Winding down from Christmas-or at least trying to LOL

I pretty much took the week after Christmas off. I say "pretty much" since I was still answering emails etc even though I wasn't physically in the office. I also didn't want to send Travis to school the only 2 days they were open after Christmas for an extra $50. So we all win this way. :)

On Monday Evan went to work while Travis and I went to Richmond with Grampa, Grandma and Aunt Mandy to go to the Museum of Science and Technology there. The ride down was easy since Travis watched TV in the car and played with his L-MAX. Having Direct TV in the car is a lifesaver at times--we didn't hear "are we there yet" since he was watching whatever show was on Nickelodeon at the time. Once we got there Travis was mesmerized by the swinging pendulum. Partly because Evan told him that was the one thing he remembered from going there as a kid. Once we got past the lobby with the pendulum we got into the actual museum part but the first section was very loud. Travis isn't a fan of loud noises so he did a lot of whining and covering his ears until we passed those things. It's too bad since he would have liked those exhibits if they hadn't been so noisy. Oh well. The highlights for him were the trains parked behind the museum, the pendulum and the rat basketball show. He liked a lot of other things too but these were the highlights. On the way back we stopped at the Cracker Barrel for lunch and Travis ate almost everything! He doesn't always eat lunch so that was a nice bonus. He crashed hard that night in anticipation of the next day.......

My dad decided that it would be fun to go ice staking on Tuesday since Travis had never been. He was really excited to go! We met Grandma, Grampa and Mandy there and then the fun really began. Travis got his skates on etc and then tried to step on the ice. Of course this is challenging for the first few times and it definitely was for him. The first time around the rink he had a permanent smile on his face but the next time around was a different story since he had fallen etc a bunch of times. Then he started to get frustrated and not want help etc. Eventually he decided he was done and wanted to play video games in the arcade which we did. Grampa and Mandy continued to skate and I think that Grampa fell a few times. :) He said he didn't want to skate anymore so I turned in his skates. We went to get some pizza and then he said the pizza smelled funny. It smelled like pizza to me and the next thing I knew he was writhing around on the ground asking for his skates to go skating again-it was basically a temper tantrum. So I decided it was time to go and then the real tantrum started. There was kicking and screaming etc--it was UGLY! Somehow I wrangled him in the car and we went home. Once we were home the screaming and carrying on had stopped and was now replaced with "aren't I listening well Mommy?"

New Year's Eve we had a progressive dinner in the neighborhood. Travis went to my parents house for the evening since it was a no kids party. There were 8 couples involved and 6 host houses. We hosted the dinner portion and Evan made a beef tenderloin that was stuffed with spinach and goat cheese. We started out for cocktails at Dave and Elise's and then it was off to Beth and Andy's for appetisers. All of the apps were good and people were starting to get tipsy. ;) I left a little early so I could get home to help Evan. Somehow we set a table for 17 people in our dining/living room. As luck would have it the beef was pretty rare when we took it out so dinner was a little delayed. Thank goodness for the microwave! ;) After dinner we all went to Bruce and Tiffany's for more drinks (at this point some people had already had too much-lol). Then we went to Duffy and Heidi's for dessert and that is always a hit-mmmm chocolate.... The last stop of the night was Greg and Laurie's to ring in the new year etc. Next thing I knew it was almost 3am!!! We had a ton of fun and some funny pictures to prove it!

We got up at around 10am the next day and grabbed some lunch at Pei Wei before going to Wegman's for a few things for New Year's Day dinner. We hosted my family for dinner and were doing basic hamburgers and hotdogs plus various sides that everyone brought. It was fun to have everyone over and we played a few new games with Travis such as a new game called Blokus. At some point we went in the basement to play the new Scene It game on Xbox that Evan got for Christmas. Somehow I won 2 games which is amazing since I had lost every game prior to that. We also watched the Tech game which FOR ONCE was good since we won! First major bowl won in a LONG time!! That is always a good way to end the day!

On Friday the only thing we did was go to the movies. Evan saw the "Slumdog Millionaire" which he said was OK but not as good as he heard it was. Travis and I saw "The tale of Despereaux" which was a really cute movie. I just love going to the movies with him.....he sits there mesmerized to the movie! Not sure what movie will be the next one for us....

Saturday I went to Mike and Erinn's to scrapbook all day/night with Erinn and a few of her play group friends. It is always nice to have a day set aside to do this since you tend to get a lot done. I did 6 full layouts which is pretty good since I spent a lot of time stressing out about which pictures were making the cut since I was scrapping Christmas etc. I got home after midnight.....

Next week it's back to reality of school and work.....should be interesting......

I forgot......

I completely forgot to mention the cutest thing on Christmas Day.......Almost every gift Travis opened was followed by......."OH THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED"!!!! I just found it funny since we heard it over and over and over again! :)

I can't believe it's Christmas week!

Travis was out of school for the holidays so he spent Monday and Tuesday during the day with Grammy and Poppy, Travis, Poppy and I piled into the car and headed out to Manassas for the Festival of Lights. It took forever to get there because of traffic but there weren't that many people there when we actually arrived. Travis really enjoyed the lights this year-he went 2 years ago and wasn't really impressed-lol. He was constantly shouting...."LOOK AT THAT"! At the end of the light show there is a small carnival and Travis HAD to get out and look around. It was 13 degrees and not everyone was dressed to stand outside in that weather-oh well. Travis had fun driving some cars and being goofy in general. I told him there was no way I was getting on the ferris wheel though in that weather! :) When we got home we had a great dinner of spaghetti and meatballs and then it was off to bed!

The only thing that really happened on Tuesday is that Travis and Poppy went to see the movie "Madagascar 2". Travis said he really liked the movie but Poppy said it was "OK" in relation to other kids movies.

On Christmas Eve most of the day was prepping for the party. The thing I hate the most is that the last hour before people are going to arrive is the worst no matter how prepared you are. You have so many things to bake all at once! It all gets done eventually but it is hairy at moments. My family was the first to arrive which is normally the case and is nice since then I can get them to help too! :) As with every party....people are about 30 minutes late and they all show up at once! No problems though.....it makes for a good time. Travis kept coming up from the basement asking if "his friends were here yet". LOL. Once the other kids started to arrive the chaos really ensued! Everyone seemed to have a good time and yet again the Hot Chicken Salad was the most popular dish! (I really need to start making a triple batch of it) A new addition to the menu was also very popular....the mulled wine though it did get a few people very drunk-lol. :) The last kid left at 10pm and that is when I convinced Travis it was time to start getting ready for Santa to come. We laid out some cookies that Travis chose and a nice mug of milk to go with those cookies. Outside we put out the reindeer food that Travis made at school for all of the reindeer to snack on when they got to our house. It was almost 11pm when Travis was tucked into bed after some Christmas stories. Then it was time to clean up from the party and to play Santa. It didn't take too long to do either thankfully and we were in bed at midnight I think.

Christmas morning we were able to contain Travis until around 7am.....then he couldn't stand it much longer. I got some cute pictures of his peeking over the banister and freaking out because Santa "did come and he brought ME A BRAND NEW BIKE"! He came running towards the tree and immediately hopped on the bike and asked if he could ride it. We said as a special treat just this once he could and he thought it was GREAT! Woohoo-score one for Santa! He seemed to really enjoy everything that he could see since only about 1/2 of the Santa stuff is wrapped. I had Evan open one if his big gifts first so everyone could enjoy it......it was a Keurig mini and he opened it up and everyone had a nice mug of coffee with the flavor of their choice since I got a TON of flavors to go with it. Some of the gift highlights: Travis got his bike, a ton of Legos, an Air Hog, a bunch of Star wars people and the Wii Nerf game.....Evan got the Keurig, Nike +, a bunch of giftcards and Bose headphones.....I got my mini laptop that I am using right now, a bunch of scrapbook storage stuff and an electric blanket for our bed! There were a ton of other things we all got from each other/Santa but those were a few of the favorites. I think Jamey and Al liked their gifts too.....Evan is curious if the universal remote that he got for them is truly universal (it better be for the $150 price tag-lol). Jamey made waffles for breakfast and then it was time to get ready to head over to Grandma and Grampa's house for Christmas part 2! Evan's parents went up to Maryland when we left.

We missed brunch at GG's house because it was too early etc to get out there. I hear everyone had fun though. At first Travis didn't want to come all the way into the house. He was content lying on the floor in the laundry room playing with his new L-Max games. Eventually he came out and wanted to go outside and show everyone his new Air Hog jet. So Evan, Travis, Grampa and Sean went outside to check it out. We opened gifts before dinner and that was of course Travis' favorite part! His favorite gift was the Knight/dragon Lego castle set but he loved everything and has played with it all several times since Christmas! We got an ice cream maker (yum) and a bunch of other stuff like a cool picture frame, gift cards etc. Everyone seemed to enjoy the gifts they got which is always a good thing in my book. I love picking things out for people and I hope they enjoy them! We had roast beef for dinner and although Travis ate only 3 rolls he was good through dinner because his Lego knights were with him-lol. We were all tried after a long day and left at around 8pm after dessert. Travis played L-Max all the way home! :)

Friday was the day after Christmas and we laid low to stay out of the post-Christmas sales etc. Evan needed to get a new cell phone since his Blackberry 8800 decided to die on Christmas Eve. So we headed to the AT&T store and Evan got the new Blackberry Bold 9000 (I think that is what it was called). He says it's great and I think....whatever works! :) Afterwards Travis wants to go to Red Robin and we do....it is Travis' favorite and I don't complain since he eats almost everything he gets there! We didn't do much else for the rest of the day which was really nice. After Travis went to bed Evan and I tried out his new XBox game "Scene It-Box Office Smash". It was a lot of fun but no surprise that Evan beat me every time. Oh well. :)

It was cleaning day on Saturday-FUN! I did a bunch of laundry that had been ignored for the past few days and cleaned Travis' closet. There is still a ton of stuff in his closet but at least the summer clothes that won't fit him next year aren't in there anymore...... Evan tried out his new Nike+ and liked it=always a bonus and I headed to the Melting Pot for dinner with friends. I love the Melting Pot (fondue) but Evan doesn't like it since it takes a long time because you have to cook the food yourself etc. Oh well-more for me! :)

Attempting to get ready for the holidays! Eeeek!

