Getting ready for Christmas

Ok-I know I say it every time but I'm sorry for being so slack...again! Time just gets away from me!

We are in full holiday mode here. It snowed about 4 inches the other day and Travis loved playing in the snow! We even got our Christmas card picture in it-and in the mail to everyone only 2 days later-I love modern technology. :)

Travis visited Santa the other day and told him a small list of things he wanted. We shall see if he gets Travis everything he wants. LOL I seem to be constantly shopping for Christmas-mostly online but trying to hit stores during the day/week.

I hope to get more information out to you nect time but I wanted to type up something brief for now!

Thanksgiving Weekend

I have been slack again about posting weekly....I feel like I need to add it to the calendar! :)

The long Thanksgiving weekend started on Thanksgiving AM at the Turkey Trot. Tammy, Mandy, Charlie and I ran it. I don't really run so it was more of a walk/jog. My muscles are still recovering! It is a good way to start the day of eating! Then later in the day we headed up to Maryland to Rob and Angie's house. Grammy and Poppy were there as well. Travis had a good time playing with everyone and sweeping ever inch of the kitchen/family room. He knows where the 3 brooms are and gets them out almost immediately when we get there. Dinner was great....Travis ate Mac and Cheese since he wouldn't try any of the other food. Evan and Rob played a bunch of Guitar Hero and eventually we got Travis' pj's on and we left.

Friday I got up at the un-natural hour of 4am to hit the early bird sales. I went to Kohl's, Toys R us, Old Navy, Michael's and Target. I got home before 7am just as Travis was getting up! Later in the day we went to Home Depot to pick out some new light fixtures and get paint for our downstairs bathroom. When Travis napped Evan worked on the lights and peeling wallpaper while I got out all of the Christmas stuff.

Saturday was more wallpaper work for Evan and finishing up decorating for Christmas for Travis and I. He really helped me put the ornaments on the tree-though it is obvious since the bottom of the tree has a few more ornaments than normal. We did watch the Hokies beat UVA which was good. Next up for the Hokies is a re-match with BC for the ACC title.

Today is Sunday and I think it will be fairly quiet around here. We may run some errands and I'm sure Evan will be still working on the bathroom!

VT beats FSU!

This week in general was very laid back. Travis was fighting a bad cold/cough for most of the week. We held him out of school on Thursday to try and get better. Then he went to Grandma and Grandpa's on Friday AM for the weekend.

Evan, Mark and I drove down to Blacksburg mid-day on Friday. Once we got into town we hit the Hokie house and then ventured to Awful Arthur's. (I still can't believe there is one in town-so odd). We got back to Skippy's around 1ish after stopping at Wendy's for a snack. :)

Game day started out bright and early around 8am. With a 3:30 kick off there was plenty of time to get yourself in trouble. We were at the lot around 9am and the mimosas started pouring... It was soooooo cold! I couldn't feel my feet a lot of the time. Alcohol always helps this problem-fyi. CL came up from NC as well and we went in for the game right before kick off. The boys were toasted but proceeded to drink copious airplane bottles. The game kicked a$$-except for the 3rd quarter which we don't speak of. After the game we all jumped the wall and went on the field. We got to pat a few of the players on the back and congratulate them. Very cool. After the game we headed to PK's and back to Skippy's around midnight.

Look in the slide show for some pics from this weekend!

Rob and Angie get married!

I haven't posted in awhile....shame on me. I can't really remember what has happened since the last post so we will just move to this past weekend.

The day after Halloween (Travis was a Ninja Turtle) we flew to Chicago for the wedding weekend! The flight was great-Travis and I sat in business class and we ended up taking a stretch limo to the hotel since the Town Cars were all "out". Travis thought the limo was pretty cool. Later that day we went to the rehearsal and Travis was a little hyper....who is surprised by this statement? ;) The rehearsal dinner was at Gino's East. It's a really cool pizza place where you are encouraged to write on the walls. Travis thought this was great! Evan and I were surprised with a toast to our 10th wedding Anniversary and a nice cake to share. That night when we got back to the hotel we had another surprise...chocolate strawberries and champagne-yum!

