He Loves Water

Our Last Ditch Effort

Gavin is ridiculously obsessed with the fridge. He goes in whenever he wants anything, which is all of the time. It would be fine if all he did was take one thing out and eat it. But he doesn't. He'll take out all kinds of stuff and throw it on the floor or he'll pull down the spout on our water purifier (which is inside of the fridge) and laugh as water goes everywhere. It's very annoying and telling him to stop is extremely tiring. Yesterday, Wes had an idea. And it's working. I love Wes.

Our Blue-Eyed Boy

Bathtub Crayons

I think that this was one of the longest baths they have ever taken.

#65: give flowers to someone

I also recently realized that Wes and I Gavin and Vivian sent flowers to Wes' mom for her birthday last month. Check.


Click HERE to read the rest of my 101 in 1001 list.

She's Not My Kid

#66: give to goodwill

I can't believe I didn't write about this one yet. Here's the deal: I give to Goodwill all of the time. I've probably given to Goodwill at least 10 times since I started my 101 in 1001 quest back in February 2010. In fact, I just took 6 boxes of stuff to them last week.

Done.


Click HERE to read the rest of my 101 in 1001 list.

#86: plan a family vacation

This summer, Wes and I are renting a house on Smith Mountain Lake for a week in August. Wes' family will be joining us for the first half of the week and my family will be joining us for the second half of the week. The lake is only about 2 hours from our house and is supossed to be one of the more beautiful lakes in Virginia. We are very excited and hope that we can actually relax for a day or two.

Vacation planned. Done.

Click HERE to read the rest of my 101 in 1001 list.

It's Summertime

We have been spending so much time outside lately; it's definitely summertime over here. And for us, summertime means trips to the park, eating ice cream, playing in the back yard, and splashing in the water table or baby pool on our back deck. Here are Gavin and Vivi playing outside last weekend.

#30: get a job i love

The other day, I was reading my 101 in 1001 list and I realized that I did this one (by the way, the next few posts will be about other items on that list that I have yet to write about). I absolutley LOVE my job here at JMU. Yep.

I love my boss (Sharon rocks!), the other faculty members (especially a certain Dr. Alison Fisher), my office (hey, that's important), my schedule (a 4-day week works for me!), and my classes (I actually LOVE teaching the research methods course). But most of all, I love JMU because of the students. They're so dang eager and smart- an awesome combination.

So yeah, I got a job I love. Done.

Shoes

#63: try 5 new restaurants

1. I went to McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant for the first time when I was in North Carolina for my interview at Queens University of Charlotte in April 2010. I had the Lobster Ravioli and Chocolate Silk Cake. Both were divine.
2. Wes and I went to Jack Brown's in Harrisonburg for a day date in March 2011. We both had cheeseburgers, fries, and fried Oreos, yum!
3. I went to The Patio with my friend Elizabeth during my trip to Indiana to defend my dissertation in April 2011. I had amazingly delicious scallops, good wine, and great conversation.
4. Also while I was in Lafayette for my dissertation defense, Erina took me out to eat at 501 Market and I went to eat with a few of my other friends (Heather, Lisa, Zeynep, & Eileen) at Adelino's.
5. My girls (Brandy, April, & Stephanie) and I went to Clementine's for a Girl's Night Out in April 2011.

Big Kid Room

The day after their second birthday (May 10), Gavin and Vivian moved up to the Big Kid Room at daycare. They were very excited to be dropped off in this room. After I dropped them off, I left to go get them lunch (because I left their lunch on the counter at home- of course!). When I returned, I brought in the camera to try and get a few shots of them being big kids. For the most part, they seemed to be doing okay. Because of where I was standing, I could see Vivian really well, but in order to see Gavin, I had to come into the room pretty far and I wanted to avoid doing that. Vivian was sitting there calmly and even put her head down when instructed. Although I couldn't really see Gavin, I could hear the teachers talking to him: "Gavin, please sit back down." Not surprising.

The best part though was when I decided to video them. Like I said, I couldn't really get Gav because then I would have been seen. So, I just stuck my camera in and captured Vivi. While I was video-ing Viv, I heard Gavin say "VIVI!", she looked at him, and then as if he was already pointing at me, she looked directly at me! I love how they communicate with each other. They're such big kids.

It's all come together...#23: graduate

A few weeks ago, my name was changed at JMU.

And then this week, my dissertation arrived in the mail.

Done and done.

Graduation Weekend (Part Three)

We started off our Sunday morning, as I said in the last post, tired and cranky. But the kiddos eventually perked up and Wes and I decided that they needed to get out of the hotel room. So, we took them to Target, but not before running up and down the halls a few times.

After a mid-day nap, we (me, Wes, my mom, Sarah, and the kids) all went to Chuck E. Cheese. My friends from Purdue, Heather, met us there. They absolutely LOVE this place.

And here's Vivi trying to get close to Chuck E. Cheese. She really wanted to touch/hug him, but was also very cautious. Gavin, on the other hand, just dove right in- grabbing his nose and teeth.

 Finally, it was time to turn in our tickets.

Sunday ended with some subs in our hotel room and a drive around the block to put the kiddos to sleep. The next morning, we packed up the car and drove back to Virginia. Luckily, it only took us 11 hours to get back home and we made it back before sunset!

Overall it was a good weekend, but we won't be doing it again anytime soon.