Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Never Fear Batman and Robin are here!

We received a very fun package in the mail this week from Grandma! Seriously, the whole family loved it. Inside was the bedding for little miss Crawford's room, which is great because now I can start matching some sewing projects to it. But even more fun were the costumes. First you have to know what an amazing seamstress Chris's mom is. She taught me everything I know about sewing and man have I learned a lot! In the package were two adorably cute colonial outfits complete with white "tights", knickerbockers with vintage buttons, shirts that tie together at the top and a three corner hat! I just about died. Jan also made a matching outfit for the boy's cousin Aiden who is coming to visit and a colonial dress for their cousin Ally. I am delirious from thinking about the pictures I am going to take. The fun didn't stop there. Next we pulled out two costumes, one Batman and one Robin. Both complete with built in muscles, masks and utility belts! I thought oh man these will be awesome when the boys grow into them. I thought for sure they didn't make costumes this cool in their sizes but I was wrong! Liam gets to be Batman and Sam is Robin! I love that Liam's pecks are up to his chin! Sam says he takes fighting crime very seriously.

I love this one of liam looking to the side, he should have his hands on his hips and wind blowing his cape. We of course thought it was the cutest thing ever and had to show someone esle, so we marched the boys over to our friends the Thornocks for an April Trick or Treat. Apparently walking in a full fledged hero outfit in 95 degree weather is Batmans equivilant to kriptonite.

Thank you Grandma!

Monday, April 27, 2009

"I would have a passport with a stamp that said ITALY on it"

(betcha Felicity knows where that's from :)) Christopher's parents received there mission call this week! They will be heading to the Catania Italy mission in August. We are sooooo excited for them-- and us-- because heaven knows we are visiting the first chance we get. It is so funny because we always knew they would be going it just seemed like a far off thing and now it is only a few months away! Luckily we have been given the time to get used to only seeing them every now and then, I feel for Chris's sisters it is going to be a tough transition. They are such wonderful people to have around I know they will be sorely missed. I am so grateful to them for setting such a wonderful example for our boys. Now we get to write letters and make packages for THEM on Monday nights! (this is a photo of Catania)

Friday, April 24, 2009

Blue BIrd Gap Farm

This morning Olivia and I headed down with the kids to a city run farm in Hampton. Neither of us had been but I was pretty excited after checking out the website. The morning got off to kind of a rocky start with either friends deciding not to come at the last minute or car trouble. A sign of things to come? No way! Although I did get us plenty lost on the way down there (thank you DVD player and napping children and Christopher's patience to look up directions) Once there it really was cool. It is basically a BIG playground surrounded by picnic areas and lots of farm animals. It is all free which is perfect for my price range! Liam and Sam marched right up to the first cage which was filled with Turkey's. You could pay a quarter and get food for the birdies so they were all gathered around the chain link fence. Liam did what most kids do and grabbed the fence and stood there looking. Apparently one of the turkeys thought he should have food in his hand and gave him a good sharp peck. Poor Lemers shrieked and then started wailing as he held he hand out to me telling me how much pain he was in (or at least that's what I took the gibberish to mean). It was so sad but so cute I had to take a picture. I was worried that it would put him off getting close to the other animals but the next pen had a deer and Liam became friends with it right away after shoving some clover through the links. Sam kept a nice safe distance but would pull up grass and hand it to me. There was this amazing albino peacock roaming around and I had to get a picture but I have promised myself to not take pictures of just animals so we got Olivia and Ella in the shot too :) It really is a great place but their are roots from trees and gravel every where and Liam must have ate it about five times. Luckily little miss Ella was doing great toddling around and I think she had as much fun as the boys! After seeing most of the animals we headed over to the VERY crowded playground and Sam went straight for the line to go on the huge slide. I thought what in the world? A. there is no way he is going to stand patiently in line and B. that slide is extremely steep there is no way he will go down it. I was wrong on both accounts. He waited patiently for his turn and then gave me a huge triumphant smile once he reached the bottom. Holy Cow my baby is a little boy. He then decided it would be super fun to go face first down the smaller slide. He wanted me to pull him by his arms though so that I could stop him at the end. I am SURE the other parents were grateful for the excellent example we were setting for their children. While Sam played on the slides and Liam ate snacks sitting in the dirt, Olivia and Ella took a turn on the swings. It is always so funny to be a parent and not know if your child is enjoying something or not. Olivia had to ask if Ella was smiling or not so I thought I would do one better and get a picture of the pure joy on her face. After lots of playing Sam crawled into the stroller and announced he was ready to go home. It was pretty hard to pry Liam away from the chickens though, he found them to be much more congenial then the turkeys. On the way back to the car we found a field of dandelions so I taught the boys how to blow off all the seeds. Sam caught on but Liam decided he would only do the yellow dandelions and instead of blowing he would just put it in his mouth. YUK! He also was on shoe strike. I know I know horrible mother but those crocks kept tripping him! That evening Olivia and I got together again and made bows for our little girls. We had done this previously and with the help of Nora come up with some pretty good ideas. Luckily we had Ella to model them... until she zonked in the high chair :) In all I made six head bands and twenty bows so far. they are all waiting patiently in her bureau!

