Homecoming Parade

Yesterday afternoon, Dylan got to march in our high school Homecoming parade with his Cub Scout den.   He was super excited, and had a giant bag of candy to throw out into the crowd along the route.  It poured almost all day and cleared up just in time.  The parade takes place each fall and we've always just been spectators, so it was fun to actually watch for Dylan and lots of other kids we know from the boys school.

I'm not exactly sure why his hat has mouse ears stapled to it, but it had something to do with the theme of the parade.

Logan, sore throat and all, waiting patiently for some candy to come his way.   And you know he doesn't feel good when his whole bucket is still full today.  At least he had fun collecting the candy.

Its a pretty big parade for a high school homecoming.  I watched and watched for Dylan..there were so many Scouts.  And then suddenly he was right in front of me.

And then he was gone.

There were a couple of make-shift floats but nothing like what I remember constructing in high school for our homecoming parade.  I remember (vaguely) spending hours and nights in someone's barn gluing tissue paper on a giant paper mache eagle.  And then during the actual parade, a large empty bottle of rum rolled out from under the eagle as we made the turn onto the football field.  I have absolutely no idea where that came from.

fear the Storm

Although I haven't posted anything about it with this crazy fall we've had, Logan is playing his second season of t-ball. This time his team is called the Storm, and they have super cool logo.   There's been a lot of rain this fall, so the schedule has been hit or miss.  And now with his surgery recovery, he has to sit out sports for a couple of weeks.   He'll hopefully be back in shape to join in for the last one or two games of the season.  

He still loves it, and he's really good.  Its fun to watch him play and I'm sure he'll want to play again in the spring when its a bigger season and more activities surrounding the team.

goodbye t & a

Logan did great today and it all went very smoothly.  We left his tonsils and adenoids at the Fairfax Surgical Center at about 10:45 this morning.  He stayed in recovery, sleeping in my arms, until about 1 pm.  

Now for the tricky part.  Keeping him subdued and resting for the next several days.  They told me not to let him outside, no running, no jumping, and to just keep him on the couch with movies and cold drinks.  Umm, yea.  They don't know my child very well.   He's already arguing with me to go outside and ride his skateboard which he will "only ride in the garage...he promises".  He has a giant bottle of hydrocodone so maybe that will help keep him still.   He wanted a cheeseburger on the way home, and a milkshake.  Its like it never even happened.

Andrew is upstairs resting.  I think in a few days he'll feel so much better.  I've been battling a head cold throughout this whole ordeal and truth be told, if I could crawl into bed right now and sleep for two straight days I would.

Here's my little bear prior to surgery this morning.  The nurses gave him a new little buddy to keep him company.

And here he is, snuggled in my arms post-op.  Friends of ours were there with their son, having the same procedure, and she took this photo.  Logan was so quiet, and so didn't cry or flinch even one time.  Such a brave boy!

one down, one to go

Andrew had back surgery yesterday.  We found out this was going to happen five days earlier.   And Logan's long awaited tonsillectomy and adeniodectomy is tomorrow.  To say things have been busy... well, that doesn't quite cover it. 

Lets back up.  Years ago, Andrew started having back pain.  We think it kind of started back when Dylan was a baby and had chronic ear infections.  He couldn't sleep laying down at night, so Andrew would carry him up and down the hall all night.  Anyone whose ever held a baby can tell you five minutes of that can hurt your back, let alone months on end.   His back pain has come and gone thru the years, and when it flares up he goes to our chiropractor a few times and she fixes him right up.

Two weeks ago, it started hurting again, but in a MAJOR way.  In a there-is-no-comfortable-position-whatsoever kinda way.  Last Tuesday he hobbled in the front door with a look of sheer pain on his face, and then was not able to position his body to get into the car and take Logan to t-ball that night.   Nor was he able to sleep.  No amount of medication or adjusting at the chiropractors was helping.  We went for an MRI Wednesday, the MRI results were shared with our chiropractor immediately, and the very next morning we had an appointment with an incredible back surgeon a couple of towns over.  We were just going to talk to him...let him see the MRI and get some information on the surgery, and think it over.  After hearing that the surgery would dissapate the pain almost immediately, that the recovery would be very short, we were signed up before we left the office that day. 

We had to cancel a major fall camping trip with a lot of good friends, which made us sad.  But all the lifting and bending and carrying camping requires, not to mention sleeping on an air mattress... it just wasn't going to happen.  He spent the weekend resting his back and we geared up for the event.

The surgery went very well, although the disc herniation was a little more than the MRI showed.  The doctor had to scrape at the affected spinal nerves quite a bit, and there will be some tenderness for a few days. But the pinching, numbness Andrew felt was gone the moment he woke up from surgery. They kept him overnight last night, and I brought him home today.  He has some great medication, and we'll be taking it easy for several days at least.  By this time next week, he will be a new man.

