Fireworks @ 4th Of July

                     We did our annual firework show in our Cul-de-sac this year.  Our neighbor brought these noise cancelling headphones for their kids and my boys tried them out.  They thought they were great. 

                      Picking out all the M &m M's from the trail mix.

Every year we go down to Taylor Crossing to watch the IF Firework show. Usually some wrestling is mixed in with watching.
                                                

                                            

Save the best for Last!

Our favorite and the BEST (truly) part about going to Virginia is 

visiting Grandma & Grandpa Sleight.  We LOVE spending time with them. 

Syd just said yesterday "I want to go to Virginia"..........

I thought "me too hon - me too"

                                                             

Top Ten Moments in Virginia

10. Rootbeer Floats on those hot muggy nights

9. The Zoo w/a side show from the turtles (Aunt Adri's face when she saw it)

8.Eating Crab Legs at Philips on the coast

7. Riding in the car to Craig & Adri's over the hills that tickle your tummies

6.Lightning Bugs, An Orioles Game & Air & Space Museum

5. Spending time with Cousins Lizzie, Ryan & Andrew-

4.Watching my kids faces (worry & delight) during turbulence going through Denver

3.The Beach and catching a Crab

2. Cooper caught peeing outside the back sliding glass door window

1. Seeing Grandma & Grandpa- Grandpa's surprised face &70 kisses scavenger hunt

The National Zoo & An Oriole's Game!

 Tyson loves the Wild Kratt  show on PBS kids. You learn all about different animals.  He is really into quizzing you and seeing if you can guess what animal he is talking about. When we went to the zoo he kept saying "mom is there going to be a Basilisk?" I really thought he was making the word up or talking about a Bass fish.  But lone behold to our surprise there is a Basilisk -it is a type of lizard that runs so fast he can walk on water.  AND there was one at the ZOO.  If you look behind Tys in the window there is one standing next to him.  MADE HIS DAY!

                                 Baltimore Harbor

 This day was one of the hottest days that we were in Virginia.  I think it was 98 degrees still at 7:00pm at night.  The game was hot and muggy but fun.  The stadium was huge and gorgeous.  As weird as it sounds....green green grass with bright lights it was cool.  

Todd got a beer spilled on him from the guy above- a few drunk people sitting around us were entertaining and a couple of people asked us if "THEY WERE ALL OUR KIDS"  - It was some fun times.

                      This was at the end of the night.....Zack was done. He was hot and exhausted but being it was 10:30 at night I would say he did pretty well. 

We couldn't miss the party!

One of the main reasons we went to Virginia was to be there for Grandpa Sleight's 70th Birthday. Todd and his siblings were all going out for the big day -we were really fortunate/blessed to find good ticket prices to fly our whole family out for the party. 

Some lovely sidewalk art - courtesy of Sam, Liz & Syd

The big surprise.  We flew in almost a week before (we are too loud and obnoxious to be a surprise so we told him about us), Cindy came in a few days before as a surprise and Nicole, Michele & Lesa flew in Friday night and surprised Grandpa on Sat. morning. He had surprises left and right.   

Cousins- Syd, Liz & Sam- nothing better then cousin time!

Grandpa needed some help blowing out those big 70 candles...and boy did he get it.

 Happy Birthday Grandpa Sleight! We sure love you and think you are the greatest!
For his birthday the kids & I put together a little scavenger hunt with clues that he went around the house finding.  At the end he opened a bag with 70 kisses (hershey) from them. (Thanks Aunt Cindy for the great idea)
For his birthday - the family put together a book of memories from all of his friends- There was an entire binder filled with countless memories and stories all about LaMar and how great he is.  The gift was awesome. And Aunt Cindy put together a video that contained all his immediate family sharing some sort of a memory about him.  What a legacy to follow!

Virgina Pics...here they come!

We went to Virginia for 12 days at the beginning of June to visit G & G Sleight.  We had a great time.  I was really nervous about being out of our element & imposing upon others for so long - Grandma & Grandpa were awesome as well as Uncle Craig & Aunt Adri.  Thanks for putting up with us for so long.  We did some day trips and one overnight-er to the beach in Ocean City, MD. And so here it begins with our trip........