The beginning of the week last week was the typical pre-holiday stuff. It seemed like I was always running an errand for a present, something to cook or other various things. That is one of the things that drives me crazy about the holidays......you go to Target to get some stuff and end up going back to Target the next day because you forgot 3 things. It seems like it never ends!

Friday was Travis' last day at school before the Christmas break. He was super excited because it was pajama day! I had just gotten him some new Clone Wars PJ pants and of course he insisted on wearing those! They had a party at lunch time that was called "The Night Before Christmas" party....they had pancakes, hot chocolate and reindeer food (carrots etc). I thought it was a really cute idea. After nap my parents picked him up from school for a sleep over since we were heading to Evan's holiday/awards party. The event was at the Fairview Park Marriott where it has been for the past few years. It's always a nice event and we get to hang out with friends that we don't normally get to see.

On Saturday Travis and I went to Gio's 1st birthday party. They had a circus theme which was really neat since they had games for the kids to play that were like ones at a carnival/circus. The thing the kids liked the most was that they got to fill their own goodie bags with the items from a table when they "won" the games. Shocker Travis found the only 3 Star Wars things and got those first! LOL. We had fun and Travis was pretty tired when we left. That night Evan went out to go see Oasis in concert. Travis and I of course stayed home. The concert was apparently good-Evan went with Ann Marie, Rob, Angie and Rob's boss and his wife. They all had a good time and that is what matters ! :)

Sunday was the day Evan and Travis made their annual trek into the city for special Christmas cookies. They got to ride the Metro and go to the real train station which are always high items in Travis' book! They got the yummy cookies and headed back home. While they were gone I was doing pre-holiday stuff like going to Costco (and spending $400) and going to the regular grocery store for the non-Costco items. When they got home I had just unpacked the last of the food and was just as tired as they were! Grammy and Poppy (Evan's parents) got here around 2ish in the afternoon and we headed up to Maryland for Rob's birthday party. We had a nice dinner and some quality time but Travis got tired early so we had to leave before the real party started. It was good that we got up there though....it's the thought that counts! :)

Mommy and Travis for the week while Evan was in Europe!

Monday Evan flew to Europe for the week. Normally he leaves on the weekend so it was really nice that he was only gone Monday-Friday this time. He went to his normal location of Vienna which is kind of good since he knows where everything is etc.

For the week it was just Travis and I at home. We watched a few Christmas shows on TV-Garfield’s Christmas and Mickey’s Christmas Carol. He liked them both but really liked the Garfield one. I told him that was one of my favorites when I was a kid. He thought Garfield was sooooo funny!

On Thursday I took Travis to visit Suzanna for his haircut. It was an early appointment which turned out to be good since his medication was still going strong and that meant he didn’t squirm as much in the chair. She did a great job on his hair (like always) and she was glad he wasn’t a moving target like normal-lol. Since he was such a good boy I told him we could go out to eat. Shocker, he chose Red Robin. He loves that place. I think it’s mainly because they have this racing car game there. It doesn’t bother me though since I know he will always eat his whole meal there.

Evan got home on Friday which was good –granted he is always so tired when he gets back but is glad to be home. We were glad to see him! I had a scarp night at Kathy’s that night so once we got home I gathered up my stuff and got in the car. Of course I wasn’t aware that the trunk is bad and it hit me on the head. I thought it was fine (though it hurt) and got back into the car, started it etc. I reached up and found that I was bleeding-ugh. I went back in the house and asked Evan to come upstairs for a minute (he was in the basement playing Xbox with Travis). He said it was just a bad scratch but would stop bleeding soon. When I got to my scrap thing that night I had a cloth on my head but was fine. I am a hardcore scrapbooker! LOL

We ran a lot of errands on Saturday-nothing too exciting. It is nice to not have much on the agenda on the weekends sometimes. On Sunday I met my investment club group at the mall for our holiday lunch. A meal without kids is always nice-lol! We just lazed around the house for the rest of the day!

1st week of December-wow the year is flying by!

Ok…..I forgot to do this earlier in the week so I will “try” to keep this entry brief since the next one will be in a few days-lol.

Monday the 1st of December (WOW) Evan’s parents headed back home after spending part of their holiday with us which is always nice.

Tuesday evening Evan went to the 9:30 club to see Vampire Weekend. He said it was a great show and that they are going to be big-I know a few of their songs but wasn’t sure if it was worth finding a babysitter!

On Wednesday morning Travis asked to go to Chuck E Cheese for dinner that night. We decided that he had been very good lately and it was a nice treat for him. He had a blast as always and racked up a lot of tickets playing some game with a goblin-lol. Though I think that is where he picked up the stomach bug that he woke up with very early on Friday morning……He got sick at 3, 4 and 6am and then was done. Thankfully it was an easy bug since his tummy was empty-whew! The biggest problem the next day was convincing him he couldn’t guzzle his Gatorade or eat a ton of stuff. He was feeling totally fine by 8am and was eating dry toast by noon. Kids get over that stuff SO MUCH FASTER than adults do!

Saturday we had 2 holiday parties. The 1st was in the early afternoon at Robb Bohannon’s house. We of course couldn’t leave the house until halftime of the Tech/BC game. So we got to their house just as the 3rd quarter was starting. It was nice to see them and see their new house. It’s really nice and Travis enjoyed playing with their cats. He especially liked telling Robb when the cat threw up on the floor-lol. We stayed until about an hour after the game was over (Tech won-yea!) and once the game was over Travis was able to play video games upstairs so that made him happy. When we left their house it was snowing like crazy-granted it was only sticking on the grass and cars but it looked so nice! That night was the Switzer’s party but we didn’t really have a babysitter option so Evan went to the party and Travis and I chilled at home. I don’t mind since I like to sleep-lol.

For our day on Sunday I started it out at a private shopping event at Nordstrom with my sisters. I didn’t need anything specific-I was kinda along for the ride. Mandy got her make up done and we tasted the food and shopped a little bit. When we got back it was time to rush off to see Santa at the mall. We were meeting Paige, Glory, Jenni and Kerri there with all of their kids…….Travis and I got there and the line was crazy long already! We waited in line with Jenni, JP and Logan for over an hour but thankfully the boys were content with watching movies on You Tube on my phone. Whew! The picture was cute and then it was off to Jenni’s for the cookie/gift exchange. When we got there Jenni was in full panic mode since the Santa line took so long. She and I pulled everything together in about 20 minutes with at least 30 to spare-no sweat! The cookie exchange was a blast and the kids all played in the basement while we were eating and exchanging. After everyone left we did the gift exchange with the kids-that was a madhouse! The kids were grabbing, ripping etc. Caleb got a Star Wars thing and when Travis and Aiden noticed it…..there was some discussion. Thankfully I was able to change the subject with Travis-lol. A good time was had by all and of course I have a few pictures of the madness!

Turkey time!

Evan and Travis had the day before Thanksgiving off-I did not. So I went to work while they played. They went to see the new movie “Bolt” in 3D. Travis said it was great and Evan said it was Ok for a kid’s movie. LOL Apparently it didn’t have a lot of adult humor in it like some of the other cartoon movies have to keep the adult that is with the child interested as well. I will have to take their word on it since I of course haven’t seen it yet.

On Turkey day we all got up early to get some sweet rolls made for breakfast and I needed to make my 2 dishes and the appetizers. I was in charge of making/bringing the sweet potato casserole and the corn pudding. I also made a garlic-onion dip and boursin cheese. We headed over to Mom and Dad’s around 10am-to be there around 11am.

This year Mandy and Charlie were with his family so it was us, Mom and Dad and Tammy and Sean. When Tammy and Sean arrived we started to help Tammy prepare her dishes-she had run out of time at home but brought all the stuff with her. Many hands make light work and we got it all done. She made Missy’s, rolls and 2 kinds of mac and cheese. Mom made cranberry, stuffing, pumpkin pie, apple crisp and a broccoli and cheese casserole.

Everyone had wine (except Travis of course) and eventually Dad said it was time for the boys to come outside to start the turkey frying process. Of course Travis included himself in this group! They got the oil boiling and then the bird went in! The whole neighborhood started to smell like Chinese food! Travis got Sean to play ball with him and even found a stick to use as a bat. At first they were playing with a koozie but then someone found a real ball. They all had fun and it helped wear Travis out! The bird eventually came out and they all came inside for the feast!

All of the food was GREAT though it is frustrating that you spend all day preparing for a meal that take roughly 20 minutes to eat. Oh well-it’s nice to have the leftovers to enjoy! After dinner Sean took a nap and we played the ACC memory match game with Travis. He is getting really good at it-he beat Evan 3 times! Everyone had a great time and Travis crashed hard that night which was nice for all involved-lol.

