First Day of 3 year old Preschool

I'm a month behind on blogging, but I promise I will catch up! Joseph had his 1st day of 3 year old preschool on Wed. September 7th. This year he goes to school on MWF mornings from 9am-12pm. He has transitioned nicely and is not crying when I drop him off!!! The 3 year old class is tons of fun and he is learning so many things already this school year! Here is our sweet boy on his 1st day of school...... Maddy wanted to get her picture taken too.....

Come on momma....let's go!

By the playground at school.....

Joseph had a wonderful 1st day and we love his teachers this year!
We can't leave out Miss Madelyn. She started her 1st dance class on the afternoon of Joseph's 1st day of school! Wednesdays are quite busy for me this fall! Maddy and I take Joseph to school at 9am, then we come home so she can catch an hour morning nap, then it's off to her library class while brother is at school, then we pick him up.....have lunch.....and both take a nap, then it's off to Maddy's dance class after nap time in the afternoon! Whew! Here is our prima ballerina in the waiting area before her 1st class started!


She met a friend in her class that is a little older than her named Ava. Maddy has lots of fun at her dance class and enjoys playing with the ribbon sticks, tambourines, fairy wings, crawling thru the tunnel, walking on the balance beam, and jumping on the mini trampoline! Mommy gets a workout too as I help her move across the floor! :)

Hurricane Irene

I've been wanting to blog about our weekend when Hurricane Irene made her visit, so here it goes! Joe was supposed to leave for Fallon, NV on Saturday Aug. 27th (the day that the hurricane was coming through our area). The navy decided to send him a day earlier (on that Friday) so he booked 2 hotel rooms at Town Center in Virginia Beach for my parents, me, and the kids to stay during the storm. Our street tends to lose power during storms and we also have huge pine trees all around the house, so we felt it was safest to not stay in this house during the storm. (The picture above is of the Virginia Beach Fishing Pier located at the oceanfront. It was taken during the storm (not my be, but I found it online)!

When we arrived on Friday evening at the hotel, the kids had a blast running all around the room. Nan and Pop helped get the room all set up for Joseph and Maddy to be able to sleep. The hotel brought a crib in our room for Maddy and my mom brought her breathable bumper pad from her house to put on the hotel crib.

Maddy loves finding small places that she can fit in and she had the most fun running from the end of the bed to that wall......
Joseph helped Pop set up his guard rails so he wouldn't fall out of his bed...
Maddy had more fun in the bathroom playing with toilet paper.....
The children slept great after a late bedtime. Maddy was scared in her unfamiliar crib and cried when I tried to put her down for the night. The crib was away from the beds and over by the bathroom. After I tried several times to get her to sleep, she was just too scared so I moved her crib right between the two beds (I was sleeping in one bed and Joseph in the other). This made her feel better as she could see me in the bed while she laid down in her crib). She was asleep in no time!

The next morning, Maddy made sure we had enough water from our hurricane supplies! I took Joseph swimming in the indoor pool while Maddy took her morning nap. Joseph wanted to go in the elevator every chance he got and he was our number 1 button pusher for the elevator! :)
Maddy stacked the chair cushions and made herself a slide. She laughed and had a ball as she slid down the cushions. Joseph thought this was fun too. So glad I brought the portable dvd player with several videos. Joseph knows how to work it by himself and this kept him occupied for a while....
We had lots of time to play and be silly that day as we hung out at the hotel and waited for the hurricane to arrive.

After bath time, Joseph and Maddy watched a video before they went to bed.
Thankfully our neighborhood never lost power during the storm and no trees fell down. Our yard was a big mess when I got back home on Sunday morning. I took the kids outside in the front yard around 4:30pm to start raking piles of pine cones, limbs, and leaves. The kids were running all over the place and I just couldn't get the yard cleaned up while taking care of them too, so we all went back inside the house. My parents came over on Monday morning and they helped me finish cleaning up the yard. I looked at my neighbors yards and saw that many of them had about 3 or 4 bags on the curb as they had already cleaned up their yards. By the time I finished cleaning our yard, we had 23 bags on the curb. Yes, I counted them!!! :) 23 to be exact! LOL!
I'm glad we were all safe from the storm and hopefully the hurricanes will stay away from Va Beach this season!

