October 2008 Update

October was such a fun month in our house! Central Virginia has to be the best place on earth during the fall. There are so many festivals every weekend you can't begin to get to them all. We did make it to apple, pumpkin (two of them) and hot air balloon festivals...maybe next year we'll hit the chocolate festival (yummy). One of the trips to the apple orchard was with Kelby's kindergarten class - including her first ride on a school bus. She was so excited (and Mommy a little nervous since it was 45 minutes away). Kelby also had Pumpkin Day on the 31st (since they don't celebrate Halloween at her school) with games, projects, special snacks, etc. I got to go for the whole morning and take pictures of all the kids. It was so fun to watch them.

Dylan LOVES school now. That's been a big (welcomed) change since last month. She only goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and is a little bummed on the days that she doesn't go. She talks about her friends at school and includes them in her prayers at night. It's really cute. She made the transition to her big girl bed this month (which is really one of our guest room mattresses/box spring on the floor, which works well for now since we don't have a guest room!). She loves her big bed, but she is no longer as easy to get to bed (at least for me...).

We had a great night trick or treating last night. The weather warmed up yesterday so it was beautiful last night and we didn't need extra coats. Both girls were angels, though Dylan wouldn't wear her halo. She can usually find at least one way to be uncooperative. :-) Dylan was the master of hanging around at the door after the other kids said thank you and walked away - and that cute factor generally landed her an extra piece of candy. She knows how to work it, for sure!

I guess now that Halloween is over we can switch gears for the holidays!! Hard to believe.

Check out our pictures for October.

If you missed September (I didn't send out an email), then click here.

September 2008 Update

Of course our big news of the month was our trip to Vancouver for Scott and Melissa's wedding. If you missed those photos, follow the links in this blog entry.

Right after we got back from our trip, Dylan started pre-school! She's in the two year old class, going just two days a week. She's finally expanding her song repertoire! We're hearing more than Twinkle Twinkle nowadays! Yay! I wouldn't say she's thrilled to get there every morning, but I'm told by her teacher that she loves it once Mommy is out of sight. :)

Kelby absolutely loves school and really loves her teacher. This month she got to babysit for Crackers the classroom guinea pig one weekend. Fun, of course! I just added class Room Mother to my list of to do's, but it's fun to have the insider scoop of what's going on in the classroom.

We're glad to see fall arrive and looking forward to fun things in October. Hope you all are well.

For our September photos, click here.

Special Update! Scott & Melissa's Wedding

Hey! We're back from Vancouver, Canada and had SO MUCH FUN! I can't believe my baby brother is a married man. But we couldn't be any happier for he and his new wife, Melissa. She was absolutely the most gorgeous bride I have ever seen in my life!

Check out a few of the photographers' pictures on their blog site - click on this link. (Updated 10/21/08 - the photographer changed websites, so the link is broken). The picture above is from their photographer Jillian Kirby. We can't wait to see the rest of their photos!

I've spared you the 900 photos, but you can see a few of our pre-wedding week adventures in Canada and Washington state by clicking here: Pre-wedding Photos.

Or check out a few of our photos from the rehearsal dinner, wedding and post-wedding Saturday party by clicking here: Wedding Photos.

The rest of this month's happenings will be shared at the end of the month! :)

August 2008 Update

We hope everyone had a great August! I know it's not quite the end of the month, but we're wrapping it up here to get ready to leave for Vancouver on August 30. That's right... it's time for Uncle Scott's wedding!!! We're so excited. Now if I can just get through my to do list before we leave for the airport on Saturday morning...

This was a big month for Kelby (and Mommy and Daddy). She started kindergarten on Tuesday and LOVES it! She comes home talking about all the things they did during the day. Her favorite part of the day is recess - what 5 year old wouldn't pick that? Lucky her, they get 2 per day. Oh, and Crackers the class Guinea Pig ranks up there pretty high, too. Today she had a big day with Chapel, Library, Spanish and P.E. - wow! We're so excited that she loves it. Little sister Dylan is missing her though during the day. But she starts preschool when we get back.

