So, Dennis gets back today from Europe. This past week has gone pretty smoothly. Tuesday night was another game for Evan. Grandma (Dennis' Mom) was able to help out by going to Evan's game so I could leave and pick up Colin from soccer practice towards the end. I was also in charge of snacks so I wanted someone there in case the game ended early. They won a hard game that was tied up at the end so that is always fun too.
Wednesday I took Logan and Leah to a free magic show in the morning and then we went to Logan's school for muffins with Mom. It is always fun to go to the kids classrooms and see them in their element. Logan's teachers and his school in general are one of my favorite things about Ashburn. We really lucked out finding such a fantastic preschool and I am happy we decided to keep him there for Kindergarten Enrichment next year (Kinder is only 1/2 day here so after morning Kinder, he will get picked up and brought to his preschool for lunch/recess and additional learning until I pick him up at 2:30). Anyway, I got to watch his class sing a couple songs (Logan was pretty shy doing this) and then we did a few crafts together and had a small snack.
Friday, we had muffins with Mom at the big boys school. I thought I was going to have to miss it because Dennis was out of town and couldn't stay home with the little ones, but I emailed the person in charge just to ask if siblings can come and she said sure, so I went ahead and went with all 4. We had a quick muffin together before the boys had to start their school day.
Then that evening they wanted to go to Parents Night Out.
Monday, May 18, 2015
Monday, May 11, 2015
Mother's Day 2015
Dennis and his Dad left for Europe on Friday. His Dad took him on an all expenses paid trip to England, Paris and Nice/Monocco for 10-11 days or so. In the meantime, I am holding down the fort here in VA.
Saturday, was a busy day. All 3 boys ended up having team pictures this weekend. So, we left the house at 7:45 am and got home at 4:30pm. We had each of their pictures, Colin's game and Evan's game. My Dad came to Evan's game so that I could leave early to get Logan to his pictures. Then I treated him to lunch out at Red Robin. Other than that I was on my own with all the kiddos. It went fairly smoothly considering how long we were out and Leah not getting any rest time. Both boys won their games and were excited about that. Luckily, Logan didn't have a game this Saturday! That night we ordered pizza and had a movie night, before all kids were in bed fairly early.
Sunday, Mother's Day, I was awoken to the boys bringing me their homemade gifts from school and the Colin told me that he had been up off and on since 2am not feeling well. Sure enough he had a fever. So, I had to cancel our plans to go to Carol's house for crabs and stay home with Colin. My Mom called and offered to take the healthy kids so I took her up on taking Evan and Logan. I left Leah with me because I didn't want her to be babysitting on Mother's day and I figured the boys were easy and would entertain themselves with their cousins.
Actually, my brother in law, Phil, also offered to come over and watch Colin because he felt bad that I was stuck at home on Mother's Day, but I didn't think that was fair to Julie to take her husband away from her on her special day too. I am so blessed to have such an awesome family though!
Anyway, it was good I didn't take Phil up on that because Colin's fever went up and he threw up a couple times. He then took a 3-4 hour nap. Leah and I just hung out and overall, it was a quiet Mother's Day.
My kids are hardly ever sick. They all have perfect school attendance and have never had a sick visit to the pediatrician here in VA, so I couldn't believe that out of all the days of the year he was sick for Mother's Day. But, that is life with kids.
Anyway, I enjoyed all my gifts and even enjoyed the fairly quiet day as well.
Saturday, was a busy day. All 3 boys ended up having team pictures this weekend. So, we left the house at 7:45 am and got home at 4:30pm. We had each of their pictures, Colin's game and Evan's game. My Dad came to Evan's game so that I could leave early to get Logan to his pictures. Then I treated him to lunch out at Red Robin. Other than that I was on my own with all the kiddos. It went fairly smoothly considering how long we were out and Leah not getting any rest time. Both boys won their games and were excited about that. Luckily, Logan didn't have a game this Saturday! That night we ordered pizza and had a movie night, before all kids were in bed fairly early.
Sunday, Mother's Day, I was awoken to the boys bringing me their homemade gifts from school and the Colin told me that he had been up off and on since 2am not feeling well. Sure enough he had a fever. So, I had to cancel our plans to go to Carol's house for crabs and stay home with Colin. My Mom called and offered to take the healthy kids so I took her up on taking Evan and Logan. I left Leah with me because I didn't want her to be babysitting on Mother's day and I figured the boys were easy and would entertain themselves with their cousins.
