Change of Plans

Jacob didn't even keep the mask on long enough to get the picture taken!!! Josiah was distracted taking this shot because kids were already going door to door in our court!! And Callie was distracted because of the crazy man next to her!
Here they are showing off their loot!
Not even 10 seconds after I put her down on the ground, she crawled over and grabbed a Snickers bar to chew on (it was wrapped! Don't freak out, people!) And so the addiction begins!

So all along, Josiah was planning to be Spiderman and Jacob was planning to be Batman for Halloween. Well, as a result of Kelli's amazing marathon, Josiah changed his mind and decided to be a runner!!! I kept thinking he'd change his mind, but he was determined!! We had a bit of a dilemna, as he really wanted to wear his tank top and shorts, but he agreed to track pants and a turtleneck UNDER his tank top. He was adorable. He had a bib number, medal, visor and everything! Jacob was thrilled that the Spiderman costume was available, and chose to go as that. Callie was an adorable butterfly. And David was...well, David. They had a blast going around to the neighbors houses. After they finished, they enjoyed handing out candy for a bit at home before having to go to bed. It was a very fun night!!!

Would you believe...

....that the day after running 26.2 miles, Kelli woke up to run with me in the morning??? And it was COLD!!! I love you Kel!!!

The Marine Corps Marathon!

Kelli - still smiling at Mile 13!
My two little Marines saluting at the Washington monument!
Josiah took this picture! :)
Melissa & Kelli - winners!!!
They put this on the back of their shirts - very cool!
This was on the way to the race that morning - very excited racers (and sleepy children!)
This was at Mile 1!!!
Kristen and Josiah waiting at Mile 13 to see Kelli & Melissa
Callie stealing kisses from Tutu!

Wow - what a day!!! An amazing day - very inspiring, very exciting. Kelli & Melissa did great. Kristen and Mom were a HUGE help with the kids. All in all - just an amazing experience. SO glad to be a part of it. Way to go Kelli! You are an inspiration to me! :)

Saturday - Day 1 in DC

We love DC!
Here's Kelli! Ready to go!
Josiah and Jacob in front of the space shuttle - their MOST favorite thing right now!
Mom, Kelli holding Callie, and Kristen at the Smithsonian Metro stop!
How gross is this? My boys are on the floor at the metro playing with a rocket toy. The metro floor!!! I'm sure they were FILTHY!!! But they had a ball!

Mom had gotten the boys new jammies (with the soldier theme!) and this was them playing with their army guys in their soldier jammies making a soldier face!
All aboard the metro!
Kristen had the magic touch at the expo - Callie fell asleep in her arms while walking around!
L to R - Kristen, Josiah, and Katy as George Washington!
Aren't these masks the funniest?? Josiah & Jacob as our 1st President!

On Saturday morning, Kristen and I got up and ran together...in the rain!!!! Neither one of us REALLY wanted to, but the idea of running together was enough to get us out of bed and into the cold rain!! It was really actually fun - we ran past our old house (didn't realize the road was such a big hill) and got to see old bus stops, etc. Fun way to start the morning!!! After the rest of the house was up, we went downtown for Kelli to go get signed in the for the race. They have a huge Expo at the DC Armory with lots of vendors, free stuff (yippee), running clothes, shoes, etc. Some hilarious t-shirts with cute sayings too. Afterwards, we headed over to the Mall to see the Air & Space Museum for a bit. Josiah was so excited to see all the rockets and space ships (his latest passion). We dropped Kelli off at the hotel in the late afternoon and headed home to get a good night's sleep before the race!

And so the weekend begin!

Man, were they excited to see Aunt Kelli or what?
Callie very much enjoyed "walking" with Kelli. I told Kelli to stop encouraging her!!!
Mom took the boys to the party store to pick out his party plates for the "party". He decided on soldier plates all on his own (sort of random). We thought it was very fitting since we were there for the Marine Corps Marathon!!
This was after he opened some new Color Wonder coloring books from Aunt Kim, Uncle David,and his cousins. He decided he wanted to color under the piano (probably wanted a little space from his brother!)

On Friday, we began our day of airports!! We got to pick up both Aunt Kelli and Aunt Kristen from the airports. We had a fun day hanging out, celebrating Jacob's birthday with the family, and just being together. (Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of picking up Kristen from the airport. I stayed home to feed Callie and put her to bed. I gave the camera to Kelli, but she blew it!! Oh well)

Lego Land!!!

Sorry about the random kid in the picture (the long sleeved blue shirt kid) - I couldn't very well ask him to get out of the shot! :)
Callie and Bailey


The kids at at their "own" table. It was really actually nice - Courtney and I had lunch to ourselves (sort of!) :)

Josiah was feeling very hands-on loving, and Jacob wasn't quite feeling it!!!



After getting up to my Mom's house late Wednesday night (in a monsoon - rained so hard that my wiper blade broke!!), I met Courtney at the mall with all our kids (sans Rebekah who is in school). My mom had told us about this Lego store there, and it was a BIG hit with the kids (and kept us away from the very crowded play area!) What fun!

David Saves the Day!!!