The rest of July and August

I can't believe that summer is almost over. It sure has gone by fast for us. Joe started workups and he's been in Key West, on a boat det., and now in Fallon, NV for several weeks. The kids and I are staying busy by swimming in the pool, visiting the bounce house, recreation center, parks, play dates, hanging out with friends and with my parents.

Before Joe left, we celebrated his 34th birthday! Joseph helped me bake his cake and also helped Daddy blow out the candles! His real birthday was July 28th and he was in Key West to celebrate!

Madelyn wanted to touch the cake!

Happy Birthday Joe!

We took a few trips to the beach while Joe has been home. It's tough for me to take the kids by myself, so we usually only go to the beach when all of us can go. The kids love the sand and water and have so much fun running around and playing in it!
Joe bought a body board for Joseph and helped him ride a few waves. They both had big smiles and a great time.
Maddy caught a few waves too! She didn't cry, but didn't have a big smile either. She just wasn't too sure about body boarding. :)

She prefers to stand on it. Maybe a future surfer like her daddy?!!

And then she took a little rest on it....

Joseph ran in circles around the board and made his own fun!

Look who got buried in the sand....

We've also been having some fun at home.....

When did our baby girl get so big??? She looks so much like a toddler to me in this pic.....

We've really enjoying swimming in my parents' pool this summer.......

Joseph likes to practice the skills he's been learning at swim lessons with Pop...

And he loves to go under the water with Mommy.....

Our sweet boy all dressed and ready for church.....

Maddy's ready for church too....

I love them.....

Although it looks like Joseph is doing the choke hold on Maddy, this is how he gives her a hug sometimes. :)

Fun indoor play area at the Sportsplex....

Joseph had a fudge popsicle and he shared some with his sister. Both of them LOVE chocolate. What can I say?! They certainly got their love for chocolate from their momma! :)

YUM!!!

Joseph is really into "monster trucks" these days. He has a video about monster trucks and wants to watch it constantly. He also has monster truck underwear that he is so proud of. :)
Joseph and Landon both loved the barbie power wheels at a friend's birthday party. I think they both rode it until the battery died.

Joseph's 1st time hitting a pinata.

Joseph and his best bud Logan at another birthday party.....

I found this cool dragonfly outside our house. It landed on the rope of the baby swing we have in the backyard and allowed me to get super close to capture this....
Madelyn loves to climb in and out of the pool on the stairs over and over again! Here she is hanging out with Nana and Nemo.Both Joseph and Maddy LOVE splashing. Lately when Joseph is doing something that makes him laugh, or he sees that it makes Maddy laugh, he runs around yelling "Having Fun, Having Fun". I think he was saying that in this picture.
And I was trying hard not to lose my contact lenses with all the splashing water....

Practicing his floating skills....

We ventured out a couple of weekends ago to go ride the new Tide Light Rail in Norfolk. Unfortunately when we got there, it wasn't running yet, and the grand opening of it was the following weekend. We decided to go to downtown Norfolk and ride the ferry boat across the water to Portsmouth. This made Joseph's day! We had a lot of fun. Here are the guys sitting outside of Joe's crab shack...

And here is the ferry....

All ready to get on board....

J and M are on the ferry and looking out....

Riding on the bench with a nice breeze blowing as the ferry headed towards Portsmouth...

I've had these Big Brother/Little Sister shirts since the spring and finally put them on the kids. It was near impossible to get them both to sit and smile, so these are the best I got.

My kids LOVE bubbles.....

Where is Madelyn?

Outside play time in our inflatable water park....

The base had a family festival with bounce houses, a hay ride, and lots of characters dressed up. It was really hot that afternoon, but the kids had a ton of fun.

Joseph and Jackson with the Admirals Hockey Mascot....

And the Geico Insurance guy....

Spider-Man or as Joseph calls him "Spider Guy".

High fives for Elmo!

Maddy saw Elmo too, although she didn't know! I think she would have screamed if she knew. :)

Sponge Bob was there too. Joseph doesn't know who Sponge Bob is and we hope to keep it that way for a long time.

They opened up the fire truck and let the kids climb inside....

They also got in the back of the fire truck.

Silly boy...

I think Maddy's incisors are trying to come in as she constantly has her hands in her mouth.

Another week of swim lesson......

Joseph had the front and back floating down. Looking forward to him learning the different strokes soon.

He loves when it's time to kick....

No running at the pool buddy...