A day in DC

On Friday, my brother Sean, his girlfriend, KC, and her twins came into town. They were celebrating Thanksgiving with KC's family in the Outerbanks. Since they weren't too far away, they decided to come visit. I was really excited to meet KC and the twins and have them visit our home.

We didn't do much Friday since they came a later in the day. So, Saturday we spent in DC! We decided to walk around the National Mall and visit many of the monuments. In order to get the whole DC experience, we took the metro into the city! Kinley, Chance , and Landon were all bundled up for the trip.
When we first arrived, we headed to the Washington Monument. Chance was sleeping, so Landon and Kinley posed for a picture on tree in the park!

After the Washington Monument we headed to the WWII Memorial. Sean posed in front of the Florida section of the monument.

Landon and Daddy also posed for a picture.

Landon also got a picture with KC and Sean!

After the WWII Memorial, we walked to the Korean War Memorial. Landon got a free ride on Uncle Sean's shoulders.

Landon and Chance walked and played near the Reflecting Pool on the way.

I didn't get any pictures at the Korean War Memorial, but it really a cool Memorial. From there we headed to the Lincoln Memorial. When we have been before, we usually stay at the bottom of the Memorial. This time we took the elevator up to the Statue level.

Once we were done with that, the seven of us posed outside for a picture with the Washington Monument in the background.

So did Sean, Landon, and I.

We then headed to the White House. On the way, we walked past the Vietnam Memorial (again, no pictures there). Andrew and I hadn't been to the White House since we moved here, so it was nice to go visit and pose for the "traditional" picture!

Our day was not done after the White House. We got back on the metro and headed to a sports bar to watch the Florida-Florida State game! Go Gators! Chance really enjoyed the metro!

After the game, we got back on the metro to head home. Poor Kinley was having a bad night, but Landon and Chance slept soundly the whole trip home!

It was a busy day, but we had a great time!

Thanksgiving

We stayed in VA for Thanksgiving this year. Andrew's family lives close by, so we had Thanksgiving with them. His sister Mindy, and her boyfriend, Michael also came up for Thanksgiving.

Andrew's parents, recently bought a new puppy. Landon had lots of fun playing with her and her toys.

He played with his Aunt Mindy....

and her big dog, Sam, too...

We had a wonderful time and hope everyone "out there" had a Happy Thanksgiving!

More Dancing

Here is another video of Landon dancing. He also figured out how to turn the TV on and off. Even when the music is off, Landon still wanted to dance!

Dancing Landon

Landon has been enjoying music. In the car Landon kicks his legs or bibs his head. He loves the music played at daycare. We were cleaning this morning with music on. Landon had fun dancing.

Bathrooms

Well...the bathrooms are finally finished! It is so nice to have the bathrooms updated and looking the way we want them. I forgot to take before pictures...sorry. The few of you who have seen the bathrooms before will really appreciate the new look. So here are the bathrooms...

This is the one full bath, upstairs. The new look has caused me to redo our bedroom now. Everything in here is new. Originally there was a rectangular mirror/medicine cabinet. The vanity was oak with a white counter top (a little smaller). The toilet is new. The tile is also new, we had grey/blue faux stone linoleum. The light fixture was basic with 5 large round light bulbs. The paint was a neutral (creamy yellow), now it is Brown Suede. The shower curtain is from good ole Target. Behind the shower curtain is another story.

The pictures on the wall are from paper(pictured below) that I found last spring in Baltimore. I loved the shells and coral, so I bought 2 sheets knowing they would come in handy sooner or later. I bought 2 frames ($14.99 ea.) from Target and picked two of the squares to frame. I thought they turned out great!

Here is the downstairs bathroom...

Again, everything is new but the toilet. It is the one from upstairs. As the bathroom was being remodeled, we found out that the original had a crack running up the entire back of the toilet. We were so lucky we found that before anything bad happened. This bathroom had what I call a jail cell sink. It was stuck to the wall and you could see the pipes underneath. Absolutely ugly!!!!! It was probably the one thing I hated most in the house. Now we have a pedestal sink.

The room was painted blue before, but I went for a more subtle blue (new rain from Valspar).

I am so glad the bathrooms are finally finished! Especially since we have visitors coming Friday night. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Trivia

Here is a cool link to a good Thanksgiving Trivia website. Andrew got 10 correct and Kelley got 11. Let's see how you all can do. Click on the link below:

http://home.aristotle.net/Thanksgiving/trivia.asp

Happy Turkey Day to all!

This evening, Landon got into our pantry and pulled out the Fudge Rounds! They were right at his level and if I had a choice, I would pull those out too! He managed to get a few out of the box. I thought you might like to see how Landon's walking is getting so much better!

