Good times!!

Rick took a long weekend and we went up to Deep Creek- I don't know how in the world I have lived in Maryland for 7 years (quickly going on 8) and didn't know about this wonderful place until last summer!

We had such a wonderful and relaxing time- and none of us wanted to leave. Rick was even talking about buying a retirement home their :)

As always here are a few pics that I wanted to share- there are only like 500 more, but these are my favs!

Other than that there really isn't much new going on around here!

Oh- except, Mandy- Avery is going to an American Girl camp this week- thought you might like that!!!

Me and my lovies :)


Oliver just hanging out looking at the falls and bein' cute!


Ricky and the girls taking a break on our hike


The girls in the lake :)


Ricky and the kids playing at the playground after having dinner at Uno's

Dancing Queen!!

This past weekend was Miranda's second ever dance recital. It is absolutely amazing to me the difference that one year has made- her class did a wonderful job! They were really on it and having a blast. She loved it- being on stage, dancing in front of the crowd- the whole bit. I am very proud of her! I wish that I could share the video on here, but I'm just not very smart when it comes to figuring that stuff out. Instead I'll just share some photos from the 'dressing room' enjoy :)

Miranda and Abby practicing for their dance~







Proud of my big girl!!



Miranda with her beautiful roses from Grandma Jackie after her performance~

Friends

I miss my friends.

I stink at keeping in touch with people that have moved- this blog was an attempt to be better at updating friends, but I have fallen short here as well.

I just wanted to let you guys know that I am thinking of you always- and that I miss you all terribly and just really really hope and pray that you all will end up back in Maryland with me some day :)

Miss Katie- Korea is so very far away. I think that I am in denial that you are going so far- and for 3 years no less- I know you and the fam will do great, but somehow I will miss you all even more.

Arianne- my sincerest apologies. I am going to call you this next week- it has been far too long and I need to hear your voice and touch base on all thing Jones fam!!

Andrea- Your blog always makes me cry- I love seeing all the pictures of your beautiful family. But it breaks my heart to watch those kids growing up without my kids friendship, and a small visit with you was so not enough!

Tami- my lovely lady that told me that she was forever stuck in MD with me- I just want to send out big hugs to you and your family. I wish that there was something I could do or say to help, but just know that I love ya and I am thinking and praying for you.

Julie- There is no excuse for how long I have been out of touch so I'm not even gonna try and come up with one!! I can't believe how big your kids have grown and I hope that some day we can meet up with you and your family again- watching you as a mother made a bigger impact on how I strive to mother my children more than I can say.

Mandy- I am ever so happy to read that you are happy in Hawaii, but I'm still hoping that you get sent back here!! We need to see more pics of your little men.

Jen- your coming back soon yes??? I cannot wait to hear from you and catch up!!

I miss you guys. I can honestly/sadly say that I haven't made much of an effort to make new friends or nurture many of the friendships that I still have here left in Maryland at the MV ward. I'm being a big chicken- I don't want to make anymore wonderful friends that are going to leave. So silly I know- as I wouldn't give up one day with any of you that have left so I know that I am probably missing out on some wonderful woman- my heart just isn't in it lately.

Okay- pitty party is over now. I love you all!! Expect to hear from me in one form or another soon!!!!!!

Frankenboy or staple head- your pick!

Yes I have a boy- his name is Oliver- he is my personal destruction machine.

This boy now has 2 staples in his head!! I have heard that this sort of thing is typical when raising a lil man but its not something that you are ever prepared for, but he was such a big brave boy and is now happy as can be playing with his cars. Maybe he doesn't know that he resembles frankenstein?

This is what happened- as far as I know- It was a beautiful day in Maryland, the kids and I were outside playing in the backyard enjoying the sunshine. I needed to take a bathroom break so I ran inside quickly. Now before the judging begins- Oliver and Miranda were both out in our fenced backyard with our big lab so I wasn't worried. I came down to a screaming freaking out 2 year old. I picked him up and this is what Miranda said "I threw the ball to Norman (our dog) he ran Oliver over trying to get the ball and Olivers back got hurt" or something like that. So I proceed to check Olis back and surrounding area- I didn't see anything and Oliver had stopped crying and seemed fine.

Seconds later we were in the car on our way to Miranda's dance class- Oliver fell asleep like I though he would since he refused to take a nap earlier. Got to the dance studio- I carried a sleeping Oli and helped Miranda to put on her taps, put her in the class and went to sit in the waiting room with a sleeping Oli in my lap. I turned him over to get him more comfy and that is when I noticed that half of his head was covered in blood. How I could have possibly missed that before I have no freakin' clue- but as Im sure you can imagine I flipped out. Woke him up immediately- grabbed Miranda out of class and went to the dr's office that luckily was only 2 blocks away. Our ped cleaned up the cut and said that it would indeed need stitches or staples so over to the Emergency clinic we went and stayed for 2 hours before we could leave with my Frankenstein boy. Oliver was freaked out I'll be honest- I really do think that he could feel it when the Dr put in the staples by the way that he jerked in my arms, but as soon as he had his orange popsicle afterwards the world was good again!

He will get the staples removed next Tuesday- I have heard that this procedure is just as much fun as getting them put in- can't wait!!

Ofcourse being the way that I am I took a couple pics for your viewing pleasure~

Colors of the rainbow....

I love to different and fun funky things with my hair- mainly because hair is temporary- I can play with it, have fun and know that it will grow out and I can start over again- so here was my (well not really first, but lately anyway!)first play with color~



The latest- just done today~



Anyone wanna take a guess on what color will pop up next??? :)

Oliver is 2 years old!!

I cannot believe that today my lil baby boy is 2 years old! How the time has quickly flown by- he is such a great joy to my family. We are truly blessed to have him. I hope that you all enjoy this lil video montage that I have put together of the last year!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Update- sorry!

I'm sorry to have been absent from blogging for so long. Things have been hectic around here to say the least. Mainly the kids have just been sick quite a bit. Right now we are dealing with Oliver having strep throat and Avery having "reactive breathing disease" both of with kinda bite big time, but they are both on the mend and we are hoping to have a long healthy stretch here.

We have had some really wonderful times lately as well though. Andrea came out to visit for a weekend- we only got to visit for a little bit, but it was like she was never gone and it stunk cause it made me miss her even more than I allready did if thats possible! We also had some family come to visit for their spring break and did loads of fun stuff with them- Then we went to NYC for a 4 day weekend just the family for some fun and to celebrate my baby girls 10th birthday at American girl place. We had such a great time- but that is a whole other blog in itself :) Also my March of Dimes team rocked the house- we raised almost $7000- way more than doubled our goal. I am really stoked about it.

I have a million and 1 pictures from all of our wonderful happenings lately and it took me all of 3 days to update my piczo website to share with everyone. While I would love to put them all on here as well I sadly just do NOT have the energy to do so- instead I'm just gonna give you all the link to go to my website and check it out!

http://mymonkeykids.piczo.com/

these are the pages that are new~
You can just click on the one that you want to see and it'll take you right to the page :)

Big boy's first haircut
January 2008
Snow tubing
Andrea's visit
Rickys bday
kids :)
Bunnyland
The Houghtons come to visit
A day downtown
Brookside gardens with the Houghtons
Easter 2008
Smithsonian Kite festival
Our trip to NYC
The Zoo :)
Beautiful spring day

Enjoy looking- I hope to be able to update more often. I do come on quite a bit to check up on everyone else!!