Friends, Apples, and Bowling

Again, the best thing about living in Family Housing at UVa is, well, the families. There are constantly people playing at the park, kids running from one house to another, or (like last week) moms and kids gathered together to just have fun. Melissa lives right next door to us and has this great little playhouse that's a huge hit everyone because it's fun AND has a door to contain the kiddies. Everyone wins!

It's even fun for the big kids...



The moms

George cooked last weekend for a Medical School fundraiser "Cook-Off" with all the proceeds going to the John Jones' Scholarship fund. It was a lot of fun and he won "Most Original" category which was great! It was nice to meet some of his colleagues and enjoy the beautiful weather. 

Flying Jude.

On Tuesday last week we went with several families from Copeley to Carter's Mountain to pick apples. It was for FHA week, so it was free and we even got to take home a bag of tasty apples! George couldn't make it because he was working, but the boys and I had a great time!


Lance did all the picking. :) He was a big help!


Yum!


Surveying the loot.


Friends from Copeley (and our ward)


Bo and Jude


I... can... get... it!


I love that Jude is still gnawing on his apple.


The package included a bag of apples, a hayride, and a mini-lesson about the orchard and the apple's life-cycle and uses. I thought it was pretty interesting, but Lance wasn't too impressed:



The hayride was more up his ally.


Our good friends and the kiddies


He looks so grown up in this shot! Jude loves to pull up on everything and is standing at least 75 percent of the time now.


Brothers


Fun, fun!


We also got free apple donuts and cider! Yum!


The view was so pretty from on top of the mountain.


Poor Jude. He was zonked by the time we got home. He usually wakes up when I take him out of his seat, but today I man-handled him and he wouldn't budge.

We have a park right outside our back door and one of Lance's favorite things to do everyday when Killian and Kendal (the twins next door his same age) get home from school is to put on his Ironman costume and his Buzz Lightyear wings and play on the park. It's great! I love that he has to have his costume on whenever he swings. What a goof!

The kids are good helpers, too, and keep an eye on Jude to make sure he's having fun, too.

We also got to go bowling for free for FHA week! Lance LOVES to bowl and had a great time! Jude had fun eating french fries and watching everyone, although he tried his best to get a piece of the action. We got to share a lane with our good friends and had a blast!

Sour cream (from the supreme nachos). Yum!

Lance did this funny thing every time he would bowl. He'd send the ball down the lane and then do his "Transformer" where he'd curl up in a little ball and wait for the pins to reset. I never really figured out why he did it, but whatever.


Me and Jude


The group!

The boys.

It was a fun week! Friday, the little boys and I headed up to Ashburn while George stayed behind to be a diligent student. Not only was Chad coming into town that night, but Laura was in labor!

A Baby Shower and a Good-bye...

Last Saturday, I helped throw Laura's baby shower up in Ashburn. It turned out wonderfully! There was a huge crowd of fun ladies that came, a silly game involving words like "engorgement" and "conception", and tons of awesome gifts for the new mama. Laura looked like she was having a ball, which was exactly what I wanted. My family all pitched in to help set up, decorate, make food, and clean and I have to say, it looked beautiful and was a blast.

As most of you know, I'm addicted to taking pictures of everything. My Nikon D40 SLR is my constant companion and more often than not, I'm snapping away during events. Such was the case at the shower. I was the only one taking pictures and I probably snapped over 100 photos of ladies talking, Laura opening gifts, the cute favors, and the little kids that accompanied their moms. Unfortunately, I am unable to post any of said pictures because...

...my camera disappeared during the shower and is nowhere to be found. We were holding the shower at my mom's house and it was over, but most of the guests were still there when I set my camera down on the kitchen counter and walked away for about 5 minutes to talk to some friends. I came back and it was gone. I didn't think too much of it at the time because my cousin had been helping me take pictures during the shower and I figured she had it somewhere. She didn't. After the shower we tore the house apart looking for it. I dug through the trash, searched all the gifts, looked in every nook and cranny, every cupboard and in every room of the house. Heck, I even checked the dishwasher and refrigerator. Gone. It's not a small camera you put in your pocket, easily lost or misplaced. It's a substantial SLR with a large lens attached that won't fit in a small purse let alone a pocket. It's not like it could have been accidentally thrown away in the pile of tissue paper.

