Thursday, November 17, 2011

can i get an "ARGH!"....

yes...those are our crazy pirates dressed up for halloween! ever since our pirate adventure this summer, the boys have wanted to be pirates for halloween. before heading out to the store and spending a lot for costumes, i figured i'd check out craigslist. and, what do you know....i found not one, but two pirate costumes...for sale by one person! her kids had the same idea last year, to be pirates together. what made it even better, was that andrew's costume was not just a pirate, but captain jack sparrow, who is one of his faves right now! what made it even better for me, was scoring BOTH costumes for under 20 bucks!!!


the weekend before halloween, we had our annual BLOCKtoberfest. jacob didn't want to wear his costume, so he wore his fireman set instead. everyone had a fun time and got geared up for trick-or-treating the next night. i absolutely LOVE our neighborhood and i love the fact that andrew and jacob have friends so close in age right here on our block. we all went trick-or-treating together and had a BLAST! the boys came home with way too much candy (according to me!) so we donated some to the troops. all in all, it was a great weekend!


heading out to BLOCKtoberfest 2011

block kids getting ready to trick-or-treat

check out my loot!

Friday, November 4, 2011

that's what he said....take 4

so i've decided to start tracking the "that's what he said" posts, since there seem to be so many funny things i want to make sure to get on the blog....so this is #4.

if you want to take a look back (i did!), here are the previous entries...

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andrew was watching scooby doo and asked nanny to watch. it was a part where they tell shaggy to "get a hold of yourself." shaggy then proceeds to wrap his arms around himself. nanny tells him about amelia bedelia and how when she was told to dust the house, she sprinkled dust throughout the house. andrew said, "oh yeah! she took it LITERALLY!"

when my mom told me this, i couldn't believe my not-quite-seven-year-old used the word "literally"....and he used it correctly! i am constantly amazed by this boy!

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andrew: "mom, you know the best thing about sex"
me: "what did you say?!?!" (words going through my mind were, "holy shit! what did he just say?")
andrew: "you know the best thing about lego sets?"
me: "oh (deep sigh of relief!)! no, what?"
andrew: "you can use the box over again for something else."

OMG....what kind of a shock am i going to be in when he really DOES say the "S" word????

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jacob and samantha (one of his fave girlfriends) do not like leaving each other after school. robyn came up with a great idea! once both kids are in their carseats, we pull up next to each other in the parking lot, roll down their windows and they can say their special goodbyes to each other. i love this idea, because it also streamlines the process of actually getting them in the car! on wednesdays, sam goes to dance class after school. this particular wednesday, the following conversation occurred....
S: "bye jacob. i'm going to dance class today."
J: "bye. have fun at dance class babe!"

these two are just too cute!!!

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Thursday, November 3, 2011

13.1....it's only the beginning!



a little over a year ago, in a goal setting group, when asked what i want to "be", one of my answers was "a runner." sure, i had "run" before, but i wanted to be a real runner. at that time, i had a friend training for some races, so i decided to start running with her. i set my sights on the marine corp 10k and signed up for the race, which would take place on Halloween 2010. well, as luck (or stupidity) would have it, while running a 1/4 marathon on mothers day 2010, i pushed myself way too hard up the final hill, and blew out my knee. that was the end of running for me for a while. i was so deflated. over the next few months, i would also experience back problems and develop plantar fasciatis.....neither one helping my return to the running world. i was determined though. i would be a runner! i would not give up! i did PT for my back and knee and saw a doc for the plantar fascaitis. i decided to get a cortisone shot in my knee, after the PT told me there really wasn't anything left he could do for me. wow, that was painful, but it did the trick! as for the back pain, it still comes and goes....and the PF was treated through exercises and a better pair of orthotics and shoes.

with my body feeling better, i was ready to hit the road again...on foot! my friend robyn decided she was going to train for a marathon, by following the galloway training program. based upon your running pace, you figure out your run/walk intervals, which you use throughout the run. the purpose is that it allows you to hold your pace and not burn out on longer runs. this meant for me, i would run 3 minutes and then walk 1. i figured this HAD to be better on my body...and i was right!
at some point, probably after too much wine one night, my next door neighbor jenna and i decided to register for the wilson bridge half marathon. i continued running with robyn & her crew until their mileage became just too high for me (remember, they're training to do twice as much as me!). as much as i was excited to not have to drive to burke for our early saturday morning runs, i missed my running team badly! it was so great to have a group of women to encourage each other, complain to each other, and figure this whole thing out together. i especially missed seeing robyn's bright smiling face before, during and after a run! you see, robyn is the kind of person who always has a smile on her face....even after a hot, sweaty, long run! she is always so proud of those around her and truly brings out the best in people. heck, even on the mornings when she would head out at 4:30am to run, she was smiling...at least it looked like it in the dark :)
jenna decided she would try the run/walk method with me, so we could train together. she is an avid runner, so i wasn't sure she'd like the run/walk idea. i was so excited that she was willing to give it a go with and FOR me! once again, i found an amazing running partner, who has turned into one of my dearest friends! it is amazing how much time you have to chat and bond with someone when you are running for hours on end!!! one of the things i love about running with jenna, is that because she is only living here for a few years, she really wants to take in the DC sights. so, rather than just running around our BORING neighborhood, we would head into DC for a run. these "destination runs" were awesome! we would just lose ourselves in the scenery....and our chatting...and before we'd know it, the run would be over. and best of all, jenna was enjoying the run/walk method!

