October seems to be flying by.  The weekend seem so jam packed, and the workdays only seem to get in the way of so many other tasks and activities that we’d rather be doing.  Our evenings are short too.  Ok, enough complaining.  It’s important just to savor every minute we do get.  Jaxson’s smile just makes us melt.  Liam’s opinions continue to crack us up, and our time together – though stressed at times – reminds us to be supportive and loving.  

 

So, it was supposed to be a three day weekend.  However, in order to bank some time off for when M&D and Dawn visit, I went in to work for the majority of the day.  I left to join Russ and the boys at home around 2:15 or so.  Then we made a trek to the mall in Waldorf.  I needed to drop my engagement ring off at Kay Jewelers because one of the tiny stones came out!  This was ironic because I JUST got it serviced under the maintenance contract not three weeks before.  Luckily, with a little prodding, and a found receipt, Kay’s took it back and promised to replace the stone.  While at the mall, we did just a tiny bit of shopping.  The Waldorf Mall just pales in comparison to the one we went to in Annapolis.  It seems it is nothing but shoe stores!

 

On Saturday we tried not to monopolize the day with errands, but it couldn’t be helped.  We managed to tidy up the house just a bit more, but it seems every project or task gets interrupted with a fussy baby, troublemaking child, or outside task.  After a very frustrating afternoon, we ordered a pizza and watched a movie.  

 

Sunday, we made a quick trip out to get a couple of things we missed the day before, but really vowed to just stay home.  I worked on a sewing project, and Russ got the new lawn mower up and running.  We really needed a new one because mowing our bigger, more hilly yard, without a little propulsion makes for a rather difficult task!  He also put together the Radio Flyer wagon that we’d purchased second hand (well, it had never been taken out of the box!).  Later we finished watching the movie we’d started the night before and began collecting things for the week ahead.  

 

Sadly, our camera broke, so there are no pictures to add this week.  

Short, but fun-filled weekend!  Friday after work we ventured North to see Marcie and Noah.  Hadn't seen either of them in a while, and it was Marcie's birthday, so we figured a trip was due.  Unfortunatley, the trip up was aweful.  Two figety and impatient children combined with 5 traffic back-ups made for a rather unpleasant experience.  Hopefully, we'll avoid Friday night trips from now on.  We did manage to roll into Marcie's apartment around 10:30.  I sent Liam straight to bed, but allowed Jaxson to stay up with his Daddy and Grandmom for a little while.  I attempted to stay up, but the stressful drive had taken it's toll, and I crawled into bed not long after Liam had fallen asleep. 

 

Saturday morning we got up and around quickly.  The boys needed to be bathed and dressed.  Marcie needed to get ready too.  Noah needed to be picked up.  All was in preparation for some nice pictures! 

    

 

We had lunch together, and then took a diversion home to pick up Noah's girlfriend, Kayla.  She was to join us for the evening.  We arrived back at the apartment after picking up a Birthday Cake for Marcie.  We had a quick round of Happy Birthday, and then Liam and Jaxson stayed with their Grandmom, while the rest of us all went into the city for Terror Behind the Walls at the Eastern State Penitentiary.

 

 

 

The Eastern State Penitentiary was built in 1822 and was a marvel in architectural techology.  An interesting place to tour in itself, it was even more thrilling to be able to go through it as it was set up as a haunted house!  With ghoulish guards, and spooky passageways, insane inmates, and a morbid morgue, we had a grand time shreiking and laughing at each others terror.  It was a great time, and we even learned a thing or two.  After our fright fest, we had a late dinner at the Cracker Barrel.  It was a lot of fun, and gave us another chance to learn more about Kayla.

 

We dropped Kayla off at her home and returned to the apartment.  The boys were both asleep and Marcie had a good time babysitting. 

 

   

 

On Sunday, we had a nice breakfast together.  Early in the afternoon, Russ and Noah went to the movies to see Flyboys (second time for Russ).  I stayed with Marcie and the boys.  I helped her get some furniture rearranged in her apartment, and just had a nice time visiting with her about antiques and decorating. 