Friday was the day of the wedding. Travis didn't nap so this is the beginning of a bad story. Evan had to go with the bridal party at 2pm and Travis and I had to be at the wedding at 4pm for pictures. The wedding itself didn't start until after 6:30 (remember this is CST). Travis was sooooo sleepy and during the ceremony he lost it. He and I went upstairs and I tried to keep him quiet until after the ceremony. Now it is 7:15 and he is even worse than before-the photographer takes his picture while he is having a tantrum and then he loses it even more. The poor girl felt so bad-I wish I had video of what he said/how he said it. That was it for us and he and I went back to the hotel. We took a cab back and I got him to eat a granola bar before he passed out at 7:35pm. Too much day for him. Evan said it was a great reception-I'm sorry that I missed it. :(

Saturday we wandered in Chicago a bit since it was my birthday. Evan's parents took Travis and we went to the John Hancock building and to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Randomly we ran into Rob, Angie and a bunch of their friends on Michigan Ave. We tagged along with them and had a nice dinner at Gene and Georgetti's. They even surprised me with some birthday cheesecake!

Sunday we headed home. Travis got to sit in the cockpit and we sat in first class on this plane. Sounds great but this was a smaller plane....not nearly as nice as the business class on the 1st plane.

Now trying to get back to normal......

Check out my Slide Show!

Quick recap of last weekend

Sorry I am just now getting around to writing.

Last weekend (from what I remember) was fun! On saturday AM we went to Travis' game but about 20 min in he decided he was done and wanted to leave. No big deal for us....then Travis and I went to his friend (from school) Will's house for a play date. We had fun over there and then it was time to head to Grandma and Granpa's for Mandy's Bday. Travis had fun eating a cupcake and helping Mandy open her gifts-shocker! On Satruday evening we went out with a bunch of friends to dinner-NO KIDS! :) It was nice to have a meal that didn't include chicken nuggets or cleaning hands, faces etc with a baby wipe.

On Sunday I had my investment club meeting at the house and then we waited for Grammy and Poppy to arrive! Travis had a lot of fun playing with them! They also brought him a few goodies which is always popular! :) We all had a nice dinner on Sunday night and then left Monday morning after we left for work.

I hope to update faster this week and get around to updating the picture slide show.

UNC game and normal hectic week

We went down to Blacksburg for the Tech game with Mark and Amy. No kids! :) We had a lot of fun at happy hour/late night at the Hokie House. We started early on Saturday as well since it was a noon game. The game was good-since we got the win but Amy had to leave since Grant wasn't feeling well at her Mom's place. We spent a quiet night of Guitar Hero at Skippys and drove home the next morning. Travis had a blast (as always) with Grandma and Grampa-Aunt Tammy, Aunt Mandy and Uncle Charlie came over on Sunday morning to watch them since Gma and Gpa were going on a trip! What a treat!

This week was pretty normal otherwise. I fought a bad cold for most of the week but it seems to be better now. Travis did have a follow up eye appointment but nothing new really on that front-he just needs to wear his glasses every day.

Have a good week-I will update late next week about this weekend etc.

Dino show and the Circus

This week Travis went to the Dino show and to the Circus! Big week for him!

On Thursday Evan took him to see "Walking with Dinosaurs" at the Verizon Center. The show was apparently a bunch of animatronic dinosaurs walking around and a person narrating. Travis' favorite part was when the Triceratops pooped on the stage. He told everyone about it! Overall he had a great time though he didn't like that it was dark and there were giant teeth on the stage.

Evan went to Blacksburg for the game this weekend. Travis and I went to the Circus for the 1st time. The Big Apple Circus is in town-at the Dulles Town Center. We had 5th row seats and they were great! Travis loved the jumping dogs, the horses and the people that flipped high in the air. Some of the other parts were not as exciting for a 3 year old! :) He had fun though he was very sleepy since it was during prime nap time. Though the trip was made perfect when I bought him a Big Apple Circus 18 wheeler toy-BIG HIT.

Saturday evening Travis and I went over the Jenni and Steve's. Glory and Mo came too with their kids. All of the kids played nicely with very little fighting! Normally we have to break up a few fights as we go along. I guess as they get older they are getting easier to manage/are playing nicely with others!

Sunday Travis and I had brunch at Whitlow's in Clarendon with Mom, Dad, Tammy, Mandy and Charlie for Dad's Bday/their Anniversary. It was good fun but Travis had a hard time sitting in his seat.....he was ready to go to the toy store that was across the street! He did love Grampa's cake! :) Otherwise Sunday was the same old stuff.....playing, laundry etc.

Have a good week-I hope to post new pictures soon!

Just Mommy this past week......

Evan was on travel in Brussels this week so it was quality time for Mommy and Travis. We went to the library on Monday after dinner. Travis loves books! You can tell which books he picked out and which ones I did. :) He picked all Thomas, digger, dumptruck and firetruck books and I picked random books like "Bats that count" and "Harold and the purple crayon". I need some variety when I read to him in the evenings! There are only so many Thomas stories I can take...... Overal he had a great time picking out his books etc at the library. I had a tough time carrying them though (we only took home 19 books-lol).

