The Smith Boys

Memorial Day Sing-a-Long

2010-05-24T15:22:00.001-05:00

The boys had a Memorial Day Sing-a-Long at school today. It was very well done. The kids sang several songs, a few grown-ups spoke about military service and what Memorial Day means and a few children spoke too. Now for the bragging...of all the kids, only about 10 spoke at each performance...10 from all of K and 2nd grade and Max was one of them. And, I think he was the best! I probably think so because I'm his mom, but still! (I don't know why the video looks so dark. It wasn't that bad on my computer but it looks worse on youtube. oh well.)

Nolen's grade also performed the sing-a-long at a separate time. He sang and looked adorabl. Again, because he is my kid.

Nolen and his "best buddy" Jonas.

Nolen's Birthday Party

2010-05-09T11:21:00.001-05:00

For Nolen's birthday party, I convinced him to have a "Water Party". This is the poor man's "Pool Party". It was a little chilly but the kids didn't care and it turned out great! I asked the kids to bring squirt guns with them, we set up the slip n slide and I filled up a bunch of water balloons. The kids had a great time running around for about the first hour. That was easy. And I'm happy to report, there was no crying, whining or fighting in that time! I was half expecting at least one squirt gun injury or at least some hurt feelings.

We had about 8 kids from the neighborhood and 4 boys from Nolen's class.

Nolen and Luke are attacking from atop a hill. There's probably some cool military term for that but I don't know what it is.

2010-05-09T11:20:00.000-05:00

I decided to make Nolen's cake again. For the past few years I've made his cakes and at the end of each one, I swear that I am just getting a grocery store cake next time. But I think this years might be the best yet. And it was easy! No swearing involoved! Yay! It had two layers of yellow cake with chocolate frosting between them. I found this cute idea online. Its made of blue sugar and brown sugar (the actual brown sugar you bake with, not just colored brown sugar.) and they little people are Teddy Grahams. The life preservers are Gummy Life Savers, I used some Swedish Fish and the towel is an Air-Head.
We tried to do the cake outside but it wasn't meant to be. ....I didn't want 12 wet kids running around my downstairs, or trying to sneak down into the basement. It was a very windy day, so first the candles wouldn't light, not even one. Then as I was telling Nolen that we would have to do candles later (maybe after dinner with dessert), a very large branch blew out of the tree and landed on Edward. That was when I decided to move the party inside! Of course, then I had a hissy fit trying to keep the kids from crowding Nolen and the cake. It bugs me that its hard to get good cake pictures with this table/cake arrangement because all of the kids are crowded around Nolen. Anyway...Nolen was still thrilled!

2010-05-09T11:19:00.000-05:00

I was able to get a cute group shot of the boys. Somehow, all of the neighborhood girls managed to hide from the picture. I also noticed that the inflatable palm trees I had placed in the picture were stolen (by one of those not in the picture) while I was trying to round up the boys. But trying to get 7 boys to sit still for any length of time is an incredible feat so I just snapped it.

Because of the wind, I made an executive to open presents after all the kids left. It was WAY too windy to do it outside, and again, I didn't want the kids inside. I recently read in a magazine that its not rude to do so and its much easier than trying to keep 12 kids from jumping on top of Nolen while he's trying to enjoy opening his gifts.
He got lots of great Lego kits and some video game stuff. He was a very happy 7 year old! Max is playing with the Legos more than Nolen right now. In fact, he has already put together 3 of the sets. Ha!

By the end of the day he was pooped. He still managed to play his new Wii game and veg for a bit before heading off to another party at our neighbor's house that evening. I think he had a great day and I hope everyone who came had a good time too!

Weekend Fun

2010-05-04T20:06:00.000-05:00

We had a great family day Saturday. Edward and I got a lot done around the house/yard and in the end, I cleaned up the old slip and slide and set it up for the boys! I love the warm weather!

We were finally ready to knock down the old shed. The new garage was built last year but we had some major organizing to do before we could clean out shed and knock it down. Ed did a great job taking it apart and finally knocking it down. He took a bunch of it to the dump and still has a pretty good pile to haul off still. Yuck! Such a big job!

Nolen's Birthday!

2010-05-04T19:57:00.001-05:00

I can't believe my boy is 7!! Since he had to go to school on his birthday, he didn't get to open his regular presents, but I did let Max give him his gift before school. Max had picked out a Webkinz dog and a Mario trinket filled with candy for his brother. He was so excited to give his brother his present!

Thanks his little brother with a hug.

Seems like every night is filled with another activity for us and Nolen's birthday was no different. It was Family Fitness and Reading night at the boys' school. I had volunteered to teach some Junior Jazzercise during the event. I felt bad leaving Nolen on his birthday night but all the boys stayed home and played video games so they loved it. Two of the ball players from our local minor league team the Blue Crabs came and so did their mascot pinch. Why isn't their mascot a crab? Oh well, Pinch is cute too. The event went really well.

Birthday Lunch

2010-05-04T19:56:00.015-05:00

On Sunday we took the boys to Red Robin for Nolen's birthday lunch. They love Red Robin, as you can see! I think he was excited. Either that, or he thinks he is at the doctor. "Say Aaaahhh."

While we were eating, someone else had the whole birthday treatment. Nolen asked how they knew it was that person's birthday and I played dumb as if the waiter's had some secret way of knowing. Ed and I gave each other the look. His look said, "Don't do it." But after a few minutes I could tell Nolen wondered why no one was singing to him. So of course I told them it was his birthday. When they came to sing, his eyes got real big like he was scared at first, then he enjoyed it. He said it scared him because it was too loud.

Max wore more ice cream than he ate. He really enjoys his food!

Later that day I pulled into the driveway and found two bunnies eating the weeds, I mean, clover in our yard. They were so cute. They stayed right there while I took their picture. We have quite a few bunnies running around the neighborhood this time of year. So cute - but stay out of my garden!

Dear Parents Magazine,

2010-04-28T07:04:00.000-05:00

Every night we either read with the boys and send them to bed or snuggle up and watch a cartoon together in my bed. Sometimes I leave them in my bed with a cartoon on because if I lay down with them I will fall asleep. Well, the other night I was pooped so I read with them on the couch and sent them up to their beds. They share a room so sometimes they have a hard time calming down for the night. A few hours later when Edward and I went up to bed, I heard a noise coming from the boys' room. It sounded like a TV only they don't have a TV in their room. I walked in and Nolen was playing his DSi in his bed while Max watched. WHAT?!?! Are you kidding me? He looked up at me and slowly closed his DSi, clearly hoping I hadn't seen it. I'm no dummy!

"Are you kidding me? No video games tomorrow." I took the DSi from him and walked out. I couldn't believe it. They continued to talk and once when I went in to check on them, Nolen was crying. He said he was sad because I yelled at him. I told him that I love him but he knows better. A few minutes later, Max came in my room and asked if he could play video games tomorrow since he wasn't playing the DSi, he was just watching. "Are you kidding me? Next time, you need to tell Nolen to stop, get in your bed and fall asleep or come tell Dad and me. But you were sitting there watching him. In my book that is guilty."

Now, I am not a mean momma. I hate punishing my kids. Mostly because I hate sticking to it when they are so cute and sweet. Its much easier to stick to your guns when you're dealing with a mouthy, whining, irritating kid. But I was strong.

The next morning it was the same story. Nolen was whimpering. "What's wrong Nolen?"

"I'm crying because you yelled at me."

"Well, do you think its ok to play video games in bed?"

"No."

"Are you going to do it again?"

"No."

"I love you but the only way to learn that you can't do something is to take the consequences. You knew it was wrong to play video games in bed."

I was afraid that I would have two whiny little monsters on my hands all morning. But I didn't. Instead I had two ANGELS! First, Nolen made breakfast for himself and for his brother. They both got dressed and ready for school the FIRST time I asked them and when it was time to leave I started looking around for Nolen, but he was already in the van ready to go! Usually I have to tell them five times to put their shoes on because they can't stop playing with each other long enough to find their shoes!

I must say I was feeling pretty proud of myself that day. I stuck to my guns and I think my kids respected me for it. Now if only I could get them to eat their vegetables!

Fighting Wild Fires

2010-04-19T10:07:00.000-05:00

This Park Ranger was packing up his stuff but he stopped what he was doing to give the boys a demo. It was so nice of him. First he showed them how firefighters use these backpacks filled with water to fight forest fires. It works kind of like a super soaker and the boys had fun knocking down the pretend fire.

Leonardtown Wharf

2010-04-19T10:04:00.000-05:00

Sunday we walked down to the square for the Earth Day Celebration. We had some errands earlier in the day, so it was winding down by the time we got there. It was still a nice walk. We took some kettle corn down to the wharf and the boys fed the crumbs to the seagulls.

You'd never know that Max has a cracked molar and 6 stitches in his chin. He ran and ran and ran. He even wiped out while he was racing Nolen on the boardwalk. I panicked for a second as I imagined us back in the ER but it wasn't that bad. He did get a little cut under his nose but he was ok. This kid is starting to make me nervous!

Battle Scar

2010-04-16T10:07:00.000-05:00

Max had his first trip to the ER last night. Honestly, from what Edward tells me about his childhood, I consider myself lucky that we went this long without one. The boys were swimming after their lesson at the pool last night and Max attempted a backwards cannon ball. Clearly this was not a good idea. I've told him before that he is too close to the edge and he needs to jump OUT not just up. I guess he had to learn the hard way. Luckily it didn't bleed very much considering, but it was gaping open. He cried hard for about 5 minutes, then he told me he wanted candy out of the vending machine at the pool. The kid is smart even when he's hurt. He knew I would have given him anything at that point. We drove home, had the ER nurse nextdoor look at it (I love living nextdoor to nurses!), left Nolen with her and headed to the ER. We got there around 7:30. Edward got home from work and took over ER duties at 8:30. And he and Max were back home around 10:30. Ed said Max did great. He cried when they gave him the shot of novacaine but other than that he was fine...and flirting with all the nurses!

Elms Beach Field Trip

2010-04-14T20:43:00.001-05:00

I think Nolen was excited to be going on his field trip! I also think that school buses haven't changed in 25 years. I found myself worrying about the kids that were leaning out into the aisle while the bus was moving. School buses look way more dangerous as a parent than they did as a kid!

I was pretty impressed with the program at Elms Beach. It was divided into two sections. In the morning the kids read a book about animals, then talked about classifying animals into Classes (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects...). After she passed around some critters, including the gecko that is crawling on Nolen, the kids went outside to dig up whatever they could find. We didn't find much...bugs, worms and the like. At the end of our walk, one of the boys found a big (7inches across) turtle in a tide pool just a few yards from the beach! The beach, by the way, is the Chesapeake Bay.

After lunch they talked about the life cycle of a frog. Did you know that some frogs take 18 months to go from egg to frog? We observed some frogs, tadpoles and frog eggs, then we talked about temperature. We used thermometers to record the temperatures of 3 containers of water, and the air temperature at several points around the area. Pretty cool for first grade.

This is a vernal pool. It is where salamanders and frogs might lay their eggs in these clumps of jelly egg sacs. Gross! If the vernal pools dry up the eggs will die.

T-Ball Opening Day

2010-04-14T20:25:00.001-05:00

The boys had their first T-Ball game tonight! They are the Blue Crabs and tonight they played the Yankees. The boys were so cute in their jerseys and hats!

Of course, Max had to spend some time in the outfield playing in the dirt!

Goooooo Blue Crabs!!!
All the pictures I had of Nolen were blurry, but I promise he was there too!

Science and Technology Night

2010-04-12T09:43:00.001-05:00

The boys' school hosted a Science and Technology Night. It was originally scheduled for February but was canceled during the snowstorms and rescheduled for March. It was a gorgeous day and a lot of spring activities have started up so they didn't have quite the turnout they were hoping for. I took the kids on a whim thinking that we would just walk through and say hi to some friends and leave but we were there for at least an hour. There wasn't too much to see but what WAS there was very engaging. Mad Science was there and the boys each made a "polymer" which is just fancy talk for a super bouncy ball.

After that they dug for shark's teeth and identified which shark they came from. By the way, the little girl in the red shirt is Rachel. That is Max's girlfriend from last year. They aren't in the same class this year so he has other girlfriends now. Max is a charmer!

The boys also got to play "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader". All of the questions were about the Chesapeake Bay. It was really cute and Nolen was excited because he said he got every question right. I'm not sure if that's true but he still had fun!

On May 3rd the school is hosting a Family Fun and Fitness Night at school. The focus is to stress the importance of making time for fitness and reading which doesn't seem to be related except that the Maryland Blue Crab Minor Leauge Baseball Team is running a "Pinch Into Reading " program. I'll be there that night doing a Junior Jazzercise demo! Woohoo!

School Easter Party

2010-04-12T09:32:00.002-05:00

Max's class had quite an Easter party on the day before spring break. First they had an egg hunt, but since it was raining and cold and windy (I swear I saw sleet that day), they had it inside.

After lunch they had a special snack...it was a very cute bunny made from a cupcake and marshmallows, coconut, jelly beans, pretzels, m&ms, small marshmallows...a lot of sugar! Notice the icing by Max's eye. He is such a mess!

And no Easter party is complete without dying eggs!

