Football then Futbol

Uncle Brian and Aunt Debbie came in town for the weekend. It happened to fall on the first Gator Football game of the season. Brian wanted to watch the game with the DC Gator Club. We headed into DC with Landon all dressed for the game. He was pretty popular with the crowd. Many were praising us for getting him started so early! Little did they know that neither of his parents graduated from the school. I guess having two uncles who've graduated from the school and one who's there right now, is enough! Go Gators!
After the game, one of Debbie's friends met us out. She works for the Secretary of State. We headed to the State Department for a tour. Right outside the State Department was a statue of Albert Einstein.
Before heading in, Brian enjoyed a corner stand hotdog. yum! We ended the day with some more futbol! We headed to the RFK Stadium to watch DC United vs. New York Redbulls.

Back To School

The summer is sadly coming to an end. I start back to school tomorrow, so that means Landon goes back to Miss Nancy's. Luckily next week is pre-planning so there are NO students, but I know we'll be in meetings all week. This summer I didn't get ready like I did last summer, so I need the week to get my lesson plans together.

We never thought we would be doing "back to school" shopping for an 11 month old, but we had to stock up on formula (this should be the last time we buy it...yea!), diapers and wipes. I'll be sad to leave Landon but I know he is in great hands. We absolutely love Miss Nancy! I'm sure once Landon steps into her house, he won't be worried about me leaving. He'll have so much fun!




Not only did we stock up on diapers, wipes, and household items, we stopped at Children's Place Outlet to see if there were any good deals for clothes. We wanted to get Landon some play clothes, and we did! We were able to get him 11 shirts and 6 pairs of shorts and all of the items we $1.99 or $2.99, just the way I like it!

My Little Elf

I know it's a little early for Christmas talk, but the pictures of Landon below reminded me of this.. The Elf on the Shelf, is an elf that comes from the North Pole to watch over the children in the house and reports to Santa on their behavior. The elf that comes to our house is Christopher Popkins, but I don't have a link to his site.

Now, just to let you all know, I don't normally place my child on top of furniture. It came about when we were putting the dining room furniture back in place after painting this week and Papa decided to place Landon on the top. I had to get a picture and when I went back to look at them, Landon reminded me of a little elf!

Bad News

We found out today that the airing of Brian and Debbie's episode of My House is Worth What?, has been moved! Sorry about the confusion. We, ourselves, were a bit confused because the episode synopsis wasn't quite what we thought it would be. So...once again, I'll notify you when the episode really airs!

Alumni Run

Every august Bishop Kenny hosts an alumni run. It's a run in which the current cross country team runs against the alumni. I haven't participated since the one just after I graduated from BK (I was in great shape then) and I was roped into running this year by my friend, Kathy (3rd from the left). I was a little weary of running but it was fun to meet up with past graduates. Pictured below are '97 graduates before the run:

(from left to right: Shannon, me, Kathy, Janice)

Here we are after our run with our Coach, Tony Ryan, and a '98 alum, Brae. We're now looking forward to the "hash run" in december!

(Brae, Kathy, Janice, Me, Shannon, Coach)

After the run, I thought I deserved a little treat. I decided to stop by Vanilla's Cupcakery and get some gourmet cupcakes...don't they look delicious...

I was introduced to these by Kathy (from above). She had invited Landon and I over for dinner and she had some for dessert. I had to get some more before we took off for home!

Silly Boy

I haven't been posting much about this trip to Florida mainly because most of what we've been doing is this...

...which is nice. Usually we find ourselves driving all over trying to visit as many people as we can. This time we kept it simple and really relaxed! Landon and I did manage to meet up with some girlfriends from college. Though we (the girls) didn't get any pictures together, Landon did. I met my friend Cher at her house and waited for the girls. While we chatted, Landon played with her dog, Lily.

When Lily had enough of posing with Landon, he occupied his time by playing with her toys and getting in her cage (with a little help from mommy!)

After all that playing, Landon decided to take a nap before dinner in Lily's bed! Thanks, Lily, for sharing!

This was just a cute picture I had to add...

Are your Tivos ready?

Get the popcorn and the tivo ready because Brian and Debbie are gonna be on tv! A while back, I posted about these two...

being on this!

If you don't remember, they recorded an episode for the tv show: My House is Worth What? We just found out that their episode airs this Sunday (8/17) at 7 pm on HGTV. So tune in!

Gettin' Sealegs

Landon and I left Daddy back in Virginia, but not for long. He'll be coming to visit next week! I decided to make one last trip for the summer, back to Jacksonville, to spend time with my family before the hustle and bustle of school begins.