On Friday Evan’s parents came to visit for the weekend. Evan headed to Blacksburg with Mark for the UVA game. We spent a nice day in the house watching TV/Legos etc and ordered chinese food for dinner. Leftovers for lunch and dinner didn’t sound so good…. Saturday it was very cold and windy so we stayed in and basically did the same activities with watching the game included. Thankfully Tech won and is playing in the ACC championship this week. Woohoo!

Evan got home really late on Saturday night. Sunday we went over to my grandmother’s place for brunch. We had a full house: us, Evan’s parents. Mom and Dad, Tammy and Sean and Mandy and Charlie! It was great to see her and meet a few of her new friends and see some of her old friends! Travis loves to show off in front of all of these older people-it’s too funny to watch. It was a cold and rainy day so the rest of the day was spent doing our favorite things….on the couch watching TV, Xbox, Legos etc.

Thanksgiving lunch and dinner with the Hayes Family

This week was pretty quiet overall. On Thursday Travis’ school had their Thanksgiving party/play. Unfortunately it started about 5 minutes earlier than it was supposed to so I missed part of it. I’m not sure if their clocks are fast or what… I walked in and Travis said ”Mommy you missed my line”. I was so bummed. Then he wouldn’t go back up with his class for the rest of the play-oh well. Next time I should send someone that he doesn’t know there so I can get some pictures /videos. Otherwise he jumps up and goes to whomever is there to see him etc. Travis and I had a good time and he even let me go back to work-that was a shock since normally he cries etc when I try to leave in the middle of the day. So that was a nice bonus!

On Sunday we went to Justin and Liddie’s house for dinner. We went to dinner with them not too long ago and decided it was past the time for us to get together again. They have 3 kids and their 2 youngest boys (twins) are about a year older than Travis-perfect age for Travis to play with! They made some killer spaghetti sauce for dinner and even Travis ate it! The kids all had a great time playing and Travis can’t wait to go back over to their house again.

Somehow I missed last week's entry so I'm cramming it in with this week! :)

For some reason I forgot to post last week so I am doing 2 weeks worth right now. I will try to keep everything short and sweet so it isn’t too long-lol.

The 3rd was my 35th birthday-wow am I getting old or what? It was a nice day even though I had to work. I met Evan at the mall for lunch which was a nice treat and I got a few nice gifts from Evan and Travis later that evening. I got perfume and some scrapbooking books and the best card ever from Travis. He had even drawn a snowtrooper for me! Too cute-I love that he likes to draw these days and I can actually tell what it’s supposed to be.

Tuesday the 4th was election day and of course we did that. We were smart and went at 2pm and there was ZERO line! It was great. Before that we went to our first ever parent-teacher conference. We were both a little scared of what this would be like. Travis is a great, smart kid but he can still be a little wound up even when on his meds. His teacher told us how smart he is, helping in class, always has the answers etc. She said he is ahead of the other kids in class intellectually but still has some trouble controlling his anger/frustration and keeping his hands to himself. We knew this was going to be something she said so we weren’t shocked. Overall he is doing great in school which is great and we are so very proud! We just need to work with him on controlling his emotions which is something we have been working on off and on for awhile.

On Thursday the 6th we headed down to Blacksburg with our neighbors Cal and Wendy for the VT/MD game. Cal and Wendy had never been to a Tech game before-and why would they since they are Wva fans-lol. We got there at around noon and went to Macado’s for lunch and then off to Kroger for tailgate supplies and started tailgating around 2:30ish. Everyone had a great time and Cal and Wendy played their 1st game of beer pong! Too funny. It was super warm for November-a high of 75! So we had short sleeves at the tailgate and long sleeves for the game-wow! The low during the game was 50-for Blacksburg in November…I’ll take it! We all had fun at the game and Tech won which is a bonus. That night we stayed at the new hotel in town the Main Street Inn. Literally they booted up their computer earlier in the day-they barely got this place open in time! It was pretty nice but also pretty expensive as they all are on game days…..

Saturday evening (the 8th) we went out to dinner with old friends after Travis was in bed. We had Taylor come over to “watch” him sleep-lol. We went to Busara in Reston Town Center with Justin and Liddie which was nice since we don’t get to see them too often. It’s always nice to catch up with friends…I think we are doing it again very soon!

The next week we were all battling colds. I was the lucky one that got a new cold at the end of the week-just as I was getting better from the 1st one. Oh well.

Wednesday I got my hair cut and highlighted. She cut it shorter overall and cut almost all the hair off in the back on the underside-like boy hair short. Then she colored that part red and the rest highlighted bright blonde. When my hair is down you can occasionally see peeks of red from underneath-but when I pull my hair back-WOW! Pretty dramatic-boy hair short from the middle of my head down and red! I like that fact that it’s so light back there now. I always tell her to do whatever she wants to and I’ve always been happy with the results!

On Friday night I scrapbooked with the ladies in the neighborhood. This was our 2nd month of doing this together and I think it’s a lot of fun. I think I work slower in these instances since I’m talking to others, looking at their pages etc but it’s nice to get out and be with other crazy scrappers!

I went to Dinner Done in Centreville with Kristen and Christine on Saturday morning. I have done Let’s Dish a whole bunch of times so this was my 1st time doing something different. It is basically the same set up as Let’s Dish but it seemed to move a little easier. It was a lot farther away from my house though so it will have to be really good for me to go back. I had fun chatting with Kristen and Christine while we made the food-that is the best part about going. We had one of the dishes the other day and I thought it was really god and Evan thought it was OK. The rest of the day we stayed inside and hung out. It was windy and raining most of the day-yuck.

Sunday it was sooooo cold! Travis and I went to the grocery store in the am and froze! Spent the rest of the day inside playing videogames, board games, Leogs etc. I love weekends like that. Wear sweats and just chill out around the house!

Packed week of Halloween activities!

Evan was on travel this week so it was Travis and I having some Mommy and me time. The only time it’s challenging is in the morning when I need help getting his lazybones out of bed. He is not a morning person!

Tuesday evening we went over to Cal and Wendy’s house to carve pumpkins. I didn’t feel confident to hack into a pumpkin by myself when Evan is out of town and knew that Cal would be carving quite a few. For those that don’t know Cal’s favorite day of the year is Halloween and he does this whole haunted yard thing. He totally gets into it. Travis didn’t want to help with the guts portion of the pumpkins-that was my job along with Cal. Actually Cal scooped and I got the seeds out to be roasted. Travis particiipated by helping Cal decide what type of face each pumpkin should have. He had fun picking out eyes, noses etc. They carved 5 pumpkins together and we of course got pictures to prove it!

On Wednesday Travis came to work in the afternoon to do some trick or treating! He loads up! It’s a great thing to see everyone’s kids in costume and having a good time. Travis normally gets more candy at work than he does on actual Halloween. He was Indiana Jones (again) and was the only “Indi” here! He had fun getting and eating the candy and loved listening to the stories in the cafeteria. No shock here but he also enjoyed taking a whack at the piñata! All of the kids seemed to have fun and that is what matters most!

Friday was the Halloween parade and party at school. I got to school at 11:05 (aka 5 minutes late) and missed the entire parade….but I did get a class picture and see them do their class song. They had a nice party afterwards with pizza, cake etc. The plan was for Travis to stay at school for his nap but he begged me to take him home and I folded under the pressure. So we went home and “helped” Cal set up his haunted yard. This basically consisted of Travis asking Cal one million questions while he tried to get things done! Eventually I got him to go inside and take a break.

The actual trick or treating was a blast for everyone it seemed. We set up chairs, tables and a fire pit in the driveway next to Cal’s haunted yard. Evan and I even got into the spirit (per Travis’ request) and got dressed up. I took Travis around with a few other kids/parents from the street. The kids had a blast running from house to house! They were totally getting into it! Once we got back from the hour + of doing that the kids ran around in the driveway while all the adults drank and sat in front of the fire pit-good times! Travis eventually went to bed at 10:30 and I came in after many drinks and logs on the fire at around 1am! I think everyone had fun!

Saturday was our 11th wedding Anniversary. Can you believe it? I can’t……the time has just flown by! We spent it at Amber’s 6th birthday party in the day and at Mike and Erinn’s for dinner in the evening. It was a nice way to spend the day….with friends! Travis and the other kids had a great time at Amber’s party. A bunch of the kids spent a good part of the day catching ladybugs that were spending their time attached to the side of the house. There was a TON of food (as always) and the cake is always the best part according to the under 8 crowd. After we left there we headed over to Mike and Erinn’s. The kids had fun running around, playing Legos, chatting and playing video games! Travis had a blast! We got to hang out with Mike and Erinn and watch a little college football. Later Mike ordered dinner for everyone and it was yummy! It was some local place by them that had just opened up. The kids played until around 9pm and then we had to go-Travis was sleepy!

We celebrated my birthday a day early with my family on Sunday. Everyone had fun and we had some yummy food! You can never go wrong with hot dogs and hamburgers. Travis helped me open the gifts of course and they were great! He loves to help people open their gifts-he kept saying “maybe it’s something for both of us!”. He is also the same way when it comes to the cake. He has to help blow out the candles-it’s really too funny. We all had a great time! What a great way to spend my pre-birthday!

Air and Scare was a zoo but Travis had fun!

Most of the work week was quiet for us. Monday Mom and Dad came over to see Travis and ended up staying for dinner. They had gone to get their flu shots and wanted to swing by! Travis had fun showing them his video games-lol Dad/Grampa also brought his Indiana Jones hat. Travis will be Indiana for Halloween and so I (finally) got a picture of them wearing their Indi hats together! It isn’t the best picture but it will do-lol.