Dying Eggs

2010-04-12T09:30:00.001-05:00

Leonardtown Egg Hunt

2010-04-12T09:30:00.000-05:00

The day before Easter was the Egg Hunt in Leonardtown. It was fun. The boys each got about 15 eggs and each egg had a little trinket in it. By the way, trinket is code for, "Toy that will be thrown in the trash while you are at school on Monday." Ha!
It was a beautiful day but we had some incidents. I found a tic on Max's head soon after we got there. Luckily my neighbor had a strong stomach and a pair of tweezers in his car and he pulled it out for me. Tics totally gross me out and that was a big fat one that had dug in pretty good.
Our other issue was that Max got a little too excited about the hunt and when I told him to follow me because they had called 5-year-old boys to line up, he also heard the announcer say, "ok boys, ready, set, go" and he ran out with the 4-year-old boys. DOH! I was MAD! I laid into him when he got back and told me he couldn't go with the 5 year olds now. He felt pretty bad. The only things that made me feel better about my cheating child were that, he is small for his age so maybe it wasn't as noticeable and the other fours had a head start since they were lined up and Max was back behind the ropes. He didn't get nearly as many eggs as he would have if he had gone with his group.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-12T09:14:00.001-05:00

Easter Morning! The boys had fun checking out their Easter Baskets. Nolen especially liked his wind up chicken that lays gumballs as it walks. And Max got a Viking helmet, sword and ax from How to Train Your Dragon...which was a GREAT movie!

Ready for the egg hunt.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-12T09:12:00.002-05:00

And they're off!

I love these pictures of the kids looking for eggs and you can clearly see exactly where the eggs are. HA!!

We kept telling the boys, "I can see a blue egg from right here. Its not on the ground....", it took them forever to find it. Its so funny that every Easter eggs are hid in the same places...in the hose, in the wheels of the car, in the mailbox, in the bottom of the rain gutters...I always think I'm making it too easy but they still have a hard time finding some of them! Love it!

I FOUND IT!

Zoo Outing

2010-04-12T09:02:00.001-05:00

I had all kinds of plans for us over Spring Break but we didn't get to do as much as I had hoped thanks to the strep throat the boys had. However, on Easter Monday we made it to the zoo in DC. I won't bore you with the details, but lets just say this trip had its challenges...

Coming Out of Hibernation (and playing Catch-Up)

2010-04-12T08:57:00.000-05:00

Well, it seems that we have come out of hibernation! Hooray! We have been busy with birthday parties, trips to the park, bbqs in the backyard, swim lessons, T-Ball...and of course school and Jazzercise. I have a ton of pictures to upload and share and I will try to get them all up today (if I don't, my mom might disown me!). So here goes.

I'm not sure if these will all be in the correct order so bear with me. I just want to get them posted. I'll start with a little T-Ball. Its the boys' first time playing T-Ball and Nolen is one of the oldest on the team. Its unusual for him to be the oldest in any group, let alone the tallest!! It feels kind of weird but he's not ready for machine pitch, so they're just going to have to deal with it. Its also really nice that he and Max are on the same team. They've only had two practices and their first game is on Wednesday. Their teams name is the Blue Crabs...same name as our Minor League team here in Southern MD.

By the way, I think their coach looks like Vince Vaughn. Nolen is a better hitter than Max. Max still looks a little awkward but I'm sure he'll get the hang of it!

Geek Week

2010-03-22T21:21:00.005-05:00

This weekend we had a great visit with Fran in Richmond. We went down on Saturday to see her robotics team at the FIRST regional competition. We also went to watch the competition last year and Nolen remembers the robot and the game that they had to play. That was pretty surprising...I guess this stuff makes an impression on him. The boys had a blast checking out all of the displays and watching the competition. It was really loud though and I think it was a little overwhelming for them after awhile. They are definitely on their way to being little geeks! I'm so proud!

Checking out a setup and robot from the FIRST Tech Challenge.

Playing with a Lego Mindstorm robot. Don't tell Nolen, but Ed wants to get him a Mindstorm set for his birthday so they can build it together. They're pretty cool sets and you can add different sensors, and program them...Ed knows more about all of this than I do! (surprise, surprise!) This one they were playing with had a sensor so that it wouldn't run into anything. The boys had fun with it but I had to drag them away before they completely abused it.

Here is Fran's robot. They are team 1086, Blue Cheese from Deep Run High School. They were chosen by the top seeded team to be in their alliance for the quarterfinals. Their alliance went all the way to win it all!

There were lots of nuances to the game (ways to score extra points and ways to lose points) but in general, each alliance was to score goals by shooting or pushing soccer balls into their own goals. Robots can play defense to try to keep the balls out of the goals. There were two hills that the robots had to climb over to get up and down the field or a tunnel they could go through. Here is more info and a video explaining the rules.

The boys had a break to go swimming at the hotel in the afternoon. Then we went back to watch the finals (Fran's team won!). The awards went on until 8:15!!! The next day we went to a park and the boys had a blast in the gorgeous weather!

Lastly we went to the Science Museum. It was pretty cool! The boys had fun although at times I think they were running through pushing buttons and banging on stuff and moving on...who cares why the arc stays up or the light turns on or the magnetic field...blah, blah, blah. They did slow down to catch some things but not all of them! We saw a cool demo about liquid nitrogen. The boys liked that. Then we watched Rat Basketball. That's right. Rat Basketball! I didn't get a picture of the game, but it was hilarious. One rat grabs the ball and jumps through a bball style hoop. Then he runs to his food tray to get his treat. While he's getting his treat, the other rat grabs the ball and does the same thing...hence the basketball game. It was pretty funny to see.

After some delicious Vietnamese food we headed back to home to MD. We had a great weekend being geeks! Can't wait til next year!

Facebook Statuses that Didn't Make the Cut

2010-03-02T08:06:00.004-06:00

So, here a few random thoughts that I DIDN'T post on Facebook...

To the lady in the public bathroom at the mall who was on her cell phone while she was doing her business: Don't ever call me!

To the lady who asked if my shirt that said oreilly.com was referring to Bill O'Reilly...NO WAY! ICK! Do you know me at all? It refers to the publisher to techie books. I guess I can see how you might make this mistake, but I am still trying to get over it.

The other day Nolen chose, "A Soldier's Night Before Christmas" to read to me. I realize it is not Christmas...but a book is a book! He pointed out that the soldiers were sleeping with their guns. I explained that when Daddy was in Iraq, he carried a gun with him all the time but that he never shot anybody. Nolen asked, "Why not? Did he use his sword instead?"

Yesterday I bought the boys some new Dr. Seuss books for Dr. Seuss day. I chose two of my favorites, "Wacky Wednesday" and "I Wish that I Had Duck Feet". It was so fun to listen to Nolen read them to me last night and laugh at all the silly things in each of them. For Max I bought "The Digging-est Dog". Its really cute and the boys were laughing out loud while they read it! So cute!

Also, I have decided to craft less. Its not that I don't enjoy it, its that I spend too much time and money shopping for supplies! At this point its probably cheaper just to buy stuff! HA! However, I whipped up these "Made in China"-quality shirts this morning for the boys to wear. I had already bought the red shirts to applique something else onto them and never got around to it. I used white felt, a sharpie and a glue gun. I kid you not!

I guess that is about all for now. Its time to get this day started...plus I have to get out of this basement before I freeze to death. I forgot to bundle up before I came down to the coldest part of our house! Brrrr!

Nolen Smith - Winter Olympics 2022

2010-02-18T05:46:00.000-06:00

Wwooooaaaahhhh!!!!

2010-02-09T15:46:00.003-06:00

Here is a video that Edward took of me and Max sledding down the hill. There were a few runs that had been packed down but Max's favorite was one that had several bumps in it. Watch closely, the second bump is where we catch some air! No wonder my back hurts today! Oops! I feel like I have a bruise in my lower back. Ha! Hope it feels better by Sunday when we go skiing!

Got Snow???

2010-02-08T07:48:00.001-06:00

Well, we had our fourth snow storm this weekend! The boys had a snow day on Friday in anticipation of the storm. It started snowing around noon but didn't start to stick until about 4 o'clock or so. It snowed until about 6 o'clock on Saturday and very heavily at times. In the end it was only about 16 inches of new snow...we started with 3 inches left over from last weekend....but it was very wet and heavy snow. Our other snows were big and fluffy but this one was much wetter. It is great snowman snow. I want to get out and make a snowman but the kids aren't interested...in fact I think they want me to build one so that they can destroy it. Boo!

This was taken last weekend at Dorsey Park. Its a pretty steep hill and I was afraid that it would be too fast for the kids but it wasn't icy and was just barely packed so it was pretty perfect!

We ventured out into the snow on Saturday afternoon when the storm was winding down.

I measured 19 inches in our yard...but about 3 inches were leftover from the last snow!

We found out that our neighbors have a little hill in their backyard so the boys went sledding there on Sunday. It was just right and by the time they were done, they had it packed down pretty good!

Today I think we are taking the boys back to Dorsey Park for more sledding. I don't know when they'll get back to school. We are supposed to get 3 to 5 inches of rain/sleet/snow on Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning. So, the kids could potentially be out of school until Thursday! Too bad we already had winter break! The kids already have at least one snow day to make up at the end of the year. How many more will they have???

White Christmas!

2009-12-19T13:56:00.001-06:00

We have already had more snow this winter than we had all of last winter! Its about 30 degrees out and kind of windy but great for snow playing! The boys were outside by about 9:30 this morning! I think our favorite thing to do was tackle each other in the snow.

I love the smiles on their faces here!

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-19T13:55:00.000-06:00

I started to build a snowman but then Nolen climbed on top of the snowman's body and it was more fun to run around and tackle each other anyway.

I love Max's face in this picture! Its so precious! I wish it was a little clearer but its still a GREAT picture!

Is that a postcard? Nope! That's Charles Street!

Santa Comes Early

2009-12-19T13:53:00.001-06:00

The boys woke up to two big surprises this morning. One was that we had gotten about a foot of snow overnight, and the other surprise was that Santa paid us an early visit!!! We couldn't believe it! His note said that because we will be driving to Florida in a couple of days, he wanted to give Nolen his new DSi now so that he could play it in the van!!! Santa was also very smart and gave each of the boys a new pair of snow boots! Perfect for the weather! Each of the boys also got a new DS game. Max got Raving Rabbids and Nolen got the new Zelda game which isn't even out yet!! Santa managed to get it early somehow! (The truth is that the game came out on December 7th but because I wanted the kids to wait until Christmas, I told them it didn't come out until Christmas Eve! Ha! Those white lies aren't going to be possible for much longer. We saw a commercial for the game the other day and I was hoping Nolen wouldn't notice that at the end of it, they had the date "12.07.09")

Max has been enjoying the piano lately but we've also decided that it just doesn't fit in this house so we are looking for a family to give it to. But so that Max can still play, he got a keyboard! I think he is really going to like it and I'll have to get him lessons soon. Santa probably thought that it was a good idea to give Max the keyboard here so that he wouldn't have to pack it home from Florida. That Santa is SOOO smart!

Reading their notes that Santa left for them. Nolen's said that Rudolph had to guide Santa through the snowstorm and Max's said that Blitzen loves to fly in the snow. The notes also said that the boys should remember to pack their stockings and take them to Florida! It sounds like Santa might visit us again!

LVRS Christmas Party

2009-12-19T13:52:00.001-06:00

Edward has been running with the Leonardtown Volunteer Rescue Squad for a few months now so last weekend, we were invited to the Christmas party. It was very nice and mostly for the kids. The highlight of course was that Santa came and brought a gift for each kid!

This is our neighbor Sarah getting her present.

Max with Santa

Nolen getting his present from Santa

Nolen got Transformers and Max got a Cars playset. I especially like the uniforms in the cubbies in the background.

A Day at the Park

2009-11-25T05:57:00.000-06:00

I love this picture of our friend Colleen and Max. She is the cutest little thing with her pigtails and Max was sweet enough to go push her so that the mommies could sit and talk!

The Smiths go to Washington

2009-11-18T12:10:00.001-06:00

My Dad and Suzanne came to visit last weekend from Florida. Unfortunately, they came during the Nor-Easter that was produced from Hurricane Ida. Sorry Dad. They had 5 days of rain and wind. Sunday was gorgeous but they left at 8am! We still had a great time though. Friday the boys had to go school (with a 2 hour delay for the 6 inches of rain we had) so Dad, Suzanne and I went to St. Mary's City. I think they had fun looking around - even if it was windy and cold. St. Mary's City was the first capital of Maryland back in the 1600s. They have done a great job of recreating the place using archeological digs combined with written history. It was fun to see it in more detail than last year when Max's class went. On Saturday we headed out to DC to visit the Museum of American History. We hadn't been and they just reopened it last Spring so it was fun to see! The boys did pretty well but they weren't as interested as we were. They may have enjoyed the Lincoln stuff - or maybe they will in a few years.

The boys sitting at the end of a section of the first railroad trestle bridge with a steam locomotive behing them. This particular locomotive was brought over from England and had to have a set of wheels added to the front to help it stay on the uneven tracks here in America.

In the first room, Max started reading the information below the display of a ship. He was so cute. He was reading every word and did an awesome job! I had to stop him though. Can you imagine if he tried to read every word in the Museum of American History???

The first room we went into was all about boats and ships. It was displayed in chronological order and detailed how ships have contributed to shaping and building America. It started with ships that the colonists came over on, tobacco trade ships, pirate ships, slave ships, merchant ships, goldrush ships, then moved on to steamships and ocean liners. We even saw the first gold nugget that was found in California that started the California gold rush!

Playing an interactive game with Grandpa. There were a few displays peppered throughout for kids....little games to quiz them or displays to further demonstrate a topic. They were cute and the boys liked them.

They also had a room set up about inventing. It wasn't that impressive but it was nice to have a place that was specifically for kids. I hope DC gets a kid's museum before my kids are too old for it!

Overall we had fun. The kids did a great job walking all over and of course they had fun riding the Metro (so did I). It was a good trip. And I can definitely recomment Priceline as a good place to make hotel reservations! We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel for $80 a night! Woo-hoo!

