Day 1 in DC

Washington Monument... is WAAAAY up there!!


The Capitol Building


Mommy's Favorite....The Lincoln Memorial


Daddy showing Gabe the plaques in the World War II Memorial


The Civil War Memorial


The Wright Brothers with The Ehlenberger Brothers at the National Air Space Museum


The Conservatory.. the jungle is steamy


The Lone Sailor


The Ice Skating Rink


The SUPER FAST carousel

Day 2 in DC

The Smithsonian's Natural History Museum


Next time you talk to Noah and Gabriel ask them what a Mammal is. They have got this down pat... thanks to the Mammal Exhibit at the Museum


We went to the IMax first and saw the Dinosaurs in 3-D and then we went to the HALL OF DINOSAURS and saw all the dino bones!!


They know what fossils are now too... and what it means to be fossilized... We learned a LOT at the Natural History Museum!!


After that we headed over to the Archives, this was a mommy stop... I felt a little selfish afterwards, Daddy had seen it before... and the boys didn't get much out of it. But it was so awesome to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution up close and in person!!

Crying over spilt milk...

Last week I had a big disappointment... I was really sad at first but now I am full of renewed spirit to try again after we move. So I just want to share.. in hopes that all of my friends and family will help to encourage me to start anew.

In early June I came across a charitable organization called the international breastmilk project

www.breastmilkproject.org

They send donated breastmilk to orphanages in Africa. A lot of these babies have AIDS and the breastmilk is a lot easier for them to handle. You might think that it would be easier for local African women to donate to these orphanages but the problem is that many of them have AIDS as well, and it is often hard to find donors in these areas. This project is very close to my heart. And I was especially excited to be able to donate my own milk after having difficulty breastfeeding the boys. So after a thorough blood testing process and medical evaluation I was named a breastmilk donor on June 19th and I have been pumping and storing milk as much as I can. It isn't a easy thing to do to pump and breastfeed and manage 3 kiddos... but I am so proud that I have been able to do so.

Then last week I was doing some yardwork and I accidentally unplugged the freezer in the garage, I didn't catch my mistake until 3 days later, when I went to put some milk in the freezer only to find that all of my hardwork had thawed and spoiled. I don't know why I didn't notice it earlier I put milk in the freezer every morning, but I didn't. I had finally accumulated 100 ounces which is the minimum for a donation box. I had already asked for a box to be sent.

Unfortunately, I know I can not pump 100 ounces before we leave, so I will be waiting until we get to Whidbey and then I will reapply to be a donor there. I am determined to donate at LEAST ONCE to this project though! So keep watching... In a few months you will see another post about the breastmilk project and pictures of my milk in a fedex box headed for the milkbank :)

BTW... here is a pic of the milk I had pumped... to those of you that don't know ( MEN, haha ) the average that a breastfeeding mama can pump a day is 2 ounces. Some ladies are blessed to be able to pump a lot more than that... but I am not one of them. On a GREAT day I could get 3 ounces TOTAL, but most of those bags have only 1.5 ounces in them. It took a long time to accumulate these 100 ounces.

Our Big Adventure

Jason and I decided to buy a camper in preparation for our big move to Whidbey Island. We have always made a big trip of the actual move... so this time we decided to camp all along the way. It will be especially fun since the boys are old enough to really participate in the activities.

Hand's On Gallery

While we were on vacation we had the chance to check out a small children's museum in Hendersonville called the Hand's on Gallery. It's nice to have found such a fun stop for the kids to keep in mind next time we visit mamaw and papaw! The boys and I baked in the deli. Noah, of course, had to check out the Big Skeleton Puzzle... he's my puzzle man you know!!! We shopped in the grocery store. We had a lego car race... and then our cars got stuck and daddy had to help us finish, haha! And Abigail practiced standing up. Daddy, as you can tell, did all the picture taking :)

This Autumn

Make a Smilebox photobook

PeninsulaMommies Fall Festival and Costume Party

We celebrated Halloween with our PeninsulaMommies friends this past weekend. This was our Fall Festival and Costume Party. We had a HUGE potluck with Fall foods, lots of crafts for the kids, a cake decorating contest, parents and kids Mummy wrap game.... and we ended the whole thing with Trunk or Treat outside. Unfortunately the only thing I managed to get pics of is the Trunk or Treat part :( But someone did manage to get a pic of me in my Pippi Longstocking costume, haha!

Khaki Ball

Since my parents were in town we had great babysitters for the khaki ball ;) They even kept the kids overnight so that we could stay at the very NICE Renaissance Hotel where the Ball was held. It was a wonderful break for mommy and daddy to have a night AWAY from all the munchkins!! MY MAMA helped me pick out the dress. Isn't it pretty!! Unfortunately I don't know how to scan pictures so the professional pic that we had taken at the ball is not on my computer yet. But here is the one that mom took before we left. Jason's uniform was at work, so he wasn't dressed when we left.

Newport News Fall Festival

The same weekend my parents were visiting we also went to the Newport News Fall Festival. We have lived here 2.5 years and never gone to this festival, and we were MISSING OUT!! It was a great festival. Even got to see the Green Grass Cloggers!! And it really made me miss dancing!!!

Fishing with Papaw

Mamaw and Papaw visited with us this last weekend. The boys got a special treat when Papaw took them both out to the Pier in Yorktown to fish. I was soooo surprised at what patient little fishermen I have. They fished for a couple of hours without complaints or whining. They were both very excited the whole of our fishing trip. That sat quietly on the pier and reeled there line in every once in awhile. Gabriel was the only one of us that caught anything. But getting "Bites" on our line kept the rest of us going. Gabriel however caught a small fish, just his size, and a crab. The crab was a bit scary... even to mommy. I wasn't quite sure how to get the crab off the line. But thankfully a more experienced salt water fisherman was talking to us at the time and helped us out with the crab. We finished off our fishing trip with a walk down to Ben and Jerry's, MMMmmmmm!!!!