Weekend recap...

my kids were in party mode all weekend!
we started out slow on saturday and did some painting....i bought these little wooden model kits from michael's for $1 each and they were a huge hit! i had to help the girls get their's glued together, but they really enjoyed painting them
saturday, was my company picnic.....i'm on the social committee so i helped plan and set up and had to be there early......we had arranged to have a moon bounce and pony rides which the kids LOVED! the pony actually ended up being 2 big ole horses and were definitely a favorite

then sunday was my nephew's 1st bday party.....it was at my bro's house which the kids love cause he has a huge back yard with a slight hill.....they must have rode matthew's wagon up and down that hill a million times.....the barnyard cake was a huge hit and i felt bad having to tell everyone that i wasn't accepting any more bookings for this year it was fun getting to cut/serve this one and i let all the kids at the party pick out a fondant animal to eat......the best was watching matthew with his 'smash' cake.....he wasn't sure what to do at first, but soon figured it out!
his cake...

ramblings...

i just wanted to share 2 things...

1 - for those of u that pick on me for dressing the girls alike (Travis, this means u!), i want u to see how they dressed themselves this morning...



2 - i love these shoes...

so darn comfortable!

Gabby's turn...

Gabrielle couldn't be left out.....it just so happened that she had a project to do last evening for her pre-k class.....her class is making a book about everyone's families......they were to decorate a page with pictures, cut outs, drawings, etc to show/describe their family and then write a story about it......here's Gabby's...


She chose the pictures (she was stuck on the beach vacation album ) and also drew a picture of everyone.....then she cut out things that she, Jaden & Corinn like.....princess & mermaid stuff for the girls and dinosaurs and a dragon for Jaden (she couldn't find a dragon picture, so she had Jaden draw her one - that's a baby dragon and it's mama looking at it).....we wrote the story about how her other 2 brothers live kind of far away with their mom and how we all like to go to the beach and the zoo and camping and ride bikes together.....she mentioned how she hopes we'll go to disney world some day and she also remembered at the last minute to include Socks, our turtle.....luckily there was just enough space in the top right corner to draw a picture of him.

a day at home with daddy...

yesterday, miss stephanie (our daycare provider) had to take a personal day for some family doctor appointments.....gabby & jaden of course are in school for most of the day, so corinn got to stay at home with daddy all by herself yesterday!!!
when they picked me up from work last evening, i got to hear all the details of her day....

first they made "panacakes" and she got to help - daddy said that she commented "you're gonna put the butter in the pan and it will melt".....he said "yep, that's right".....and then she said "i'm just so smart, ain't i?"
they played hungry, hungry hippos and watched spongebob squarepants
then, they had to take mommy's van to get fixed......daddy said that corinn had all the mechanics cracking up at her asking him a million and a half questions about what was going on......"what are they doin'?"....."who's that?"....."are they making mommy's car better?"....."look, he's washing his hands! why's he washing his hands?"....."what's this do?"
she got to have sandwiches for lunch (her favorite!) and play "order" with daddy.....that's where she pretends to be a waitress with a little notebook and pencil.....she's picked this up from our few trips out to eat and it's one of her favorite pretending games (along with mommy/baby kitty & school)
corinn also helped daddy put up a new light in the kitchen (really she just watched).....mommy's been wanting this forever (so she can see while cake decorating) and is sooooo happy it's finally up!

then they went to pick-up jaden & gabrielle from school (she always loves a trip inside school!).....daddy took all 3 to the playground and to do some fishing before they had their chiropractor appointment and it was time to pick mommy up

corinn had a great day! and daddy did a great job of not only entertaining her, but getting a lot of honey-do stuff done for mommy.....love u baby!

It's Jaden's turn...

Today, I wanted to share a picture that Jaden drew at school. Actually, it's a part of a little book they made in class to help learn how to spell/write color words. For the color green, he chose to draw a picture of his favorite (& only) pet, Socks the turtle! His interpretation is dead on!



