Our Trip to Maryland for Gary and Michele's Wedding Part I

It was a whirlwind four days but we had an incredible trip to Maryland. And I decided that nothing is cuter than a two year old in a suit, but we'll get to that later. The flight up was good. We left around one o'clock and Daniel managed to sleep most of the flight. This was the first time we flew without bringing a stroller and it was so much easier. The kids were great! Once we arrived, we got our rental car and headed to my aunt and uncles house in Damascus. We were lucky enough to be able to stay with them because my aunt is an amazing hostess and chef who managed to keep, not only us, but my sister and Michael incredibly well fed and comfortable. You may remember we visited her in July and I described what an amazing house she has I was also very excited to see my sister and Michael and be able to spend some quality time with them.

Of course, the first thing the Allison wanted to do when we got there was go outside and play in the snow. Daniel, on the other hand, had no interest in it whatsoever. He's definitely my Florida boy!

Here's Allison throwing her first snowball as Uncle Michael looks on:
And here she is feeling empowered by the snow:
And what would playing in the snow be without building a snowman! Here's the Frosty created by Allison, Jeff and Uncle Michael:

On Saturday, my aunt took us to a local Vineyard for a wine tasting. Jeff's dad and Jane as well as Jane's sister Julie drove all the way from Bethany Beach Delaware to join us and spend some time with the kids. Here we are enjoying the crab cakes and other delicious food my aunt had prepared and brought with us to help soak up all the delicious wine we tasted:

Allison and Aunt Bonnie:

Jeff and his dad:

Daniel teaching Papoo how to use an Ipod Touch:

My cousin Wayland ready for a nap after knocking back a few:

Daniel after too much to drink:

Just kidding! But something made my grumpyhead smile:

After the Vineyard, we headed back to my aunt and uncles to spend some quality time together.

Daniel and Grandma Jane:

Daniel having fun with Papoo:

Then the kids enjoyed playing with my cousin's son, Tyler:

Daniel also enjoyed playing with Allison's new barbie:

Saturday night we had quite a feast! Joined by great company - my parents, Bonnie and Michael, my cousin Wayland and his fiance Jessica (they're getting married in July), my cousin Mitchell and his wife Amy and son Tyler, and of course the host and hostess, Uncle AJ and Aunt Anita. My aunt served us an asian themed meal which included potstickers, tempora shrimp, fried rice, string beans and a PuPu platter consisting of chicken drumettes, miso steak skewers, oriental baby ribs and sesame beef short ribs. It was incredible! Here's a picture of the Pu Pu platter, which doesn't nearly do it justice!

My favorite sister and brother-in-law!!!

All this fun and we haven't even gotten to the wedding yet! Stay tuned for part II - the wedding and Daniel in is his adorable suit - oh, and Allison in her pretty dress too!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Welcome to Tiny Talk! Here's what Allison, age 5 1/2 and Daniel, age 2 3/4 had to say this past weekend:

Daniel: I sleep in my bed and you (pointing at me) sleep in mommy and daddy's bed, and Allison sleep in Allison's bed and Riley...Where's Riley's bed?
Allison: He just sleeps on top of mommy and daddy.

Allison: Mommy, how did you find daddy?
Me: We met at college.
Allison: What if you don't find someone at college? Do you have to go back through all the grades?
Me: No, there are plenty of places you can meet someone.
Allison: But what if you don't? You can't just go knock and your friends door and say will you marry me?

That's all for this week! Happy TTT!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Welcome to Tiny Talk! Here's what Allison, age 5 1/2 and Daniel, age 2 3/4 had to say this past week:

I was downstairs and I overheard Allison (who was playing on the computer) talking to Daniel:

Allison: Daniel, let's do teamwork. Go downstairs and see if this printed, if it didn't I'll hit the button again. That's teamwork Daniel. (or you could call it a lazy sister who is delegating).

As I've explained on this blog in the past, Daniel is a very "cautious" child. He talks plenty at home, but when we're out in public, he puts on his scowl and won't talk to anyone. The other day, I tried to have a conversation with him about this and explained that most people are friendly and if they say hello and mommy knows them it's okay to say "hi" back. His response: "I don't like people." Gonna be a fun time at school next year!

The Pajama Party

Last night at bedtime, Allison and Daniel wanted to have a pajama party. Sounded like fun so I put them in their pj's and the party commenced. The party began with all the guests sitting in a circle and Daniel counting to ten three times:

Then it was time for a joint reading of "The Truck Book" by Byron Barton. I have a video but it's too big to upload. After the reading, it was time for a game of duck, duck goose and a big hug from Daniel to Allison:

Then a big monster crashed the party:

Once the monster arrived, it was time for some real fun which also made for some very goofy pictures:

And some cute ones as well...Then Daniel became grumpy:

I told him there are no grumpy faces at pajama parties, so he chippered up:

To top off the pajama party, Allison decided they needed to do a craft so they made snowflakes:
Everyone had a great time at the pajama party, especially giraffe, lion and monkey!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Welcome to Tiny Talk! Here's what Allison, age 5 and Daniel, age 2 3/4 had to say this past week:

Allison was learning all about presidents in school last week. I love when she comes home and really thinks about what she is learning about.

