Packing for Outerbanks

I am kind of tired of packing for our trip, so I wanted to take a second and look at the pictures from last year (to help me remember that the effort is worth it!) Outerbanks is one of the most fun places we go each year. It is in North Carolina...a row of "islands" off the coast. This year we are staying on Nagshead. Robbie looks little in this picture and I was 5 months pregnant with Elle. We'll see how the trip goes this year with 2 kids!

Its a great big colorful world out there...

...everything has a color that it can share. Especially crayons! Today the kids and I went with my friend Kim and her kids up to Easton, PA to visit the CRAYOLA Factory! Ever since I watched the Extreme Home Makeover, where they visited that place to buy handfuls of every color of crayons for the little girl's room, I have wanted to go....so we did! I have to admit, it was a little gimicky and we didnt see anything that looked like a factory, but Robbie got to do some fun colorful art projects and I got to buy handfuls of different colors of crayons! So...looks like the day was a success! (It was, however a pretty long drive!)

The largest crayon in the world...15 feet long!

They gave them little bags to collect their projects.

Even Elle enjoyed the markers!

Robbie showing off his melted wax crayon painting!

Bins of Crayons.

Tubes of Crayons.

Being a helpful big brother!

After the long day we found a nice park by this canal to hang out and eat lunch. This picture summarizes my last couple weeks without my husband...and I can tell you right now, these kids are not feather-weights!

Amish Robbie

I cant figure out how to add a picture to my last one...but it wouldnt be right not to show Robbie in an Amish Buggy!

Lancaster...a place I love

I make it up to Lancaster at least once a month. It is an hour and a half drive from Philly, but in my opinion very worth it. Some may think I go up there for the Pottery Barn outlets, Ralph Lauren Kids outlet, and about every other outlet you can think of...but really there is so much more to it than that. It is where you can get a glance at a simpler style of living. You dont have to look for the Amish when you are there, because they live right among everyone else. Today, I pointed out many horse drawn buggies to Robbie, and saw a bunch of bearded amish men building a house together. When Emmy came to visit a couple weeks ago, we stopped at a sign for cold rootbeer and actually drove right up to the house to buy some. (The little girl came out and said they were closed but to come back later that day.) It is so fun to be really close to such a beautiful culture. My drives down often always include a little shopping, but they dont need to...because just seeing these people and their way of living is enough to feel fulfillment for the trip. A great way to learn more about the Amish is to read "PLAIN AND SIMPLE" by Sue Bender. It is a small peek into these peoples lives.


There are signs like this one around on back roads, some for fresh jam, fresh tomatoes or apples, or my favorite, Root Beer.

This young Amish girl in her very thick English Accent let us know that they were out of root beer but to come back the next day. Emmy snapped the picture (hopefully) with out her knowing. They dont like to be photographed.

I love this picture. This is really how it is...How Beautiful!

You see these buggies more in the winter...they adhere to our same traffic rules and signs!

The story of my life...

I dont mean to ALWAYS be talking about this, but this is seriously the story of my life! I change diapers all day long...and with Baby Elle, it is at least one blow out a day! I am going to start putting her in size 5 diapers at 8 mos. old just so this wont happen!
So today, I drive up to my last closing of the season, (yeah...that means I am done working for the year!) and of course I bring my little assistant with me, and luckily right after the closing I find myself completely changing her from top to bottom in the back of my car! (why does it always have to be the worst places where there is no equipment?) Good thing I threw in a spare outfit at the last minute! It is so second nature to clean this stuff up for me...I wonder what Rob would ever do if he was stuck in this kind of situation alone? Im sure he could handle it, but it would be fun to have a hidden camera if it did ever happen! Anyway, I feel like changing kids is what I do most...and then a couple other random things throughout the day!


This is on the floor of a restaurant bathroom in ukraine, another ideal place for this to happen. It happens at least once a day, so I should have a million pictures just like this in strange places!

So this is why I was late to church...

Oh my gosh! What a day Im having...or what a week! Late last night I woke the kids up and packed them into the car to pick up Rob at the airport. So, this morning when they needed to sleep in and catch up...We had to pack them up again to take Rob to the airport by 7:00! I think we all know what happens when kids dont sleep! Robbie has been a little crazy! Climbing on the top bunk of his bed (which is a major no-no!), throwing the pillows off, doing somersaults up there! Also making his little sister laugh who was half way under the bottom bunk (I dont know how she got there!) He climbed onto his dresser and switched the cd mode to radio mode, and started a little dance party with the rap that came on. Yeah...I joined in and showed the kids a couple of sweet moves when the black eyed peas "lets get it started" came on. Oh my, I dont know how people do this stuff on their own. It has only been a week and I am exhausted. Hooray for next Friday when Daddy comes home!

1 wild monkey jumping on the bed...the other one tucked half way under the bed!

He knows he is not supposed to be up there...that is why it is fun!

Always, Always amused by her big brother...she laughs at everything he does. I think she loved laying in the middle of Chaos!

Potty training is not for me!

I am not even trying to potty train. Robbie can where diapers forever. Let me just say, that today I walked into the biggest mess ever in the bathroom! It was disgusting and I had to clean it all up. YUCKY!

Ukraine with E Dub

Elder E Double Dizzle showed us around Ukraine last month! These were a couple hot spots:

Do you think that this babushka has a blog?

Welcome to Hogwarts...seriously.

Moscow Favorites...

Now that we have a blog, we have a place to "show off" some of our favorite pictures from our trip. We arent photographers by any means, so we had to take about 800 shots to have a couple that we consider good enough to share.

Where will we live next?

Will it be beautiful Seattle?

Windy Chicago?

San Antonio...Home of the Alamo?

Augusta Georgia?

Birmingham, Alabama?

Richmond, Virginia?

or our very own Historic Philadelphia?

Rob has been out of town interviewing in these cities for Periodontics programs. With only one year left of dental school, it is time to decide where to do the next 3 years of schooling!