New Carpeting on the Stairs!!

Alex and Amaya trying out the bottom stairway--I think Amaya approves!

Alex testing the carpet's padding
The view from the 3rd floor hallway

We finally got new carpeting installed on our stairways! I am so excited, because the old carpeting (which by the way was here when we moved in) was so stained from the previous owners and torn up. Now we ahve frsh, beautiful new carpet that is a lighter color and hopefully won't attract as much cat hair. We went with a lighter shade of berber carpeting with different shades of brown flcks in it. Love it! Here are some new pics of our successful finished product!

Ocean City Round Two!

Monday and Tuesday of this week, we ventured down to Ocean City for Round Two of our beach vacations. This time we travelled with my parents and brother Brandon. We just spent one night and two days there, but we had a blast! We spent our first evening strolling on the boardwalk with my Mom and Brandon and playing in various arcades. We also walked around the carnival and Alex even got to go on one little ride with Mommy. He liked it, but held my hand pretty tight the entire time! We had Dough Roller pizza for dinner and made soem stops at soem of the many boardwalk shops. That night, after the kiddies were sound asleep, my parents and brother came over to our room and we hung out and had some drinks on the balcony together. The next day we headed to an amazing breakfast at the Sahara Cafe and then headed to the beach all morning and afternoon. Alex was pretty brave this time around ran into the waves and out for a long, long time. Trust me--my back and shoulders are feeling all the fun in the sun! That evening, my Mom took us to dinner at Phillips' Resturant. Then we headed back to Bmore! What a fun coupleof days! It was awesome spending time with my family, and we want to thank my Mom for booking and paying for our room. We had so much fun!

He enjoyed the ride more than his face shows here!

My parents getting some sun!

Amaya's Pigtails!

Amaya still doesn't have a whole lot of hair, but I am finally able to give her little pigtails, and I just think this hair style is ridiculously cute on her! I love having a girl--fingernail polish, pigtails, dresses--it's too much fun!

Happy Birthday Julia Grace!

Our sweet little neice Julia turned 2 on July 16th! To celebrate this very special occasion, the Doves threw a birthday bash at their local pool, Wellfleet Pool in Crofton, MD. All of the kids had a great time swimming and eating pizza from Papa Johns. They had a little baby pool for the little ones and the kids realy enjoyed this part of the community pool. After the swimming un, we all headed over to the Dove home and finished up the celebration by eating some finger foods, cake and watching Miss Julia open her gifts. I always have so much fun shopping for Jules, because let's face it--shopping for a little girl is so much fun! We got her some cute girly outfits, hair accessories for that long, wavy hair, and a doll with snap-on clothes. She also got some dolls, and doll accessories, some dress-up costumes, some pj's, and some plastic food containers to pack her lunch in. We can't believe Julia is 2 years old already! She's so sweet and cute and defintely knows what she wants! LOL. We want to thank Dave, Mary, Matthew and Julia for a great time at the birthday party! 2 terrible two's in one family--watch out!The six cousins--Daniel, Dylan holding Amaya, Alex, Matthew and Julia!

Julia the princess, wearing her crown and enjoying her cake!Amaya trying on the princess crown with Lola Trying on her new glasses Abe and Matthew

Alex on the tractor! Jules on the tractor--in her dress!

Bouncy Place Birthday for Natalia!

My good friend Danielle has a beautiful little girl named Natalia who turned 2 years old on July 10th! So to celebrate she threw Natalia a little birthday bash at That Bouncy Place in Forest Hill, MD There were about 7 kids in attendance and all had a great time! The bouncy place had a range of different inflatables from obstacle courses (That kicked my butt!) to huge slides to a little toddler/baby area for the reallylittle ones. We started out in that are, and then as 2 year olds do, they got bored with that and wantedmore excitement! So we went to the bigger kids' section. Alex had a blast on the big slides, and I was both surpirsed and impressed that he climbed all the way to the top by himself and slid down--over and over and over! LOL. Afetr playing for a few hours, we had a private rom and had cake and opened presents. Natalia got a lot of cute girly clothes and hair accesories, some toys, and a new blankie! We want to thank Danielle and Natalia for inviting us to such a fun brithday party! Alex asks us everyday when we are going back! Alex climbing all the way to the top all by himself!
Down the slide he goes!
Double Trouble!

Masters It Is!

I'll make this one brief since I had a backlog of info and added a bazillion posts today, but we wanted to annouce that Abe and I are BOTH offically accepted into our Masters Degree programs! Yay!I am getting a Masters from Towson U. in Special Education and I hope to work with special needs children in schools and maybe even at Kennedy Krieger one day. I'd like to get a certificate in Autistic studies along with my Masters, so I can work with children and families affected by Autism. Abe is getting his Masters in Cyber Security from UMUC. He hopes to eventually work in this field for Lockheed Martin, Homeland Security or the NSA one day. I should grduate in May 2014 and he will be finished by 2012 or 2013 at the latest. We're bothing excited and dreading this ardous task, but we know it will pay off in the long run!

Standing on her own two feet...

So our tiny little peanut never ceases to amaze us. She was barely 5 lbs, when she was born, yet she's managed to do everything earlier than her big brother did. Now she is pulling herself up to stand. I even witnessed her let go and stand comepletely by herself for a split second this morning! She has these tiny little legs, and its amazing to see her standing on them. Our little girl is growing up so fast! 8 months old now and growing everyday. Right after we had her, and I went through the pre-term labor scares, bed rest and the fear of her being early and the issues with feding that kept her in the hospital longer, I thought that's it, no more babies! I can't handle this again. But now that I see her growing up so nicely, the thought is still floating around in the back of our heads--maybe just one more in a couple of years? lol. Go Amaya! We love you so much little cutie!

Ocean City 2010!

Okay, I know it's been forever since my last post. I apologize. I have no real excuse, aside from focusing my time on some spring cleaning tasks and projects around the house. Perhaps the most exciting thing weve done with the kids recently is a wonderful family trip to Ocena City, MD for a week. We travelled with Abes extended family and spent the week of June 26-July 3rd at the Ocean. I can say it was defintely different toting 2 kids to the beach than 1! Alex is at an age though where the sense of discovery and wonder at all things beach-related was awesome to watch. He's been to Ocean City twice before, but he was way too young to remember those times. In fact, I am doubting he'll remember this trip in the future, but I know Abe and I will certainly remember him at the beach at 2 years old. He loved playig at the shoreline with his cousins, loved digging and running his turcks in the sand, and after spending some time getting comfortable with it, he ended up enjoying the pool. He was pretty scared of the pool at first but as the week went on and he got used to it, he lightened up about it and wasn't quite as scared by the itme we left. He also thoroughly enjoyed the arcade-especially the basketball, bowling and race car games. Miss Amaya loved taking long naps on the beach and floating in the pool. All in all, we had a great time with our family, and can't wait to go back for a day next weekend with my parents and brother! Here are some pics form our awesome trip to the beach!