Magnificent May

The month of May has been lots of fun around our house! We've been on the go a TON and this month sure has gone fast for us. Joseph took swim lessons every Tues/Thurs evenings in May and he did so well!!! He jumps off the side on the pool, goes under the water, blows lots of bubbles with his mouth and nose in the water, floats on his tummy and back with his ears in the water, and is learning different strokes! We are so proud of him! He also finished his last day of preschool for this school year on Thursday morning. His teachers were very kind and loving to him this year and I'm thankful that we found such a great Christian preschool for him. Joseph turned 3 today and enjoyed every minute of his birthday! I hope to post birthday pics soon!

Madelyn has been such a busy little girl since she started walking and is into just about everything these days. She continues to be a sweetheart and is happy almost all the time. She loves playing with her big brother (and all his toys too....which big brother doesn't like at times) and he adores playing with her. She now says dada, mama, nana, uh oh, and bye bye.

Joe was able to participate in a flyover for a Phillies baseball games this week. I saw a video on the flyover and I must say the timing was perfect and it looked great! :) He's been restoring and selling cars on the side lately and has become really good at it! He continues to fly each week and his cag staff job has been WONDERFUL.

I've recently gone back to school.....well kindof.....I'm taking 2 online college education classes this summer to keep my teaching license renewed. I thought these classes were going to be easy A's, but I quickly realized that taking care of a 1 year old and a 2 year old (well after today he's 3) and trying to study and complete assignments all at the same time is pretty tough. Thankfully my parents are helping out some with the children each week so I can get my reading and assignments/projects completed and turned in on time.

Here are LOTS of pics for you!

Maddy's 1st day at the beach this season.....

She loves shoes just like her mommy....
Our new deck on the back of the house is wonderful and the kids loves playing on it. It even has a gate we can close if we don't want them to go down the stairs.

Silly daddy....

Yikes....

My sweet boy....

Joe and I took Joseph to see BARNEY LIVE and he loved every minute of it. It was a JOSEPH only night (meaning Madelyn stayed home with my parents) and he loved all the undivided attention from Mommy and Daddy!

Playtime at the beach again....
Joseph and Logan...
Playdate at my house......the boys had a blast in the bounce house.....
Joseph and Logan again......
My dad put all the grandkids names on his shed in his backyard.....

The front of his shirt says "Take me somewhere FUN" and here is the back...

Another "Joseph only" night with mommy and daddy. We took him to see the monster trucks race on the beach!





Another playdate with friends....
Joseph LOVES pushing "Gee Gee" in the car and she loves it too....
Pop loves Joseph!
Maddy and Jacob on their way to pick strawberries...
Joseph found a strawberry....
Maddy ran up and down the rows on the farm...
She also enjoyed dumping out the basket of strawberries.....
I would say that blowing bubbles is Joseph's FAVORITE outside activity these days (except for swimming in Nan and Pop's pool). It wasn't long ago that this little guy held the bubble wand up to his nose and blew as hard as he could out of his nose to make the bubbles come off the wand. Glad he finally learned that we use our mouth to blow bubbles! haha!

Another car ride.....Weeeeee!
He also loves pushing his little sis in the swing. She laughs and has a big time too when he pushes her!
My dear friend and college roommate Jackie came down for a visit. We had a wonderful weekend together and my kids think she's the best! :)

Bottoms up! Trevor and Joseph enjoying their afternoon milk...
This is my friend Shannon and her sweet baby girl Sydney. Her hubby is currently deployed and she lives in Lemoore. She came to Va Beach to stay with her parents for a couple of weeks and we were able to catch up a few times. Shannon's older son Trevor is a few weeks older than Joseph and they played together as babies before they moved to Lemoore. Joseph had so much fun with his buddy Trevor and all the girls had a blast too!
Uh oh! Our girly girls are playing with dump trucks. Haha! I hate to admit this, but Miss Maddy has actually been acting rough and tough for a couple months now and losing some of her girly qualities. Our pink, satin, and bows might come to an end sooner than this mommy would like....
More bounce house fun...
She is "Tutu Cute" Love her...
Play Doh fun...
Here we go again...
Mommy, is this how I wear the glasses??? (He got 3D paper glasses with a set of bubbles from Jackie)
Oh wait, maybe like this????
Maddy's turn with the glasses. She decided to eat them.
And then made it terrible face when they didn't taste as good as she had hoped...
Oh boy!!! Joseph just wants to squeeze himself in the car so bad when Maddy is riding. After all it was his car first right???? I just have to laugh at this pic as she's pushing his bottom away.
Nothing like mowing the grass on the deck!

This is the "How Dare You" look....
Peek A Boo!
Maddy wants to ball and I can almost guarantee that Joseph was yelling NO Gee Gee in this pic.
We might be trading in tutu's and ballet shoes for sports uniforms...


J loves swinging on the "Big Kid" swings and he's learning to pump his legs to make himself go....
Love them :)


We took to the kids to the Chesapeake Jubilee and rode fun rides with our friends The Stinsons...

Joseph's first time on the swing ride....
Boys being boys and splashing water on the ride :)
Jump Joseph, Jump!
First day in the baby pool. We have a much bigger pool for them, but it takes FOREVER to fill up and they are just as content in this one!

Easter Bunny

We had the awful tummy bug hit our house again right before Easter and it sure was NOT fun. Thankfully everyone is feeling better now and enjoying this beautiful spring weather.

