Halloween 2009

We really missed Eric again this year. This is the second Halloween he has missed because he is in the Middle East. But celebrate we must! Some friends threw a family Halloween Party tonight and so off we went!

Mom and her Ladybug.

Neelah was a bumble bee for the second year in a row since it fit her better than the ladybug.

Here is Finn's Pre School class all dolled up for the holiday. They paraded around the parking lot and all the parents took pictures and then passed out candy. It was great.

My homework assignment was to make a "house" for the kids to trick-or-treat to. This is my rendition.

Savvy loved watching all the kids parade around while munching on her pig-in-a-blanket.

Neelah also enjoyed the event.

Summers Farm Fieldtrip

This month Finn's preschool class took a fieldtrip to Summer's Farm. It was so much fun to spend one of the last warm fall afternoons outside. Here are his class and teachers

Being a farm that has corn fields and a corn maze in the fall, the experience would not be complete without playing in a GIANT vat of corn kernals. Finn and Max quickly turned them into deadly weapons and yet still had a blast.

Savvy didn't quite know what to do with all the corn...should she eat it???

Of course Neelah enjoyed herself, that is, until she fell over like she always does.

Hay Bale slides. These were fun, even for me!

Finn definitely has his moments of being an excellent big brother. Savvy's life is not complete without slides. She has found that they are the best thing besides her blankie

Finn, Savvy and Max in the giant rocking chair. Neelah is absent in this picture since she thought the chair was too scary.

The farm had all these piglets and Neelah just kept yelling "WILBUR!!" at all of them.

Neelah Angel vs Neelah Terror

I love this girl...really I do. But sometimes I just don't know what to do with her!! How can you not resist her long dark eyelashes? Or her curls or giggle. The way she wants to cuddle and how she asks to have her arms and tummy tickled.

Then she goes and does something like this....

and I don't care how dang cute she is. She snuck into Tyler's room today and swiped a Sharpie marker off his dresser and proceeded to re-decorate her room to her liking. She wrote on the wall, the carpet, her bed, Finn's bed, her sheets, her picture frames, stuffed animals INCLUDING HER LOVEY, the door, her new clothes and her feet. Basically everything she could see she drew on. Then she asked me to clean her lovey off. SERIOUSLY?

Birthday Boy Turns 5

Finn had his birthday a few weeks ago. I can't believe he is 5. He has become such an independent little guy. He is really getting into using his imagination and is asking all sorts of questions about how things work and why they are. I love getting to experience his mind opening to the world.

The other night, he asked me "when can we go to the moon?" I explained that only astronauts go to the moon in spaceships. He asked if he could be an astronaut. I told him about all the school and told him that he could do it if that is what he really wanted to do. Then he asked me if when he went to school to be an astronaut, would they give him an astronaut suit. Because it obviously isn't worth it unless he gets a suit!

Since Brinn and her fam were here, and it was Eric's last weekend before leaving for Afghanistan, we kept the bday party small and chill. Finn did invite the neighbor boy Max who he goes to school with. We decorated pumpkins with random facial parts that I cut out of magazines. They turned out pretty well if you ask me.

Then we ate Mummy Dogs and had cupcakes.

Finn and Max

Brindlefly and Family

I love having visitors!! I love having a house big enough to accommodate them. Brinn and Michelle and kids made the treck from Kentucky to stay with us for a few days. It was PERFECT weather and so much fun!!

I am such a quality instead of quantity person, especially when it comes to friends. I always welcome meeting new friends and getting to know them however, I cherish friends that I can really open up with and who I know will accept me for me. I am lucky to have some girls here in Maryland/Virginia who were with us in Hawaii and they definitely belong in that group. Brinn has been my "kindred spirit" since we met. She forgives me my ODC and I forgive her sometimes tardiness. We have loved each other through births and deaths, many boyfriends, elementary, middle school, high school, college and marriage.

I can't wait until we are much much older and can hit more milestones together such as maybe grandkids, hotflashes, depends and dentures.

Having my 3 kids and her 3 kids was CRAZY but so much fun. We tried to eat outside most meals because it was so beautiful and to minimize the clean up. We have (L to R) Neelah, Brooklyn, Kabren, Finn, Brielle and Savvy.

