Lake Anna ~ Sunday

This year, we decided to try out a different lake (last year and the year before, we went to Smith Mountain Lake). We also added a few more people (Brandy, Iad, Carter, Lea, and April) to our vacay this year (the Richelsens came with us for a few days last year). The new location was Lake Anna, which is East of us and mostly South and a little West of the DC area (where our friends are from).

Before I get into what we did each day of our trip (in multiple posts, by the way), here are a few highlights of the week:

• We must have watched "Cloudy with a  Chance of Meatballs" 482 times before the week was over. The television service at the lake house was terrible, with only a few channels; none of which were kid channels. So we went to the local grocery store in the beginning of the week to see if they had any DVDs for sale (the local Redbox didn't even have any kid movies). We got 3 DVDs and told the twins that they could watch them during quiet times and in the early morning if they wanted each day. We watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" first and they absolutely fell IN LOVE with it! They wanted to watch it over and over and over again. It's pretty cute.
• Paxton really thrived when everyone was there the first few days. He REALLY seemed to like having all of those people around. He was a different kid. He kept walking up to everyone, talking and babbling a lot, and just acting older. It's hard to explain, but Wes and I kept looking at one another and commenting on his bubbly demeanor.
• We went to the state park beach several times during the week. For some reason, Vivian kept calling it "the little pool." We're not sure why because it wasn't little and it wasn't a pool. Whatever.
• Gavin tried to get into the water every chance he could. He even would "fall in" by "accident" so that he could get wet. He had a handful of crying fits during the week when we told him that it was time to go or get out of the water. Poor kid. 
• Paxton became mildly addicted to fruit snacks on this trip. He hadn't had any before last week, but due to the convenience of giving him whatever we were giving the twins and the fact that I bought a huge 175-piece box of them from Costco before we left, he had some. And he LOVED them. He kept squeaking and barking at the cabinet where they were housed asking for some.
• We took A LOT of baths and showers during the week. Every time we went swimming in the lake (which was at least twice a day), we did a rinse and then every night, we all took a full-blown shower with soap and shampoo. There was a lot of water involved. And Gavin cried when he had to get out of the tub, too.

Day One: Sunday

On Sunday, we met the Richelsens, the Alhassanis, and April at our lake rental around 4pm. We rented a 4 bedroom, 3 full bath house nestled on a little peninsula of land. Every single room in the house had multiple floor to ceiling windows so that you could always have a view of the lake. The view was incredible. 

This is just the view from the kitchen:

All together, there were 13 of us who started off the vacay: April, Steph, Tony, Nick, Brandy, Iad, Carter, Lea, and our five-person fam.

The three little kids played inside while the three older kids immediately begged to go play outside. Then, we made little pizzas and celebrated Carter's fourth birthday with some presents, birthday crowns, glow stick swords, and cupcakes.

 Nick got to try watermelon for the first time, but was not impressed. At all.

Wes took the kids outside for some poppers, which they all thought was super cool.

Then, Aunt April took the three big kids out back for some playtime in the sand. Of course, Gavin "fell in" lake and was soaked for the rest of the evening.

Wes and Uncle Tony helped the big kids catch lightening bugs while the little ones were put down for the night. By the time we got all of the big kids to bed, we were all exhausted. But we also had wine, cheese, and chocolate waiting for us. So it was all good.

A great night with great friends.


2013 Lake Vacation: Monday
2013 Lake Vacation: Tues & Wed
2013 Lake Vacation: Thurs & Fri
2013 Lake Vacation: Sat & Sun
2013 Lake Vacation: A Recap

Our Fifth

The fifth of July was spent eating breakfast at GG and Max's and then heading over to the Richelsen's house for some visiting and then another mini photo shoot with Kaleigh and Kendall (see HERE). We had a lot of fun in the hot, hot sun, but the ride home was... not so fun. Why, you ask?

Because on the way home, this happened:

And, we didn't have a spare.

So Wes' parents came to get him and take him to buy a new tire while the kids and I went into the mall for an hour or so. It added a lot of time to our trip and a lot of crankiness to the three kiddos. Not fun. But we made it home. And then we had a day and a half to pack for our week-long vacation at Lake Anna (multiple posts to come).

Cheese Lover

Our Fourth

For as long as I can remember, we've celebrated the Fourth of July with the Milligan clan. This year was no different. And it was awesome. When we arrived, Gavin really wanted to help clean the pool (shocker).

Once everyone else got there (my mom, Wes' mom, and Sarah), it was time to swim. And then eat. And then swim some more.

Pax did not want anyone to touch his corn on the cob.