Leaves, Leaves, and More Leaves

2009-11-12T05:33:00.000-06:00

The trees are almost bare (and probably are bare today after the 3 days of wind and rain we've had) but Monday night, the kids played in the leaves while I raked and bagged some more. I think filled 8 bags before it got too dark. There are still more but the giant piles are gone. Of course the kids "helped" and Ed "helped" with his blower. I like to do things the old fashioned way - with a rake. Plus its good exercise! I tried to get some good pictures of the kids but they aren't as good as last week's pictures. They were so funny because they kept hiding under the leaves. You really couldn't tell where they were and at one point I was afraid that Max was going to rake Nolen while he was buried!

This picture isn't very clear, but I love that you can see Max's feet sticking out.

A few times, Edward blew the leaves up all around them and they were completely surrounded. They looked like they were sitting in Big Bird's Nest!

Field Trip, Halloween Party and Halloween

2009-11-05T13:49:00.005-06:00

As usual I'm a week behind on the blog. Sorry blog, but my new BFF, Facebook, is taking up a lot of my computer time these days. Anyway, let's play catch up!
Last Friday Nolen's class had a field trip to Bowle's Farm. The kids had a great time and it was very well organized. The kids walked through the shorter corn maze, visited the petting zoo, went for a hayride, and watched a little video about soybeans. I was a chaperone but I was only responsible for Nolen and his friend Jacob.

Here are the pigs eating a pumpkin that the farmer threw on the ground for them.

This is Nolen's friend Jacob. Its pretty funny that both of the boys were wearing camoflauge that day.

The kids got to feed corn to the goats!

Hugging the goats.

That same day was the Halloween Party at school. We all rushed back to the school and most of the chaperones stayed to watch the Safety Walk (costume parade) and help with the party. I got some pictures of the safety walk but I didn't take any of the party in the classroom. The kids made really cute monster hands out of plastic gloves filled with hot tamales for fingernails and popcorn!

Here is Hannah the flapper.

Our next door neighbor Sarah was dressed as a diva.

Hey look its one of the Smith Brothers...I mean, one of the Mario Brothers!

And there is Max, I mean, Luigi!

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating! The boys had to take turns being Mario. We alternated back and forth and they never got upset about it!

Mario and George!

Since I convinced the boys to be Mario and Luigi, I made myself a Princess Peach costume! I used a pattern for a Cinderella dress and I think it turned out pretty good. It took me the better part of a day and in the end it probably wasn't any cheaper than buying a costume would have been but I guess it was fun!

Jazzy Girl

2009-10-24T10:45:00.000-05:00

LES Fall Carnival

2009-10-24T10:42:00.001-05:00

Last week was the Fall Carnival at the boys' school. I spent the entire two and a half hours doing line dances with the kids for three tickets, so Edward took the boys and hung out with them. Leonardtown is such a great school. The PTA puts on an awesome carnival and its so fun to get out and see the parents of the kids and the teachers. I think the boys skipped the haunted house this year (bummer) and spent most of their time playing the games in the gym. I'm sure Nolen's favorite was the rock wall. I'll have to upload the video of that. The kid is an absolute monkey! I love it!

Farm Life Festival

2009-10-12T14:58:00.005-05:00

On Sunday I took the boys to the Farm Life Festival. It wasn't quite what I expected but it was a nice time and a beautiful day so we certainly enjoyed ourselves. Nolen was most interested in how much money the cotton candy cost. One vendor was selling it for $4 and another for $2. He was quick to point that out to me so we could buy the $2 cotton candy! Ha! How can you pass up cotton candy for the bargain aware 6 year old?

There was a lot of old farm equipment on display although I had to make up most of what I told the boys about it. It would have been nice to have descriptions posted or pictures of it being used or something. In the Trades building there were displays of tools used in 26 different trades from leathersmithing and blacksmithing to broom making and barn building. I don't know what all was in there. A man who worked there stopped and said he hoped the boys were finding something that they were interested in. "There are 26 different trades in here. There has to be something in here they'd like. What are those boys interested in?" I thought I was making a joke when I said, "sadly, they're interested in video games." He did not think that was funny at all and then I felt bad. Sorry random volunteer at the farm festival! I know remembering these trades is important and I would love it if my boys were interested in something there but it was a don't touch kind of place with no explanations about what the tools were for. It was hard to spark a boy's interest when all I can tell them about an random iron bar is that was probably used to bang on something else made of wood...or thereabouts.

Max liked the chicks and the chicken. I'm surprised he didn't get pecked!

The boys fed this goat grass. It was really cute.

Always have to get a picture on the tractor.

This contraption had a sign on it that said "Two horse power treadmill". I'm guessing that means that two horses can be hitched up to turn the track and drive the belt that does something on the other end. See how informative the "mommy tour" was for the kids. No wonder it wasn't all that interesting for them! ha!

Any event is a success when there is cotton candy!

Catching Up....again

2009-10-02T10:33:00.004-05:00

Well, I haven't posted in awhile...(that should be the new blogger's motto!) so I'll hit the highlights today. It seems like I keep track of people on Facebook so much that I forget to blog lately!

I'll start with our most recent (and cutest) development...we have a dog that seems to think we are his family. Don't worry, we are not taking in another dog. A few nights ago, after dark, I looked out the window and saw Jasmine playing chase with a fluffy collie-type dog. It was surprising because she can be a real bully to other dogs. She doesn't really socialize well and has nipped at about every dog on this street at one time another...sorry to Indie, Daisy, Bugsy and the yellow lab. But there they were, playing happily for about 30 minutes before I finally got her to come inside. Well, her boyfriend came back the next night and the next night! On the third night, he got close enough for us to get a good look at him. He had been pretty skittish before that and would run away from us. He came up on the deck and let us pet him which was when Ed realized he is pretty skinny. You know where this is going right? Yes, we fed the stray dog. He must have appreciated it because he showed us how grateful he was by crying at the backdoor for awhile and then spending the whole night on our deck. I have made flyers to hang up around town and hopefully someone will claim him. I hate to call animal control because I don't think he would have much of a chance there. He seems really sweet. The boys were running around with him before school today. He isn't around today. He has probably gone into the woods behind our neighborhood to hang out but I do secretly hope he comes back tonight.

Making Carmel Apples

2009-09-18T10:28:00.000-05:00

I bought half a peck of apples at the commissary yesterday because they looked so delicious. I quickly realized that we would be hard pressed to EAT half a peck of apples before they went bad so it was time to get creative! I've always wanted to make carmel apples but I don't think I ever have...until today. By the way, whenever I think of carmel/candied apples, I think of the one I ate in Annapolis this past December with Edward. That thing was GIANT and cost like $8 or something ridiculous, but it was delicious! Anyway, I got the boys to help me unwrap the carmels and they watched me dip the apples. We put them in the fridge while they took their bath...great plan right? Hey kids, now that you're all squeaky clean, how about a sticky, sugary treat before bed? hehe

Nolen took a few bites then handed it off to me to finish. Yum! And he ate a plain apple instead. Boring.

Max ate EVERY last bite! He even ate the core. This morning I found the stick and 6 apple seeds on his plate. I am not kidding!

First Day of School!

2009-08-26T13:26:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post of pictures. I promised the boys hot chocolate chip cookies after school so I need to get upstairs and get started!

The boys had fun at open house yesterday. Nolen was kind of nervous but perked up when he got to visit his old teachers. Max was his usual carefree self. I have no worries about that one!

All ready for school today. Nolen wanted his hair spiked! And even Jazzy was excited for school.

Ready to go. It was so nice to drop them off together this morning. I think Nolen likes having his brother with him. And even though my baby Max is in school today, I'm not too sad. I miss him but I know he will do great! Max doesn't know a stranger. I can't wait to hear all about their days tonight!

Max Turns Five!

2009-08-14T09:17:00.003-05:00

My baby turned five yesterday! He had a great birthday and a party on his actual birthday! I made him blueberry pancakes for breakfast while he told me all the people he wanted to invite to his party. Then we headed to Jazzercise where the Jazzer girls all sang Happy Birthday to him while he stood on the stage with me. I think he liked that. Afterwards, we had to run a few errands (sorry Max) and then we headed home. The boys played video games while I finished some last minute party prep. When it was party time, Max came upstairs and oohed and aahed. He is so sweet. I had hung a few yellow stars from the ceiling low enough so that the kids could touch them. Max thought that was amazing. He is so sweet and easy to please! We had mystery boxes filled with gold coins (just like in the game), some pirahna plants left from Nolen's Mario party in May, a few balloons, a balloon popping game, a pinata, pizza and cake. The kids had fun and Max had a blast!

Spitting on the...I mean, blowing out the candles.

I made his pinata - I'm not sure if I would do it again. It was fun to paper mache for the first time but I had a hard time figuring out how to attach something to hang it with. In the end, it held up alright and made it through 6 kids before it broke off its zip tie! By the way, its supposed to be a mushroom or turtle or something from Mario Bros.

Here is the homemade cake! Again, it was a lot of effort and its not the most beautiful cake. The actual decorating wasn't that tough but I wasn't sure I had enough icing and I only have one icing coupler so I could only do one color at a time and then wash everything and do the next one. It turned out pretty nice though and cost about five bucks so you have to love that! And also, I think somehow the boys liked it more because they got to watch me decorate it. They also loved that I squirted some extra icing directly into their mouths! They both looked at me like I was crazy and Nolen asked me why I did it. hehe!

All of the kids waiting to whack the pinata!

Max loved opening his presents - of course! Thank you to all of our friends and family that brought and sent gifts. Max had a wonderful birthday! So many people love my boys and I am so grateful for all you. More people love them than they know. They are lucky and sweet boys!

Beach Day in Leonardtown!!!

2009-08-09T07:20:00.002-05:00

We had heard a lot about Beach Day so we had to see for ourselves! The boys had a blast! It was a great evening in the square with friends and neighbors and PLENTY to do for the kids! The boys got to run through the fire hose, climb a rock wall, go in a moon bounce, play with a giant Jenga set and eat junk food. What more could a kid want?

Thanks to the lake house, a Florida vacation, swim lessons and countless afternoons at the pool, both boys are pretty tan. Many people commented on how blonde and tan the boys are! Max looked like a little hispanic kid when he took off his shirt! ha!

There is a small rock wall in the gym at Leonardtown Elementary and Nolen has told me before that he likes to climb it. So, when we saw the giant rock wall and wanted to climb it, I thought we would give it a shot. And of course, if one boy is going to do it, they both have to try. Max is on the left. He got a decent start but I don't think he was very committed and he didn't seem to understand that he had to keep going up. He would let go and come down and start again.

2009-08-09T07:19:00.001-05:00

Nolen (my chicken) is apparently not afraid of heights! He made it almost all the way to the top before he got stuck and couldn't climb any more. I think for a minute he was scared to let go and "rappel" down but he finally did it and was smiling all the way!

On his way down...

I think this is a funny picture - the crazed look in his eye!

The Fassett's gave us a ride down to the square but we decided to walk home (it is less than a mile). The boys beat us to the front door and looked so cute sitting there after such a fun evening! (Please ignore the half dead potted plants that need to be cleaned out!)

ROAD TRIP!

2009-07-02T06:59:00.002-05:00

Before I start packing I'll post our itinerary for our trip!

Florida girls - I hope we can get together! I'll be there from July 10th until about the 23rd. No plans to visit Orlando right now, but that could change. Email me or Facebook me or call me!
Alabama girls - I'd love to get together! We're not planning on stopping in Enterprise because Ed already took care of our house stuff last month. If you're up for it though maybe we could meet up in Montgomery or something. I'd love to see my ol' Jazzer girls!!!

After (nearly) a year here in Maryland we're finally taking a vacation. We've been on a couple of day trips and overnight trips to Richmond and Annapolis but we haven't taken a real vacation since we got here last August!! WOW! No wonder the thought of packing seems overwhelming!

We're leaving today and hope to get to Charlotte tonight. Tomorrow we'll continue on to Aunt Linda's lake house outside of Montgomery, AL. We'll spend a few days there and on the 8th or 9th we'll start driving down to FL.

We'll go see my Dad on the 10th, hang out with my mom on her birthday, the 11th and Ed will fly back to MD on the 12th.

I'll stay in FL until about the 23rd when I will start driving back to MD. We're going to stop and spend a couple of nights with Aunt Cynthia in Charleston just to break up the drive...man its a long drive.

We're looking forward to a fun trip with lots of swimming and relaxing!

What Did You Do Today?

2009-06-28T18:53:00.006-05:00

The other day, Ed came home and asked me what I did that day. I had been busy all day but none of it sounded very impressive...a little straightening up, some workbook pages with the kids, Jazzercise, cooked dinner, took the kids to the library...Then I decided that I need a category of accountability called, "childhood enrichment". It sounds way cooler than, "played with the kids" or "took the kids to the park". I love that I am home to hang out with the kids and I love having them home from school so we have time to get out and enjoy stuff. None of the things we do are all that exciting but kids are so great because they really don't need much to be entertained. We have had a blast lately...

On Wednesday I took the kids over to the Navy Rec Center on Solomon's Island. We still have MWR privileges for another year so we're gonna use them. The Rec Center is awesome. The pool has two water slides that are too big for my boys and a pool that is the perfect size for them...it ranges from 1 1/2 feet deep to 4 feet deep and its surrounded by lounge chairs for moi! I actually got to sit and read while they played in the pool! It was awesome!

After awhile, the boys needed a break from swimming too I guess! Either that or they wanted to get a tan!

You can see one of the slides in this picture, the pool the kids swam in and you can almost see the Pax River through the fence. This is all right on the river - beautiful!

The Navy Rec Center has a couple cool playgrounds, picnic areas, a fishing pier, a beach, a campground, cabins, beach houses, mini golf, an arcade (but don't tell the boys that - they don't know it and I would like to keep it that way). The boys played for a bit before we left. I don't remember why they're making grumpy faces...

