The Gardner Family

Ping Pong & Pizza Date Night

2009-10-23T12:05:00.007-04:00

In the beginning of Fall Brett found a fun new place to have a date night - Cosmic Pizza!

Cosmic Pizza is in DC and is a sit down pizza place that features tables that look like ping pong tables, outdoor patio, and free ping pong (first come first serve).

It was still pretty warm outside, so Brett and I opted to sit out on the patio. We each got a personal pizza and, lucky us - right as we finished eating the outdoor ping pong table opened up for us to play!

We took some video of our amazing ping pong skills:

Jill's Ping Pong perspective:

Brett's Ping Pong perspective:

I have beaten Brett at ping pong in the past, but I think he won that night.

The people you hear talking to us in the videos were sitting at a table next to the ping pong table. They talked to us a lot while we were playing and even asked us if we were in high school together.

When we told them we were 27 & 28 (it was before Brett's birthday) and married with 2 kids they almost fell out of their chairs in shock.

Visit to the Zoo with Miss Alana

2009-10-23T12:05:00.004-04:00

My friend Alana is a school teacher, so while she was off for the summer, we took the kids to the zoo.

It was a VERY hot day, so there wasn't as many animals out as I have seen in the past, but we still had a great time.

Peter is most fond of the elephants and the monkeys, but was also really excited about the cows and horses which were surprising to me.

It was Alana's first trip, so we were glad to share the experience with her!

End of summer visit to Grandpa's house!

2009-10-23T12:04:00.008-04:00

More pictures from visits to Grandpa's house!

CATERPILLER!!!

2009-10-23T12:04:00.007-04:00

The following caterpillar was on the playground by our house:

Needless to say, it provided Peter with entertainment all afternoon.

Aaron "walks"...

2009-10-23T12:04:00.006-04:00

...with the push toy. But still, he has figured out how to get around on his feet :)

Site seeing and visit with the Becks!

2009-10-23T12:03:00.006-04:00

The day after Peter's birthday party Brett took him to the National Museum of Natural History with his cousins Kim, Gannon, Wanda, Madison, and Sienna.

Peter's favorite parts were the ants and the dinasour bones.

After the museum everyone came back to our house for dinner.

It was a fun and relaxing end to a long weekend.

Movie Night Part 3

2009-10-23T12:01:00.011-04:00

Brett and I are continuing with our weekly movie night with the kids when we are in town.

Peter is now able to st through an entire movie, while Aaron is still more interested in the popcorn and playing with toys.

In late August, we decided to try Wall-E and it was a big hit.

And during the movie Aaron provided us with his own form of entertainment:

Peter Opens his Birthday Gifts

2009-10-23T12:02:00.022-04:00

Peter's birthday was fun this year because he is finally starting to understand what presents are and how to open them.

We took some time with him to open his gifts from the family, and loved watching how excited he got.

Aaron liked all the presents too:

After all the opening, Peter asked to watch his Construction Site DVD. He was very spoiled for his second birthday, but we had fun.

Peter's 2nd Birthday Party!

2009-10-23T12:02:00.019-04:00

For Peter's 2nd birthday we wanted to go all out! We rented space at a park in McLean, hired Mr. Don (a local children's performer), and decorated everything with one of Peter's favorite themes - Thomas the Tank Engine.

Guests in attendance were, Brett's parents, brother, sister-in-law, cousins, and co-worker; my mother and cousins; Peter's God parents, many of our friends that have kids, and some of Peter's friends from church and MOMS club.

When guests arrived, we had the kids play on the play ground to work up an appetite.

Next we all chowed down on pizza, before Mr. Don arrived to entertain the kids.

Being the ham that Peter is, as soon as Mr. Don got on the microphone and announced Peter's name he jumped up from where he was playing and ran into the middle of the room. Clearly he is my child ;) Unfortunately, I did not have my video camera ready to get footage of this, but I did get a lot of videos that day:

Mr. Don entertained the guests:

Peter playing the tambourine:

Singing the Wheels on the Bus:

Peter Blowing out his candles:

Here are some other photos from the party:

The Bubble Mower

2009-10-23T12:02:00.012-04:00

Peter got a gift in the mail for his birthday that had no name on it.

It was a Bubble Mower, that made the sound of a lawn mower and blew bubbles when it was pushed.

We had no idea where it came from, but that didn't seem to bother Peter.

He wanted to take it on a test drive right away!

Eventually, we got a hold of the present giver and Peter had many "thank yous" to give to his Aunt Katelyn!

Brett was also a fan of this gift as a Bubble Mower is way more manly than a pink stroller!

Site seeing with Uncle Don, Aunt Jen and Cousin Kim

2009-10-23T12:01:00.008-04:00

The weekend of Peter's birthday, Brett's brother, Don; our sister-in-law, Jen; and his Cousin, Kim all came for a long weekend.

They arrived on Thursday evening, so Friday it was my pleasure to entertain our guests while Brett was at work.

In the morning after breakfast Uncle Don gave Peter his birthday gifts - 2 rolling books about Thomas the Tank Engine and Tractors (2 of Peter's favorite things).