Grandma and Grampa picked him up from school on Wednesday and took him back to their house for a sleepover! Travis loves to do this! Early on Thursday morning they went up to Baltimore to go to the Aquarium up there. Travis loved seeing all the sharks, turtles, fish etc. He has been talking about it ever since!
Friday he had a follow up ear appt (to check out his tubes he got in Oct 05). Both tubes are "out" but they were still in the ear canals. Travis was really good for the next part-they had him lie on the table and turn his head to the side while the doctor put these tweezer/scissor lookigin things in his ear to get the tube out. Travis was trying so hard to see out of the corners of his eyes-it was too cute. The first one came out no problem but the other ear had a big bunch of wax way down in the canal. They took that out and that did make him whimper a little-i guess it was stuck or something. So they couldn't get the other tube out because of the wax. We will go back in a few months to see what is going on with that tube etc. Hopefully his ear canals have grown enough that we won't have to get him re-tubed. They said 20% of kids do though. We shall see.

On Saturday we went to soccer. Travis played soccer for about 30 of the 45 minutes. A big improvement over last week. We did play football when we first got there! After nap I took him to my hair place to get his hair cut. I normally take him to Cartoon Cuts but they always buzz his head since it's easier and I think his hair looks better when it's a little longer. Suzanna did a great job and Travis sat (more or less) still in the chair for the 20 minute cut. It only cost me $5 more than Cartoon cuts too! Then we went to Grandma and Grampas for dinner.

On Sunday we (Travis, myself, Grandma, Grampa and Tammy) went to the Reptile show up in Maryland. What is really nice is watching Direct TV in the car on the way there! Travis and Grampa LOVE the reptile show! Travis even got to pet a baby alligator. He doesn't really like the spiders too much-and I don't blame him-blech! Overall he saw a lot of cool things! Then we had lunch at the Towson mall and back to get our car to pick up Daddy from the airport.

Whew! What a week! :)

Concert for Virginia Tech and 1st soccer "game" for Travis

Glory and I went down to Blacksburg with Mandy and Charlie for the "Concert for Virginia Tech". It was a GREAT show! Glory and I "tailgated" during Phil Vassar and Nas but we went in the stadium in time for John Mayer and Dave Matthews of course. We had a great time! Mandy and Charlie were in a different section a lot closer to the stage....the sound where we were was awesome! We sat in the South Endzone so it wasn't that bad at all. Though we were surrounded by 18-21 year old students that made us feel older than we are. :) After the show Glory and I had a very late (midnight) dinner at Macado's....yummy! The next morning we wandered around campus...saw the new memorial, went to the bookstore and had lunch at Backstreets. It was a lot of fun packed in 24 hours but I will remember it for a long time.

On Saturday Travis had his first soccer "game". They really just practice for the 1st few weeks and then they split the team in 1/2 and they play each other. Travis looked so cute in his soccer uniform! He didn't really like listening to the coach though. When he did listen and do the drills etc he was pretty good at it. Otherwise he was playing in the dirt, knocking over the goal or picking up the cones and throwing them! I guess that is what happens when he is the youngest on the team with zero attention span. Afterwards he said "Mommy I am exhausted" and then I told him "me too" since I had to chase him all over the place. Next week I will wear running shoes too. :) Later that day he said "Mommy, I had a lot of fun playing soccer". I found that funny since he really didn't play that much soccer!

Saturday night we had Mandy, Charlie and Tammy over to watch the Tech game. It was an awful game but we were drinking so that seemed to help.

Sunday Evan headed to Europe so Travis and I went to Grandma and Grampa's house for dinner. That is always a good time and Travis has so much fun!

Sorry for the late post this week......

1st Hokie Win of the Season!

The Hokies got the 1st win of the season this week and we were all in attendance. We started tailgaiting at 8am and Travis was a real tropper. He played Baggo, Tailgate golf, football and watched some movies on the portable DVD player.....all before kick off! He really got into the crowd too-as we were walking up to the stadium he was on Evan's shoulders shouting "Go Hokies YEA". It was pretty funny-not even prompted! He was tired though since the game started at prime naptime and he napped during the 1st quarter. In the 2nd quarter he was ready for a hot dog and dancing to the MV's music. He was pretty much done with the game after that and he and I left. We went and checked out the multiple news trucks, the Blacksburg fire engine (got to get in and wear their helmet), pretend drive some golf carts, eat ice cream at Deitrick and check out all of the VT's in the Hall of Honors at the Athletic Center! Then we met up with Evan and continued to tailgate until around 5ish. Travis crashed hard around 8pm. :)

The rest of this week was busy for me at work. It was the end of the 1st quarter for us which always means late nights etc. The important thing is that the work got done, I made the number I needed to make and it's on to a new quarter! Evan played "mom" for most of the week having to pick him up every day from school etc. I think they enjoy the father/son time though.

