School 2013-2014

Sam and Luke: grades 4 and 2

 Afton: preschool- 3 days a week

Clara: home All. Day. Long. 

We're settleing into the new norm!

Willis Family Reunion

Every two years we have a family reunion with Andrew's family. In years past we have gone to a resort in Wheeling, West Virginia (The "WV" part should dispel any notions that this is an upscale resort), but this year my bother-in-law and his wife decided to mix it up for us. So instead of heading to the hills of West Virginia, we retreated to the hills of Pennsylvania.

The place we stayed was a B&B farmhouse located right on a lake. There were actually two lodging houses, but with our large crowd we overtook the place. And let me just say, it was heaven. Aside from a lake stocked with row boats, there was a pool, a barn full of animals, a game house, a few cool off site attractions, and wonderful staff who cooked 3 delicious meals daily. You wanna see excitement? Ring a dinner bell around this crowd. And possibly the best attraction for me...no Wi-Fy. It was so nice to be able to unplug for a week!

It was a fantastic reunion at a venue that we would gladly go to again in 2 years!

Heading down to the coal mines.

What family does a service project during their family reunion? Our family!

Dinner Bell!!

Annapolis and Philly

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before, but I have a father who HATES cities. HATES them. We live in the suburbs, a good half away away from the DC border, but every time my dad comes to visit he bemoans our "city, yuppy lifestyle". In the 7+ years we have lived here I think he has been to DC once. Once! He frequently scratches his head, because all of my siblings and I love visiting cities. It must be something about forbidden fruit.

ANYWAY. We love em, and we make a point to visit them every so often. We recently visited Annapolis (not sure you could really call it a city) and Philadelphia via our Willis family reunion. Good times were to be had at both.

Annapolis

     

On the way home from Annapolis we stopped at Sandy Point State Park where everyone took a swim in the Chesapeake Bay. Well everyone except for me. As a native Jersey girl, I will always maintain that swimming in the bay is gross. I will boat on it, I will dine on it, but I will never swim in it.

Philadelphia

     

   

Summer Time- Part 2

I was definitely not as ambitious during "Summer Time Part 2" as I was in "Summer Time Part 1", but we survived. We did get in a couple of trips- like visiting Arlington National Cemetery with my brother and sister in law, and all in all, I think the summer was a good one.

These pictures about sum up my kids. This is what I got when I asked them to go "stand on those rocks for a picture".

My random "Are you kidding me?" moments

Here are some of my most recent "head scratching" (no I don't mean lice) kid related encounters.

• When making dinner the other day, I opened the fridge expecting to pull out some chicken. Instead I pulled out a bag full of mud, rocks, leaves and worms. Yum. 

• Not long after I went to get some corn from the fridge and found two ears eaten- raw. The culprit was polite enough to at least put the uneaten portions back. 

• I have a full out diva. A diva who thinks she is a fashionista and does multiple wardrobe changes daily. Too bad this diva gets dirty just as fast as she can change, thus making a lot of extra laundry for her mommy. 

• I recently walked outside to find Andrew teaching the boys how to start a fire with a magnifying glass. Are you freaking kidding me??? Do you think I need that little talent added to their already growing repertoire?

                 

• On a diva related note, I let Afton talk to her uncle Jake on the phone and I swear she started to twirl her hair and giggle. The teenage years aren't far off folks!

• I have a baby who is a food hoarder. She grabs food from the fridge or off the counter and then hides behind this curtain while chowing down. She is Andrew's child! 

• I was helping out a friend who hurt her back and I had to bring Clara along. While I was upstairs cleaning up, Clara was downstairs and dug into each of my friend's clementines. I didn't find any skins, so I think she just chomped down and then tried another one when it didn't taste like she was expecting. And because she is also my child she cleaned up her mess by trying to shove the clementines all down the garbage disposal. 

4th of July