Wednesday, March 26, 2008

easter weekend.

saturday we went down to the outer banks for the day. john leaves next monday for texas, and when he gets back in june, we leave virginia for good. we've been trying to get as many day trips in as possible the past few weeks.

you *should be able to click the pics to see the bigger version.

this is jockey's ridge. there are some great big sand dunes that are a great calf workout, lol. it's pretty windy at the top, though, so we didn't stay too long. the kids were getting pelted with sand, and even though norah was in the babyhawk, she had sand in her EARS!

i think i'm going to order a remote. the timer thing is just a pain. we took this shot a few times, and i'd just run back as fast as i could, but i'd still only make it just in time for it to snap, lol.
wish i didn't chop his head here. :/ it's still sweet, but would have been better with john's whole head, lol.


norah, of course sleeping the whole time!
"fist one to the top is a pretty flower!" .... better than the last being a rotten egg, eh?

he was pretty high up here. wish i could have gotten a little more at eye level. workin' on it!





afterwards we went to the beach bread company, a new, panera-like restaurant. they were so nice and accommodating. i think we were there for an hour and a half, lol.

we also went to see horton hears a who! before heading home, and it was adorable! enough in there for adults to enjoy, but not too adult like shrek (which i can't stand), but still goofy enough for kids to enjoy. we'll definitely be buying that one.

we missed dying eggs saturday since we were gone for the day, so we did it easter morning.
after that was one last egg hunt...

the best shot i got of the three of them. three is HARD to get a good shot of, lol.

norah confused at all the ruckus.

we're going away on saturday. we're going to head up to philly for a few days to visit family (and each cheese steaks, pound cake, and shop at ikea). ethan is SO excited, we've got tickets for medieval times in MD on the way up. he keeps talking about seeing "real knights." and of course kayleigh can't wait to see the princess, either, lol!

i'm not sure i'll be updating before john leaves, as it will probably be a madhouse, but i'll be sure to update the picasa albums when we get back. :)

Monday, March 24, 2008

last week ...

i'm going to try to catch up a bit here, not sure if that is possible! it's been crazy busy around here lately, but i have a bit of spare time right now. john took the big kids fishing & the littlest is napping.

we went to a few egg hunts for easter. our neighborhood one did face painting. :)



john leaves in 12 days for texas, so he was helping me get things organized by cleaning out his tool box, lol. he set up these little hammer stations for the kids while he was doing it. don't worry, no one got hurt. :)





here is a couple from kayleigh's school egg hunt. ethan got a TON! it was so nice since he's only gotten one the past two years at the egg hunt our neighborhood does. he was one of the two littlest here, but there were more than enough eggs to go around. smart thinking he went up in this climbing this and found 4 there!

here's kayleigh counting hers. her bag was almost full. lucky girl!


Tuesday, March 18, 2008

two months!!!

norah is two months already!

where has the time gone? she'll be walking in no time. :*) she is such a pleasant baby. the only time she cries is in the car - and boy does she make up for lost time! she's okay to sit & hang out for a few minutes if i need to shower, cook, or help the big kids.

she gives you the biggest smiles when you talk to her & stick your tongue out, and totally loves having her chin tickled ...

she sleeps like a dream, & just makes our life that much greater. i can't wait to see her grow up, but not too fast ....

here are some pics in her 2 month onesie. :) for a comparison, you can check out picasa. ----> http://picasaweb.google.com/impromptukiss



today i also had my post partum check up. most likely i'll never see these woman again. that's so sad! they've been a part of my life for almost 4 years! i will miss them, and already told jeni r (holding baby n) i'm flying her out to colorado for the next one. ;)

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

fool me once, shame on you ....

we always buy this organic peanut butter. it's delicious, but a pain to stir. what i usually do is empty two jars into the kitchen aid, and mix it up real good, then stick it in a flatter pyrex dish in the fridge.

today on a quick trip to the grocery store (bread & milk - sick people basics), i noticed they had a "no stir" version. i glanced at the ingredient label & didn't see anything off, so i grabbed a jar. i got home & went to compare it to the other ones we have.

they tricked me! the "no stir" isn't organic! it's "natural," which basically means squat! you got me this time maranatha! ....but i won't fall for it again ....

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

long time no post!

well, there are a LOT of pictures i just uploaded here to make up for it, lol. hopefully i am not responsible for crashing anoyone's computer! i keep meaning to post things, and it's just such a pain to upload them all to photobucket & then move them over here ... but alas .. i've done it!

we've been getting a lot of real warranted smiles lately. don't they just melt your heart?? :*) i can't wait for the big toothless grins and giggles soon.


norah also had her first bath last week. yes, at over a month old, lol. normally she just comes into the shower with one of us - which, is actually easier, and probably uses less water. but it was fun to toss her in the tub once. as you can see, she really couldn't contain her excitement. ;)

ethan got a new bed, trundle, and nightstand last week. he loves it, adn it will really grow with him nicely. we can't use the boxspring, though, at least for now. it hikes the bed up somewhere near 3-4ish feet, lol! so for now the boxspring is in the trundle, and i'm not sure what we'll do with it. it's only 3 months old!

the circus was a blast, but i did tear up a bit when they had the elephants out in the beginning. i'm not sure we'll go again.... maybe to a animal-free one, but the kids did love it!

kayleigh got a "free hat" with her $12 cotton candy. isn't that nice of them? lol
and norah, the party animal she is, slept through the entire thing!

love baby yawns! i take a picture of them anytime i can. i would love to have a while big album of them, lol!
i finally got a picture of the kids in the matching pj's i made them all. they were not very cooperative, lol.


my view most of the day, lol.
the kids are always giving norah "toys" when she's sleeping. here's a haba toy one of them decided she needed the other day.

my big kid. he never buys anything, and then buys this crazy expensive robot one day, lol. the kids love it.

it was dr. suess's bithday the other day, and kayleigh's teacher dressed up for the occasion!
yesterday was pretty nice (but WINDY!), so we hit the park for a couple hours.

i took it out of auto for this one- woohoo!







i promise to try and keep updated more! it's just so darn busy around here! john gets off the ship in 3 weeks. it's surreal we'll be leavinghere soon & be off to denver. i am so excited to teach the kids to ski, though! maybe i'll even learn to snowboard - lol. doubtful!