It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas - Sort Of

Imodium? Check
Cipro? Check
Holly Leaf Cookies? Check
Passport? Check
OK so Jeff is off to Indonesia until the 21st. We were able to squeeze in our Christmas picture during Jeff's prep for his trip but it wasn't easy. The first picture was a keeper but wait all the pictures we just took are blurry - that darn camera. Alex stop crying; Hannah get your clothes back on - we have to take more pictures before Daddy gets on the plane! What will stop this chaos and get those kids back in front of the tree? Left over Halloween chocolate. We were able to get a few more pictures before Jeff had to leave but ultimately someone looked goofy or wasn't looking at the camera. I tried to choose the best one but you'll see next week once I get my cards written and sent out.


So we ventured out for our yearly Santa visit but where's Hannah? Too bad the picture doesn't have sound because then you'd hear the high pitch screaming of my daughter. She wanted nothing to do with going in the vicinity of Santa this year. I couldn't even get her to sit on my lap next to Santa. So after standing in line for an hour and shelling out $35 here's our 2008 Santa picture. Alex was a champ and told Santa that his crying little sister wants a Barbie and Baby doll.




So the saga continues. What are we doing while Jeff is away? Alex has a birthday party to attend; both kids have their Christmas Program on the same day and time in separate schools (I haven't figured out how to clone myself yet but I'm still working on it); I need to get my Christmas cards written; I need to get teacher gifts; boxes of outdoor lights are still sitting on my kitchen floor; I haven't baked the first Christmas cookie (unless you call melting marshmallows for Holly Leaves baking); oh, and the doll house that I'm building for Hannah is still in 100 pieces at least it's painted and wallpapered. I'm not sure when I'll be able to go to work, eat or sleep but it's the Christmas season - I'll sleep next year.

2008 Fall Fun

We started the Fall season by making our annual trip to Cox Farms. We played on the slides, took a trip on the hay ride, and ate fresh apples and cider. This year was especially exciting at the farm because they had the biggest pumpkin in Virginia.

Alex and Hannah both had Halloween/Harvest parties at school. They were so excited and could hardly wait for Halloween night to come. We spent most of the afternoon carving huge pumpkins preparing (and waiting) for the spooky trick or treating fun. The weather was warm, the trees were colorful, and the candy was yummy. Now that Halloween is over, they are starting to write their "Santa Wish Lists" which are already quite long.

School Days

Alex has been a kindergartner for almost two weeks now and absolutely loves it. His first day was very exciting because he got to ride the bus with his neighborhood friends and choose his lunch from the cafeteria all by himself. Alex seems to enjoy all aspects of school. Although, I think recess and gym class are his favorites. Surprisingly, he even loves going to the school library and checking out new books. His class has already celebrated Constitution Day, had a Teddy Bear Picnic, and are preparing for a Hoedown. I can't wait to see all of the fun things that kindergarten has in store for him this year.

Hannah also started school - Knollwood Preschool. She absolutely loves it, too. I have her enrolled in the Lunch Bunch program just so see can stay a bit longer with her new friends and teacher, Mrs. Prihalla. Hannah has her school pictures tomorrow and can't wait to wear her flower dress and ribbons in her hair. I'm sure Knollwood will be a great experience for Hannah just as it was for Alex.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Hannah-Girl

We officially do not have any babies living in our house. Hannah is now a big 3 year old. She celebrated her birthday with lots of gifts, balloons, ice cream and cake. And she sure did rake in the (pink) gifts. I bought an unfinished set of table and chairs and my mom turned it into a princess masterpiece. Hannah actually squealed with delight when she saw her princess chairs. She loves having tea parties with her new bunny tea set and princess chairs. Hannah also got a princess canopy for her bed, lots of pink clothes, plastic jewelry beads, and a pink keyboard. She had a pretty pink 3rd Birthday. The best part of Hannah's 3rd birthday (at least for me) is that we have said goodbye to the pull-ups!! So, no more babies - only school going children live here.
I'll save the school stuff for another blog.

July Update

July started with a bang. We celebrated 4th of July at a neighbor's house and had small fireworks and lots of colorful smoke bombs. Hannah wasn't sure if fireworks were fun to watch so she hid behind her chair. In the end, she enjoyed the show as much as the other kids.

The kids and I went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a long weekend and had a great time. We had an aquatic themed weekend. It started with a Hootie and the Blowfish concert which the kids loved (okay, maybe they loved the snowcones). We went for a ride on Grandpa's boat followed by a bit of fishing. Alex caught a croaker and wanted it for a pet. He finally threw the poor fish back but it wasn't easy to say goodbye to his new friend. We also went to the "beach" (aka the bay) and we couldn't get Alex out of the water - he loved jumping and playing in the waves. The only downside was that a three hour drive took about five hours with a 5 year old and a toddler in the process of potty training.

The month of July was our "Sizzlin Summer" month at Alex's preschool. This is a type of VBS only it meets once a week for four weeks which worked well for my work schedule. Each week the program consisted of a Bible lesson and songs, game time, snack time, craft time and a show. At the beginning of the month, Alex wasn't too excited about the Bible lesson but by the last session he was cheering the J-E-S-U-S cheer just as loud as anyone. I was as proud of him at that moment as I was watching him score four soccer goals in one game. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures because I was busy being a walking partner.