I took the boys to visit him last night, and they were showered with attention from the nurses.  They now have a years supply of surgical gloves, and they got all the ice cream they wanted to eat.

I'm glad the surgery could happen so quickly, and I'm glad he has relief.  My Stepdad has very similar back issues and is going to have surgery with the same spinal surgeon next week.

We're very thankful for the outpouring of support, playdates, well wishes, dinners and goodies people have been kind enough to offer.  The thoughtfulness and generousity is so wonderful.  The staff at Reston Hospital was simply fantastic.  Every nurse, every doctor, every single person we interacted with was friendly, humorous, thorough, accomodating and nurturing. Every single one.  It could not have gone any better.

So, one down.

Tomorrow, Logan will undergo his procedure.  Its at a different facility, with a different doctor.  We have experience with this doctor though.  He's the ENT who put in Dylan's ear tubes when Dylan was 10 months old.  He's fantastic as well, and I know the tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy are going to help improve Logan's quality of sleep.  We've been told Logan will have lots of discomfort for at least a couple of days. Hopefully he'll sleep a lot, and I can keep him resting and comfortable.  We're stocked up on popsicles and fruit smoothie ingredients.  I think it will be several days, though, before he can chow down on his beloved Cinammon Toast Crunch cereal again.  He will go back to school sometime next week.

We also celebrated my Mom and Robby's 20th wedding anniversary this past Sunday with a big family party, since Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bill are in town. Lots of good photos from that party, but they're still on my camera and will have to wait for another day.

Again, thanks to all our friends and family for thinking of us and helping us get through this time!

blue ribbon at BeST

I've always been so proud of our elementary school, and have felt so fortunate that our boys are having such an amazing start to their educations.

Our school has just won the National Blue Ribbon award, placing it in the top 1% of schools in the entire country.  Its such an honor, and such a testament to the incredible job the staff and teachers do there.

Congratulations to the school and everyone who made this possible! 

a day at the farm

This has been the rainiest September I can remember.  I think at this point, we've had 6 or 7 inches of rain this month when the norm is under 2 inches.  We are all going a little nutso from having to be inside so much. 

The kindergarten fall field trip was scheduled for today, and we've all been watching the forecast wondering if it would be a total rain out.  Alas, Mother Nature gave us a break for a few hours and off we went.  I was able to follow behind with a friend in her car, and we met the buses at Great Country Farm in beautiful Bluemont, VA, about 30 minutes away.   Dylan took this same field trip three years ago when he was in kindergarten.  Grandma Lynn came along, and Logan was just a baby.  Time flies.

It did rain quite a bit once we got to the farms, and with the weeks of rain we've already had, the pumpkin patch was one giant pit of mud.  Some of the kids embraced the mud and had it from head to toe...others lost their shoes in the muck, and some kids just wanted to stay on the hay ride and not venture too far into the fields.

It did clear up towards the end and the kids were able to play before having to ride the bus back to school.  I'm glad it wasn't a total rain out.  Logan has been so excited about this field trip and he would have been crushed if it were cancelled.   We had a good day, and right now my washer is full of muddy shoes and clothes to prove it!

L, a self portrait

I was in Logan's kindergarten classroom this morning prior to the fall farm field trip.  So nice to see all the beautiful artwork the kids have already done so far this year.

Here is Logan's super cute self portrait.  I love all the bright colors!  But most of all, I love those huge eyebrows!

a rare moment of brotherly peace

Gangs Dominion

When I was growing up, we used to frollick as teenagers a couple of times summer at Kings Dominion.  A trip there was a highly coveted adventure. I remember going there in college too, and having a blast. Then it seems like in my late 20's, approaching 30, Kings Dominion just lost its appeal.  The people who came there seemed to suddenly all have pagers (remember those?) and way too much gold jewelry for what is acceptable at a theme park, and kids on leashes.  Lots of the good rides disappeared... the King Cobra, Mousetrap, the Haunted River with that awesome straight down plunge at the end (but your hands would smell like mildew all day from holding onto the handle in the boat).  Rides with Spongebob themes started taking over. 

Its not a particularly pretty park either.  Having been to Busch Gardens, Hershey Park and Dutch Wonderland in recent years, those are far more aesthetically pleasing.  And after we go to Disney in two months, we may never be able to step foot in Gangs Dominion again.

