Dinner at the club

After the park, Grandma and Poppy treated us to dinner at the Country Club. GiGi came too! It was special for me since it was where we had our wedding reception 8 years ago yesterday. It's changed a lot since they remodeled it, but it was still neat to be in the same spot I was eight years ago. Ben was in California for work, or else he would have been there too.

Poppy had fun teaching Owen how to putt and Vivian enjoyed some peas before our meals came out. It was a relaxing evening and the kiddos slept very well that night thanks to a fun-filled busy day.

Hersheypark 2011

Grandma and Poppy had some Hersheypark tickets to use, so we were glad to tag along with them. :)

Owen started off a little nervous about the kiddie rides, but after Poppy took him on the first one - the little train - he was excited about trying some more. He then went on the fire truck (twice), the helicopter, the log flume (with Mommy and Grandma), the bees, the pirate ship, and the carousel. He even got a hug from the Reese's Cup guy! By the end he was so tired and couldn't walk anymore, so I put Vivi in the baby Bjorn since she had already napped in the stroller, and Owen got a ride back to the car.




It was a very fun day and we were all hoping to get a little nap when we got home. But of course that did not happen.
It was so worth it though. :)

Happy Anniversary to my Honey

My dad took me on the most important walk of my life at ten after 2pm on that rainy Saturday morning eight years ago today. I was so incredibly nervous that I would trip walking down the aisle. He handed me over to my soon-to-be husband and we made our way up to the alter.

Monsignor Beirster, the priest who married us, gave his homily and I will forever remember what he said that day.

Share.

Care.

and Be Fair.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't always remember those words on a daily basis. But I do always think of them when I remember our wedding day. They are things we work on in order to keep our marriage strong. And I thank Msgr Beirster for giving us that advice on our special day.

After the ceremony, we headed over to the Hershey Country Club for our reception. Ben chose this song for our bridal party to enter to and for us to be introduced for the first time as husband and wife:



Our reception was amazing. Very hot, but amazing. Tim, one of Ben's best friends from high school, was our Best Man and gave an awesome speech. It was a great way to kick off the party. We had dinner, and then it was time to hit the dance floor!

My dad and I had our father/daughter dance. I chose the song, he planned a surprise. Images from my childhood were displayed on a big screen behind us while we danced. It was so incredible. We laughed, we cried. And then he handed me over to Ben and said, "She's all yours." with a hug.



Ben and I shared our first dance as a married couple. It was so funny because we never took dance lessons, just winged it. Such a great song and it really fits us.



We cut the cake and promised to take care of each other in our old age. Ben is certainly living up to his end of the bargain. He cooks, takes care of me when I'm sick, does the dishes (usually), and always can make me smile. (We gotta work on sharing the remote control though.) :)



I love you honey and want to wish you a very Happy Anniversary! Thank you for the last 8 years and the five before that when we were dating...best 13 years of my life. But, they just keep getting better.

Can't wait to see what our future holds.

xoxoxoxo

Girls' weekend

It was supposed to be a four day beach weekend in Ocean City. Thanks to Hurricane Irene, it turned into a retro Hershey weekend and we all still had a blast. Lost some sleep, but made some fun memories.

I love these girls.

We hope to do it again next year. Maybe we'll let the husbands and kids tag along. Maybe.

Earthquake in Virginia!?!?!?

Owen's account of the earthquake:

Frying Pan Farm

The weather was amazing today, so we packed a picnic and drove over to Frying Pan Farm in Herndon. We hadn't been there in awhile, and the merry-go-round was finished so we were hoping to ride.
We walked around and got to check out all the animals. But by the time we made it over to the carousel, the next ride wasn't going to start for another 20 minutes, and we needed to get home to feed Vivian. So we'll save the ride for next time. :)

I can't believe this little man is turning 3 in less than a month!!!

And this pretty girl is going to be ONE in less than four months.

Time is going by way. too. fast.
Slow down time.

After-dinner pictures

Feeling guilty about not picking up my camera lately, so after a nice dinner on the deck in this gorgeous low-humidity weather, I plopped the kids down in the backyard for a few pics. Owen only sat still for one.

Happy 3rd Birthday Sarah Catherine!

I can't believe three years have passed since Steph and I started to get together with the kids for playdates. We have each added another little one to the mix so the kiddos outnumber the mommies now at our get-togethers.


Sarah Catherine had a super fun Dora-themed Little Gym birthday party and we had a blast celebrating with her. Vivi enjoyed crawling around and pulling up on the bars. She even started crawling up the steps - I am not ready for this!

Happy Birthday Sarah Catherine! We look forward to many more playdates over the years as you kids grow up together. :)

Daddy's little helper

Ben was loading the dishwasher tonight, and look who crawled over to help...

Look who's pulling up to standing

I was vacuuming the kitchen this morning while Owen was at camp, and Vivi was safely contained in the family room behind the lovely baby gate. Next thing I know, she had crawled over to the gate and was standing up looking into the kitchen to see what I was doing. I grabbed my camera to take some pictures for the blog, and also had time to take a few shots on my phone to text to Ben.

I'm constantly amazed at how much sooner she's doing these things compared to baby #1.

Vivi has the BEST Aunts!

I was in Carter's the other day and saw this onesie and just had to get it for Vivian. Her Aunt Hillary and Aunt Lindsey are wonderful and she wants the world to know. :)

Pincer grasp

Vivi has been working hard to perfect her pincer grasp. She practices almost every night at dinnertime with Cheerios. (I gave up on the Puffs since her cheeks broke out in eczema every time she ate them.)

Heading home

We'll miss you Grandma & Poppy! Until next time!