Actually, my brother in law, Phil, also offered to come over and watch Colin because he felt bad that I was stuck at home on Mother's Day, but I didn't think that was fair to Julie to take her husband away from her on her special day too. I am so blessed to have such an awesome family though!
Anyway, it was good I didn't take Phil up on that because Colin's fever went up and he threw up a couple times. He then took a 3-4 hour nap. Leah and I just hung out and overall, it was a quiet Mother's Day.
My kids are hardly ever sick. They all have perfect school attendance and have never had a sick visit to the pediatrician here in VA, so I couldn't believe that out of all the days of the year he was sick for Mother's Day. But, that is life with kids.
Anyway, I enjoyed all my gifts and even enjoyed the fairly quiet day as well.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Triple Header Weekend. First Tball game for Logan.
This weekend we had our first weekend of the year of all three boys having games. Colin's soccer team fought a tough game and lost 2-0. Evan's team won their second game. He got to play first base a couple innings and got 3 outs which he was excited about. I offered to hold the assistant coaches 7 month old baby during the game, so he could have his hands free to coach. He was there on his own, without his wife. I loved every second of it, he was such a good baby. I have said it before, but if I lived in a different time where kids didn't have to go to college or be in school activities, I would probably have at least 6 kids. I absolutely love the 0-4 ages. I am sure I missed my calling and should have been an OB or labor and delivery nurse, I would have absolutely loved my job.
Anyway, last was Logan's first Tball game. He was very cute to watch. Of course there was some playing with dirt, because at this age only the "pitcher" and the first baseman get any action. He did great when he was pitcher though. He also did well hitting but always paused after the hit forgetting to drop the bat quickly and run, it was so cute!
Saturday my Mom called out of the blue asking if we wanted to go out on a date night and that she could come over and babysit that evening. That was a great surprise. It had been almost 3 months since our last date night so we enjoyed going to the movies and having dinner there. I have many friends that go out weekly as a couple and while we would love to be able to do that, babysitters are expensive and we feel bad asking family to babysit, because we feel like everyone is already busy watching other kids. So, our time alone together is few and far between. As a result, we do not hesitate to say yes if someone offers!
The rest of the weekend was spent with Dennis having many trips to Home Depot and getting the garden ready to plant some vegetables. I have always wanted a veggie garden and when we moved into this house there was already an abandoned garden bed. So, all week I spent pulling weeds, rocks and roots and tilling the soil to get it ready. Dennis then spent the weekend putting up a new fence (we are making the garden smaller than the original bed) and trying to make it bunny proof. He also bought a ton of soil to mix in with the old stuff. So, hopefully this week I will plant the seedlings and we will see how it goes. I am sure the first couple years will be some trial and error to see what works. But, we are very excited to give it a go.
Anyway, last was Logan's first Tball game. He was very cute to watch. Of course there was some playing with dirt, because at this age only the "pitcher" and the first baseman get any action. He did great when he was pitcher though. He also did well hitting but always paused after the hit forgetting to drop the bat quickly and run, it was so cute!
Saturday my Mom called out of the blue asking if we wanted to go out on a date night and that she could come over and babysit that evening. That was a great surprise. It had been almost 3 months since our last date night so we enjoyed going to the movies and having dinner there. I have many friends that go out weekly as a couple and while we would love to be able to do that, babysitters are expensive and we feel bad asking family to babysit, because we feel like everyone is already busy watching other kids. So, our time alone together is few and far between. As a result, we do not hesitate to say yes if someone offers!
The rest of the weekend was spent with Dennis having many trips to Home Depot and getting the garden ready to plant some vegetables. I have always wanted a veggie garden and when we moved into this house there was already an abandoned garden bed. So, all week I spent pulling weeds, rocks and roots and tilling the soil to get it ready. Dennis then spent the weekend putting up a new fence (we are making the garden smaller than the original bed) and trying to make it bunny proof. He also bought a ton of soil to mix in with the old stuff. So, hopefully this week I will plant the seedlings and we will see how it goes. I am sure the first couple years will be some trial and error to see what works. But, we are very excited to give it a go.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Easter 2015
Easter this year was a bit different. We are used to it just being us and being away from family for Easter. It is always a pretty quiet holiday for us. But, this year being in town it was much busier. The kids searched for their Easter baskets, which is always a highlight for them. Then we had a yummy breakfast and got ready for church. Leah at church was not good. She kept talking really loud and then had a temper tantrum so Dennis spent most the time outside with her.
