Impromptu Barbeque

Yesterday we hosted a last minute planned cookout. Eric and Krystal supplied most of the eats, though Kyle made our summer pasta salad. Oh, and he made brownies, can't forget chocolate stuff. The boys did the grilling and us girls cleaned up the backyard. We were later joined by Blaze, Mariska & Miss Audrey. Kyle decided to reinstate the kiddie pool and Mariska got her first at home dip in the pool.

Afterwards some of the gang went outside to toss some balls around. First in the driveway and them to a big open field nearby. Isaac came home just in time to head out to the field with Kyle, Eric & Audrey.

First Time at First Landing State Park

Day three of Spring Break and Isaac and I went to First Landing State Park. We accidentally took the wrong path and ended up walking a mile before we decided to turn around. While not planned it was a really pleasant walk, though Krystal and Isaac were definitely done by the time we were done. The trail was littered with little stops for exercise. There were crunches, push-ups, monkey bars (which were called the overhead ladder, oh fancy) and more. Afterwards we stopped for lunch at Famous Uncle Al's, hot dogs all around. Technically Krystal had corn dogs.

Easter Weekend

Our neighbors (the best neighbors I've ever had, btw) invited Isaac to their church for an Easter egg hunt on Saturday. Kyle had to work but luckily Blaze was able to take us, not so luckily we ran late and having the wrong directions did not help us make up time. It all worked out in the end as there was still plenty of candy to go around, there just wasn't so much in the way of hunting.

Saturday night was spent keeping up with family tradition of dying Easter eggs. This year we headed over to Kate and Shawn's new apartment for the eggstravaganza (sorry). Isaac and Emily really enjoyed themselves. it was great seeing Emily as a happy toddler, she was warm and fuzzy. I got hugs and heard Emily say my name for the first time!

Sunday we were supposed to do another egg hunt at Hunt Club Farm with Blaze and Audrey, then meet up with Eric & Krystal for lunch and a visit to the St. Jude Dream House. Our plans got skewered slightly since Audrey couldn't get to Hunt Club until later so we had to go without her and Blaze. But then there was a monkey wrench in our revised plans when we discovered that Hunt club wasn't offering the egg hunt for free or for that matter cheap. Since spending $31 to egg hunt was not in our plans we had to cut it out. We did however enjoy brunch at Cagney's and the dream house.

On Sunday we also gave Isaac his Easter basket. Well, first he gave him a tiny Easter basket, we knew he had already seen the basket he was getting so I threw him off the trail by telling him that the basket he saw was for Mariska and that I had made a different one for him. So no doubt Isaac was expecting a big ol' basket after seeing 'Mariska's basket'. His face when he got the small basket? Pure disappointment, brave child that he is, he disguised his desire to cry and just accepted the small one. He was much happier when he got his real basket. We got real smiles for that one.

Receiving a tiny Easter basket.

His real Easter basket.

March Madness

I've been seriously slacking on that whole resolution to post more, huh? Life always continues to go and here it is no different. No big news to share or announcements to make, just daily life happening at our place. Consider this post a little photo bomb of the past month.

We bought a 'new' couch. $8.

Waiting in the doctor's office.

Cooking out in some of the first warm weather of the year.

Isaac sneaking up on Mariska.

He's getting so big! Cliche, but true.

Pops getting a haircut.

Swings! That can handle my weight!

Rain, rain wash away all the pollen.

Mariska playing in the rain.

Deuces!

Temples & Tombs

The second grade class at Kings Grant put on a play about ancient Egypt called 'Temples & Tombs' yesterday for the first grade class. Tonight is the evening performance for family to come see. We won't be able to make it because it's a 6:30 & Kyle's working til 8, but we did sneak and watched it with the first graders yesterday. I think Isaac unexpectedly seeing us in the audience was a big boon to his day. Isaac has a line in the play and it was so great that we got to see him because I really did not think we'd be able to see him perform.