Edward has sailing on Wednesday nights and doesn't get home til after 9 so we were on our own. I took the boys for a little nature walk...well it was really just a walk through the neighborhood but around here we have quite a bit of nature. We found black eyed Susans blooming in a field. They are the state flower of Maryland.

And the boys snuck up on a bunny. He ran away from them and ended up running straight up to me and Jasmine! He got about five feet from us and just froze. Then he darted across the street. Jasmine would have loved to chase him...but don't worry...I'm all for saving the bunnies!

St. Mary's County Libraries are running an Adventure Passport program for kids this summer. Each kid gets a passport and takes it to different historic sites around town and gets a sticker at each one. When they have five stickers they can take it back to the library to get a coupon for a free ice cream cone. The boys are way more excited about it than I thought they would be and I love that! We only have two stickers so we still need to visit Sotterly Plantation, St. Mary's City (Maryland's first capital and the place where Max had a field trip) and maybe the Navy Air Museum on base. There are more than five sites so we have some choices. On Thursday we went to Tudor Hall here in Leonardtown. It was built in 1778 as part of the Tudor Farm plantation. Our house is actually in a neighborhood called Tudor Farm so presumably, this land was once part of the farm. The house was owned by several families including a cousin (if I remember correctly) of Francis Scott Key and he visited there. The boys weren't very impressed with the house as its been transformed into a home for the St. Mary's County Historical Society and isn't very original anymore. We went over to see the Old Jail after that and it was more fun. The boys even got "locked" in a jail cell by the volunteer that was working there. Max shreiked! He was not a fan of that. Ha!

On Saturday we went to Daniel's birthday party next door. The boys had fun playing on the water slide.

Nolen and his friend Jayden. His mom has good taste! We bought the boys the same bathing suits from Target and they both had them on at the party. haha!

Max taking a swing at the pinata.

Nolen's turn.

The swarm of kids after the candy. Don't worry, no one was injured.

Saturday Edward rented scaffolding so that he could finish siding the garage. It was getting tough to keep climbing up and down multiple ladders. But by renting scaffolding, he put himself under some pressure to get the job done before the scaffolding needed to be returned on Sunday afternoon.

And because I'm so cheap...I decided to pitch in and make sure we got our money's worth out of that scaffolding. Also, its pretty fun to do this kind of work. Here I am cutting lengths of soffit with the miter saw.

And there I am on the scaffolding hammering up siding!

And...drumroll please....The garage!!! Ed finished all he needed to with the scaffolding. He still has a bit more finished to do at the corners but the majority of the work is done. Now he can start on the electrical. He took a test to get his homeowners electrical license. He is now licensed to do his own electrical work for two years. My husband is a real reneissance man!

And one more pic of the garage.

Phew, I'm exhausted! I need a vacation! Oh wait! We're leaving Thursday! Hooray!

Summer Fun!

2009-06-20T07:46:00.001-05:00

Its been fun hanging out with the boys again. It seemed like we didn't get much of a chance to go exploring while Nolen was in school. I could have taken just Max, but you'd be amazed by how quickly a 4 year old can rub something special in his older brother's face. Sheesh!!! Where do they learn this stuff. Last week we went to the pool, the library, two parks and another pool. We also went to Jazzercise 5 times. Nolen didn't like that part so much. ha!

On Friday we went to a pool over in Lusby...its not that far away and it was pretty cool. They had a few small slides, a smaller kiddie pool and a couple "water slides" too. The boys had a blast! They could both touch the bottom in the middle sized pool and Max is nearly fearless which means he keeps me hopping!

This orange slide was the best. Both of the boys liked it. Max must have gone down it 30 times. I went with him the first time and it really was fun.

Nolen was less sure but he went down at least 5 times.

Company Picnic

2009-06-14T07:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was the company picnic for J. F. Taylor. We had heard that it was a big deal and it delivered. The president of the company hosts it at his house every year. There were pony rides, bounce houses, a skipjack, a cotton candy maker, a clown, and tons of delicious food. The boys maxed out their junk food intake for the week!

Nolen swimming in Mr. Taylor's pool. I guess I didn't get a picture of Max in the pool. Oops.

Ed manned the grill for awhile. Looks like he was working real hard!

We took a ride on a skipjack. These boats are used for oyster dredging in the Chesapeake Bay. There is a lot of talk about how polluted the bay has become. As an example...out guide said that in 1981, you could dredge 150 bushels of oysters in three hours. By the early 90's the number of oysters had been so greatly reduced that after fishing all day, you only had 35 bushels of oysters. It was a a fun boat ride. They also pulled up a crab trap with a few blue crabs in it and he talked about the life cycle of a crab and how the traps work. Max loved it and he helped throw one of the crabs back into the water.

Last Day of School

2009-06-14T06:58:00.000-05:00

I think we are the last school system in the country to be out for summer. Ha! Friday was Nolen's last day of school with Ms. Murray and Mrs. Shelley. The parents were invited to come in for their ice cream party and we had a great time.

Max sat in the circle with the class as they went around and said one thing they liked about Kindergarten and one thing they didn't like about Kindergarten. Most of the kids (including Nolen) said they liked it when they went home on blue (extra good behavior) and they didn't like it went they went home on yellow, orange or red.

My boys eating their ice cream sundaes.

Since Valentines Day, Nolen has been saying that Rebecca is his girlfriend. He says he loves her because she has green eyes. He even brought home her phone number and called her to see if she could come over and play. (We never did get a play date set up though.) She is a very sweet girl...hopefully all of his future girlfriends are as nice. Ha!

Nolen had a great year in Kindergarten! He had two wonderful and caring teachers. I hope he gets as lucky next year! I also hope that Max will get Ms. Murray as his teacher next year! There is a good chance because I have heard that they try to put siblings with the same teachers!

Reflections

2009-06-01T07:45:00.004-05:00

Last night I crawled into bed with my boys to read bedtime stories and Max brought a book called, "Time for Bed Otto". This was Nolen's FAVORITE book when he was two. We had to read it EVERY night and he had it memorized and would say most of it while I turned the pages. Its a cute story about a dog that doesn't want to go to bed so he tries different things to get sleepy. Finally he lays down and thinks about all the things he loves to do and then he falls asleep. Anyway, last night Max read this book to me. It was kind of bitter-sweet for that book to come full circle like that. A book that little toddler Nolen was obsessed with and now Max is big enough to read it himself. If I was mushier, I probably would have cried!!!

Pax River Air Expo

2009-05-28T13:49:00.000-05:00

When I was little my parents would drag my sister and me to the air show in Punta Gorda (seemed like every year). Well, nothing says to the kids, "I love you," like carrying on a family tradition! Ha! The only thing I really remember about those air shows was that I was hot and there was a lot of walking and I couldn't usually see whatever I was suppossed to be watching. Some of it was cool, the smoke trails, the Golden Knights and of course the Blue Angels! I guess as a kid you don't really appreciate that stuff as much as the grown ups.

Anyway, on Saturday we took the kids to the Pax River Air Expo. Edward (who doesn't like big events with crowds) was super excited after having watched the Blue Angels practicing over his office in the days before the show. The kids had a hard time walking around and watching the planes at the same time but they did better after we found a spot to sit.

The only problem with that was that Max quickly zonked out! They had been up very late the night before. He slept through most of the Blue Angels performance - noise and all!!!

My Dad, Suzanne and her daughter Jessica came up for a visit and went to the show with us. The boys had a blast with them. Max said he was showing Jess the "I love you" sign because he loves her. And Nolen cried the night before Grandpa had to leave because he didn't want him to go. (I actually suspect this is a developmental thing with him. Lately he gets upset when Grammy leaves too and he tries to lock Ed in the bedroom in the morning so he can't leave for work. I think he is just trying to control his environment or something...?)

I love this picture of all my favorite boys!!!

Preschool Graduation

2009-05-26T09:51:00.003-05:00

I have officially attended more preschool graduations than I have children! Nolen graduated from his 3 year old preschool class at Fort Rucker in 2007 because the Fort Rucker school had a Pre-K. Then he graduated from The Byrd Nest preschool last year - which was a huge production. I actually think it was too big. Then last Friday, Max graduated from Little Seedlings Preschool. This time it was perfect! The kids marched around and sang some sweet songs. The teachers called up each child and gave them a diploma and a little felt graduation cap. After the ceremony we had cake and punch and the teachers gave each child a small gift bag with pictures from the school year, chalk and a paperback book. It was really nice.

Watering the Boys

2009-05-21T06:43:00.002-05:00

My biggest challenge with Nolen is getting him away from the Wii. Yesterday he whined so much on the way to school that he lost video game privileges for the day. He was a champ about not complaining about it last night which was a treat for me. Without even mentioning the video games, he came and asked me to help him find something to do that was fun. I told him that if he came outside I would let him water my plants with the hose. Well, the plants did get watered...eventually! The boys had to strip by the end of this adventure. They were completely soaked and I had a good laugh! Luckily, I was holding the camera as a water sheild!!!

I think the funniest moment was when Max put his mouth on the nozzle and sprayed it right into his mouth and it went all over his face! We all got a good kick out of that! The funny thing is that Nolne is usually really cautious about getting water in his eyes but I don't think the thought even crossed his mind yesterday! At one point, the nozzle was stuck open and they had the hose laying on the ground and were just running through the water. Hilarious!

Filling up the watering can for Max.

Star Date 20090514

2009-05-17T17:15:00.001-05:00

Just a short update this weekend...

Thursday was Max's last Show and Tell Day at his school. (His last day of school is this coming Friday) Thursday morning he told me this is what he had chosen for show and tell! I think he was holding about 6 dogs!!! I told him he had to choose just one but he had a hard time. He told me that Eagle and Pongo love each other and don't like to be apart....etc, etc. In the end, he chose to take Valentinesy to school and I think she was ok going by herself. Ha!

On Thursday afternoon I took the dogs to the vet. Bugsy rides in his kennel because otherwise his fur gets everywhere. Jazzy is pretty good in the car and usually just lies on the floor of the van. However, Thursday when she jumped in, she jumped straight into Nolen's seat. It was so cute!

Friday was Max's field trip to the Southern Comfort Berry Farm. It was a nice day - overcast but warm enough and it never did rain. The kids got to see some cows and chickens before they went to pick berries. Here is Mrs. Richie holding a chicken upside down!

And of course, a picture of Max picking berries. The field was certainly cleaner than the Country Best Farm in Enterprise but I still prefer that farm to this one. It made me miss our farm in Enterprise! They were so nice there and I just loved feeling like I was really picking berries on a working farm. This farm seemed to cater to field trip groups. They had a playground and a straw bale maze with trikes and kids pedal tractors set up which the kids enjoyed. They didn't seem to be growing anything else besides strawberries though.

Calvert Cliffs State Park

2009-05-11T06:25:00.001-05:00

I had a wonderful mother's day with my boys yesterday! First thing in the morning, they brought me a doughnut, coffee and my crossword book and told me that I had to stay in bed until they could bring me my surprise. (As a side note: A few weeks ago, I told the boys that for father's day I wanted to buy Ed a waffle maker since he always makes the waffles whenever we stay at a hotel. Apparently they thought that was a great idea because they told Ed that they wanted to get me a waffle maker for mother's day! ha!) The boys helped Ed mix up the waffle batter and eventually they brought a waffle up for me. They were so proud and sweet!

We also had some old friends visiting Saturday night that we knew while we lived in Alaska. David is still in the Army and he and Wendi are on their way to Egypt for a year! They are an incredible couple and it was really fun to catch up with them. We sat around talking late on Saturday and until about noon on Sunday when they had to leave.

Sunday afternoon I decided to take the boys to Calvert Cliffs State Park where you can hike down to the beach and look for shark's teeth. We picked up McDonald's for lunch and had a picnic. Then the kids played on the playground for a bit before we started our hike. It was a 1.8 mile trail to get to the beach but I was hoping the kids could do it. As we reached the one mile mark I decided this may have been too ambitious but we were already more than halfway there so I decided to keep going. At the 1.3 mile, I was really worried but decided the boys would be more of a pain on the walk back if they didn't even get to see the beach so again we kept trucking. They were very glad to make it to the beach and we found some rocks and shells but nothing too interesting. They could have stayed there for an hour but I was already dreading the walk back so we only stayed about 30 minutes or so. The walk back was rough for the first half mile, then we started playing "tag". You should know that in Nolen's version of tag, there is no way for him to be tagged. Ever. I would give them a head start to run down the trail while I counted to 10. As soon as I started running to catch them, they would touch a tree and call it base. So, when I caught up to them I would give them another head start and they would find another "base". It was a pretty boring game of tag but they loved it and we finished the hike in record time. ha!

Some other things to note...we saw one snake, one beaver dam, I had 2 ticks crawling on me and Nolen had one on him even after we wore bug spray, I checked him twice and gave him a bath (I sent them to Edward for a final check and he found it). Also, when I started the van to leave, I still had my door open and I saw a small animal scurry away from under the van. At first I thought it was a bird but it was a MOUSE! I could see his little tail as he ran away. Yuck! Now that's nature!

Playing on the tire park before we started our hike.

Running down the trail. It was a gorgeous green day! At one point the leaf canopy was so bright green and thick that we all looked green standing on the trail!

The boys on the beach with the cliffs in the background.

I hope all of my mom friends and especially my own mom had wonderful mother's days yesterday!

