and Matthew 'learned' to fish.

and he got credit for catching a fish, but this was about as close as he actually got to a fish....

beautiful bubbles

because curls = bubbles you know...

ATV ride

Matthew's hair blew up and STAYED up from this fun ride...

love these kids

how could you not?

family trip

from the last week in July...

cute kids

from a few weeks ago, but still....

for the dungeons and dragon's crew

Erik has found a great 'filed trip' for your next gathering:

Fall Decorating

There have been so many great posts out there by bloggers about how to decorate for fall. Reciently, I saw much more beauty than they could ever dream up...








check out those porch flowers and spruces- I'm definitely after one of these for our porch- and I think I could keep it alive too since it's on the porch and right by the door...



these baby potpourris are adorable. I wouldn't be able to have them until Matthew (and Sophia) were much too old to think that they were fun to throw and pretend to eat...



I think this is a great centerpiece... it'd go with my kicthen's colors too...



if only i had a window sill large enough to sit something on...





I really liked this little guy- and Matthew left him alone too... wonder if I'd have that much luck here...



I think I could make this... with my dad's help/ guiding hand/ tools.



I've noticed lately that my preference is leaning towards this kind of art- what would you call it? Folk/ Primitive?







their outdoors was gorgeous too... be still my heart...



I wouldn't even have to have that hot tub....








I really want to do something like this in our back yard... we only have enough of a hill for say- 3 or 4 steps though... it'd make the hill look nicer.



so much cuteness, I can't even say...





if I could find a small grapevine wreath, I could make this wreath above, I'm almost certain.



My only wonder is what she does with all of the potted mums when the season is over? plant them and buy more? store them somewhere for next year.... will they go dormant and live through the winter in a terracotta pot?

in the dark

well- not this weekend. We still had no power at our house as of this afternoon so we've run to West Virginia for a visit this weekend- HELLO ELECTRICITY!

It's amazing how wonderful cold anything will taste after a week of not having it right at your fingertips... I mean we are fortunate enough to have my parents so close by that we can visit them for meals- but MAN. This morning- I are nothing at all because I had no milk for cereal and no way to toast anything thing... and even if I could have toasted a bagel or a piece of bread- there was no butter or cream cheese to put on it... so really all I could think of for breakfast- crackers or Peanut butter and jelly.... now I LOVE me some peanut butter... but for breakfast.. when not on warm toast?? I dunno...

I'll see if I can't upload a picture or two while we're here so I have something cute to share... this and the last post with no pictures leave me feeling like I need to work on feathering my nest

Good potty news on Matthew- he went one day this week with only making poops (as our friend Lily calls it) in his diaper. The rest of the time? well, lets just say he doesn't realize he needs to go until he's gone... or he only gives a moments notice, like "ma-hoo need a pee-pee..." and then you really only have time to pick him up before he lets loose.... so you can see why we're still wearing diapers... I mean, hey- we have no way of getting our laundry done at our house...

I wonder if Matthew would do any better if we had any of these.

Thomas' baptism

Thomas' baptism, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

Sunday was the Baptism. Thomas slep through it all- and only woke up to throw a fit when we put his gown on. An awesome reception followed with 'traditional Pennsylvania" reception food: meatballs sandwiches, stuffed shells, macaroni salad and a different kind of potato salad, it was great!

The ride home was good too- Matthew again didn't throw a fit and was an awesome traveler the whole way.

Cotton Candy

Cotton Candy, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

On Saturday Matthew got some cotton candy at the school's celebration for something or other... We all got to try some "wuter ice" (water ice). WOW. so much better than an Icee or whatever. So yummy and so difficult to describe.

Day 4 and 5

IMG_2178, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

Day 4 was a great day at IKEA where we ended up with a new dresser for Matthew's big boy room, a nice throw pillow for the sofa and some 'art' for the kitchen. It was also our anniversary- what a rockin' day!

Day 5 we went to the Constitution(al?) Museum where we saw statues of all of the signers of the constitution. Matthew was just a little freaked out by all the bronze life size people.

