Reuniting with Good Friends

This post is about a couple of things that I've been able to enjoy now that I have a happy baby.  It has made all the difference!  We love getting to know and enjoy sweet Jonah rather than pacing back and forth all day and half the night with a purple faced hollering babe.  We no longer play the nightly game of "pass the baby."  I don't know how I would've handled the first 3 months of Jonah's life without my parents!

Emily

This picture of Jonah is where it all began.  This was the first non-colicky day.  I took the kids to Busch Gardens to meet up with Emily and Mike who were visiting from NC.  You may think that this is an unextraordinary picture.  Well, you are wrong. :)  Jonah was sitting in his carseat in the stroller and NOT screaming!  He was so content the whole day.  He even fell asleep in the stroller twice!

We had a great time at Busch Gardens.  Emily and I had served together in the Young Women's program at church for many years and our neighborhoods were just across the street from eachother in NC.  It was so good to see her again!  The next time they are in the area, we'll have our own house and they'll have to come stay with us and go to the beach. :)


The kids took pictures with some of the cast of the new fairy tale show.  Elena, Sadie, and Kevin.

How cute is Rowan?!

They had so much fun with Sadie - especially Elena!

The fabulous Evans family:

Dan (of course) had to work, but here's a picture of me with my 3 kids.  So outnumbered...

Whitney 


I was able to go to Washington DC a couple of weeks ago for a quick one night trip.  Dan was working nights, but my mom was fabulous, and watched Elena and Kevin.  Thanks, Mom!

My best friend Whitney (We were roommates in Mexico 12 years ago!) went to DC at the last minute on a business trip with her dad.  Jonah had been feeling better for about a week, so I risked it, and I'm so glad that I did.  Jonah and I drove up there together Friday night.  We met up with Whitney, her dad, a colleague and his wife.  Then we went to a fantastic Italian restaurant that someone found using the Urban Spoon app  That night, Whitney and I stayed up late talking and watching a movie.  The next morning, we went to the new Air and Space museum in northern Virginia.

It was incredible.  We had a great time and Jonah was on his best behavior.

Whitney's dad was so nice to let me crash their fun weekend.

We are in front of the space shuttle Discovery.  It was amazing to get so close!

This little sign is casually painted on the side of the shuttle, but it really made me think about the people that literally put their lives in danger in order to explore the world around us.  It also of course made me think about those that defend our country and the risks that they are taking on our behalf.  I am not made of what it takes to be so brave, and I am, therefore, especially grateful.

Gabrielle, Whitney, a sleeping Jonah, and me:

Bonus:  

Cute pictures of Jonah

Adios Amigos

Our second Sunday after our move last summer, I met Brooke (I think that the only picture I have of her is in this post).  We have had so much fun the past year!  We have kids the same ages that adore each other and Brooke and I have very similar interests including our *need* to get out of the house each morning and do something with the kids.  We usually did something together twice a week not counting the fact that our girls had their library, preschool, and dance classes together.

At the Botanical Gardens in the spring

Unfortunately for me, Brooke's husband got into an excellent oral surgery program in Texas and they moved a couple of weeks ago.  Brooke is a super helpful, fun, and generous friend and those Texans will be lucky to have her. :)  We really miss the whole family!

We went to the Children's Museum together the day before they flew out.  Here are Carson, Sydney, Elena, and Kevin putting on a play at the museum.

Apparently Sydney and Elena know that being a firefighter is serious business:

Kevin's Haircut

Dan usually cuts Kevin's hair.  However, Dan's been gone so much lately and I wanted Kevin to have his hair a little shorter than usual for summer, so I took him a very fancy salon called Great Clips. 

Before:

 During:

 After:

Kevin had a great time and was SO good, but I almost cried.  It was definitely shorter than I (or Dan) had wanted, but it's growing on me.  It just took some getting used to.  He looks so grown-up this way!  What do you think?

