New look... quick update

As you have noticed, I had my blog redesigned by Danielle. She has been great to work with - very creative and very helpful to a very indecisive person! As of this second (12:30 am - don't ask why I am still up), my header is missing a picture of Ben. The original pictures I sent were the wrong dimensions. Ben should be included on the header soon! I've decided to hold off on renaming the blog for now. My indecisiveness carried over to the blog name, so I'm with what I have even though the blog is about our whole family.

I now officially have a first grader, a kindergartner, and a toddler.

My first grader

Ben's last day of school was yesterday and his class celebrated with an ice cream sundae party at 9:30 am. Dylan, Lily and I went up to visit and help with the party and all the kids had a great time. Dylan's school ended last week, so we are now officially on summer vacation. In the past, the boys have gone to camp for a good portion of the summer. This summer, Dylan is signed up for camp at his Montessori school for three weeks of July, but I haven't signed Ben up for anything! I'm planning to have some structured time for both of them in the morning to make sure they (especially Ben) continue to read books and work on handwriting. I will probably sign Ben up for some one week camps, but just haven't been able to motivate to do so! I really need the structure b/c this morning the kids were already driving me a little nutso in the house! Having Lily around makes it all a bit tougher. She is much more clingy for the first hour or two she's awake in the morning (and she's always kind of clingy to me), so the mornings may be challenging.

Lily continues to amaze me with her development and personality. She is such a happy little girl and she loves to imitate everything! She is shy at first, but as soon as she smiles she wins over everyone! She loves to say bye bye to people and will do it everywhere we go, always putting a smile on other people's faces. This morning at my friend Shannon's house, she was wandering out of my sight to play with the toy kitchen and other toys. She just seems so comfortable in almost everything she does - unless she is home and I'm trying to do something! :)

We are going to Northern Virginia for the weekend to visit my friend Jennifer. Jen and I began our careers together at Ernst & Young and have been good friends ever since. We had lots of fun as young professionals and enjoyed the Buckhead nightlife. Once we grew up, we were bridesmaids in each others weddings and had our first child within 6 months of each other. She and her family were living in Atlanta until her husband accepted a job in Norther Virginia this winter. I haven't seen Jen in 3 years and she has two boys of similar ages to ours, so we are very excited about the whole weekend. We are planning to go into Washington DC on Saturday morning to visit the Air and Space museum and maybe one or two monuments, since Ben did learn about them in school this year. Its supposed to be really hot outside, so we'll see how the DC visit goes. Jen lives close to Dulles airport, so we will be able to see Jeff around 8 pm instead of the usual 11 pm that we usually see him on Fridays that he returns from Germany.

I am attaching a few pictures to this email, but have so many I would like to include. Lily was really hamming it up for the camera while she ate lunch yesterday. I will do a slideshow at some point. I would love to do a collage, but can't figure out how to do it on a
Mac - anyone out there have any ideas???

Sorry for the quick, lame post, but I've got to get to bed!!!

UPDATE - obviously, Ben is now showing his toothless face in the header! :)

Lily enjoyed her first taste of pudding!

The boys trying to wet the entire driveway with watering cans!

Ben & Lily at the ice cream party

Ben's class with his teacher

Ben, Tripp and Mckinley - the three kindergarten boys in his class

Lily hamming it up for the camera. Lily took out her ponytail during her nap, but her hair doesn't know its gone yet!