Wordless Wednesday: Say Cheese!

Picture Fail

In my haste to move my photos from Google to my super fantastic wireless storage drive, it seems I've deleted most of the photos from my blog.

Sorry, I'll try to fix it soon.

C-ville

Little Man and I took a quick road trip down to Charlottesville to see some friends a few weeks ago.  These friends used to be in DC, then moved to Kansas, and now they are back in Virginia!  Hooray!

They also have a new addition to the family that I needed to meet, and their firstborn and our LM needed to meet and become buddies for the first time!  So, off we trekked while Frank went to a Red Skins game.

 The new addition - sweet little sleeper!

I wish I could say that the drive down was uneventful, but it was not.  I'll spare you the full story (and the photographic evidence) and just say that I learned my son may struggle with carsickness and maybe cheesy eggs and milk aren't the best breakfast immediately before getting into the car.  The result of this enormous mistake was a new car seat (luckily the exit we "chose" had a Babies R Us), major use of my friend's washing machine, and the boys getting to take a bath together after lunch!  Hooray!

How cute are those little men?!

 And their not-on-purpose-matching-diapers?  Too cute!

Ugh, it was awful.  But worth it in the end!

The boys got along well, the new addition was so sweet and quiet that I kept forgetting he was there, and I got to spend some serious quality time with my friends!

 Playing with 'choo choos' was a big hit!

I hope to get to go back to C-ville again soon, and take Frank, too.  And this time we'll have plain waffles for breakfast about an hour before we get in the car!

Ahh, Fall

We've actually had some fall around here this year.  Usually we get about two days of fall, then dive straight into winter blah, but not this time!

(I'm going to pretend that I didn't just have a 4 month hiatus from this blog, because nobody likes to read the "sorry I'm a bad blogger" posts)

Today we got to hang with some great friends, get some fresh air, eat fantastic food, and have LM reaching for his crib at bed time.  WIN, WIN, WIN, and WIN.

We started the day with a trip to a farm to pick pumpkins.  LM and JR go to run around a lot, which was great!  There were various farm animals around that the kids could pet, including a cow!

After wandering around for a while, we loaded up for the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch.  The ride was nice and the kiddos seemed to really get a kick out of it.

Once in the pumpkin patch the kiddos got to do some more exploring.  I think they really enjoyed the freedom!  They were like little adventurers tromping through the jungle.

After nap time we all reconvened at another friend's house for more play time and dinner.  The dinner was ah-mazing (green beans & pancetta?  why, yes, thank you!) and it was fun to have the kids all in one place.  We spent a lot of time laughing at ourselves, too - only 33 months ago, our dinners together were beginning at 8pm and lasting into the following day, and now everyone has to be headed home by 8pm to make bed time!

Anyway, we got to eat outside and the company was wonderful.  I hope you're all (whoever is left of you) having a great fall, too!

Thankful Thursday

I am going to spend my day being as thankful as possible for all of the wonderful things in my life.

Right now, our awesome nanny is helping me get through some laundry while I'm at work.  Our toilet broke the other night, spraying water everywhere (clean, tank water, thank goodness) and soaking the bathroom.  This means that I have some sopping wet beach towels and a bathroom rug that need serious laundering.  By the time I get home, they will be clean, dry, and folded.  Thank you!

Definitely thankful for the plumber who came yesterday, even though it didn't happen until 4pm, thankful that the repair happened!

Also right now, on the other side of the country, a wonderful friend is in labor with her second kiddo.  While I wish so much to be there to meet the new little mister, I'm focusing on being grateful that he decided to stay put long enough for his daddy to get there (from Africa) for his arrival!

I have some girl time scheduled with a friend tonight.  We live so close, yet see each other so rarely due to life getting in the way (me: kid and work, her: serious grad school).  So excited to spend some quality time with her - and, I can't lie, I'm excited about some sweet food, too.

