Full of Fun

We had a full 5th birthday celebration for Elijah. The weekend before his birthday, Steven's parents came to help us celebrate which included a fun trip to the zoo. Then on his actually birthday we made our way to Clemyjontri playground (pretty much the coolest playground in Virginia) and spent the afternoon at the pool.

Elijah is totally infatuated with motorcycles which something I hope he'll get out of his system before he's old enough to own one. Because of this he requested a motorcycle cake. It was fun to grant his wish and watch his excitement when he first saw it.

At the zoo:


Inspecting the cake:


Finally letting me take his picture:


The real Elijah:


"Brothers don't shake hands; brothers gotta' hug!"

Yittle Boo-Boos Part 2

Adriana fell and scraped her knee again which has fueled her everybody-checked-out-my-boo-boo obsession. Honestly, I think she secretly enjoys her scabs, but what she hates are the Band-aids I apply. To help with that, I purchased Nemo Band-aids. She got excited about them, but has yet to need one. So when it was Isaiah who received the first Nemo-necessary wound, she followed us to medicine cabinet clutching her knee with the well-formed scab.
"I nee one. I NEEEE one!"
"No, Adriana," I said, "Your boo-boo is healing fine and Band-aids are only for blood."
Without batting an eye, she continued dramatically, "It's buddy! It's buddy!"
"No, honey, it's not bloody."
The next day Elijah and I headed to the medicine cabinet to retrieve some Benadryl. Suddenly I heard some super-fake wailing behind me.
I look to see my daughter once more holding her knee with that fading scab, "Ooooh!! Owww!!"
I wondered to myself where on earth all this drama comes from!

Here are some photos from a recent trip to the playground. As a disclaimer, I do love my second child and try to photograph him. But he and the camera haven't been friends lately, and I don't want to push it. Hopefully, I'll get some shots of him on his 5th birthday next week.




Isaiah pretending to compete in his favorite Olympic sport:


On one final note, my sister found out this past week that she's carrying my nephew. When I explained how much fun a boy will be, Isaiah told me, "Now I'm too excited to sleep!" Sure enough, I never got a nap out of him that day.

Olympic Games

Growing up, the Olympic Games were a big deal in my family. Any television intake limits we had were removed as we watched every moment possible. I have so many memories of Olympic moments. I remember Greg Louganis diving to gold, Bonnie Blair's golden races, and Kristi Yamaguchi's gorgeous skating. Mary Lou Retton was the inspiration for my love affair with the sport of gymnastics which turned into 10 years of participating and eventually a job as I spent 6 years coaching. And the "Magnificent Seven" women's gymanstics team in 1996 made me stand up on the couch and scream.
These Olympics are even more special to me; because now that they are old enough, I get to begin making Olympic memories with my own children. So last Friday, the Olympics were the theme of our family night. We took the kids to a field for some racing and obstacle course running. Later we popped some popcorn and Steven talked with them about the race that really matters:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." -Hebrew 12:1-2
We also made some tin foil medals of our own and finally sat on the couch to watch the Opening Ceremonies.




The boys are enjoying all the sports (and being allowed to watch T.V. every night), and Momma is staying up way later than a momma should to watch her beloved gymnastics.

99 Balloons

I'm breaking my blog silence to share an moving video. As a Christian and a mom, I'm unashamedly pro-life; and I love how this video is a testimony of God's plan and purpose for each life. So pause for six minutes and marvel that "as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are [God's] ways higher than your ways and [God's] thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9)



I'll be back later this week...

Decades Party

My mom, sisters, and I threw my dad a 50th birthday party. The theme was "The Past Five Decades", and we asked everyone to come dressed from one of those decades. It turned out to be a lot of fun...
My groovy parents:

Us dressed as a family of the 50's. Unfortunately the photo does show my husband's rolled up jeans, white socks, and black shoes:

The group photos of the 50's folks including my sister Hannah and my little brother Opie:

The 60's group including my mom and sister Christine:

The 70's featuring my nutty brothers and of course, the Disco King:

The 80's group where you'll find my brother-in-law, future sister-in-law, and my little sister Katie:

Summer = Swimsuits

If you drive by our home on a summer night, you will probably see our swimsuits hanging out to dry on our balcony. Whether it's pools, beaches, or fountains, we love the water! Yesterday we spent time with some friends at a little park that had some water fountains.

Looking at the bucket feature of the fountain:

"If you want to get really wet, stand right here brother."

Doused:

Hanging with some buddies (Elijah refused to get in the shot):

Summer tootsies:

My friend Emma had the idea to give them all on Oreo so they would sit for the picture.
Here's Adriana sporting her post-Oreo face with little Kaia in the background vying for her attention:

Yittle Boo-Boos

You know that awkward moment right after you meet someone, where you rack your brain, thinking of something intelligent to say? Well at the ripe age of two, Adriana has already figured out how to break the ice with strangers. It goes something like this, "Hi, hi! I have a boo-boo!" She'll then proceed to pull up her shorts and show them her so-slight-you-can-hardly-see-it-anymore knee scab. She does this constantly. If a stranger is walking by our place, she'll shout from the balcony, "HI! YOOK AT MY BOO-BOO!" (All "L" are pronounced with the sound of "Y" in her vocabulary.) If some teenage boy at church happens to politely give a quick "hi" as he passes, she'll chase him down to show off her knees (bad habits we can hopefully break before the teenage years).
She often sees her brothers receive gum, but knows she's not old enough to have some yet. So she reminds me at random moments, "I'm too yittle for gum." Today, in an attempt to get a shower for myself, I asked her if she wanted to take her stuffed doggie to the couch to watch a television show. She's not too interested in TV and would much rather follow me around; so her smooth response was, "Um, no, doggie's too yittle."

Softball

Steven recently finished up his spring softball season. The boys think going to Daddy's games is very exciting, but somehow they always end up running off to play with the other kids. Adriana is content to hang out and "watch" as long as I have snacks in tow.

Birthdays, Birthdays!

We spent a long, fun weekend at my parents house celebrating the birthdays of Adriana, my mom, and Uncle Sam. We visited a couple of pools, ate a lot of cake, played our share of games, and even went to see the movie "Wall-E". All three of the kids were especially thrilled by the store-bought fireworks their Papa got, and Adriana had her first go at sparklers.
The highlight for me from the weekend, was my little sweetie turning two. After experiencing so many birthdays, she was thrilled that her own had arrived. I made her a butterfly cake...pink of course. She was the queen of the day and she knew it!






Trying to get those candles out:


Getting some help from Daddy:


Brothers reading her their handmade cards:




Opening the you-know-what:

To my delight, she LOVED her new, little kitchen and has been cooking up imaginary goodies for the past few days. As I write this, she is in her room baking a cake and singing "Happy Burt-day To You!

"Washing her hands" before going to town in the kitchen:

Adriana can now tell you that she is "two"; and, while at the pool, she informed my sister that she didn't need help, "Because I'm a big boy!"

Carousels and Trains

Steven's parent came for a visit this past weekend. We had a couple adventure packed days that included Steven's softball games, a little party for Adriana's birthday, a trip to the Shenandoah National Park, and a train and carousel ride at Burke Lake Park.