August 25, 2011

We got back from our week vacation this past Saturday.  Every August, my sister and I pack up the children and meet at our parents house for a week.  I look forward to our “sister” vacation all year long!  It has worked out for the past 4-5 years that our husbands aren’t able to come with us.  This year… Steve was able.  Let me begin by saying it is a good and a bad thing having him come.  Good: we get great family time, he drives!, the children don’t fight as much and better photo opportunities.  Bad: he has to play golf so that’s less trunk space, ummm, I guess that was the worst part.  Let’s face it, when you go to your Mom’s, you are gonna come home with stuff.  A full set of golf clubs take up 1/2 the trunk in a Saturn!

On to the good stuff.  We stayed busy the entire time.  My sister stayed at a hotel with a pool so we could all swim and we did some swimming!! Did you see my Face book page with Steve’s video?  I can’t post it here or I would.  It is 18 seconds of pure funny.  He did Single Syncronized Swimming.  I have another video of him dunking Sarah with her float on so she can touch the bottom.  That one isn’t as funny.  Anyway, other than swimming, we went to a Knight’s baseball game.  That was fun and a double hitter!  We went to the Lazy 5 Ranch, it’s our 3rd trip there and it’s fun each and every time!  Dang Emu!! LOL  We shopped one day at Ikea.  My mom had never been there and mine is an hour away.  The children saw Mr. Popper’s Penguins one night.

Looking over the whole week, I have to say that one of the funnest things we did was include my brother in law.  He was not able to spend the week with us so we made him just like Flat Stanley.  Here is Flat Ron….

 

Here he is in their family picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here he is enjoying the baseball game.

We all wore our Piggly Wiggly shirts when we went on our outings together.  We got plenty of comments, questions and looks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He enjoyed a refreshing dip in the hotel pool! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He even went to the movies with the children.

August 24, 2011

EARTHQUAKE!!!

Yes, we had a 5.8 earthquake here… in Virginia… yesterday! 

O. M. G. 

I was on my cell phone with my sister in law and it sounded like the children were above me, jumping up and down.  Then I realized that this room doesn’t have anything above it.  So I yelled for them to come downstairs and we went to the front door.  Our windows were rattling like crazy.  It was very scary.

When Steve called later, he said that he was in the back of his truck (he’s a UPS driver, in case you forgot or are new here) looking for a package and it felt like someone was shaking it.  He stopped and looked out the mirrors to see who it was.  Just then the home owner came out yelling “It’s an earthquake!!!”.  Duh! 

We did have an after shock around 8 pm that the boy and I felt.  It was a slight vibration, no big deal.  Here are the full details I found online and posted to my Face book page….

Magnitude 5.8 - VIRGINIA

2011 August 23 17:51:04 UTC

• Details
• Summary
• Maps
• Scientific & Technical
• Tsunami

Earthquake Details

• This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude
5.8

Date-Time

• Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 17:51:04 UTC
• Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 01:51:04 PM at epicenter

Location
37.936°N, 77.933°W

Depth
6 km (3.7 miles)

Region
VIRGINIA

Distances

• 8 km (5 miles) SSW (195°) from Mineral, VA
• 11 km (7 miles) SSE (148°) from Louisa, VA
• 29 km (18 miles) NE (45°) from Columbia, VA
• 61 km (38 miles) NW (317°) from Richmond, VA (here we are)
• 135 km (84 miles) SW (217°) from Washington, DC

I’d say we were pretty close to the epicenter, huh?!  I’d prefer NOT to feel that again.  Nathan was impressed and excited once we all settled down.  Sarah seemed un phased at the time.  But at bedtime, she said she felt her bed shaking and was scared.  I’m not totally sure if she was using that as a reason not to go to bed or she was really scared but I didn’t take it lightly.  You really don’t know how kids react to things until it happens and they all deal differently. 

Oh but hold the phone, Irene (hurricane) is heading this way.  Let’s see how many natural disasters we can handle in one week.  I’m off to the basement to make sure our things are out of the way of water in case we get flooding.  Aren’t I the lucky one!?!?!