I guess now, I've got to find a masterpiece of Gabrielle's to blog about tomorrow.

Smarty pants Corinn!

my 3 year old can write her name!!!
she learned how to write C - o - r in the old daycare, but has now figured out the rest at Miss Stephanie's daycare!

this is a self portrait that she drew for me and an example of her gorgeous handwriting! i can't help it....i bore geniuses!!!

Remembering September 11th, 2001

We lived in Maryland at the time....actually on Pennsylvania Ave., just outside of DC. I worked in Northern Virginia and Jaden's sitter was just a few miles from the Pentagon.

I had already dropped Jaden off, and was at work when the first plane hit.  I heard about it over the radio.  We were all of course stunned and glued to our radios.  There were a few co-workers who were concerned about loved ones close to the crash sites.  Curtis was working on an electrical job inside DC, and once we learned of the Pentagon being hit as well, I freaked out!!!

I couldn't get through to Curtis' cell immediately because all the circuits were jammed (everyone calling loved ones as I'm sure you can imagine).  I called the sitter and she hadn't even heard about what was going on yet.  She wondered why traffic was piling up outside, even though the morning traffic should have been gone by then.  Of course they were fine, but I was still terrified...at this point, no one had any idea if there were more planes coming and if so, where they were headed.

Finally, I got through to Curtis - they were already on their way out of DC.  Word had spread fast and everyone was heading out.  Thankfully, he had started leaving so soon...they ended up shutting down DC and lots couldn't leave.  I wanted him to go get Jaden, and for us to just go home...but I couldn't leave my job, and there was no way that Curtis could get over to the sitter's.

I didn't get much work done that day (I don't think many people did).  I stayed stuck to my radio, constantly praying that this madness would end.  I would check out everything online and call Curtis like every hour.  Later, I was glad that we didn't have a TV in our office...I don't think I could have handled seeing some of the things that were broadcast live that day.

I think about how this horrible tragedy affected me...I can't even imagine what the families who had loved ones inside of those buildings and planes were/are going through!  My thoughts and prayers are still with them.

I will NEVER FORGET!

Ballet begins...

It's ballet season!
Last night was the first class of the season and Corinn's first class ever!!! She has been counting down for months, and has been telling everyone "I'm going to start dance class!". She did great and was super excited about finally getting her own professional ballet slippers!

Gabrielle started her 2nd year and now she's in the pre-ballet II class (Corinn is in pre-ballet I). She was excited about the fact that they get to start doing bar work in pre-ballet II.

The only issue we had last night was when the pre-tap class lined up to go upstairs for class. I simply can't afford to have the girls take more than one class, so Gabby had to choose between ballet & tap. Well, when she saw some of her friends taking both classes and all of them lined up in their pretty little tap shoes, getting to go upstairs for class (ballet classes are downstairs).....Gabrielle all of a sudden changed her mind! We talked through it, but she was still a little upset the rest of the night.

Now I have this hard mommy decision to make....stick to my guns and make Gabby stick to her decision? Consider letting her switch (even though the dance studio really wants the girls to take ballet in addition to any other classes they'd like - the director would let her switch if we decided to)? Hit Nana & Grandpa up for some tap class sponsoring? Hmmmm....decisions, decisions!

Here's the girls on our way to class...


And here's Corinn with her new ballet slippers on...

Labor Day Weekend Camping...

We made our usual Labor Day Weekend camping trip again this year and of course, it was a blast! The best part was that Curtis didn't work and got to spend the whole weekend with us!!!
This time, we opted to not get a cabin (since all we ever do is sleep in it and spend our days at my parent's site) and instead, the kids slept in my parent's RV with them and Curtis and I went home to our own bed/shower and returned the next morning.
The weather was amazing! And the kids had a great time biking, swimming, fishing and running Grandpa ragged.
Here's some pics of our fun...