Saturday was the day Evan left for his latest trip to Europe. He is going to Vienna for about the 100th time-not really but it’s up there. We dropped him off and Travis and I headed to the “Air and Scare” at the Dulles Air and Space Museum. Apparently most of NoVa had the same idea since there was a large traffic jam trying to get into the place! Travis enjoyed sitting in the traffic since all of the large jets flew right over the road getting ready to land. He counted 14 jets in the time we were in traffic. If he is amused I am fine with the traffic. The place was a zoo so I told Travis aka Indiana that we were going to get a few treats and find the Star Wars people and get out. He was fine with this as long as we saw all of the Star Wars people. He got his picture taken with Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, Jango Fett, R2D2, Obi Wan (I think it was) and some other Stormtrooper that had a different helmet. Travis thought this was the coolest thing he had ever seen! We left and saw miles of cars backed up on rt 28 waiting to get into the place! Wow!

Saturday after the “Air and Scare” we headed over to my parents house for dinner and a sleepover. Travis loves these! We had a yummy dinner of homemade Mac and Cheese and veggies and bread! Yummy! Travis got to watch “Speed Racer” with Grampa-he really liked the racing parts and not so much the talking parts. We all went to bed at a normal time to get ready for the next day!

On Sunday morning Grampa made everyone eggs for breakfast. Travis ate mostly peaches and toast but this is pretty normal for him these days. Then we got ready to head out to the Fall Festival at the Burke Nursery. They have a haunted hayride, carpet slides, moonbounce, pony rides etc. For those in NoVa it is just like Cox Farms but not as crowded! Travis’ favorite parts were the pony, the hayride and playing on the wooden train. Though he enjoyed pretty much everything he did! When we left we all got to pick out a “patch pumpkin” to take home. Now all 4 of those are on our front porch! We went back to Mom and Dad’s for lunch and then a quiet afternoon. Later we went to Glory Days Grill for dinner. Travis watched Spongebob the whole time we were there via the box they put on the table so you can hear it as well. It was nice! He didn’t eat much though since the burgers had grill stuff on them-so he ate the buns with ketchup on them! We got a bath back at Mom and Dad’s and then back home! Great but busy weekend!

Gotta love the school bookfair!

Monday was a holiday for some. Travis’ school was closed as was Evan’s office. Mine however was not so I had to go to work. So daddy day-care was in business for the day! They spent most of the day playing videogames and playing with Legos. Both boys enjoyed themselves so that is what matters most-right? LOL

On Wednesday they had a book fair at school. Travis LOVES books! It is the one thing I will get him if he asks for it. He can beg me for a car and I will say no but if he is begging for a book I will get it for him every time. He loves to be read to and that is a good thing in my opinion. So I told him to pick out 3 books and of course 1 of the books we pretty much already have (Rescue vehicles) but he said it was fine-lol. Then I let him pick out 3 from the list of books to buy for the class. He had fun doing this and they put a sticker inside the book saying that Travis donated it. He thought that was neat! No surprise here but I did end up reading all 3 books at least twice that day!

The weekend was pretty quiet overall. Travis and I went to Dunkin Donuts in the AM and had breakfast there. He loves eating in the shop-he’s too funny. We brought home a donut and coffee for Evan. For some reason Travis didn’t want him to come. He is a momma’s boy right now so I guess that is it. The rest of the day was errands, grocery store etc. We did have lunch at Chili’s on Saturday because I had gotten a gift card at work. Then after that we went to Home Depot-Travis loves to ride the lawnmowers! We chilled for most of the evening…watching TV, books Legos etc.

Sunday I had my monthly investment club meeting. Since the market is so awful it was very interesting-lol. After that I had some time to waste before Jenni’s SLAH party so I went to Reston Town Center to check out the new “Paper Source” store. This place was pretty neat but it seems geared more to the people that are into making cards than scrapbooking. Nothing against making cards but I don’t do it-lol. I did get some cool 12x12 paper to use but it was a pretty small display compared to the size of the store. Not sure if I would make a special trip out there again but you never know. I went to Jenni’s for her SLAH party. The neat thing is that the consultant Michelle went to high school with me and we hadn’t seen each other since graduation! It was as if time hadn’t moved on-I felt like I had talked to her/seen her just yesterday. I had fun catching up with her on her life for the last 10+ years-lol. Of course I found some things to buy….no real shock there I guess. Evan and Travis played video games most of the AM and then played outside some. When I got home he wanted to play Legos so we did that as well. He crashed early-so tired! Cal and Cam came over and played some Rockband with us. Always a good time! Our band is doing well-lol!

Big Apple circus time!

Travis has been fighting a cold for days now. Well on Tuesday he woke up and sounded terrible. So I took the day off and let him sleep in. Once he got up he seemed to feel ok but still sounded awful-mostly a bad cough and a little rough in his breathing. We spent the day reading books, watching TV and playing with Legos. He never had a fever or anything but the cough and congestion just seemed to be no fun for him. Months ago I bought tickets for Tuesday night for the Big Apple Circus. Thankfully he seemed well enough to go….and he was super excited to boot which was a bonus. He loved taking the bus over to the big top and was taking it all in once we got there. Look at this, look at that…… We had to get the basic box of popcorn (there is a funny picture of this) and cotton candy-he loves circus food! Our seats were in the 4th row on the end which is always good in case you need to scoot out for some reason-that never happens to us-lol. He really enjoyed everything we saw-his favorite parts were the jugglers, the horses and the dogs. Since it’s a 2 hour show and he wasn’t feeling 100% we left soon after the dog act. Though we did have to stop on the way out and buy a sword-lol. He was sooooo tired. Barely made it in bed and through a few books before he crashed.

When I picked him up from school on Wednesday he still wasn’t feeling 100% so I though I would cheer him up. I told him we would go over to Party City to go and get his Halloween costume-you would have thought I told him that is was Saturday every day by how excited he was. He jabbered all the way about what he was getting. We get there and go over to the kids costume section. For those who haven’t been there is basically a big wall of pictures of costumes and you tell the person who works there what number and size you need. So we are standing in front of it looking for what he wanted…..Indiana Jones and we don’t see it. Now Travis is doing a Rainman impression bouncing from foot to foot saying “I don’t see Indiana Jones” over and over again. (all I could think of was…”4 Minutes to Wapner”) Thankfully someone hears this and asks us if we need help. We tell him what we want and he takes us to another section where the scary masks and things are. This is where they were hiding the Indiana Jones stuff! We got the set they had-it includes an Indi shirt, hat and whip and we also bought the Indiana Jones machete. He was so excited and put it on the moment we got home! Pictures were taken of course. LOL!

On Friday I went to a neighborhood crop party. I only knew one person that was there-Cynde and she was the one who invited me. There were 8 other people there (I think) and most of them have kids that attend Lowe’s Island Elementary school. That is the school in the neighborhood that Travis will likely attend for K and up. It was a good time and I love getting a bunch of pages done!

Saturday we went to a local nursery to get a pumpkin. I can never remember the name of it but it’s off route 7 and has a “haunted” school bus on the property. All the way there Travis was saying he wasn’t going to be scared etc-we even have video of him saying this. We get there and he wants nothing to do with this bus. Eventually Evan gets him on the bus only by carrying him and Travis hid his eyes and whimpered the entire time. Don’t worry I got video of this as well. Once he was off the bus he finally uncovered his eyes and said “it was my nightmare” and he was scared of the “dead things” and then he started looking at his arm because he said something bit it in the bus. I got another video of him in the car on the way out of there talking about his nightmares and the dead things. Can’t wait to show this to one of his girlfriends one day! Blackmail is so much fun! Then we had lunch at Cheeburger Cheeburger and Travis played on the outdoor playground there. It was a beautiful day! We went home and played with Kelly and some of the other kids in the neighborhood. Travis passed out on the couch later that evening-it had been a long day!

On Sunday Travis and I went to AC Moore for some things for his class and scrapbooking stuff for me. We were in there for about 30 minutes and he was so good! I rewarded him with a “tube” of knights and dragons-he was so excited! Then we were off to Harris Teeter-I have decided I like this grocery store better than Bloom or Giant and almost as much as Wegman’s! I wish it were closer to the house though-it was in Ashburn and the one in Reston is about the same distance away. Then later in the day we headed over to Mom and Dad’s to celebrate Mandy’s bday! It is actually on Monday but Sunday worked out better since someone (me) has to work on Monday. It’s always good to get everyone together. Travis had fun playing with the new ACC Memory game that Tammy and Sean got him….and he also had fun showing off for everyone-his favorite past time! We had good food and Mandy seemed to enjoy her presents so it was a good time had by all. Travis had a bath before we left and then we headed home for the night! Good times!

Another home football game in the books!

Travis and I picked up Evan at the airport on Monday after school. He had a great time on his 24 hour trip to Vegas. He basically came back with the same amount of money that he started with so I would call that a decent trip. Travis liked wondering around the airport while waiting for him. So many “neat” things for a little boy to look at. I was constantly having to “look over there” etc. Travis was allowed to pick a place for us to go to dinner on the way home. Of course he chose Red Robin- he loves it there. I think that he likes the food and I know he LOVES driving in the race car game! He wolfed down his grilled cheese and mandarin oranges and played the game about 3 times. A successful meal out for us!

On Friday we headed to Blacksburg around mid-day. Travis was great in the car which always helps. We got to Skippy’s around 4 ish and unpacked the car. After Travis ran around a bit we all headed downtown to the Hokie House. He loves the Hokie House for one reason only…..they have the hunting game there complete with rifle. So he played that a bunch and we had dinner and hung out. We ran into Jobie who we haven’t seen in years! It was nice to catch up with old friends but Travis wouldn’t talk to people-he was being shy I guess. Eventually we went back to Skippy’s and I put Travis to bed. Evan made the jambalaya in the crockpot for the tailgate and we all crashed around midnight or so.

