Day Trippin'

Carrie hasn't seen an ocean since Britton was a fetus, so we headed down to Virginia Beach for a day trip. Off at 8am, we were sinking our toes into Chick's Beach sand by 11 AM and waiting for sandwiches at Taste Unlimited by noon. A quick tour through our "old neighborhood" (we grew up in Va beach until we left for college), and then it was back to Cammy's house for some relaxation time with the family. We met up with Aunt Jill, the cousins (Steph and Kristen), Kevin, and their kids Alexandria and Gavin for some tasty seafood at Bubba's. She crab soup was out of this world and a huge crabcake sandwich had to be taken home as leftovers. I can't remember the last time I had decent hush puppies! We headed back to KG after dinner, making it home before 10 PM.

(Carrie and I agreed that this shot was very "senior picture-ish"! Notice her name written in the sand!)

Hanging out on someone's Hobie Cat

Best buds and cousins: Alexandria and Caroline

Cammy and me, all giddy from fresh seafood!

Me and cousin Kristen (a natural ginger who fights it with highlights and hair coloring!)

Aunt Carrie is in Town

Carrie flew out from Dallas on Tuesday and I picked her up in Richmond. We headed back to the homestead for some relaxation and presents time with the family. The older kids were sooooo happy to see their "aunt Kiwi" and Emily just smiled at Carrie, clinging to her legs, and then realizing she had the wrong twin!
After opening presents and eating crispy steaks from the grill (Camm needs a timer and meat thermometer for Mother's Day!), we packed into the addition for some Wii challenges. Carrie and I went head to head on Just Dance, with both of us winning several rounds. Caroline challenged Carrie on a couple of songs, and when we decided that we were sweaty enough, Carrie and Caroline played Mario Bros. until almost bedtime.
We are running around Fredericksburg today (Emily has a flu shot booster scheduled for this PM), and then it's off to Virginia Beach tomorrow for a day trip to see Aunt Jill and the cousins!

Caroline is wearing the scarf I made her for Christmas. Carrie loved it and said "I want a scarf too!", which was right before I handed her her very own scarf too!

Emily had a lot of fun taking everything out of Carrie's suitcase. Here she is pulling on the string around a shirt (she's not actually punching Carrie in the eye--just looks odd in the picture!)

Carrie (in new scarf!) and Emily

Emily got a new puzzle, a book, and some clothes!

Garrett is reading the present we got for Carrie--a photo book called "Awkward Family Photos". It is hilarious!

Carrie got Timmy a 1950's children's book called "Busy Timmy"! Timmy read it to Emily, and the older kids had fun looking at the pictures and reading the old fashioned text (I mean, who rides their pony stick around the yard anymore, really?!)

The big finale! Carrie spent months making us a quilt! I have displayed it (with all of its hand stitched glory) in the living room.

CJ was not left out! Carrie made her a doll-sized quilt and Caroline got Pepper, an American Girl doll puppy!

Christmas 2011

We had an awesome Christmas! It started Christmas Eve with a dinner over at Tim's parents' house with his sister, her husband, their baby, and my mom. After opening presents with them, we headed home. We got Cammy and Emily in bed, then Timmy and I exchanged presents on the couch by the light of the Christmas tree. I bought Timmy a rack system that goes in the back of his truck and he bought me.....a new camera! Can you tell below?! The quality is soooo much better than my old one!

Emily realized she could fit behind the new bookcase.....and it was very entertaining to watch!

The Drinks family on Christmas morning

Garrett got an air rifle at his Dad's house AND a bb gun for our house!

The kids were soooo excited about Cammy's present--a Wii for the new room! We got a few games to go with it, but Just Dance 3 was a favorite (especially by Mommy--I was a little obsessed!)

Nerf gun for Timmy....

and matching one for Garrett! The turf war was on! The boys took off to the back yard with them and no one was seen for at least half an hour!

Emily loved her new bean bag princess chair from Mommy and Daddy...

and her new baby doll from Cammy. When you squeeze the belly, it says things like "I want a hug from mommy. Change my diaper!" Very demanding toy!

Caroline got a Caboodles (just like the one Mommy used to have!), lots of makeup, and a styling Barbie head!

Garrett: the new jungle gym!

Photographic evidence that I was a little bit of a Wii hog! Just Dance is my new exercise plan....man was I was sweating after just a couple of songs!

