Happy Birthday to me!

I had a great Birthday this year! Thanks to my family and friends, I got to celebrate no less than 4 times!

First up, March 15th my mom and Laura drove down to Charlottesville. Laura's birthday is on the 16th, so to celebrate my mom took us both out to lunch (along with all the kids!) AND took us shopping where she treated us to a mini shopping-spree. It was so much fun!

We had lunch at a new Mexican restaurant that just went up in Charlottesville. The fact that they ignored the screaming children and bent over backwards to make sure we had everything we needed made me want to go back, even though the food wasn't anything spectacular.

(It was a school day, so Lance didn't get to come. )

The whole group

Sisters!


Second celebration happened on my actual Birthday: I got some great gifts from my family! George got me an Apple TV so the 40,000 picture I have taken that are on the computer get to scroll across our TV screen to music of our choosing. You think I'm kidding about the 40,000 pictures? I'm not. Lance gave me flowers he had picked out himself. Jude picked out the card the kids signed and then took pictures with George and Cole in the little picture booth at the mall to give me (Lance was with his dad when they did that, so he didn't get to be in the picture. Boo.) It was perfect!

(Cole was napping...)

That night George took me to a French restaurant on the Downtown Mall called Petit Pois, compliments of Mom and Dad Glass (thank you!).

It was really REALLY good! We had never been there before, but we will definitely be going back.


Celebration #3? The next day we invited some friends over to have some birthday cake George made. Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting--my all-time favorite.

Melissa and Sarah (Jamie and Allison were out of town). And no, husbands don't get to be in the picture!


Last but not least, I got to celebrate a 4th time with some of my closest friends here in Charlottesville. They took me out to dinner at Bonefish Grill!

Jamie, Allison, Lori, Melissa and me.

Thank you to all my friends and family that made my 30th Birthday a special one--the perfect way to ring in the start of my 4th decade!

Match Day Madness

We have several friends in medical school and March 15th was a big day for the 4th year med students.  Match Day! Every 4th year med student across the US finds out on this day where they will be doing their Residencies. Oh man, it was just a year ago when we had our Match Day and found out we would be staying at UVa. 

Our friends the Smiths, Dickinsons, and Francoms all landed residencies at the place of their choice! We are so happy for them! After the official Match Day meeting, the families all met up for some bike riding in the neighborhood and then pizza for dinner. Even though we weren't one of the 4th year families, we were invited to join in the fun.

After pizza, the kids all had a great time in the Smith's backyard rolling and biking down their little hill.

Jude is getting much better at his bike and can coast with his feet resting on the footrests! I can't believe he's barely 3 and is starting to balance on his own. Way to go, Jude!

Cole was happy to just be outside and toddle around.

I love that Cole looks super bald in this picture.:)

George got home from work while the party was going on and was able to join us all, too, making it the perfect night!

As much as Lance bickers with these two girls, they're actually pretty good friends.

The next night we had a potluck at the Elmer's to celebrate the Match again! 

Sarah Simmons, Jaclyn Dickinson, me, Jamie Smith, Allison Vedomske, and Melissa Elmer.

The men! Mike Vedomske, Ben (in front), Rod Smith with Bo, Brandon Dickinson, George with Lance, Aric Elmer with Killian, Calvin Simmons and Jayden Elmer (in front).

We are so happy for our good friends and while I'm sad they're moving away, I'm so happy that they are moving on to bigger and better things. At least we still have about 3 months to enjoy them all before they move!

Swimming, boxing and tons of clay

March had been keeping us busy!

Jude is almost finished with his first set of swim lessons! He has loved every second of it... maybe a little too much. His teacher has told me multiple times that Jude has no fear of the water--rather he has trouble focusing on what she is teaching because he just can't stop playing.

That grin says it all. He loves the water and does a good job doing most of what the teacher asks of the kids. I just hope his attention span expands a little before his next class that starts in a couple weeks.

And what does Cole do while we're at swim lessons?

At this pool they banish all parents and kids not swimming to an upstairs balcony where we can watch. It's in the same area as the pool, so it's 85 degrees and humid. Luckily, it's a contained area so Cole can have free range and run back and forth as much as he pleases without too much worry from mama.

Jude as recently discovered a love of video games and asks to play them almost every waking minute. I introduced him to Wii Sports and he is currently obsessed with the boxing game. He's pretty good at it and enjoys trash-talking while he beats up different characters. "I'm going to knock you out!" "In your face!" "Stupid you!" (when he get's knocked down)

We give Cole the broken controller so he thinks he's playing, too.

Jude thinks it's great when he beats me, George or Lance. I have to admit he beats me often. Legitimately.


Lance has also discovered a love for sculpting things out of clay. He used some money he's been saving to buy a pack of clay and every day after school he makes about 5 or 6 different little creations.

Let's see... there's a snake with spines on it's back, a sting ray with stingers on the tail, a snake with venom coming out of it's fangs, a screw driver and screw, a hammer and a nail, a starfish, a bone, a tomato, a strawberry, an apple, and a diamond with a large sparkle on it. I love that he is so excited to be creating these. It's fun to watch his mind at work as he figures out how to make the ideas in his head. He's very creative and I think has a promising future in art if he keeps at it.

Snow!

I swear the weather in Virginia must be having a rough personal life right now because for the last couple months it hasn't been able to decide if it should be warm or cold. After having several nice days in February, March 6th brought us this:

About 8 inches of beautiful snow!

It happened to be a Wednesday and Lance, while happy to be out of school for the day, was upset the snow hadn't come later in the week. Why? Well, he wanted to have a long weekend and was sure they'd have to go to school on Thursday or Friday. Only Lance could find a reason to be disappointed about a snow day. Stinker!

I dressed the boys and we all tried to play in the snow. Unfortunately, it was a very wet, heavy snow so we didn't last very long.

Poor Cole wasn't too pleased about the snow this time since it was too deep for him to walk in and too wet to sit.

I had bought him some snow pants just a couple weeks before this and thought he would love them, but once they were on he simply refused to walk. He reminded me of the little brother in "A Christmas Story" who gets all bundled by his mom for school and can't put his arms down or get up when he falls in the snow. Cole just laid like this until I took them off.

Lance lucked out and got to go snow-shoeing with his dad this day since there was no power at Scott's work. He had a great time and even got to have a short play-date with Killian and Kendall. He gets to have all the fun.

Our friends built an igloo in their backyard, so in the afternoon after naps, we braved the wet snow again to visit and check out the cool ice house.

It was amazing! It was large enough to fit several adults inside and very well made.

The boys both thought it was great! We didn't last very long this time in the snow either since it was warming up and the snow was melting. By the end of the day much of the snow was gone and I was sad for Lance since I was pretty sure he'd have to go to school the next day although sure he would have a delay.

Lance got his wish, however. School was indeed cancelled the rest of the week due to power outages across the county. :) Woo hoo!