Saturday morning Evan went to the tailgate spot at 7am. Travis and I left Skippy’s around 9am and went over to Kroger before heading to Lot 8. We dropped off Skippy at the airport lot on our way to Lot 8. Travis had a great time at the tailgate running around etc. There are some funny pictures to come. We headed over to Lot 1 to see my Aunt and Uncle. It turned out one of my other aunts was there as well and 2 of my cousins (one is a student at Tech right now). It was nice to catch up but Travis wasn’t sure about talking to them etc. After hanging out there for a few minutes we headed into the stadium………

Travis had a great time at the game and got really into the “Let’s Go”…”Hokies” part. He has been doing it on and off since then which is really cute. He sat through the whole game for the 2nd time in a row which was nice in the fact that is proved the 1st time wasn’t a farce. At one point he and Evan wandered away to go to the bathroom or something…..they came back with a “Go Hokies” foam finger. Travis thought this was the best thing he had ever seen-waving it around etc. About 20 minutes after he sat down some security person came up and told us he can’t wave it-it’s against ACC rules. Wait…What? He got it HERE IN THE STADIUM and he can’t use it???? Way to crush a 4 year old’s day. Travis didn’t understand why he couldn’t wave it anymore-don’t sell it in the stadium if you can’t use it in the stadium!!!! I did get some cute pics prior to this happening.

On the way out of the stadium Evan and Skippy stopped at the table to see what their BAC was. Evan was a .06 I think and Skippy was a .08? I got a picture of Skippy getting his done while holding Travis on his shoulders-classic picture! Then we tailgated some more until Travis got too punchy. When we got back to Skippy’s Travis got to play a tuba. He thought this was the neatest thing he had ever done-so proud of himself. I have video and pics of this for those who are interested. Then we got Wendy’s for dinner and Travis (literally) passed out on the couch after eating. That night Evan and Skippy went out and hung out with a few people-drank some beer-typical Saturday night in Blacksburg.

We went home early Sunday morning and the rest of the day was the normal stuff. We went to the grocery store and got 2 really nice pumpkins there. Travis spent the rest of the late afternoon playing with Kelly. One of his favorite things to do!

Back to school night in Pre-K??? We will take it!

Travis had school pictures on Wednesday. This was a challenge since he doesn’t like shirts with collars, buttons or zippers on them. So this means that he has t shirts and more t shirts to wear. I had been prepping him for days saying he needs to wear what I want him too on that day. He kept agreeing with me but…….when it was Wednesday morning….another story all together. He pitched a fit with the collared shirt I slipped over his head. I got tired of fighting and he ended up wearing a very nice t-shirt. I think it was one of the nice ones my parents bought him at the Pumpkin Patch store. We shall see how the pictures come out. I’m hoping for the best but he has a tendency to make a goofy smile face when it’s time to get a picture taken.

Thursday night was Travis’ 1st back to school night! I had no idea this was done for Pre-K but I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised since this school seems to be leaps and bounds above the last one. We left Travis at Mandy’s house (kids weren’t allowed at BTS night) and Tammy was there-fresh from the airport. I heard they had a great time making/eating dinner and playing cards etc. He was a good boy. We got to school and went to his classroom and had to sit in the little chairs when we got there. This was cute at first but it was soooo hard for my knees to move after being squashed for so long! We both met Mrs. Melendez and she gave everyone a layout of the class, routine etc. She seems like she is going to be very good. Travis really seems to like her! I think he is going to learn a lot this year. He is already learning Spanish, German and sign language! They are going to also learn Italian and French! Wow!

On Friday when we got home there was a package on the front door. IT WAS THE XBOX!!!! Travis was so excited! He gave it a hug and a kiss and told it how much he missed it-it was so cute! He was so excited to get it all hooked back up and start playing the new Batman Lego game! That was pretty much what he did all night…… Later that night Cal and Wendy came over and we christened the new Rockband 2 game…..though we did have to make a new band since it doesn’t seem to let you use your Rockband 1 band etc. It was fun to get back into playing!

Saturday we hung around the house since it was a gray and rainy day. Around 7pm everyone starting showing up for the VT/Nebraska game. Eilynn, Jenni, Glory, Paige, Kristen and Christine came over with their spouses and some of the kids. The kids ran around crazy the whole time but it was really nice for the girls to catch up. We stayed upstairs with most of the kids and the guys went downstairs to try and watch the game in peace. I can’t believe that the kids lasted throughout the whole game! It wasn’t over until around 11 and the kids were still going strong. I was glad the Hokies pulled out a win and had a great time catching up with everyone in the process.

Let’s see…..Sunday we took Evan to the airport since he was going to Vegas for the day. Yes the day. Barry and Paul were there playing poker and Evan had a free flight and a free room so he decided to go for the day. I think it’s a little nutty but he was excited. Travis and I then headed to Mom and Dad’s for a belated bday for Dad. We had a yummy brunch! Then Mandy, Tammy, Sean, Travis and I headed to Ocoquan for the craft fair. Travis really enjoyed looking at all of the wooden cars people had made. Shocker he took home what had to be the largest one……a 7 car –auto carrier! After we got home Travis played for a bit and we stayed for a pizza dinner. Then we headed home since Travis was still tired from the game the night before.

Back to school BBQ and more!

This week Travis was really enjoying school. He really likes it there and is learning a whole lot! He loves to tell me what his “class job” was for the day and that his frog “stayed on green the whole day”. Travis is doing well with the magic tickets system as well. Basically if they are good for class time they get a ticket-when they get 10 tickets they get to pick out a prize. I can’t remember if I have mentioned this before or not but the prizes are things like cars, rings, stickers etc. He is really excited to be close to a prize!

Monday our new fridge and oven were delivered! They look great and thanks to Dad for coming over and helping Evan install them both. I can’t wait to test them out over the holidays when the double oven will really come in handy! For now though we have a fridge and an oven in the garage instead of a car!

Travis got his hair cut on Wednesday in preparation for next week’s school pictures. He was a lot wigglier than normal but as always Suzanna did a great job. Travis enjoyed chatting with her about various things and eating the chocolate from the front desk.

On Thursday Travis’ school had a “Back to School BBQ” with all kids and parents invited. We had to bring a dessert-our part of the alphabet were the dessert bringers. Travis had a blast running around and showing us all the cool stuff. It looks like the highlights for him on the playground are the sandbox and the tricycles. They have these super heavy duty tricycles and a figure 8 track the kids ride on. There is even a designated spot for the kids to stand to wait for their turn! Travis was riding around like a speed demon-shocker. Mel, Dale and their 2 kids Brandon and Mason were there too since Brandon is in the preschool program there. It was nice hanging out with them while chasing Travis at the same time!

Friday I went out to Amy’s house after work for her “Tastefully Simple” party. This is basically an excuse to get girls together for some drinks and to taste a bunch of fun dips. desserts and soups. I got a few things….I can never turn down food! LOL!

On Saturday we hung around the house for the most part and watched the Tech game in the afternoon. Somehow Tech beat UNC! Travis and I were over at Kelly’s house playing so I missed most of the game. Kelly and Travis get along so well it is too cute. Sometimes I wonder how they will be together when they get older. Will they be best buddies? Will they date? I know her Dad has already warned Travis about the dating-LOL!

For some strange reason we decided to clean the garage on Sunday. This is an undertaking and a half. Why did we say we would do this? Crazy! Evan spent his time putting a storage unit on the ceiling and I cleaned out most of the cubes on the shelf. Travis “helped” by moving the piles from place to place. Eventually he wanted to go inside and watch TV so I took him in. Later in the day it was (more or less) done…though we still can’t fit another car in the garage because Travis has so many big toys….Jeep, wagon, car, big wheel, scooter etc. It looks clean though and that is all that matters!

1st home football game for us!

Travis has been enjoying his new school a lot and they are learning through books. This week began the Curious George section which is one of Travis' favorites. I know a lot of schools do this now but I think it's a really neat concept. One of the things is all of the kids will be bringing in items for a "Me Museum" since they are probably curious about each other. Basically they bring in 3-5 things about them and the other kids can ask questions etc. Travis' turn will be next week.

On Friday we all headed to Blacksburg around lunch time. Skippy rode with us as well since he was up here for a concert the night before. Travis was very excited about heading to Blacksburg again. This was an experiment for the remainder of the season......... When we got into town we dropped all of our stuff at Skippy's house and headed downtown for Happy Hour/dinner at the Hokie House. Travis didn't really want to eat since he found the only videogame in the whole place-I think it was called Buck Hunter or something like that. So that kept him entertained for a long time but he did need a lot of adult assistance with it. Then we left and went to the drillfield to just run around. He watched the Corps get yelled at and have to run around-though he didn't want to get too close-lol. At that point Travis wanted ice cream so we went to the Ben and Jerry's in town. He had a hard time deciding what to get but it was all fine in the end. Then we got back to Skippy's and Travis crashed hard!

Saturday morning Evan went to tailgate spot around 7am while Travis and I hung around Skippy's a little. Eventually we got going and went to Kroger for some tailgate shopping. He and I got to lot #8 at around 9am--now this is impressive since the game wasn't until 3:30pm. Tailgating for us was a lot of running around and applying sunscreen since it was bright and sunny and sooooo HOT! Travis had a blast though and was really tired-this worried us a little since the game hadn't even started. He had been asking us if it was time for the game about every hour all day long. Thankfully it was time to go and he started to get really excited when he saw all of the people and the stadium. He started shouting back "Let's Go Hokies" in the mass of people waiting to get into the stadium. We got to our seats and he got soooo into it! Clapping/screaming when the defense was on the field/high fives for scores etc. He watched the whole game! I was in shock since I was assuming the worst and I might get 1 quarter out of him. After the big victory we went back to the tailgate spot and Travis ran around a little more but it was getting late-8ish and it had been a long day. We took him back to Skippy's and gave him a bath and he was asleep about a minute after he laid down.