After church we headed to Grammy and Grandpa Pritchard's. All my extended family was there so there was probably 50ish people there. We did an egg hunt for the kids and had a huge lunch. The kids also did various crafts and games.
Then we headed to Grandma McLaughlin and Roberts house. We had a great dinner and the kids played outside. It was much more quiet since it was just us there, but that was a nice welcome change from the busier morning.
Overall, it was a great day and was nice to get to visit with so much family. Leah by the way LOVED getting to dress up. She was so excited about the "princess" dress, the dress shoes, the hair bow and especially the necklace the Easter bunny brought her!
After church we headed to Grammy and Grandpa Pritchard's. All my extended family was there so there was probably 50ish people there. We did an egg hunt for the kids and had a huge lunch. The kids also did various crafts and games.
Then we headed to Grandma McLaughlin and Roberts house. We had a great dinner and the kids played outside. It was much more quiet since it was just us there, but that was a nice welcome change from the busier morning.
Overall, it was a great day and was nice to get to visit with so much family. Leah by the way LOVED getting to dress up. She was so excited about the "princess" dress, the dress shoes, the hair bow and especially the necklace the Easter bunny brought her!
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Spring Break 2015
This year's Spring Break was pretty quiet overall. Dennis couldn't take off work because of various other vacations this year…a Europe trip he has in May, a trip to Indy he goes to every August, the beach in July and then we are surprising the kids with a Disney trip in Novemeber (Shhh…don't tell, we aren't going to tell them until right before we go).
So, it was really just me and the kids. Monday, we went to the library to pick up some good books for the week.
Tuesday, we took them to Ticonderoga Farms in Chantilly and we really had the BEST day. The weather was great and there was so much to do. We took a hay ride, which went through a swamp, the kids couldn't believe it! They did some slides down a hill, jumped on some huge bounce pillows, raced some carts, went through a maze and we saw some animals. Leah is really my only animal lover. She absolutely loved trying to feed the animals. She also kept talking to them…"Hi goat, what are you doing?" Logan, who likes animals the least, spent the whole time far away in the stroller!
Because the kids were so good, I also treated them to ice cream!
Wednesday night, we drove up to Holly's house in Maryland and spent the night. We got up the next morning and went in to Baltimore with Holly's family and my parents. We spent the day at the aquarium, having a nice lunch and walking along the harbor, we also watched a street performance with was great.
The rest of the vacation was just spent hanging out at home and outside too!
Oh, we also moved Leah to her big girl bed! I was so sad to get rid of the crib. She probably could have fit in it another year, but we decided to move her the same time we did the boys, because we knew we didn't have any issues with the transition with them at that age. Sure enough, she did great too. She was a little nervous when we turned the lights off, but I gave her her lovie and asked if she wanted Minnie Mouse and then she was fine. I can't believe we are saying goodbye to a nursery set we have had for 10 years! I don't think being done with the baby stage will ever be easy:-(.
So, it was really just me and the kids. Monday, we went to the library to pick up some good books for the week.
Tuesday, we took them to Ticonderoga Farms in Chantilly and we really had the BEST day. The weather was great and there was so much to do. We took a hay ride, which went through a swamp, the kids couldn't believe it! They did some slides down a hill, jumped on some huge bounce pillows, raced some carts, went through a maze and we saw some animals. Leah is really my only animal lover. She absolutely loved trying to feed the animals. She also kept talking to them…"Hi goat, what are you doing?" Logan, who likes animals the least, spent the whole time far away in the stroller!
Because the kids were so good, I also treated them to ice cream!
Wednesday night, we drove up to Holly's house in Maryland and spent the night. We got up the next morning and went in to Baltimore with Holly's family and my parents. We spent the day at the aquarium, having a nice lunch and walking along the harbor, we also watched a street performance with was great.
The rest of the vacation was just spent hanging out at home and outside too!
