Liam is 5

I cannot believe my baby is 5 years old.  We celebrated his birthday at the beach this year.  He wanted to go to the zoo, so we planned a trip to the Norfolk Zoo.  We were making pancakes that morning when the power went out, so we had a surprise IHOP trip that day too!  The zoo was really nice and we loved seeing elephants, red pandas, and a baboon with a colorful behind!  

 Meadows house rule:  gum is allowed when you are 5 - Liam's birthday gum

Trick candles are not funny, mama!

 

We had Liam's cake made by the Lady of Cakes.  I loved being able to order it and pick it up, instead of dragging cake making stuff on vacation.  The only snafoo was that we didn't have candles.  I went to Walgreen's to look and all they had were trick candles......Liam was NOT amused!  Now we are preparing for the next milestone....kindergarten begins tomorrow.

We went to Sandbridge again this year for vacation. We were there while Hurricane Irene was brewing so we kept an eye on the weather channel. We were supposed to stay through Saturday, August 27th, but a mandatory evacuation was put into place for August 26th. We decided to leave late in the evening on August 25th to beat the traffic. We had no trouble getting home and made it late Thursday. The hurricane hit near us on Saturday and we ended up losing power from 12:30 Saturday through 2pm Tuesday! It was an adventure for sure.

We did most of our activities wearing headlamps. I told the kids it was like camping but without bugs! Some places in the metro area are still without power, but we are so grateful to have things back to normal. Here are some pictures of the kids on the beach. No fear of the waves at all this year. They loved being in the water.

Mark loves playing in the sand too!

A day on the James River

Earlier this month we took the kids down to the James River for a picnic and to wade around the rocks. We stopped at a place called Pony Pastures. There were tons of rocks to climb on and to jump off into the water. The weather was so mild that day and it was a great day to play outside!

Flying Squirrels....or how we spent our July 4th

The first inning - Richmond Squirrels v. Trenton Thunder

Our kids with Nutsy

Lots and lots of rain

Just before the game was cancelled

Mark and I took our children to a Richmond Squirrels baseball game on the 4th of July. I was so excited to take them because the after game fireworks are always awesome. We bought tickets through our church and saw some faces we knew and we met some new friends too. As we left for the baseball diamond, the clouds were building and the weather report was pretty ominous, but we hoped it would be a quick storm and that we would be able to see the whole game. Well.....after an inning and a half, they called a rain delay.

We took the kids to the concession area and got some junk food (really isn't that the best part of county fairs and ball games)! We found a dry place and tried to stay warm. The wind was blowing rain all over the place and it was cold. Our poor kids were freezing. The power also went out briefly. We could see the road and the cars were driving through lots of puddles. It was a pretty intense storm. We roamed around and ate more junk, dessert this time, and waited for the officials to either cancel or to continue to the delay. They finally canceled so we left for home. We found out later that they ended up doing the fireworks, but really really late.

Liam and Peyton were such great sports. They thought it was a great adventure and not one complaint was spoken. I was so proud of them for being so flexible and for making it fun, in spite of a really bad storm. We are planning to go back later this season to catch a game and fireworks!

JMU

New sidewalk leading under S Main St to the new performing arts center

Kissing rock

Portrait by Peyton

Our kids always want to sit on the Duke Dog

We went back to JMU to visit in April. It was awesome to see how JMU has changed since we left in September. We walked around in the performing arts center and took a peek backstage too. It was an amazing space. I still miss Harrisonburg, but this trip back was easier. I didn't feel awful this time when we left to drive back to Richmond. It felt better to be leaving knowing that Richmond is starting to feel like home.

Richmond Metro Zoo

We are trying to do some fun things over spring break, not just regular weekly routine stuff. Yesterday we went to the Richmond Metro Zoo. I love seeing all of the unique animals. We also saw a few wild black snakes and got to touch one. I'm reminded of God's incredible design and His sense of humor too. Seriously, the giraffe is a funny looking creature, and so is the vulture!

There are tons of blogs that have documented this cake. You can google rainbow layer cake and find it. I saw it months ago and wanted to make it as part of our April Fool's Day dinner, but I couldn't keep this one hidden from Peyton and Liam. They saw all of the batter sitting on the counter after it was colored and watched the layers cooking in the oven. It was fun to cut the cake and see all of the layers. The only negative thing about this cake was all the frosting. We are a family that really doesn't like frosting. I kept the frosting between the layers really thin, but it was still really sweet. I need to find a homemade frosting that isn't terribly sweet.

I won something

Several weeks ago I entered a giveaway on the Take Heart blog for a soap spitter. These soap dispensers are so fun and whimsical and they're made by Close 2 My Art. I actually won! I was so excited, probably more excited than the rest of my family, but hey, a sock monkey soap dispenser....what's not to be excited about! I love it. We have it in the downstairs bathroom and I think it is incredibly fun. I wanted to thank Danielle for this giveaway too and for making me aware of another place to buy unique, handmade gifts.

I took this picture of my precious kids last week. Aren't they so sweet................... (just look below for their favorite pose!)


















They love to make faces for their mama's camera, followed immediately by, "Can we see the picture!"

Spring is coming

"The faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulnes; his mercies begin afresh each morning." Lamentations 3:22-23

I love this verse, especially now that spring is slowly beginning to show itself. We have lots of buds on our tress and all kinds of things poking up out of the ground. It will be interesting to see what grows here at our Richmond house. I do miss my daffodils and my rosebushes in Harrisonburg, but I also look forward to planting some new things here. Just a few short weeks until the official first day of spring. I am looking forward to warmer weather and to being able to play outside without my coat!

Mark's grandma gave us an amaryllis for Christmas this year and it is the most lush and beautiful one I have ever seen. It has grown so tall that we had to stake it with a tomato stake. It's taller than Liam now!

Building is fun

Liam loves to build. He loves Legos, Keva planks, Construx, etc. He got some blocks called Citiblocks for Christmas and they have quickly become the favorite toy. Even Peyton loves to play with them. They build towers and temples and houses. He can entertain himself for quite a while building. He used to play with a similar toy at the children's museum and told me last year that Mark really needed some Keva planks for his birthday! He just finished breakfast and went over to the family room to start the day's building.

Goodbye October....

We are so excited to have Randy back with us!

Buzz Lightyear and Barbie Cowgirl

I love my family!

The kids designed and carved their own pumpkins

Hello November. I am crazy excited about November. The weather is cooler and the leaves are so pretty. I have pulled out the sweaters and the long pants and have been bundling up under the covers at night. The bus stop has been freezing in the morning and we've been wearing our hats and heavy coats. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving, to drinking hot chocolate, to the possibility of snow this winter, and to the holidays with our family. We love fall!

October 2010

Peyton playing with Mark's old teeny tiny legos

Liam in his preschool class

Liam sporting Mark's sunglasses

Things have been hectic, to put it lightly. Adjusting to the new schedule has been tough. I think we are all getting there, but slowly. I am thrilled that fall is here. We went pumpkin picking this past weekend and were planning to take the hayride to get our pumpkins, but there were so many people there we decided to get already picked pumpkins. The kids didn't care at all. They enjoyed eating a picnic and choosing their pumpkins. We are going to a fall festival this weekend and are hoping to check out our local farmer's market.

It is raining today and chilly so it finally feels like fall. It has been pretty hot for October and I'm ready for cooler weather!