Matthew's Graduation

My cousin graduated from USUHS (military med school) and we went to DC for the occasion.  I didn't take the kids to the actual graduation (that was tough enough when it was their dad graduating), but we loved getting to spend time with family the rest of the visit!
I walked with the kids to the National Gallery and the Natural Science Museum while everyone else was at graduation.  I was so proud that I did it by myself - keep in mind that Jonah was still colicky at this point.  I felt like Super Mom. :)

Then we had a celebratory party where we hung out on the coolest roof in Washington and ate Cafe Rio (YUM!) before making the drive back to our house.
The pictures are in chronological order.

Uncle Ken, Aunt Linda, and my cousin Beth visited us at my parents' house before meeting up again in Washington

Sightseeing for a bit before going into Matthew and Corie's apartment.  This basically their front yard. :)

More quick sightseeing

Now are inside and Carolyn (Matt's daughter) is checking out Jonah for the first time.  The last time that we visited them, I was 8 months pregnant.

The only picture I took of my cute cousin David.  He just graduated high school!  I visited his family 3 different summers in the late 90's and he was the cutest toddler and preschooler you've ever seen!

Beautiful Claire (Corie and Matt's youngest)

Playing with bubble wrap as we walk to the park

The "park" that we walked to was really the US Navy Memorial.  It was really cool.  Matthew with Elena, Carolyn, Kevin, and Carolyn's grandfather

The National Archives view from the memorial

The Lone Soldier

Matthew and Corie's apartment building.  They moved out 2 days after graduation and we will really miss them!  I wish that our time living so close had overlapped more!

What it would have looked like at our hotel that night if Kevin had not started jumping on top of and kicking Elena for fun.  He ended up sleeping with me in the other room.

My adventure at the museum.  Jonah stayed asleep in the stroller for a little while, but then some tourists from another country started taking pictures of him and with him (posing next to the stroller and pointing), and he woke up.

Claire crawled over to meet her new cousin.

I wish I had a picture of Corie that wasn't a side shot, but it is cute to see her with her girls.  Corie is, by the way, awesome.

On the roof

Elena was amazed by the balconies on the apartments below.  You can see the National Gallery of Art down there too.

Sleeping boys

My Aunt Mary Carol with her brother, my daddy.

I can't believe that I never got a picture of my Uncle Brent.  You can really tell that I was much more concerned with visiting than having people pose for pictures on this trip.  We had a great time.

My mom helped out in the car on the way there and back or else I'm not sure if I would have braved it.  Dan was working a night shift the one night we were there.  I am so grateful that the kids and I got to Matthew and Corie again before their move out west.  It was awesome to see Ken and Mary Carol's families too.  Another perk of the visit was that Corie introduced me to Costco brand Reese's Cups.  Only $9 for a 3.75 pound bag.  :)

Fun fact: Jonah cried 3 out of the 4 hours home.

La Visita de los Abuelos

We were so, so happy to have Dan's parents come late April/early May to meet Jonah and be at his baby blessing.  After 2 months of not leaving the house it was a big change to go somewhere everyday.  Lucky for them, they arrived only days after I discovered the miracle of gas drops.  Unfortunately, Jonah still had terrible colic - it just wasn't as bad as before.  Now, I am happy to say that he is a happy (but still high maintenance), smiley boy.  We just can't get enough of our little Jonah Luis!  Below are a few of the hundreds of pictures from the 10 days they were here.

Starting with Williamsburg:

 

I love this picture!

The beach:

Botanical Gardens:

Hanging out at home 

(Kevin has Teddy Puppy tucked in his collar like usual):

Busch Gardens:

 

Jonah has already grown into this hat so much more, 

and it is only a month later.

The Mermaids at Nauticas (Naval Museum):

 

 

 

More Nauticus and on the USS Wisconsin. Look!  Dan came.  This was the one day he was able to be a tourist with us:

 

All 5 of us in our first picture together since the hospital (Don't worry, my mom has a good one on her camera.):

 

More hanging at home:

Love this boy!

Love all these boys:

Abuelita y Abuelo con Jonah:

Hiding during a game of hide and seek:

Crafting: