winner

Not, me. No. My poor photo didn't even come close. All I know is the photo contest winners are very popular people. The third place photo wasn't even funny. O'well. I did have over 100 votes, so I feel the love.

The lucky winner of the $10 iTune card is #1 (Meghan) according to random.org

Yay, Meghan! I'll get it to you soon... and if I forget, REMIND ME because I am forgetful like that.

Thanks, folks!

Portrait Opportunity

My cousin is adopting a little girl from Russia and is raising money for the final stage of the adoption (traveling to bring home their daughter). For anyone who would like to have the chance to have a fabulous artist draw a portrait of someone you love, check out Becky's blog.

The artist happens to be my Aunt Patty, who is really really talented. Here is a portrait she did of Kristin as a newborn:



Don't you want one for yourself? I know you do :-)

A Special Visit

A couple of weeks ago we had some special visitors.
It's been 5 years since we have been able to see Noah's grandma.
What a treat!



Grandma Moran has 4 sons and one daughter (who is Noah's mom).
All her sons had sons, and no daughters.
And those grandsons had boys as well.
No girls to speak of.

But Noah has two sisters. And two daughters.
Which means Grandma Moran has a ton of sons, grandsons, and great grandsons.
She has one daughter, two granddaughters, and two great granddaughters.
Girls are a rare treat in the Moran family. :-)



The weekend was relaxed and fun.
I am blessed to have such a wonderful mom-in-law and grandma-in-law.

Good Neighbors

Have I mentioned how much I love the street we live on?
We love our neighbors so much that it would take an act of God to move us.
And I'm not just talking about my mom and step-dad who live next door.



We are on a first name basis with almost every person on our street
(shame on us for not being friendlier to the renters across from us...
they work and are never outside).



Everyone is FRIENDLY.
All of our neighbors are kind to our children.
They even let them run through their sprinklers on a hot Sunday evening.



Our other next door neighbor has two sweet grandchildren that spend a lot of time at her house.
They play for hours outside with our kids.



We have two neighbors who might as well be family.
If we could legally adopt Nanet and Mr. Jesse as grandparents,
we would have done that a long time ago.
Shannon and Jason are also people we can count on for anything.
They will have 4 kids like us come August!



I love our quiet little street.



There are two cute houses for sale... anyone want to join our fun?

Finishing up the MD Trip

After the National Memorial Day Parade, we made a brief visit to the National Air and Space Museum. It's a fun place to go with kids, but we were tired and hot, and ready to be done with our day. We looked around for an hour and headed to our hotel, which was very posh despite the reasonable price tag. I wanted to stay at the hotel to make for an easy commute to the train station the next morning, as well as have a little last night adventure with the kids by ourselves.

Isaac was especially sad to part ways with his cousin, Aidan, and even cried himself to sleep that night because he missed him so. Isaac's tender heart is something I hope he never loses to the cynicism that our culture is so well acquainted.

After getting refreshed in our awesome hotel room, we headed out to get dinner. Before eating, we walked a couple of blocks, saw a fire truck leave the station, waved at the Capital, climbed a tree, played in cool water sculpture, and danced on a wall.

We ate at the Billy Goat Tavern, which apparently originates in Chicago. Isaac was wearing his Cubs shirt which pleased the bar tender quite a bit. He offered to take a photo of us together... I held my breath as I handed over my expensive camera to a stranger. Thankfully, he took a good photo, and then returned my baby unscathed. The burgers were yummy, and the beer was just what I needed after a crazy long weekend.

So, here are the photos... there is one of the elevator which was super cool. It was glass (obviously) and it went straight up through the lobby ceiling and so you were looking at the roof of the lobby and up at the sky! Such great fun for even a kid in her 30s.

We made it home finally, after a terribly LONG train ride. It took 12 hours to get to Burlington (where I had Noah pick us up two stops early). Keep in mind to drive to D.C. from Burlington would take less than 5 hours. The train was going 15 miles per hour due to flood watches. We got home at midnight. I may never ride a train again. And we were so happy to be home!

Giveaway and PLEASE HELP ME WIN... I'll be your bestest friend ;-)

Please vote for my photo of Lauralyn covered in corn starch!

Click HERE to vote!

Remember, just a few years ago, I was NOT smiling at THIS predicament.

You have to register, which is minimal... email and Facebook or Twitter verification to make sure you are real, and not a fake cheater account. They have not overwhelmed me with spam, so don't worry.

You get 4 votes... if you give me your 4, I would really appreciate it!

If you vote for me, leave a comment, and I will use random.org to pick one random person to win a $10 iTunes gift card!!!

If I win 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place, I will pick two winners :-)

The National Memorial Day Parade

Thank you to all of those who went before us, and gave the greatest sacrifice for our freedom...

The White House

On Monday, we headed to Washington D.C.

Knowing my kids would not be interested in much of the historical monuments, I figured the White House would be a good place to stop.



They weren't too impressed.

And I admit, not having been to D.C. since 9-11, I felt like a crazy terrorist could blow something up at any moment. Isn't that horrible?



My Dad give the best tours of D.C. He has great skills at finding parking.



I do love all that D.C. has to offer.
One could spend a month there and still not see everything.
I look forward to taking the kids in years to come, and gradually see important parts of our country's history.