What just happened

How did this... Turn into this???

It struck me last night how much Leah has grown... her little legs use to barely come to Theo's waist and now they stretch past his knees.

When did this happen??? How did she get to be so big?

She's almost 5... she'll be starting Kindergarten in 2 weeks.... weren't we just sitting on the couch with a bowl of Ice cream resting on my belly as we tried to decide on names for her???

The McAllister Boys!

Since I don't have any little nieces or nephew that live close by, I've adopted these two little dumplings! Will is the blonde with blue eyes... we use to call him Baby Will in my house and then he went and had a baby brother...Duke.

I don't think I've ever been so smitten with someone Else's kids before! They are both pretty easy going (most of the time) and are the best sleepers. I'm so jealous! Even at my house you just have to tell Will it's time to go to sleep, give him a Binky and a blanket and tell him good night and he..... goes to sleep.... it's such a novel thing for kids to just go to bed.

(I hate to think of how many hours I've spent trying to talk, cuddle, wrestle, demand, and bargain my kids into bed!)

Thanks Amy and Cort, for letting me kidnap your kids every once in awhile, get my baby fix and spoil them rotten! I take my "Aunt" duties pretty seriously (Just wait until Halloween)

Girly Girls Day!

Leah and I decided we deserved a day without the boys! When I asked her what she wanted to do she said, without hesitation I might add. " I wanna go shopping at the MALL!!!" oh OK.... so we dropped off the Boys at Nanny's house and headed to the extreme Mega Mall, Polaris Fashion Place!!! We went to several stores and tried on clothes, looked at jewelry, we even treated ourselves to a lunch at Brio. We made a very important purchase and got Leah's book bag for Kindergarten. I'd never seen anything like it, but leave it to Leah to find a pink, sparkly, leopard print book bag with matching lunch box! ( Leah took this picture of her new bag)

Leah's absolute favorite store was this place called Sweet and Sassy.... let me just paint you a little picture.... You walk in the door covered with pink swags of sparkly fabric... It smells like someone spilled a bottle of bubble bath, there are ruffles, and bows, and sparkles EVERYWHERE...after spending 45 minutes in the store looking and touching EVERYTHING, we decided on a lip gloss ensemble that lights up when you spin it. As we were checking out the sprayed her hair with glitter and put a pink glittery star on her cheek. She was in hog heaven!

Well you can imagine my surprise when my Mom offered to watch the boys not just for the afternoon, but ALL night too! Theo was at the Fire House, So Leah and I had the whole place to ourselves! So Leah decided we need to have a slumber party! We put on a chocolate face maskThen a bubble bath, and pulled out the blankets and pillows and piled on the couch to watch a movie. With popcorn of course. Half-way through the movie, Leah announced that we had to have a pillow fight. (where does she get this stuff) so we paused the movie and had a pillow fight. Gus even joined in! Leah said it was OK if Gus was in the fight even though he's a boy dog! Her big thing about the slumber party was that we HAD to stay up past midnight and would be yawning and asking is it midnight yet? So finally I said yes (she cant tell time) and we climbed into Mommy & Daddy's bed and went right to sleep!

It was such a great day! And not just because we got to go shopping (although that was fun) I loved that Leah held my hand as we walked from store to store. I usually make them hold my hand in parking lots and across streets but she was the one that took my hand. And that night she curled right up to me and fell asleep with a smile on her face!

I've always know that I love my kids, but even 9 1/2 years into parenthood in still blows me away at how intense and sometimes unexpected in can be when all that love and worry that you have toward your kids comes bubbling to the surface! But as I fell asleep I'm almost certain that I had a smile on my face too!

Gus The Gentle Giant!

This is Gus with our neighbors 8 week old puppy!

Gus is easily 100 lbs these days and about 5 times bigger than this little guy!

Warning... EXTREME cuteness ahead!!!

New summer time tradition??? I hope not!

Well It's July, so apparently that means that a family that we like has to move away! :(

Our dear friends The Laudie's are moving to Kansas this weekend! Boooooo!!! They were only in Columbus for a year, but we really enjoyed getting to know them all better! The Mom, Tara, is the kind of friend we wish we all could be! She's crafty, funny, a great cook, and she has adorable kids! Our kids played together so well and that allowed us to have so much fun making something crafty!

I wish we would've had more time together,

but we are so glad we got to be friends with such an amazing family!

Good Luck In Kansas!!! We'll miss you!

The Kids on their last play date!

Family Reunion

They're creepy and they're kooky,

Mysterious and spooky,

They're all together kooky,

The McCord Family.

You know how sometimes you go to a family function and you leave with stories about drunk uncle Fred, or giggle about the crazy cat lady that brought pictures to show you of her 15 cats that she has at home. Perhaps you roll your eyes about how wild so and so's children are!

Well unless I am one or ALL of the persons mentioned above or .....all the crazy people stayed home this year! What an awesome family reunion! My Mom and her husband played host again this year and we had 47 people come to the reunion! Families from Delaware, NY, PA, & WV. Some came up for the day, some from the weekend. We had RVs parked in the drive way, people sleeping in tents, blow up mattress & fold out couches. I was actually a little sad that I live so close because we had to come home each night! :)

It was so awesome to see everyone and thanks to the Internet, we've been able to keep up with one an other's lives over the past 2 years. So we already knew a lot about what had been happening and we were able to skip the awkward "so what have you been up to?" and dive right into, I saw the pictures from when Dani was Annie in her school play.... tell me more.... I just felt way more connected to everyone!

Thank You so much to everyone who came! This weekend reminded me of our visits to Smethport, PA and having 40 people crammed in Grandma & Grandpa McCords house (with one bathroom no less)!!! Wonderful memories and we definitely made a lot more this weekend! See ya in 2012!!!

Happy Fourth of July

This year I celebrated my independence from my tonsils! Having survived my tonsillectomy, I had hardly left the bed or couch for more than a week and was happy to get out and about, even if it was just down to the parking lot by the public safety building. Leah and Ethan were VERY excited about Red, White, and BOOMS!!! Alex had been in Canada with my Mom, so he missed the festivities. My little cuddle bug Ethan posing with Theo & I. The only decent shot of the fireworks. Who knew it would be so hard! This year I have to say I am very thankful for all the men & women who are away from their families for weeks and months at a time protecting not only America, but helping those in places all around the world that need someone to stand up for them. Sgt Mark Pulse the father of my nieces Hannah & Madison, is over in Afghanistan right now.

They have already sacrificed so much in their young lives and now they are being asked to be strong once again. I pray that the time he is gone goes quickly and that thanks to the Internet they are able to keep in close contact with one another!
One of my favorite patriotic sayings it

Home of the Free, Because of the Brave!

and to quote my friend Greg

"Happy 4th of July..... Suck it England! "