Day At The Lake

John organized a company picnic today at Lake Anna and it turned out being a REALLY fun afternoon! A little muggy but it at least wasn't raining like the weather had predicted. This was the first time our family finally made it down to Lake Anna. There's apparently a beach along the side of the lake and trails and fishing spots. The kids had a blast! While the guys were getting the bbq cleaned off and getting stuff grilled, my friend and I took our kids over to the park area in front of the beach. There thankfully was a nice breeze going which helped to tolerate all of the wonderful mugginess!

Jocelyn was ALL over the playground equipment while Aubrey stayed behind at the picnic area with some of the other girls she met - drawing their outlines on the walkway with sidewalk chalk and playing hopscotch.

We ate. We talked. We ate some more. (We would have played games if they weren't left at HOME! I didn't know we had signed up to bring games until we were over half way there and he mentioned it. Oops! Oh well! We still had fun.) And of course you've GOT to leave room to eat a COOKIE! :)

And time to goof off with Daddy...


My friend and her son decided it was time to walk over and do a little fishing. Aubrey and my friend's son get along really well and she even got a little fishing lesson!

And Jocelyn just spent her time digging up rocks and throwing them in the water. Or sitting REALLY close to the water's edge and giving her Mama a heart attack. What's a girl to do, right?!?! She also thought it would be fun to spazz out on all the sugar from her cookie and try to wake up her brother that was peacefully sleeping in his stroller. So I distracted her elsewhere so the beast wouldn't awake. Smart move I think!

That only lasted for a brief moment, so it was time to head on back. On our way, I spotted this beauty along the side of the trail and snapped a shot...

No time to snooze! She found a buddy to toss around the ball with!

And Andrew got a little bored after waking up and found his TOES! :) He's so silly...and flexible too.

It was a great day spent at the lake!

New Discoveries

I call it the "Drop and Giggle" game.
It goes something like this:

Push diaper wipes bag off the couch.

Watch it fall to the floor.

Have mama give it back to me and say "uh-oh!"

GIGGLE...

and repeat x 20!

So fun watching him learn.

Post-Op & Cutting Teeth

Took Andrew in for his post-op appointment from his Frenulectomy. Held him on my lap as the doctor took a peek into his mouth and said everything healed up well and he will not have to return to the ENT as he made a full recovery! Good news to hear!

Some more good news is that Andrew is now cutting teeth. The bottom middle two are working their way through. Poor guy isn't too happy about that. Lots of sucking on hands, toys, OUR hands and shoulders (OUCH!) - without much relief! Time to get out those teething toys from the fridge!

Splish Splash

I know I've been posting a lot about my baby boy lately but I figure they're only a baby once and it goes by quick! (That and the fact that I can't help it...he's too cute!) He's seriously growing before my eyes. We have come to find out that Andrew is DEFINITELY a water baby! More so than his sisters were/are. Here are some pictures I took of him splashing away during bath time. The water was less than half full when I was done cleaning him due to all the water he was dumping out while splashing. Never looked up once either. Just kept his head down getting water EVERYWHERE...even up his nose and into his eyes. Too busy playing to notice that he was soaking his mama's face and arms in the process. Such a funny boy!

Pioneer Day

Our ward held their annual Pioneer Day at a farm one of the members in the church owns. It was such a cute place out in the country side! Thankfully it was first thing in the morning: still cool enough in the summer heat to tolerate. The humidity was another story. But despite those small details, we had a great time eating breakfast with friends.

As soon as Aubrey was done eating, she asked if she could go with some of her friends outside by the bean bag toss. Soon after, Jocelyn followed in her big sister's footsteps. We told them both to stay out front. I got distracted feeding Andrew a short time later and asked John if he could check on the girls. Lo and behold, they were no longer out front. They came strolling up to the barn a few minutes later - Aubrey complaining about a bug bite she had gotten on their walk down to the POND! The pond?? Come to find out, they followed some other people going to the pond but "forgot" to ask us if they could go along. I just about had a heart attack right then and there. I was scared that Jocelyn could have fallen into the pond and I wouldn't have been around to help her & was saddened that Aubrey got bitten pretty bad on her foot. So unfortunately, we weren't able to join in on the fun pioneer activities (potato sack races & tug of war) they had set up to do right after breakfast. We had a lovely time though being with friends and enjoying the peaceful outdoors!

Girls Night Out

A good friend of mine from church received Washington Nationals tickets courtesy of her husband - to give us moms a night out! It was SO much fun! We took the Metro train up to the baseball game and really enjoyed ourselves. I have to say I don't know too much about baseball but it's not too complicated to sit there and catch on. Some people around us were loud and entertaining enough as it was. :) I have to say it was a WONDERFUL  6 hour mommy break. "Thanks so much again Dani & Brent! :)"

{This was the view from our seats...we had great seats just rows away from the field!}

{Me and some friends from church}

{President's Race - this was hilarious to watch!}

{Lincoln - he eventually tripped and fell and scuffed up his nose!}

{Washington}

{View from the top near the food court}

{We stayed to watch the fireworks show at the end!}

New Smile

Aubrey got her braces off today! YAY! Her cross-bite had been fixed and it was time to switch to the retainer which she will be proudly wearing only at night. (Good thing too...we won't have to worry about her retainer being thrown out into the lunch cafeteria garbage can like some people do (ahem!) and then having to get a new one. :/ I of course only speaking from my own experience here!) She was SO happy too (as you can see in the bottom photo). I'm sure some of the fun was being able to eat a starburst again. :) As soon as her appointment was over, Jocelyn walked over to where she was sitting in the orthodontic chair and said, "Oh Aubrey! I love your mouth! Your braces are gone!" So cute!

BEFORE (with braces):

AFTER (with retainer):