Royal Wedding

Saturday was the big royal wedding and the kids had fun watching a little on TV.  (We certainly didn't get up at 4 am to watch the coverage!)

Afterwards, I took the kids on a Starbucks date ;-)  I'm not sure Fielder really needed a "double chocolate chip frappacino" but he sure enjoyed it! 

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to me!  And to my Mom too of course!

I started my day with a great run - I'm loving my new routes I've been trying lately from the new house.  As soon as I got home, Fielder was so excited to give me his card and things he had made at school.  (I'll have to add photos....)

After a little "neighborhood drama" (my friend found a gun in the road right by our house and police came out.....yikes!!) the kids gave me my present - a new fitbit!!  So excited!!

Then Rob suggested that he take the kids to McDonalds for breakfast.  I felt *slightly* guilty to not go with them, but I was pretty happy with the idea of breakfast alone and time to set up my fitbit.  Then we headed to Gallmeyer Farms to go strawberry picking! 

After strawberry picking and Kona Ice to cool off, we headed home to get ready for lunch with my Mom! She came over and we made salads from lettuce Fielder had grown at school, spinach from our garden, and fresh picked strawberries.  After lunch, we put Mom to work in my yard.  She helped me plant some things from her garden.  I can't wait to see if they do well!!  I was so happy to have some beautiful roses from my yard to enjoy over the weekend.  I hope I can keep them alive!!

After Mom left, I was exhausted and got to lay down on the couch for a bit!  (nothing like a relaxing nap with Fielder jumping all over me.)  Then Rob made dinner - grilled salmon and my new favorite wine, then strawberry shortcake.  I'd say it was a good day! 

KD #2

 Kings Dominion, round 2.  This time we said from the beginning we would only stay for the morning, eat lunch and hit the road.  We spent about 3 hours doing all the rides we wanted (barely any lines!) We weren't nearly as exhausted as our last trip.  It worked out really well!

 Here's Claire driving the old-fashioned cars.  She told me she couldn't take her eyes off the road!!

 And Fielder drove the car behind us with Daddy

Take me out to the ball game!

 We went to Fielder's first baseball game at the Diamond a couple weekends ago.  On Sundays, kids get free tickets and get to throw baseballs on the field before the game.  Everyone seemed to have fun!  I forgot how long baseball can be, but Fielder was determined we would stay to the end.  The main event for him was the food of course!  He was thrilled to have soda and then finished off an entire funnel cake by himself (in addition to a hot dog, chips, and a little of Claire's cotton candy!)  We definitely made up for the "free tickets" in food purchases.

 We were all excited for the Flying Squirrels to win!  (I think this picture he was being a little extra silly, or maybe it's the sugar kicking in)

Bunnies!

We have bunnies!  My plants and hopes of a vegetable garden are doomed....but Fielder was so excited when we discovered this bunny nest.  We checked on the nest many times and were very lucky to happen to be there when they were all hopping around the yard one night.  Then the next day they disappeared!  I have a feeling they haven't gone far and Mama could be back with more babies one day. 

They named the babies and Mama (Mrs. Lovable)

KD

We're mixing it up this year and got season passes to Kings Dominion instead of BG/WC.  We thought it would be fun to try something new! 






Fielder *JUST* made the 48" cut-off!!  PHEW!!  I measured him in the morning at home.....and it was really really close....I was not sure at all he'd get that 48" bracelet.  He got pretty upset at home and I was worried that it was going to be a disaster.  So we went to the measuring station first thing and as the guy was pulling out a 46" bracelet, I said "Are you sure????....let's check again" and sure enough he was right at 48" (with shoes.)  Thank goodness!!  He was so excited to be able to ride on just about everything.  (Unfortunately he's not going to make that cut-off for the waterpark when he's barefoot but we'll deal with that later.)