Nolen's School Play

2009-05-09T09:13:00.002-05:00

On Thursday we went to see Nolen's school play at 2:00. Max had fallen asleep and I tried to wake him up but he wasn't having it. We got there a few minutes late and he sat in my lap for almost the entire show. The play was put on by the Kindergarteners and 2nd graders so as a result, there was a huge mass of kids all sitting in a bunch in front of the stage. With my eyesight, I was certain that I wasn't going to see Nolen but I was wrong! Halfway through the play, I stood up to see what I could see and there he was, right in FRONT! Only 3 kids from his class were pulled up to the front by the music teacher and he was one of them. If you know how perfect Nolen is, then you're not surprised by this. haha! (That's a joke. He's probably not perfect, but I think he is!) I was so proud when he told me that! He stood there and sang the words and did all the motions for the songs. The play was called, "Make Every Day Earth Day" and it was very well done...even if you couldn't really understand what the kids were saying!

If you click on the picture, you can see a bigger version. He's the one in the black shirt and yellow sunglasses!

Memories of Birthdays Past...

2009-05-03T10:26:00.004-05:00

I like to try to remember all of Nolen's past birthdays....some are easy, others are not!

First Birthday - Sadly, I really don't remember this one very well. I know we had a Blues Clues party and I know Nolen had about 2 teeth and a messy cake face but I don't really remember it at all...

Second Birthday - The thing I remember most from this one is that Edward was in Iraq so I was working hard to make his birthday -- a weekday - a fun day even though it would mostly be the three of us sitting at home all day. I know I was looking forward to play group that afternoon which happened to fall on Nolen's bday. First thing in the morning, Nolen didn't seem too interested in opening the mound of presents I had stacked on the kitchen table and by 10am I found out why. He was sick. The poor kid threw up on his birthday! Needless to say we didn't get to go to playgroup and Nolen wasn't excited about any of his presents because he wasn't feeling well. Poor kid!!! What a disappointing bday!

Third Birthday - I know we had a great party for him (probably Thomas) with all of his friends! I remember that when he opened his presents, he kept saying, "oooooo...wow!" It was very sweet.

Fourth Birthday - We had a great group of friends show up to his party at Lake Thlocco at Fort Rucker. The kids played at the beach and the playground, we had a water balloon toss or fight...I can't remember and I made a treasure map with a box full of the goody bags for the little pirates to find. The kids had a great time and the fun ended just in time because as Nolen was finishing unwrapping his presents, it started to rain and by the time we got home it was pouring! Good timing!

Fifth Birthday - Nolen's only boy friend when he turned five was Austin. He wasn't really friends with any of the boys at his new preschool and all the other kids we knew were girls. I decided not to throw a whole party for him and we would just have a little dinner. Unfortunately, Austin was going to be out of town for Nolen's bday and Edward was gone to a job interview (here in MD) that week. We managed to pull off dinner with Austin who made it back to town early and I made Nolen a killer Mario cake! I'm sure I was more disappointed with the small celebration than Nolen was!

So there is the birthday recap. I think this year rates pretty high on the scale. I love the birthdays that are spent with lots of friends and this one certainly fits the bill! Thanks so much to everyone who was able to come and help Nolen celebrate yesterday! We love our friends!

Mario Party Highlights!

2009-05-03T10:26:00.000-05:00

I planned and crafted like crazy for this party and it turned out great! Mostly becasue the kids had a blast - I don't think I actually had that much to do with it. Two of Nolen's friends from school showed up and all the neighborhood kids were there. The kids had a great time playing toys, a few video games and I believe there was some kind of war that was played in the backyard.

Here are the pirhana plants, mystery boxes and Mario hats that I made for the party.

All of the kids ready to sing happy birthday to Nolen. I didn't get a good shot of the cupcakes, but they turned out cute. There were chocolate frosted ones with colored stars on them for Luna and there were "mushroom" cupcakes that were green or red with white polka dots.

Nolen got lots of wonderful gifts from his friends. He got a Ben 10 watch which I know he was thrilled to get, an Alien Chamber from Ben 10, Spiderman Yhatzee, a Matchbox pop up car playset (we love these!), a giftcard to GameStop, and the biggest hit of all....

Mario Super Sluggers from Grammy!!!! He can't stop playing it! This morning I called him up to open his birthday presents from Max and Dad and me and he came up, opened them and ran back downstairs to play more Sluggers. Sheesh! Looks like we'll be instituting a Wii time limit this week!

I think Nolen has already had a great birthday and the day isn't even half over. He loved having all of his friends here to play yesterday and the kids behaved pretty well. We did have a parent monitor in the basement with them (Thanks Fran!!!) which was a lifesaver! Fran said she caught one of the boys poking at the TV (yes the big expensive one) with a lightsaber and swiping the game controllers from other kids. SHEESH! Disasters were averted though and overall the party went really smoothly. We played "kill the turtle and get coins"...pop the green balloons that have butterscotch candies (Coins) in them. We also played pin the nose and moustache on Mario.

I can't believe my big boy is SIX years old! I am so proud of him. He is growing up to be a smart, kind, and caring boy!

Field Trips, Beaches and Baseball

2009-04-27T10:11:00.005-05:00

We've had a wonderful few days! Both boys had field trips on Friday and they had gorgeous weather for it. Max's class went to St. Mary's City and toured the Dove. I was really impressed with everything down there. St. Mary's City is the site of the fourth permanent settlement in British America. The Ark and the Dove sailed here and the Dove was later lost at sea. The town was later destroyed and is being reconstructed as a historic site. As a side note, we went into a building that was once an Inn and Max was looking all around. One of the guides was explaining stuff to him and as she did, she took a musket off the wall and handed it to Max. I must be a city girl because it was VERY strange to see my four year old holding a gun that was taller than he is! Shoot...let me be clear - it was weird to see my four year old holding a gun at all! (I promise that my kids don't get to handle firearms unless you count light sabers)

Nolen's class went to Elm's Beach on the Chesapeake Bay. Sadly, I didn't get to attend that field trip and only got the stories. They held a crab and a turtle and brought home some oyster shells.

On Saturday, we went park hopping. No, we weren't at Disney (I WISH)! I want to start exploring new parks in the area. At the end of last summer when we moved here, we conquered most of the parks that are nearby but we never ventured too far from home...partly because at the time gas was $4 a gallon! So, sorry planet Earth, but we'll be taking some day trips to area parks in the next few months. Saturday we checked off the Recreation Area at Patuxent River NAS (the base that Ed works at). I had heard there was a beach area at the end of the base but hadn't ventured out there yet. The kids and I took off and found it. It was a nice enough beach at the end of the Pax River where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. It was no Naples Beach, but it did cure my beach craving! Finally!!!

Max freaked out at first because the sand had a lot of rough rocks and shells and he refused to walk on it. Once he decided that playing in the sand and water fun enough, he sacrificed his precious feet and he had a blast! When we arrived, there was a sign that said, "Beach Closed due to Jellyfish Infestation." I immediately had flashbacks to Lake Tholocco and our standoff there with the MPs last spring. I wasn't feeling quite that brave - especially since its sort of a stretch that I still have base privileges at all. At first, I told the boys they could only get their hands in the water but by the end of the day they were up to their necks in the water. The jellyfish warning is bogus by the way. Jellyfish season starts in summer (July I think) and after that you REALLY can't swim...so I think its dumb that they're telling us not to swim now when we actually can. Oh well. No one bothered us about it. Luckily. Oh and by the way...at bath time that night, Edward found a tick on each boy. Gross. He picked them out with tweezers and the boys didn't like that at all. Max told us he isn't going to play outside anymore because he doesn't want a tick. We'll have to find some good bug spray!

Sunday was another great day! Ed cooked us a big breakfast. Then we worked in the yard for awhile...I mowed the grass and dug up some plants that I wanted moved from the front yard to the back. (Ed did the actual replanting. Thanks Ed.) After our work, we showered, grilled some hot dogs, and headed up to Waldorf for a minor league baseball game. We went to see the Maryland Blue Crabs. They have a really cute stadium up there and this is only their second year. It would have been more fun if it hadn't been 91 degrees! I kept telling myself not to complain because this is nothing compared to a summer day in Florida but it actually was pretty hot to be sitting in the sun watching a game. The good part though was that the humidity was only about 40% so it wasn't that horribly suffocating heat. You know, the one where you have sweat dripping down between your legs and your underwear are stuck up your butt and there's no getting them out because they're pasted there with sweat. Sorry - is that TMI?? Its true though and you know it. :-)

We had great seats at the game. Ed got the tickets from work. We were right by first base and our team beat the Long Island Ducks 12-2. We saw 8 of those points before we left....in the fourth inning. I'm telling you - it was hot! Look at poor Nolen's red face!

So, we had a great weekend. This was what I needed a few weeks back during spring break when it was 50 degrees and raining. I've been grumpy ever since waiting for this weather so I'm enjoying at as much as I can!!! I was outside so much this weekend I had to put on sunscreen! I'm just a Florida girl at heart!

Climbing

2009-04-22T14:10:00.003-05:00

In the winter the kids and I were climbing the walls. Now that its finally spring, we're climbing the Cherry Blossom Tree! Yeah!

Weekend Fun!

2009-04-20T13:29:00.000-05:00

Well, its time for my weekly post. ha! We had a wonderful weekend - spring visited on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day and we spent all of it outside! Edward worked on the garage some more, I cleared out some flower beds (although I don't think I actually planted anything. I planted some petunias last week), and the boys played. By 3 o'clock we were all ready for a nap but the fun wasn't over yet! Pam stopped by and invited us to go with her to the wooden park so we did. The boys haven't had that much fun at a park in a LONG time! They love Jayden and Gigi. Its so cute! The boys played at the park for two hours and I was the one that was ready to leave, not them. Later, I found out that Nolen held a turtle while we were there. I don't really know what that is about. I hope it was a friendly turtle!

On Sunday we walked to the Earth Day Celebration on the square. (That's right, my town has a square and I can walk to it - I love that) I think the city did a really good job of brining in activities, vendors, and local organizations with info to share. We saw some turtles, owls, greyhounds and this was really cool - a Maypole! There was a leader there teaching people how to wrap it up and it was very fun to watch.

After that we headed down the hill to the wharf and took a canoe ride. I was quite surprised that the operators could manage this but they were offering free canoe rides into the Bay. They probably had 30 canoes and kayaks and plenty of life jackets. We had a good time paddling over to a little "island" and then back around to the wharf. Oh yeah - and we also wore our matching tie dye t-shirts for the adventure! I saw a few people point at us as we walked around. It was Earth Day people - Earth Day, hippies, tie dye...plus - if one of the boys got lost it would be easy to find him again!

This morning when I came downstairs (at 6:50!!!!) this is what I found. The boys' animals were eating breakfast. Every last one of them! I've seen them "feed" their animals before, but I don't think they've ever served breakfast for 20 before. Ha!

Max's Trike-A-Thon

2009-04-17T11:22:00.000-05:00

Max's school held a Trike-A-Thon today to support St. Jude's Children's Hospital. They did a great job of setting up a mini town for them to drive through. There was a church, a hospital, a school and a garbage dump(? it was actually the dumpster in the corner of the parking lot. haha). The kids did a great job of following the course and obeying the traffic signs. It also gave them a chance to teach bike safety. There were a couple police officers there to talk about wearing helmets and how to ride a bike safely. It was a really fun activity for the kids. These teachers really work hard to do some special things for the kids. The director of the school even goes out and wipes the dew off the playground most mornings so that it will be dry for the kids to play! Incredible!

It took Max a few laps around the course before he remembered to stop at the stop sign.

I think we're really turning a corner here!

Traffic Jam!

Easter With the Smiths

2009-04-12T19:58:00.001-05:00

I am getting closer to convincing Edward that holidays are FUN! He has never been a big fan and he still smirks at me when I am buying stuff for baskets or stockings, planning birthday parties or writing letters from imaginary characters that creep into our house at night. Today was no exception! I had a blast playing Easter bunny. I woke up at 5:30, which was fortuitous because it rarely happens anymore, got up and went out to hide eggs (btw it was 35 degrees this morning). Then I came inside, wrote a note to each boy from the Bunny detailing how many eggs they needed to find and where. Each boy was to find 3 eggs in the house and 12 eggs outside. They were so excited to hunt for eggs that I decided to give them a mini hunt before breakfast! I left the eggs in their bed (they are still sleeping in one bed lately) and listened a little while later when they woke up and opened their eggs! There was some debate between them about whether or not they were allowed to get up (they have an alarm clock that turns green at 6:30 to let them know its morning time and its ok to wake up). Finally, they came in our room and Nolen read his note to us!

After that we had to go downstairs and tear open the baskets!
After tearing through the baskets, I offered to make pancakes for the boys - an offer they can't refuse. While I cooked they sat down at the table and worked in their workbooks from the Easter Bunny. I thought it was so cute! Nolen's is a really cute Cars reading book and its just right for him. Max's is Spiderman addition and subtraction.

After breakfast, the boys got dressed and headed out for an egg hunt. Unfortunately, I missed taking a picture of them before we went out. They were dressed in cute matching outfits. Oh well. If you have spent any time around my boys, you know that they get along really well (knock on wood). We have very few fights over anything and Max is always ready to give Nolen whatever he wants. Well, the egg hunt went a little differently. They ran around the yard together so whenever one of them spotted an egg, the other would run towards it as well and it was mostly a race and a test of wills! Max nearly bowled Nolen over for one under the (new) air conditioner. Ha! I thought it was kind of funny but I did correct him for it.

Look at that dimple!

Checking out the loot!
For dinner we made a ham and had Pam and her kids over. Its always nice to have good friends over, especially when we can't be with family. I think the biggest hit of the day (aside from the candy of course) were the rocket balloons and balloon animals. I am now an expert at making deformed balloon dogs! Don't ask for a regular balloon dog because I haven't figured that out just yet. Oh, and I can do swords. Also, Stephanie, I apologize for the two rocket balloons that are stuck in your tree.

Sugar Crash! All the boys passed out while watching Tom and Jerry after a fun filled Easter!

