Trick-or-Treat!

Owen went over to Kayla's neighborhood for Trick-or-Treat this year.

Last night, he woke up from a sound sleep at 9:30pm coughing and wheezing like he couldn't breathe. It was so scary. Ben put him in the car and was halfway to the hospital when he turned around and came home because he said he thought he was better. We called the advice nurse and she thought he might have had an asthma attack or something of the sort.

We decided to pull his mattress in our room for the night and he slept fine, although Ben and I were on pins and needles most of the night. At 7:30am this morning, I took him in for a checkup while Ben stayed home with Vivian. The doc thought the same, and put him on an oral steroid and the nebulizer for a few days. He goes back tomorrow for a checkup.

He was dragging a bit tonight, but overall had a fun time. Vivi and I stayed home to man the candy-giveaway. She was a trooper and stayed up until 7:30, but was ready to hit the hay at that point. Owen came home with a pumpkin bucket FULL of candy! We let him choose one piece to have tonight and he picked a Reese's peanut butter cup ~ Mommy's favorite too!

Once he was in bed, he was out fast. It was a very fun Halloween this year!
(Thanks Kelly for the great pictures! The big one on the left was the kids smiling, and the upper right was the kids yelling "candy!"). :)

SNOW before Halloween?!?!

We decided to check out "Air & Scare" this year at the Udvar Hazy Center near Dulles Airport. Apparently, all of Ashburn, Chantilly and Herndon decided they were going to see what it was all about too. It opened at 2pm and we got out the door at 4pm, but that must have been everyone else's idea too because we came to a dead stop about 2 miles away from the museum's entrance.

At least it didn't take too long to get through all the traffic and find a parking spot. But boy was it crowded. Kids (and some parents too!) in costume all over and they got to trick-or-treat throughout the museum, thanks to M&M Mars (c'mon Hershey, gotta step it up and sponsor next year!). :)


It was a very fun event and I think we'll be making it an annual tradition.

We survived the entire week without Daddy

I'm backdating (as taught by Andrea)...since it's been a long week and I haven't had any time to keep up with the blog. Ben had a business trip in San Diego this week, and while we had originally planned for me and the kids to join him, unfortunately the ticket prices made that idea financially challenging at this moment.

So we stayed home and held down the fort while Daddy enjoyed the week in sunny Cali. We missed him like crazy and tried to keep busy to make the days go by fast - couldn't wait to see him again today.

Owen had a dentist appointment today - he did GREAT! No cavities, which is awesome, especially since we accidentally missed his last 6-mo checkup and it had actually been a year since his last appointment. Oops. At least I got it in before Halloween. :)
He really enjoyed the dentist, which is very much the opposite of how his Mom handles her visits. He got a goody bag with a new toothbrush and toothpaste, both of which he got to hand select, as well as a balloon and a token to put in the toy machine. He decided on a bouncy ball to buy with his token and he loves it. Mommy even got some goodies too - a lip balm and handy hand sanitizer spray for her purse. Love me some freebies. :)

After Owen's visit, we had a text from Daddy that he had landed, so we headed over to the airport to pick him up. Looking forward to having a nice relaxing weekend at home as a family.

Rainy Thursday

It was rainy all day today so we just hung out at home and had some quality playtime. I snapped this picture of Vivi this afternoon.

Halloween playdate

Today after Mom's Morning Out, we met up with our friends Hunter, Matthew, and Austin (plus Mommies and siblings) for a Halloween playdate that Hunter's Mommy had organized. The weather didn't quite cooperate, as it started sprinkling, then raining, on our way over to the playground. But luckily there was a covered pavilion where we could eat our picnic lunches and the kids didn't mind playing in the rain for a little while. The boys loved the Halloween cupcakes that Hunter and his Mom made. Owen had 1 & 1/2! :)

They were so worn out from all the playtime that they both took great naps this afternoon. When they woke up we took another quick trip to the library to get some more DVDs since they're calling for rain tomorrow too. Owen's field trip to Great Country Farms is likely going to be cancelled, so that's a bummer.