After going up to the top of the Eiffel tower to look around, we decided on our first ride - which happens to be my first roller coaster when I was a kid!  I think it's called Woodstock Express, used to be Scoobie Doo.  Claire was so nervous....she really didn't want to, but I asked her if she would just try it one time and if she didn't like it, I wouldn't make her go on it ever again.  She was so nervous headed up that first big hill so I was trying to distract her by asking silly questions.  She screamed the whole way, but LOVED it!!  YAY!  A ride that we all can do together :-)

Now that they were feeling brave, we headed to Avalanche.  Another ride I remember riding years ago!!  This one is really fun with no steep hills so I knew if Claire would only try it, she'd love it.  And I was right!  It was her favorite of the day.

They did the scrambler (ugh, that one makes me sick.) 

And Fielder did The Grizzly!!  Here he is pointing to it.  He was quite proud of himself.  We all got so tired and stayed there a few hours too many....Fielder was losing it and really, we all kind of were so we rode Woodstock Express as our last ride of the day and headed home.  We're excited to go again (and this time only stay for the morning.)  My prediction is by the end of the summer, Fielder will have tried all the coasters he's allowed to do, including Anaconda which goes upside down.  We'll see....he's pretty nervous about that one.  I wish I still had my love for roller coasters....at least I can tolerate a few to ride with Claire.

2018 so far...

Lots going on in 2018 so far including a major change...but I'll get to that in a minute....first up, Valentine's Day.  Nothing over the top, but kids had fun getting a few treats.

Fielder hit day 100 of Kindergarten!  Woo hoo! 

 Claire has been enjoying her girl scout troop!  February and March was ALL about cookies.  She sold tons, I think close to 300 boxes between her initial orders and booth sales at Walmart/Kroger.  It was a lot of work, but we had fun with it and I even got to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in YEARS that were so nice to order cookies from her.  Girl Scouts has been wonderful, wish we'd found the troop years ago.

March was a big birthday month for my Mom and Aunt.  Uncle Chuck threw them a party and it was a fun chance to see baby Wade again.  So sweet!  He stared at his mama the whole time Claire held him!

Can't forget the leprachaun in March.  Fielder set a great trap and wrote him a little note to trick him into going in the trap.  We almost got him this year, but he managed to get away.

My friend from VCU, Dr. Pittman spoils us and gave us a gift card to a new favorite place, Celesti Gelati!  So delicious!!

 He also gave the kids Barnes and Noble gift cards for Chinese New Year.  We had a lot of fun picking out new books (Fielder even did GREAT with staying on budget!) and we even got a little cookie treat from the starbucks ;-)

Then we get to end of March/1st of April with Easter weekend.....in our NEW HOUSE!!!  Say what?!  Yep, in January Rob and I decided we were ready for a change.  There was nothing wrong with the old house, but we just felt it wasn't "The House" for us long term and if it wasn't our house long-term, why not go ahead and do it now.  We wanted a fresh start!  So we met with our realtor to "just start thinking about the process and maybe put the house on the market in the Spring."  That afternoon we drove by a house just to see it, the next day went to a showing, scheduled a 2nd showing the following day and put in an offer!!  The truth however is that Rob and I had been hunting online for months (maybe years?) so this wasn't really the first house we'd considered.  I had even seen it listed before our meeting with our realtor, but didn't think we were in a position to be able to buy right then.  Once the offer was accepted, I literally got our house ready to go on the market in the same week!  We had a snow day so I sent the kids to daycare and I worked like crazy to organize, purge, re-arrange furniture and clean.  The next day they took pictures and the next day it went on the market. CRAZY!!  After almost 2 weeks with a TON of showings and no offers, we lowered the price a bit and it sold that weekend.  Then all we had to do was wait 2 months til moving day!  I still can't believe how easy the process was with very little stress.  We moved in at the end of March (on a Thursday) and I took Friday off to get settled.  By Sunday morning we were celebrating Easter in our new house - and I even managed to decorate and notify the Bunny of our new address.  So far it's been a wonderful change for our family!

The Easter Bunny heard we now have a nice big backyard so he brought a few outdoor toys!

Popa came to see the new place and bring Easter baskets too!

Easter on Parade!  It was a great day and kids did really well - even Fielder!  We got to see all our favorites, have popsicles from King of Pops, and picked up a fancy Easter dinner on the way home.  Just kidding, it was Chicken Fiesta (Fielder's new favorite!)

Phew....so that's what's been going on for us so far this year!