I wasn't sure if we would be able to take the kids to see the bunny this year due to being sick, but we were able to make a quick trip on Easter weekend. Last year Joseph screamed when we plopped him down on the big bunny's knee, but when we moved him to the bench so he was able to sit "next" to the buddy, he did great! I didn't quite know what to expect from him this year with the big bunny! There was a pretty long line so he was able to see the other children get their pictures taken and he started getting excited for his turn. I asked him if he wanted to stand next to the bunny, sit next to him, or sit on his lap. He immediately said "Sit on his lap". I must admit, I was a bit shocked by his decision. Sure enough he ran right up to the bunny and jumped in his lap. Although it may look like J is trying to get away from the bunny in this pic (this is his shy look), he was really happy and kept looking up at him and smiling. Maddy on the other hand was terrified of that huge white bunny. She burst into tears. I was able to get her to stop crying (once she saw me standing in front of her) and this was the best pic we got.....

Joseph's "lovie" that he sleeps with each nap/night time is called "Bun Bun" and he's a satin and velour bunny with a cape on. Bunnies are Joseph's favorite animal due to Bun Bun! :) Bun bun is the name Joseph gave him and he's made by the company "Bunnies by the bay". We had to purchase 4 Bun Buns. We leave 1 at my parents house for when he is over there. We have 3 here at home. 2 of them are pretty worn out (we alternate these two daily and have to have a back up in case one gets thrown up on and has to jump in the washing machine). The newest one we call "Doctor Bunny" and he gets to go w/ J only when he goes to the Dr. and boy does J love that!!! Bun bun stays up high on Joseph's chest of drawers during the day and only comes down to be with Joseph during nap and bedtime. Bun bun sure means to world to him! Here is a pic of Bun Bun.....

Here are the past 3 years of bunny pictures....

2009 2010 2011

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

The weather has been lovely the past few weeks! Perfect for some outside pics......and this momma has been taking a TON! My dear navy wife friend Kelley recently started her photography business: http://www.kelleystinsonphotography.com Madelyn and I met her at the beautiful Botanical Gardens in Norfolk one gorgeous morning and she snapped away and captured some amazing 1st year pics of Miss Maddy. Madelyn is certainly not shy of the camera and even gives us a little pose here and there. We walked around the gardens and found the perfect locations. The following 5 pics are some of the ones Kelley captured w/ her camera and they make my heart melt!



The photographer that took our homecoming pictures last summer (Rachel Sutherland) http://www.rsutherlandphotography.com was offering a live duckling session at the beginning of April and I simply couldn't resist! I showed Joseph many pictures of baby ducklings and talked all about it a week prior to our session. He was so excited and kept asking me daily if we could go play with the baby ducks. I was hoping that he would have a huge smile and hold the little ducklings tight, but with Joseph's personality....you just never know! When we first got to the park Joseph was intrigued by the little yellow creatures, but was a little uneasy when we asked him to touch them. Rachel worked her magic and tried her best to get him a laugh and smile, but he just wasn't having it. After he touched the ducklings for a few minutes he busted out crying and ran away from the little ducklings yelling "No like duckies mommy". Thankfully Rachel was able to capture some of him w/ them and then put them away and took some pics on a bridge there at the park with NO ducklings! The following 13 pics were my favorites from our session with Rachel.....












After the duckling session I promised Joseph that I would take him to the playground at the park and let him play. He had the best time running around and playing. Both Joseph and Maddy love to swing.
Miss Rachel even gave Joseph a prize after the session (egg chalk) which he had fun playing with....

Sweet Madelyn with her sippy cup, snack trap, and cheerios watching Elmo!

I filled up the sand and water table and it was so fun to watch both Joseph and Maddy play at the table together. My babies are growing up so fast!

I took this pic of Maddy by the tree in our front yard. I love it!!!

Maddy was playing in big brother's hair and he thought it was hysterical. Too cute!

Daddy brought them back shirts from Tailhook last year and they are big enough to wear them now!
Joseph had an Easter celebration at preschool and we were invited to the party. They went to chapel and then had a egg hunt outside in the grass. After the egg hunt they went inside to have their party! His class has a total of 7 children and they all looked so grown up sitting at the table and waiting for their food compared to the beginning of the year.

Party time!!!

Ms. Brenda (the teacher) does this fun song "Wheels on the Bus" and the kids get to line up their chairs to sing the song. They LOVE it!
I took Joseph to a playdate on Friday w/ his playgroup. How sweet is the picture below?!!!!
I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the spring. We are having the best time playing outside and can hardly wait for summer!

Grampa Joe and Gramma Sue's visit!

Grampa Joe and Gramma Sue came to visit us back in March! Joe's Aunt Roberta and Uncle Bob came too! It was a great visit and we enjoyed spending time with them. Here is Grampa and Gramma with "Gee Gee".
Unfortunately it rained the first day they got here, but when it stopped, Joseph was super excited to go play in the puddles.
He was even more excited that Gramma had her rain boots on and went in the puddles too! :)

Joseph enjoys playing with Aunt Roberta too!

We went down to Sandbridge beach to let Joseph play at the park and so that Grampa and Gramma's dogs could run around. Joseph LOVES climbing the rock wall at this park and can get all the way to the top by himself! What a big boy!

He made it!

Tally, Mocha, and Jett had a blast running in the water and boy was it cold! Brrrr!

Here is Grampa Joe with his dogs....

Aunt Roberta and Uncle Bob with Maddy....

Grampa and Maddy...

Gramma and Maddy......

So glad they could make it down for a visit!