August 8, 2011

My little monkeys have made it one full week with Steve’s parents and were turned over to my parents last night.  Already, the girls have been shoe shopping.  Thanks, Mom!  One more thing I don’t have to get before school starts. 

Having to think about school brings me to these….

This was their last day of school.  Kindergarten for Sarah and 4th for Nathan.  They both had awesome teachers!  It’s so hard to imagine that this is his last year in grade school.  Didn’t he just turn 5?  10? Oh, he’s pushing 11 and acting 15.  Mothers: hug your babies!!  Time goes by WAY too fast.

Children, I hope your week with Bubbie and Grandpa is fun!  See you monkeys very soon!!!

August 3, 2011

Finding things to do with the children every day in summer is not an easy task.  We try to keep a low profile.  Try not to spend lots of money.  You know, be frugal but have fun.

Cobblestone Water Park is the perfect place.  It is just up the street from us.  It’s water fun.  It’s frugal.  It’s full of other children looking to have fun also.  So, we went.  Check out the fun they had….

 

Nathan and I got some pretty bad burns.  We put on 30 SPF 3 times but it wasn’t enough.  Sarah on the other hand…. well, we call her Pocahontas now.  She just turns a beautiful shade of brown with no burning at all.  My mom says I did the same as a child.  Wonder what happened. 

It was a super fun day for all of us and we will be sure to go at least once more before the end of summer.  Maybe we can get Daddy to go with us!!

August 2, 2011

Two days in a row?  Yes!  Here I am again.  What should I share today? Hmmmmm…..  Well, I could share that I went to the dentist today.  I had to have 2 silver filling removed, cleaned out and filled with “tooth” colored filler.  I took a picture of my swollen face on the right side but I think I’ll just share that horror with my mom.  Your welcome.

How about some home improvement stuff?!  Good?  Good!

  

Here are the before pictures of the living room.  Ty had already started on the edging but you get the idea.  The entire house was painted in this ugly, brownish, grey poupon, baby puke color.  The living and dining room were gifted the TWO TONE look.  No.  Not feeling it.  We looked for a solid week for the right color.  Green?  Brown?  Tan? 

 

We settled on a color from Glidden called Cafe Latte.

It really is hard to get a good picture of the true color.  Depending on the way the light hits it, you could see a light brown or even grey.  It has a warm feel to it.  Much better than the two tone!!

 

 

We did all this painting back in February.  Let me go take a couple current shots….

Here is the living room all put back together.  Notice that the clock is the only thing hanging on the walls?  We can not find prints that we both like.  It’s getting painful.  I can’t say how much longer these walls will be empty.  At least they are painted.  Oh and he got a rug.  What a baby he was about that!  All we need is new sofas and prints for the walls and this room is done. Oh wait, we still need an insert for the fireplace. 

Being an adult isn’t as much fun as being a kid… I think I’m ready to be a kid again!!!

Hope you liked my post today.  Will you please leave a comment?  Please?!?!?!  Thanks.

August 1, 2011

Is it August ALREADY?!?!  I feel like the first 7 months of 2011 were a blur.  So much going on.  So much to catch up on.  Let’s start with this….

Saturday, Steve and I drove the children to the NC/VA border to hand them off to Steve’s parents. 

Are you smiling? 

Are you “happy” for us? 

We are happy that they get to spend time with family but not happy they are both away.  For the past 10 years, we have had at least 1 if not 2 children in our house.  We aren’t sure how to act.  We had a very uneventful ride, a few minutes to hug and kiss and then off we all went.  Of course I had my camera with me.

Breakfast at McDonald’s.  Silly girl had pancakes without syrup just so she could in the car!

My new favorite picture of Steve.

Then they both napped since we stayed up WAY too late!  I don’t think Nate ever really slept but Sarah was out like a light.

We won’t see them (other than on webcam) until the 13th.  I think we will all be changed after these 2 weeks.

First change… Nate lost a tooth at 10:30 the first night.  Really?  Really?

I miss my babies.