Who wouldn't want to run in a dismal swamp?

(Leslie and Kev after the big race)
One of Chris's friends Kevin has been working very hard in order to reach a goal of his to run a half marathon. I really respect anyone who can make and keep this goal who is not already an avid runner. His first half marathon was last weekend and he ran in what is called the Dismal Swamp Stomp. I seriously wanted to pay the fees just so I could get the shirt! We wanted to make sure he felt supported and let him know how proud we are of him so the boys and I headed down to watch him race... well at least finish. The weather was phenomenal and the boys had so much fun exploring and watching all the runners come in. Sam also decided he would hold a little contest of his own and see just how many goldfish he could shove in his mouth at a time. After watching Kevin finish and hearing about Olivia and Nora's great triathlon experience I am really excited to make a goal of my own after little miss is born... of course we will have to see where in the world we are living and what kind of races they have, but I have really missed competing. Thanks for being an inspiration guys!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Easter Hunt

Before it gets to far in the past I thought I should get some of our fun Easter pics up for the far away family. We had a fun get together with friends and everyone brought a brunch item and some eggs for their cuties to hunt. The Daddies went to the huge field behind our house and hid all the eggs. It was great because the grass was just long enough to make it a little challenging. Then off went the kiddos. Sam found a few eggs but then announced that he wanted to go back in the house because his feet were getting wet. WHAT!!! Who's child is this? Liam had fun once he got the concept and enjoyed the few eggs he found, but what he enjoyed more was plopping down and finding the chocolate filled ones. He and Atticus went through their baskets finding the "good ones". This is him saying "come on mom, more Jelly beans?" It was hilarious to watch Samuel Harrison because he would find a few and then systematically chuck them back out of his basket. It made me laugh pretty hard. But not all was lost Nora was able to make this great daisy chain.

Leslie and Stacy lookin lovely Luke (Stacy's little guy) was adorable and ran all over the place until he fell down a few times and decided enough was enough. What do you do you ask if you have no kids but are supportive friends and come anyway? Apparently you make your husband give you a lift. Leslie saying "I'm flying!"
It was fun getting together with so many fun families and again so many awesome women. I am getting panicky about moving and not being surrounded by such fabulous people. (hopefully they will like me despite what looks like ginormous hair in this picture... what is that about. I apparently need to scale back the upside down blow drying).

Monday, April 20, 2009

Best Baby Shower EVER!!!

My wonderful girl friends Leslie, Jordan and Nora threw me the most amazing baby shower ever last week! It all started when I walked in the door and just about fell over upon seeing the decor. There were gorgeous bird cut outs everywhere and these gorgeous tissue balls of various shapes and sizes hanging from the ceiling. Beautiful white lights wrapped in pink and green tissue paper added a soft glow and flowers were every where. It was wonderful to have so many wonderful ladies in one room. Especially since MANY of them will be off to new adventures soon!(Sarah D, Me, Olivia)
Then there was the food. Ahhhh the food. Of course I have a plate in my hand in nearly every picture because the food was so darn good! Taco soup, Carmel and chocolate dipped apples, chocolate dipped strawberries and pretzels and the most delicious spinach and chicken burritos you have ever tastes. I know, my tummy is grumbling now too. (Leslie and me)
The games were hilarious. Jordan had made a video asking Chris questions about me and motherhood and then everyone had to guess whether our answers matched. It was SOOOOO funny (and somewhat embarrassing on my part). I received beautiful and thoughtful gifts. This amazing party was not without sacrifice though. Poor Nora sliced her finger during the prep and had to go to the emergency room afterwards :(. (Sarah C, Me and Jordan)

(Vanessa, baby Gwyneth, Nora and her bleeding finger)

Thank you to Elizabeth for taking gorgeous pictures so I could simply enjoy! (the bird theme was because that is what I am going to be decorating little Miss's room with and am pretty darn obsessed with right now :))

Friday, April 17, 2009

An inspriation

You have GOT to watch this video if you haven't seen it yet. You will die of shock.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
*** I have since been informed that EVERYONE has seen this video and I apparently have been living under a rock. For those of you dwelling in Rockville with me I'm leaving the link so you can crawl out from under yours.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

"He couldn't get a parking ticket because he had diplomatic immunity"-- Ben Stiller Keeping the Faith


Okay so I don't know why I have always thought that part of the movie was hilarious and guess what? We will have diplomatic immunity in a few months! (I really doubt that extends to parking tickets) Yup that's right today Christopher landed his DREAM job!!!!!! He has an offer from the state department to become a foreign service officer and will essentially be managing an embassy somewhere. We could not be more thrilled. I mean seriously we just keeping laughing and are so giddy its silly. I keep looking at our boys and thinking "You are going to have THE coolest life." Living in foreign countries, attending private international schools (which we don't have to pay for whooo hooo!). I am just so excited for our future. Chris passed the last part of the insanely long process today with a nine hour oral exam. And get this not only did he pass the previous written exam on the first try, (practically unheard of) he also scored higher then anyone we have encountered on the oral. I know I am bragging but I feel like he is finally getting the recognition he deserves for being such an amazing person. So, it is off to DC for a few months after the bar and then we literally could go ANYWHERE in the world (as long as they have an embassy.... which we will probably be living in:)) Get your passports ready friends because we expect a lot of visitors! (the picture is of a beach in Australia my number one on our ranking list).

