Let's Talk about Sex Baby!

Brett and I have been hosting a small group for over a year now, and as our current study come to a close we have picked our next topic and new night of the week.

If any couples are interested, here is the information:

Intimacy Ignited
A small group study for couples

Time: Meeting the first and third Thursday of each month from 8:00-10:00pm

Hosted & Facilitated by: Brett and Jillian Gardner

Location: The Gardner Residence, 4544 Garbo Court, Annandale, VA

Contact: 703-941-0901 (home), 703-304-6652 (cell), JillianBGardner@gmail.com

Materials: Intimacy Ignited by: Dr. Joseph & Linda Dillow and Dr. Peter & Lorraine Pintus (can be purchased online or at most book stores)

Thursday September 17 – Group Game Night

Thursday October 8 – Lesson 1
Introduction: Sex at its Best
Chapter 1: Where Did all the Passion Go?
Chapter 2: Give Permission for Passion

Thursday October 22 – Lesson 2
Chapter 3: Sooth Insecurities
Chapter 4: Offer Sexual Refreshments

Thursday November 5 – Lesson 3
Chapter 5: Trade Sexual Compliments
Chapter 6: Catch the Little Foxes

Thursday November 19 – Lesson 4
Chapter 7: Create a Safe Place for Loving
Chapter 8: Remember your Vows

Thursday December 3 – Lesson 5
Chapter 9: Be Romantic In and Out of Bed
Chapter 10: Give Your Body as a Gift

Thursday December 17 – Lesson 6
Chapter 11: Stamp out Selfishness
Chapter 12: Be Free in your Mind

Thursday January 7 – Lesson 7
Chapter 13: Be Free to Forgive
Chapter 14: Be Free with Your Body

Thursday January 21 – Lesson 8
Chapter 15: Be Free to Be Creative
Chapter 16: Fan the Fire of Lifelong Love

Uncle Donald

Both Brett's brother and my sister life far away from us. Because of this we try to show the kids lots of pictures, have video skype phone calls, and talk about Uncle Don, Aunt Jenny and Aunt K all the time.

However, whenever there is a visit we still have a little bit of re-introductions that we need to make to remind the kids who their Aunts and Uncle are.

This past weekend, Brett's brother and our sister-in-law were visiting, and the for the first time Peter actually said their names and really warmed up to Don especially (this might have had to do with a bond over shared boo boos on their knees).

Don and Jen left on Sunday and Peter told me they were at work the following 2 mornings (he thinks anyone that isn't at our house MUST be at work). But by Wednesday they were out of sight, out of mind... or so I thought.

During our music and story time this morning I was asking him what songs he wanted to sing. After we went through "the bus" and "the choo choo song" he asked if we could sing "Uncle Donald"

I had no idea what he meant, until he started singing...

"Uncle Donald had a farm. E-I-E-I-OOOOO!!!"

Naughty Baby X 2

I have written before about Peter getting into the cat food when he was a year old.

I have also written about Aaron doing the same thing with the dog food this year.

Now, I am writing to tell you where Aaron learned this behavior:






Rusty's expression cracks me up.

And by the way - this is proof that I don't even have time to go to the bathroom without my children getting into trouble!

Sesame Street

My kids don't watch a lot of TV - usually only 30 minutes a day. But those 30 minutes are their favorite part of the day.

We always watch Sesame Street after our walk in the early afternoon (before lunch), and each day as I walk back to the house Peter starts asking, "Sesame please Mommy."

Here is our favorite Sesame song:

Bubbles!!!

More pictures from the bath!

Peter absolutely LOVES to have bubbles in the bath, so we appease his request most of the time.

Enjoy!

Puppy Prozak?

Our dog, Rusty is perfect... except for one thing - he has sever separation anxiety.

We were told he was crate trained, but would come home to this when we left him alone in his crate:


And what we can't show in the picture, is that he would also pee in the crate.

After seeking many fellow dog owner and lover's advice we decided to look into puppy Prozak. He has been on it for a little over a month and it has done wonders.

Now when we leave Rusty is allowed to roam free in the house and does not mess anything up; and he sleeps in his crate with no complaints.

Very happy to have a happy dog!

NOVA Rap Battle

A few months ago someone forwarded me the following rap about Arlington.



Fairfax came back in response.



Brett and I have lived in both Arlington and Fairfax, so we love them both.

By the way - 1/2 of the Korean restaurants from the Fairfax rap are within walking distance of my house - more proof that we really live in Korea.

Time for your close up...

Brett sent me the following email today:

Subject: Forgot this one

Just reading the blog and forgot that I had one more photo! Thank you for being so amazing and documenting the family. I love you so much. Hubbs



Hope you enjoy those chubby cheeks as much as we do!

The new patio in full effect

More pictures of the kids playing. This time on our newest home improvement - the patio!

Playing in the pool of balls:

The sandbox:

Coloring with chalk:

Rusty enjoying the nice weather:

And every once in a while; Aaron throwing a fit:

Hope you are having lots of summer fun too!

My Sister's Keeper

As soon as the movie "My Sister's Keeper" came out, I wanted to see it.

I had read the book 2 years ago and loved it, so I emailed my girl friends to see who was interested.

Alex, Sarah and Sally were all on board, so we decided to have dinner at Aladdin's Eatery in Ballston first and then hit the movie.

We completely stuffed ourselves with salads and hummus and then decided to make up for our low calorie meal with huge desserts (Sarah's was slightly small then the one Alex and I shared)!


Next stop was Ballston Mall for the movie. I brought an entire box of tissues, knowing we would need them and boy was I right! We sobbed through the entire movie!

It was nice having a good cry and fun to spend time with the girls.

Safety First...

I brought Rusty in the car with me the other day, but left the kids at home.