 

When Russ and Noah returned, we knew we needed to head back South again.  It was too short of a visit, and packed with a lot of fun.  Our drive home wasn't as bad as Friday night, and we were glad to be back in our own beds.  We look forward to Thanksgiving when Noah and Marcie will come down on the train for a visit!

Erin and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary Thursday. It is hard to believe the years have passeed so quick and that God has blessed us with two precious boys and me with three sons that I am VERY proud of. On Wednesday night we celbrated and I gave Erin a card that was pretty indicative of the whirlwind of a year we have just had. It brought a few tears but of happiness. Erin got me a Byers Choice Civil War Santa in Red White and Blue for the Living Room during the yuletide season and I got her speakers. The modern theme for fourth is appliances so we stretched that and we did just get the washer and dryer.

On Thursday evening we went to the Leprachan Liily's consigment sale at teh Fairgrounds. We were able to go early because Erin volunteered for sorting clothes on Saturday after the sale. My co-worker Steve was up there and we hung out with Liam and his daugther Caroline. Erin got a lot of pants for the boys that we needed . We also need a coat for Liam but struck out there. Liam also got a car he can drive on batteries. He makes it go by pushing a button on the steering wheel. We are working on that in the garage. So far everytime he pushes the button the car moves and the he stops pushing LOL.

 

On Friday we dropped the kids off at Anna's to spend the day together for our anniversary. We We were going to go to the race track but it was pouring rain. We decided to go to the Annapolis Mall and then to dinner. We windows shopped and bought a couple of things at William-Sonoma, A sitting up chair for Jaxson, Erin needed some shirts, and  I got a great book on Kentucky Basketball at the Borders. We also went to Peebles in the morning and got Liam a coat as they had 50% off. We then had dinner at Red Lobster. We missed the boys and spent some time with them before scotting Liam off to bed. Jaxson really sits up good in his chair.

 

On Saturday we went to the Library and finsihed up getting curtain rods for the Den. Erin then went with Jaxson to the sorting at the fairgrounds. I hung pictures in the master bathroom for our old aviation theme complete with the propeller Brian made in high school which gave ne the idea to do it. Erin bought a few more outfits for the boys and a cocoon for Jaxson for his car seat in the winter months.

On Sunday we went major grocery shopping in the morning. When we arrived home I thought I could mow the lawn before the Redskins Giants started. I had fixed the mower the day before. Well at game time I had just finished the front and was beat. Near the end of the game I finished the back and trimmed. It takes about 2.5 to three hours to do the yard and it is a work out. Erin worked on hanging drapes. We took a little time to get cleaned up and take some family pictures in front of the house.

 

Sunday evening we had a nice fire and watched Castaway. The only unfortunate bummer is I went to straighten a picture in the bathroom and it fell off the wall smashing the glass frame. I will have to hang it by wire when I fix it soon. I am in at work today but will be off tomorrow to watch the kids as Anna is off. Liam is easy and becoming more independent every day. Jaxson will be a daunting task as it will be the longest stretch I have watched him and he is really into Mommy right now. Maybe with me bottle feeding him all day tomorrow he will make that connection. I can't believe how big and expressive his brown eyes are. They just sparkle with wonder when he is alert and in a good mood.

Next weekend we go to see Mom Cole for her birthday on Saturday and Saturday night we are taking Noah and Kayla to a haunted house at the Eastern State Pen in Philly which is closed and supposedly haunted.

Ok, so for the past couple of weeks, we've been OFFLINE due to the ridiculous process that Verizon takes to set up or transfer DSL.  In the process they pretty much froze our website as well.  It was hard to  believe that whole deal took nearly 6 weeks!  It's pure evil, and to prove it, when we eventually DID get back online we had 666 emails waiting for us!! 

 

So, when last I was able to post I gave a short synopsis of our selling/buying of our homes.  As you may remember, Tropical Depression Ernesto caused a rather large OAK tree to topple into our Townhouse just a week prior to our Settlement.  Feel free to read more about that via the Ernesto Link at the top of the page although I'll be nixing that bad memory from here soon.

 

We were fortunate to have over a dozen friends help us move.  I only wished I'd had a dozen more to unpack for us too!