What else happened this month? Let's see...Kelby turned 5 and a HALF. She and Scott went to Ohio to visit some friends and they had a ball. Dylan asked every 5 minutes when they would be home. I guess Mommy isn't very fun. ha ha. What else...We went to the Albemarle County Fair. We watched the Olympics (and lost a lot of sleep in the process). And that's about it.

For our August pictures, click here: August 2008 Photos.

July Update

Amazing that July is gone and August comes tomorrow. Where is the summer going? We're going to be dropping Kelby off for her first day of Kindergarten before we know it! Yikes.

We had a fun month. The girls have been to the pool several times a week and now Kelby is swimming by herself - and going off the diving board and swimming to the side on her own. Dylan also thinks she can swim and tries and sinks. She is NON-stop at the pool.

Not much else going on here. Eventually we'll get moving on the house situation - hopefully sooner rather than later. We leave in one month for Vancouver for my brother's wedding and cannot wait! We'll be there for 8 days! Kids can't wait to get on a plane; Scott is dreading the plane. Ha ha.

Hope each of you enjoys the last of your summer.

Click here to view our pictures from this month.

June 2008 Update

Happy Father's Day to all of the daddies out there. Scott had a great day - golfing in the morning and time with family and friends in the afternoon.

I am happy to say that June was FAR more uneventful than May. In fact, we have enjoyed many relaxing days in the new house. We're getting a lot of use out of the neighborhood swimming pool and playground (which are just around the corner). Check out Dylan's tan in these photos!

The month started with the Wood family picnic at Shirley's house. We managed to get a few photos with all of her grandkids out at the lake. We have 7 nieces and nephews and 3 great nieces and nephews - so 12 grandchildren in all, including our kids. It was a lot of fun.

The girls are having a great time playing together lately (and fighting more, too, I think). Kelby loves to play "wedding" including a veil (made out of a blanket). Dylan loves to clomp around in my shoes. They've started playing board games together (Trouble), and Kelby has quite a bit of patience until Dylan takes more than her fair share of turns. Dylan loves reading her books lately, and really likes when Kelby reads her stories (from memory, usually!). They've also mastered how to antagonize each other lately... (sigh).

The girls and I took a little day trip to pick peaches and pulled over on the side of the road for this picture. (Yes, I had their white dresses stashed in the truck for just such an opportunity.)

Click here to check out the rest of our photos.

Hope you all are doing well!!

May 2008 Update

Wow, I'm not even sure where to begin this update. This has to have been the busiest month of our lives. With Dylan's second birthday, preschool graduation, soccer, class field trip, ballet recitals, Mother's Day, trip to see baby sheep, other birthday parties and baby showers, my brother and Melissa's visit, packing, moving and unpacking and Kelby's bout with strep throat and scarlet fever on moving day... it's kept us sooooo busy!

Dylan turned two on May 17. She had a Wiggles birthday party and loved when everyone sang to her. (She's still singing Happy Birthday to Dylan all the time.) I can't believe she's two! She's talking a mile a minute, doing GREAT with potty training (why did she pick this month to do it?) and is constantly trying to keep up with Kelby (she can sing right along with Kelby AND Mylie Cyrus). Ha ha.

Kelby graduated from preschool this month and will head to kindergarten in the fall. At least one of her classmates will be going to the same school. She is already missing her friends, so I foresee some playdates in the near future. Once we get settled! Soccer wrapped up this month, as did ballet.

My brother and his new fiance, Melissa, visited us the weekend that we moved. Yes, you read that correctly...FIANCE!! He and Melissa are getting married September 5th in British Columbia. We can't wait! Melissa is so wonderful and they are so cute together. The girls just love her, and she plays along and paints their fingernails. We're all in the wedding, with Scott as the best man and Kelby and Dylan as flower girls - along with 3 of her nieces. How cute will they be!?? Click through to the pictures to see them together...and Scott's long curly hair!