A funny side bar... once when Andrew and I were dating and possibly engaged, I can't quite remember, Andrew and I got up one day in September and decided to both play hooky from work.  It was a gorgeous day, and we decided what better way to spend it than riding some coasters at KD?  We set off on the two hour drive (remember, this is way early in the days of internet, and the only thing your cell phone (if you had one) could do was make a call (maybe).  Never even thinking about their hours.   It was after Labor Day, afterall, but we thought for sure they must still be open since it was still so nice outside.  We pull up around normal opening time, and the entire lot was empty.  Not a car in sight.  Maybe some maintenence trucks but that was it.   Closed. They were closed on weekdays.  As in "The moose at the front should have told you".  And if you've been to Kings Dominion, you know its in the middle of nowhere.    So without even turning the car off, we made a giant u-turn in the empty lot and headed back up 95 North all the way to Potomac Mills Mall, where we browsed Ikea and probably bought some nice textiles.

Anyway.  Andrew has worked for the same company for 11 years.  Its a huge company, and every September, they rent out an entire theme park for the annual company picnic.   It used to be at Six Flags in Maryland (which I fondly remember from my high school years as Wild World, my friend Ronda was proudly the Plush Manager).  But the company got too big and they moved it several years ago to Gangs Dominion, a bigger park, instead.

So yesterday morning, we set off down 95 South to the land of coasters and funnel cakes.   Its always amazing to me how huge his company is.  Because you'd think a private event at a theme park, you'd stand a chance at getting on a ride or two without an hour line.  But as I said, its a huge company and people invite other friends and family and before you know it, its pretty much just as crowded as a peak Saturday in July, minus the 100 degree weather.

The fun part is, walking around Andrew will run into some people he knows.  They cater a free picnic lunch that isn't too bad.  And every year, our boys can go on bigger and bigger rides.   This year, Logan was in a funk and didn't really want to ride anything at all.   Which is honestly just fine with me.  I'm not so much into spinning things, since I gave birth my equilibrium just never quite recovered.  I'm more into the people watching and just watching my kids enjoy themselves.   People watching at a theme park is stellar, even at a company picnic, let me tell you.

When we go to theme parks, we always have to get about five maps because Logan's favorite part of the experience is studying the map.  This skill may come in handy if he were looking for something useful to all of us, but all he's looking for is where they have the games so he can try and win a giant hideous stuffed animal of some sort.

Our end of the day splurge... funnelcake and the boys made their own stuffed animals.

Its nice of his company to do this for the employees every year.   We always have a good time, and more importantly, so do the kids.  One of these days, our boys will be old enough to go to theme parks and 'meet back up with us later'.   I hope that day is still a long time away.  There's just something magical about a day at a theme park with your kids, even if its at Gangs Dominion.

at the shore

This past weekend, we took the boys out of school a tad early Friday and headed east.  Southeast to be exact.  I've been craving some sand in my toes and some salty sea air for months. Then last week, we had a six day stretch of torrential rains we thought would never end. Little did we know back when we planned this weekend beach excursion months ago, it would be perfect timing taking us out of the monsoons here and into the sun and breezes there.

My old friend Jay has a family beach house on the barrier island of Chincoteague, VA.  He and his two kids, and we and our two, met up for a weekend of fun in the sun.  I've known Jay since we were 13.  We grew up in the same neighborhood, attended the same college, and spent many weekends at the beach house with all of our friends doing what college kids do.  You know, beer pong, and the usual assortment of ridiculous drinking games. 

We got to spend a good chunk of Saturday at the beach, which is on the Asateague National Seashore.  On the ride back to the house, we even got a peek at the famous wild island ponies.

A great weekend with a good friend.  Thanks Jay!

Only at the beach can you get clams for $3.99 a dozen, and shrimp for $8.99 a lb.


The only downfall of beautiful, charming Chincoteague is the mosquitoes. This time of year, particularly, they are absolutely ferocious.  As in, you get out of your car and run as fast as you can into the house.  You don't sit on a patio unless its screened in.  You buy Off by the case.   These mosquitoes are so big, when you kill one it makes a sound as it hits the counter.  They have stripes.  That you can clearly see.  In other words, I suspected going into this weekend we'd all come home with a case of the itchies.    But, it was well worth it to dig for sand crabs, ride some waves and lick some soft serve at Mr. Whippy's!

Labor Day Weekend

It was time for a little road trip this past weekend, to spend some time with Grandpa Joe, Grandma Bobbie, Uncle Chris, Aunt Jessica, and cousins Josh and Maya.  A great weekend filled with boating, beach time, swimming, a crab feast, and a birthday celebration for Grandma.

Aunt Jessica and Maya, ready for a boat ride

The little island we go to, only accessible by boat. The landscape there really change quite a bit from July 4th weekend, due to Hurricane Irene last weekend.

The boys made Grandma garden stones for her birthday.