What a weekend!

Well I could summarize the weekend with one word: rain! There was plenty of it! Friday night we took the kids to the aquarium. I recommend Friday nights there to anyone, it's much less crowded, no lines at the tanks, and the rain forest exhibit is two times the fun at night! Evan was a little bit scared because it was dark, but I was bummed I couldn't find the monkeys. I learned a little trick from a friend that used to work there, if you jingle your car keys the monkeys will come closer to you. It has worked for me before, but I guess they might have been sleeping since it was like 8:30 at night! I will add some pictures of this later! There are a LOT!

Saturday we stayed in most of the day, but I did get a little shopping done for Avery's birthday! I bought her some cute stuff, I'll post pics Saturday after she opens them!

Today was wild! I took the kids up to a friend's house in York, PA and we experienced our first ever tornado. Now mind you it was VERY mild, but it was still pretty scary! The hail was so loud on my car I was sure it was leaving dents. The roads were flooding fast and there was absolutely NO visibility!! We parked under an underpass for a few minutes and tried to keep going after the swirling clouds and wind died down, but then the hail picked up and it was impossible to drive! It woke Evan up from his nap and he was pretty scared! I was surprised at how many people kept on driving even though you couldn't see anything! There were car accidents everywhere. I even saw one guy driving his mustang with the front bumper dangling off...he didn't seem to even care!
Left- Under the underpass, when we saw the swirling clouds!














The hail! It was 60-some degrees when this was happening! It looked like an ice storm had just hit!


The flooding!




More Pictures & Link

Signs of Spring

Finally the temperatures are warming up a bit! I will take what I can get and this weekend it has been in the 50's! Signs of spring are starting to pop up here and there:



Yesterday we went to Chesapeake Beach in Calvert County. Over the past few years I have come here once or twice a year to soak up some sun and collect shark's teeth. It's a pretty cool story of how the teeth got there, which you can read here. Here are a few that we found yesterday:


It was a little too cold to do any barefoot beach walking but we did explore a bit and we also walked the boardwalk there, which is very nice! In the summer it's nice to make a day out of it and spread out a blanket, go swimming, and sightseeing. The kids enjoyed it, but I think my children just enjoy the outdoors altogether. Much like their mommy!






I hope to go back again in June or July when we can swim and visit the water park as well. It's not a very well known spot, so the beach is never too crowded in the summer!

Well, off to do my grocery shopping and get some homework done! Where do the weekends go?

Babysitting

On Monday nights I babysit two adorable little boys, Roland who will be 3 in May, and Oliver who is around 4 months old. It's always a handful with my two here as well, but rewarding in it's own ways. It's nice that my kids get to socialize and I get a baby fix each week, haha. Here is an adorable picture of them "playing" Candyland. Oliver wasn't very happy here.

Happier baby and Evan:


I cannot believe how fast my own children are growing. Avery will be two in just a few short weeks. They carry on these little conversations in the back seat of my car, or at the dinner table and it's just adorable. They like to gang up on mommy too! When one is being onery the other jumps right in to help out! Like tonight, the kids wanted a cookie and I told them they could have one after dinner. Evan didn't touch his food and Avery cleaned her plate. So as I was giving her a cookie Evan says "I don't like you Mommy". Avery turns around, cookie in hand, and says to me "I don't wike you Mommy!" Haha, she just repeats everything he says! I don't take it to heart.

Avery with spaghetti face:


Changing her baby doll:


Evan reading "Not Normon" (Such a cute story!)


Bonus picture, Nick and the kids on his 22nd birthday:

Shells

Evan found a large bucket of shells in our attic one day when we were putting decorations away. Lately he's been very interested in them. I think it has to do with out hermit crabs, as he keeps calling them his "crab shells". He wanted to put ALL of them in with the hermit crabs but I told him there were way too many for that. We put a couple in and our white hermit crab happened to change shells within 24 hours to one of the new ones! Cool! The green hermit crab still like his chipped shell I suppose.

Sunday night Evan was playing with his shells while Avery was eating...

