Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and Birthdays - OH MY!

What a week it has been here in Virginia. A 5.8 earthquake and 3 substantial aftershocks...a hurricane that caused significant damage to our neighborhood...and a big birthday for our baby boy!



Carter and I headed out in the first bands of the storm to pick up some balloons for the party.



We were both SOAKED when we got home. Imagine me trying to get a toddler into his carseat while holding 13 helium filled balloons and then trying to get those balloons into the car while rain is coming at me from every possible direction. It was a mess. But we made it.

I tied some of the balloons to various truck toys - it was a big hit! Both boys drove the balloons around all day long.



It was a small party with just our two neighbors/adoptive grandparents from across the street but it was perfect. We couldn't ask for better neighbors. They love our boys and the boys love them right back. They gave Ben a perfect gift...



...gift certificates to Sweet 95...our favorite local ice cream shop! We all get to enjoy this present - yay!!!

Ben enjoyed opening his other presents too...



And both boys enjoyed playing with the new toys...





This past week Carter wasn't sharing as well as Mama would like. There was a lot of "that's my toy, Ben!" and "I don't want Ben to play with my toys!" Every time I heard that I reminded Carter that it was almost Ben's birthday and that Ben may not want to share his new toys with Carter if he won't share his toys with his little brother. And every time Carter would quickly say "I DO want to share my toys with Ben!" It was always short lived but it worked last week. Not sure what I am going to do this week!

After lunch and presents it was cake time!



I love the way the cake turned out! And I love the price: $10.83! Isn't that amazing for a smash cake, 10 cupcakes, and the exact color scheme/personalization that I wanted? Thank you Sam's.

The cake was thoroughly enjoyed. If you don't believe me check this out:



If you still don't believe me, watch the video at the end of this post.

We sure do wish all of our out of town grandparents and cousins could have been here too - but I am hoping the video will make you feel like you were here. Enjoy!

Ben's Walkin'

Ben is going to have some new skills to show off on his birthday...



Please excuse the very full diaper and the wet spot on his backside.
Music is "Walken" by Wilco.

our trip to DC

One of these days I hope to be all caught up...but for now let's jump back to July, June, May. Are you ready? How about a recap of our trip to DC (which was before Memorial Day). Whenever I write DC now I can hear Carter say "D.C." Daddy had to go up early for a conference but we decided to join him at the end of his work and stay an extra day to go to the zoo!

The first night we arrived we settled into the hotel and then hopped on the Metro to Alexandria. We visited Old Town Alexandria last year...and thought Carter would enjoy the boats, airplanes, train rides again.

Here we are on the trolley...



And at the river...



The boys actually both slept great that first night. We were staying at the Embassy Suites, so we had Ben set up in the pack-n-play in the bedroom. Once he was good and asleep, we put Carter to bed in the big bed in between lots of pillows. Once he was out and we were ready for bed, we moved him to the sleeper sofa in the living room. We all slept all night. In a hotel. Small miracle.

The next morning we walked down to the national mall. Carter and Daddy played.



Ben snoozed with Mama.



We took a quick ride on the carousel...



Then we were off to see dinos.
We took the Metro back to the hotel and I caught some cute pictures of Carter watching the train arrive.







That night before bedtime Mama and Carter went for a quick swim.



The timing was perfect. I tried to remember some of what we learned from swim lessons last year and Carter went under water several times with me. I think this quick trip to the pool really helped him start this years' swimming lessons on the right foot. (They started just 2 days after we got back)

The next morning we checked out and headed for the zoo. I do think Carter enjoyed the animals. But if you ask him what his favorite part about the zoo was I am pretty sure he will tell you it was the map.



He loved finding the pictures of the animals and then saying "lets go there!" We covered some ground...

Lions...


Elephant Tracks...




Pandas...


Flamingos...


All planned out by our map reader extraordinaire...


Such a treat to be able to sneak away to DC for a quick weekend.

Spoons are Overrated

Apparently I wasn't shoveling the yogurt into Ben's mouth fast enough last night because he was determined to grab the spoon from me and try to do it himself.

After several messy battles, I caved and decided to let him try to feed himself. Turns out he didn't want/need the spoon at all!







Adam had to work late last night and I was planning on skipping bath time...but there was no choice after this mess! He went straight from high chair to tub.

I think he enjoyed what little yogurt made it to his mouth.

Tomato, Tomahto

My boys continue to remind me on a daily basis how different they are. When I found out we were having another boy I just expected they would look alike and probably act alike too. A couple of nights before Ben was born, Adam and I were flipping through baby name books at Barnes & Noble trying to decide on a middle name for the little guy. We came across Reid, which we thought sounded good as Ben Reid or Benjamin Reid. But do you know what helped finalize the choice of his middle name? The meaning! The name Reid means Red. We thought we might end up with another strawberry blonde little boy and that his middle name would be just perfect. As soon as we saw all of Ben's dark, dark hair I should have known their similarities would end with their gender, yet, with each difference that appears I continue to be surprised.