Playing together

Grandma found a bunch of cool toys at a yard sale recently. Now that Vivi is crawling everywhere, she enjoyed crawling up to where Owen was playing and she joined right in.
I'm driving to Philly this afternoon so that I can attend Missy's bridal shower while these two hang out with Grandma and Poppy for the rest of the day. I hope they play nice. :)

Thanks Mom and Dad!

Hanging out at Grammy & Poppy's house

Vivi babbling

Vivian has always (in my opinion) been a quieter baby in terms of vocalizations compared to her brother. She's been better at fine motor skills versus the talking stuff. Now, don't get me wrong, she can really use her lungs when she's hungry or overtired. But she hadn't really done any true babbling until this week. Maybe she just wanted to wait until those first two bottom teeth popped through to start using her voice?

When she woke up this morning, the first thing she said when I pulled the paci out of her mouth was "da, da, da". Super cute. I took her into our bathroom where Ben was getting ready for work, but she got shy. Later this afternoon I shot this video to document her first babbles. :)
I only know one thing:
I love, love, love hearing her begin to talk.

Vivian is 8 months old!

Each month when it comes time to post the "sticker-picture", I get a little sad. Our baby girl is growing up so fast! Here's what she's been up to lately:

* Wearing mostly 12-month clothes

* Wearing size 4 diapers in daytime, size 6 overnights

* Drinking 4 7-oz bottles a day

* Eating cereal/fruit for breakfast, Veggie for dinner

* Loves Mum-mums and fruit in her mesh feeder

* Has fun eating Cheerios before dinner

* Drinks water from a sippy cup

* Sleeps with her paci and sleepy giraffe

* Is pretty serious-faced most of the time (see pic above) and is a challenge to get her to giggle, but we try our best every day :)

* Crawling all over the place!

* Started pulling herself to standing - can almost do it!

* Started talking! Says da-da the most, and some other sounds.

* Has lots of fun at the pool - wants to splash and blow bubbles

* LOVES her brother so much ~ huge smiles and giggles for him all the time

Can't believe that in just four months she'll be a year old already! Where does the time go???

Dinner at Kel's

Kel invited us over for dinner tonight. We got to catch up with Missy who is getting married in less than two months! Kayla let Owen read her "Everybody Poops" book to try to help his pooping issues. We were out past bedtimes, but had a great time laughing, eating and just hanging out.
Thanks for having us over Kel!

Vivian's Baptism

We were so lucky to be surrounded by family and friends for Vivian's baptism. Kelly and Matt graciously agreed to be Vivi's Godparents, and Kayla was so sweet to let Vivi borrow her beautiful baptism gown for the special day. Just as Kayla fell asleep at her ceremony, Vivi followed suit and fell asleep during the final portion of the service and the first half of her baptism luncheon at our house. Must be the dress.

Grandma and Grandpa Marshall and Aunt Hillary came, along with Ben's Uncle Phillip and Aunt Leota and cousins Katie and Tori from Wisconsin. Molly, Tim and Nate came too, and helped with Kayla and baby Ryan while Kel and Matt were doing their Godparently duties (like holding Vivi over the baptismal font and getting hot wax dripped on their hands holding the baptismal candle). :)




We appreciated everyone being with us to celebrate and want to thank everyone for all the beautiful gifts you showered Vivian with on her special day!

German Bistro & Virginia winery

GiGi, Grandma Killi and Poppy came into town this morning. We decided to visit a local winery since Mike and Lindsey had never been wine tasting before. For lunch we stopped at a cute little German Bistro in Leesburg and enjoyed some Doner sandwiches. The babies were all very well-behaved.

We decided on Lost Creek vineyard and had fun trying the various whites, reds and dessert wines. Then we came home to relax a bit before dinner. It was a fun day spending time with family.

Uncle Mike, Aunt Lindsey, and Cousin Max are in town!

Mike, Lindsey and Max got in this afternoon to spend the weekend with us for Vivi's baptism. Kelly was so sweet to come over and stay with Vivi for me while I picked them up at the airport. We hung out until Ben got home from work and then he dove right into cooking up his famous quesadillas (You can see him hard at work in the kitchen in the background of this top picture.)

After we put the kids to bed, we hung out on the couch playing "Apples to Apples" and had a few good laughs before calling it a night.

When Daddy puts Vivian to bed

this is how I find her jammie drawer the next morning.

Vivi and her babydoll

like to dress in the same color sometimes. :)

We officially have a crawler!

Over a month earlier than her brother when he first crawled!

(The quality is low because I took this with my phone.)

Mister Independent

Lately Owen has been all about doing things by himself. Whether it be getting up into his chair for lunch, washing his hands and picking out his clothes. I know I need to let go and let him do these things on his own, but part of me gets frustrated because I know it's faster and easier for me to just do it for him.

Yesterday he wanted to use the potty by himself. I definitely think that we are getting close to him being ready to really dive head first into potty training. But I am terrified of the poop accidents that I know are bound to happen. I'm also terrified of his little independent self wanting to wipe his bottom all by himself which he did yesterday after saying he needed to poop on the potty when he had actually just pooped in his diaper. He would rip off one square of toilet paper, do a little wipe, then drop it in the toilet. He did this about fifteen times. When I tried to help, he said, "No Mommy! I can do it myself!" so I had to wait until he was bored with it to get him really clean with some baby wipes. Just the thought of poop grosses me out beyond belief. But again, I know I need to get over this soon.

We've been using the potty successfully for peeing for a long time now, it's the pooping we're having trouble with. He turns 3 next month, but I'm not going to push him if he's not ready. Right now I'm thinking we'll give it a good try in October and see what happens.

Wish us luck!