Memorial Day Weekend!

Memorial Day weekend- what an amazing weekend- amazingly traveled, amazingly fun, amazingly fast!!

Saturday we woke up at 3am and were on the road by 3.30am- all in an attempt to miss as much traffic as possible- and it worked!! The kids did great- they went back to sleep for a few hours once we put them in their carseats.

Here is Alden enjoying a breakfast of champions- Cars Cheezits!! He has his precious NiNi wrapped around his neck- what more can a man ask for??

I love this pic- all 3 of my "children" doing something different. It was a great trip up- Al was such a trouper to drive and let the rest of us snooze.

Once in NY we had our standard, NY bagels for breakfast, and then headed off to a local strip mall where an airport is as well- there was a HUGE airshow happening on Jones Beach and all the airplanes were taking off and landing at this airport! We got to see a good number of planes all without the hassle of the actual air show!! Alden was in heaven!

After some naps (not for me, I got a pedicure- ahhh!) we relaxed in the backyard and enjoyed the perfect weather!

Addie even got 85 year old Nonnie to come and sit outside!! Nonnie will do just about anything these 2 kids ask of her!

After a yummy dinner, the kids decided to "help" PopPop undo some damage they did last summer- throwing white rocks from around the pool- into his red rock area. They thought it was a great job- and were even more thrilled when he gave them money!!

After much debate, we decided to leave Sunday evening at bedtime- once again in hopes of missing traffic- and once again, it worked! We rolled in a little after 2am. Yes, we made it to and from NY in a little under 48 hours- it was well worth it!

This means that we had all day Monday to actually RELAX! The kids were thrilled to go to the pool- and since it's been sooooo hot lately, the pool temp was actually refreshing not numbing.

See what I mean by it being an amazing weekend? We are so blessed to have family close and the ability to go see them time to time!

Whew- What a Weekend!!

Whew- we have had quite the weekend- full of Dr visits, friends, flowers, and yummy food!

We actually started to celebrate the weekend on Thursday night by making chocolate chip cookies!! Don't tell my kids, but they think you always put in 1/2 the butter, wheat germ, and healthy flour!

Since Alden was STILL having massive bloody noses after being cauterized the previous Friday, the ENT had us come back in so he could take a look- there will be a whole other post dedicated to this situation- I won't get into it here- I want to think happy thoughts!! Here is my boy waiting- he's so adorable!!

This is a bubble whistle- the toy company wants to torture parents and their surrounding neighbors. Thankfully it didn't last long and quickly broke...

Since both kids had had Strep Throat, they needed new toothbrushes. I had heard about these, but this was the first time I got them- and I will FOREVER buy them! The kids can pinch the bottom of the toothbrush, and then the toothbrush blinks (the whole thing blinks- it's supppppper cool) for a full minute. My kids LOVE brushing their teeth for the full time now- yay! And an added bonus is that if the electricity goes out, I know where I can go and find something that lights up quickly!

Sunday... I went to the Dr (I had a severe sinus infection, which combined with my allergies made for a mess- but thanks to drugs, everything is now fine)- Al took the kids to church- where Alden proceeded to have a massive bloody nose coming back from Children's Church (it was his 3rd since his visit to the ENT 2 days before). Never a dull moment!!

After Sunday, The Boys came!! This was clearly the highlight of the weekend! Addie adores "her" boys, our good friends from the Eastern Shore. They were driving through town and stopped for lunch. These 3 boys (their oldest isn't pictured) are the most amazing boys I have ever met. They played dolls with Addie, t-ball with Alden in the backyard, colored with the kids, etc. All happily- amazing for middle school boys!!

Once The Boys left, we headed to Home Depot. The kids are studying gardening at school and have been after me to plant some flowers. If you know me and my lack of green-thumb, feel free to laugh here...

Our house has window boxes- a perfect place to plant flowers! The kids were VERY intent on putting in the new soil, evening it out, etc. My Secret Pal at school had given me a bucket, pink shovel (how awesome!), pink gardening gloves, and green pepper seeds. The shovel was put to good use- and Alden has taken it upon himself to plant the pepper seeds- I'm not sure where, but they are in the yard somewhere....

What's it gonna take? Team work!!

Despite being sick and Alden's bloody noses, this was a fantastic weekend!! I am SO looking forward to the summer when we can do more of this fun stuff!!

Summing Up My School

This book bag sums up the area where I work perfectly.... Quilted, like Vera Bradly, coordinating ribbon, fancy embroidered name- all done on camo. What a study of contrasts!!

Weekend in Review

I know, Friday isn't technically the weekend, but this was too funny to not include! My Mother's Day gift was a new bag for the pool- we had been using the ones we got for our wedding, and we will be celebrating 11 years this summer. A good friend at school sells Thirty-One bags (a name brand) and I was so excited to order one from her. On Thursday, I arrived home to find my package- but this is what was inside.... Nothing like the bag I ordered- mine is red with brown flowers and a large "P" on it. It was pretty funny- and now I am being called Tasha around school. Any weekend that starts off with a good laugh is a good sign!!

