Thursday, August 25, 2011

Sweetness

Yesterday I was feeling a little down, so I decided to chase the blues away with some baking. Kari and Noah are the best, eager helpers I know, so I had them help me mix, fill cupcake papers and icing the cupcakes. They did a great job and the cupcakes were delicious! They were so proud of themselves that they each took one to their teachers today.




  

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

First Day of School - August 2011

Today, Kari and Noah started back to school. Kari is in 4th grade and Noah is in 2nd. They were both very excited about school and were up and ready much earlier than they needed to be. The excitement continued after school since we experienced an earthquake today! It was definitely a day to remember!










 

Thursday, August 18, 2011

School Shopping Fashion Show August 2011

Every year Nana and Papa gift the kiddos with gift cards to be able to go school shopping. Today we went to JC Penney's during the torrential rain storm we were having. It was a lot of fun to see the kiddos pick out some awesome things and when we got home we always have them try on their clothes so we can take pictures and send them to Nana and Papa. So, here they are.....









You should know that Noah choreographed all his own moves. LOL He is definitely his father's son =) 

Monday, August 08, 2011

Vacation's All I Ever Wanted - VA 2011

Last Tuesday we left MD and headed to VA to see Holly and the Lamarres. We had a pretty uneventful trip and as always made a stop at Sonic for lunch.


We went to the Lamarre's house for fried ice cream the first night we were in VA. It was really yummy and we learned a neat way to make a delicious new dessert.

Rick was letting everyone on Facebook know that we arrived safely

 Parker's face was priceless



Fried ice cream. forgot to get a picture of the finished product. 
It was topped with whipped cream and chocolate syrup!


On Wednesday, we headed to Sandbridge Beach for the day. It is a great, family-friendly beach with gentler waves and a neat playground. I even enjoyed being in the water, instead of standing at the water's edge. It was so calm and a lot warmer than when we were at Virginia Beach last June. Noah enjoyed using his boogie board and Kari loved body surfing. Holly read on the beach while we played in the waves.











After the beach, we stopped by a roadside stand and got some peaches, strawberry jam, root beer and sarsaparilla (which is really just very sweet root beer). Then we stopped at Handel's for some ice cream.



After we rested a bit at home, we met Kayti for dinner at a local Chinese buffet. The food was alright, but the company was awesome!





On Thursday, we headed to Virginia Beach to walk on the "boardwalk". We went to Candy Kitchen (the kiddos had $10 to spend and each bought stuffed animals (not candy), Bella's Pizza and Kohr's Bros. Ice Cream. The chocolate peanut butter swirl soft serve ice cream was the best! 




 

 Kayti and her friend, Jackie came over for dinner. Rick made chocolate chip pancakes. After dinner, we played Apples to Apples and Wii Sports Resort. 

On Friday, we went to The Portsmouth City Park playground and let the kiddos get nice and sweaty and then headed to the Lamarres' house for some swimming.













After the park, we stopped at DQ for a sweet treat. Noah was sure we had never been to a DQ before and was so excited about getting a Blizzard. He also wanted to know if we could buy a bottle of their bubbles since they have kittens in them. Gotta love marketing/commercials!




The kiddos enjoyed being able to swim at the Lamarres' house and we enjoyed that they were worn out enough that evening to watch the movie, Soul Surfer and have an earlier bedtime than they had had all week. 





On Saturday, we headed to downtown Norfolk. We had lunch at Schlotzsky's, tried to go to the Caribbean Festival, but it was raining and explored a free art exhibit. 



That night, we stayed in, made some homemade pizza and played a lot of Wii Sports Resort.


On Sunday after church we headed to the Lamarres' house for a cookout. The kiddos got to swim again and we got to meet Kayti's boyfriend, Kevin. Noah also got to see Jackie again, which made him very happy.



We headed home today and had a pretty uneventful trip home. We did get stopped on the HW Nice Bridge, which wasn't nice at all, but we got to see Janie, the kiddos and the new chicks and bunny, so it was worth it.








I am very glad we are home, as school starts in two weeks and we still have some more summer to enjoy before that happens. But, I will definitely miss being able to spend so much time with Holly and the Lamarres. We are so blessed to have such great friends and family!