Sunday we headed back home in the morning and didn't do a whole lot for the rest of the day. I did clean out the fridge a bit since the new one was getting delivered on Monday.

1st week of Pre-K!!!!!

Labor day was quiet at our house. Just some errands and getting ready for the week ahead….. Nothing too exciting that I can recall-lol. We did normal activities such as books, Legos, Xbox, cars and scrapbooking (well that was me and not Evan or Travis). Travis was excited to get his stuff ready for his 1st day of Pre-K!

On the 1st day of school Travis was excited but also wanted it to be Saturday so he didn’t have to go-lol. I told him he couldn’t have it both ways but he would be having so much fun when he got there it wouldn’t matter. So we packed his lunch and backpack and off he went! He has really enjoyed getting to know his new friends. Some of the kids were there for the summer camp as well but some are brand new to the school. Most of the kids only stay for the pre-k part of the day so at the end of the day he is in a class with some older and some younger kids. He was very excited about his daily jobs at school…one day he was attendance helper, another he was flag holder, snack helper etc. He thinks these jobs are super cool-definitely not something they did at his old school. That place was more chaos than a school most of the time. They also have these frogs with their names on them that need to stay on “green”. If they act up/don’t listen etc they move to yellow, red etc. I know a lot of elementary schools do this but I like they did it in pre-k too. Travis is so excited to tell me he “has been on green all day-of course”! They are doing the learning with books thing that a lot of school do these days. The 1st two weeks they are doing Curious George-one of Travis’ favorites. So all of the lessons and crafts revolve around the book. It’s a neat concept!

We decided after a small refrigerator mishap that we would get a new one. I wanted the french door kind with the freezer on the bottom but Evan wasn’t a fan so I said the side by side was fine. He thought he would be constantly kicking the freezer door shut which is definitely possible. So they one we got is basically like the one we have except the ice is in the door instead of on the top shelf and going down the chute and the doors are smooth not bumpy like they normally are. The doors are also concave which looked a lot different to me which I liked. Sears was running a special when you buy more appliances-yes I’m aware there is always something like this going on. So the big thing is that I got a DOUBLE OVEN! I am sooooo excited! Every time we have a party/people over I wish I had more than one oven. So they are both getting delivered next week! So excited!

Late in the week we were watching the weather closely since Hurricane Hannah was on its way to the east coast. This was a problem for 2 reasons…..1)there was a Tech game on Saturday and 2) our basement is prone to flooding. We waited until Thursday night to make the decision to stay home and monitor the basement. Thankfully Evan was able to sell our tickets-below face but something is better than nothing!

On Saturday morning the rain started coming down in buckets-we probably got at least 5 inches of rain. Thankfully the basement didn’t flood but I’m sure it would have been if we hadn’t been home. We watched the game on the internet and spent most of the day lazing around the house since we were trapped inside! Though there were times I saw a river on the side of our house and a lake in the front yard! Later that night Tammy, Sean, Mandy and Charlie came over to hang out/play Wii. They saw Travis for about 30 minutes and then it was time for him to go to bed. The rest of the evening was spent playing Wii and laughing at the boys and their Wii abilities!

Sunday was a day full of errands and stuff around the house. Evan fixed his lawn mower, mowed the lawn, tried to fix the hot tub and other things I can’t remember. I was doing other fun things like getting groceries, doing laundry, putting up some fall decoration in the house and entertaining Travis and Kelly.

A week with Grammy and Poppy since school is still closed.....

Last week Travis ‘ school was still closed to get ready for the new school year. Evan’s parents came up to watch him during the week so we could go to work etc. They had a lot of fun playing games, Legos, reading books and spending time playing Xbox!

On Thursday Rob and Angie came over for the afternoon/dinner. They had a good time playing with Travis and we liked visiting with them……even though it wasn’t for long. We ordered from the local sushi place up the street-YUMMY! I don’t eat sushi but they have this killer buffalo shrimp and grown ups mac and cheese that has jalapenos and salsa in it! Everyone else had some type of sushi. I think Travis chose to have PB&J! LOL

Friday was the last day of the quarter for me at work. I worked a little late and got home around 7pm. Not too bad considering there have been some quarters where I was here at 2am on the last day! Evan was at his fantasy football draft and ended up not coming home because they played poker until about 4am. Craziness in my opinion!

Saturday morning Evan’s parents got on the road to try and beat some of the holiday traffic. We didn’t do a whole lot during the day other than the normal stuff….legos, books, xbox etc. In the evening we went over to Jenni and Steve’s house for their annual Labor Day BBQ. It was nice to see everyone…Jenni, Steve, Glory, Frank, Mo, Keith, Kerri and Greg…..and of course all of the kids! The kids had a lot of fun playing in the basement and riding bikes in the cul-de-sac. Travis was pretty tired when we got home at around 10pm!

Sunday we had a quiet morning and then Erinn came over around noon to scrapbook with me all day! Woohoo! I love those days where we can do that all day long! Travis and Evan went to the Lego show in Tysons. Travis loved it all and had fun playing with the Legos there and buying some little Lego accessories. Mike and the kids came over for dinner and we had a feast on the grill. The kids played for awhile while Erinn and I scrapped and Evan and Mike chatted. Mike and the kids eventually went home and Evan put Travis to bed. Erinn left around 11:30!

Travis goes back to school next week so stay tuned…..

Very quiet around here last week....

Last week Travis’ school was closed to get ready for the new school year. They will also be closed the last week of this month. Originially we were supposed to be at Evan’s parents house Monday and Tuesday but the death in the family changed those plans and we came home on Saturday. So I stayed home with Travis on Monday and Tuesday….we had a lot of fun going to the pool, playing Candyland and Zingo and spending a long time shopping at Wegman’s!

The remainder of the week Evan took him to my parents house and I picked him up after work. They had a lot of fun going to the toy store, to Red Robin, to the O Club pool and just hanging around the house. Travis loves helping Grampa in the yard and there was some of that as well!

The weekend was very quiet and filled with the typical things…going to the pool, playing Candyland/Zingo, playing Xbox and building with the Legos. Evan’s parents came up on Sunday since they are watching Travis for the next week. We had a nice dinner on the grill and wrapped up a quiet week!

Went to Nags Head (but I missed a week of blogging-sorry!)

So I never got around to last week’s update since we were on vacation….and now I can’t remember what went on….so we will move on to last week! LOL

We left on Friday and headed to Evan’s parents house for the evening. Traffic was awful but Travis was so good in the car. We couldn’t complain. Got to his parents house around 10:30ish and visited for a few minutes and went to bed. In the morning Jamey made us all blueberry pancakes and Travis gobbled them up! Later in the morning we headed down to the local Estuarium. I had never been to one before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Basically it’s an area of marshes etc where various turtles, fish and ducks make their home. Travis enjoyed checking out the turtles the most and we posed with a giant crab on the way out!

Around lunch time we packed up and drove 2 hours to Nags Head. Travis was getting so excited about the beach that he freaked out every time he saw a seagull! We went to Sonic when we got into town since Mark and Amy weren’t back with the key to the house yet. We got a call when we were waiting for our food that Evan’s Uncle Dan had passed away that am in a car accident. So sad…..they think he had a heart attack and then crashed his car but the autopsy will take 6-8 weeks. We got to the beach house and unpacked our mass of stuff. Amy and I then went to the Harris Teeter in town and stocked up for the week. The rest of the week was a bit of a blur but I will do my best….lol….

Almost every day we started the day at the beach. The kids were really into making moats and sandcastles. Travis and Grant were loving using the boogie boards. Grant had done this last summer but Travis had no idea. He had a blast and laughed the whole time-even when a wave was knocking him down! I had to pluck him out of the undertow a few times but he came up smiling every single time! Usually we would go to the pool at the house in the afternoons but the pool was soooooo cold! The kids ended up swimming in the “hot pool” aka the hot tub that we turned down to about 95 degrees. At least we knew they could all stand up in there-lol. In the evenings we usually went out to dinner to various places…..Mako Mike’s…Sam and Omie’s….Barefoot Bernie’s…..and one night the boys grilled out a HUGE feast-kabobs, hot dogs, shrimp, hamburgers and corn!

One day it rained the entire day so we went out to Roanoke Island to the Aquarium. Thankfully we got there early and waited in line for about 2 minutes. When we left the line was HUGE! We saw the diver show where the diver is talking in a tank of sharks-the kids thought that was pretty cool. Travis’ favorite parts were the otters (they pooped-lol) and the person in the frog costume! It was a good rainy day activity for them. Then we stopped off in Manteo for lunch and to look at the boats. Travis had a fit because his grilled cheese had cheddar on it-gasp! We left with him screaming-sigh. I fixed him a correct grilled cheese when we got to the beach house and he ate it up! We also rode the go carts and the bumper cars. Travis squealed and laughed the entire time! He loved it! Next year he will be tall enough to drive the junior carts himself. On Friday am we took him to play putt putt at the Jurrasic Putt. He was really enjoying it! We didn’t keep score but he did pretty well for a little guy. He also enjoyed seeing all of the dinosaur statues and even posed with a few of them!

Overall the beach was a huge success! Can’t wait to go again very soon!