Today, I helped my mom paint her dining room (though it's not finished). We probably spent more time picking out colors than painting, and we're still not sure if we like the color. After, we headed to some family friends for a boat ride on Lake Asbury. I wasn't sure if Landon would like the boat, but he did!

Luckily, they had a life vest small enough for the little guy

You can't tell in these pictures, but Landon bobbed up and down during the ride

We had a great time...thanks, Rumbles!

Olympic Fever

... have you got it? I don't know about you, but I love the Olympics! And, if you didn't know (or pay attention to the commercials), it starts tomorrow! I have to admit, I am a bigger fan of the summer games than the winter, but they are exciting to watch, none the less. I don't know what it is about the Olympics, but they get me all revved and ready to go! It's motivating to see these athletes from all over the world compete for themselves and for their nations. I am amazed by the athleticism, dedication, and drive these athletes possess. They are the best of the best!



Here are some competitions that I am excited to watch (in no particular order):

1. Swimming : Of course I want to watch Michael Phelps go for gold and strive to make Olympic history, but I am also excited to see Dara Torres (a 41 year old mother of a 2 year old) make a comeback to the Olympics, Her first Olympic appearance was in 1984.

2. Basketball: Though I probably won't watch all the games, I am excited for this Olympic team to bring back "the dream" (notice the old picture). Bringing back a 2000 Olympic member, Jason Kidd, who also holds an undefeated record for USA basketball, plus some other well known players (Kobe, LeBron,etc.), this team should live up to their new name the "Redeem Team". Hopefully this team can bring back the pride to USA basketball.

3. Beach Volleyball: It should be exciting to watch Misty May and Kerri Walsh defend their Olympic gold from Athens 2004, where they went undefeated in all seven matches.




4. Gymnastics: I have always been amazed with gymnastics, since I was a little girl. I'm not sure what little girl isn't. Shawn Johnson is one of the girls to watch, as well as Nastia Liukin. Could these girls help their team go for the All Around Team Gold, only won in the '96 Atlanta Olympics?
5. Track & Field: This has to be one of my favorites...all of it, from the field events to the sprinting and of course the mid/distance! I've always enjoyed watching the running events, even before I started running.

Those are just a few of my favorites, what are yours?

New Toys

This weekend we headed out on some errands and one of them consisted of stopping at Target. And everyone knows it's hard to leave Target with just one thing. We were in the toy section, looking at possible birthday gifts for our soon-to-be 1 year old, and came across this little wagon and a dump truck. Guess how much? $4 each! We couldn't resist. We put them outside and Landon just loved them.

Playing by yourself isn't so much fun...

but sharing with friends is!
Emmalyn, Brody, Landon

Can you believe Brody is 3 months younger than Landon? Landon is a giant compared to him!

We had a great time playing in the yard and sharing our toys!

New Project

I've added a new project to my list of projects I'd like to complete. I probably need to make a post listing all the projects so that I work on completing them. It's not that I don't want to complete a project, it's just that I find something else when I'm working on another project. We currently have tile, a light fixture and a faucet for a bathroom redo. I have paint samples for repainting the family room and kitchen. I'm always looking at tile for a new kitchen back splash (I would have the tile in the basement if I could just decide on what I want), and I currently have a new headboard waiting for me to pick up at JCPenney.So...right now I have no project completed, just collecting the parts needed for each project.

My new project is something I have wanted to do since we put grass in the backyard. Many of you may remember these from Leland (a family vacation spot), and I actually saw them in Canada recently. You find these hanging on fences and posts and I absolutely love them. I have been looking for them at local home improvement stores, with no luck. I finally went searching on the internet and...found them. Hanging flower bags are my new project!

I found the ones above here. (10 for 29.95). I have no idea if that's a great price, so I'll do a little more searching.

In my searches I also came across these...

and...

which I thought were very cute and creative, but not quite practical for what I'd like in our backyard.

So...for now, I'll stick to these...

Havin' fun at Home Depot

Last weekend we had run some errands and we decided to stop at Home Depot to check out some stuff. We have some home improvements we would like to do to the house and we wanted to check on prices. Landon wanted nothing to do with sitting in the cart. He wanted be on the ground, checking everything out.



After running around with us at the stores, we stopped in to Babies R Us. We decided Landon needed some new toys for being so good. We got a wooden puzzle that has large knobs to hold the pieces. He thought they were the perfect size to fit in his mouth! he was trying to use the piece like a "nuk" (pacifier), which he doesn't use.