First Day of School!

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!

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!!!

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.

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!

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?

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!

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.