He began sorting them and together we talked about the different ways we could sort (by size, color, etc). He preferred sorting them by colors.


He's such a neat kid! He loves to figure out how things work and loves nature/ the outdoors. He'll def. be my science and math kid!
Oh, and a funny little side note: Notice the shirt he is wearing? We bought it up at the Gettysburg outlets. The front says "Got Ghosts? and the back says "Gettysburg Does". It all stems back to one night when Evan was up late and he watched Ghost Hunters with me on Sci Fi. Ever since then he asks to watch it with me and he loves putting sheets and blankets over his head and pretending to be a ghost. We were reading the toddler's bible last week and Evan kept asking where was a picture of God and I told him we can't see God. So Evan says "Oh, is he a ghost mommy?" Try explaining that one to a three year old! I guess he could be interested in much worse, right?

Busy Weekend!

We had a very busy weekend! We had a taste of spring as the weather was in the 70's!

On Saturday morning I took the kids up to the book fair at the community college. Shelley, Noah, and Mary Jane met us up there and there was lots of stuff for the kids to do. The kids got to make a self portrait craft:



They also got matching tattoos that say "read" (what mother/teacher wouldn't be okay with that one!)


They had a moon bounce which Avery was brave enough to get in, even though she was the smallest one in there, Evan protected her!



After the book fair we went to Chik Fil A for lunch and then hit the park at the Community Duck Pond! How many times can one child go down the same slide in an hour? I lost count!


Evan and Noah were chasing each other:


After the park we hit the Gettysburg Outlets to pick up some new spring clothes! The Children's Place is having a great clearance sale!

We spent most of today outside, enjoying the first signs of spring. Cannot wait until summer! I am planning a garden and cannot wait to get out there and get my hands dirty (literally!)

Have a great Monday!

Chuck E Cheese

Last night we had a little outing to Chuck E Cheeses. Evan loves this place, and who could blame him, it has his 3 favorites things in one spot! A park with a slide, pizza, and cheap plastic toys! I remember going to Chuck E Cheese as a kid for Nick's birthday parties, but I don't remember much other than the singing animatronic animals! Talk about "cheesy"! Evan liked them from afar but he was a little worried they were going to leave the stage! Avery was in her glory because she could now climb up the part that leads to the tunnels! I was fearful she would never come out! Luckily she did, with both socks to boot!


In the tunnels:




Playing air hockey!


Watching the "creepy" animals!


Avery in her glory (she looks so much older in the 2nd one, doesn't she?)



Thanks for looking! More to come after a beautiful spring weekend!

February Birthdays!

February 9th is Lindsays' son's Birthday and Feb. 22nd is Meghann's twins' birthdays. For two weekends in a row we got to go to parties! My kids LOVE birthday parties. I think it might have something to do with the cake! This is back tracking a little bit, but I wanted to share these pictures!

Luke turns 2!

Luke had a really cool Sponge Bob cake that his dad made. The kids got to run around outside for a little bit, which was nice!

Evan liked to "help" open presents. Luke was pretty understanding but I don't think he'll get away with it at Avery's birthday!

Avery is very big on doing things herself! This usually leads to a picture perfect moment!


At the twins birthday, Evan had to stay home. He was running a slight fever. Avery came along, but she was pretty shy without big brother there. Here we are drinking from a big girl cup!

And here are some adorable pictures of the twins, Noah and Josiah. Noah is the blonde, Josiah has brown hair!



Only a few more weeks until Avery's 2nd!

Back to Blogging!

Well I have been inspired to go back to blogging. I'm getting rid of all of my older blogs by printing them out and deleting the accounts. This will be my only one now! I figured that this is an easier way to update family and friends from all around! I am not sure when I actually think I will have the time to do this, considering I work full time and I am in Grad School, and practicing life as a single mom of two toddlers. Yes, I must be crazy to take something else on. Yes, my life is busy enough. But I love it, and like being able to reflect upon my crazy moments years down the road!

Stay tuned! Pictures and more to come soon!

XOXO