Fall leaves and then some...

To all those people who say they love living in the Northern Virginia area because you get to experience all four seasons, I say, "wanna come to my house and help rake leaves"????? OMG, they are out of control. It seems like we've been raking non-stop for the last two weeks and we've just finally made a serious dent. I didn't think they were ever going to end and we actually quit counting at 100 bags full. And, I'm sad to say that there are still some left on the trees. We have them piled up along our fenceline and behind the screen porch not to mention the 20+ bags out in front of the house along the curb waiting for this Wednesday's pick up.

But for Christian and his buddy J.R. who lives across the street, they were a blast to play in! A few more years though and Christian won't think they're nearly as much fun when he becomes part of the clean up crew!

All I've got to say now is "think snow". I'll take a few hours of shoveling over days and days of raking any time.

Future Olympian!

Future Michael Phelps???? Never say never and a mommy can dream can't she? This kid sure does like the water and even practices his strokes and holding his breath under water when he's taking his bath. Shane snapped this picture of him last night.

He loves his swimming class and got to be the coach's helper this past Saturday demonstrating for the new kids the strokes they were going to practice. He thought that was pretty cool.

Everybody into the pool!

Happy Halloween!

Last night was pumpkin carving night at our house. Christian did most of the "goo scooping" and then I carved the face to his specifications. He was adamant that we have a vampire pumpkin this year with fangs.

He was very happy with the finished product and he's uber excited to go to the neighbor's Halloween party tonight and then on to trick-or-treating. Looks like we're going to have decent weather too -- I'm very happy about that.

I also had to include this picture I took of Christian with his friend Will at a neighborhood Halloween festival we went to on Sunday. Christian knew exactly who this guy was when he saw him since they've been learning all about the election at school. And even thought Christian says he is voting for Barack Obama he still wanted to get his picture taken with John McCain. So, no matter who you decide to vote for, you still have to admit this picture is pretty funny!

Have a great Halloween and a great weekend!

School Picture Day!

Remember when you were a kid how excited you were for school picture day? Well, today is the day for Christian and he was ready and raring to go this morning. He didn't want to eat breakfast or even watch any cartoons. He just wanted to get dressed and get to school.

Last night we got all his clothes ready. I let him choose his own shirt, tie and belt. He was so proud of his handsome self! This kid loves to wear a shirt and tie! Shane kids him and calls him Alex P. Keaton!

I'm sure it won't last forever. Soon he'll be wearing ripped up baggy old jeans and a t-shirt and wanting to let his hair grow -- I'm just going to enjoy this phase while it lasts.

Happy Friday -- have a great weekend! :0)

Busy Weekend!

It's hard to believe my first blog was almost a year ago and it was all about our day at Cox's Farm. We made our annual trek there again this past Saturday and it was a blast as usual. We've been going there with Christian since he was two years old and we always look forward to it. This year they added a new corn maze called the "Kornundrum" and it was Christian's favorite thing this time. We walked through it no less than five times!!! It's a great place to visit so if you get the chance to go I highly recommend it. They have tons to do and see -- we were there for over five hours!!!!! I'll let the pictures and videos do the talking....

Scary Monster!

Farmer Brown

Family Picture

Hatching

King of the hill

The Hayride

Hanging with the corn cob in the Kornundrum

Milking a cow

Riding a horse

Welcome Baby Ella!

Shane's niece Crystal and her husband Todd had their first child a few weeks ago -- a beautiful baby girl named Ella Marie. We finally got to meet her this past Sunday at a small get together at Shane's folk's house. Christian loved her. He wanted to hold her and touch her and watch her while she was sleeping. What is it about little kids being so drawn to babies? Even when we're out and about somewhere -- if he sees a baby he makes a beeline for it and asks, "can I look at your baby?" I know, I know, maybe we should have given him a sibling but alas it is much too late for that now. He'll just have to enjoy his cousins!

Captain Bailey!

We were on vacation the last two weeks of August. We went to Michigan for a week and visited with my family. One of the highlights of the trip was Christian getting to go into the cockpit of our airplane and sit in the Captain's seat and wear his hat. That's a pretty big deal when you're five and he loved it!

We had a great time in Michigan and for the most part had some pretty great weather. We spent several afternoon's at Aunt Mikki's pool and for the first time Christian swam without "swimmies".

We also spent a day on Mackinaw Island. Our weather was perfect. We took the ferry over at about 10:00 a.m. and the first thing we did was visit Fort Mackinaw. It's a really neat place so if you ever get the opportunity to visit you should. We had a picnic lunch in the park afterwards and then just walked around the island a bit before taking the ferry back to our car.

Riding on the ferry boat to the Island

Hanging out the soldiers

Learning about the rifles

The cannon was really loud!

Dressed like a little soldier

Another highlight of the trip was the bonfire at my brother Ted's place. Christian loved the bonfire because he got to play with his cousin Connor, roast marshmallows and eat smores and ride on Uncle Ted's 4-wheeler. I'm really disappointed in myself that I didn't take more pictures, especially since all of my siblings were there and it would have been great to get a picture of all of us together. I guess I was just having too much fun sitting around the fire and gabbing to think about getting the camera out.

Christian and Connor playing with their cowboy pistols

I did get a picture of the old high school gang when they stopped by my mom's to visit before we left. It's hard to believe we were ever in our teens and in high school but not hard to believe we're still friends. There's just something about growing up in a small town.

Julie, me, Mindy and Donna

We all loved visiting our Michigan family and like always, the time went by way too fast. Christian did not want to leave and can't wait to go back. He really wants to go in the winter so he can play in the snow so we may have to plan a Christmas visit soon.

Now, summer is over and school started back yesterday. We're looking forward to fall and all the fun it brings -- Cox's Farm, pumpkin carving, Halloween, raking leaves (not sure how fun that is!) -- hope your summer was as fun as ours.