So after getting home from the library we just played with the train table and watched a few DVD's together, and before we knew it we were all hungry for dinner. After dinner it was bath and bedtime for Vivian, and Owen was such a good boy watching a show downstairs by himself while Mommy put Vivi down. Vivi is having so much fun crawling up the stairs each night when we go up for bath. She's practicing walking, and loves to walk holding your fingertips, but hasn't taken a step on her own yet. I predict it will be soon though!

After Vivi was snug in her crib, Owen and I did his Goodnight Moon puzzle and read a few books and then was time for Owen's bedtime. Finally Mommy gets some quiet time to herself.

Vivi plays peek-a-boo

She had been doing it a few times before I finally remembered to grab my camera, so this is all I got:



Notice the red mark above her left eyebrow....seems with all her mobility comes lots of tumbles. Good thing she's a tough cookie. She pretty much has a new one every other day.

Nice day for a walk to the park

This morning Ben headed out to San Diego on a business trip. He left at 5:30am, long before the kids wake up (usually around 7am), so he didn't get to say goodbye to them before he took a cab to the airport.

Most of the pictures from this week are from my phone (note the fuzziness) since I didn't usually remember to pick up my camera.

We woke up like usual, and had breakfast then Vivi took her morning nap. It was a short one, so when she woke up we packed a lunch and walked over to our favorite playground to get some fresh air and exercise. It was a gorgeous morning for a walk. We ate our lunch on one of the picnic tables and then Owen ran around playing and Vivi tried to tag along. She's getting close to walking that I even joked to Ben that she might be by the time he gets home.

The kids had fun and Vivian must have been tuckered out because she slept the entire walk home (about 35 minutes). Owen refused to nap when we got home, so instead we drove over to the library and hung out reading for awhile. Then we just had to make a stop at Zinga, our new favorite spot in town. It's a frozen yogurt place kindof like Pinkberry, but a little less pricey. Owen is a huge fan:


When we got home, I attempted to make a healthy dinner recipe that I had read in a magazine recently. In order to do this, I had to prop Vivi up in her highchair since it was her bottle time and I was in the midst of cooking, while Owen was in front of the TV watching a DVD we had picked up at the library.

Owen took a few bites of the meal, but didn't like it as much as I did. He did eat the noodles, which are one of his favorites. The rest was sundried tomatoes, yellow squash and zucchini, and garlic. So much for my cooking. It was fun at least.

Massanutten 2011 - Day 2

This morning we had another nice breakfast (smoked salmon & cream cheese croissants - yum!) and then packed up to head home.

Before hitting the road, we stopped at Dream Come True Playground near JMU which Ben had spotted yesterday. The playground is specially designed for “children of all abilities.” Pretty neat stuff. Owen loved it so much he threw a tantrum when we went to leave.

A huge thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for the fun-filled weekend!

Massanutten 2011 - Day 1

We arrived last night around 8pm right behind Grandma and Grandpa. By the time we got both cars unpacked, ate a quick dinner, and put the kids in their jammies, it was almost 9 and they were ready for bed. Owen was a big boy and slept on the pull-out sofa all by himself!

The kids woke up right on schedule - 7am. Owen helped Grandma make blueberry pancakes and sausage and then devoured half the pile! :)

After Vivi's morning nap, we went to the water park for a couple of hours and both kids had a ball. It wasn't too crowded and the water was nice and warm. Vivi found the lazy river to be very relaxing and when we took a quick dip in the hot tub at the end, she almost fell asleep. That was our cue to head back to the condo for lunch and naps.

Grandma and Grandpa graciously took over baby duty while Ben and I ran over to JMU to grab lunch and shop at the bookstore. After 14 years, my original JMU hoodie sweatshirt is so worn out that I should probably toss it, but it has sentimental value to me so I haven't had the heart to. Tish told me to pick out a new one as a Christmas gift, so I chose a purple one with white embroidered "James Madison University" lettering. I also found a black fleece jacket on sale that I couldn't pass up.

We got back in time to take the kids over to the playground on the resort for an hour while Grandma and Grandpa took a little break. I took the opportunity to snap a bunch of pictures of the kids and Ben, although the bright sunset light was making it challenging.




The kids had more quality time with their grandparents while Ben and I went over to one of the resort's restaurants for a date night. Thank you so much for babysitting Grandma and Grandpa! :)

Headed to the mountains for the weekend

We're off to enjoy some brisk mountain air with Grandma and Grandpa Marshall!