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Easter Pageants and Parties

2009-04-07T17:48:00.006-05:00

We started the week by saying goodbye to our friends, the Heaths. Geoff (or Jarf as we like to tease him) is in the Marines and they got orders for Camp Lajune, so even though Ed is done with the military, we had to say goodbye to friends again! We had a lot of fun getting to know Lara, Geoff, Logan and baby Rowan. I already miss being able to spy on them from my kitchen window. Anyone who has ever been my neighbor knows that I like to keep track of people for no particular reason. Its just what I do. Doing the dishes is going to be pretty boring until someone cool moves in back there.

Last Friday, the boys had their Easter celebrations at school. Max's school held an Easter Pageant followed by an egg hunt. Nolen's school had a Spring Fling party. (Can't call it an Easter party!) I went to both and enjoyed each. This is the best picture I could get of the boys before they left for school.

Max's pageant was very nice. They have a wonderful music teacher at the school. She taught them several songs including one with colored hand bells for the kids to ring and egg shakers for another song. Max's favorite song was "Shaky, Shaky Egg". When he marched in with his class he was his typical hammish self blowing kisses and hugs to Edward and me. However, as soon as the music started, he clammed up. He didn't sing a word! Not even for "Shaky, Shaky Egg"! I was heartbroken! Later he told me that he was tired and didn't want to sing. I tried to tell him that that wasn't ok. His class needed him to sing with him. I don't know if he really understood what I was getting at. Boo.

Nolen's class had a nice party. It was really great to go in and meet a few other moms. The kids dyed eggs, had an egg hunt (in another classroom because it was chilly and rainy), and had a feast of a snack! I got a few pictures of his class including, a picture of Rebecca who he always talks about!

We've been pretty busy since then. Saturday morning I had a garage sale. I didn't have any great stuff to sell but it was nice to clean out. I feel like we had a lot of random junk lying around. We had amazing weather for it - it was the first sunny and warm Saturday of the spring! yay! Saturday evening, Ed worked on another concrete project which he finished on Sunday and I mowed the grass while the kids played.

Sunday we cleaned house a bit, took the kids to the park to enjoy the nice weather and then I had a Jazzercise meeting. Fran got in Sunday evening as well. She'll be here off and on all week. Tonight she headed back to Richmond so she could go to band practice. That is committment! Yesterday I took full advantage of Fran being here and I went to the mall all day! I don't get to do that very often so it was a real treat! I got a few spring things and new sandals (which I'll need if it ever warms up enough) . After the mall, I drove back and taught 1 1/2 hours of Jazzercise and then stayed for the first half of another class. My body doesn't usually do well with that much exercise but it felt good yesterday (until I came home and CRASHED!)

The last week or so...

2009-03-30T20:06:00.004-05:00

We haven't been doing much lately. The weather has been pretty yucky (until Sunday) and there just hasn't been much going on. Just to keep things in chronological order, we'll start with this picture. Last Wednesday I was doing something on the computer, probably facebooking, and was just playing by himself. At 3:15 I got up to get Max and myself ready to go pick up Nolen from school. I walked past a pile of blankets on the couch and went upstairs. Max wasn't in his room. He wasn't on the first floor or the second floor. He had to be in the basement - I hoped. Upon further investigation of the pile of blankets...he was just really enjoying that 30 year old afghan! Thanks Nana! The whole family loves it! You can just barely see his little foot sticking out.

On Saturday, Ed's big project was to pour a concrete pad for the new AC that will be installed soon. We have made a hobby of buying 30 year old houses with 30 year old ACs and then replacing them in the first year. This one really needed to go. I wish I had a picture of it...I'm surprised it was still working when we moved in. He did a great job pouring the slab and he even had all the boys make their hand prints in it. That's right - only the boys. Mom was not included! What's up with that???

We didn't do anything too exciting this weekend but we had a great time. Nolen had his last soccer game of the "season". It wasn't really a season as much as it was 8 weeks of games. He had a great last game. He got to be goalie for the last half which is his favorite position. Of course the only other position is "herd runner". Anyway, he did a great job and had lots of good saves. It was a nice way to start an otherwise boring, rainy and cold Saturday. The only other cool thing we did on Saturday was have family movie night. We got to watch Bolt all together with popcorn. The boys saw it in the theater and loved it. Max has made me read the book (long version not the short version) so many times that the boys have it memorized.

The weather forecast for Sunday was thunderstorms so we started the day cleaning out the basement and we had some other boring indoor tasks on our list. However, the weatherman was a complete liar! We had the nicest day we've had in weeks. I think this is my first time wearing shorts this year. Be careful you don't go blind looking at those pale legs! Eeek! It was warm and sunny almost all day. We realized this at around 11am so I quickly threw the boys outside, finished up the necessary tasks inside and went out with them. After lunch we decided to treat ourselves to some ice cream at Bruster's (by the way, I can't go there without thinking of all of Amy's cute pictures!). Max had a free scoop coupon he earned at school for reading 10 books! It was a beautiful day for eating ice cream!

When we got home we already had supper going - beef stew for the rainy day we were suppossed to have! It worked out well though. The evening turned into one of those neighborhood hangouts. We were all sitting around chatting when I realized it was 7:00!!! We still needed to feed the kids, bathe them and get them all tucked into bed by their 8 o'clock bedtime! ha! We managed and the kids didn't get to bed too late.

And just a side note...the boys had ice cream again tonight because Nolen's reading group is reading a book called, "How to Make Ice Cream". I told him that if he did his homework without complaining, he could have ice cream for dessert tonight. The joke was on me though because his homework was only to read the first half of the book. Tomorrow night I guess he will have to read the second half and do a comprehension worksheet. I guess I'll be offering ice cream again tomorrow night. hehe

Weekend in Richmond

2009-03-23T11:06:00.001-05:00

We headed south this weekend for a little family trip. We didn't make it far enough south to hit the beach but we did catch the FIRST robotics regional competition in Richmond! Fran teaches high school physics in Richmond and works on the robotics team at Deep Run High School. The boys were super excited to see Grammy and they loved seeing the robots. Its a really cool program where students work closely with technology companies /sponsors to design, build, program and operate their robots. Each year, the competition game is different (and usually a little convoluted). This year the game was called Lunacy. There was a very slick floor surface to deal with, and a game of trying to load other robots' trailers up with balls. There is a lot more to it than that, but generally that was the idea.

Here are some of the students explaining the robot to the kids. Note the adorable team shirts that Fran got for them and the kid sized safety glasses. (Everyone is required to wear safety glasses in "the pits".)

A very happy and proud Grammy.

The event resembles a trade show in that each team has a supply of buttons, beads, bracelets, balls and other gear emblazened with the team name. I guess the reason they have them is to promote their team to try and secure a place in an alliance in the finals. Seriously...complicated system. Anyway, the boys had fun walking around with one of Fran's students and collecting all sorts of trinkets. They also like watching the robots and all of the loudness and chaos didn't seem to bother them which was a pleasant surprise!

AND congratulations to Fran and the Blue Cheese team!! Their alliance won first place and they also won the Chairman's Award. They will be traveling to nationals in Atlanta in April!

Edward and I slipped away for awhile on Saturday night and went down to the Fan to hear some live music with Stephanie. A good time was had by all.

Nolen and Grammy playing tic-tac-toe at Ihop.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T15:40:00.000-05:00

Luck of the Irish to ya! I don't know any good Irish sayings...I sent the boys to school in their St. Patrick's Day shirts today. I mostly made them last year but I failed to finish them in time so they had to wait until this year. Nolen told me he didn't like it and didn't want to wear it. As you can see, he didn't win that battle and I told him it was rude to say that about something I made for him. Max was happy to wear his - of course they seem to play off each other more and more lately. If one of them is doing something I don't like, the other one will point out that he is being a perfect angel. ha!

Like the backwards letters on Max's shirt? Sadly, it was not intentional! oops!

And, I didn't get around to making an '04 for the back of Max's shirt. I got online last night to find a "4" to copy and I ended up facebooking, got tired and quit. Doh! Oh well, he didn't care. And by the way, the 03 and 04 are the years they were born. I thought that was pretty clever. Hehe.

As for the rest of St. Patrick's Day, I am planning on having a beer later. Not so much because its St. Patrick's Day, but because the boys are driving me a little nuts today. Max only stopped talking during his nap today - other than that, it has been non stop blabbering. I also made the boys mint chocolate chip milkshakes for snack (they're green) and I have a corned beef brisket in the oven for dinner. I've never made it before so hopefully it turns out. I don't know how you could go wrong - it was packaged with the spices inside and the directions on the front. I don't think Nolen is going to like it too much. When he walked in the house this afternoon, he asked me what smelled stinky. Wish us LUCK!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

2009-03-05T20:07:00.000-06:00

Snow Flashback...

2009-03-03T11:21:00.000-06:00

These pictures were taken in November of 2005 in Fairbanks. Nolen was 2 1/2 and Max was 15 months. By the time I got them dressed to go outside, I was already exhausted! Ha! I also learned that mittens that will stay put on a 1 year old and hard to find and priceless!

I love this one. Poor Max did not want to sit on that sled! He probably had no idea what was going on!

Snow Sessions 2 and 3!

2009-03-02T19:30:00.000-06:00

In an effort to avoid the franticness of a freezing child who has been in the snow for too long, we broke the play day into three sessions. I couldn't tell you how long any of them lasted but I think it worked well. The kids were cold and damp footed (no snow boots, just rain boots) when they came in, but they certainly weren't miserable. We went out at around 1pm and tried to build a snowman. Unfortunately for the snow man, the kids weren't that interested and he got toppled soon after he was built. Jasmine didn't help the situation either. When Nolen added a twig for the poor snowman's arm, Jasmine pulled it out to play fetch with it. After the failed snowman, I started building a wall of snowbricks. It looks awesome but it can't stand up to anything. A good snowball can knock it down. Ha! I took a few of our toy bins outside with us and used them to make bricks just like you would use a pail to make a sand castle. (relying on the lessons I learned back in Florida) I got several compliments from neighbors and some of the bigger boys on the street were pretty impressed! They kept asking if I was going to build an igloo.

Jaydin came by to play for a bit this afternoon. The boys started out helping me with bricks but ended up throwing snowballs at anything that moved. They had a good time! Nolen thought it was especially funny to throw snowballs at me!

We went out again at around 4 and walked down to the Heath's house. They have a slight hill along the side of their house and it made a neat little sledding hill for the wee ones. It wasn't exciting but Nolen loved it. He's not much of a daredevil so this was just his speed and I didn't have to monitor things too closely. You can't get hurt going 20 feet at a crawl. ha!

And what do you do after a long day of playing in the snow? Snuggle the dog in bed of course! Jasmine is not suppossed to be in our bed, but she jumps in whenever she thinks she won't get caught. She jumps out when she hears us coming. The exception to that is if a boy is snuggling her. I guess her plan then is that we'll let her stay there because she's so cute. I wonder where she would get an idea like that!

SNOW DAY!!!

2009-03-02T11:19:00.000-06:00

We hadn't been doing anything too exciting lately. Its been too cold to play outside lately and we've worn out most of the local indoor activities (i.e. Target). We were just tired to winter and anxious for spring. Well, we didn't get spring, but winter has finally paid off! We had a huge snowstorm last night. It snowed for less than 24 hours and we got about a foot of snow! Last night it was pretty windy too which kind of freaked me out. Our power flickered once but it has stayed on since then. At one point last night, Ed looked out the window and said, "Oh my gosh!" He scared the poop out of me by the way he said it. I thought a tree had fallen down! He was just surprised by the amount of snow! He's so dramatic! hehe. Although, this morning, it looks like one of our neighbors trees has fallen down! I haven't gone out to investigate the size of the tree, but its a larger pine tree and it definitely isn't upright anymore!

The boys got a snow day from school. That wasn't much of a surprise when we started to see how much it was snowing last night. We told them last night before they went to bed (the school district had already called to announce that school was cancelled) and they were so excited as they made their plans for playing in the snow! The schedule went something like...get up, eat breakfast, play in the snow, come in and have hot chocolate, eat lunch, go out and play, come in for hot chocolate...you get the idea! Those half price snow pants I bought for Nolen are finally getting used! I wasn't optimistic enough to buy snow boots so they're making due with rain boots! Knock on wood but so far so good!

The boys got a snow day, but Ed did not. First he tried digging out his little Mazda. He managed to get it down the driveway but the snow plows had left a pile of snow at the edge of the road and he couldn't get past it...we also don't have a snow shovel. Next he tried Dale's white truck that we are borrowing from her. That plan also failed. The van was the only vehicle that made it out of the driveway today! ha! I guess the boys and I really ARE snowed in!

Maybe we'll get around to making a snow man or a fort this afternoon. I tried this morning, but the boys kept jumping on whatever large snowballs I was trying to make. I think the snow wasn't sticking to itself very well either. Maybe I'll take some water out with us this afternoon. Tara says it works great. ha!

2009-03-02T11:18:00.000-06:00

Hurry up, Mom! We're ready to go!

Tramping in the snow. This was in the driveway where Ed had dug out his car. It doesn't really show the true depth of the show. I'll have to take a yard stick out later!

The boys did a lot of falling in the snow. I was worried they were going to get it inside their coats and mittens, but I guess we have good gear!

Loving "Valentimes" Day

2009-02-15T21:48:00.002-06:00

Well, I think the boys enjoyed "Valentimes" Day! What's not to like? There is candy, candy and more candy! For some reason I attempted more heart themed activities this year than usual. Maybe I'm just feeling extra amorous. Anyway, both boys wrote out all their Valentines by themselves. Nolen did his really quickly. He is getting really good at writing. Max took longer but still did all of them himself. Both boys had Valentine parties at school on Friday and came home with a bagful of loot. Remember when Valentines were simple little cards? Now they come with candy, tattoos, trinkets...but the boys loved inspecting their treasures!

