Fun with Nana & Papa

Today ended our visit with Nana and Papa. We had a lot of fun with them here and visited the Air and Space Museum. Ikea, and saw "Kung Fu Panda". It is always a ton of fun when they visit and we look forward to seeing them again soon.
Austin looking cool in Papa's glasses.

We took the next few pictures from the observation tower at the Dulles Air and Space Museum. Mom was happy not looking out the window since we were seven stories up.

Lewis points out all the planes that were out on the tarmac that afternoon.

When we left for the museum we were unaware that it was family day and that there would be a billion people there. After we got back down from the observation tower the girls and Nana and I went to a classroom where there was a story time and coloring project. There were also a few costumes that the girls enjoyed trying on.

Katie loved this costume and especially the glasses.

Slinging it...

So this is my first attempt at a baby sling. This is for Anna's new baby that is due in the next few weeks. I loved making it and it was so easy!!! I hope that you love this and use it often!

She Likes to Move It!!!

Since summer is upon us and we all had good bikes but Katie, Lewis and I surprised Katie this weekend with her big girl bike. She had been riding one that her knees hit the handle bars when she rides; poor thing.

Now there is no excuse for us to be out there as a family.

End of Year Parties

Friday was the kiddos last day of school (finally). There was an award ceremony where Austin received a special award fro Citizenship. There are 2 children out of each class that receive it and there is a nice little paragraph about each child that the principal reads.

Thursday were the kids end of year parties.
This is the team teacher in his class; Ms.Paap.

Austin's class had a Pirate party and there was a scavenger hunt, pin the treasure chest on the map, bandanna decorating, treasure map making, and then an ice cream party. It was a lot of fun!!

Ashley's class had a field day and then there was a mother from the class made a class autograph book. It was really sweet, she took a class pic and then put a small book together for each child in the class.

Ashley and Ms. Koch.

Fuzzy Flip-Flops, 10 years, Joan Jet, & Marching Ants

I know that it has been a little bit since my last blog so I thought that I would update you on the latest happenings.

Today was Austin's Kindergarten program. They had been studying ants and so they marched in singing "The Ants go marching two by two..." They were so cute all in little masks that they made in class. Then they sang a Jelly Bean song.





Austin has really loved his teacher this year. I feel that we really lucked out with her and hopefully she will be there when Katie starts Kindergarten.

Thanks Ms. Kehler!





Last Saturday (June7th) after Mom and Dad got here we went to 'Celebrate Fairfax!' a local festival and got to see Joan Jet and then there was a big fireworks show that was sponsored by SAIC (the company that Dad works for). Poor Mom was so pooped on Sunday.

A light bulb went off Friday (June 6th) for Austin and he finally got the hang of tying his shoes. We had been trying to help him with that for a long time. It was so great to see that look of accomplishment on his face when he got it! Way To Go Austin!!!

Also Friday was our 10 year anniversary. I can hardly believe that it has been so long. It seems like yesterday that we were sealed. Well, we went to dinner and then to see "Prince Caspian" (great movie) and then when we were walking out of the movie we were able to see the festival fireworks. It was a great end to the evening.


I helped at a Young Women's activity last Wednesday and painted toes for the Beehives after they made these flip flops. As a kind gesture they made sure that they had enough supplies for the girls to also make a pair. I thought that they were adorable.

Happy Blessing

Lewis' cousin Mark (link is on the side bar) and wife Robyn blessed their first born this afternoon in Denver. Isaac this blanket is for you and in the mail first thing tomorrow. Sorry that it is late but I think that it will be worth the wait.

I am really enjoying making these little blankets but now I have to get my rear in gear to get the baby sling that I promised Anna done so that Mom and Dad can take it back with them when they come. It is hard since Evalee and I started larger blankets while she was here and I am totally addicted to mine.

A Purple Band Aid

So yesterday I got hungry for a small piece of toast with this awesome french bread that we got at Costco while Evalee and Gary were here. Since it truly is a french bread and way yummy and crusty I had to push harder on the bread knife and ended up nearly slicing the side of my left index finger off. The side was still hanging on and my friend across the street who is a nurse got me all taken care of. The only bad news is that for some reason I couldn't find any band-aides except these ones that are purple and green. The kiddos think that it is cute but it is hard to sew and crochet with a bad finger (let alone type a blog up; thank goodness for spell check).

Its a bird, Its a plane...

Today we took Gary and Evalee to the Air and Space Museum at the Dulles airport. Gary and Lewis love the airplanes and it was so much fun to watch the kids run from plane to plane. Poor Gary was trying to keep up with us and still read about the planes.
We stopped at a map in the middle of the warehouse and pointed out all the planes to the kids. Katie kept asking "Which one is that Daddy?". She was so excited to learn the names of all the different planes.

