Rock'in and a Roll'in...

Eli is lovin' rock'in and a roll'in . . . right off his rocker!

A visit from Sef...

Back when we lived in Kansas, Sef was practically part of our family.  Bryant and him were such good friends, along with all the rest of Bryant's coworkers.  Army  life back then was a true "brotherhood".  Sef left Kansas when he finished up his 4 years back in 2005 and we have kept in contact briefly over the years, but haven't seen him since.  In fact, when he left Fort Riley I was still pregnant with Nathan!

Over the weekend Sef flew out to DC from LA, and it was a great time reconnecting!

Left to Right:  Ramos, Treacle, Seifert, Johnson, Jeffries, Hannah   (Iraq, 2003-2004)

Left to Right:  Treacle, mini Treacle, Ramos   :)

Eli's "pet"...

Eli's new "pet" is neither new nor a real pet.  It is his big brothers Robo-Raptor.  At first he was slightly skiddish of it, but now... he will pet it, follow it, even control it.  Sad to say (or is it) that this may be the closest thing that this little man gets to a real pet in awhile.  Boy will he have a rude awakening the next time he is at his grandparents and their "pets" lick, bark and try to eat his snacks  Ha!.



We love this face!  It's pretty common!

Dance party...

I came home from the gym on Saturday to find the kids dancing to a Kids Bop CD.  So, we had a little dance party... here are some of our spiffy moves.



Gracie dances an improvised form of ballet... instead of the typical on your toes spinning, she found it easier to spin on her heel.



The infamous snake move.... when he said that he does this at school when they are dancing in PE class, I thought he meant the whole class does this.  Nope, just him.... he thinks it is cool and laughs hysterically while slithering.  I tried desperately to get him to do something else, but it always turned into a slithering snake dance.

While my dancing was all over the board... from twirling with Gracie to be boppin' it with Nathan, Gracie captured this moment when Nathan was controlling me like a robot.

Dance on.

Flooding...

I'm currently sitting in the living room and House Hunters is on the television.  The couple  on this show is looking to buy a house boat.  This totally made me think of all the families here on the North East that may be wishing that they had a house boat this past week!  We got SO MUCH rain.  The water was running down our basement walls last night.  Thankfully, the sump pump did it's job and we had water flowing out of the basement quite regularly.  Others were not so lucky... flooded basements, yards, streets and cars. 

(These pictures were taken last night on Fort Belvoir... but, not by me.  I was safely tucked in my home, not out driving around)

So, now we've had an earthquake, a hurricane and flash flooding... I think I'm done for awhile.... please.

First Day of School

Today started with backpacks and raincoats...

and it ended with cupcakes after school.

It is official Nathan is in First Grade and Gracie has started PreK.  Oh, how we hope and pray that this year will be wonderful for both of them as it opens them up to new things and challenges them with new experiences.