2009-02-15T21:47:00.001-06:00

I didn't get a picture of Nolen checking out his Valentines. He wasn't quite as excited as Max was about them. He might have just been tired after a long day of school.

On Saturday morning, the boys woke up to find a table full of loot! I got each of the boys a squishy dinosaur, bubbles and a book. I love how the little things are still so much fun for them.

Max loved his dog from Nana. He said its name is Valentimey. How original.

After they unwrapped their presents, I made heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. Heart shaped PB&J for lunch and even a heart shaped pizza for dinner. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I spent ALL day Saturday in the kitchen. I made breakfast, made the pizza dough, and gave my Kitchenaid a workout! I made a triple chocolate cake...4 layers of cake, 2 layers of chocolate mousse from scratch, chocolate frosting from scratch and even a raspberry layer! It was delicious - even if it did take all day! I like this picture of the boys. They were so excited to eat their pizza - and they ate the WHOLE thing less one piece that the grown ups shared! The grown ups (Fran, Dale, Ed and myself) had a steak dinner after the boys ate. It was delicious! Ed and I decided not to try to squish into a restaurant on love day so instead we had dinner at home then went down to the BWB for a bit. We just hung out and shot some pool (Badly).

Today, Ed worked some more on the garage. The structure is all built up to the house wrap. Ed decided to the siding himself and got started on Saturday. It went slowly at first - he's never hung siding before so he was reading and figuring stuff out. Today he made a lot of progress and I even got to help him. It was really pretty fun. He did all of the measuring and cutting and I got to beat on nails with a hammer! We got one whole wall done and Ed got another wall ready to start tomorrow. I feel like I've had a productive weekend! I even did some laundry and mopped the floor today! Woo-hoo. I think I'll take tomorrow off. hehe.

Wonderful Weekend Weather!

2009-02-09T06:10:00.002-06:00

We had a gorgeous weekend here. This is the kind of weather you don't often get in Florida and in my opinion, its the payoff that makes sitting inside all winter worth it. For the second weekend in a row we had bright sunny days with temps in the 50s and 60s! This weekend, I took the kids and Jasmine to a trail at Dorsey Park. It was pretty fun. The boys brought their swords along. I was hoping that would make this seem more like an adventure and less like a walk. Last weekend at Sotterly the boys enjoyed walking at first but once we turned around to head home there was ALOT of complaining. We kept finding the blue trees that marked the trail - helpful since the trail was kind of hard to see. We did run into some mud issues. I thought Jasmine was going to pull me straight down a muddy hill, but I managed to walk off to the sides of the trail on the leaves and I was helped out by a few trees as well. Sadly though, Max DID fall down in the mud. It wasn't too bad, just a muddy hand and a muddy sword! But getting muddy is what boys are supposed to do right?

Defending the forest from evil!

Wouldn't you know that Jasmine found the water feature and jumped right in! There was a little wooden bridge over this creek. She walked over the bridge once and jumped in and on our way back. I let her go, she's been cooped up in the house all winter...she really did deserve a little fun!

2009-02-09T05:57:00.002-06:00

Look at that dirty water! Yuck! Luckily she was dry before we made it back to the van.

My little tree hugger!

Max decided to put his (Jayden's) sword in his pocket. He explained to me that is where you keep your sword. It looks like he is in some weird bowing pose, really he's just walking up a hill!

On Sunday the whole family headed out to AnnMarie Garden on Solomon's Island. Its only about twenty minutes from our house. I thought it was going to be a botanical garden but it seemed to be more of a sculpture garden. There is art everywhere. Even the wounds on the trees are painted, there was hopscotch on the path, and this cool bridge to nowhere. The boys liked walking up and down it but I'm really not sure what the point is. Maybe its more clear in the summer. There were a lot of sculptures on loan from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, part of the Smithsonian! Pretty cool.

2009-02-09T05:56:00.001-06:00

Each of the benches throughout the garden had a plant name and an artsy sentence about it along with pictures. They were very pretty benches but some of the sentences kind of freaked me out. I didn't really get it.

On Sunday night the boys sat down to make some Valentines! Its funny how the boys aren't really interested in making a pretty card. They are more interested in making sure it says who its to and who its from. After that, its just fun to color, stamp and paste stuff. Oh well. I gave it shot and they had fun! Hi Kim, I know you're thinking about how you would "help" them more than I did. hehe :-)

Port Discovery

2009-02-03T20:42:00.003-06:00

Monday the kids went to school and us girls did a little shopping. (As much as you can do in Southern Maryland) After Max got out of school, we packed a picnic and had lunch at a park. After Nolen got out of school we went to Jazzercise where Britt tore it up and Mom and the boys blew bubbles and read books outside. I told Mom she could come in but she wouldn't. She's too chicken to try Jazzercise!

The fam had to fly back to Flo-rida on Tuesday. I had trouble deciding what to do with the kids if I drove them to Baltimore and sent the kids to school. Someone would have had to pick up Nolen and maybe Max too. I dodged the whole quandry and made myself a fun day in Baltimore instead! We woke up early in the morning and got on the road at 8. We were at the Children's Museum by 10am and I was really happy with my decision. (I hope Brittany didn't mind too much, especially the lunch part. Sorry Britt, I love you.) The kids had a BLAST too. Nolen couldn't stop talking about it on the way home.

Welcome to the Diner. Today's special is one pancake, a fourth of a waffle and one egg. Nolen and Max will be your servers today.

Here ya go Mom!

Of course the water play exhibit was a big hit too!

Nolen and Max standing by the spooky Sarcophagus. Max was so scared to walk into the Egypt exhibit that he made me carry him in. Nolen got freaked out in the Mummy room. It was pretty awesome! The idea of the Egypt exhibit is that you have to follow clues and use hyroglyphics to solve the mystery of the Pharoah or something. You walk through different archeology tents, cross the Nile river, and end up in a tomb. Then you have to climb through a jungle gym type thing to get to the secret room in the tomb. It was pretty awesome!

This part of the museum consumes the interior of the building on all 3 floors. It is a giagantic jungle gym. The kids go in and may end up coming out on any of the floors. I followed them through a few times (and lost my cell phone doing it). We left the museum to make the airport drop off and went back afterwards. In the afternoon there were only three other families in the whole museum so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. I also discovered that our arm bracelets matched so that the kids can't leave without an adult. So, in the afternoon, I let the kids run willy-nilly through the KidWorks. I gave them some rules first, 1. stay togehter, 2. if you come out and you're on a different floor, either go back in the jungle gym or come down the first floor and find me. Do not wander into an exhibit without me. They did awesome at following the rules and I think they really liked being able to "explore" on their own and find their way around.

There was also a cowboy exhibit. I like this picture of Max's lasso!

Family Fun Weekend

2009-02-03T20:26:00.002-06:00

Mom and Brittany flew up to see us this weekend! Hooray! And for those of you who aren't sure who is who, let me take a moment to make some introductions. Aunt Brittany is my (Melissa's) younger sister. She is tall, brown eyed, beautiful, smart, loving and a bit sarcastic and smart. Nana is my Mom. She is quiet unless she knows everyone in the room, she loves loves loves kids and kids books and kids games. She is the best mom ever and she doesn't usually drink Margarita's. OK, Max and Nolen, do we have these two straight now?

Margarita's and Fajitas Saturday night. Brittany's friend Carrie drove up from NC to hang out with Britt. After dinner, the kids went to bed and the young adults went out to BWB. I admit, I was trying to score some cool points with my sister! After years of being a lame mom, I had to show Britt that I can still P-ar-ty!

3-D Movie Trailer during the Super Bowl! Go Steelers! Woop Woop!

Sunday we had freakishly warm weather and failed to realize it until 1 o'clock. We quickly rallied the troops and set off for some sight-seeing and adventuring in St. Mary's County. First we went to our local park and the kids ran around for awhile.

Next we drove out to Sotterly Plantation to check it out. Many festivals are held there during the non-winter months but we haven't made it to any of them yet. It was a good find for the warm day. I told the boys that we had to finish a scavenger hunt while we were there because they weren't very interested in being there. The quickly got into it and had a blast! Here they are with the plantation house behind them. We never made it to the main house but we saw the corn cribb, the slave cabin, rolling road, a few trails through the woods (complete with deer tracks), and the stable. The boys had fun running ahead on the trail to read the signs!

2009-01-28T05:23:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately, I didn't feel good enough to play outside with the boys yesterday. I probably wouldn't have been able to keep up anyway! Nolen couldn't wait to play in the snow after school! He jumped out of the van - didn't even close his door or take his backpack inside and ran to make a snow angel. I missed a lot of the good pictures but trust me, the boys had a blast! When Max came in, he was shivering and his hands were cold (he doesn't have the best gloves) but he couldn't stop talking about the snow. I wish I had video taped it! Nolen stayed out a little longer, his gloves are a little better. They both wanted hot chocolate when they came inside, so I got them undressed and made their hot chocolate, and then lunged onto the couch where I spent the entire day trying not to smell food and wanting to puke (sorry its true). I spent most of the day watching Ellen, sleeping and facebooking from my iPod! Loving the iPod! What a fun day (for the kids).

I asked Nolen to come upstairs and do his homework this evening before dinner. What a cutie! He was so excited to work in his mathathon book for St. Jude's. The problems are really pretty easy for him so he had fun. I gave Max a math book to work on at the same time. They both sat and finished all of their work. I love watching them!

I like this picture. Max is saying, "Ooh - I got it!" He gets so excited about everything!

Snow Day

2009-01-27T09:49:00.005-06:00

Finally, Southern Maryland gets a snow day...almost! It started snowing around 8 am today and its still going. The kids are being dismissed three hours early from school so they didn't exactly get a snow day. The forecast is for the snow to change to sleet and ice this afternoon and tonight.

It made me miss Alaska to see all the white stuff...reminded me of driving down College and not knowing if there was a median or not...not knowing exactly where the shoulder of the road is...walking through a slushy Fred Meyer parking lot...running through the snow to the neighbors house with a kid wrapped up in a blanket (coats were too much of a pain when you're only going a few steps) just to get out of my own on a snowy day...the only difference is, hopefully this time the kids can actually go out and PLAY in the snow! They are big enough to keep their gear on and its above zero! Woohoo! Who will throw the first snowball? Let the fun begin.

Nolen loved walking to the bus stop in the snow this morning!

The view from our backyard.

Future MLS Player???

2009-01-17T13:55:00.000-06:00

Nolen played his first soccer game today through St. Mary's Parks and Rec. It is indoor soccer, at a rec center about 15 minutes from our house - although we have a rec center about 3 minutes from our house.

Did you like it? Mmm-hmm.
What is your coach like? He is nice. He gave me a high five!
Did you get a snack after the game? Yes, we got apples.
What do you like most about soccer? If I got to be goalie.
What did you like best about soccer today? When my team got a goal.
What did you like least about soccer today? When the other team got a goal.

Nolen did great at soccer today! He chased the ball with the rest of the herd of kids and kicked it some too.

Alaska Gear Comes in Handy!

2009-01-16T21:00:00.000-06:00

You know the rule - if you haven't worn it in a year, throw it out? Well, hanging onto my Kamik's, mittens and great big Columbia coat has served me very well today! I wore these mittens for every day three winters in Alaska. By my calculations....Alaskan winter lasts at least 7 months so...7*30*3 = 630 DAYS! I trudged through ice and snow carrying a kid on each hip in these things and managed to stay on my feet every time! Thank Goodness for my Kamik's! Oh, I rambled too long. It is 10 degrees here today! But the boots, mittens and coat are keeping me nice and warm!

Arts and Crafts!

2009-01-16T19:03:00.000-06:00

We went to Ikea about three weeks ago and bought desks for the boys and I. Finally, the hobby lobby is starting to take shape! Its still kind of a mess. I need to make some tough choices about books to donate, the funny Army desk that we used for awhile, and the pub table. I love my pub table but it just doesn't work in this house. I had a nightmare a few weeks ago that Edward was making us move again. I swear, I'm not moving! We have bought furniture! I have unpacked boxes that haven't been unpacked in three years. I have painted. I've made curtains! This is the end of the road! And while the hobby lobby isn't pretty, it is organized well enough that I was able to throw together some "Crazy socks" for Max's crazy sock day. The boys and I literally did this craft in twenty minutes - start to finish! I love finally having our desks on the same floor and in the same room as our craft supplies! Hooray! And did I mention, that I am settled and I'm not moving!?

Hobby Lobby

I think the idea of crazy sock day was actually to wear mismatched socks - but since all of the boys' socks are white, that wasn't going to work for us. (Although, Kim might point out that I brought Max to Jazzercise with mismatched socks one day - by mismatched, she meant that they were two different kinds of white crew socks. They were the same from the ankle up - good enough for me. ;-) Love you Kim!)
Anyway, I got the bright idea to take an older pair of socks and glue a bunch of silly stuff on them! Max designed the left one and Nolen designed the right one. I did most of the gluing and glittering - not ready to let them use fabric tack - too permanent!

How cute is that? And yes, I did send him to school with his pants rolled up!

A Long and Winding Road...