Towards the end the kids just sat down and hung out while we looked at things. It was a great afternoon and we all had a blast. Towards the end Ashley started feeling bad and came home and went straight to bed. Feel better sweetie!

Life's a Picnic

Okay so after a long night of playing games on Friday we come up with the bright idea to go for a picnic Saturday at Burke lake. It sounds great, nice and close and a fun outdoorsie kind of way. Well it would have been better to think that it was Memorial Day weekend. The place was packed!! We finally found a picnic area and shared it with a Muslim youth group. Needless to say it was a blast! We went with our Friends Matt and Jeanette (standing behind Gary and Evalee), and his sister Annamarie and her hubby Spencer (sitting by Lewis and Ash). We also took a friend, Troy, along and he is taking the picture :(
So tell me how many men does it take to light a fire?? Well as many as you have when Matt forgets the matches. We actually found a cigarette lighter and lit it so that we could have hamburgers and hot dogs.









Lewis and Gary discovered that Diet Coke really does explode with the small addition of Mentos. That was really neat but only lasted about 15 seconds.


Ashley and Katie with a little help from Matt and Troy made everyone S'Mores. It was really cool because they added a little twist....a strawberry on top! Way yummo!!! We finally cleaned up and came home. It was a really fun day and EVERYONE enjoyed themselves.

Fun in D.C.

Yesterday we went into D.C. and took Gary and Evalee to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. Everyone had a lot of fun walking around and seeing all the planes and spaceships. There was an exhibit that had Snoopy Red Barron memorabilia and I think that that was Katie's favorite part. We also walked through the Smithsonian Castle which is just a visitors center of sorts for all the Smithsonian Museums. There must have been about 50 schools doing their D.C. trips this week. It seemed that every time that we turned around there was another florescent t-shirt from Kentucky or New York (just to name a few). We had to get back to be home when Ashley and Austin got off the bus but I think that it was a lot of fun!

Handmade

Since we have moved my hands have been aching so bad in the evenings. To try to keep my joints moving and to help them to feel better I have been knitting and crocheting. This is a blanket that I started just because it used the yarn that I had in my stash, and I love the way that it turned out. I am going to give this to a friend from church that is having a baby in the next week or so. I really hope that she likes it. I know that the colors are a bit dark but I think that it is cute. It measures about 40 inches square and is really soft.

Finally Finished!

Lewis and I spent the better part of this afternoon and all night (till almost 8:00) working in the yard. I worked and worked and got the bushes finished and finally finished the flower beds. Lewis mowed everything and then edged it and then trimmed the edges. Katie helped to plant the flowers. I ended up pulling the green lawn chairs to the front so that I can sit out there and watch the kiddos ride bikes.

Lewis spent all evening Tuesday trimming the trees and then today a tree guy took care of the dead tree that used to be behind the van, and then chipped all the branches Lewis had cut earlier this week. It was neat because we got him to lower his price from $300 to $150, he even let us keep the mulch and offered us more for free since it costs him money to dump it. We are so good! Mr Proctor (the little old man across the street) comes out any time that we are working on the yard telling us how he hasn't seen the house look so good in at least the last 12 years. We even had another neighbor that came over tonight telling us that it looks the best she has seen it and she has lived in her house for 10 years.


Now that things are looking better we are done putting money into the yard, for this year at least. We are still trying to talk the property manager into hiring someone to take care of the rest of the trees and then all I want to do is get rid of the "chippy"monks that are eating my hosta plants in the front.

My Girl on the Run

Ashley has been participating in an after school program called "Girls on the Run" and today was her big race. She has been training since March to run a 5k and Lewis was her running buddy. Katie and I went for support and to be a cheering section. Austin was at a camp out with a friend from church so he didn't go.
When we went I had no idea that this program was so large. Katie and I stood at the starting gate and got to watch as all the runners timing chips registered and there were over 4000 runners. All the girls were 3rd-6th graders and then they all had an adult runner with them. It was really awesome to be there and cheer them all on.

Can you find Lewis???
I am so proud of Ashley she had a lot of fun and finished her 5k in just under 50 minutes. After the race we went to Denny's and had some victory pancakes.

Growing like weeds!

Okay, now I realize that you all are gonna be breaking down my email inbox for this picture but all you need to do is watch the mail. Yes this is our Mother's Day picture. We took this out front today after church. I think that these three are growing up way too fast! But boy are they gorgeous!

Field Trip

On Thursday, May 1st, I went with Austin's call to the National Museum of Natural History. There were so many parents that volunteered to go that I only had Austin and his friend Chris in my charge. We had a lot of fun running here and there looking at everything that they wanted to see. We even watched them feed a tarantula named Striker. Believe it or not I even had a great time!