The beginning of Virginia

Starting life in Virginia was busy immediately. 

Spencer started playing baseball, and has enjoyed it the whole time. We think he'll want to do it again in Spring. Here he is showing off his cool sunglasses for baseball. 

Preston pretty much just was tired for a little while after getting here. It was hard to sleep in hotels and then in a new room. So during the day he would sometimes zonk out.

First day of fourth grade!!! He loves his school here too!!! His teacher is awesome, and he has been able to do very well while here so far. They do things a little different here than they did in NYC, but Spencer is catching on and up on things.

Since we live somewhat close to the school, Spencer is a walker. So Preston and I have this walk to do twice a day...which comes to 2 miles every day we are walking to take Spencer to and from school. Some days it's awesome to be surrounded by such beauty, some days it's a long way home. 

Preston loves to play with Spencer's backpack, and misses him lots during the day. 

Preston has also started to love being outside all the time. One day he got his play keys out to figure out how to unlock the door to get outside.

Spencer all decked out in his baseball uniform! Go Twins!!! They did REALLY well this year, even though a lot of the players on his team had never played before. It was fun to see how much he learned in just two months. 

Moving...

We had VERY mixed feelings about moving this time. It wasn't a move to a new exotic place, nor a move back to the States close to family that we hadn't seen very much. It was a move within the States, where we had to find our own home that we bought, and figure a lot more out. It was a bit stressful, and I don't really want to ever buy a house again, but most likely we'll have to. 

Pictures I took while we were taking our last taxi ride out of the city. I will miss this crazy busy city!

Always amazed by how close all the buildings were here.

Our One World Trade Tower!

Unique doesn't even begin to describe NYC.

Our last ride, it was sad. 

Anyway, it was hard also because we came to love the city and have fun there. We were looking forward though to have cars to be able to drive to at least one grandparents house. So the time for moving came, and things were hectic but everything got done, like always. 

Preston's ready to go!

We had to get Spencer's old bike out of our buildings storage so we could have it move with us. Preston LOVED riding on it.

When they say they are ready to pack things up...they literally mean UP!

Took our movers one day to pack, and one day to get everything down to the truck (the couch was a HUGE struggle, and I almost had to be prepared to leave without it, but luckily we got it out). 

We were not even sure if we were going to be able to close on the house the day we were suppose to, but thankfully we were able to, and things worked out fine. It was really crazy, because also the night we were closing we had Spencer's first baseball practice for here, and we didn't actually get into our home until after the weekend. A little busy, and I probably went a little mad the first month here, but things are dying down now with the craziness. We are starting to enjoy living here and getting to know people. Spencer is loving school and has already finished up his baseball games! 

It's now official we live in Virginia! (or have been for almost 2 months)

Spencer's Birthday Celebration!

Spencer turned NINE this year!?!? Where does the time go? Anyway, here is the fun he had on his special day.

I made him a Happy Birthday banner out of Adventure Time stuff!!!! Adventure Time was his theme this year, so I thought he would appreciate it, and he did.

Opening some presents in the morning, which of course was an Adventure Time game!

Getting some good loot from the grandparents too, gifts cards to all the places he loves...Gamestop and Amazon.

This was a Professor Layton game for his DS that his aunt gave to him, he was really excited about it.

The birthday cake!!! As you know I like to make the boys' cakes for them each year into whatever they want. This year was an Adventure Time cake...so here it is! Spencer helped to put the little figures on it.

The only people Spencer wanted over for his birthday dinner was our next door neighbors! Their son became Spencer's best friend while we were there. It was fun to have them over to eat pizza, have cake and ice cream and play. Getting ready to blow out the candles. 

Preston enjoyed this cake also.

Spencer and his best friend. They miss each other a lot since we've moved away. 

I believe they gave him the best gift, the pack of sidekicks for Infinity!

Spencer had a pretty awesome birthday, he also got a Marker Maker (which the kids busted out that night and made like 20 markers!), some headphones so he can watch stuff while sitting in the same room as us, and then an Adventure Time alarm clock. He was a very happy boy!

Our Last Visitors

We had our last visitors come and visit in the middle of August and it was my brother and his wife!!! We were hoping they would bring some of their kids, they have 5, but plane tickets are a bit expensive nowadays. But we were still REALLY happy to have them come see us and have some fun! 

We introduced them to Max Brenner's and I think they fell in love...with the food. They really liked it. 

We also were able to go over to Grand Central Station. I had never been there so it was fun to see the bustling terminal. It was really big, and the windows were so tall, I loved it!

The clock!

I love any American flag hanging in places like this. 

While we were there Tyler was telling us there was this whispering corner. Where if one person stood in one corner and whispered up the corner of the wall, and another person stood in the corner opposite it and listened, they would be able to hear them! We tried it, and it didn't work. Then we tried again and it was the weirdest thing ever! It was like the person was standing right next to you talking. 

After that we went outside and stood beneath the Chrysler Building. It's one of my brother's favorites, and pretty cool how it was built. 

We wanted to also go to the big Public Library, and so while walking to it we turned around and got this great view!

I love libraries and think they are just wonderful, the bigger the better! So I was very excited to go and see the big New York Public Library! Spencer and I also love movies, and The Day After Tomorrow is a favorite and guess what is in that movie??? The New York Public Library!!!!! 

This is Spencer and I pretending that a big wall of water was coming after us and we were trying to run into the library to get to higher ground. 

The inside of the library was gorgeous. Whenever I can have a library in my home....maybe I'll do some of these decorations. 

Where do those doors lead to???

This room is in the movie a lot! It was pretty cool to be there, and look at the lights hanging down...so cool. 

I definitely want this painted on my kids' wall. Just so they know Mom always wants them to read and learn.

I loved these lantern type lights too.

Having my brother and his wife with us for a few days was so fun! I hope they had a blast too, especially with all the good food we ate. It was fun also to explore places we had never been to yet together. 

The Many Faces of Preston part 2

Preston has started to become quite the character, and we love watching him! Tyler and I will often just sit around and watch Preston figure things out, try out new things, or just sit there and play with toys. He, of course, is just too stinkin' cute. 

Enjoy the many faces. 

This one is seen a lot when he is extremely happy about doing something. We saw it all day on his birthday. 

He loves to cuddle!!! While in church on Sunday we walked by a little boy who was holding onto the wall because he couldn't walk just yet, and Preston goes right up to him with arms wide open to give him hugs. Oftentimes we'll be sitting on the floor and he will come over and hug us and lay his head on us. It's super sweet. 

We are seeing this face more and more. This is his trying to do something hard face.  

soooo excited!!!

Ta-da!

This is HALLOWEEN!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Here are the boys in their costumes. Spencer has become a fan of Adventure Time (a cartoon on Cartoon Network), so he wanted to go as Finn. Then I thought, well Finn's best friend is a dog named Jake...so, why not have Preston go as him?!? So we did, and they are cute! 

This year instead of spending $60 on getting costumes, I decided to MAKE them?!!? For Spencer all I had to do was the hat, and luckily a lady online had made a pattern. YES! Preston's I had to kinda make up. Found a pattern that had pants, shirt and hat. This is what it looked like all cut out....then I had to figure out how to piece it together.

The pants were pretty easy, the shirt proved to be a little difficult, and the hat was confusing, BUT I did it, it fit and he wore it...once. I also put the felt face on the hat so people would know who he was. 

In case you don't know who Finn and Jake are....here is a picture of them. Pretty darn close I would say! 

Also, I made all of this for half the price! YAY!