Once everyone was up and ready to go we took a drive into the city to go site seeing .

We found great parking near the FDR Memorial, which Peter liked because planes kept flying over from DC's National Airport.

After checking out the FDR, we took a walk around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial, and found a memorial I had never seen for George Mason.

Since it was a very hot day and the kids needed to head home for naps, we didn't stay long but we had a lot of fun.

More Bath time fun with the Gardner boys

2009-10-23T12:09:00.009-04:00

We really take too many bath pictures.

But when our subjects are so charismatic, it is hard to stop!

These picture and video were taken sometime in the summer. We have much more of them to post too, just working on uploading everything!

Enjoy!

Peter and his (manly) pink stroller

2009-10-23T12:00:00.007-04:00

When the weather is nice, there are 2 things that Peter loves doing.

#1 - Pushing around a pink stroller. Aaron allows Peter to push him for a little while, but it doesn't last long.

#2 - Swinging on the swings next to our house (Aaron loves this too!).

Actually

2009-12-03T09:26:00.002-05:00

Peter has learned a lot of words and become a very verbal two year old (people frequently think that he is a small 4 year old and are shocked when I tell them he turned 2 in August).

Even though I see Peter everyday and have conversations with him, I am still sometimes by how well he can form sentences and some of the concepts he knows. I am also getting to see so much of his personality; which is a very caring, very hard headed and very comical little boy.

Here is the latest thing he said that made me laugh:

We were driving one night and a police car with all blue lights drove past:

Peter: look mommy a blue ambulance.

Me: actually Peter that was a police car.

Peter: actually mommy it was a blue ambulance.

And another occasion:

We were stopped at a stop light next to a mansion.

Peter: look mommy, a big building.

Me: Oh, Peter, that is actually a big house.

Peter: No, mommy, it is actually a big building.

I stand corrected. And laughing.

Choo Choo (there is a train at the mall!)

2009-10-23T12:00:00.004-04:00

There are a few places that I go to whenever we have a rainy day and I cannot take the kids to the park. The indoor playgrounds at the local malls are always good; however the play area at Tyson's recently added a distraction to there kid area. A Train.

When I first heard about the train, I was really excited to take Peter (he is completely train obsessed). However, the train costs $2 a ride per person. And Peter never wants to get off.

This seemingly fun activity has turned into an inevitable temper tantrum when it ends. However, while he is riding I have never seen Peter happier:

Gamma Mar-In!

2009-10-23T11:57:00.009-04:00

My Aunt Marilyn (Gamma Mar-in to Peter), used to live in the DC area but moved to Tunkhannock, PA to be closer to her grandchildren a few years ago. Since she still has a lot of friend's here and it is a good 1/2 way point if she is heading south to visit my cousin Stephanie, we frequently get to host her visits!

Peter and Aaron LOVE it when Gamma Mar-in comes:

Water Park!

2009-10-23T11:57:00.008-04:00

While the Kelly kids (well 2 of them - Sammy and Erin) and my Aunt Marilyn were visiting, we decided to tryout a water park that I had heard about in Manassas. We arrived when they opened, which was good because by lunch time the place was packed.

It was a fun day, but we left when it was time for the kids to nap and we were all crispy from the hot sun. We will definitely make be heading back next summer!

Kelly's visit

2009-10-23T11:55:00.014-04:00

My cousin Shellie and her family have hosted a French student in their home the past two summers.

This benefits me because both times, they have scheduled a trip to DC to show their French student the nations capital (which means I get a visit too!).

The Kelly's arrived on Saturday afternoon for an early dinner and to drop off their 2 younger children - Sam (winner of the non-competitive dance off at my wedding) and Erin (my flower girl). After visiting and BBQing, Shellie, her husband Mike, oldest daughter Hannah and the students from France headed down town to sight see for 2 days while we kept Sam and Erin.

Once their parents were gone, we took Sam and Erin to Fairfax Corner for a free concert and a little fountain fun!

Erin LOVED the fountain (as documented in the following videos):

Once it got dark, all the kids were starting to get tired so we headed home.

Sam and Erin got to fight over who would sleep on the top bunch of Peter's bunch bed and we had fun playing with the kids at bed time. I am hoping Shellie lets me take the kids for a longer visit next summer!

July Book Club - Good Greif

2009-10-23T11:55:00.008-04:00

Back in July, I hosted my book club. We read the book, Good Greif by Lolly Winston.

I was very excited to host this book club, because we were able to meet outside on my new patio! I was also excited because my brother-in-law and sister-in-law had gotten me a "topics of conversation" box of questions for book club to use.

Everyone of us loved the book, which is sort of unusual for book club. It was interesting that some people liked it for the dry humor and some for the blunt truth about how much losing someone hurts (the book is the story of a young widow's first year after her husband passes away). We all would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a book that will make you laugh and cry!

Boopies

2009-11-23T08:51:00.002-05:00

Every since the boys were able to hold their heads up, I have bounced them on my knees/given them airplane rides on my feet.

Without realizing it I started making a noise that sounds something like, "Boop-a-dee Boop-a-dee Boop Boop Boop Boopie Boopie Boop Boop Boop."

