First time Home owners!!

After almost 12 YEARS of moving and renting we have bought our very own home!! We are in the process of moving and will be done by the end of June. We are very excited, mostly to know that we do not plan to move for again for a long time!!



I will post pictures of the house after we move in and get settled. We are having the bedrooms painted so have been waiting for that to be done before we officially move everything else. It is brick home with 4 bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths. The only thing we need to do is put up a fence, which hopefully will be done in a few months, after we get our tax credit!

Not too much else going on, I think the house and moving is enough! Jack finished up school last week and they had a little party. He still goes same day/time but it's a summer program and is in a new class with new teachers. It was a little bit of a transition on Monday when it was his first day, but he has a lot of kids from his old class so that helped.


Jack at his last day of preschool

Jack and Patrick are both taking swim lessons at the Y. Jack wasn't too thrilled the first class. Patrick did a little better. We will just keep taking lessons until they are comfortable in the water and can swim on their own.



Nothing much planned for the summer. Some weekend we'll plan a trip to the beach for a few days. Then in August we'll take a trip up to the Adirondacks.

Some random pictures. Video to be added soon:

Boys dancing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toxKlW69VqA


Giving daddy his birthday present


Jack at T-Ball practice

Happy 3rd Birthday Jack!

Today was Jack's 3rd birthday and what a busy/fun day he had! He woke up to balloons and presents and a birthday muffin. Then off to school wearing his new Flyers jersey!


Singing Happy Birthday in the morning


opening presents


I LOVE my new jersey :)

Patrick and I brought cupcakes for his class at lunchtime and they all sang Happy Birthday. Jack even sang.... "Happy Birthday to me!" Too cute!



When Mike got home from work we went to the Build A Bear workshop. We had already bought a Flyers hockey uniform so we just made the bear, which Jack thought was really cool, and dressed him all up. His name is "Max".




Then off to dinner at TGIFridays. We had to convince him that they had really good chicken nuggets and french fries like Chik-fil-A. They even sang Happy Birthday and brought out an icecream sundae :) Jack did not like this at all, I think all the singing and clapping scared him. Patrick was happy eating all the icecream! Back home for his real Birthday cake. I think it came out pretty good, but if I had more time to plan it I would have done it differently, but Jack still loved it :)

Happy New Year!

For those that still check our blog I apologize for not keeping it updated. I use Facebook alot more these days but will TRY to keep up with this too. The holidays, as always, went by too fast! We were busy but had a great time and boys just loved every minute of Christmas! This was the first year Jack got to help make and decorate Christmas cookies and we had so much fun. Christmas Eve we went to Aunt Theresa and Uncle Luke's house for a delicious Italian fish dinner and even yummier desserts! Christmas we stayed in and since it rained all day it was a perfect day to stay in. If it was snow we would have had a ton because it poured! The boys loved everything Santa brought so it was a really good day. I made my mom's traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast, love them! And we even made a big turkey dinner and had lots of leftovers :)


making christmas cookies


Christmas Eve


playing with their new train table

I have to mention that over the Christmas weekend we (I should say *I*) :) potty trained Jack!!! It took 3 full days but he is completely potty trained! We are so proud of him and he is proud of himself too! Now it's Patrick's turn....

For New Years we drove down to Palm Coast Florida to visit my mom and Ron. My grandma and George came over New Years day and we had a nice lunch and the boys played with all the cool presents from grandma. Unfortunately it was cold while we were there but we did take a trip to St. Augestine and visited the fort and walked around the town and had lunch.

opening presents and grandma's

Next up is Jack's birthday. 3 YEARS OLD!! We plan to take him out to dinner and to the Build a Bear workshop. We bought him a little Flyers hockey outfit so he can build his own bear, should be fun! He is all about hockey so we signed him up for skating lessons and bought him skates and a helmet for his birthday. His first lesson is next weekend, can't wait! We will have a birthday party for him the following week so grandma and papa can come down.