fast forward a few HOT months and many miles....to october 2, 2011...RACE DAY! it was much colder than we had anticipated....maybe 40 degrees at the start! that didn't stop us though....i don't know if its because we trained so well or what, but jenna and i LOVED the half marathon! when we hit the 6 miles marker we hadn't even realized we had run that far! before we knew it, we were at mile 9, and we started talking about doing a marathon. at mile 9, most people are wondering why the heck they decided to do this....but not us...we wanted more! we attribute most of these great feelings to the run/walk method. we never felt like we hit a wall and at the end, we were actually passing people, instead of feeling like we were going to keel over! we even kept a faster pace throughout the entire race than we had during ANY of our training runs!!!

IT WAS AWESOME!!! SO AWESOME IN FACT....THAT WE HAVE REGISTERED FOR THE ROCK-N-ROLL NATIONAL MARATHON!

thank you to everyone who supported me throughout the training and the half-marathon! i expect to see you cheering us on at the marathon!!!!

me and my other runner gal, jen

jenna & me pre-race


crossing the finish line (love how it says "PROOF" across the pic...PROOF that i did it!)

post-race

post-race with my biggest fans!

Monday, October 17, 2011

a broken heart

jacob's teacher told me he laid on the floor much of the day today....we had the following conversation when he got home...


me: jacob, why did you lay on the floor so much today?
j: because i was sick
me: what didn't feel good?
j: my heart
me: what's wrong with your heart?
j: it's broken
me: it's broken?
j: yes. sammy broke it. but it's ok now because she was nice.


you tell me....what does a 3 1/2 year old know about broken hearts?? apparently more than i thought :)

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

that's what he said....another edition....

lately jacob seems to say the FUNNIEST things....and most of the time, they're so funny because they don't make any sense AT ALL...but he says these things SO SERIOUSLY!!!


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jacob set up a picnic blanket and then invited us to dine with him. he then got a very disappointed and serious look on his face, and said "if you spill, i not play with you in the rain!" (ok...whaaaat?!?!?)

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jacob loves our next door neighbor "miss jenna"...jenna's twin sister, rachel was visiting recently. jacob was outside, along with jenna, rachel, derek and others. jacob said, "look daddy, there's two miss jennas!"

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many of you may know the lyrics...."bye bye miss american pie"....but do you know jacob's version...."bye bye mystery guy"

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in car after school...
me: i'd love to know what you did for art today
j: we do'd leaves
me: did you paint them?
j: yes. there was red and blue paint
me: were you making them for the sukkah?
j: no
me: they're not for sukkot? (knowing that they are!)
j: NO! sukkot is a dog mommy!

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and then there was the best of all....when J fell asleep at rosh hashanah services!


ABSOLUTELY NO WORDS NEEDED.....

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

wait a minute....

when did this kid get so big?!?!?

sept 2009

sept 2010

sept 2011

i've been reading so many posts on FB and hearing through conversations with friends, how wonderful school is going for their child, how they're loving it, they love their teacher, etc. people keep asking how 1st grade is going for A. to tell you the truth, i can't really tell you! A has never been one to want to talk much about these kinds of things. i can remember one day when we were driving home from preschool and he said "why do you ask me so many questions when you pick me up?" it's always been a challenge for us....and i'm starting to think it may be this way for quite some time, if not forever. that's just the kind of kid andrew is. he doesn't want to tell me about his day. i wish so badly that he would. the other night he told me he doesn't want to tell me about his day, but that i can ask him questions and he'll maybe answer them. through this, i've been able to find out a little (very little!) bit about his days. i can tell you that his favorite part of the day is DEAR (drop everything and read) time....his biggest complaints are that the day is too long and that there's too much work. unfortunately, two things which i don't think are going to get better any time soon....sorry buddy! you're a big kid now (too big if you ask me!)!!!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

ahoy matey....



one of our final adventures of the summer was made possible by yet another daily deals site. i scored half price tickets to do an urban pirate cruise in b'more. gg and papa were here too, which made the trip even more special for the boys. we were also joined by our neighbors, tyler & jake and their mom, sara. upon boarding the ship, everyone was given some pirate gear, a tattoo and a pirate name. it wasn't long before i became mom to "angelfish andrew" and "junkyard jacob." jacob was quite hesitant about the whole experience, but much to my surprise, andrew jumped right on in. he even volunteered when they asked for someone to come up and demonstrate how to properly use the life vests.

the funniest part of the adventure, was that even while jacob was whining/crying, he would listen and follow the instructions...so there were times he was dancing and shaking it, all with a face full of fear and uncertainty. it really was hilarious! the boat cruised around b'more harbor for about an hour.

along the way, we learned pirate games, songs and lingo....


we took the pirate oath....


and had to be on the lookout for "mad dog", the bad pirate who had stolen our treasure.



the journey ended with the capture of mad dog and our booty! everyone was then allowed to choose 2 pieces from the treasure box.



