Sept 09/Labor Day Weekend

We spent part of Labor Day weekend with friends the Turners, Rooneys and Rob, and celebrated the August & September birthday babies together (Sabrina's bday is not until November, but wanted to be in the picture anyway!).

The next day, the Dixit and Cruz families came in for some time at the lake, a campfire, sleepover and a very long walk on Labor Day that in the words of Deepa Cruz, made them feel like the children of Isreal searching for the promised land!

Sept. 09/ Labor Day Weekend - Celebrating 16 years together!

For our 16th anniversary on Labor Day Weekend, the Jacobs watched our kids and Dave & I tried out a restaurant in Frederick called VOLT that we had been wanting to check out. You know I love fancy food, and this place was the bomb! Really unusual combinations like peanut butter mousse with coconut cream pillows and cilantro...ravioli with morrel mushrooms and creme fraiche foam...some really neat things. The portions were a bit small but by the time they brought out a few surprises (like the skinny dessert plate I'm holding, which was not ordered or charged for) we were stuffed, and they sent us home with fresh muffins as well. I later learned that the chef from this restaurant has been on the show "TOP CHEF". Oh, of course our anniversary was not all about the food, but after 16 years, my husband sure does know that the way to my heart is through my stomach!

August 09/Big Hunting Creek & Cunningham Falls

We spent the last Sunday in August enjoying the gorgeous weather at Big Hunting Creek in Thurmont, a fishing spot Dave has been wanting to try out while the kids climbed the rocks and looked for various creatures (and saw fish, a snake and some crawfish). Then we took a little bike ride at Cunningham Falls, played at the tire playground, stopped by the orchard for some fresh corn and roasted hot dogs over the campfire when we got home. It was a perfect day!

August 09/Summer is over!

The kids got one more pool date after school started before the pool closed Labor Day weekend. As you can see from the girls' expression, they were none too thrilled about summer being over. They drowned their sorrows by playing ROCK BAND on the wii at the Jacobs' house.

August 09/Haiti Mission Trip Reunion

In August, we hosted a little get together/reunion for those that went on the mission trip to Haiti in May. We shared pictures, visited, ate and had a group discussion with Charles, the director of the Eden Garden orphanage. We have decided to make Haiti an on-going international focus of our missions ministry and we are planning another trip for January 2010. Raising $10,000 for the drilling of 2 new water wells is our first project, to replace the current well which is contaminated and making all of the kids sick.

Pause music player at bottom to watch this little scrapbook show

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Nate's concern for his mom

So I mentioned that I numbed my loss on Nate's first day of school by running errands. I forgot to mention that when I pulled into my first stop, I unlatched my seatbelt and then automatically hit the "open" button to let my little man out of the back seat. But he wasn't there! It was one of my first "a ha" moments of the day.

Nate overheard me telling his Grandpa this story and about a half hour later, with a quivering lip, says to me "Momma, I'm sorry I wasn't in the back seat when you opened my door yesterday". I assured him that it was ok, that he didn't need to feel bad, and that this was part of life and an exciting next step for him. To this, he angrily replied "Well it's all my school's fault! Actually, it's all my teacher's fault!"

Nate's First Day of Kindergarten

The dreaded day has finally come- the day my last little baby left me for school! Nate hasn't been that excited about going to school, telling me "I'm going to cancel school so I can stay home with you" and things like that. I was surprised when we woke up excited for school today!

Sabrina said that when Nate got on the bus to come home after school, he was hanging his head looking sad. When she asked what was wrong, he said "I don't want to go home. I want to stay at school! It was so much fun!" (We'll see if he still feels the same when the whole writing/reading/schoolwork part kicks in as he said that today, they just played!) His positive response was not at all what we were expecting, so we're pleased!

1st day of school pancake breakfast, Part II
Ready for school - as you can see, he convinced us to let him keep the mohawk a little while longer.
That's Nate putting out his "turbo rockets" so he can walk fast to the bus stop.

Off went my babies! Come back!
Sitting with his Sissy on the bus.
That's me fake crying, you know, for the picture. I held up better than I expected (it may hit harder later) and decided that rather than staying home in a quiet, empty house, I would head right out to drown my sorrows the way I know best - with retail therapy!

Coming home from school

Popsicles were today's after-school treat, then dinner and bike-riding again!

Nate Learns to Ride His Bike

Pouting at one point when he fell off.

Look at him go!

A little late, but he finally made up his mind that he could ride without training wheels on Monday after being petrified of the idea previously. I think seeing the little girl at the bus stop (who will enter kindergarten with him) riding her bike without training wheels had something to do with it. Hey, whatever it takes!

Sabrina's First Day of 3rd Grade

Sabrina started the 3rd grade on Monday. After a few tears of sadness the night before about the end of summer and all things fun, she woke up happy and ready to dive in on Monday morning. Dave made her his traditional 1st day of school pancake breakfast (a ritual started 6 years ago when she started preschool) and off she went.

What was to be my last day at home and special lunch out with Nate (He starts on Tuesday) got upstaged by a playdate offer with his best bud, but how could I say no? After school, we welcomed Sissy home with a plate of peanut butter-chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies (whose decadence was balanced by the whole wheat flour, flaxmeal and oat bran I added which is why my kids call me the "SNEAKY CHEF"). Then we had the dinner she requested (tofu and egg rolls), watched the rest of a movie we had started ("Nim's Island") and then watched Nate learn to ride his bike without training wheels for the first time!


Chocolate-chip pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries for breakfast, Daddy's specialty.
How did my baby girl grow up so fast? Doesn't she look like a teenager here??!!
Hugging brother goodbye
Front row seat! Welcome home cookies!

Back-to-School Night at DCES

Miss Shaffii

Nate found his name / Glad to have his big sissy to show him the ropes

A few days before school started, we attended BACK-TO-SCHOOL night at Deer Crossing. The kids both got to meet their teachers, see where their desks were, and dropped off their school supplies. Afterwards, we enjoyed the pizza picnic put on by the PTA. Hard to believe that summer is over already!

THE END OF A GREAT TRIP....

View at the Jackson airport

Minneapolis airport

Snacks and DVDs - life is good!

Last few shots of the kids in Wyoming

We flew home Monday morning from Jackson to Minneapolis - we enjoyed the good life in first class with unlimited snacks and real glasses but then all slept on the second leg from Minneapolis to Washington Dulles in our crowded economy seats :o) . You know it's a good vacation when the kids tell you they'd like to move there and hubby said he'll never forget it and that he can't even pick out his favorite thing about the trip because it was all so incredible.

Now it's back to real life with work and loads of laundry and meals that we have to cook ourselves, but memories from this trip to last a lifetime!