All I could think was "are there Leaches in VA?"

Yet again another stellar weekend! We spent Friday having a BBQ at Waller Mill with The Harrison's and Leslie. It was a hot day but in the shade it was manageable. The Harrison's have an adorable little guy Liam's age named Samuel! Well the two Sam's hit it right off because apparently our Sam has gotten a little used to His bro bros reactions so it was fun to have a fresh audience. (I love that he is doing little piggys in the video thats why I posted it ;))

He also dragged poor Nora and "seslie" as he calls her around the forest. We decided to throw some rocks in the water and then became brave and stepped it. It was gorgeous! Like bath water. Sam immediately began removing clothing. Now per my previous post you know I love water, but I have always had a kind of fear of lakes. I just hate that you can't see what is below you and the feeling of mud squishing between my toes is not horrible but a bit unnerving. In this warm swamp esq water I started to panic a little thinking about whether or not their are leaches in VA? I thought surely there were because this is COLONIAL williamsburg and wasn't that the main method of medicine, as repulsive as it is, leaching things out of you? Shortly there after we stepped out of the very unleach-filled water and I was okay :) (We had a mini photo shot for a new Peek Product hence the matching clothing, we are not freaks or wearing uniforms or anything :))
After the boys had a MUCH needed nap we headed over to Leslie's amazing pool and HUGE playground. The water was perfect and the boys had a ton of fun... when Sam wasn't drowning. Yeah-- it was terrifying. Christopher has now officially put his foot down on having a pool in our backyard. I love Liam's face in the second pic.

Okay so a funny thing that is apparently "Irish" is tucking kids shirts into their shorts. While visiting there last summer my Aunt Felicity would help me get Sam ready for bed and she would always tuck is shirt into his little shorts. They would be hiked up so high. I LOVED it! It was so nerdly cute and it brought back memories of my Grandma and Aunts doing the same thing when I was little. So the other night getting Sam ready I had to do the same thing (it is cuter when they are wearing the super tight PJ's but his "Socca Jamies" work. Then when we went swimming he hiked up his swim diaper and it brought back the same memory :)

YOU'VE GOT MAIL-- Three very powerful words

I recieved two wonderful packages this past week. One from my older Sister Felicity, spoiling me for my birthday with not one but TWO great gift cards! Thank you didodidodee! Then my mom let me know she had ordered something online. I was excited--- then when I opened the mailbox and saw a shabby apple package I nearly peed my pants! Now for those of you who don't know I LOVE shabby Apple, but they are NOT cheap. I tore it open and inside was this dress:
THANK YOU MOM!!! I LOVE IT! I am now looking for any excuss to wear it. I am now the proud owner of 2 shabby apple dresses. Both viciously protected from sticky hands and runny noses!

I heart Williamsburg

When Chris decided to go to law school the seemingly endless discussion of where to go began. I will not bore you with all the details, lets just say we had a fun excuse to visit A LOT of college towns across the country. Little did I know when we first visited Williamsburg how much I would grow to love it. This past week we have been doing a bunch of things just here locally and I kept thinking about how wonderful it is to live here.
#1 CW (colonial Williamsburg)

We walk in CW several times a week. Sam is now VERY familiar with Horses, sheep and ginormous oxen things. It is one of the most relaxing things I can think of to stroll down a gorgeous cobble stone street, without the worry of cars or noisy trucks, but to hear the clip clop of horse drawn carriages as they slowly roll pass. We now keep a stock of carrots and apples in our car for when the urge hits to go walk and feed the animals (it is also a sneaky way to get Sam to scarf down several carrots and usually an apple or two!). I take an insane amount of pictures in the hopes of forcing the boys to remember this idyllic place they lived for the first part of their lives.

#2 Water Country

A lot of my posts recently have began with "we went to water country today". This week was no different! We brought Elsa with us this week and it was a blast! She will make a VERY good big sister as she was extremely attentive to all of Liam's toy needs. While Sam continued to absent mindedly plow him over on his way to the next slide. Season passes are the BEST and I fully intend to have gone over fifty times by the end of the summer. I am also going to throw in the m any museums and aquariums here! We have a great pass that we use often! You gotta love those close encoutners with HUGE turtles!