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Maternity Pics

Okay so I know this should technically be an Easter post but I haven't gotten around to getting those pics onto the computer yet. As the boys are currently DESTROYING the toy room behind me I thought I would throw on some of the fun pics we took of my friend Heather who is due May 15th! She was a trooper since when we decided to quickly do these it was a whole heck of a lot warmer then when we actually got out and did them. Add to that the fact that she really doesn't like getting her picture taken and I think things turned out okay! Dustin was wary about the hands on the hands on the belly thing, they are with me on the thought that it is always a little weird when I guy sits there and rubs their preggy wife's belly to death. But for a picture I think it is kinda cute. There were these tiny baby lambs in the field behind us and I tried to somehow work them into the pictures but was rather unsuccessful. It was still fun to see them romping around and I am certainly taking the boys to see them if it ever stops raining. Next up some nice preggy pics of me! Well see who I can rope into doing that at Maymont.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Jamestown, The Beach and Farm Animals

We took the boys down to Jamestown as an excuse to get out of the house on such a glorious afternoon. Sam had so much fun clamoring down the steps and checking out every nook and cranny. He seemed way more into it this time then on previous visits, commenting on bunk beds and armor that must have been for knights. Liam is now adamant that he not be held or hold hands. It makes for lovely walks. (This is a photo of a man on a mission. You should see him swing those hips when he walks)He loved the freedom of being able to roam at a comfortable distance. After a snack we headed over to the beach along the river. Sam wanted me to make him a sand snowman (See Curious George episode 182) and explore the rocks. When I pulled out my camera both boys walked right up and stood there and said cheese. It was a very bizarre moment for me. I am usually running after them pleading with them to look at the camera. My laptop that has photoshop on it is currently out of commission so I could only turn them black and white but I am excited to photoshop them up when I get a chance. They really aren't phenomenal or anything I just can't believe they looked at the camera! I dug Sam a big hole while he was on a beach walk with Chris and it had filled with water by the time he got to it. He took one look and said "A pool!!! Thanks mom!" Who knew a hole could bring such happiness. In the end we took the boys home sopping wet but pretty happy. After nap time we took them to the little petting zoo Yankee Candle was putting on in their parking lot. Of course Sam was thrilled but tentative. He would get all excited and then refuse to pet the animal :) Liam on the other hand had wonderful conversations with both a horse and a sheep. Against our better judgement we let the boys go inside and play with all their awesome toys and watch the train. Although we ended up dragging Sam out screaming we did score some of our favorite Easter bunny ears!Apparently while there Sam had fallen in love with a pair of oven mitts (I had Liam tracking duty) Chris said he was playing forever pretending to take food out of the oven and cook things. So of course as soon as we got home I rummaged through my fabric and whipped out two pairs of oven mitts (just in case Liam showed an interest). I am pretty proud of these babies because I did it without a pattern and they are totally lined and filled with fluff so perchance he gets near a real stove they will provide some protection (not that it would EVER happen). Sam slept with them on his hands that night. That makes a mom feel good! I also noticed that toting my camera around in my diaper bag is not the best thing for it. But I don't want to haul a camera bag where ever I go. Since I already had everything out I made myself a camera snuggie as it were. The inside is lined with soft turquoise fleece so I can still keep it in my bag but there will be no scratches!

I am also in the middle of making a bird mobile for little misses room. I am making my friend Heather one at the same time because she shares my affinity for bird culture (hee hee Elf reference). I thought it would be fun to make one really big one to hang in a separate part of the room and asked Chris to enlarge the pattern for me to the size of a page. He did me one better and came back with a HUGE copy. I think they turned out pretty cute. I keep going back and forth between adding button eyes but when ever I try it out I think they look a little freaky and sort of evil. NOT what you want in a nursery. Sam and Liam have decided they are theirs and play with them often as the mommy and daddy bird. This is furthering Sam's love of birds. He now roams around the back yard calling for "Cassie" his bird friend who flew away. He really has an amazing imagination. This evening we spent most of the night being bugs or birds. My arms are exhausted from "flying" and being scolded for putting my wings away. He also has now taken to talking to my tummy and telling his sister how much he "Wuvs her", demanding to feed her goldfish crackers (which are then stuck into my belly button) and giving her kisses. He also likes yelling at Liam when he jumps on me and says "mind the baby!" I would have no idea where he heard that one.... nine hundred times a day. He is growing impatient to hold her though and keeps asking when she is going to come out so they can play soccer. I think if this little girl is wise she will chill in there where it is safe for as long as possible!