We've also been busy going to random summer events. I took Alex and Hannah to a working farm where they shucked corn and fed it to the animals. We've been going to the pool quite a bit. Alex loves the water! He is starting to swim a bit on his own and loves jumping off the diving board (with floaties). Jeff took Alex to a small water park with slides and a lazy river. And we all went to a carnival at the high school down the street from our house. We don't really have anything planned for the month August but I'm sure it will be filled with the end of summer fun and school time preparation.

Summer Time

It looks like summer is officially here. Alex "graduated" preschool and is now in summer camp.

Spring soccer season is over and Alex can't wait to play again in the fall.

We've made our first visit to the National zoo and Burke Lake Park with several more visits to come over the course of the season.

All of the summer flowers are planted and in full bloom.

All we have to do now is enjoy the hot, sticky weather at the pool and eat plenty of Popsicles to keep us cool. Happy Summer!!

Start Spreading the News....

Jeff and I went to NYC for the first time and had a wonderful trip. Alex and Hannah stayed with Nanny while we were hitting the town. We stayed in a beautiful hotel in Manhattan and did the typical touristy things. Jeff wanted to see a Yankees game and I wanted to see the Broadway show, Rent, which were both phenomenal.

We began our trip with a visit to Lombardi's, NYC's first pizza place.

We also visited the Met, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Museum of Natural history, went to Top of the Rock, hit 5th Ave shopping, walked all around Central Park, Times Square, Little Italy, Chinatown, and SoHo, and ate at wonderful restaurants. There were so many things to do that we've already started talking about our next visit.

Mother's Day Tea

We started celebrating Mother's Day early this year with a Mother's Day tea hosted by Alex's Knollwood Preschool class. The kids made aprons and cards, sang to the moms and grandmoms, and served us tea and goodies. The kids each wrote the following "book"

Things I Know About My Mom

By: Alex W.

How old is your Mom? 27

What is your Mom's favorite color? pink

What is your Mom's favorite food? green beans

What is your Mom's favorite thing to do? play on the computer

What does your Mom do when you are not at school? she goes to work

What do you love best about your Mom? she is a good cook

Why did God make Moms? because He is good

Well I know God is good too because He gave me two wonderful children to be their mommy and I LOVE it!

Alex's First Game

Alex's soccer career is underway. After getting rained out in week 1, the season finally started yesterday with an 8-1 victory for Alex's team, the Spikes (choosing the name proved to be the most difficult, and least impressive, aspect of day 1). After some introductions, words of encouragement from Coach Eric, light stretching, and a little practice, it was on to the three-on-three game action. [side note: 3-on-3 is a much better way to handle 5-year old soccer than the way they did it 30 years ago where 20 kids ran around in a cluster with no chance of actually displaying any soccer skill]. Within 30 seconds of the kickoff Alex had his first goal as he deftly dribbled past the other team and planted the ball in the net. A minute or so later, he had goal number 2, at which point he got subbed out so some other kids would have a chance. The Spikes built a 7-1 lead heading into the final minute, when the play of the game happened. See the video below for an incredible defensive play followed by a length of the field sprint towards the goal that culminated in a hat trick for Alex in his very first game.



Alex already knew a few kids at the soccer field, including one on his team who's one of our new neighbors, so we're expecting this soccer thing to be a lot of fun this season. The real test will be to see if Alex can still have fun when his team loses - something he has struggled mightily with so far in his young life (I think he gets that quality from his Uncle Dan - or maybe his Dad).

Booby Who?

Hannah has a new friend named Booby. Yes, you read correctly the name is Booby. About two weeks ago Hannah just started talking to someone only she can see. According to Hannah, Booby is apparently her sister but she is a boy. Booby likes to play outside (that's why Hannah keeps opening and closing the doors all the time), drive the car, and have tea parties. I keep thinking Booby will go away as magically as she/he appeared but no luck so far. Since it looks like Booby is here to stay, I'm trying to take advantage of the situation. I've been telling Hannah that Booby can use the potty and hopefully Hannah will follow Booby's lead.

Special Visitor

We had a special guest visiting us last week - Uncle Dan. It was fun spending some time with Uncle Dan. We jammed in lots of fun in Dan's short visit. He was able to attend Alex's party, played dominos with Alex, read to Hannah, and visited Granny Fisher with us. For some reason Hannah kept calling Dan "Mr. Jeff" but right about the time he left she finally figured out that "Mr. Jeff" is really Uncle Dan. Hannah and Alex have asked me several times "Where's Uncle Dan". Hopefully we'll be able to see Uncle Dan and the rest of the Walls' later on this year. Until then we'll just keep up with the Skype.

Alex is Five

We celebrated Alex's 5th Birthday last weekend and Alex had a blast. We debated about having the party at Chuck E Cheese, the bowling alley, House of Bounce and finally decided on our house. We were going to rent a moonbounce but realized that we could spend just a bit more and actually buy one - so now we have a moonbounce. Alex really wanted a "bull dog" themed party but I couldn't find all the party accessories with bull dogs on them so we simply had a dog party. We had about 15 kids, some siblings and some parents. Alex even had a special guest at his party - Uncle Dan! Fun was had by all - the kids played pin the tail on the dog, find the dog bone, hot dog, and swatted at a bone shaped pinata but they all loved the moonbounce the best. I have to say that the party was a huge success.