Birthday Celebrations

Jon's mom turned a certain age recently and his dad threw a surprise party for her in PA. We had a great time, and she was REALLY surprised.

It's so much fun to be with family, and Caedmon had a great time with the family! Especially the Elvin girls who gave him a lot of attention!

Coming in the door:



Wondering where the editors get together was:



Enjoying the party:



Caed loving having the attention:



Hangin' out at the party with the kids:



The party crowd:









Before leaving the McEvoys home enjoying some family time:

Natalie and Caed

I think I've posted pictures with our friend's Blake and Suzanne's daughter Natalie before- and a couple of weeks ago we got together with her again and my how she's grown!! I grabbed the photos from 5 months ago that I took for comparison:



March photo:



August:



March:



August:

Summer Fun

I only seem to get to posting after an activity is a couple of weeks old! This little impromptu playdate happened a couple of weeks ago. I invited our friends Katrina and her daughter Aliyah over for a swim session! :) Here are the kids enjoying themselves!

Silly personal posting

This is food photography at its best. I decided to take a picture of this cooking experiment because it's a really cool idea. Our friends, the Perron's out in Portland, made us a great dessert. Since it was so hot outside, Brian whipped up a chocolate batter of love and then brought the waffle iron outside (the nice square older kind) and proceeded to make brownies (essentially) in his waffle maker (they were only small portions of the waffle area not the whole thing). They thought it might work with any old batter, and so I gave the box version a try in my waffle maker. Ummm, they were good, and fun to make. And you don't have to turn on the oven and heat up the house when it's hot out already! I think the square waffle iron would work best- but this is all I had. We ate some chocolate waffles and ice cream and it was so much fun.

Thank you Christina and Brian for sharing such a great idea with us!



We also got to experience another culinary treat with them- Brian had some smoked duck that he had prepared from an earlier huting session. That was delicious too!

A little blackmail

Need I say more? Notice the big smile too!

First baseball game

We took Caed to his first baseball game! ( Aug. 19) It was Jon and I and April and our good friend and (unofficial Auntie) Kate. It was the National vs. The Mets. If you know Jon and I, you know that he's a Yankee fan, and I am the Met fan. Dueling NY teams! I mean, why be a bandwagon fan when you have a team to cheer for through thick and thin? You Gotta Believe!

Well, The Nationals were not playing the Yankee's in DC on a weekend in any of the plans. So we went for the next best thing. :) The weather was unexpectedly hot and Caed got all sweaty. I also forgot his hat, and didn't put sunscreen on him either! Bad mommy! Luckily we didn't get any sun on ourselves and Auntie April had a visor that shielded his eyes. Caed did really well. He loved watching the baseball, and now he says it quite well too. It didn't hurt that The Mets won for our enjoyment level either.

Tip for bringing baby to first baseball game: Bring sister and good friend who don't mind pitching in to make the load bearable.


He really watched the players on the field!



And he clapped with the crowd too:



The Peterson clan at the game- yes my hat looks too big because we bought it outside the stadium for $5.



The supporting troops (Caed's hair does a nice Mohawk when it's all sweaty!):



Dad and son:



Since I didn't have a Mets hat for him to begin with, I had dressed him in Mets colors:







You can't see it here, but it's the score with the Mets winning:

New Niece!

Okay, so she's not technically my niece, but my sister Heather's family got a German Shepherd puppy a month or so ago, and back in July Caed and I went for a visit. They've named her Brooklyn from where they all came from before moving to Bucks County, PA. This picture doesn't do her justice for how cute she is! We had a great time with her- we also decided to introduce Khaki to her as well for the first time for some completely overwhelming times! It all went well and we can't wait for another visit. Oh, and there are some pictures of the kids too. :)



Went went to this really cool wooden playground, turns out I didn't get a good shot of the whole thing- but we had a great time. Heather and I even played hide and seek with the kids and I made Heather crawl through some really small spots like we were 10 again! They had a really cool sand box area that was wet and gross- perfect for the kids to have a great time!




Olivia playing around with me:



Chantz giving mom a kiss:



Caed crawling through the small spaces and having a great time!





Chantz, Olivia and Caed. (Aden, the oldest was in California, so we don't have a picture with him!)



The cousins had a great time together.



Chantz loves to help and play with Caed:



Here is Chantz, just shy of 8 years! I remember the day he was born and waiting in the hospital waiting room for someone to come out and tell us we could see him. It was a VERY special day. Chantz was such a beautiful baby. Kik and I LOVED being there for the special arrival!

Early Friends

A few weeks ago I got together with some friends. Michelle and her two kids- Miles (who was getting over being sick) and Lucy and Stacey and her daughter Millie. We had a great time and the kids are so much fun to watch together. These are some of the shots I took trying to document these times...

I read in an article that one woman wrote that the families in her group were like an extension of her family since her family was scattered- I liked that thought- my family isn't here in DC with us, and these families are our extended families. We are so blessed with such wonderful families that we get to share our lives with.

Fourth of July

I have been meaning to post these for awhile now. I apparently didn't take many pictures from our trip to Myrtle Beach over the 4th of July, but we weren't there very long- this was Caed's first introduction to my dad's mom- Grandma Mary. He did really well this trip, and although he didn't enjoy the fireworks with us (Jon took him to bed) he loved being with family as always. Cousins and Aunts and Uncles and Grandma's and Nana's were all loving on him. We had a GREAT time. And he loves the beach, and unfortunately unlike his cousin Chantz, he doesn't mind the sand (sigh). We were reminded of a good "sandy baby" tip from Auntie Kik- remember the baby powder- it makes the sand come right off when you're ready to put baby in the car!



Auntie Kik and Ken





Family enjoying the beach:



Auntie Kik and Heather bringing Caed back from the water:



The fireworks and family gathering: