Pappy and Nana's House!

Pappy and Nana's house

On May 21st (remember the day the world was supposed to end..lol)we travelled about 3 and a half hours to Allegany County to visit my parents, otherwise known as Pappy and Nana to the kids. Spring and Summer are my favorite times to go home. They say you can take a girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl--well that is so true for me. I can't endure city life for too long before I start to long for the smell of fresh, clean air, beautiful wide open spaces and those gorgeous familiar mountains looming in the distance. Some people in the Baltimore area tend to think places like Perry Hall or Hereford are country, but they sure aren't country to me! We spent the weekend swinging on the front porch, reminiscing, watching hummingbirds fly around the porch and watching the kids run around the yard. My Dad even took Alex down to the crick (we do not say "creek" EVER btw) and found some quality sticks for him to toss in. He had a ball with this of course! My Grandparents came up in the evening then and sat and talked awhile. It is awesome to still have my grandparents around and for my kids to get to know them, love them and listen to them tell their stories. I feel so blessed to have them in my life, because so many people no longer have any grandparents and I am so lucky that I still have 2. All in all, it was an awesome weekend filled with love, laughter, and good ole country fun.

Pappy and the kids checking out the crick

Alex sitting in the empty sandbox..C'mon Nana, get some sand in this thing!

Amaya lounging on the porch swing

Playing in my parents' beautiful bridal bush
Pappy and Alex walking down to the bridge

Up on the hood of Uncle Brandon's car

Amaya enjoying some ice cream with her brother
Amaya refused to wear shoes pretty much all weekend.. little country girl!

Happy Mother's Day :)

Me and my cuties!

On May 8th, I celebrated my 4th Mother's Day, and it was as special and amazing as ever! Every Mother's Day, I feel so blessed to have my 2 amazing kids and my wonderful husband. It may be crazy at times, and we may function sometimes with no sleep, a messy house and mounds of laundry to do, but it is all 100% worth it! This year was made even more special by the recent health scare I had. It was all the more special to be able to spend this day with my family as I recovered and thought about what may have happened if we didn't have our kids when we did. We might be young parents, but we are good parents and that matters more than anything. I look forward to the many years of love I have ahead of me with my wonderful family. Oh and what did I get, you ask? A beautiful Pandora type charm bracelet with some charms to go with it--a Mom charm, an A to represent all of my A's and a purple bead for Abe's amethyst birthstone! Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms, Grandmas, Aunts and etc. out there :)

Me and my boyAbe and his girlMother's Day wildness at Lola's

The two princesses playing in a box
Abe and his Mama

This box provided a lot of entertainment!

A Day Out with Thomas

Alex in front of Thomas just before riding him

We all know Alex's favorite 2 things in the world are cars and trains! On Saturday, May 7th, we had an opportunity to celebrate Thomas' 65th birthday at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. It was a very fun and exciting event for both kids, but especially our little train aficionado, Alex. Both kids got to climb aboard old engines and sit in the driver's seat, stamp and color pictures of Thomas, build with Thomas themed mega blocks, get temporary tattoos, view a huge train garden, and the best part--ride on a real Thomas engine! Well, really it was a Marc train with a Thomas Engine attached, but who knew? We all had a blast and enjoyed spending time with Thomas!

Me and Alex in front of a B&O EngineThe kids in front of a big train wheel!Amaya coloring a pretty pictureAlex and Daddy in front of a trainAlex on the train

Daddy and Maya on the train ride

Birthday Party in the Park

Last Saturday, we attended a really fun and exciting birthday party for a little girl from Alex and Amaya's daycare. It was our kids' first non-family b-day party ever! lol Gabby has been in daycare with Alex since she was 4 months old and he was 6 months old, and she is the cutest, tiniest little sweetheart of a girl. She turned 3 years old on April 28 and her family threw a really fun bash at Gunpowder State Park, in Chase. It was really cool for Abe and I as well to see what amazing things are just around the corner from our house! This park is only about 10 minutes from us, and there's a beach and a really nice playground and we had no idea it was there, even though we've lived in Chase for 3 years now! The kids had so much fun playing together on the playground, eating "Cinderella" cake, and watching Gabby open all of her princess gifts! We also got to watch 4 deer grazing just feet from the payground and they were so tame, they didn't even run until Gabby's older brother, Taylor screamed at them. lol Check out some pics from the fun birthday party!

Alex and his buddy Taylor (Gabby's brother) He loves playing with Taylor when he gets to see him!