Frank and I are blessed to be a part of Young Life in our area, and while it is a lot of work, prayer, and effort, just getting to be a part of something so important, so eternal, and so exciting is a gift.

Happy Thankful Thursday!

Awful Day

So far, I've not written about my little brother here.  Honestly, I'm uncomfortable with the sudden out pouring of affection that follows these kinds of emotional dumps, so I generally avoid them all together.  I don't dislike affection, I just hate asking for it - and in a way, that is what this does.  So please forgive me for not responding to any comments.

A little over 6 months ago, my little brother Patrick passed away.  His story is full of ups and downs, laughter and tears, but for 25 and 1/2 years I was his big sister and that is what really matters.  I mothered him too much, he annoyed me too much, but we also had some fantastic and embarrassing inside jokes that I would never dare to share with anyone else.

Today would have been is 26th birthday.

I don't really have anything else to say about that.  I just miss him.  There is a big hole in my heart and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it.  For those of you who know me best, not being able to do anything is when I'm at my worst.

I love you, Ping. 

Vegetable Garden - urban style!

We have an awesome yard, but with Hamilton running around, I've never found a good place for a garden.  I just couldn't figure out how to plant anything without it getting stepped on, slept on, or dug up.

Then I remembered our manure buckets.

Turns out, you can fill these suckers with dirt, throw in some potting soil, mix it around, drop in some seeds...

and whamo!  Things grow!

The tiny green things you see are the beginnings of cucumbers.  This bucket also has carrots and green beans - we'll see how it goes and then make changes next time as needed.

I've got some tomato seeds working in cups on the dining room table, my plan is to transplant two of them to a bucket once they are big enough to hang outside.

Yay for bucket veggies!

Every boy needs a Fort

Our house isn't very big, so Little Man's play space is limited.  That being said, every boy needs a fort.

Little Man began trying to fit on the lower shelf of an end table the other week, so during nap time on Saturday I removed the middle shelf that was making it impossible for him to sit up.

Here are the results.

"For me, mom?"

"Let's see, how should I work this?"

"Got it."

Fort accomplished.

Birthday Party

LM invited some friends over to the church for a birthday party.  We went with a dino theme, after calling an audible from our original plan of a baseball theme.  Maybe next time!

We had friends of all ages - from grown ups to a friend that is only a few weeks old!  This is his friend,  AC, we're big fans of her!

Frank and I decided to let LM have some of his cake, but with no high chair around, I just threw a table cloth on the floor, stripped him down to his diaper, and let me have at it!

It took a little while to get into it, but once he got the hang of it he really took off!

Little Man was happy to share, especially with his friend, Abigail.

Om nom nom

Mr. Pat came, too!

Easter

Easter was a busy day in our house!  Little Man took us to church, then we had two Easter dinners!  The first was with my aunt, uncle, and cousin in Vienna, then we headed over to Falls Church for LM's first Easter Egg hunt.

The Easter Bunny came to visit!

The boys in the nursery were all dressed to the nines!  There were little suits, lots of seersucker,  and even some vests!

After church, we had TWO Easter dinners!  One in Vienna with family, and one in Falls Church with friends.  The second one had an Easter Egg hunt, Little Man's first!  He wasn't very good at it, but he enjoyed crawling around in the grass.

12 Months

 Little Man turned one on 3/30/12.  We can hardly believe it has already been a year!  We're so grateful for our son, so grateful that he was such a happy baby.  Now we're praying that he'll continue on to be a happy (and compliant) toddler!

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

This is my new favorite picture of him (below) - captures his wonderful little face just perfectly!

"We made it, Andrew!  We're 1!"

Rollin' With My Homie

Little Man's friend, JR, came over a few Sundays ago. They are both pulling up and standing now, which made play time more fun for everyone!

After a while, they asked to head down to the neighborhood park, so we busted out the double stroller. I think it took us 20 minutes to walk 4 blocks because we were taking so many pictures!

The dads had fun, too - it was a fabulous spring day! Hooray for friends, parks, and sunshine!