This is where he wanted to sit:

Fun Day at the Pool

Not much text needed for this post. Just another fun day at the pool with all 3 of my boys.





And a silly video of Peter's favorite pool activity:

Mason District Park Day

On June 27, Brett and I decided to organize some of our friend's for a free kids show, picnic and hike at Mason District Park (my FAVORITE Annandale park!).

The park has an "Arts in the Park" kids show every Saturday at 10:30am, and was featuring Rocknocerous that week.

Our friends Tony and Heather came with their two daughters, Morgan and Chloe for the show.

Morgan and Peter ended up spending most of their time walking around holding hands, but the younger kids watched the music (or sat quietly because they were being fed).





After the concert, we moved the party to a picnic area near the play ground to meet up with friends who were coming without kids.

Everyone brought something to share with the group, so we had a full spread ranging from lunch meat, to fried chicken, to watermelon and veggies.






We spent the next 2 hours stuffing our faces, playing with the dogs, and chasing all the kids before most of the group headed home.



Our friends Alan and Jaquie stuck around to go for a hike, so we packed the kids in a stroller and back pack and took the "Nature Walk" trail around the park before calling it a day.

It was really fun to get our friends together and look forward to more impromptu events like this!

Free Date Night

Brett and I try to take full advantage of the many free tourist and community things that there are in DC and Northern Virginia. One of the best things in the summer is the many free concerts around the area. The last weekend of June, Brett and I had a date scheduled and decided to try out the concert series in Herndon - Friday Night Live!

The traffic was bad as a storm threatened to blow through Northern Virginia, so it took a while to get to the show. Thankfully, my husband is very entertaining:



When we finally got to Herndon, Love Seed Mama Jump was playing cover songs and some of their own music.

We had brought a picnic dinner, so we ate during the first set, and then packed up our blanket so we could dance for the second set.

Besides the cost of gas and groceries for the dinner; the evening was completely free and so much fun! We plan on heading back again this Friday to see Gonzo's Nose!

Rollie Pollie

The following picture was sent to me the other day when I was working at Curves. It was too cute to keep to myself.


Many thanks to my amazing husband for taking such good care of our babies and capturing these special moments while I am working!

If you're happy and you know it...

Another peek into our life.

Here is an example of the kids during lunch:

(My apologies for my not so amazing singing voice)

No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Peter loves monkeys, so naturally he loves the monkeys jumping on the bed song.

Here is a typical bedtime evening for the Gardner family:

Man Shoes

Peter is old enough now that he is requests clothes and shoes to wear in the morning.

The other day he was asking to wear his "Man Shoes"

I had no idea what he was talking about. He and Aaron have one pair of matching shoes that he calls "Aaron Shoes," he calls his crocks by their brand, calls his Speedo shoes, water shoes; but I had never heard him say "Man Shoes"

After many attempts to put on shoes that looked like Brett's shoes (thinking he was trying to look like a man - like daddy); I finally gave up and showed Peter all the shoes so he could pick up the "man shoes" with his hands.

I should have guessed:

Creative use of bowl

More silly videos from the Gardner family:

BeVard Laugh

My family is known for their belly laughs.

Aaron might not have as many of my physical features, but he definitely has the laugh down!

An Apple a Day!

Peter is a fan of Apples:

Tupperware Party 2009

Seriously, my children couldn't be more different.

Peter has slept through the night since he was 8 weeks old, and never wakes up; Aaron slept through the night at 6 weeks, but "forgets" how to sleep through the night at least 1 night every couple weeks.

Peter is tall and skinny; Aaron is tall and chubby (they are almost the same size now)!

Peter is a screamer, Aaron is quiet.

Peter likes to play with a toy for 5 minutes and then move on to something else; Aaron will focus on 1 toy for an hour.

However, regardless of their differences, I seem to take the same photos of them during the stages of their lives.




Click here to see Peter's Tupperware Party last year!

Park with Aunt Temple!

One of my very best friends, Temple, moved to Ohio while I was pregnant with Aaron. It was very hard for me, because we are so close since she is a chef and works a lot of off hours she used to visit with during the day after I had Peter.

Since moving away she has visited a few times, but usually her trips quick and packed full of visits with all her friends that we only see her for an hour or two.

The last week in June, Temple came for a while week and stayed over night with us one night! I was so excited to host her, that we stayed up late to spend as much time as possible together, and played Mexican Train Dominoes.

The next morning, we took the kids to the Annandale Farmers Market and then took the kids to the park to play and walk the dog.




It was so much fun having Temple for (almost) 24 hours all to ourselves, that it was a very sad to say good bye. We hope she visits again soon, and will be celebrating her BIRTHDAY TOMORROW - AUGUST 11 - from NOVA :)

Concert at Fairfax Corner

Back in June, Brett, Sally and I took the kids to a free outdoor concert at Fairfax Corner.

The venue is a big rectangle in the middle of a shopping area with the stage on end, tables and area to put down blankets or folding chairs in the middle, and a fountain for kids to play in on the other end.

We made a picnic dinner, put Peter in his swim suit and took turns chasing Peter around the square and watching Aaron and Rusty. Events like this are a little too much for Peter, so he tends to run everywhere to try and see everything. He would run to us and take a bit of food then run back to the fountain or to dance.



Aaron was content to listen to the music, bobbing his head and eating snacks on our picnic blanket.



I also got a huge surprise when I ran into a long lost friend (and former room mate), Culley who was there to go to a movie. My kids (who are not shy) took to her right away, and we caught up before parting ways with plans to meet up soon.

After stopping for ice cream at Pot Belly, we realized that Peter had a bit of a accident on Sally's shirt. So we quickly changed him, Brett gave Sally his shirt to wear and we headed home.

Such a fun (free) evening!