Cookies!

Here is Will helping me make chocolate chip cookies last weekend. Yum!

Landscaping AFTER photos

Here it is complete. We are looking forward to the day everything begins to fill in, bloom, etc. It will be gorgeous in a couple of years. Our next project will be to have the front done. This go around we had the beds mulched and the existing bushes cut back, but not much else.

Landscape Project

We decided to have our backyard professionally landscaped. We could have probably done it ourselves, but there was so much space to work with. It took several men over a week to complete the job. Unfortunately they got one of the coldest weeks we've had in a long time in which to complete the work. We added landscape lighting to the front and back, new beds in the back full of all sorts of bushes and plants, and had several old bushes, wax myrtles and a tree removed form the yard. Several sprinkler heads had to be relocated and changed as well. It's beginning to feel like home for sure! Especially now that Dennis has the old swingset up and running. Here are some BEFORE photos.

Admiral's Hockey

Last year my office had a evening event where we all went to a hockey game. I had never been to a hockey game so it was a first for us all. There were a couple of fights that evening. Amazingly enough my rules following boys loved it! They were standing up yelling "Fight, fight, fight" I wondered whose kids I had with me! They liked it so we went when Nick's school had a night at the hockey game. This January we decided to go on our own. So we took the boys one evening to "cheesy noise maker night" Bring a box of mac and cheese for the food pantry and shake it as a noise maker for the night. Mac and cheese can make a lot of noice. Nick was worried the people getting it to eat would open it to find nothing but pulverized noodles. Yes, we did get one good fight that evening - so the boys were happy.

Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. The entire family came to us this year - to visit and see the new house. It's really nice to have a home that can sleep this size group - my aunt, uncle and cousin and grandparents from Texas, my parents and sister from Tennessee and of course Dennis, the boys, and I. Yes, we all fit and most everyone seemed reasonably comfortable. My sister made out well, having the whole poolhouse to herself, complete with her own bathroom. We were able to have the tallest tree we've ever had here at home - a live 10' tree that came from Pennsylvania. It was gorgeous and we really enjoyed it. Christmas Eve had us attending two services at church. In the early afternoon we attended a children's oriented service where Nick played one of the three wise men. He had a short speaking part. That evening we attended a second service where Dennis sang in the praise band. It was a blessed service. Santa was good to us, the boys were surprised by an unexpected gift of a Wii. We had great food (lots of cooking). We spent and evening at the Va. Beach oceanfront seeing the Christmas lights at the boardwalk, the kids were able to ride in the back of Dennis' truck to see the lights. One evening we started up the fire pit and the kids and Dennis made Smores. My aunt, uncle and cousins came down from Williamsburg for a day as well. I was able to play my first round of golf with my uncle, cousin Bryan, and my dad. That was fun, they were good natured with me and I acutally beat all of them on a Par 3 with no cheating!

I've Been Bad, Very Bad

Ok, so I have been bad. I haven't updated this blog since Halloween! What have I been thinking! Too busy? Well not really. There are just other things I've been spending my free time on. I am bound and determined to finish this silly computer game Zuma. It's addictive and I am in the last cave, but I can't get to the end. This is where I was a few weeks ago, the last cave and I beat it. Then it told me there were three more secret caves to go, so here I am. My sister turned me on to Facebook at Christmas. Now I have over 175 friends from all over the country. I marvel at how they are all so different and love that about them all. There are 5 ministers, 3 gay men, several sorority sisters, high school friends, a few Navy guys, a selection of Air Force officers, a childhood boyfriend from 1st grade, several former neighbors from three states, etc. I can't get over the variety and it's great. Reconnecting with so many people from the past has been amazing. As a "nomad" kid, I never felt I belonged anywhere. I have no hometown, no friends I've known all my life. I was surprised at who remembered me, going back to 1st grade! People remembered me, even if I lived in town only a few years. It's good to know you left some sort of impression - it must have been positive, since most have agreed to be my friend again!

Halloween

This may be Nick's last year to Trick 'o Treat so he decided he wasn't too cool to go ahead and hit the streets. Nick went as a vampire and Will was Jeng Fett from Star Wars. They had a good time and got plenty of candy. We didn't have the volume of trick 'o treaters that our old neighborhood had - it was cooler this year and the Friday night date seemed to keep the crowds down. But we had a great time. Dennis and I spent a fun time at the neighbors until midnight sitting around a fire pit, having drinks, and chatting. What fun!

Willie Wonka

Every year our office has Trick '0 Treating. A few years back our Mechanical department kicked it up a notch by decorating their entire department as a circus. So now everyone feels the need to decorate (elaborately) their spaces. This year was no exception and the Architectural department finally decided to come up with a theme as well. We decided on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We had our space decorated with candy trees, a chocolate station for fruit dipping, a nut room complete with cut out squirrels, a TV shrink ray room with miniture in the TV, and a fizzy drink station with bubble machine and bubbling grape soda. It was a blast and our costumes turned out great! Here are photos of some of the fun. I am dressed as one of the singing dolls that introduces the guests to the factory (before bursting into flames).

I didn't burst into flames for this event though! And no I did not wear my costume all day! We ended up winning the pizza lunch party up for grabs and the two Oompa Loompa's won best costume.

Church Fall Festival

We recently moved our membership to a church closer to our home. We are now members of the wonderful Courthouse Community United Methodist Church. We really love this church and are so glad we decided to check it out. We had mixed emotions about leaving Community UMC after almost 11 years of membership, but Courthouse is filling a need that Community was no longer filling for our family. Nick has become very involved in the youth group and Will enjoys his Sunday school class. We are all looking forward to getting more involved in the life of this church.

Here we are attending the Fall Festival. Nick helped set up and run the games as a member of the youth group. Dennis handed out candy at the trunk or treating. I helped Will navigate the games and fun. One photo you'll see "Sarah Palin" - that's our head minister Fran - looks just like her, complete with a suit with her maverick sticker and $150K price tag. I like that everyone has a good sense of humor!