I've come to the sad, depressing conclusion that it had to be stolen. And stolen by someone at the shower. The worst part? The only people at the shower were close friends and family. I expected to feel angry, but to my surprise, all I really felt was sadness. I was sad for me because I was losing a great camera that I cannot replace anytime soon, I was sad for Laura because it happened at her shower, and I was sad for the person who took it. Think about it: in order for someone to do something like that, there are only two possible explanations. One, they are a kleptomaniac and therefore have a mental illness of compulsion, or two, they were so desperate for the money they could make by selling it that they were willing to risk important relationships (i.e. family and friendships) to get it. George claims there is a third explanation--that they wanted the camera and just didn't care--but in my heart I just can't accept that. In any case, the camera is gone and I cannot replace it, nor the hundreds of pictures I had yet to download.

I've priced new SLR's but realize our family does not have the $1000+ it would cost to buy another camera like the one I lost and it will most likely be years before we do. If any of you own an SLR, you know once you have one you can never go back to a little hand-held. You'll always be disappointed by the quality of the photos and the annoying delay that makes you miss all the perfect shots/funny faces your kids make. Oh well. For now, we're using George's 7-year-old digital camera he got before his mission. It does it's job and I guess that's good enough.

To my Nikon, wherever you are: You were a great friend, my trusted companion in my quest to capture the little moments in life, each precious day "in paradise". Good-bye, old friend. I miss you already.

Jealous?

I have the best husband in the world! Last Thursday I had to go to a meeting in the evening and left the boys with George while I was gone. He was tired and wasn't feeling very well, Jude was crying, and Lance was super dirty from playing outside. I felt pretty guilty leaving them all, but I was supposed to help with the meeting and had to go.

I came home three hours later. What did I find? George had fed and bathed both boys, put Jude to bed, built a fort with Lance in the front room, popped popcorn and let him pick out a movie to watch inside the fort. He had washed the dishes and was cooking this great mushroom/crepe dish. Everything was done and I hadn't asked him to do any of it. He just saw what needed to be done and then went the extra mile. I got to come in and lay next to Lance while we finished the movie and just enjoy being with my family.

Paradise.

Pictures from the Week

Recap of this past week in pictures.

PARK

Lance was with his dad this past weekend, so Jude and I had to find a way to stay busy without him while George was at the hospital. We have a park right outside our back door, so Jude and I climbed on the playground and went down the slides. I don't think he's ever done anything other than swing and he was not sure what to think about the tunnels.

He sat in the tunnel for minutes at a time before inching his way to the other side.

He was inside for so long, I had time to slide down the slide, take this picture, and climb back up before he moved more than two inches. It was pretty funny.

Finally! 

After the first couple times, he mastered it and would plow right through with that funny crawl of his, using his toes on the left foot and his knee on the right to get around. He looks like a bear as his arms pound away and he alternates between his knees and feet. It's so funny!

Not the greatest picture of me, but whatever.

Jude thought the slides were fun, too!

JUDE-IN-THE-BOX

IRONMEN

Jude liked watching Lance be Ironman better than he liked being Ironman.


STAR WARS PANCAKES!

I got Lance these great pancake molds and this past week we tried them out. This is Lance making a "Darth Vader" face.


CREEPER
It's times like this that make me realize what being a mother really means. It means messy clothes and messy rooms. It means long days and even longer nights. It means laughter and kisses, tantrums and tears. It means less time with George and more time with Legos and diapers. It means more love than I could ever have imagined and more fun that I thought possible. It means...

...Elmo constantly watching me as I shower.  I realize he's not really watching, but it's a little unsettling to turn around and see his googly eyes fixed right on me. Creeper.


MUSIC

The boys love music and one way George helps the boys settle down before they go to bed is to play music on the computer and watch the screensaver light show that dances to the songs. It is heartwarming to see the three of them sit together in a dark room watching beautiful colors and listening to fun music.


SHADES

Lance is starting to have fun including Jude in his play. It's cute to watch them interact as Jude gets bigger and can keep up a bit better.


SEWING
This past week I worked on a project that I thought was a lot of fun! I like to pretend I can sew and this was one such time. I stitched the rectangles by hand and I think they turned out really well. What do you think?

I had Lance write his own name on a piece of paper and I copied it on the fabric and then stitched it. And that really is Jude's hand. It took forever, but I learned a few tricks that will help it go faster next time.

It was a great week! Friday morning Lance went with his dad to Virginia Beach to see the Airshow at Andrew's Air Force Base and Jude and I drove up to Ashburn to finish the preparations for Laura's Baby Shower on Saturday, but that is another post for another day!