We got home on Saturday and dropped Travis off with my parents. We had tickets to the Improv to see Mitch Fatel with Tammy, Sean, Mandy and Charlie. Went to Tammy’s place to meet everyone for apps and drinks before hitting the metro. It was a lot of fun at the club…..both comics were very funny. After the show was over we wandered over to the “Lucky Bar”. Ironically my friend Kori was there with her husband Brendan. She lives in Richmond and we talk occasionally over email but it’s been years since we’ve seen each other. Small world! Then the entire bar went nuts to see Phelps win his last gold medal-a pretty surreal experience to be in a bar with everyone cheering for the Americans to win! Last but not least we stopped at the Cheesecake Factory by Tammy’s place for some to-go cheesecake. Yummy!

Sunday was quiet for the most part. We went to Maggianos for dinner…..to celebrate Tammy’s bday! Travis was so good for the 3 hours we were there-probably because of the Indiana Jones Legos! The food was great and hanging out with everyone is always a good time!

Mommy and Me weekend!

This past week was pretty much the normal weekly routine. Travis’ summer camp theme was “the land of the littles”. Travis was not to thrilled about this one. He kept saying it was for girls-probably because they talked about fairies a lot. They did watch Peter Pan one day though which he did enjoy. He has been quoting it for weeks now…. Lol.

On Friday Evan went to Chicago with Mike, Chris and CL to attend Lollapallooza. This is their annual boys trip and they were excited. They were there Friday am-Monday am and had a blast. There are some pictures that will be in the August albums. Travis and I had a “Mommy and me” weekend. I think we spent Friday evening just hanging out watching TV and such-I can’t remember if we did anything else-scary I know.

Saturday we spent about 3 hours at the pool and then off to the grocery store for some last minute items. Saturday evening I hosted a Southern Living at Home party. It’s always nice to have a bunch of friends over and shop! My dad and Sean came over to watch Travis in the basement while the party was happening. Everyone seemed to have fun and got a bunch a cute stuff! It should all be delivered in the next few weeks-exciting!

Sunday Travis and I hung around the house in the AM since he was still tired from the night before. He didn’t go to bed on Satruday night until around 10:30 because of the party etc. So we laid around…watched TV and read books. Then we went over to Jenni and Steve’s for her Lia Sophia party. I bought 2 necklaces and 2 bracelets-all silver-no shock there. Travis had a blast playing with JP and Logan. He had so much fun that we stayed for dinner and didn’t go home until after 7pm! Travis was exhasted when we got home so it was straight to bed for him.

We had a great weekend my boy and I……. :)

Welcome......to Medieval Times!!!!!!!

The highlight of the early part of the week was that Travis got his haircut. It was definitely time for it…he was looking a little scraggily. I take him to the place where I go and my girl Suzanna does his hair. She does such a great job and works with him so well. It’s only about $5 more than when I used to take him to Cartoon Cuts! Cartoon cuts always did a crappy job and basically buzzed his head. Travis looks better with some hair on his head-some kids can get away with the buzz look but I think Travis’ head is too big-lol. His haircut looks great and I only had to bribe him with 2 pieces of chocolate to sit still! That is a record!

Friday Evan went to Philly for the Coldplay concert. He met up with Ann Marie, Rob and Andy up there. I heard they went to a bar and something about open bar at the show. It wasn’t a good thing for some people in the group from what I hear…. I think they all had fun though. Travis and I went to dinner on Friday night with my parents to Red Robin (Travis’ choice). He ate dinner well and stayed in his seat most of the time so I consider it a success. The rest of the evening was quiet for us.

On Saturday Travis and I made our way to the pool for a few hours. Always a lot of fun and Travis met a new friend Ben that will be in Kindergarten the same year as Travis. Maybe they will be in the same class…who knows! Then we rushed home for me to get a shower etc and we were off to Medieval Times! Travis was so excited about this! They had been studying the Medieval period at school and he was getting into the knights, castles etc. One of the teachers mentioned she had taken her kids there that week and until September 1st kids were free! So I made reservations for us to go to the 4pm show. It took about an hour and 15 minutes to get there (it’s east of Columbia in Arundel Mills). Evan was meeting us there since he was coming from Philly. He got there well before us so he decided to go to the movies…saw “Stepbrother” and said it was pretty funny. Once we got into the mall and Travis could see the people dressed up etc he was sooooooo excited! We sat in the front row and cheered for the black and white knight. Travis really got into the cheering etc. Eating with our hands was a treat as well! He loved every minute of it! When it was over he wanted to go to the next show!

Sunday we actually didn’t do much…a very lazy day around the house. There were storms in the area so no pool time at all. I went to the grocery store with Travis in the morning and spent the rest of the day on my scrapbook while Evan and Travis played the Indiana Jones Lego game on Xbox.

Frank Beamer's Ladies Football Clinic Weekend!

This week was quiet for us…until you got to the weekend (for me at least).

Friday bright and early I met Paige at Nordstrom in Tysons to shop the Anniversary sale. It was the 1st day of the sale and we were there when they opened at 8am! I had a list ready of the stuff I wanted to get. I got everything on my list with only 1 added item-not too bad! We had a great breakfast in the café, met Christine for coffee and then headed out of town.

This weekend was the Frank Beamer’s Ladies Football Clinic in Blacksburg. For those that have no idea what I’m talking about….basically you go there, meet the coaches, the players and learn a little about football at the same time. It’s also a great excuse to party in Blacksburg. We got into town around 2:30ish and checked into the hotel and then hit the bookstores. We started the drinking at the Hokie House at around 5pm. Ann Marie, Paige and I had 2 BAMs (big a$$ mugs)-this was nothing in compare to what was to come. Skippy and Koz met us there and I have no idea how many BAMs they had. Then we went to Sharkey’s which is now where Arnold’s used to be-totally odd but I guess it is a better ‘spot”. For some reason they have this crazy happy hour there. $1 single, $2 double and $3 triple until 8pm. This was insane. We all got $3 triples (my choice was vodka tonic) and they come in these huge 22oz glasses (check July pics-lol). This is where the evening went down hill. I can’t speak for everyone but I had 3 of these-wow-I think New Orleans was the last place I drank that much alcohol at once. I knew I was in trouble when it was almost 8pm and Skippy asked me if I was going to get one more. At this point I had barely drank anything in my 2nd one! So of course I got another and pounded the 2nd so I didn’t have to hold 2 glasses-lol. Thankfully I had at least some brain still turned on since I didn’t have anything alcohol-wise in the last hour we were there. We got back to the hotel around 12am and crashed since we wanted to be out of the hotel for the clinic at 8am.

Saturday morning I actually didn’t feel great in the tummy department but very little headache-so I guess the water I drank really helped! We were all up and dressed by 8am which was impressive! We got to the clinic and got into line to get our picture taken with Beamer. Then we hopped into a line to get our pics with Glennon, Tyrod and Kam Chancellor. Pretty cool. The highlight of the day was when Glennon, Tyrod and Kam were showing off the new uniforms and proceeded to strip one piece at a time. Hearing 80 year old women scream for 20 year old boys is pretty funny! We also got to see the recruiting video they show-hard to imagine people decide not to play at Tech after seeing that! Saturday evening we had dinner at Macado’s-yummy and went to the Rivermill to meet with Paige’s friend from high school.

Sunday was spent in the car-lol. When I got back I had to help look for Travis’ lost glasses. They were finally found on the roof of the Volvo. Travis didn’t want me to leave that night so I wasn’t able to go see Cal’s band. It was a one time only reunion show for “4 out of 5 Doctors” –they were a pop band in the very early 80s and opened for bands like The Clash and The Cars. I heard it was a great show! I saw some of it on YouTube.

A quiet week for us (hectic to some people maybe-lol)

On Monday we had to fly home from Banff. The bus left for the airport at 3:30am which was awful. The bus ride was an hour and a half-tried to sleep but really couldn’t. When we got to Calgary we were hoping to find a Red Carpet Club to get some snacks/drinks etc for free (since we were flying 1st class). Apparently they got rid of the club about 2 years ago but the United website still listed one in that airport-kinda weird but oh well. The flight to Chicago was fine though long. The flight home to Dulles however was interesting. There were storms in the area and we circled over West Virginia for almost 2 hours! At one point they were going to send us to Pittsburgh since we were low on fuel. Thankfully they “let us in” and we landed no problem. Travis was super excited to see us and that night Rob made us all dinner. Yummy!

This week at Travis’ school was learning about Dinosaurs. Travis was really into this since he loves all types of them! He walked around all week telling us we were either meat or plant eaters-lol. He came home on Friday with 4 great art projects including stegosaurus plates for his back-it was very cute and yes I did take pictures.

The rest of the week was kind of quiet for us. Friday night we did go to Herndon Live and had fun. Travis was good and we stayed until almost 9pm. The highlight for him was getting a Blizzard at Diary Queen on the way out. He likes the cookie dough one-like mother like son.

Saturday Travis and I went to the pool for a few hours while Evan did stuff around the house. He had fun and he was so tired when we got back to the house. That night Mike came over and we had sushi from Hooked (up the street) and played Rockband for most of the evening. Mike plays on expert and improves as he drinks more-lol.

Sunday morning Evan and Mike got up to play golf. Travis and I hung around the house. He played the Indiana Jones game while I scrapbooked a little. It was a lazy day for us. Kind of nice to have nothing “scheduled” for once.

The 4th of July in Canada?