Emily: Thirteen Months Old

Emily is officially on her way to being a "toddler"--she walks/runs everywhere! She used to crawl around most of the time and just walk if I made her, but now she goes from a sitting position, pops her bottom into the air, straightens up, and walks to where she wants to be. She has gotten very sassy in her "old age"--her weekdays run like clockwork at daycare, but the weekends are full of surprises! She fights her weekend naps like a champ, and will only give in when completely exhausted or I take her on a ride in the van. She still prefers to go out shopping/seeing people to hanging out at home. She's very much a little clown and LOVES music. Her head bops along to the theme song from the "Arthur" show and all the songs on the Disney channel. She doesn't watch tv, but she loves the music!

Likes: reading books (especially the "touch and feel" ones and "Elmo at the Zoo"), yogurt and graham crackers, wearing socks with no-slip on the bottom, going out to public places, riding in her big car seat, stacking blocks, playing in her little rocking chair, her Fisher Price puppy that sings.

Dislikes: getting dressed, having to stay still for a diaper change, naptime, being told "no", being bored, being left alone in a room
What She Can do: walk, "read" a book by herself, stack blocks, drink from a sippy cup all day, play peek-a-boo, dance, make silly faces, say "ma ma", "da da", "duh" (duck), "ow" (cow) and "uh-oh!", has 8 teeth and brushes them every night

Another favorite activity? Walking around "talking" on her pretend cell phone. It's not like she sees me doing this on a regular basis--if I get a call in the car, it's wired through the speakers and I don't hold the phone. I'm rarely able to take a call at home if I'm watching her. So why does my cell phone, her play phones, and the tv remote instantly get tucked up behind her ear as she gabbers into the air? Ahhhhh....they grow up so fast!

"Sorry, I have to take this important call...."

This Room is Occupied!

The new addition, that is. Timmy has worked endless nights and weekends to complete the addition off the back of the house and we are finally able to use it! We haven't had our final inspection yet--they won't come out until we dig the footers for the deck off the back (which was in the plans we submitted to KG County but wasn't in the budget til this spring). But the inspector said that we can use the room and then for the final inspection, just move any furniture off the walls. While dealing with King George inspectors has been a little bit of a hair-pulling process, it's good to know that if we ever sell in the future, we can add this room as additional square footage (over 200 more square feet!).
Caroline, looking very sassy in the new room. At this point, we had just bought the new area rug and that was pretty much the only thing in the room. Emily wanted us to drag in the old rocking chair from Garrett's room (it was my rocking chair as a baby, so this thing has some miles on it!

The "new" couch, the sequel. This is the old blue couch from the set I bought almost 11 years old. We sold the set to Jen and Rusty a couple of years ago when we bought a new set after our wedding. Well, Jen never ended up using it, so we bought it back! The navy blue of the couch wasn't looking so hot with the "ocean view" walls, so I got a nice tan "velour like" slipcover. Presto, chango, good as new! With a chocolate throw and new throw pillows from Walmart, it's extremely comfortable!

Timmy has been adamant about several things going in the room once it was finished, and this harpoon that my dad had for years was one of those things. We got some tie backs that would normally keep curtains out of your windows and used them to hold the harpoon above the double doors. With the fishing lure hanging off the rope, it looks very sexy! (as sexy as whale hunting equipment can look, I guess....)

This nook was the perfect spot to put my two floating shelves. The computer desk will go right below the shelves as soon as Timmy or I get a hankering to move and sort 173 different wires and cables. The three pencil boxes hold markers, sharpened pencils, and colored pencils, so maybe I will be able to find those supplies when I actually need them! :)

I picked up this bookcase from IKEA last week after I saw how awesome it looked at Carrie's house this summer. I bought 4 bins to go in it for holding blocks, books, and small baby toys. The eight spots are perfect for all of Emily's stuff, and the equipment for the tv (Wii, DirecTV box, etc) can fit right on top.

What's next? Timmy is going out tomorrow to get the new TV! We've been searching the Sunday ads every week, looking for great deals, but Timmy is also very specific in his requirements for this new TV (something to do with 1080, and megahertz, and something else? I don't listen very well....I'm usually glazing over at this point). So I left that task up to him. My only request? No bigger than 47 inches wide so that it fits perfectly between the speakers. This room is not that big....let's not treat it like a movie theater! At this point, he can buy whatever he wants. I'm just happy the room was finished before Christmas!

Art Award

Garrett's art teacher, Mrs. Hunter, tracked me down today at pickup time to let me know personally that Garrett's ink and watercolor picture had been chosen.....from the whole school....to be the art project gift for each member of the school board office from Potomac Elementary School! She took Garrett's drawing of snowflakes and shrunk it down on the computer and then printed it out and placed it between plastic pieces of a nightlight. It's awesome! She even made one for us to keep as a momento!

gift tag on each of the presents! ("TAG" is Talented and Gifted)

the winning design!

Looks so nice in the new room!