Arlington Cemetery

Tyson got pulled completely under by a wave

Sunday night just to check out the beach-- Look how many are wet!

He is not loving the Sand in his shoes.....and he wanted nothing to do with the water to wash the sand off his shoes.

All ready to go in the scuba gear and Purple Life Vest!

We caught a sand crab---Sammy loved it.

Digging for the crab!

I did not tell them to do this...they did it completely on their own

Just helping himself to a BAG of chips.  He sealed the deal that those were his....you should have tasted the lovely sand in them after.

The day was perfect for the beach- we couldn't have asked for better weather.  And we had a blast.  We spent the day just playing in the sand, digging for crabs, crashing waves- we even got to see a school of dolphins- It was a great day! ALL the kids loved it.  Well except Zack and the water.  He loved the sand and playing on the beach but wanted nothing to do with the water.  And Dad showed us how to do some boogie boarding.

P.S. my poor Syd I sunburned her really bad.  I applied and reapplied sunscreen but in and out of the water did not help her one bit.  She had a few sore days after but was a trooper.



Another afternoon we took the kids to the Air & Space Museum - It was cool. But I really thought the kids would like it more.  It was really crowded with end of year field trips so all the commotion and craziness was hard to digest. After we were done- The kids said "do we have to go to anymore museums"? Todd and I looked at each other and said "nope lets go home"! It was fairly stressful to keep track of all five and teach them something too.  So if they didn't want to go to anymore neither did we. :)   

Catching Lightning bugs has got to be one of the best things....it is so magical.  I could have watched my kids for hours (except for the darn mosquitoes) All of them loved it but Cooper was enthralled.  I loved to watch his little eyes searching for them. 

it's all down hill......

Most of the time you generally avoid buying this big of a bag unless you have a family vacation and others are going to help you eat it.

But yesterday I bought it.

And as I gazed at it in my cart at Sam's club I thought you know its bad when you buy an XXL bag of M&M's for yourself.
Not one 50 cent bag from the gas station to calm your nerves but the XXL bag from Sam's Club...that is a whole lot of nerves to be calming. Never before have I thought I was an emotional eater...but as of late M&M's and a Dr. Pepper can bring some EXCELLENT instant relief. Notice I said instant. Every bad day I go to bed thinking surely it will be better tomorrow. I will be better, more patient and just better.

Well my tomorrow was not better.

And so I am starting to think maybe I better start looking toward days---none with a describing word of good or bad.

Today: Mind you I totally skipped over yesterday's lovely day other than actually buying the M&M's.

We started our morning with our routine- you know "stop fighting, get your chores done, don't touch each other, get your chores done, stop fighting, practice the piano..don't touch each other", once we were done with all that we hurriedly rushed to Sammy's art class- she is their for an hour and a block from the library. I have been trying for weeks to get to the library and sign up for the summer reading program.

Surely we can go to the library right?

I have to Gird up my Loins to go to the library because as much as I hate to admit it - I loathe going to the library with my children.
Seriously -THE LIBRARY. Where they welcome kids. Not my kids. They put rocks in the fish pond and scream when I try to leave the fish pond or pull books off the shelf- or fight over the headphones for the computer or get ready for it.....poop their pants at the library.
I know your thinking "oh Zack pooped his pants he is a baby"....No, no, no, no it was my 5 year old. I absolutely hate throwing him under the bus (well kind of) and call him out on this embarrassing thing but I am kinda sick of it. He has this problem when he plays the computer he gets a bit lazy and doesn't go to the bathroom when he is playing the computer.
So standing at the check out line trying to corral a Crazy Cooper and Zack because they cannot be trusted at the fish anymore and Tyson announces that he thinks he pooped his pants but "just a little" and then sticks his hand down his pants to see and brings out a poop finger. Yep a poop finger. I was actually at that moment caught between mortification, anger and laughter...because really what could you do. We checked out and ran out the door. I had to pick Sammy up in 3 minutes and we had to go to piano so I decided he would just have to wait. We got in the suburban and the smell was through the whole car. Really so bad we rolled down all the windows and Cooper kept saying "what is that smell"? At that point I was almost laughing.

Notice how I said almost....lucky I bought the XXL bag!