What you really want to see

I realize I have neglected this part of my life (keep you up to date on our lives) for long enough.  So, I will use few words and just show you some pictures of the last month (or so).  

This first one was longer than a month ago..but it was M3's baptism so I thought it was important to include. 

A few of the silly boy being silly.  He loves this hat. 

                           
                                                                                Just cute:

 
                             His love for ice cream comes honestly.

M3's first "real" food. She did great and loved it. 

                   M1 was very helpful and did a great job (probably better than mommy).

They can sit nicely together without getting into a fight.  

The hot air balloon race. This is the view from our front yard. Great view!!

                                                          Playing around outside:
                                               

 
                                               An instagram picture:

                                       Don't capture these moments very often.

                      So, our basement is finally done. But we are still working on getting it "together."
                        Here are a few pictures of the "finished" but not completely put together.  We are            excited to have some more space.

                             Halloween.  Didn't get a picture of Izzy..she was running around with her friends.       But she was a cheerleader.

             
             I think she is the cutest elephant..EVER!!

                         Matt ran in his first half-marathon.  We were so proud of him.

               Heather, I am sorry that I have not shared these yet. My dear friend, Heather, came for a visit with her two kids. We had fun at Ted Drewe's.  Yummy!!

                               I have to say that this is one of my favorite pictures of the year.

               Got to go for a picnic when Gran and Pops were here before everyone got sick.
                           It was a beautiful night.

  Okay, I am done for now. I think that was enough and hopefully you liked some of the pictures.

Vacation (in July)

We traveled in July to Charlotte. My friend, Kate, was getting married. I was so happy to be able to be there during her beautiful day. Another friend, Natalie, was in the wedding and she stayed with me. What a fun time to catch up. She lives in Idaho and we have not seen each other since 04' or 05'.  It is so nice to be with a friend after that much time and be completely comfortable with each other like no time has gone by at all.
M3 was 11 weeks old and we drove through the night to get to my parents. It is kinda funny because all three kids have taken their first time at 11 weeks. This was our first time driving though and it was not that much fun. I would rather fly for sure.  Here are some pics from the wedding:

I am sorry to say that I did not get a better picture of the bride and groom. We had to leave early (even before the cake was served) because of baby girl who was NOT happy. I was so looking forward to a dance with my hubby.

                                    So happy for her.

                                                Me and Natalie.


Next adventure:  I convinced my mom to drive with me and the kids up to Northern Virginia to visit my "second family", the Wardens, and my dad.  The drive went pretty well until M3 decided she wanted to be out of her carseat..she was done.  That was the last hour of driving. We weren't sure it was such a great idea but once we got there it was all worth it. It only took us 9 hours to get there (6 hours of driving).

 She didn't waste anytime with Auntie. She wanted to show her what she could do with the ipad.

      We were so happy to see Pops.  I think they were on the floor as soon as they walked in the door.

      I want to say "old friends" but they aren't old.  They were pregnant together with me and Sarah. I am sure it is special to be together with Grandkids.

       M2 was so excited to play baseball. They were both excited and they did pretty well.

                                            Pops was excited, M2 not so much.

                                                                  What a face!!

                  Pops was so excited to take Diana's car for a ride. I don't think he wanted to return it.

                       Uncle Skippy relaxing with M1 for a moment.

                           

                              We almost didn't get a picture together. It was really late and we were tired, but
                                                                 we had to get a picture.

                              Pops took us into D.C for the Smithsonian.  I asked M1 what that looked
                               like and she said an "I".

                                    Their first matching outfits. M1 wasn't too happy about taking this
                             picture because we were waiting for the doors to open.

       We were one of the first ones inside.

                  I took M1 to go see all of the beautiful gems. This is the Hope Diamond. She wasn't excited by it. I told her she would be one day.

                                She did get excited about the crown..she wanted to buy it. :)

                                               We had to go play in the puddles.

Swimming!

We decided to put M1 into a swimming camp two weeks ago. It was a great week for her and she learned to swim! We just have to keep it up over the fall/winter. On Friday we got to go see what she had learned...we couldn't believe what she learned in four days.  It is a wonderful program. It is a family run camp. They have been doing this out of their backyard for the last 60 years; it is on it's third generation.  They have four pools (in in-ground and two above). They have been doing this for a long time and it is like a well-oiled machine.

                       So proud of her! Totally worth it..I think she will be going back next summer too. :)

Family Time

My brother and his family were in Montana for the month of July and got to stop here for a few day son their way home. It was so fun having them here (it was a packed house but it worked out well).
My niece Brantley, is so tall and grown-up...it seems like a few weeks ago that she was in our wedding (not wanting to walk down the isle). Palmer is all boy and loves to play outside. He and M1 are a lot a like. They both have so much energy and don't want to go to bed...ever. Gibson is so cute. We got to have him for one morning while the older kids went to the City Museum. He and Izzy had a great time playing together. It is moments like these that are hard for me. I would love to live near them so that they can grow up together. I have to step back and remember that God has placed us here and given us a community that we love.

Brantley got to practice some face painting. She did great for her first time! I think I see a future summer job. :)

Everyone but Meg and I went to the zoo one morning. I met them on the Art Museum hill for a picnic lunch. It was wonderful in the shade and the kids had fun because the sprinklers were on.

All of us (except Matt and Meg) went to Ted Drew's one night. Yummy!! Everyone loved the custard.

Thanks for making us a stop on your way home.
We loved having you and look forward to the next time.

1st Day

I just can not believe  my baby girl started Kindergarden today. It was a crazy start because our alarms did not go off so we were running around a little bit.  We are so happy with the school she is attending. I was sad because I wasn't able to sit down with her at the table this morning and have breakfast with her (because of the alarm mishap).  Matt did though and had a few special words with her.
The classes met in the gym and she did not want us to leave but I am sure she will have a great first day. She is so outgoing and kind...I just hope the other kids are kind too.  I am already thinking about the end of the year and what her last day of Kindergarden will look like; what she will have learned; how she will bloom. It is exciting!
Here are some pictures from the morning:

She looks pretty cute and ready to go.

                                                               Walking up to the school.

                                                           Sitting with her class

                                                                           Little sis waiting.

                                                           Little brother.

                         With her class.  Praying she has a wonderful day. We love you sweet girl!

Wordless Wednesday

Progress

We got home from our crazy road trip a few days ago and I am so pleased with what got done while we were away. As you may know our home was in disarray for a few weeks and it was hard to imagine what life would be like without people in and out of our house doing one thing or another.

The shower is complete, the downstairs bedroom is done (except for a light fixture), the basement ceiling has been painted and the living and dinning rooms have new paint on the ceiling. I am happy to say the least. Here are some pictures of the "almost finished" products.

These two pictures are of the downstairs bedroom. Looking forward to making it a functional room again. If you have not been in my home before you would not know that the ceiling was a horrible drop ceiling. We had discovered a lot of hidden surprises up there when they started taking it down.

Here is the shower all done:

Many more projects to do  (or want to do).