Last week my Aunt Marilyn came to visit into town from Wednesday to Sunday to visit and take part in Aaron's baby dedication.
Being the ridiculously generous person that she is, she came bearing many gifts for the boys including a snow suite, new board books, a bag for Aaron (to match Peter's), a bunch of cute clothes, and bear foot slippers for Peter.
On Wednesday Brett had band practice so we decided to take the kids out to dinner with our friend Sun.
Thursday after Brett got home from work, Marilyn and I took a break from the kids and went to see the movie "W."
Friday we took the kids to Jammin Java to see Banjo Man, then Marilyn went to dinner that night with a friend.
All the events on Saturday and Sunday have their own blog postings, so I won't go into that.
It was great to spend so much time with Marilyn since we miss her lots now that she lives in Pennsylvania and we see less of her. Next month we will be making our way up to her house for 5 days, so we look forward to spending more time with her then!
This past Saturday was the Annandale Fall Festival. I was very excited about the festival because it was the first event that we have known about in our community. We were interested in meeting people with young kids and getting out of the house with the kids.
Mother Nature had something else in mind, however, and Friday night the rain started. Saturday morning it was clearing up, so we figured we would try to still go to the fair, but we would drive instead of walking (which we had planned to do).
Around the time we were pulling into the parking lot the rain started coming down harder and harder.
We decided to walk through the festival anyway, and was suprised to find that there were a bunch of boothes set up despite the weather. A bunch were for local businesses and restaurants, school and sports programs, and some political. They were also still preforming shows, so we stopped to watch one by a karate school in the area.
After taking a quick look at what the festival had to offer, we took cover under the awning of Safeway. We stopped for groceries and our dry cleaning then headed home.
A week and a half ago, our best friend's, Alex and Troy Goode, welcomed their new puppy, Yoshi, to their family and home.
That Sunday (October 19 - I am still catching up) we stopped by for dinner and to meet the new edition!
We brought over a gift (a "Rock Star" shirt) for Yoshi's homecoming and so he would have something to remind him of his crazy Aunt Bubbs and Uncle Brett (hey, if they aren't going to have kids right away we will treat their dog as if it were their child).
As usual Peter went crazy for the dog, chasing him all over the house and playing with his toys.
Yoshi had an absolute blast playing with both the kids and strutting around with his new shirt on. Aaron even let him lick his face while Daddy changed his diaper. After a couple hours Yoshi was worn out from all the running around and playing, so he passed out on his mom's lap. Peter of course still had plenty of energy so he decided to try to climb into (or maybe on) Yoshi's crate before we called it a night and headed home.
After all the playing at the Goode's house Peter was exhausted and fell asleep in the car before we even got down the street! We cannot wait for more pictures of Peter and his new "toy."
Last Saturday, after Danny's house warming party, we got up early to get ready for a trip to Damascus up to seethe kid's Grandpa and go to visit Butlers Orchard.
When we arrived at Steve's house Peter started chasing the dogs around the house right away, while I fed and changed Aaron and got ready for the orchard. After the kids were in clean diapers and bundled up we piled back into the car and headed down the road for our day of outdoor fall fun.
The orchard was nothing like I expected. I thought we were stopping by to get pumpkins, when really we were going to a Pumpkin Festival! There were tons of people, food stands, hay mazes, hay rides, some sort of pumpkin launcher, face painting, crafts, a huge slide, and tons more!!!
Our first stop was to participate in the pumpkin voting (who do you want to vote for? Obama, McCain, or the Giant Pumpkin?), where we stopped for a photo opt with the big pumpkin. Next we started making our way up to the food lines, stopping to take a couple more photos along the way at some of the many wooden cut outs that were there to stand with for pictures.
Brett and Steve waited in line, while Peter and I played on the grass. For lunch we enjoyed burgers on the lawn while we listened to a bluegrass band that was playing live near by in a gazebo. My little music lover, Peter bee bopped to the music the whole time...
After lunch we started getting chilly so Brett ran back to the car for extra clothes and a blanket for Aaron. Peter already had all the clothes we brought for him on and was still shivering, so I gave him my coat which made for a funny video...
