Ravens Oct 2013

My Mother donates to the United Way foundation 

and so we were invited to their VIP Ravens event.
The kids had the BEST time! 

We got to hang out in the Club level, eat, play games and best of all

go on the field!!! 

Thank you again Mom!!!

 Lily couldn't quite figure out Poe. she kept petting him

Random pictures

September Update

So lets see whats been going on since our last post.
Brandon started back to school now in 1st grade! He was very excited to go back and although he doesn't tell me ANYTHING that really happens during the day I know he's enjoying himself. This year starts actual grades, I am surprised at how much I revert to being in school when hearing what he has to do. The thought of grades really stressed me out! Also because he can read the sight words the other kids get, he  is required to spell them. Since the only people reading this know me, you don't need me to tell you how much I HATED spelling tests. If it wasn't for spell check I would have never gotten a job. Thankfully I found an Ipad app that you can plug the words into so hopefully that will ease my anxiousness, oh and Brandon's.

Brandon also started this 4th year of soccer! Crazy! This is his third year with this set of coaches so we are so thankful for that. Its amazing the difference when you have "well meaning" parents who coach and parents who actually play the sport. They are now playing with all boys, full team sizes (not just 4 on 4) and in specific positions. They really focus on passing and so there are no real ball hogs. I don't see any other teams doing this so I think it's really all the coaches doing. We also signed him up for basketball!

As far as Lily goes she is walking like a pro, and talking up a storm! She now says:
Mommy, GO!, bubbles, dog, ball, baby, bye bye, shoes, fish, all done,mine, no, up. More I can't think of. She has almost all of her teeth in too!

She is still picky about her food, she refuses meat. She has a little attitude about anything she doesn't want to do, or anything you will not let her do. Her response is to throw her head back, which means it hits the floor or whatever object its near if you aren't careful. I am not going to lie, i am very concerned about her teenage years.
Lily loves bubbles, going down the slide (Hate swings) petting Animals. plays in the play house in the back yard. saying "hello" to EVERYONE see meets. doing hand motions for itsy bitsy spider, and clapping during happy and you know it. Adores music and dances to it all the time. She also knows the hand motion for "more" which she uses quite a lot when its a food she enjoys like pick ups, and macaroni and cheese. She also points to things She wants, and climbs to get anything else. Books seem to be her most favorite toy. She loves ones she can feel and ones she can pick up the pictures to find things hiding underneath. Brandon is still her favorite person, and can make her giggle at any time.

Lily just began gym class and it's so different then Brandon. She loves the songs part but when it comes to doing the activities she is very cautious. She doesn't like to walk on the gym mats, she will crawl. She will only go down the tumble track if I walk next to it and hold her hand. She just wants to play with the balls they have... I'm hoping by the end she warms up more. 

We have all sorts of Halloween activities coming up so I will post pix later!

Hershey Park

My parents were awesome enough to take the 4 of us to Hershey Park for the day

Brandon was very excited that he is now a Hershey Bar. 

Love this :) 

 Baby log ride

Per tradition with my parents, it began to rain when we first got there.

So we knew the routine. Brought out the ponchos and umbrellas and had a great time regardless!

Brandon and Kenn got on the Sidewinder Rollercoaster.

My parents and i watched down below thinking that brandon would come off crying...

And it was all smiles. My brave boy!

 so after that we got on a few more roller coasters,

the wild mouse (2x), Mine shaft with my dad and then us.

Then we finished with the very first roller coaster I went on as a child

the Super Dooper Looper

 being a ham...

we were at the park from 10am until 5pm!

We finished at everyone's favorite part the Chocolate Factory.

Lily got on her first ride too!

 She actually loved it. 

If it was better weather we would have done the water park, but next time!

We may need to do 2 days next year so the kids have time to do everything since lily will be big enough to go on real rides. 

We came home with great memories and chocolate. 

Perfect Sunday. 

OC 2013

Kenn and I were able to sneak out of work for 2 days so we took a 4 day trip to OC this year.

Brandon had been asking to go back since last year so we were very excited to get back.

Another big reason was this was Lily's first time at the beach!

We drove down on Friday morning, had no traffic got lunch and went to the beach.

We had a tent that someone had given us previously but never used.

It was pretty fantastic, it gave good shade for Lily and a place to put all of our stuff 

without getting sand everywhere. 

Day 1 at the beach. 

Lily.loved.it.

Below is her first time in the water

Brandon is like a teenager now!

He got a boogie board and everything!

Lily did not really like the non-wet sand.

She would sit in the tent and use the shovel to scoop it,

but not interested in putting her feet in it.

It was actually a blessing in disguise because I was able to keep her inside the tent 

without fear of her walking away. sort of like an invisible fence for babies.

I tried to get her to nap in the tent and even though she was VERY tired, and would lay down,

i was unsuccessful. 

i buried brandon like a merman

 Brandon and Daddy made a sand castle and moat

So second day not so great... Lily woke up with a fever. We went out for breakfast,

then picked up medicine for her and she slept in the room with me while the guys went to the beach.

around noon we went to the beach. lily wanted NOTHING to do with the water today.

I did put a bucket of water at the tent and she would splash in that.

She just hung around the tent for 2 hrs, and we gave up. 

That night we went to dinner and the boardwalk and Lily just hung out in the stroller. 

Brandon got to play his annual arcade games and we did a quick walk around.

(I also got lily a old time photo)

The boys dropped us off early at the room and they went to round 1 putt putt

Day 3 Lily was back to normal!

I was getting ready to take her to the DR so I was very happy her fever went away. 

We went to the beach again, Lily was better but not loving the ocean this day.

(I think due to the weather not being very warm)

After a few hours, Lily and Kenn took a nap and Brandon and i went to the pool.

After naps we drove up to Rehobeth Beach for dinner and walked their boardwalk for the first time.

I think in the future we would rather do that one... 

A lot more family friendly and cleaner.

Below are the kids at the boardwalk

After the boardwalk and icecream, Brandon and I had our date night Putt Putt.

Kenn has more pictures (some of brandon on his boogie board) so i will try to upload those soon. The last day of the trip we checked out and went back to Rehobeth to the outlets where we did some shopping, had lunch and drove home. It was a fantastic little trip, long enough to feel like a vacation but exhausting hauling a bunch of kids stuff to the beach and back. Kenn and I joked that we needed a real vacation just the two of us to relax from that one. but everyone survived our first beach trip as a family of 4 and had a blast doing it!

Carnival 2013

We went to our annual trip to the carnival, Daddy skipped out to stay home with Lily.

You can feel the sacrifice that took...

This year we went with cousin Olivia like normal, but now we have 2 more guests.

Aunt Teresa and Mr. Paul are getting married next spring so Brandon now has 2 new cousins

It was raining when we got there so the kids where hanging out on the back of Aunt Teresa's car.

Rachel, Olivia, Brandon, Austin

The kids got on lots of rides

And played games

 and won prizes

The last picture is the kids in a fun house. They had a slightly difficult time getting through the mirrored walls.

that was well worth the money.

We finished off with the normal snow cones and had a great time. 

The kids LOVE going there and i'm glad we can bring Lily and Kenn next year.