Renee had everyone sing Happy Birthdsy to the twins and Pax, since she missed their circus party in May. While everyone thought it was fun, Gavin thought it was UNBELIEVEABLY AWESOME. he asked his Grandma Née-Née, "is it MY birthday? I didn't even know!" Then he proceeded to go up to each person there individually and proclaim, "TODAY is MY birthday!! I didn't even know it!"

The twins helped Dave put some cleaning stuff in the pool before we left for GG and Max's to spend the night.

It was a GREAT day with GREAT people!

She's a Mouth-Trumpeter

Miss Vivian Grace is a mouth trumpeter. She must trumpet for a total of 3-7 hours a day. Every single day, in fact. It's usually hilarious, sometimes annoying, and very Vivian. When does she do it? Anytime. She'll trumpet through dinner, while watching TV, whenever it's quiet, in the car, on a walk, while playing outside, or anytime, really. She's been doing this for a couple of months now and I just keep forgetting to get it on film and write about it. 

Well, without further ado...

More Sweet Baby Photos

During our Fourth of July MD trip (post to come), I took some more photos of a friend's daughters, Kaleigh and Kendall. Here are a few of my favs:

These two sisters are just precious! 

The Penis Diaries

Aaaaand, we're back from vacation. So naturally, I thought I'd write a post about penises. Here it goes.

Since he was very young, Gavin has been... well... obsessed with his penis. When he was just a baby, Gavin would grab himself during diaper changes and would constantly want to be naked by stripping down to nothing so he could get in a little "playtime." Don't remember? See a few old penis-related blog posts HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. This fascination with his manhood has not changed and probably won't at any point in the near future. But recently, in the last few weeks, we've had a few rather comical experiences centered around Gavin's... well... you know.

1. It seems like a day does not go by when I don't have to tell Gavin to get his hands out of his pants. In fact, I usually have to say it multiple times a day. He puts his hands down his pants at the dinner table, during story time, and especially while watching TV. It's ridiculous. I feel like I live with Al Bundy.

2. Lately, Gavin has been trying to draw Paxton's attention to his own penis. Let me explain. During about half of Paxton's diaper changes, you can hear Gavin encouraging Paxton to play with his penis. It's generally something like, "Hurry up, Bubba. Play wif it quick before Mama puts yo diaper back on." It's like he wants to let Paxton in on a secret. He wants Paxton to also experience the joy of playing with his wiener. We've also been coming into the room to find Paxton without any pants on. When we inquire, Gavin will say, "He don't like pants. He wants to be naked! Everyone wants to be naked!" Gavin either just really wants Paxton to also be penis-happy or he doesn't want to be the only one getting in trouble for whipping it out at dinner.

3. This next one is the best. I think I've told this story 481 times since it happened a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I don't know how well it will transfer into writing (my impression of Gavin might be pertinent to the success of this zinger). Anywho, I'll give it a whirl. A few weekends ago, when we were at our friends, the Alhassani's house, for a fun-filled family-friendly evening, Gavin yelled at me from the basement that he had to pee. I yelled back (as I always do) with, "Okay, just make sure you don't pee on the floor! Aim at the water! I'll be down in a minute!" I went downstairs, walked into the bathroom, and there was a pee trail from the door all the way to the toilet. I was in shock. I said to Gavin in a seriously concerned voice, "Oh my gosh, Gav! How did this happen?" Then, as serious as can be, in a very literal tone of voice, Gavin said back to me, "Mom, you know there's a hole on the end of my penis, right? Dats how it happened." Then, I almost peed a little.

I never thought I'd talk about penis so much in my lifetime. Until I had a son.

In case you didn't know...

... we're on vacation. 

We'll be back next week. 

Purple Desk

When my grandmother passed away a few years ago, I got a few pieces of her furniture. The furniture went in our basement and I've slowly brought some of it up to re-vamp and make my own. In fact, I've already blogged about some of my DIY projects from items that were my grandma's, including a lamp (see HERE) and two chairs (see HERE and HERE).

Well this weekend, I decided to re-do her old sewing machine desk to put in my office at JMU. Before we started, I took out the sewing machine. This is what it looked like before I did anything to it:

After a significant amount of sanding, a few coats of deep purple paint, a few decoupaged sheets of "love letter" tissue paper, and some spray painted hardware, it was complete!

I just love it! And it was SO CHEAP! 

Here's the run down:

Desk: FREE

Purple paint: FREE 

(I actually got TWO free cans of paint a couple of months ago when

Ace Hardware had a coupon for one free quart of paint for one day.

I printed off two coupons and made my mom go in and get the second quart.)

Spray paint for hardware: $4

"Love Letter" tissue paper: $3

Total: $7!

Looks good to me!