#3 Busch Gardens

Along those same lines is the gorgeous theme park Busch Gardens. Chris and I go at least once a week after he comes home from work. Last night we went and ended up staying until closing at 9:30. It is great to stroll through the park letting Sam go on all the fun kids rides! And last night I had a new experience-- a Funnel Cake. I had never tried one before because honestly they looked disgusting! They always smelled good but I just couldn't force myself to eat something that was 90% grease. Chris talked me into it though and it was yummy! Mostly I ate all the strawberry's but now I can say I have had one. Next on the list Big Macs-- still never had one of those.

#4 Proximity to the beach/ water

I don't know what it is about me but I LOVE being close to water. If I believe in astrology I would attribute it to my being a crab... but I don't. It is more likely that being raised by a great mom who took me to the beach three out of seven days of the week and swimming the other four, ingrained in me the love. Driving around Williamsburg you can easily cross over several bodies of water. Throw in Archers Hope and York town beach and voila heaven. Then if we are feeling like a little surfing or boogie boarding it is a 45 min drive to VA beach, which is gorgeous. I would kill for some of the houses that are situated on cliffs above the rivers here!

#5 Good friends

It is always nerve wracking to move across country, far away from family and familiarity. Luckily being a member of the church always provides an instant family! We have been so blessed to make wonderful friends here, both members and non. The southern hospitality you hear bout so often is truly alive and well.... even if it often comes in the form of a stranger offering what you should or should not be doing with your child-- it happens A LOT!

Friends who share our obsessions ie trainsWill go on adventures with us

Or just kick back and watch a good show!

WE ARE SOOOO BLESSED!!

Air show!

(This ones for you dad!) When some Dads have "mid Life Crisis'" they buy expensive cars or dye their hair-- my Dad went all out and bought a plane! He served in the Airforce when he was younger and always loved to fly. From a young age he instilled in us kids a love of airplanes... well maybe not in Felicity, she REALLY hates to fly, I think his bulldog Wally was the biggest fan of flying and was always game to go up with him! In honor of that and of course to have a little fun, we took the boys to the air show at Langley Airforce Base (Chris is working with the Jag there this summer) It was AWESOME! Of course hot and loud but what can you do, that comes with the territory. I apparently was the only one who had been to one before (thanks Dad!) Our friends the Thornocks joined us so it was extra fun! Kendra is six months preggo and was a great sport hiking to and from the car. Sam really enjoyed seeing the planes so close but by the end if I told him to look at the airplane he would just say "Its flying away". So we knew he was ready to go. Liam was entertained all day by pulling off his hat and out his ear plugs (in the picture below I think he looks like Frankenstein)... and of course snacking-- this boy can eat! There were to many cool pictures so I threw together the slideshow below! This is one of the several videos we caught

I am always so amazed by how close they get to each other! It also makes my stomach churn to watch them fly so high then stall and fall towards the earth! I think Christophers favorite part was the stealth bomber! There was a problem getting the Blue Angels so instead they had the Royal Air Forces Red Arrows! As a fan of the color Red I thought they looked pretty awesome!

Langley Air show

T Double E Double R Double I Double F Double CCC

This weekend was jam packed with fun! We started out Friday night by going to the County Fair! (Hence the Charlotte's Web reference). Wow... it reminded me that we really do live in the South. Everywhere you looked there were booths for various Churches. Sam got to color lots of pictures sporting phrases like "Jesus loves me!" And "Smile your a child of God!" It was fabulous... yet so very ghetto. There were no rides, but tons of bouncer castles which Sam LOVED! Then there was the petting zoo. I was originally taping this video of Sam but then the Lamb let out a bleat and Liam lost it! Poor cutie, nothing scary than a lamb saying hello :) (sorry it is sideways)
I also tried to catch a video of the Alpaca guy singing to his Alpacas but he stopped before I could. The boys got their first taste of Cotton Candy, Liam loved it while Sam kept spitting it out and handing it to me. Nothing like sucked on cotton candy yum! He really enjoyed the bubbles at one of the a fore mentioned church's booth

And the slide

By the end of the evening Sam was pretty tuckered. I am glad I could be a good pillow!

Congratulations to Kendra for winning first prize for her Afgan!!! All those years of work paid off! Congrats!