And last but not least, we close on our house tomorrow and we are fairly settled in the rental. We're thrilled to have a big house that fits all our stuff. I told the girls not to get used to their huge rooms, our massive walk-in master closet and more kitchen cabinets than I can fill. Oh, and hopefully Scott won't get used to living within 100 yards of one of the "best" golf courses in this region! I'm going to have to drag him out of here kicking and screaming a year from now. :)

Click here to see this month's photos and our range of activities! Leave us a comment here or on our photos. Hope you all are doing well!

April Update

Last month I told you that we had just put our house on the market. Can't believe it, but it went under contract in three weeks! Scott's already missing the obsessively clean house. Honestly, so am I...but there's no time for cleaning. Only time for packing! We close on June 2 so we're trying to be out of the house by Memorial Day to give us an extra week in case we need it. We're renting a house in a golf community east of town. It's a big house (with plenty of storage in the basement for all of our stuff we can live without for a year). We back up to the Clubhouse, pool and the first hole of the golf course (Scott will have to be kept on a short leash - ha ha). Once things slow down a bit, we'll start looking again at plans for the new house (reminder - that neighborhood/house won't be ready until Spring or early Summer 2009). Kelby was accepted into a private school in town so we have one year there until we build and she can start first grade in the public school system.

Kelby started soccer in April. She's having a lot of fun and scoring a few goals in their little scrimmages. She looks like such a little athlete! And believe it or not, she actually wears SHORTS - black athletic shorts, no less. This is the girl that wears nothing but dresses.

Dylan's gearing up for her 2nd birthday in May. Hard to believe she's almost two. She's starting to potty train...can't wait until we are diaper free!!

Scott was busy with the Dogwood Festival this month. He's on the Board of Directors, and so he had lots of obligations during the two middle weeks of April, including dishing up pork barbeque and escorting the princesses around (that was the hard part, I'm sure). Kelby and I were in the Fashion Show and had lots of fun.

Check out our April pictures by clicking here. Once on our photo site you can view individual photos or click "slideshow." Enjoy! Leave us a comment below if you want!

March Photos

Well, it seems that March flew by SO FAST. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Happy Easter! Hope all of you are doing well.

We had a very busy month. Our house went on the market this past Saturday, so we have been spending every waking moment cleaning and organizing and finishing projects. Hopefully now the weather will get warm and sunny and the BUYERS will come out and fall in love with our house. We're looking at moving to Pantops into a new development that won't be ready until Spring 2009. Stay tuned...

Unfortunately, our Easter was a bust. We were at my Mom's and everyone (except Scott who wasn't there) came down with a stomach bug. Not pretty. So...we woke up this past Sunday and pretended it was Easter. If it hadn't snowed and sleeted, I would have even done an outdoor egg hunt for the girls! There's always next year.

Kelby did have fun doing her egg hunt at school though. There was a whole day of fun Easter activities at the teacher's clubhouse in her neighborhood. The kids had so much fun.

To view our March pictures, click this link. Or view as a slideshow. Enjoy!

February Photos

I have finally gotten around to starting a blog for the girls. Not really intended as a rambling dissertation about all that the girls are up to these days, but as an easy way to post photos (basically, just to get around designing a website!).

February was a busy month with Kelby's birthday, my birthday, Valentine's Day and Dylan's first haircut. Of course, Kelby had a Valentine's Day party and a birthday party at school, too! I was lucky enough to be able to take time off to spend the whole day with her on her birthday (and attended the V-day party). It was a lot of fun to see Kelby and her little friends together. She comes home every day with a picture from her friend Rylan that says "To Kelby, my BFF. Love Rylan" For those of you who don't read "acronyms", that's "Best Friends Forever." Rylan has an older sister, so she already knows about these things.

Dylan's getting bigger and bolder - is that possible? She's full of herself (but admittedly, she's also really funny). :)

So...enough of that. Here are February's pictures (at the end of March!). Maybe I'll be quicker to turn the March ones around. Or maybe not...

Enjoy! Just click here to go to Shutterfly. You don't have to create an account and you can view them as a slideshow.