VIDEO OF ANDREW TAKING "PIRATE OATH" & JACOB DANCING (hope you can view them!)

Sunday, August 21, 2011

hot fun in the summertime...continued....


cousins!!!


the past few weeks have been filled with fun activities....and some first-time stuff too! i finally got over my fear of water parks and took the boys to great waves at cameron run. i had scored a deal on certifikid....$16 for a 4-pack of after 3pm tickets. for $16, i figured it wouldn't be a huge loss if we ended up not going, so i bought the deal! since i had an extra ticket (and i was still a bit nervous about the whole thing) i had one of our have babysitters, michelle, come along with us. this turned out to be a GREAT idea, as the boys rarely wanted to be in the same place at the same time. we were able to split up and it gave me some much needed one-on-one time with each of the boys. it was an added bonus that they adore michelle (as do i!) and were so excited about spending this time with her too! andrew enjoyed ALL of the water park, while jacob stuck to the smaller water play area, the spray park, and the playground/climbing structure. both boys LOVED the smaller watersides....and andrew even went down the big racing slides with me! as soon as we finished the race, he said, "i won!" i said, "yep you did! that was so much fun!!!" his reply, "we are not doing that again. it was so not awesome mom." i was really proud of him for trying it though!!! we had so much fun that we stayed until the park closed at 7pm! we will definitely be making this an annual summer activity. thanks again to certifikid for the great deal....i'm not sure i would've tried this out at full price.

andrew & michelle after going down a water slide

jacob & michelle at the top of the climbing structure

one of the playground slides


last week we met my sister and her girls at the maryland science center. we got there around 10:30 and i figured we'd spend a few hours at the museum, head to lunch and be on the road back home by 3 or 4. well, we all had SO MUCH fun at the museum, we had to drag the kids out of there around 3pm to get lunch! there was just SO much to do there....including exhibits on dinosaurs, gravity, senses and the human body. we also saw a "sesame street" planetarium show which the kids seemed to enjoy. we ended up not leaving b'more until about 5pm. this museum was FANTASTIC and i highly recommend it for children (and adults!) of all ages. of course, for us, everything is more fun with leigh, lauren and sarah there!!!


sizing up the dinosaur bones

so cute using the magnifying glass!

dusting off fossils

color your own dinosaur

create your own dinosaur

lining up the dinosaur's body

andrew was SO excited to see the turtles...his fave!

launching pool noodles into the air

stick your hand in the lower box and guess what's in there...

sarah on a bed of nails

lauren on a bed of nails

wahoo....guess i'm healthier than i thought

andrew figuring out how to line up the ramps, so that the ball makes the bell ring at the end

water area


this past weekend my cousins staci & lisa, and staci's son asher, came down to visit. we spent the day hanging out at my sister's pool and then the girls had a cousin's night. what a blast!!! and asher is such a cutie!!!

asher & jacob sitting on the fountains

cousins!!! lisa, me, staci and leigh

smores, wine and good chats! (staci....next time you can't go to sleep!)


with two weeks of summer vaca remaining, we still have a few things on our "to-do" list....so stay tuned...
...then it's BACK TO SCHOOL!!!



Thursday, August 11, 2011

i DON'T eat fish....


...BUT TODAY I LET THEM NIBBLE AT MY TOES!

that's right....i can cross the fishy-pedi off my list of things to try!


so, here's the deal...for those of you who have been wanting to try it, or just want to hear about it from someone who has tried it...

you soak your feet in the water, which is filled with these little fish. the fish nibble (no biting!) around your feet, which is supposed to smooth your skin. does it tickle? yes, for some people more than others! and keep in mind if you do try this, the bigger the fish...the bigger the tickle! my friend lori, who came with me, was in hysterics because it tickled her so much. for me, it tickled, but it really felt more like "pins and needles", when your foot falls asleep. it tickled me most when they would swim in between my big toe and second toe...and when they were around my ankles. so, you soak in the fishy water for 20 minutes (or however long you purchase it for!)...they then dry your feet off and you move to a regular pedi chair for the rest of your pedicure.

i had purchased a discounted daily deal for this...and that's definitely the way to go if you're going to TRY it out. that way, you don't feel like you've spent a whole lot of money, if you end up not liking it.
all in all....i'm not sure it's something i'll do again. not because i didn't like it, but because i'm not really sure my feet are any smoother than without 30 little fishes eating my dead skin for breakfast!!!

 
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