GG's visit and more

I've been behind, but nevertheless here is a quick update:

GG and Great Grandpa George stopped for a visit on their way down to Florida. Both boys were good and had a great time! We hope to visit them in Florida soon!


GG, Jack and Patrick


Great Grandpa George and the boys

Jack had his first school pictures! He looks so grown up and handsome :)


Jack's first school picture

Grandma and uncle Sammy visited for a weekend. We had great weather and lots of fun.

Patrick had his first real haircut and did pretty well.


Patrick after his haircut

That was just a quick update. More to come with the holidays approaching!!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Jack singing....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBdKnvrNDNE

Fall is here!

October is my favorite month! Love everything about Fall, from the food (of course!) to the weather and decorations. I am in the process of getting the boys' halloween costumes, cannot wait to take them trick or treating!

A couple weeks ago we went down to Camden, SC for baby Nahra's baptism. She is Mike's youngest cousin. Aunt Ann and Uncle Paul live there and it is a beautiful southern country town. We had a nice visit and the boys loved playing with all the other kids.




This past Saturday we took the boys to a pumpkin farm. We went on a hayride to pick out pumpkins, visited with some of the farm animals, played on the playground and ate lunch.



Patrick enjoying the hayride


Looking for some pumpkins




Jack and his pumpkin

Quick update and videos of the boys

It's almost Fall! Love this time of year. Already have a Halloween costume idea for the boys, just need to get the costumes.

Grandma and Papa visited a couple weeks ago. Mike and I went to a movie and dinner for our Anniversary, which was nice. We all went to Discovery Place uptown, where the boys played in the kids area. They mostly played with the train table set. They both love trains! That is already on our Christmas List :)

Jack is doing well in Preschool. The drop-off is getting much easier now and he seems to be getting involved more and having fun. Both boys are doing great. Jack is getting over another ear infection though but otherwise is fine.

No other big events coming up yet.
I finally uploaded some videos of the boys:

Here is Jack and Mike playing football:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpBBXI0yg7M

Lots of giggles!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJJg91sH1fY

Patrick walking with his trains:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkbd0lKECmw

Jack starts preschool, Patrick walking like a wild man and my first race in Charlotte

Yes, a lot has happened over the past week!

Jack started preschool this past week. He goes Mon/Wed/Fri half day which includes lunch. He seems to really like it! Each day though it got a little harder to drop him off but his teachers said that is because he knows I'm going to leave. But they were really surprised at how well he is doing for his first time in school/day care. Friday was the roughest time dropping him off but then his teachers said he had the best day! I think he will be fine after another week or so and really get into it.

Jack on his 1st day of preschool!

Patrick is walking all over! He doesn't crawl much at all anymore. He looks like a little old drunken man, it is so cute! He is such a happy, content little boy.

Future Braves player??

He's not walking here but thought it was soo cute! Crazy how kids know exactly what to do with the remote!





Patrick is moving on up! We bought him a new car seat today, a forward facing one. He hasn't ridden it yet, but I know he will love being able to sit right next to Jack and see everything that is going on. I will have to take a picture tomorrow and post it.

Cute photo of the boys taken in the morning. Patrick always has great bed head!!



This morning I ran my first race since moving to Charlotte. It was the Yiasou Greek Festival 5K. It was a nice flat course but really crowded and I didn't feel like I ran my best. But turns out it was my best time so far! 24:03. My plan is to run one race a month. Next month there is a 10K and then actually 2 in October I'd like to run, but we'll see how it goes. I really do enjoy it. I might even try to run with the jogging stroller for a race! I think the boys might like it and that way I can drag Mike out and cheer us on! :)

This coming week is our 4th Anniversary! It honestly seems longer than that! :P No plans that night but Mike's mom and Frank are visiting for the holiday weekend so hopefully we can sneak out for dinner to celebrate.