Oh, we also moved Leah to her big girl bed! I was so sad to get rid of the crib. She probably could have fit in it another year, but we decided to move her the same time we did the boys, because we knew we didn't have any issues with the transition with them at that age. Sure enough, she did great too. She was a little nervous when we turned the lights off, but I gave her her lovie and asked if she wanted Minnie Mouse and then she was fine. I can't believe we are saying goodbye to a nursery set we have had for 10 years! I don't think being done with the baby stage will ever be easy:-(.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Logan's 5th Birthday!
Logan at 5 is a funny kid. He is pretty serious a lot of the time. He doesn't talk a lot but he isn't as shy or as sensitive as his older brothers either.
Logan is incredibly street smart and independent. I am pretty sure he could probably survive a long time on his own if he needed to. He already makes his breakfast and sometimes his lunch on his own.
He is becoming an excellent big brother to Leah. He loves to play with her and is very loving too. He really makes my life so much easier most days because he helps me take care of her. Logan at this point goes back and forth between playing with Leah and playing with his big brothers.
He tends to be more of a home body like me. He would choose to stay inside and play then to go to a play date if you ask him. But, he always has fun once he is there. He loves to build things with all sizes of legos and he is also really into video and computer games (too much if you ask me).
Logan is in the 50% for height and weight. I believe he was 40lbs at his appointment. Not too long ago we registered him for Kindergarten and he is so ready to go! He can't wait to get on the bus with his brothers. September can't come fast enough for him.
This year Logan really wanted to have a birthday party with his friends. Since his class only has 12 kids in it, we decided to invite the whole class a long with his cousins. They had so much fun at the sport bounce place near us (Logan's pick). He had been talking about his Birthday for a year so he was very excited the day was finally here! Then some of his cousins came back to our house and played some more here. It was a great day!
Logan is incredibly street smart and independent. I am pretty sure he could probably survive a long time on his own if he needed to. He already makes his breakfast and sometimes his lunch on his own.
He is becoming an excellent big brother to Leah. He loves to play with her and is very loving too. He really makes my life so much easier most days because he helps me take care of her. Logan at this point goes back and forth between playing with Leah and playing with his big brothers.
He tends to be more of a home body like me. He would choose to stay inside and play then to go to a play date if you ask him. But, he always has fun once he is there. He loves to build things with all sizes of legos and he is also really into video and computer games (too much if you ask me).
Logan is in the 50% for height and weight. I believe he was 40lbs at his appointment. Not too long ago we registered him for Kindergarten and he is so ready to go! He can't wait to get on the bus with his brothers. September can't come fast enough for him.
This year Logan really wanted to have a birthday party with his friends. Since his class only has 12 kids in it, we decided to invite the whole class a long with his cousins. They had so much fun at the sport bounce place near us (Logan's pick). He had been talking about his Birthday for a year so he was very excited the day was finally here! Then some of his cousins came back to our house and played some more here. It was a great day!
Friday, February 6, 2015
Report Cards and Update on Kids
A few things to update on...
My back has been a lot better. The pain is still there, occasionally I will sit right on a bad spot and jump up in pain. But, for the most part I can do all my daily activities now. Thank goodness!
Colin and Evan got their report cards yesterday. I am so grateful for smart kids! Colin got all A's except a B in Math...so he got honor roll! I was annoyed with the B in Math because that is his best subject and the teacher knows it, he even wrote that the B was all because of rushing and silly mistakes, he knows the material. So, we have to work on that, but I am sure that will be a constant struggle with him. Anyway, very happy with his grades, he does great in school and is pretty responsible these days with getting all his homework done and doing it all pretty independently.
Evan doesn't get A's and B's yet, but he got all 0's (Outstanding), on his report card for his main subjects. Again, really proud of him. Evan has a great memory that serves him well in school. He doesn't love doing homework, he has a short attention span for it, but he gets it done, I am sure this will improve as he gets older and has a longer attention span. But, for the most part homework has been pretty stress free this year. This school system is much easier then they are used to and the homework is less to, so it has been a pretty easy year this year.
Despite school being fairly easy, I haven't gotten any reports from either kid of any bad behavior. Both teachers had nice things to say about them, so that makes me so happy!