2009-01-12T21:41:00.000-06:00

Here is the back story. Max is in love with a squishy Stegosaurus which he has named, Stegosaurus. He also has a cool new Dinosaur Atlas that we looked at tonight. One section talks about dinosaur bones that were found in Hell Creek Montana and it showed a landscape that looked just like the State Park we visited in Glendive, MT while we were driving across the country when we moved from Alaska to Alabama. After a little googling, it turns out that Hell Creek is part of Makoshika State Park in Glendive! The very park that we felt so lucky to find during our trip. It was in face a fortuitous find. Each day we drove for about 6 hours. When we made it to whatever town we were spending the night in, we would look for something entertaining to do...usually a park, or a hotel pool or even a mall. When we got to Glendive, it was somewhat of a dive. It was a little disappointing after seeing Missoula and Bozeman. The GPS had a state park listed just a few miles from our hotel so we thought we'd check it out. Maybe it would be a good spot for the kids to run around. What luck! It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen! And now, how fun to find out that it is where they found a bunch of Dinosaur Bones! (P.S. If you're reading this and you're from the NW and you have known about the dinos your whole life, well, I'm sorry. They don't teach us this stuff in FL...too many republicans I guess.)

Edward's Second Home

2009-01-12T21:06:00.000-06:00

Edward's dream is coming true! Our house has a one car garage which is almost enough room to store the tools Ed has acquired over the last few years. There is barely room to walk and certainly no place to work. He has wanted to add this garage since we moved in and now he's getting it! Hooray! I have been told that I am not allowed in the garage (as I am prone to putting things away and then Ed can't find them). The guys doing the work are doing a great job. They started a week ago today and here is what we have so far.

Smarty Pants

2009-01-09T17:32:00.002-06:00

First things first - I am listening to Nolen sing, "Na na na na na na I'm gonna get in a fight." Thanks P!nk. Anyway,

I love the Brain Quest cards for kids. They're like flash cards but not so boring. Max wanted me to read questions to him from his set for ages 4-5 but I was putting away groceries and doing breakfast dishes. I told Nolen if he would read the questions to Max, he could have an m&m for each question he read and Max could have an m&m for each question he answered correctly. They are too cute! I think they sat there reading and answering for about 30 minutes! I'm so proud of them!

New Year's at Nette's

2009-01-09T10:10:00.000-06:00

Our next door neighbor, Nette, had us and half the town over for chili Sunday night. It was a great way to end the two week vacations from work and school. Nette is from Sweeden and she and her parents eat Swedish food (Swedish fish?) and practice Swedish traditions. Its fun to hear all about the dinners she goes to at her parents house. She has two teenagers, Lisa is 14 and Tommy is 16. Lisa has babysat for the kids a few times. She is very sweet and she just made cheerleading at Leonardtown High. I've probably scared her because I get so excited about it. haha!

Here is our babysitter Lisa (Nette's daughter) holding her dog Daisy and introducing her to Lara and Geoff's baby, Rowan!

Sweet sweet baby Rowan in her cute leopard outfit!

Proud parents Lara and Geoff. Also, Donovan and Hannah Curley - the kids who used to live in our house.

Erin Curley and husband Jason hiding behind her, Nette's Dad and Nette!

Around the House

2009-01-04T07:52:00.000-06:00

The boy pile!

I asked Ed to cut down some tree branches about a month ago.
I failed to drag them down the street to the neighborhood compost field so Ed finally loaded them into Dale's truck and hauled them away. Thanks Ed and thanks Dale! The truck has already been used to haul stuff to the dump too.

At the JumpYard

2009-01-04T07:47:00.000-06:00

After a few longish days at home, I wanted to get out of the house. I also thought it would be smart to begin weening Nolen away from the Wii and the PS3 since he will go back to school on Monday. I thought about taking them to see a movie but the theater here is kind of a bummer - especially since you're still paying $8 for a matinee! Luckily, our friend Lara had the genious idea to go to the Jump Yard! I wasn't completely sure it would live up to its Orlando counterpart that we visited in July - but it was great! There were plenty of things to bounce on, it wasn't too crowded and it very clean. They even had free WiFi so I got to sit there Facebooking on my iPod Touch. hehe! The boys had a great time. They were so sweaty and kept going to get drinks of water. It was exactly what we needed yesterday!

^ Stopping for a rest.
Look at that smile!

I even snuck into a few bounce houses myself! Why do kids get to have all the fun???

After the Jump Yard, I needed to pick up a few things at the Commissary since we were all the way out there. Nolen started pouting and saying he didn't want to go. I told him that if I had to tell him to stop pouting again, I would take 30 minutes of video game time away from him. That did it! On went the smile! He even made me a list while we were driving there and kept track of stuff for me while we were shopping. The boys were so good and fun in the store that I bought a package of Starburst at the checkout for us all to share! I don't usually do that but we really did have fun in the store. Nolen kept asking me what else we needed so he could write it on his list and as I put stuff into the cart, he would check it off. Have I mentioned that I love these kids???

Out On the Town - Christmas Night

2008-12-31T06:51:00.003-06:00

We had two "social engagements" Christmas night. We were invited to Jean's house (that's where Ed was renting a room before we moved up here) to see some violinists play. I wish I had taken my camera in. It was pretty cool. Jean is friends with some violinists at her church and one of them plays in the National Orchestra in D.C. She invited them over Christmas night to eat food and play. It was like a private concert! They played classical music - all very, very good! There were about 10 of us sitting in her living room just enjoying the music. Pretty cool.

We made plans a few weeks before to go over to the Curley's house on Christmas night to play Bingo. I guess it is a family tradition for Erin's family and she was really excited about it so we went. Everyone brought a few wrapped gifts as prizes (I'm not going to lie, we did some regifting while we were there - but I promise it wasn't anything from you!) and she had a spinner with wooden balls and everything. We didn't stay for too long because we were out late the night before at the BWB (a bar down the street with the best hot wings in town) for their Christmas party. Ed must be a good tipper because we scored an invite to their private party after they closed down the bar. It was pretty fun - especially the part where I got to dance to Single Ladies. Luckily Nolen and Max haven't yet realized how embarassing their mother is. I wonder how long this will last because they will probably start acting like they don't know me at some point. Sorry boys!

Playing Bingo at the Curley's house. (We bought this house from the Curley's and they are now renting a house a few miles away)

Logan's babys siter Rowan! Rowan was born on December 17th! Logan is the boys' friend who lives across the street. He is three and until recently was an only child. The boys have fun playing together most of the time but Logan is still learning how to share.

More Christmas!!!

2008-12-31T06:49:00.002-06:00

I love Nolen's face in this one! He was so excited!

Santa left the boys' stockings under the Christmas tree but they had to follow a scavenger hunt to find their Hot Wheels set! They had to look on their bedroom door, the bathroom sink, the fridge, their cup drawer in the kitchen and finally downstairs by the Wii. Nolen did a great job of reading all the notes.

I don't know why but I failed to take ANY pictures of present unwrapping. I think I just decided to enjoy it. Anyway, here is a picture of Nolen unwrapping a present that we found later under all the wrapping! You can see the chaos in the background.

Our 7th Anniversary!

2008-12-29T05:53:00.002-06:00

Today is our 7th anniversary! Where does the time go? Oh yeah...

2 kids
6 moves.
1 year in Iraq (we should be grateful it was only 1!)
17 cases of strep throat
1 flight school graduation
4 cases of Tequila (not really, well, I didn't actually keep track)
on our 4th camera since our honeymoon (sorry babe)
17,000 pictures
temperature range... -52 to 98 degrees
0 completed scrapbooks
6 Ikea trips
1 kayaking trip in Valdez
2 camping trips in Alaska
1 outhouse race
1 dip in Chena hot spring
2,000 cups of apple juice poured
15 trips to the lake house
55 worms killed
2 fish caught
1 lightning strike
1 graduation ball
3 trips to Sea World
2 trips to D.C.
4th barbeque grill (Lil Smokey, Smokey Joe, real Weber, propane behemoth)
2 mortgages
my cars: Honda Civic, VW Passat, white Jeep, Odyssey
your cars: black Jeep, silver Jeep, Mazda
17 sets of Army uniforms (includes BDUs, ACUs, flight suits, DCUs...)
no broken bones! Yay! (knock on wood)
7 years - 1year in Iraq - 5 months of training - 2 months of travel and field exercises - 2 months you lived in MD alone = 5.25 years of me doing your dishes. ha!
I love you baby! Thank you for quite an adventure, two wonderful children, a lot of laughs, and a happy life together.

Hi from my iPod touch!

2008-12-28T06:58:00.002-06:00

Ed got me an iPod Touch for Christmas and its awesome!!! I love love love it! Its way more than a music player. I can play games on it, right now just Sudoku. I can Facebook or post a blog from it - so cool! And I haven't tried it yet, but I guess I can load video podcasts onto it. Lara across the street has one and her son watches Thomas on hers. I don't think I'm ready to share my iPod with two little boys! Thanks for an awesome present baby! I love it! Oh, and I can manage my Jazzer playlists on it so I won't be scrolling through it during a Jazzer class! hehe

Christmas Morning

2008-12-25T22:08:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from the Elves!

2008-12-24T13:49:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Build-A-Bear!!!

2008-12-23T06:21:00.001-06:00

I've wanted to take the boys to Build-A-Bear for-ever! I can remember walking past one in the Florida Mall in 2004 or 2005 and thinking that I would love it but Ed would kill me. Especially since at that time, the boys didn't even touch their stuffed animals. Well, my patience paid off!! For a few years now, the boys each have a few favorite animals...mostly dogs. Max's are Pluto and something else I can't think of right now. (What kind of mother am I?) Nolen's dogs are named Pongo and Pupdate (I don't know where he got that). A few weeks ago we wandered into Build-A-Bear and watched a girl get her turkey stuffed. Isn't that funny. The boys stood completely still and stared at the process. I told them that when they had each saved up $10 we could come back and get an animal. Well, Nana helped out and sent each boy some money and a coupon to Build-A-Bear! Yay Nana! We went yesterday and the boys loved it! They each chose the same dog - it really was the cutest dog. They sort of wanted a sound but I told Nolen he would have to give me $3 from his piggy bank when we got home so he skipped it. Here they are getting the bears stuffed and putting in the heart.

After the dogs were stitched up, it was time to go over to the computers and input some info for their birth certificates. The boys were very cute and did most of it themselves. I typed our address (in case the dog gets lost he has a bar code sewn inside him so he can be traced back to us) just to speed things along. It was very fun! They boys carried those dogs around for the rest of our mall trip.

Here they are standing in a pretty long line to see Santa. We must have stood there for 30 minutes but the boys were convinced that this was necessary (and I hadn't gotten a Santa pic yet this year so that was ok with me). They help their dogs the whole time we stood in line.

Max is really checking him out. Max's dog's name is Scruffy. Nolen's dog is Bolt.

Telling Santa what they want for Christmas. It looks like it would have been a good picture but the cheapest Santa picture you can buy costs $20!!! What's up with that??? I have Christmas shopping to do people!

Wishing you a Jazz(ercise)y Christmas

2008-12-21T07:17:00.000-06:00

As forecast, the Jazzercise Christmas party was a time of quiet reflection, I mean, crazy dancing. Only one Jazzer song was played during the evening in an effort to keep us from dancing a choreographed routine. Still, the line dancing was most popular. ha! Here we are doing the Cha Cha Slide. The lady to my right is Louis, she is one of the class managers. The lady in the sleaveless black dress is Starla. She is the center owner and very funny, loud and sweet. Her daughter Lenea was there and was the life of the party...sadly no pictures of her...she was moving too fast!

Friday Night Live

2008-12-20T07:18:00.000-06:00

We're still gearing up for Christmas around here. Nolen had his Christmas party at school, and then we had some neighbors over last night for enchiladas and Ed's margaritas! Yum! Tonight is the Jazzercise Christmas party which should be fun. These girls have the biggest personalities! I look like Debbie Downer next to them! Ha! There will be dancing and I've been informed that there will not be Jazzercising. I have to remember to take the camera because it will totally be worth it.

Yesterday I told Nolen to go upstairs and get dressed for school. I told him to put on pants and a long sleeved shirt from his closet. Maybe he has seen some reruns of Miami Vice because he decided to go for the Don Johnson look! By the way, the blue shirt is the pajamas he slept in the night before. ha!

Here is the kids table at dinner last night. From right to left we have Spencer C., Max, Gigi F., Nolen, Hannah C. and Jayden F. All of the kids were SO good last night. Most of them fell asleep around ten o'clock while the grown-ups were still playing Cranium. Nolen fell asleep in the basement still sitting up on the couch, Max and Hannah fell asleep on our bed watching TV and I don't know where but Gigi and Jayden fell asleep somewhere too. Spencer and Hannah (and Donovon, not pictured) used to live here before we bought the house.

Hannah is showing off one of her old tricks!

Look, Nolen can do it too. He's usually not very athletic but climbing seems to be his thing. He likes to climb trees too. And if you know me, you know that I had to try this too. Nothing like a Mom climbing the walls to be the sign of a good party! Sadly we didn't get a picture of that! ha!

Max's Christmas Pagaent

2008-12-17T05:44:00.000-06:00

Max's preschool had a Christmas pagaent on Monday. I wasn't really in the mood to give up one of my kid free hours to go watch them sing (is that terrible) but it was WONDERFUL! First of all, Max is a little ham! He didn't know the words very well since he's only been in the class for two weeks but he had all the moves! He really got down during Amazing Grace - which he later told me was called "Macy Gracy"! ha! I have to double check with Max but I think the girl in the red dress and black tights is his "girlfriend" Rachael. It was a very cute performance! I am so glad he is in the school. They really do a wonderful job there and Max has a blast.

Each kid had a colored bell and the music teacher had a chart to help them play Jingle Bells. It even sounded like Jingle Bells! Very cute!

When it was time to sing "The Reindeer Pokey", each child put on a pair of antlers and got a little red sticker on his nose. So cute! Max is thrilled! Sadly his antlers were in front of his ears so they came off during the very first verse. In typical showbiz style he didn't miss a beat and left them on the floor. The show must go on!

Day Trip to Richmond

2008-12-15T05:54:00.002-06:00