Also on Friday, we took Alden to the ENT to explore why he keeps getting nosebleeds. The Dr. took 1 look up his nose, saw the offending blood vessel and cauterized it! Alden was an absolute champ and did not fuss at all! Both kids were absolutely perfect- I was paid the ultimate Mom complement- that they had been some of the best behaved kids they (the Dr and his nurse) had seen in a long time!! To celebrate, we got $1 McDonald's sundaes!!

Saturday we visited River Rock a really neat festival downtown. We went after naptime, and arrived in time to see a few things- dogs jumping into a pool to fetch a toy, boulders being set up for a contest, people paddling up and down the canal, and of course, all the neat booths. Sadly, a huge storm was headed our way, so all the final events that we had wanted to see had to be canceled as they shut down the entire Brown's Island and told us all to go home! We made it back to our car just as the heavens opened. I looked on my phone at the Doppler- and saw how huge the storm was- HUGE! Addie saw it and then became obsessed with what color rain we were driving through- so now when it's really raining, we call it "red" rain and if it's only sprinkling, it's "yellow" rain.

The fence is the top of the dog jumping contest. It was amazing how far some dogs could jump!

Sunday, we headed to church, but once we got there, we noticed that Addie was warm- really warm- so warm we turned around in the parking lot, got back in the car and headed back home. Sure enough, she was running a 101 fever. With a dose of Motrin in her, this is what she was doing- not looking sick at all! She still would not eat and said her throat really hurt...

Poor Addie continued to not feel well, so Monday, I took a 1/2 day and took her to the Dr- sure enough, she had Strep. And it looks like so will the rest of us- for the first time in ages, I let us all share a water bottle when we headed to River Rock. Thank goodness for antibiotics!! Even though we ended the weekend with a sick little girl, it was still a fantastic weekend!

Squirrel Rescue

Mother's Day Weekend we were having some friends over for a cook out. Al, being the dutiful husband that he is, started cleaning up our yard while I went food shopping at Wal-Mart. While I was at Wal-Mart- I got a call from Al- telling me he was afraid I had married a baby squirrel killer- and then I got this picture on my phone....

Background- a few months ago, as it started to warm-up, we noticed all these tiny pieces of yellow foam appearing in the yard. We had no clue where they were coming from. As Al was cleaning up the yard for the cookout, he noticed a wad of the same foam sticking out of the eaves of the shed. Thinking that some animal must be in the process of pulling it out of the shed, he decided to see if he could knock it off the edge of the eaves. When he did, that is when Baby Squirrel #1 (a boy as we would later discover) came tumbling down, hitting the top of our storage container, before landing on the ground. He kept breathing- amazingly.

My advice to Al? Call the Human Society and see what we should do with a clearly newborn baby squirrel. We couldn't just leave it there- we had to do something to at least try and let it live!

By the time I arrived home, 2 more babies had dropped out (both girls). But the good news was that Al had Googled and found a lady who lived only miles away, who rescued baby squirrels, raised them and then released them into the wild! How amazing is that?

Alden felt very protective of these tiny babies! (they are the small gray blobs just to the left of him)

This pic cracks me up! The rescue lady told him to pick up the babies and put them into a shoe box lined with a towel. Alden can't believe his Daddy is picking them up (we had given the kids a big lecture about how they were NOT to touch them....).

Here the 3 little ones are- all ready to go to their new adoptive home. The kids were amazed at the rescue lady's house- she had 1 flying squirrel, a few cats and another squirrel she was about to release.

This experience really showed me how amazing my husband is- he took time to take care of these baby squirrels and even to teach our kids about the sanctity of life.

Belle Isle Adventure

The weather was gorgeous and the kids were antsy- so we left our Saturday morning chores and headed to Belle Isle. The James River was super high- the kids were enthralled by the white rapids.

Yes, I asked them to take a touristy-pose!

I just love this- they love playing follow-the-leader!!

This melted my heart- what an amazing Daddy Al is!!

At the peak of Belle Isle- watching a slew of Mormans do some sort of community project- and a crew that was water white rafting...

Checking out some of the mountain bike trails- not so easy to climb, but they sure tried!

Ending our walk with picking flowers for Mom.

My heart just melts...

Adorable!

It's days like these that I truly realize how blessed I am.

Thomas Twins

Lately, these 2 have been the best of friends (and yes, I am fully aware that it will now stop since I've posted it). A special treat for them is that they get to have a "sleep over" Friday night. They usually sleep in Alden's bunk beds- but this Friday night, they took it up a notch- they ALSO wore matching pj's!! I use the term "matching" loosely- they insisted they were twins here since they were both wearing Thomas.

Such sweetness! Addie looks up to Alden in more ways than one (he's the same height now...)

Best Buds!

Loving each other- we are SO blessed!