Amaya climbing on some tires

haha..these girls are on a mission. Gabby says Amaya is her best friend..lol so cute!

Going down the slide with Daddy..she loved it!

Has nothing to do with the party, but look how cute my boy is in his soccer uniform! He's # 1 too!

Hippity Hoppity Easter!

Our little Easter cuties all dressed up

Easter has come and gone and the kids had a blast! We were blessed with wonderful weather this past Easter, since it fell so late in April. It was a nice, sunny, warm day in the 70's. We started our day by allowing the kids to open their Easter baskets. Alex had been looking forward to this moment all week, and he was so excited to find a couple of new cars that he didn't already have, a new Cars movie, and a Cars t-shirt! Amaya got two necklaces, a color wonders set and her very first barbie. She has fallen in love with the Princess Belle barbie and plays with her all of the time. After baskets, we attended an eventul church service, where Alex threw a huge tantrum and I had to take him outside--fun, right? After church, we headed to Lola's house for some food and a fun Easter egg hunt. What a great Easter we all had! Enjoy some of the pics from Easter!The kids tearing into their baskets!Amaya using her basket as a purse..lol

haha..I love it! Amaya is so excited, she can't contain herself!
5 of the kids..we're missing Julia!

4 of the kids--this time have Julia, but of course we're now missing Amaya and Dylan!

Amaya with one of her Easter egg treasures
Me trying to be artistic :)

Alex hunting Easter eggs

DC Zoo Time!

Our crew at the zoo

Since I was on Spring Break this past week, I was able to catch up on many items on my to-do list. I was able to do things like: finish staning our deck, finish planting all of my veggies and flowers, spring cleaning the house, etc. On Wednesday though I threw my to-do list to the wind and decided to have a little fun! Abe,myself,Maria and all of our kids traveled down to DC to visit the Smithsonian National Zoo. We all had a really great time, with the exception of poor Dylan having some allergy problems. Alex is still holding steady with his fav animals being the Tigers, but this year he also really loved watching the Gorillas and is still talking about the Daddy, brother and baby Gorillas we saw! Enjoy some pics from our zoo visit :) The boys watching the tigers!My little cutie! Yes..he has a band aid on his face :)

Maria and her handsome little men

Abe and his mini-me..she seriously looks like her Daddy!

The boys comparing their hands to a tiger's paw, and Daniel comparing his mouth maybe?
Yes..I married this! lol

Alex discussing the gorillas with me..he loved watching them!

I think Amaya gets her silliness from her Daddy!


Poor little thing was just finished with the zoo!
Look at how big he is getting!

Happy 80th Birthday Grandma!

Last weekend, my family came together to celebrate the matriarch of our family. Our amazing, Mom, Grandma, and Great-Grandma, GlenRose McCutcheon's 80th birthday. We had a wonderful party at my Aunt Nancy's house ,and it was so nice to see my family and visit with them again. My Grandma was born on April 15, 1931 as GlenRose Bostjancic. She is the 12th of 13 children and was born at home in Pekin, Maryland, because that's just the way they did things back then. What I know of her history isn't much. She doesn't talk much about herself or where she came from. I know her mother was part Native American, and her father immigrated to this country from somewhere near the Austrian/Hungarian border. He spoke mostly German and worked very hard. I know her mother, Emma, was married before she met my Great-Grandfather, Anthony and her mother lost her first husband and their 2 children, John and Lulu to the flu during the 1918 flu epidemic. I know she grew up with all of those brothers and sisters in a one room shack, bathing outside in a metal tub. I know their main source of food on a daily basis was fried bread, and sometimes that was all they had. I know these things because these are things she has told me stories of her early life, and these stories have stuck with me all of these years. It amazes me to think of the incredible life she has lived and the things she has accomplished in her life despite a life many of us can't even fathom. Sometimes when I hear people complain about this and that or talk about his difficult people in other countries have it, I think of my Grandma and all 80 years of her life. She didn't have much growing up, but now she has the most important thing in the world--3 healthy, successful children, 7 loving grandchildren that look up to her so much, 2 great-grandchildren who adore her, and an array of in-laws, friends, and other relatives who love her. She has the American dream--no matter how much she started out with, and 80 years of life is amazing. Here's to 80 more Grandma!

My Grandma and Pap and their 3 kids--My Aunt Nancy, my Dad, and my Uncle TommyGrandma with 3 of my cousins--Wes, Brian and Brett

4 Generations- Dad, Pap holding Alex, Grandma, and me holding Amaya
Could Amaya be any more lady like in a skirt? lol