David was the hero this morning!! As I was getting the kids ready to go the Y this morning, we headed out the door and I put the kids in the car. I then headed back inside to get Callie's cereal (which I had left on the counter). After closing and locking the door behind me, I got into the van only to discover NO KEYS!!! When I headed back inside, I put my keys on the counter and then left them there!! I had my cell phone in my hands (which is normally already in my bag), and I just sort of assumed it was my keys when I locked the door. anyways, all the windows and doors were securely locked (as they SHOULD be, except when you're locked out!) Thankfully, I did have my phone so I called David and asked him to come rescue me. School hadn't started yet, so he raced home and unlocked the door for me. Hopefully someone only had to cover his first class for 5-10 minutes (I'm sure the students were thrilled!) So we were late to the gym, but we made it! David saved the day!! Oh - and he came home from work yesterday with a surprise for me - he's been tutoring 4 students after school for the last 4 weeks and had saved all that money to surprise me with!!! Sounds like I need to be planning a GREAT date night to reward him!!! Thanks honey - you're the BEST!!!

and a few more things...

1. Just so you all don't think I'm an evil mother, Callie is now asleep! I swear I don't let her cry forever. It almost has made me wonder about her teeth coming (I've always said I'm not one of those moms that blames EVERYTHING on teeth), but then I'll pick her up and she stops crying immediately!! So no, she just is way off schedule! Anyways, she's asleep. Aaahhh.

2. Mandy put some pictures on her blog of the party and there's a really cute one of the "Toddler Table" - where some of the little guests sat. I love seeing other people's pictures from the same event - you get to see all different perspectives!!

TGIF

What a week it's been. We've had a WONDERFUL day today doing not much of anything!! We had an appointment first thing in the morning, but once that was over, we were just able to have a play day at home!! The boys and I have had so much fun playing and building with some of Jacob's birthday presents!! Oh and we painted some more too!! Poor Callie is crying in her bed right now - it's been a HARD week for her. My crazy schedule was awfully hard for her too and really threw off her naps. We've been home today, but she cried almost 30 minutes off and on before her morning nap, and is crying right now trying to go to sleep too. Big sigh. Things should slow down now that company is gone and birthday parties are over. Poor baby girl. It's been a good quiet day though. Looking forward to the weekend. Next week we head up to DC to be there for the Marine Corps Marathon. My older sister (from FL) is coming up to run it, and my younger sister (also in FL) is flying up for it as well. So we're looking forward to a long weekend (next weekend) with my family. Have a great weekend everyone!

Jacob's Birthday Party!

Don't worry - I washed Anderson's new "Paci Fairy" jersey before he went home to Heather and Mark!! We got to kidnap Anderson for the day since Heather had to work - we had a blast with him! It was just like old times!
Benjamin & Bradley (You'll see Bradley better in another picture). Erica brought Benjamin's smock with him - he was an intent painter!
Jake & Sadie (Sadie painted her pumpkin AND her leg!)
Samuel & Merideth (Sorry Merideth - I didn't mean to chop your head!)
All the painters!!!
Here's Jacob - covered from head to toe in paint!
Bradley somehow got red paint in his hair - and everytime I'd catch a glimpse of him, my heart jumped thinking it was a bloody head wound!!
Joel - his pumpkin had every color of the rainbow in it! :) Terri - has it dried yet?
Ryan & Emily - Ryan was completely spotless - not a drop of paint on him. Emily, who wasn't "allowed" to paint, somehow got paint on her??? How does that happen?
Josiah & Jacob

The BIG boys - Samuel, Jake, Bradley, and Josiah
Jacob's BLUE mouth thanks to the BLUE Batman cake!
Is he excited or what? I love this little boy!
The blue Batman cake - per Jacob's request!

What an absolute blast we had at Jacob's party on Thursday!! The boys (both of them!) were so excited about it and woke up so excited!!! Our friends came over at 11 am and we painted pumpkins outside first. (Thank heavens for Virginia fall weather that lets us still be outside!!!) It was so funny to see the differences between all the kids - some painted with one color exclusively and were very focused (Josiah!), and others used all different kinds of colors and had paint everywhere (Jacob!) It was hilarious to see how all of the kids expressed themselves differently!! We had pizza and cake afterwards (a Blue Batman cake, per Jacob's request!) and the kids had such a blast playing. Thanks to all of our friends - Jacob is so grateful for all of you, and I so appreciate your friendships!!!

A Monday at the Beach!

Monday afternoon, we headed down to the oceanfront so Jon could see the beach!! He was very impressed with the size of it (everybody always loves the "pumping sand in for expansion" story) and loved being able to see it. We packed a picnic dinner and played in the sand for a bit before the big entertainment of the evening - a family bike ride!! Josiah has been asking all summer to do this, so this was the perfect occasion!! The boys absolutely thought it was the BEST. David and Jon thought it was harder work than they had bargained for, and I was just trying not to fall out of the bike or drop Callie (oh, and pedal occasionally too). It was a beautiful evening though, and the boys all got some DQ at the end of it. (I laughed out loud when I read Mandy's blog from last weekend - they did the SAME thing!!)

Happy 3rd Birthday Anderson!

Carter (Anderson's little brother) - so squeezably cute!!!
Callie - the cutest little butterfly!!!
Back - Josiah, Jacob, Erin, Ryan, Anderson

Front - Emily, Callie

Callie and Emily - such cute girlfriends! :)
No, not watching the golfers. Looking for a lost ball that flew over the fence!

One of our best buddies, Anderson turns 3 this weekend! He and Jacob are 4 days apart and have had so much fun together!! Anderson had a costume birthday party today and we had a GREAT time!! Happy Birthday Anderson - we love you!