Have a great short week! I hope to post the link to August pictures in the next few days.

A new kitchen table for us!

This week was realtively quiet for us. Mostly the same old day to day stuff. On Saturday, Evan went to pick up our new table and chairs. Tammy, Evan, Travis (aka Bob the Builder with his tools) and I put it together. It took awhile but it looks great! Travis enjoyed playing in the boxes from it-I wish I could do that but an adult playing in a giant cardboard box looks a little silly! The rest of the day was spent hanging up a few things I got from the Southern Living party. I love the feeling after decorating-it all seems so fresh and new when you are done!

This week we are gearing up for the 1st Tech game! Travis is pretty excited and says he will watch the game etc. I guess only time will tell on that part. Have a good week!

Tech tickets are finally here!

This week we finally got our long awaited season tickets in the mail! Always a happy day! :) Travis ran around yelling "Go Hokies-Touchdown" when I told him what they were for. Hopefully he will like going to the games this year. He likes telling me he is "going to the Hokies football game Mommy" while driving away in his Jeep. He waves and blows kisses while driving away which is really cute. Yes, I know one day he will be doing that in a real car and going off to college (like a few of our neighbors just experienced) but that is a long way off right?

It was a fairly quiet week otherwise. We bought a new kitchen table on Sunday (I was so tired of the old one) and went over to Mom and Dad's to have Tammy's belated birthday dinner! The food was yummy and Tammy bought her own "cake" at Cake Love-she got cupcakes-lol. Travis had a great time seeing everyone and had huge hugs for all-he even gave GG an accidental head "bonk" with her huge hug.

July pictures are linked on the page. Be sure to check out some of them-Travis loved being in Hokie-ville.

Have a great week!

This week was pretty good overall. Except is was sooo hot most of the week! Travis and I made it to the pool after school almost every day though. He LOVES swimming! On Thursday we went to see Muse with Mandy and Charlie at the Patriot Center. That was a good time! Travis had a blast that night with Aunt Tammy. Evan's mom came up on Friday for a quick visit. She made us some killer enchiladas for dinner! Saturday we ran errands and went to the pool for a bit. On Saturday evening I hosted at Southern Living at Home party....I never do these things but it was a lot of fun. Glory, Paige, Tammy and Kristen stayed over chatting until almost midnight! We all got to meet baby Morgan and give Mo our congrats in person. Those times are always great. Sunday was just a day for re-grouping in a way. Monday is here again isn't it?

The past year or so

Ok. Let's get everyone caught up.

Travis just turned 3 in June and gets bigger every minute! He still has Evan's blue eyes and more or less my hair color. "Spunky" is the best way to describe this kid-he is into everything and talking all of the time! (I wonder where he gets that from-not me!) He loves to race his Matchbox cars and recently has gotten into swimming. He spends about 90% of his pool time under the water! He is a sweet little boy and loves giving everyone kisses and hugs-though he won't admit that when he is older!

Evan is still working at COmputing TechnologieS-he's been there for almost 10 years now! For some reason he is under the impression that he is 25 still and going to a lot of rock shows. He and some friends just spent 3 days in Chicago at Lollapalooza. They had a blast!

I'm currently working at Oracle as a Technology Account Manager. I try to keep up with my scrapbook and I am currently taking a Yoga class with my sisters. Otherwise it is the same old stuff with me!

There are many other things I am forgetting of course but I guess they will start to pop up in the weekly posts. I will also be (trying) to post a link of each month's pictures for those who are interested. June's pics are up there-I hope the link works though.

Take care!

Testing, testing....is this thing on?

You have stumbled upon Sandy, Evan and Travis' blog. Well I will be doing it and mentioning them too. :) This is my first journey into blogging. I hope to be able to update people a little easier this way since life is getting more and more hectic these days. Time is flying faster each and every day so I'm hoping this will help! Make comments of course on anything you would like to know as well! Hopefully I can keep this up......I'm having a hard time keeping up with my scrapping so we shall see..... :)