 

Since moving day on Sept 9th, we've spent the majority of our "free" time unpacking, organizing, and decorating.  It's still an ongoing process, but we've pretty much gotten everything unpacked at this point. Finally got the garage cleared out as much as we're going to as well, and put a few things in the attic.  I've still got a few little boxes of odds and ends that I'll work at when I can.  I plan to drop off three crates and a couple of dog beds in memory of Hayride and Dakota at the local Animal Relief Fund.  We hope to get the new curtains up this weekend too, and that'll pretty much wrap up the move.

We've really been enjoying the new house too.  Liam just loves his play area in the basement, and it makes life so much easier not having to constantly pick up toys.  We also purchased a fire pit from TARGET.  It was on sale, and I think we've already gotten our money's worth!  It's just a copper bowl on wrought iron legs.  We put sand in the bottom of it, and have made some really cozy fires.  Russ even rigged up a grill and cooked us a couple of steaks over it the other night. 

 

We have dealt with a few kinks lately though.  Our brand new washer  kept giving me error codes. Finally it wouldn't complete a full cycle, so I had to call the service number.  They had to send out a technition who took 4 hours to tell me he needed to order parts for it.  He went ahead and ordered the parts,  but at the same time, I headed back to the Sears store and demanded they replace the entire washer... which they did.  While I received my new washer, our TV cable was out, so I had to call the cable company.  A guy came out and within minutes had discovered that our neighbors had something installed and in the process had DISCONNECTED our line!!  And I already mentioned our lenghty transfer of the DSL.  We've also been learning to use our flat-top stove too... it gets much hotter than the one at our old TH.  We've ruined about a dozen eggs by now, but managed to find success this past Sunday.

 

Aside from the homefront, we enjoyed taking a lovely day off and going to the County Fair.  This year Liam was TOTALLY into the rides and festivities.  He is so cute now that he's big enough to ride many of the amusements himself.  We put him on one little horse and cart round about and he was delighted for the first couple of passes.  Then we told him to ring the bell, at which point the dang thing came off in his hand sending him into wailing tears.  Fortuately, when the ride was over the attendant reattached the bell and made the attempt to reassure our dear child that he was not in any sort of trouble.  The next venture on the motorcycles cured his fears, and then there was no stopping him.  He even joined me on the super big slide and he screamed with delight the entire way down.  So fun!  Little Jaxson had a good time too as he watched the myriad of people from his cozy spot in my sling. 

 

Just this last weekend, we took another venture to the North part of the county to attend the annual Corn Maze with some of our other parent friends.  The kids had a dandy time walking with us through the maze, petting the friendly kitty, playing in the corn box (like a sand box, only with shucked corn), oogling over the pigs, goats, sheep and bunnies, and taking a spin on the tractor train.  It was a very pleasent morning, and we enjoyed watching all the kids together.  Of course, we brought home a pumpkin for each of us, and they are all donning our front steps.

 

Jaxson is growing growing growing.  It's hard to believe he's three months old now.  He's so strong, and I'm betting he'll be walking well before his first birthday.  He's cooing and babbling, and has finally figured out how to get his thumb in his mouth.  He loves his feet, and shuffles them with delight.  I only wish he'd keep them still in the middle of the night before they begin to leave bruises on ME!

 

Liam is doing well too.  His vocabulary is astounding now, and he's beginning the WHY WHY WHY phase.  His mouth runs all the time, but some of the things that come out of us send us in genuine giggles.  He's still in love with cars, but has branched out a bit to include planes and trains.  He's content to play with his toys for a good couple of hours by himself, but will also ask Mommy and Daddy to "play cars" too.  He's even tried to get little Jaxson to play!  He's quick to ask for snuggles when he needs a bit of reaffirmation over his little brother, but seems to be tolerating the new addition fairly well.  He's doing well at daycare, and has just made a new friend named CiCi, a little boy from Nigeria. 

 

It's been a blessed time.  We've overcome some hurdles, and are managing to stay afloat.  We're happy to have time now to "play cars," go to the fair, watch a movie, make S'mores, and even read the newspaper.  Our life is getting back to "normal" and we're thankful.