Trip to Hotlanta

We took a quick overnight trip to Atlanta for the Braves games on Saturday. We were lucky enough to get free tickets from a family friend so we all went down on Saturday for the night. We were going to go the Aquarium but the line was VERY long, so we'll have to go back again and do that. But we did go to lunch and walked around Buckhead and just hung out in the hotel room. The boys had a great time just doing that! The game was fun too. Here are a couple pictures.


The boys at the Braves game






Patrick walking around the hotel room


Jack hanging out in the hotel room drawing

Patrick's 1st Birthday

I know it's a little late, but I'm just now getting things organized and somewhat back to normal :) Here are some pictures from Patrick's 1st Birthday. He had 3 parties! 1 was in the Adirondacks with my family, then his real Birthday and then a big party with Mike's family.

Celebrating Patrick's birthday at Big Moose Lake

Patrick's Real birthday

Patrick crying because I took his cake away to cut it up!

"Eating" his birthday cake

Singing happy birthday at his party

Tweetsie Railroad

This past weekend we took the boys to Tweetsie Railroad. It is a small amusement park centered around Tweetsie the train. It's up in Blowing Rock, which is about 2 hours away towards the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was a perfect day and we had a great time! The boys really had fun riding the train and the chair lift and kiddie rides. I only have a few pictures to share because the battery on my camera died! I have to remember to charge it before we go to places like this. We took some with Mike's phone so will have to figure out how to download those next. But here are a few:

Jack riding the train

Patrick on the train ride

Jack and Daddy at Tweetsie Railroad

Patrick on the merry-go-round

Jack on the merry-go-round

First update in our new house

I have been meaning to update this thing but have been without my computer since we left Richmond! I have been using Mike's work laptop and just not the same. I am HOPING to have my computer back this week. I need to update lots of photos... from our trip to the Adirondacks, Patrick's 1st birthday AND our new house.

But for now just letting you all know that we are settling in and things are going really well. Mike is enjoying his job. MUCH better than residency. And I am loving his hours! The boys and I have been busy. I need to find a moms group soon though. Jack will start his pre preschool program Aug. 24 so I am sure I'll meet some moms then. We took a tour of the place on Friday and I think Jack will have a great time. I am already nervous about the first day though and how he is going to handle it. It'll take some time for him to get adjusted I'm sure.

There is too much to remember to update so I'll have to remember as I go through all the pictures. More soon!

4 days to go

Only a few more days left here in Richmond. Cannot believe it is that time. It has been a LONG time coming and we are so ready to start the next phase of our life. Thursday we will be heading down to Charlotte - YAY!!! I have packed a pretty good amount, but still a lot left to do. Thankfully Mike's mom and Frank (grandma and Papa) will be taking the boys to Busch Gardens on Wednesday and then leaving from there to drive down to Charlotte on Thursday. This is such a HUGE help. We are so grateful to them for helping us out and the boys will have a great time! We are going to pack everything up and load the truck up Wednesday and get up and leave Thursday morning. Hopefully we can have a good amount unpacked by the time they get in on Thursday.

Today we purchased our first washer and dryer. The house we are renting had every other appliance but these, which I don't mind because we would need to buy them eventually and I kind of liking have our own, brand new set. I know I know, not very exciting.

Last weekend was Mike's graduation dinner. It was a fun night and we are all very proud of him. He is now officially an Oral Surgeon! He will start work with Uncle Pat July 6. No vacation time whatsoever! We'll get our vacation... someday!


Me and Mike at his graduation dinner

I can't think of anything else right now. A lot is going on all at once so it's hard to remember everthing. Our computer crashed last week so we were without computer access for 4 days! I was going crazy! :)

Next post will be from our new home in NC!!

I am behind on pictures, will catch up after the move!


Patrick always smiling


Me and my boys - picture was taken for Father's Day

First time for everything

This past weekend Mike says to me - I'm going to wash the cars. I said, "What?! By hand!?" In our almost 11 years together I have NEVER seen him wash a car, so of course I had to take some pictures. His reason is that he's never had a car worth washing. I guess I'll have to continue to wash the other car, since it's apparently not worthy!