The latest difference? Their eating habits.

Here is Ben after dinner last night:



He enjoys every single meal. And every snack. And every bite of food he can find on the floor. He really loves to eat. We fix him a full plate of food every meal and just start with a little bit from each food group on his high chair tray. Usually before I have even sat down to start on my plate he is clapping away asking for "more more!"



Now Carter on the other hand will sit at the table for up to an hour to finish his meal. He just doesn't have as much of appetite. He does love his milk, but we have to save that for dessert or he will drink it first and fill up on milk before taking a bite!

Lately though we have found a little game that helps the food disappear pretty quickly...



PATTERNS! two marshmallows, 1 rice cake, 2 marshmallows, 1 rice cake, etc. etc.

And just last night I caught him doing this all on his own...



He quietly slipped away from the table and came back with some foam blocks. He then matched up his pasta with the blocks by color. What a cutie!

Even though my boys are different, I couldn't love either of them more. I am learning to keep my expectations of "what's next" to a minimum and just enjoy the ride. Knowing my boys, now that I have written all of this down, it's all about to change again!

Warm in Wintergreen

A couple of weeks ago Adam had a conference in Wintergreen - a ski resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains. At the last minute I decided to bring the boys and tag along. I was envisioning a nice cool summer trip to the mountains to escape the heat. No such luck. It was the weekend of the massive heat wave that sat on top of most of the central US and the top of the mountain was a very unpleasant 98! Still cooler than the 103 temps back home, but still not much relief.

So, I loaded up the car solo, and we hit the road during afternoon naptime. Ben dozed off right away. Carter decided to fall asleep about 10 minutes before we arrived. Typical.

Once we got there, we checked in and found our condo. Thankfully Adam slipped away from his meetings to help me unload. There were a good many stairs to get to the condo. Once we were unpacked, we noticed how warm the condo was. Turns out there was 1 window unit for the full 2BR condo. The main living area was fairly comfortable. But the bedrooms were just sticky. I didn't think I would be able to sleep there. And was worried about the boys too. So we called the front desk and they found another condo that had central air! Fantastic! Reloading the car and unloading again down many more stairs? Not so fantastic. But at least we were cool when it was all said and done.

Carter wasted no time getting comfortable while we unpacked.



While we were there we enjoyed the playground...



the views...



the food...


(this is Ben signing "more")

the trails...



...and mother nature



Mama and Carter on the "biggest rock in the whole wide world" according to Carter.

We definitely plan to come back to Wintergreen when the temperature is at least 50 degrees cooler and preferably when there is snow on the ground! But we enjoyed our little summer mountain getaway!

Iron Chef Tomato

A few weeks ago our tomato plants were feeding us, our neighbors, Adam's co-workers, and then some. We were eating lots of tomato sandwiches, BLTs, and Adam would even eat tomatoes pretending they are apples. On a Saturday afternoon, I asked Adam what he wanted to do for dinner and his mind started scheming. Let me share with you our 6-course tomato meal that he prepared that night.

(Note: All of these pictures are from my phone camera so excuse the poor quality)

The Harvest:


First Course:
Fried green tomatoes, fried okra, and fried sage


Second Course:
Homemade salsa and tortilla chips


Third Course:
Brandywine tomato with basil


Fourth Course:
Mini bruschetta...cherry tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, and balsamic vinaigrette


Fifth Course:
stuffed and baked tomato (bread crumbs, prosciutto​, cheese, rosemary stuffing)


Sixth Course:
Pasta with homemade tomato sauce


Seventh Course:
Ice cream with fresh raspberries and blackberries he picked with the boys that morning.

I am sure Adam is a fine attorney...but I think he might have missed his calling. One of the things that is most impressive to me about this meal is that he put it together in his head in just a couple of hours and with no trip to the grocery store. Occasionally we will have "clean out the fridge" meals and they are always fantastic (as long as he is in charge!) I am glad he like to experiment in the kitchen...and always happily stuffed too.

Sprinkler Fun

My apologies once again for the very long absence. The time just slips away every single day. I hope to catch you up on the past couple of months, but for now I am going to start with now. Or yesterday. But close enough.

The weather continues to be hot. And my two boys break a sweat before we are even loaded up in the car. Poor Ben is usually wet whenever I get him out of the carseat. So we try to get out the sprinklers whenever we can. Yesterday daddy was home early so I got out the camera while he kept up with the boys.



Ben is getting more steady on his feet every day. He is walking while only holding on with one hand. And he will stand all by himself if he doesn't know that that is what he is doing.



The boys are starting to have fun together and it is really so much fun to watch. I love hearing them laugh with each other.



Little Ben conitnues to have no fear. He tries to do everything big brother does and then some! This picture is a Ben classic. He crawled right into the sprinkler and then just froze as soon as the water attacked his face!



Hope to be back again soon...