Isaac is on the left next to the teacher. By the way the girl all the way on the right is Cameron, a girl we believe Isaac has a bit of a crush on. He won't admit it, but we can tell. Plus Grandma Smitty tricked Isaac into telling. My father asked Isaac for the name of his girlfriend and Isaac told him he didn't have one. Then Dad said 'Oh, I'm sorry, not your girlfriend but that girl said you liked, what was her name?' And just like that Isaac fell for it and said 'You mean Cameron?' 

My parents are sneaky. :)

The Big Chop

Nevermind the serious face. :)

About a week ago I bit the bullet and did the big chop, meaning I cut off all of my processed or relaxed hair. I'd been growing my hair out for a few months and had suffered from some major breakage. Having very short hair in the back made it  easier to make the decision to cut my hair much easier, plus it reducing my likelihood of relaxing my hair. I still haven't decided if I am going to go completely natural, but my hair wasn't in a good state so either way I'm getting a fresh start. If I do decide to process my hair again I am better prepared to take proper care of it and have seen what happens when it's over processed. Over processing is not a mistake I ever want to make again as being 'bald' in the back is definitely not the look I'm going for.

So now my hair is a bunch of curls and coils. My goal is to go all of 2012 chemical free.

Sunday Shopping & South Norfolk

Getting Isaac up for school daily has made me an early riser, so I got to spend some quality solo time this morning while everyone else was asleep. Sitting and reading in the warmth of the sunshine was a little slice if heaven. Which was then interrupted by the kid. But it was all good as we made breakfast together, scrambled eggs & pancakes for those interested. We also treated ourselves to an episode of Hey Arnold! on Netflix. After we finished eating, Kyle woke up and joined us. He and Isaac proceeded to have a Nerf gun fight, where of course when Isaac's on the losing end he wants to put the game on pause and whine when he gets hit. Still tons of fun and he was a good sport in general.

But what to do with the rest of our day??

Visit the in-laws (well mine anyway)!

We met up with them at Grand Mart International Food here in Virginia Beach. It's a large supermarket with tons of ethnic food, mainly Asian. The produce section was 15 kinds of awesome. There was a large, diverse selection and the prices were great.

We then headed out to their place in South Norfolk (after a quick stop to Goodwill, you know how I do). Linda & Dean bought a bunch of red peppers and roasted them for later. We were invited over for dinner, which is their usual, we don't go over for free meals. I guess you could say our meal wasn't free, since Kyle manned the deep fryer and made mushrooms, broccoli and clam cakes.

All said and done we had a good weekend, movie night on Saturday and family time on Sunday. Though Kyle still owes me a Sunday alone. :)

Go Fly A Kite

Which we did. Wednesday was windy so it seemed like a good time to head out to Mount Trashmore to go fly kite. Isaac got play hooky from school since Katelynn & Emily were visiting and we made a day of it. Apparently we weren't the only ones figuring windy = kite fun since we were not alone. After we'd flown our kites (and they were thoroughly destroyed, Dollar Tree kites, what do you expect?) we headed down to Kids Cove. Kids Cove is the playground at Mount Trashmore, it's recently rebuilt so it's still quite shiny and new.

The troubles of long hair.

A bit of successful kite flying.

Prince of the (play) mountain.

King of the (play) mountain.

Perfect timing makes it look like Emily has a great grip.

Monkeying around on the monkey bars.

Sleepover Saturday

This weekend's movie night was hosted by Eric and Krystal so after Kyle worked (and I shopped) we headed out to their place. Eric had selected a Greek/Roman theme for the night so we started watching Clash of the Titans. Then we promptly stopped and went to playing a board game called Would You Rather? Rather than brave the cold night air only to (most likely) hang out with E&K on Sunday we decided to stay the night.

Sunday was a lot of video game playing for Kyle and Eric and shopping for me and Krystal. We even went out for lunch that way. Eric made everyone breakfast and dinner (yay for not having to cook!).

Kyle unsuccessfully fighting off sleep.

Eric playing video games.

Highway to Home

I know it's not big family news or anything but the new exit on I-264 was completed last week. It's rocking Kyle's socks. It is exit 19C and it's shaving some good time off of Kyle's work commute.

So yeah it's nothing huge but it's a little something that's good for us.