Little Painter

This weekend has been pretty busy. We had to buy some last minute things for the bathrooms, pick out paint, have dinner with some friends, and I had an 18 mile run today. Tomorrow the bathrooms will be finished and I am so excited! All I have to do is paint. Picking out paint is probably my least favorite thing to do. It brings such anxiety, so many colors to choose from, I am never sure that the color will be the one I "really" want.

This afternoon, as I was getting ready for my run and Andrew was getting ready to take off on another trip to Home Depot, we found Landon lounging on the paint cans! He was having a great time.

It's Great to be a FLORIDA GATOR!

I wouldn't actually know, since I'm not a "real" Gator! But, since two of my brothers are graduates and one is a current student, and my parents are much more of UF supporters than UNF, I pretty much have become a Gator Fan. Having a team to support is one thing Andrew and I wish we had from our college. Also, I have a few ties to the football team(a few of the players attended the HS I taught at in St. Augustine). I sometimes think I should get my masters from UF only to really claim to be a Florida Gator!

Anyways, my parents (probably my mom more than my dad) have wanted to go to gator game for the longest time. This past weekend they were given tickets to the UF-USC game. My mom was super excited to go! They were able to go with some friends whose son is Danny's roommate. Here is her email about her first Gator game:

We went with the Ornella's (Danny's roommate's parents). The four of us were given tickets by a friend and they were awesome seats ---plus they were in Touchdown Terrace in the North End Zone so our seats had chairbacks, we didn't get wet because we sat under a overhang and there was free food inside for all to eat!!!! The best part was watching the Gators play great football! Even one of our Bishop Snyder grads that is a sophomore who walked on freshman year got in the game for the last two offensive series and made some good tackles!!!

I am so glad they were able to go. Andrew and I would love to make it to a game. We hear the games are quite an experience! GO GATORS!

Oh, by the way, Mom and Dad, do you know you both gave Danny $20??!!

Work and Play

Today, we went to Lowes and Home Depot for a little bathroom renovation shopping. We are in the process of remodeling our 1/2 bath down in the basement and our only full bath upstairs (partially remodeling). We have been slowly collecting pieces for the downstairs for awhile and the upstairs is a Christmas gift, so we went shopping today!! Right now I am in the process of deciding which counter top to go with for the vanity that we bought (on sale!). Here are the two:

1. Desert Gold Granite (Andrew's pick)

2. Sienna marble (my pick)

Since we couldn't decide at the store, we bought both, plus faucets for each and tried them out at home. Here is the granite (#1) with a beautiful brushed nickel faucet. I love the faucet.

Here is the marble (#2) with a different brushed nickel faucet. I like the other faucet much more but it doesn't fit the counter top. Decisions...decisions!

A was lamenting over this and I decided to send an email to a friend of ours who is an interior designer! I figured she could give us an expert opinion, even though all she had to work with were pictures. She too likes the marble top (#2) and the separate faucet! But unfortunately the two do not work together. She advised me to go with the counter top that makes more of a statement (#2) and the centerset faucet. So pretty much, I'm going with the picture above!

As I was emailing Anna (interior designer). I happened to look up and find this...

What child couldn't resist! He had a great time sitting in the sink! (Oh, and you can see the hardware I picked out for the vanity. The hardware that came with the vanity was much darker.)

Thanks for your help, Anna!

First Steps

Landon has been taking steps for about a month but only when he wants to! Everytime he took some steps, I would catch him too late to get any video. Lately he has started walking longer distances and can be coaxed by me or Andrew. He really likes to walk at the store I work at. This morning we tried to get video of landon walking and we did!

Free Music

Recently I was introduced to two websites that allow you to listen to music...for FREE! During my planning periods, I love to put my headphones in and grade, plan, or whatever. It helps to keep me focused, and make the hour and a half much more enjoyable! I do have an ipod, and was bringing it to school, but this is so much easier. I can pick an artist and it will play the music of that particular artist and search for others with similar music styles. You find yourself exposed to new artists. I may the last person to hear about this, but just in case, I thought I should inform those others who may have missed out on the news. The two sites are pandora and imeem. Now, I haven't really tried imeem, but I think it works similarly to pandora. If you haven't tried them..check them out! It's great!

Happy Listening!

Election Day

We voted....

...Did you!

Happy Halloween

This Halloween was great! Landon wore his skeleton shirt to daycare and they even went trick-or-treating in the afternoon. We had no idea they were doing it, other wise we would have sent him with his monkey costume. Luckily there was an extra puppy costume, just right for Landon! Later in the evening, Landon got all suited up to get treats! We originally had a baby chick costume for him, but he wouldn't keep the separate head piece on, so we had to look for another. I found a super cute monkey costume. I guess we're still keeping with the monkey theme from his birthday. He looked so cute when his head was down and all you could see was the monkey face.

Landon and daddy went trick or treating, while mommy handed out candy with other moms.

Landon loved looking in his bag at all his treats!

Next year should be even more fun when he's walking to all of the houses!