Weekend pictures!

Peter and I met up with my mom in Charlottesville, VA (right outside of The University of Virginia) for our friend, Mindy Isenstein's, wedding.  While the drive there and back was long (a full 5 hours) it was great being with my mom and the wedding was gorgeous.  It looked like it was straight out of a magazine photo shoot!

Mom and I on the bus going to wedding site...
with baby Sutter Homes, natch.  

Beautiful mama, beautiful venue!

Being silly before the ceremony...

Stunning!

Mom at the pretty cheese and fruit table.  I
wish I could have gotten a better picture of how neat it was.  

There were several outdoor seating areas.

The weather was perfect too-- low 70's.

Inside the barn

A "selfie" taken 3 glasses of Chardonnay in :)

After the ceremony

The newlyweds!

Chris and the boys also had a nice weekend camping with Boy Scouts-- although certainly more muddy and less fancy...

Some of the dads.  Chris looks thrilled, doesn't he?

James and friend, Ross, cleaning up the campsite.

James was the 1st Scout up and helped make breakfast!

Apparently Henry shot a bulls-eye
on his very try!  We have the paper to prove it!

James's turn!

Henry taking part in the games.

Fisherman James

Unfortunately there was an emergency in the unit so Chris had to wake the boys at midnight on Saturday evening and pack everything up to head home.  He said the boys were confused, of course, but seemed fine.  I think we'll all have fond memories of a great weekend!

Li'l man down, big boys out!

Yesterday Peter decided to ride one of these cars (we have it in blue)...

down our huge hill.  It ended like this... no tears, but this...

That blood is so bright it matches
his sunglasses and shirt perfectly.  Yikes!

 Within a few minutes, he was back at it again...

Chris and the big boys went camping with the Scouts last night and again tonight and Peter and I are getting ready to drive to a friend's wedding in Charlottesville, Va.  A quick check of mapquest three months ago when I agreed to attend would have told me the trip is 5 HOURS and 14 MINUTES and therefore I would have politely DECLINED my offer but alas, it is too late now.  Hmmm.  Me and Rainman in the car for 5 1/2 hours today, 5 1/2 hours tomorrow.  Good times, folks.  Goooooood times...  :)

Slashy-poo...

That's not his name of course.  His given name is Slash but I've taken to calling him Slashypoo.  "Why?" you might be asking yourself.  Um... because he really is that cute.  Crazy, I know.  Two days after we first brought the lizard home I told Chris we might have to return him since I wasn't feeling the love.  "Just give it time." he said.  And whaddya know?  Chris was right.

Sometimes if he's being extra cute I even throw in another "poo" for the mega title of Slashy-poo-poo!  Gag me with a spoon, right?  Ha ha... remember when we all used to say that?!  Those were the days.

Anyway, here are a bunch of pictures of us with Slash.  (James is anti-camera lately which is why it's hard to get him in them!)

Pete wearing a lizard shirt
his friend Sawyer gave him.

We all love watching Slash eat
his crickets.  This butterfly net
has proven to be the perfect spot for doing so
because no one can escape, thank God!

Sometimes we take Slash
outside so he can sunbathe.
True story.

The boys love to let him "hang" on them!

More kisses (ick)

More hanging

Oooh.  Watch out.  Look at him with
that popped collar and those kissy lips!

Back to "Baby Pete"

Don't mind the green gun--
he and his buddies were mid-battle--
but here is James holding Slash.

Yup!  You guessed it...

This is when I call him Slashy-poo-poo!
I mean, how cute are his little fingers holding on to me?!
And I keep kidding with the boys that I'm
going to paint his itty bitty nails pink.  

Otherwise known as.... SMASH!

Slash used to open his mouth really wide when we'd try to get him out of his tank... almost like he was hissing us away.  Ha ha.  Thankfully he's stopped doing that now and seems to be enjoying all the love he's getting!

Okay.  That may be a stretch.  Slash appears to be tolerating all the love.  It's a start.  ;)

Bike Races!

The boys and their buddies love racing on their bikes.  What's funny is that Peter is now part of the mix.  And he's so bossy, he's even managed to be the Official Race Starter, as evidenced here...

The kids race up and down the street about 25 times a day and, believe it or not, there are usually MORE boys in the race.  Can you believe there are 13 boys all in the houses right around ours?  And then there's Gabby... she is so good about having to hang with all those smelly boys, even though Peter drives her nuts.  Our friends from West Point, the Moraleses, are moving in across the street next month and have one son and two daughters all about the same age as our kids, so that'll be fun for everyone... including the Mommies!

Happy Monday!!  :-)

Musical Beds?

Chris and I have been saving up for-- and recently purchased-- a new king size bed and mattress!  We are super excited about the upgrade and are anxiously awaiting its arrival.  In the meantime, we decided to switch some of the other beds around now that Peter sleeps in a big boy bed and James has been asking for a larger bed (he has been in a twin for the last 2 years).

This morning we moved the (former) spare bed upstairs for James, moved James's twin-sized bed over for Henry, and changed up Henry's Queen size bed for Peter.  Our current bed (a Queen) will move over to the spare bedroom as soon as our new bed arrives.  That's like a musical bed tongue-twister!

But the kicker?  They all wanted to be together, in the same room.  (Which ranks as a complete First World Problem in that we now have two spare bedrooms in this house!)

James's side of the room

James on left, Henry on right, Peter in forefront...
(It kind of looks like an orphanage, doesn't it?
Albeit a happy one but orphanage nonetheless.  Ha ha.)

Happy Henry!

Happy Pete!

"Whatchu doing, Henny?"

Peter and Henry have been sleeping in the same bed at night so really the three boys have been sleeping in the same bedroom for about a month now.  Tonight will be the first night they all have their own beds to sleep in.  Fingers crossed for a happy, peaceful bedtime tonight.  I think they'll do great!

A great Saturday...

Yesterday turned out to be a great day.  It's funny how those "great days" sneak up on you and are almost always the ones you don't plan out.  James was supposed to have a soccer game at 10am (an hour away) and Henry was supposed to have a T-ball game at 11am nearby.  Chris and I had already planned to split up so we could attend both boys' games.  However, both games were called off for forecasted rain storms (which never came).  We decided to hop in the car and head on post to visit friends and check out the yard sale going on.  Not only did the boys score some fun loot (an Imaginext animal kingdom, binoculars, a stuffed bunny that Henry spoke for all day long... as in, "Look, Hoppy has his seat belt on.... Look!  Hoppy is eating lunch.  Look!  Hoppy said he doesn't like quesadillas.".... an embroidery kit I made Henry buy with the $1 I'd given him and received a funny look from Chris when he asked who it was for.  "Henry and me!  I wanted to find a pot holder kit but this'll do."  To which Chris just shook his head.  Anyway, as you can tell... it had all the makings for a great day... no schedule, all-but-free-and-new-to-us toys, visit with friends, and then we headed to a new park which the boys loved!

All of my boys...
they really do make every day an adventure.

James entertaining us...

And most definitely his brother.

I caught him!  (For a second.) 

And he's off again!  Peter climbed and
navigated every part of this park by himself...
even the slippery steps and slides.  

We couldn't keep up with him.

And a few fun family pictures we snapped on my iPhone...

Look, even Hoppy the Bunny made it in a picture!  Ha ha.

It was a perfect day.