Personalities

Each one of these kiddos has a unique quirk to themselves that make me smile and laugh every single day! How lucky am I.

This boy will sit at any table for a good half hour with his cars or trains. He will line them up and one by one drive them to the end of the table till they are lined up again and proceed to the other end of the table. He impresses me up with his deep concentration skills on this, because everything else he seems to do is loud, erratic and usually messy!!

Dressing up and playing pretend. Two of this girls favorite things to do, over and over again! Isn't she nice, she included Bailey to go on this adventure with her.

Naps are 75 % for Miss A. I have been finding her in a new outfit everyday when I go to get her. This is one I found her in the other day. What impresses me is she fell asleep with those winter boots on!

Being silly and playing together, I just love it! Usually it consists of Miss A having Mr. B dress like a princess with the gown, shoes, and purse. He obliges with a smile and will walk around proud. He got away with just sunglasses this night!

Ahhh, mischievous! The kids have a VTech camera of their own (thanks to the cousins!!). It sounds like a real camera when you take a picture. While making dinner one night I hear that clicking sound and I do not think much about it until I realize I do not hear a single sound from Mr. B......that means he is up to something! So I walk into the living room to find him snapping away with my camera, saying 'cheese' and pointing it at me when I walk in, you little stinker! This is just one of 24 shots he was able to snap before I finally figured out his game. He will always keep me on my toes!

Happy Birthday Mr. B!

Back in September we were able to celebrate Mr. B's first day of preschool and his 2nd Birthday! I got to spend the morning playing and visiting with him in his first preschool class.

Mr. B you LOVE playing cars, surfing on the blocks after knocking them down, poking holes in the playdough, circle time and your favorite is snack time! It has been a blast watching your interests expand, practice your manners and watch your friendships grow in the class!

You started your special day with a fun breakfast and a day playing with your friends at preschool. After nap, you got to spend a quiet afternoon playing with me and your sissy. When Daddy got home, we were able to open up your gifts, sing you happy birthday and it was cupcake time, 2 cupcakes for the TWO year old!

Thank you Mr. B for the memories, laughs, and head scratches I have had so far with you! You keep me interested and teach me more than I have taught you! Keep up the good work my handsome boy!

Playing Catch up

To play catch up, it might be easier on me to just post pictures on here till I feel 'caught up'! Here is just ONE of the things I am going to miss about VA, FALL!! By the way we are off to school in Alabama next year. The colors here are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!

A fun photo shoot trying to catch the yellow and orange from our trees and what better subjects to use than these two!!

Silly faces!

There are my smiles!

Earthquake, Hurricane and a Baby?

Here I am again 2 months behind on my blogging, life just happens and these items are to be noted in our book, so here ya go! I hope to have pictures and fun stories in the next little bit about our summer and fun things these kiddos have been up to, but for now....here is the latest!

Yesterday we experienced a 5.9 scaled earthquake, CRAZY for VA! Too funny that the newscaster did not even know what is was, a possible 'big truck' outside their news studio, really??! Thankfully no one was hurt, nothing damaged, just a lot of rattled cages and something to talk about for the next month.

This weekend we are going to hunker down for our first hurricane of the season, does not look like a direct hit for us, but still enough to have the supplies ready and a plan in place, *super fun* (enthusiasm goes here).

Last, we are happy to announce a new addition to our family arriving close to February 26th of next year! 13 weeks and counting. Miss A 'knows' it is a girl and already understands that the baby is in my belly and will talk to 'her', tell me when 'she' is happy, sad, etc.... Thankfully Mr. B is oblivious because his world will be rocked once this kiddo makes it's appearance. Of course we are waiting to find out what this little munchkin will be, we LOVE surprises!!

Hopefully I will have more fun things to read and look at next blog, but at least I am finally back on the wagon,....for now ;)

Happy Third Miss A!

Miss A is officially 3!! Where has the past three years gone? Moving and moving again; welcoming a little brother; a full year of preschool; potty training and the list goes on. What a fun and exciting trip it has been kiddo! You were lucky enough to have a three day celebration of fun, fun, fun.

You went to Busch Gardens and watched Elmo and friends sing and dance.

You rode your very first ride with daddy and loved it!

The next day you had a birthday party with 9 of your friends playing in the backyard. You shared your cupcakes, swing set, sprinkler and water table. Thank you very much for being a great friend.

You loved singing and we loved listening to you!

Untitled from Angie Darling on Vimeo.

On your real day, Daddy made you special french toast with all of your favorite fruit. After filling our bellies we headed to the water park! What a great day. You rode on the water rides and splashed and splashed in the water with Mr. B and Daddy. We all had SO much fun we did not get many pictures!!

After the park and a nap, you were able to open your gifts! One of your favorites was this Apron. You looked so cute cooking in it, from the front.....and the back ;)

I pray you have a fabulous year as a three year old, I hear there is a lot to learn and a lot of fun to be had. I am very happy to be able to spend it with you!

Talking,...kind of

Mr. B has recently decided to make other noises than grunting and screaming, baby steps here people! When prompted or asked, he will say a few words here and there. I can not wait until he will come out with all of these on his own so both our frustrations of trying to understand one another will be gone!!