IMG_2209, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

We also got to see the Liberty Bell, which is roped off because someone who visited started to hit it with a hammer a few years back. Up until then, you could walk up and touch the thing of you wanted to.

IMG_2213, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

Then we went on a duck boat tour. We got these great duck whistles to blow at people as we drove by. Matthew thought it was pretty cool once he got the hang of it. He also loved yelling at people as we drove by "Mahoo a riding a BOAT!" It was later in the afternoon when we started our tour, and Matthew sadly didn't make it to the water part... his head was bobbing... He did wake up for just a bit after we ended up in the water... to sleepily wave and then pass out again...

Day 3

shopping, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

On the third day we went to the Please Touch Museum and Matthew had a BLAST. His favorite things were 'shopping', 'drive driving a tractor' and 'drive bus, daddy work'.

driving dad to work, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

Day 2 of Fun

paying another toll, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

Well, paying tolls wasn't a ton of fun...

meeting baby Thomas, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

but meeting Thomas was!

Matthew kept calling him Shiloh for about the first 3 days...

Day 1, Part 3

the guys, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

So, yeah. We headed to the monuments- we saw the Washington monument, the new WWII monument, the reflecting pond (which was MUCH cleaner than when my family visited years ago), the Lincoln monument and the Capitol. It was a LOT of walking, and that's why we opted for a longer metro ride and to skip seeing the white house.

crying, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

and here's Matthew's big fit of the trip, because we wouldn't let him stomp through the puddles. If he'd have had a change of pants, well, then MAYBE we could have let him, but with the cold and windy day- it wasn't a good day to be wearing wet pants... you just have to draw the line somewhere.

Matthew at the capitol, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

He did get to run and run and run at the Capitol though. And was quite happy about that.

waiting for the train, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

So happy to ride the Metro 'train'... I think he'd have fallen asleep during our ride if he hadn't been SO excited to be riding something different. He did pass out in the truck on the way back to Mike's... and slept ALL NIGHT until AFTER Erik and I woke up. Amazing what a busy day will do.

Day 1, Part 2- the Air and Space Museum

a family picture, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

The 2nd part of our busy day was the Air and Space museum.
This museum is the newer of the two, and is located away from 'The Mall' in DC where all of the monuments are located.

Matthew was thrilled to look at all of the airplanes- His only 'complaint' was that he couldn't climb on them to 'ride' like he could the 'tractors'.

wow! airplanes!, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

He had a great time running around in the large open walkways, and there were just enough people NOT there that we didn't have to worry about his getting lost in a croud if he ran just a little too far. The Museum was a huge open 'garage' of sorts with airplanes in the middle and hanging from the ceilings with other displays by the walls.

shoulder ride, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

He also had a great time pretending to be an airplane himself- especially while riding high on dad's shoulders.

waiting for the metro, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

Next we headed to a place where we could park and ride the Metro into DC, a 45 minute ride.... which Matthew slept though. It was sad becasue we knew he'd have LOVED to ride the 'train' but good, because the boy needed a nap!

Day 1 of fun, part 1

riding in the truck, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

So, hooray- we made it home safe!

There were so many days FILED with fun, and SO many cute and fun pictures to share, that I think I'll be trying to relive each day day by day here on the blog... perhaps in more than one post per day.

first day started with moving the car seat over to Uncle Mike's truck. Matthew couldn't have been more thrilled to be riding in "a mikul truck". We headed over to Mike's work site in the drizzling rain.

initial excitement, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

Matthew was really happy to get to SEE so many huge earth movers ("tractors") and even more thrilled when he was told he could pick which one he wanted to climb up on.

"driving", originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

he chose the biggest of all first... and "drove" for about... 20 seconds...

I wanna ride that one!, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

After climbing the first, it became a marathon of climbing up and down and choosing the next 'tractor' to 'ride'.

big digger, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

Matthew was such a happy boy and would have spent the day there if we'd have let him...

dirty shoes, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

but we started to get REALLY dirty (it was a good thing we'd packed an extra pair of clothes for the little guy...) and had to go clean up in Mike's office.

Matthew cried for just a bit, but we had an Air and Space Museum to get to so we could see all of the airplanes!