A week ago, I also had a teacher conference for Logan. Because of school being closed that day for snow, it was over the phone. His teacher said he was one of the strongest in his class and that she has absolutely no concerns about his readiness for Kindergarten! For those that know Logan, he is VERY independent. He doesn't like to spend much time doing any learning activities with me, he quits pretty quickly once he doesn't know something. I think because he is so independent it frustrates him to not know how to read. He wants to be able to do everything his brothers do. So, I really don't know how much he actually knows. Recently, he is starting to write his letters and draw more, so I think he is really starting to want to learn. He knows all his letters, just doesn't know all the sounds they make yet, but, I have a feeling he is going to take off in the next few months...
Leah...well, don't want to leave this girl out...Leah is so fun. She is super girly, she loves wearing necklaces and bracelets. She also loves shoes. She always wants to wear sparkly shoes and church shoes. I need to hide these, because I do not like when her clothes and shoes don't match! I like girls dressed pretty conservatively, I do not like sparkly shoes or sparkly clothes, character clothes, or loud colors. The only reason she even has some of these shoes/clothes is hand me downs. I prefer more classic clothing. But, this girl, loves all things girly!
Leah loves Mickey/Minnie still and all those characters. She is also starting to learn the names of the princesses like Cinderella and Aurora. She calls her "Sleeping Booty". Leah will say "I'm fine" or "I will be fine" if she wants to do something herself. She is sassy and is not afraid to yell at her big brothers. The love to pester her, but they also are extremely loving toward her and helpful with her. I am so grateful for that. Leah loves to dance (yay for this!), she also loves to sing ("Let it go" is her favorite).
Ok, I guess I have written enough, I could go on and on about my kids...will add pics soon.
My back has been a lot better. The pain is still there, occasionally I will sit right on a bad spot and jump up in pain. But, for the most part I can do all my daily activities now. Thank goodness!
Colin and Evan got their report cards yesterday. I am so grateful for smart kids! Colin got all A's except a B in Math...so he got honor roll! I was annoyed with the B in Math because that is his best subject and the teacher knows it, he even wrote that the B was all because of rushing and silly mistakes, he knows the material. So, we have to work on that, but I am sure that will be a constant struggle with him. Anyway, very happy with his grades, he does great in school and is pretty responsible these days with getting all his homework done and doing it all pretty independently.
Evan doesn't get A's and B's yet, but he got all 0's (Outstanding), on his report card for his main subjects. Again, really proud of him. Evan has a great memory that serves him well in school. He doesn't love doing homework, he has a short attention span for it, but he gets it done, I am sure this will improve as he gets older and has a longer attention span. But, for the most part homework has been pretty stress free this year. This school system is much easier then they are used to and the homework is less to, so it has been a pretty easy year this year.
Despite school being fairly easy, I haven't gotten any reports from either kid of any bad behavior. Both teachers had nice things to say about them, so that makes me so happy!
A week ago, I also had a teacher conference for Logan. Because of school being closed that day for snow, it was over the phone. His teacher said he was one of the strongest in his class and that she has absolutely no concerns about his readiness for Kindergarten! For those that know Logan, he is VERY independent. He doesn't like to spend much time doing any learning activities with me, he quits pretty quickly once he doesn't know something. I think because he is so independent it frustrates him to not know how to read. He wants to be able to do everything his brothers do. So, I really don't know how much he actually knows. Recently, he is starting to write his letters and draw more, so I think he is really starting to want to learn. He knows all his letters, just doesn't know all the sounds they make yet, but, I have a feeling he is going to take off in the next few months...
Leah...well, don't want to leave this girl out...Leah is so fun. She is super girly, she loves wearing necklaces and bracelets. She also loves shoes. She always wants to wear sparkly shoes and church shoes. I need to hide these, because I do not like when her clothes and shoes don't match! I like girls dressed pretty conservatively, I do not like sparkly shoes or sparkly clothes, character clothes, or loud colors. The only reason she even has some of these shoes/clothes is hand me downs. I prefer more classic clothing. But, this girl, loves all things girly!
Leah loves Mickey/Minnie still and all those characters. She is also starting to learn the names of the princesses like Cinderella and Aurora. She calls her "Sleeping Booty". Leah will say "I'm fine" or "I will be fine" if she wants to do something herself. She is sassy and is not afraid to yell at her big brothers. The love to pester her, but they also are extremely loving toward her and helpful with her. I am so grateful for that. Leah loves to dance (yay for this!), she also loves to sing ("Let it go" is her favorite).
Ok, I guess I have written enough, I could go on and on about my kids...will add pics soon.
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