I didn't realize it until Peter came up to me one day asking me to do "Poopies" for him.

Thankfully, he promptly climbed onto my legs after requesting, so the request was easily understood.

Since then we have explained that he needs to ask for Boopies - with a B.

This past summer my cousin Sam took a video of this game:

Colors

2009-11-05T09:10:00.001-05:00

Peter and I were working on colors this morning:

Me: what color is McQueen?

Peter: red

Me: right! What color is Chick Hicks?

Peter: green

Me: right! What color is Sally?

Peter: blue

Me: right! What color is Doc?

Peter: blue

Me: right! What color is Ramone?

Peter: purple

Me: right! What color is the King?

Peter: blue

Me: ok, last one from the Cars movie - what color is Luigi?

Peter: yellow

Me: right! Now, something different - what color is daddy?

Peter: black?

Maybe, like Steven Colbert, Peter doesn't see color.

Jazzercise

2009-10-23T12:18:00.003-04:00

Back in September I got a text one morning from my friend Georgia informing me that she saw an ad in the paper for a job at Jazzercise.

The position was working child care Tuesday, Thursday, Friday from 9-10am; and I could BRING MY KIDS!

I applied and interviewed and started working the first week in October. The boys and I go in 3 days a week to a big room full of toys and some big exercise balls (that the kids love playing with). If there are no kids, we are allowed to leave at 9:30am and I still get paid for the whole time.

When there are kids the parents are required to pay me $3/child in addition to the pay I get from Jazzercise. Plus I get a free membership to Jazzercise!

So, pretty much I am getting paid to run a play group for my kids 3 times a week, and have another free gym membership (in addition to my free membership at Curves).

It is awesome!

Especially now that it is getting colder and they are cooped up in the house all the time. Even when other kids don't show up sometimes I let my boys play past 9:30am before bringing them home.

If you are a stay at home mom and are looking for a way to workout with day care in the DC area, let me know!

My little back breaker

2009-11-04T18:32:00.002-05:00

Ever since Aaron was starting to smile, roll and sit up on his own we thought he was very advanced. He seemed like a very focused and fast learning child, so we naturally thought he would be walking before his first birthday (Peter, who isn't focused on anything for more than 10 seconds walked at 13 months).

Aaron's first birthday has come and gone. He is now a 23 pound 15 + month old baby who is breaking my back.

He has however started talking. He says "Mommy" "Daddy" "Please" "Juice" "Up" "Ball" "Duck" and more, including a variety of animal noises (including panting like a dog, which is too cute - must get that on video!)

Anyway, tonight (I am at work), Brett texted me the following: "I swear, Aaron just said "Juice Please Daddy!"

Although I was very excited to hear Aaron had his first sentence, this was my reponce: "Yeah, but did he walk over to ask?"

Fingers crossed that he has it down by Thanksgiving!

Dream a little dream

2009-11-03T09:10:00.001-05:00

This morning as I finished drying my hair I heard Peter call over the monitor, "wake up mommy!" (he was taught to say "I am awake mommy" when he is ready to get up, but he had a new variation today).

I went to get him up and we had the following conversation about his dream last night:

Me: good morning Peter, did you sleep well last night?

Peter: yeah, I have dream.

Me: really? What did you dream about?

Peter: monkeys

Me: where were the monkeys?

Peter: in the bed!

Me: what!?! What were monkeys doing in your bed?

Peter: monkeys sing a song, mommy.

Me: really, how did the song go?

Peter: la la la la la

Me: wow, that is a great song Peter.

Peter: Peter sang a sing too mommy.

Me: oh yeah, how did Peter's song go.

Peter: la la la la la

Me: oh Peter sang the monkey song?

Peter: no mommy, Peter sang a different song. Like this la la la la la

Me: sounds like the monkey song to me.

Peter: no mommy. La la la la la

Me: whatever you say silly pants

Peter: you wear silly pants mommy. LA LA LA LA LA, right mommy?

I realize this story would have been cuter if I had it on video, but just wanted to give you a taste of life with my talking two year old.

Sally's Birthday

2009-09-29T18:27:00.008-04:00

The day after we got home from the beach was our summer intern, Sally's birthday. When Sally first came to live with us, I received an email from her mother letting me know that not only would Sally be turning 22 while she was with us, but that it would be her first birthday away from family. Brett and I decided that we would celebrate her birthday large to make her feel loved and thank her for her help this summer.

The birthday celebration started with lunch at Chop'T in Arlington after church. Sally loves salads, so I thought this would be a perfect choice. To make the lunch more exciting, Brett Andrews (the Head Pastor from New Life and Sally's connection to us) showed up to surprise her with his whole family.

After lunch, my mom, our friend Sarah and I took Sally to Cassiana Spa to get her first ever manicure and pedicure.

Next on the agenda was the Kennedy Center for dinner and to see Shear Madness (for a second time for Brett and I).

We grabbed dinner on the roof-top cafeteria at the Kennedy Center before the show, and got to take a few scenic pictures.

Our friend, Andy Spray, came with us; and as we guessed the show was a lot different than the first time we went.

The Day was full of firsts for Sally and we enjoyed sharing them with her!