I HAVE RETURNED!

If you haven't noticed, I have disappeared off the face of the blogging world...just because. I just decided to take a summer hiatus from blogging. Our summer was busy and blogging was honestly the last thing I thought of doing. But now it is September and to me the glorious days of summer are officially over. Sniff, sniff. But, I do like autumn and almost everything that comes with it. But before I get going with our autumn activities, it would be only fair to share some of our summer festivities and news.







First news, if some of you don't know yet, Jesse is going to be a big brother! He is excited for his little sister, who is expected around Christmas time! We are excited, too! Don't have a name for her yet...but we will keep you posted. No, I don't think this is what she will look like!

AND to prep ourselves on what it is like to have TWO kiddies, we got ourselves ANOTHER dog! Yes, we have two doggies...and yes, we could be crazy, and not know that we are crazy, but we like dogs (I know it's not quite like taking care of kids, but it's close.)



She is a Olde English Bulldogge named Penny. One of those so ugly they are cute type of dogs. She's pretty hilarious, she reminds me of a little piglet! She even has a curly piglet tail. And so far Bosco and her get along. They are quite a funny pair! A labradoodle and a bulldog. I have thought about writing a children's book about the two! Haha, I'll tell you this much, it would be amusing!

And because having a 3-year-old, 2 dogs, and a growing belly that seems to turn my little universe (meaning my brain and body) upside down isn't enough to keep us entertained, we are selling our home. We shall keep you posted on that too!

Oh, and let me tell you, I don't think I have travelled so much in my life as I have in just the past year! Just between the month of May and June, we had been to over 13 cities, from New York City and cities in between all the way to Honolulu, Hawaii. I am not complaining by any means, it has been lots of fun. I think I have found that I am the traveling type. It's refreshing to see different places! So I will post a slide show of our family escapades.

Here is a teaser of what to expect in our slideshow:

Congratulations Josh!

"Our Group of Guys"

We had a GREAT time hanging out with them and their families, and will be great friends for years to come

Late post, but yay and hooray for Josh for graduating from school, again! So proud of him! We are officially done with being "students" and can move on to our next chapter in life! But unfortunately, that also means that are time in New York has come to an end...sniff, sniff. A year in the Big Apple went just too fast! Ahh, New York, you will be greatly missed, and though it was just 365 days, the city that never sleeps will always have a place in my crazy heart.

So I have waaaay to many posts to catch up on! We had a incredibly busy and exciting and fun last month! And I have so many pictures that I would love to post about our last Hoo-Rah in New York. But that will have to wait...but it will be worth it. You know it.

But guess where I am right now? We have began our road trip home. We sold most of our belongings in NY, packed all that we could into a mini van, and are on our way back to where we came from. Here we are taking a break at our first stop, Rochester, NY. The hotel had free WiFi and I decided to take advantage. So just letting you know you will hear about our adventures very soon, but I am very tired and putt-putting on 5 hours of sleep after a crazy weekend of moving...And I think I am going to sleep. But please stay tuned...

Gettysburg Trip

Yucky weather!

Jesse was hiding from the cold and the wind!

But what a pretty drive...

Funny story about our bright yellow, gold rental car: We were just driving down Amsterdam Avenue near our apartment and an elderly man jumps out into the street trying to "flag" us down. He thought the car was a taxi cab! Josh and I had a good laugh. Such a "beautiful" color, isn't it? It's not TRUE taxi yellow, but I can see if were are an elderly person and your eyesight wasn't 100% it could definitely look like a taxi:) It definitely made an impression. I guess you had to see it in person. In fact Jesse still talks about this car. It was his "favorite".

This spring we decided to visit Gettysburg on our second trip to PA. Very cool place, in both senses of the word. We wanted to jump out of the car during our audio tour to see the cool sites, but at the same time wanted to stay in our car because it was so cold outside!

My Muddy Buddy!

"Wait, how did I get in here. Mom and Dad don't even know... Hmmm...wait...nope...I think I'm stuck."

"Hey, somebody, help me..." (laughing in the back ground, not from his Mom, of course;)

"Never fear, Daddy to the Rescue..." Oh, Daddy, you look so tough in that leather jacket of yours.

"What was I thinking going into freezing cold muddy water, and ruining the new shoes Mom just got for me, I mean JUST BARELY got them."

"Hope you learned your lesson about dirty New York mud, buddy."

Trip to D.C.

This is how much it rained!

The Potomac River flooded and the walking paths around the Tidal Basin were under water!

Here is glimpse of our trip early this spring to D.C. Just barely missed the Cherry Blossoms Festival. It was rainy all four days we were there but that did not stop us! We went to 6 museums, the National Aquarium (which was pretty much the smallest aquarium I have ever been to, but we will still count it), the old Post Office Bell Tower (Jesse has a peculiar/cute obsession with bells), and ALL the National Monuments! Take that rain! Pretty good efficiency for parents of a three-year-old. Yes, we're getting good practice for future family vacations!

Jesse's Birthday and Easter!

What a lucky day for 3-year-old whose a glutton for presents and attention! That lucky boy would be Jesse. That's right Jesse. His birthday and Easter happened to fall on the same day, and that meant all kinds of fun activites as you can see above. I pretty much just let him do what ever he wanted to do. If he wanted to eat a popsicle for breakfast, why not? If he wanted to have 3 Easter egg hunts, sure! Eat his Easter candy before dinner? Of course! If he thought he would look so great running around with his shirt off outside, I'll support his confidence. The chocolate face went really well with his shirtless appearance. If he wanted to wear his dinosaur shirt, why not, boys should like dinosaurs. If he felt like another popsicle, okay! If he wanted to be the chef and help make an awesome Texas beef brisket dinner with roasted vegetables, blue cheese mashed potatoes, and homemade Lion House rolls, he's a little boy after my own heart. If he didn't want to eat dinner and just wanted to blow out the candles on his cake twice, hey, these things only happen ONCE, so of course! Oh, did I mention that he didn't want a nap and I thought that would be okay? Well, you can only imagine what a day this turned out to be...A Happy Birthday for Jesse. And a Happy Easter for all of us including my brother and Dad who came to visit!

So cool...I want it!

Oh my goodness! I saw this Wii game on the Ellen Show and I really want it! It looks so fun! It's more of real dancing compared to Dance, Dance Revolution where you just step on the arrows on the pad when you see them on the screen, this game is actual dancing! How fun is that? Just a good way to get your dance on and be crazy and get points for it! Hahaha! Here is the link to see what it's like. Now I just have to get a Wii console first... Anyone offering a free Wii?