Good Morning Son

Christopher and I love Ben Folds. We think his music is fabulous. We danced to his Song the Luckiest at our wedding! Christoper's other personal favorite is Good Morning Son. Years ago we watched the video and day dreamed about when we would have a son, and we have already been blessed with two! So in honor of the wonderful Father my husband is, I put together this video for him to watch the morning of fathers day. We also took him breakfast in bed, Sam of course had to have his own tray in the bed, and Liam enjoyed his toast. I snapped the above pictures which is now one of my favorites! This also goes out to Christopher's Dad, what a wonderful son you have raised I cannot thank you enough for his gentle heart and the wonderful leadership he provides for our family, I know he learned this from you!

Saturday is a special day

Previous to Christopher's working full time I hadn't FULLY understood the wonderfulness of a weekend as a family. We have been spoiled through out these two schools years to have way more family time then we thought we would and although it has only been three weeks I am already dying for school to start again! That said, I have now dubbed from Friday night to Sunday night sacred. I absolutely LOVE the weekends. This morning Liam obviously felt the same Passion for Saturdays and decided 5:15 am was a good time to start it! Once everyone else was up (at more respectable times) we headed to Williamsburg's Farmers market in merchant square right in colonial Williamsburg. It is always a treat for the boys. They get to ride around in their red wagon and see everyone and their dog. Literally there are always tons of dogs! I love it because of the flowers and yummy treats. Christopher spoiled me today with a gorgeous bouquet of Hydrangea! They are gorgeous! I in turn spoiled Sam with a ginormous sucker. Liam was quite put out but I am just not ready for his four teeth to be rotted out of his head :) Then even though it is Fathers day tomorrow Chris "made" me take an hour off. I didn't know what to do with my stolen personal time, at first. I ended up going to Panera and getting my favorite lunch (my mom will die at this) A HUGE soda, several pieces of Baguette and a giant cookie. Yes I know horrible, but seriously it isn't like I eat like this everyday! I then thought I would get a pedicure but after seeing that it was 40 bucks and sitting there for twenty mins thinking about all the other things I would prefer to spend 40 bucks on, I bagged it and went fabric shopping. I know totally lame. But it has been a LONG time since I have actually been able to SLOWLY make my way through a fabric store (nerd alert!) We then were blessed with something that rarely happens for us anymore, an afternoon nap together. The boys uncharacteristically zonked at the same time! We then tackled the ominous job of professional pictures! They boys did wonderfully and I am DYING to get them back. I closed out my Saturday going with my awesome friend Leslie to the Clean Comedy night at the Kimball theater in CW (colonial Williamsburg) I laughed soooo hard! It was fabulous. I know it sounds generic but I LOVE to laugh so this was wonderful! The humor was light and funny and I didn't have that pit in my stomach waiting for them to stoop to crude humor. We are definitely making it a monthly tradition! I hope your Saturday was as wonderful as ours!

New Bitten Line.. and other important things

So I am a HUGE fan of Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten line. The prices are INSANELY cheap her new magic number is $8.98!!! And the product is fairly high quality. I have been waiting and waiting for her new collection and it is now available! If you have never checked it out or if you are like me and love it but was ready for something new click on the link and see what shes got: http://www.bittensjp.com/collection.php I am dying over the white trench coat. And I thought I would ALWAYS hate vests but I find myself drooling over the black two button with the black striped shirt!!! And as my close friends know I am a major sucker for seersucker MAJOR! So there is nothing going to keep me from getting that jacket. I am personally devastated that I don't have the kind mola to run down and purchase everything, not to mention the amount of money it would cost to actually drive to the closest Steve and Barry's. Man I hate oil companies. I don't know how much Chris would approve of spending a ton of money to get to a place to spend more money... hmm not likely. Thank goodness they are opening one in Newport News shortly.

In other news.


Sam has had a rash on his lower abdomen for some time now. The doctor prescribed a cream but it hasn't really done anything. When I called her back about it she said that most likely it won't go away till we potty train him, that the diapers are irritating his skin. So I thought hmmm fat chance. Apparently Sam thought the same thing because this is the first thing he did with the Thomas underwear I bought him. No joke he did this himself and told me it was Sammy's Hat. Some how I don't think he is ready for it!
We introduced Liam to mashed potatoes the other night, and as any good Irish boy should be he is crazy about them. He would squish them in his hands letting out a warrior cry high pitched sequel then shove them in his mouth. Now that is love.
We went to Water Country USA today and Sam discovered his new favorite candy, mini M&M's. He loves that he can pour the entire thing in his mouth and then pick up the ones that fall out as he grins at me.