Allison: "Are there any lady presidents?"
Me: "Nope, not yet. Do you want to be the first one?"
Allison: "Not really because I think it's too much work and it costs a lot of money. But in school we had to write 'if I was president what would I do' and I said I would help the poor and buy them lots of food."

And now for Daniel. His favorite two lines recently:
"I don't want to." and " I don't like that." I guess I should be happy he is expressing how he feels, but I've heard these way to often recently!

That's all for this week! For more Tiny Talk visit NotBefore7!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

It's been awhile since I had a tiny talk, and I don't have much - just a little something from Daniel:

Daniel(holding up his camera): "Say Cheese Riley"
Then Daniel looks at daddy and asks "Why won't he talk?"

Happy TTT!

Allison's Valentine's Book

Last week I went out one night for a meeting and Jeff was watching the kids. the next day, as I was getting ready for the day, I spied something sitting on the counter. it appeared to be some sort of book that Allison had written so I picked it up and started to read it. What a cute little book she had made! She made it for her class and her teacher Mrs. Lynn. She brought it into school today to share with her class, but i managed to scan it before she took off with it. Not sure how well it will come across in this blog since it's in black and white but we'll give it a shot. I now present "Valentines Day" by Allison:
She has troubles with her d's and b's - I had to ask her what it said at the top and she replied "Dedicated to Mrs' Lynn's Class".

Page 2:Page 3:

I loved this page! I guess the circles are supposed to be people saying "thank you" and "you're welcome" and then she wrote "They like them. I like when they say that."

Page 4:

Page 5:
Page 6:
Last but not least...Page 7:
Happy Valentine's Day!

The Superbowl Miracle

As many of you know, Jeff grew up in New Orleans, which in turn would make him a huge Saints fan. And we all know the Saints have never really done much when it comes to football. This year would prove to be different though. After following them all season, Jeff was determined they would make it to the Superbowl and if so, he was determined to attend the game. Given that the Superbowl is taking place less than an hour from our house, this wasn't a completely unrealistic dream for him. I never really thought much about it. I figured we'd just sit back and see what happens. After all, I know how much Superbowl tickets cost and I wasn't about to spend over $1000 for a ticket to a football game.

We've also been wanting to by a bigger tv for our house. The 30 inch just wasn't cutting it anymore. For the past year we've gone back and forth on whether it was the right time to buy. At first, Jeff didn't want to be distracted from his grad school work with a big tv, but then it became a matter of "hey, the Saints might actually make the superbowl, and if so I'd rather spend the money on a ticket than a big tv'." Of course, I disagreed with this theory. Why spend it on a one day event when we can buy a tv that will last years. Well, lo and behold the Saints made it to the Superbowl...and the debate ensued. We took a look at the ticket prices, which started at about $1,200 or so. I think even Jeff realized that's a lot to spend on a ticket. His original plan was to go to the stadium the day of the game with a wad of cash and hope to get a last minute scalped ticket for about $500 or $600. If he couldn't get in, at least he would be there with the plethora of Saints fans. I wasn't a big fan of this idea simply because I didn't like him walking around with that much cash.

A couple days after the Saints won the NFC Championship game, Jeff received an e-mail from his friend Jason from grad school. The e-mail simply stated that he had a slight chance of getting Superbowl tickets. Jason had a friend (who we will refer to as "the Awesome One") who lives in NY who did very well at a young age, retired in his 30's and became a part owner of the Oakland Raiders. Since he is part owner of an NFL team, The Awesome One is given Superbowl tickets by the NFL. It just so happened that Awesome One has a kid whose first birthday party was scheduled for the day of the Superbowl. Since he was not going to be able to attend, The Awesome One offered his tickets to Jeff's friend Jason. Jason, in turn, knowing what a huge Saints fan Jeff is, offered him a ticket. At the time, they were unaware of the cost or location of the seats, but those were only minor details. A few days went by and Jeff tried not to get too excited because he really wasn't sure how things would pan out and he didn't want to get his hopes up. A couple more days went by and then it was confirmed - Jason was definitely getting the tickets and he was giving one to Jeff. The most amazing part: the tickets were free. Yes, free!!!! Of course we were curious where the seats would be, but didn't really care - all that mattered was that Jeff would be in the stadium to watch his mighty Saints play in the Superbowl.

After signing some forms for the Oakland raiders promising he wouldn't resell the tickets, Jason received the actual tickets. He texted Jeff a picture - which happened to have the seat location...section one thirty something (131 or 134, i can't remember which) - row 18!!! By this point, Jeff was peeing his pants with excitement. His dream was coming true. Not only are his Saints in the Superbowl for the first time ever, but it's taking place practically in his backyard, he was given $900 tickets for free, and the seats are AMAZING!!! All I could say is "Someone is watching over you. Count your blessings buddy!" So here I sit, typing this blog post, while Jeff is on his way to big game. But don't feel sorry for me, yesterday we went out and bought the tv we've been talking about for the past year - a 52" Sony LCD. There's no place I'd rather be than watching the game from the comfort of my living room, knowing that Jeff is able to be there in person and loving every minute of it. Who knows what the outcome will be, but no matter what, we know this is something to be VERY thankful for. Go Saints!