Here is the entire gang at the park.

All the kids sitting together was such a feat. Getting them all to look was too much to ask.
Savvy, Finn, Brookie, Brielle, Kabe and Neelah

We went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum while they were here. That was pretty cool to see all those planes! Behind the kids is the fastest plane in the world!

I love this picture. Michelle was such a great influence in my life. I am so glad that she came too! It was such a great way to end the summer. Bring on the fall/winter weather!

Grantsville, Maryland

This past weekend we took a roadtrip. Eric has been wanting to visit this bridge since we drove the U-Haul past it on the move out here. It was a beautiful fall day and the perfect family event.

The day isn't complete until Tyler does something ridiculous. We love having him living with us!



Savvy loved crawling around and playing with the leaves.
After 3.5 hrs in the car (we had a small detour) Finn and Neelah were ready to get out and run around.
At first I was very skeptical of this trip...it was very spur of the moment and all up to Eric. But I learned my lesson because it was a beautiful bridge with great photo-op's and so much fun!

updates

Since it has been SO LONG since I posted, I thought I would begin with some recent pictures of the kiddies. Savvy has been so much fun these past few months. She loves Finn and Neelah and for the most part, they love to entertain her. Below is a video clip of how Neelah was making Savvy laugh the other night.

Savvy loves her food. That is not a statement to take lightly folks! When she wants food, SHE WANTS FOOD!! Here is a shot of her all sweet and darling, licking the cake batter from the spatula. If only I captured the shot after she realized there was NO MORE CAKE BATTER! Her world as she knew it was coming to an end.

Here we have a rare shot. Usually it is Finn taking something of Neelah's and running away just to antagonize her. Finn has learned all sorts of things these last few months. He loves school and soccer and is obsessed with playing games on Eric's iPhone.

Neelah is in the process of potty-training. Just today we had the first real mishap. She pooped on the floor. It was quite unfortunate for me. But other than that, she has the pee-pee part all down. Neelah is my biggest trial at the moment. She is so needy and intense. Saying that she is curious doesn't even come close. It still amazes me just how different my kids can be. She is exactly opposite what Finn was at this age.

Then again, she is DARLING. She sings and dances and is so girl-y. I love it. The one thing that she and Finn have in common is their love of cuddling. She is always wanting to cuddle and have her entire body tickled.

So that is my catch up for today. I still aspire to return to my regualr journaling self.

DC Zoo

We decided to take the kids to the zoo one Saturday. We took the Metro there and then when we were 10 steps into the zoo, Finn starts complaining about how his feet hurt! It was hot and crowded but we were able to spend 4 hours seeing the animals. Neelah was most interested in seeing the Hippo's. Finn wanted to see the Crocodiles.

We stopped in this little "cove" to eat lunch. It was shady and a bit cooler. There were all these statues of monkeys and so we took the opportunity for a photo op. From where we ate, we could see this Orangutan traveling across the zoo. At one point, he stopped on the ropes and turned his bum toward us and scratched it. Nice. The kids thought that was hilarious.

Finn complained almost the entire time about his feet and how tired he was. It was so annoying and it made me regret even going to the zoo. To top it off, as we are walking out of the zoo, Finn says to me "Mom, when are we going to come BACK to the zoo?" Seriously?

Looking back, I can remember how hot and annoying that day was but having these pictures to remind us of the fun stuff makes it worth it.

Independance Day 2009

These pictures are all so out of order but we shall press on anyway being that it has been over a month since this happened. The Sutera's stayed with us for the 4th of July holiday and we had a lot of fun. Above is Finn with his "pet" fireflies. All the kids were trying to catch them while waiting for the fireworks.

Neelah and Eric with sparklers. She didn't really like the idea of holding them herself.

Earlier that day we had a little BBQ action. What is the 4th of July without watermelon? Savvy is so jealous in this picture!

It has been such a blessing having friends here in MD. (even though the Sutera's live in VA) I love the fact that we had instant good friends and were able to spend the holiday with them.
It is really crazy to me how many friends we have here that we initially met in Hawaii!

Finn, Carmine, Eric, Savvy, Braxton and Neelah.
Flags, fresh blueberries and watermelon and friends. What more could we ask for?