Meet my son, ET:
After waiting in line for a little while (seeing at the place was full of people we really didn't have to wait long at all), we got on the hay ride! Peter was in hay Heaven and enjoyed piling hay on himself, Grandpa, and mommy!
The hay ride ended in a huge pumpkin patch where Peter ran around looking for the perfect one, while Brett and Steve took tons of great photos. After we picked our family's pumpkin for this year, we got back in line for the hayride back to the orchard's Pumpkin Festival.
By this time Aaron woke up so we could get some pictures of his eyes open. Before heading to the car to go home, we took a few more family photos.
It was a cold, but really fun day that we plan to make an annual trip every October.
My Garmin navigation system recently was stolen :(
How?
Well that is where the "DUH" comes in... it was stolen off the dash board of my unlocked car... shocker!
However, because I am so dependent on it, Brett said that if I found a good deal for a new one I could replace the stolen item. So I started searching the Internet.
Finally, I came across a PINK Garmin listed for $120 on super sale at Costco and Brett approved the purchase.
I of course was thrilled... until I realized that I wouldn't be able to get to Costco without a Garmin directing me... DUH!
Five days later my new Garmin (ordered off the Internet) came in the mail, so now I am able to leave the house again without breaking out into a cold sweat for the fear of getting lost on the road.
I have no idea how I ever survived without this technology, but I want to send the inventor a thank you card.
Our best friend's (and Peter's God parents) Alex and Troy Goode, just bought their first place!
Their house is a three bedroom, 2.5 bath, two level condo in the Shirlington area of Arlington near Glebe and Four Mile Run.
For those who haven't gotten over to see it here are some photos with their new furniture:
Exterior: Door/Patio: Downstairs bathroom: Kitchen: Dining Room: Living Room: Living Room TV Stand: Laundry (at the top of the stairs): Bedroom #1 (used as an office/den): Bedroom #2 (currently used as a "catch all" - they are still unpacking - will be a guest bedroom until it is needed as a nursery... I hope that is in about 9 months): Guest bathroom: Master Bedroom: Master Bathroom: Their commiunity also includes a club house, pool, gym, putting green, and grills but it was too dark to get good photos. We are really excited for Troy and Alex to make this step and hope that they will want to fill the house with babies soon... can you tell we want our friends to start having kids ;)
Last Friday night Brett and I headed out to Kingstown to visit our friend Danny's new digs!
Danny had finally gotten tired of living in Ballston, and is now renting a 3 bedroom town home with another couple.
The house was really spacious and in a great area, and Danny even talked about possibly buying the home from his landlord.
The evening was a lot of fun, and we enjoyed a night that reminded us of parties we went to before we had kids (even though we still had to get home sober and early enough to get up with the kids in the morning).
There was a lot of flip cup and even more of Nick being Nick...
This is the last blog about Brett's birthday for 2008... I hope...
The day after Brett's real birthday was our Thrusday small group night. I made Brett a cake and we all sang one last birthday song to Brett to ring in his 28th year.
I couldn't find the birthday candles so I used tall fireplace matches (which went out on my way into the living room). Thanks to our small group, and everyone else that helped make Brett's birthday so special!
This was the first time we ever had this "issue" and as you can see from the video we had no idea what to do. Even after the camera was turned off, Brett and I kind of stared asking each other, "um... what is the best course of action to clean up this mess."
Last Wednesday, Brett celebrated his 28th birthday (old man)!
When Brett arrived home we greeted him with presents from the boys and I, and cards sent from out of town family.
His gifts included the painting from Peter A chin up bar to add to our "home gym" and a new driver Which he took outside to practice his swing with right away. After gifts we headed down to our favorite Annandale restaurant, Silverado for family dinner. Once we were back home we sang happy birthday and enjoyed cake (Peter enjoyed it the most. It was nice to have a fun family celebration and we hope Brett felt as loved and spoiled as we wanted him to!
Last week my Aunt Marilyn came to visit into town from Wednesday to Sunday to visit and take part in Aaron's baby dedication.