Brennan "All Done" from Angie Darling on Vimeo.

Here is another video from our OBX weekend of Brad kiteboarding and the kiddos loving their beach time!

Untitled from Angie Darling on Vimeo.

Who is this girl?

Miss A, just 8 months ago.....

And here is she now! WOW, where did that round-faced, short, semi-quiet, mild tempered girl go??

Miss A, you have a lot of spark, imagination, creativity and your voice tends to be a little loud at times.

*You amaze me with your memory and how you can verbalize the most detailed stories and with such emotion behind them.

*Anticipating what you will say next is my favorite and sometimes not so favorite thing.

*Along with your legs, your appetite has grown. You surprise us with what you will eat most days and I should be taking advantage of this more than I have been!

*You wear your heart on your sleeve. It breaks my heart to see that look in your eyes when all I want to do is help make you stronger.

*While at pre-school this year you became confident with your shapes, colors, recognition of your name and how to have a great time playing with your friends. The only thing you brought home that I am sure was not in the lesson plan was "hey Mom, look at my big back porch", pointing to your bottom with a big ol' grin on your face...... I guess I should count my blessing as this one I could at least laugh at.

*I can not wait to watch you learn all there is to learn this summer and be right along side you while you soak it all in!

OBX

Or for anyone who does not live in VA or NC, that means Outer Banks!! When we first moved here I noticed on a lot of sporty, fun cars the license plates would read OBXxxx. I never could figure out why until this weekend!! We were lucky enough to go camping with 3 other families from Brad's squadron. 8 adults and 9 children, yeah, we were outnumbered!!

We headed down Friday morning and I could just see the glisten in Brad's eyes once he saw the kites in the water, he could.not.wait! After setting up we took the kids over and watched Brad set up, launch and surf on the water. In all the excitement of getting to watch Brad, I did not put the rest of us in our swimwear, but that did not stop us from having a good time!

The next morning we all set up our tents on the beach and let the kids play, play, play! There is nothing better than seeing all smiles on your child's face! Or hearing the laughter and excitement just by enjoying one of God's own creations! Love, love, love it!

What a way to end our long weekend than a beautiful sunset! We will see you soon OBX....

Rainy Days

We got spoiled for about a month here with sunny weather and then the rain put a damper on that pretty quickly. I honestly do not know how I lasted so long without being able to go outside everyday with the kids over the winter! Anyway, we get creative around here during those rainy days and this seems to become a trend that involves A LOT of laughter and imagination.

Mr. B loves to wear a backpack, just like his big Sis. Oh yeah, and he also likes to dress up a bit and pretend with his big Sis as well!

Overwhelmed....

Not posting for a LONG time gets me too overwhelmed, I feel I can never catch up from where I left off! So, I am just working from a couple weeks ago and will move forward from here on out (until I lapse again and the cycle repeats itself!)

Per your Requests....picture, pictures, pictures!!

We had a spurt of warmer weather over Easter and this one enjoys his water time!!

What I will never get tired of seeing.....these kids love books!

Our One Word for Spring.....CAMPING!!

(and LOVING it!!)

Our camping buddies! These two are too cute!!

Mr. B loves the fishing poles Nana got him for Easter!!

Remember the last post about the zoo?? We have been a few more times since then and just look how much they have grown!! It was enough to get them to sit still, so this is one of the best ones (with one or the other not sticking their fingers in their nose, or looking the other way.)

I hope I have somewhat redeemed myself. Off camping again this weekend, our first visit to the Outer Banks. Camping, sand, ocean, sun, friends....what more could you ask for!!

Spring....oh no, wait!

We have had more than a few splendid days in the past two weeks. I am talking running outside without my lungs hurting because the chill is so bad, days. With this newfound weather, we have been enjoying outside activities. I have been waiting to start up our bi-weekly trips to the zoo again, playing outside everyday, and running outside more than once or twice a week. Here are a couple pictures of our trip to the Norfolk Zoo. I get these shots every time we go, it is kind of a fun way to watch how quickly these kiddos grow in just under a year.

*THE SWINGSET*

I have been waiting to get one of these in our backyard till Mr. B was up and mobile, thankfully that turned into just before Spring!!! After 3 days of Brad breaking his back to get this thing put together (that is what the 3-day weekends are for, right?!), the kids were more than excited (as was Mom who can already picture the 3-hour naps and worn out kids everyday from now on.....*ahh*..., I can dream...) Just as our luck would have it, the day after assembly, the temps are back in the 30's with rain/snow flurries, not cool!

Here is just a moment I attempted to catch on camera. Miss A does love a book or two and before dinner last night I found her in between the couch and coffee table reading. Of course when I tried to get a memorable picture of her, these are what she offered me.....*sigh*...at least she was reading a book!

In other news, Miss A has become a potty trained girl. She started out a little rough, but has managed to see the cleaner ways of life and we are almost there! Hopefully the trend continues and we can say in another month it is complete! You go Miss A!! We are SO proud of you!!