2009 started with a big move for our family. Brian was reassigned to Fort Meade, Maryland (20 min from Baltimore). We were sad to leave wonderful Alexandria, Virginia, but excited for our new adventure!! Brian was very much looking forward to his new teaching position!
Roxy was added to our family in Jan!! It took a while, but eventually she and Darby warmed up to each other.
With Spring, comes sports!! Brianna joined our Ft Meade soccer league and became the only female member (watch our boys!) of the Black Dragons!! Her coaches were awesome and really showed the kids how to not only play the game, but to be a family and bond as friends! Go Dragons!!
We are so thankful for the street we live on; it's like living on a cul-de-sac, but the street is straight instead of curved. The street goes no where so the only traffic is just from us 6 houses. The kids can ride their bikes and play in the street without us fearing any cars. Our neighbors are the best and you will find us all sitting outside, sipping our coffee, and watching the kids play during a good weather day!
Going camping has become a favorite of our family in the last couple of years. We all seem to equally love the outdoors and exploring new areas. We can't wait for warmer weather and the challenge of finding a new spot to camp!
My Buddy!!! We had such wonderful times together this last year while Brianna was in school. Next year he will be off to Kindergarten and I wanted to savor each moment of his last year home. This picture is from a farm that we go to sometimes to pick our own fruit and veggies. It's great for the kids to see where our food comes from and for us to spend time together.
He may have eaten more than he picked... :-)
Our cruise in August was a dream come true!! We were gone for 7 days, had an amazing balcony room, and enjoyed so many different ports of call. We are so thankful for that time we were able to spend together and reconnect as a couple!
While we were away, the kids played!! Our AMAZING friends added our 2 kiddos to their own 3. They offered and we accepted! Jeremy & Brenda you are the best and seeing you all made our dream vacation complete!
Happy 4th Birthday Riley!!! He asked for a "Bolt" themed cake for this special day.
We had some friends over and played outside. It was a perfect summer day!
First day of 1st grade!! She is standing outside her school with good friend, Cody. Brianna has had a roller coaster of a first half of the year! Her regular teacher left to have her baby just 1 week after school started. Brianna has hung in there and flourished despite a sub-par substitute. Thankfully her teacher is back and the rest of the school year will be awesome!
This is a picture of Riley and his best friend Brooke on their first day of preschool! We were fortunate to find a church close by that offered a program for 4's. He is doing so great and really looks forward to it!
One day while Brianna was at school, I totally redid her room!! She had no idea that I was planning it and I had to get it all done in just one day (by myself!).
What a difference just a bit of paint and moving furniture around can do! She received this desk and our old computer for her new "big girl" space!
Every once in a while being in the military has some perks. We were able to get free tickets to see the Washington Nationals play the Atlanta Braves! We rode the metro there, walked around the new park (only the 2nd season to be used), and even got to enjoy some hot dogs!! Our good friend and neighbor, Tabitha went with us and we had an awesome day!
Something new for Brian and I this year is that we are the leaders of our church's Jr High youth group. There was a need at out church to start a group for 6th-8th grade and we were called for it. They are named STATIC - Students Taking Action Together in Christ. The kids are all awesome!
This is a picture form our Fall Food Drive that we held on Oct 31. We had about 75 students and adults show up to help. The kids went door-to-door and collected more than 1000 food items!! Not one youth left this even unchanged...what an amazing night!
That's it for now!! I am going to leave December to its own blog!!
me and the kids trying to trudge through the snow to try sledding...it didn't work, the snow is way too deep!
the path to our front door! this is NOT piled up snow, but the height of how it fell!
beautiful icicles!! some of them got to about 3ft long!
Here we go...!!!
outside our front door
Brian was so AWESOME at staying ahead of the shoveling! A lot of people waited until it was over before they shoveled and had so much work to do and their cars were stuck (ours is in the garage!)
The 2 mounds are cars! The one in the back is a minivan...
It is finally over!
Sunday was so beautiful with a blue, sunny sky! This is our front yard!
Our neighbors are finally dug out!
Beautiful!!
Happy 4th Birthday Riley!!! He asked for a "Bolt" themed cake for this special day.
We had some friends over and played outside. It was a perfect summer day!
What a difference just a bit of paint and moving furniture around can do! She received this desk and our old computer for her new "big girl" space!
Daddy and Riley playing catch. You can see the edge of the pond that was in front of our campsite. Little did we know, it was stocked with catfish! Riley will definitely have a fishing pole next time!
Brianna enjoying a cool morning and our fire pit. SMORES!!!
Our tent and picnic table. You can also see the porta potties right behind. Those were the cleanest porta potties I have ever been in!!
We drove by this guy while in the Eastern Neck Nature Preserve.
Awww...
Some serious sand digging!
They actually get along so well at the beach.
The only bad thing that happened was that Riley touched our propane lantern the first night and burned his hand in about 4 places. The worst is pictures here. It blistered up the next day to about the size of a half dollar. Ouch!