So swimming lessons did not go very well. The issue was he got way too much confidence in the water on Sunday. Jumping in the deep end and doggie paddling to the wall. When we went to lessons on Monday he wasn’t interested in doing his lesson. He said, “I know how to swim Mommy”. I guess he told me…..we went Monday and Tuesday and he jumped in and out of the pool the whole time. Oh well-I guess I won’t be signing him up next year. He should be a decent swimmer by the end of the summer on his own.

Evan’s parents came up on Wednesday to watch Travis while we go on our trip. They picked him up from school- which he thought was a real treat! This week the theme at camp was “ancient Egyptians” so Travis came home every day talking about pyramids, mummies and Egypt. He seems to really be enjoying the new school and learning A LOT! Travis did a lot of fun things while Grammy and Poppy were watching him. They went and saw fireworks, went to the pool and saw the movie Wall-E!

On Thursday morning we left for the Oracle Club trip in Banff, Canada. It was a long travel day but we were able to sit in the Red Carpet Club and ride 1st class from Chicago to Calgary! It was an almost 2 hour bus ride to the hotel from the airport. This was awful. We were all hungry and tired from traveling all day. We finally got to the hotel around 8:30pm and checked in, got our cool gifts and off to dinner! Dinner the 1st night was at the “Waldhouse” which was behind the hotel. It was a cool little pub and they had a great wiener-schnitzel sandwich! Strongbow in bottles never hurts either! We realized at dinner that it doesn’t get dark there until after 10pm at night-kind of a crazy concept!

Friday morning we had the free buffet breakfast and then I had to head off to my “meeting”. This is the way Oracle says it’s a work function so the employees don’t pay taxes. It was a teambuiliding event. “Joe Davidson’s grill camp”…..we got there and had to chose a number which put us in groups. Joe taught us about BBQ etc and then the teams split off to the 45+ grills to start the competition! Every team had 6 people and every person had a specific task-I was the teams judge and had to go to the judging tent and taste a lot of the food. It was sausage, pork and chicken. We all had a lot of fun! Our team placed 3rd in chicken! LOL It’s pretty funny to admit that!

The rest of Friday we putzed around until it was time for the “welcome reception”. This was basically an opportunity for free alcohol and food. Everyone loaded up on both and then we headed downtown. It’s only about a mile to downtown but the evenings are chilly so we took a cab. All of the people from my floor that were there met at a bar called “Tommy’s”. Basically we took the place over! They had Strongbow in cans so that was a plus…… A little later we wandered to an Irish pub and ate some food and had Strongbow on tap! Woohoo Strongbow! What a way to celebrate the 4th of July!

Saturday was “activity day”. We had a list of things to choose from this day and Oracle picked up the tab. Evan played golf with the elk and I went to the spa for a mani/pedi. It was a long day for the golfers since it was a shotgun start—it took them about 6 hours to finish the course! We had some downtime after that before the next happy hour and the awards dinner! The free alcohol was a plus but the band was awful. The field had the Who and we got some crappy local Canadian band. It happens every year though so we are used to it. After the dinner we all headed downtown again to “Rose and Crown”. This was a pretty cool bar with pool tables etc. Everyone continued to pour the alcohol in……

Sunday was a day off from organized activities. Evan played golf again and I wandered downtown. We both went to the pool later and then went to the Grizzly House for some super tasty fondue! This place was even better than the Melting Pot…..mmmmmm….melted cheese and chocolate! We were in early on Sunday since we had to be on the bus at 3:30 am to go back to the airport!

New school has started!

This week started with Travis going to summer camp at his new school. He is attending Discovery Oaks Academy in Sterling and will be in the Pre-K class in the fall. It seems to be a great school and it backs up to Claude Moore Park so there is a massive playground in the backyard. We have heard nothing but great things about this school so it was very exciting for Travis to finally start! Travis wasn’t 100% sure about being there so every morning he cried and had to be held back while I walked out of the door. About 5 minutes later every day he was all done crying and playing with the other kids. Every week is a different theme-the 1st week was “Eager Explorers”. Travis made a map and they had a cool scavenger hunt in the backyard. Every day he was playing happily when I picked him up which is nice! He goes to school in his bathing suit every day since they have splash pools/sprinklers every morning for the kids. Travis loves this!

Swimming lessons started up this week as well. Travis did pretty well the 1st few days but his attention span isn’t the best. He tends to wander away from the group. Since he is very tall he can stand up in most of the shallow end so it isn’t a huge deal. The teacher had to keep asking him to put his hands on the wall-lol.

Friday everyone in my division went to the Nats game in DC. I hadn’t been to the new stadium yet so it was really nice! The Nats played the Orioles and beat them 4-2. We all had a great time and I loved having everything paid for by the company! Nats dollars are the way to go!

Saturday we spent a little time at the pool in the morning and then I went to the DMB concert with Tammy, Mandy and Charlie while Evan and Travis went to a cookout at Chris and Missy’s house. We had a great time at the concert and Evan and Travis had fun at Chris and Missy’s. A good time was had by everyone on Saturday evening!

Sunday we went to the pool in the Am again and Travis actually swam by HIMSELF! He has mastered the fine art of jumping off the side in the deep end and swimming (doggy paddle) about 5 feet away. He did this over and over and over again. Built up a ton of confidence! In the early afternoon we headed over to Mom and Dad’s for a belated Father’s day cookout. Almost everyone was out of town on Father’s day so we decided to delay the proceedings. It was good to hang out, eat, and for the boys to yell at the TV while watching the Euro soccer final.

AC, pool and bouncing fun!

We spent Monday and Tuesday still in Atlantic City with Cal and Wendy. We spent the morning wandering around the boardwalk and checking out other casinos. It’s always fun to gamble in my opinion! Pretty much we gambled, drank and ate! We had a blast and didn’t want to leave-already want to plan another trip! The best part is Cal and Wendy came out way ahead, Evan was even and I was only down about $100. Not too shabby!

Wednesday and Thursday Evan and I shared watching Travis since his school doesn’t start until Monday the 23rd. I can’t remember how we spent the days but I think there was the pool in there somewhere and playing his new favorite- the Star Wars Lego game.

Friday Travis and I went with my parents to the O Club pool at Ft. Belvoir. Travis really enjoyed watching Grampa dive off the diving board-he wanted to try it too but it was really busy and we didn’t think it would be a good idea to watch him walk on and off the board with a line forming. He also enjoyed watching all of the boats running down the Potomac-since it backs up to the river you have a perfect view of the river and the boats while at the pool. We had a nice lunch of hotdogs and french fries and then packed up to head back. When we got back to their house we made ice cream! Travis loves to help make ice cream-oh and he loves to eat it too! We went to Herndon Live in the evening and Travis had a blast running around and rolling down the hill with JP and Logan. He also enjoyed his pizza dinner, Blizzard dessert and playing with Ryan, Camryn, Nicholas and Sarah on the blankets. He was so sweet to put a video on my phone (from You Tube) for Sarah saying that “maybe the baby wants to watch a movie”. It was cute-especially when he said she wanted to watch Army trucks! LOL!

Saturday morning we took Travis to the driving range to hit some balls with his new golf clubs. I got some cute pictures and a few videos. He wasn’t that bad at it actually and connected a lot of the time. The only issue was that he didn’t listen to Evan when he was trying to tell him how to stand etc. Oh well-maybe he will learn soon enough. He really enjoyed himself and asked about 20 times to go back. I think the rest of the day was mostly just errands and hanging around the house. Evan went to a happy hour in the evening and Travis and I ordered dinner in.

Sunday we went to the House of Bounce for JP’s birthday party. As always it was a lot of fun and I took a ton of pictures. Travis was so tried from it that he had a small cat nap in the car on the way home. Mandy and Charlie came over around 4ish to watch Travis while Evan and I went down town to see Pearl Jam. We met up with Rob, Angie and few other people at a bar/restaurant called Poste. We drank a lot of expensive drinks and everyone was pretty toasty when we walked over to the show. The show was really good. I would have liked a few more old songs and a few less new ones but it was a great show overall. They still rock after all these years.

Pool, Pool and More pool!

Last week Evan was in Europe. Since Travis still didn't have a babysitter (see last week's post) and doesn't start school until the 23rd....I had to stay home a lot with him.. He went to work with me in the AM for a few days and then worked from home in the PM. We went to the pool for hours every day-Travis thought he had dies and gone to pool-heaven!

Evan got home on Wednesday though which helped out for the end of the week.

Travis and Evan went to Herndon Live on Friday night and I went to Clyde's for some drinks with Glory, Jenni, Christine and Eilynn. It was fun and I LOVE the Ruby Rita from Clyde's! It's always good to catch up with people. I got home and put Travis to bed and called it a night.

On Saturday Travis and I went to see Kung Fu Panda with Glory, Amber and Chance. It was Chance's 1st movie and he did great! All the kids really seemed to enjoy it and there wasn't any fussing. Plus we got free movie passes because the movie was messed up when we got there. Gotta love a free movie! I left for Erinn's when I got home so I could scrapbook with her. I got there at about 2pm and stayed until almost midnight. I love getting caught up....I scrapped everything up until Travis' birthday weekend. Woohoo!

On Sunday we had a nice Father's Day. We gave Evan one of his presents and had a nice breakfast out. My parents came over in the early afternoon to pick up Travis for the next few days. He stayed with them Sunday-Tuesday while we went to Atlantic City with Cal and Wendy. We left here around 2pm and were in our room at around 6:30ish I think. We hit the tables that night and Cal got a 4-of-a-kind at "Let it Ride" and won $2200! He was excited-especially since Wendy wasn't having such good luck-lol. We stayed up until about 3am the 1st night after a lot of vodka tonics and gambling. More on our AC trip next week.