Thats what Brothers are for!

Yesterday, we continued the heat wave. I was getting such cabin fever I really thought I was going to loose it. So we decided that it was early enough in the day to take a walk in the forest across the street from our house. There is a path that goes through the woods and ends at the campus. After a few mins Chris thought it would be fun if I went and got the car and met them at the other end. Then we wouldn't (in theory) have to walk as far. I went back and got the car and threw some water in sippy cups. As an hour went by I drove back and forth from the end of the trail to our house THREE times. I started freaking out that all my boys were passed out from the now 101 degree heat. Finally after about an hour and 15 mins. I decided to go get my shoes on and run in after them. Then Christopher emerged from the trail with Liam zonked in the front pack and Sammy happily perched on his shoulders. Needless to say Chris was DRENCHED! It turned out to be about a 3 mile hike. Sam kept telling me he saw a bear! After church we stripped the boys down and let them hang out in their diapers trying to beat the heat. They climbed in the bucket we store our big balls in and played around for a while. Sam would hop in and out saying "boo!" to Liam who genuinely thinks his brother is THE funniest person on the planet. Then we let Sam push Liam on the new Thomas Tricycle the video is pretty funny. More and more each day I am SOOOO glad we had these two so close!

There is no Price for Awesomness, or Attractiveness-- Po

We are smack dab in the middle of a heat wave here in the 'Burg. Yesterday to was 99-101 and today it is going to be 104!!! Add in our normal humidity and it is seriously unbearable. We wanted to do something yesterday though with Chris off work. So we decide to brave water country USA. The boys had a great time chillin in the water and Chris was able to take Sam on a few rides! (doesn't Sam just look like he's having a great time! Haa!) I really believe we had Liam this close to Sam for a reason. This past week has been so fun with the two of them playing. Sam wants Liam to be everywhere he is (I caught him dragging him by the arm saying "Om on Bro Bro" Yeah that stopped quick!) This is a video of them bouncing on the bed. It of course was cuter when they did it spontaneously then when we begged them to reenact it but still adorable!

We tried to take Sam to see King Fu Panda Friday night. We got Popcorn and drinks and snacks and were so excited. He loves watching the trailer so we thought it would be a sure hit. We were a little concerned about the Lemers but remembered Melony taking Aiden and giving hm a licorice and he was great. Well Liam LOVES licorice but Sam does not like scary previews-- or cell phone commercials. There was one with a "scary to a two year old voice" and after that all he wanted was "outside?" So we got a rain check and Chris and I went to see it last night. It was SOOOO cute and funny! I was laughing through the whole movie, which was only an hour and a half long. I am getting weary of these 3 hour long movies that are just long to be long so this was a welcome repute! We are going to try again with Pizars Wall-E.

Firemen are the best!

Today we took a fun field trip the our local Fire Department! The firemen were awesome!! They were so good with the kids. They set off a smoke detector and taught them how to crawl from the room! I was hoping for a stop drop and roll but I guess that is if YOU are on fire and that is just to scary to think about with little guys. They let all the kids (who wanted to) hop up in the truck. Sam kept telling me it was scary. So we walked around them a bunch and sat on them. They brought out their suits and HUGE boots. Sam would NOT stand in the boots either. I dunno where this timid thing is coming from but it is killing me as a picture person :) They let us know when we got there that if they got a call we would have to get out of the way as quickly as possible. As I seem to crave a little drama I was hoping that the kids would get to see them in action. But luckily nothing caught on fire in Williamsburg while we were there :) They also don't' have a dog, they said they can barely take care of themselves haa! All in all it was a great trip! Last night we went over to our Friends the Thorpes place to go swimming! It has been insanely hot here lately (98 today!) So the cool water was wonderful. Esla had on the cutest bathing suit! I just love the ruffles. She wore a fantastic truckers hat that Ana said she loves how cute is that!