning. I would say, "Now remember, Landon, Mommy always...." and he would finish for me, "comes back."  - it's from the "Llama Llama Misses Mama" book that we both enjoy. All in all, a VERY successful first school experience for our boy, and we are so proud of all that he has learned and just love watching him grow both intellectually and physically!

Here are some pictures from his big day!

Landon and Aunt Sarah 3 weeks before Silas was born!