Camping

Evan has been begging us to take him camping for over a year and we have just never got around to taking him for one reason or another. With the weather getting colder we knew we needed to make it happen sooner than later. We waited to tell Evan that we were going camping till he got home from school on Friday. He knew that we had a surprise for him after school. When he got home I opened up the trunk of the van and pointed to the tent, sleeping bags and lantern and asked him to guess his surprise. "Camping?!" He was so excited.

I had everything ready to go so we drove straight to the campground. Daddy got off work early and met us there for dinner. We had a delicious dinner of salmon asparagus and potatoes in a foil packet that Bennet loved (he is our resident fishmonger). I was in charge of packing it all, setting up the tent, making the fire and cooking dinner. Paul was in charge of spending the night in a tent with Evan. I think I got off easy. At 8 months pregnant sleeping in a tent did not sound like a good idea, so Bennet and I went home to sleep in our beds.

For dessert we had the traditional smore's. Evan liked the ones we made him but he had fun catching his on fire.

First Day of Kindergarten

Evan started Kindergarten this fall. On his first day he was a little nervous but was excited about his new red backpack and shoes with red shoelaces. Mommy was a little more emotional than she thought she'd be, Bennet was wondering where his big brother was all day (E'en where r uuu?), and Daddy wondered how he got so old, but it all turned out fine. Evan had a great first day and he loves riding the bus.

Moving

Old House

On the morning of July 1st, we were notified that we would no longer be able to stay at the house we had been renting for the past 5 years. Our landlords wanted it back and we had two months to find a new place to live. We were shocked and a little nervous about finding a new place, packing everything up, and moving, but after a quick and stressful search we were blessed to find a great house for our family to live in.

New House

Taking apart the crib

We decided to buy a house instead of renting again.

Daddy was really busy at work, so Mommy had to do all the packing; however, being 6 months pregnant, Daddy did all the heavy lifting. On moving day Daddy had to do all the moving also.

Evan and Bennet helped out where they could.

The Hoard

Because we had to do some renovations in the basement lots of stuff had to live in the livingroom for a while, which mommy affectionately called the hoard. Once we moved in, we wasted no time fixing it up and making this house into our home. With almost daily trips to Home Depot, Mommy has patched, repaired, sanded, and painted nearly every room in the house. It is now all coming together and we are looking forward to spending lots of happy years here.

Boy's room before

Boys room after

Evan's First Loose Tooth

Evan lost his first baby tooth today. It took mommy by surprise when he came up to her with blood on his chin holding his tooth. I asked him if he fell and knocked it out. He just said it was wiggly so he pulled it out. He is growing up so fast. I can't believe he starts Kindergarten in two weeks!

At the Pool

This summer when we didn't have people visiting us and the weather was nice, we were spending our days at the Pool. We always tried to invite our friends to come with us so we could make it even more fun. 

Bennet was our little fish who got pretty good at swimming using his puddle jumper.

Daddy would come with us on Saturdays when he wasn't too busy with work.

Evan is a more cautious swimmer and liked to stay in the 3ft zone but made a lot of progress with his swimming skills too. By the end of the Summer he could dive down and pick up objects off the bottom of the pool with his goggles on.

Silly Boy

This little boy REFUSES to go to bed/nap without his shoes on. What if someone decided to go outside!?! It is best to be prepared and ready to go at a moment's notice.

Grandpa and Grandma Kraczek come to visit

We were so excited that Grandma and Grandpa Kraczek were coming to visit us this year, we had planned a week long road trip to take them on; however, once we learned that we needed to find a new place to live, we had to shelve that adventure for another day and focus on house hunting instead. We still wanted to have a little fun while they were here, so, in between looking for houses, we took a day trip down to Jamestown, Virginia to visit the first successful English settlement on the mainland of North America.

It was a very hot day, but we had a lot of fun exploring the reconstructed Jamestown Fort and Powhatan village. We watched the "colonists" shoot a cannon. It was very loud, but exciting. We also got to climb aboard replicas of the three ships that sailed from England to Virginia in 1607. I couldn't believe how small they were considering how many people they were carrying and how long they had to be aboard during the long journey to America.

We will have to go visit Jamestown again as we didn't even have time to go see the actual Jamestown archeological site.

While Grandma and Grandpa Kraczek were visiting, we were able to celebrate Grandma Kraczek's birthday. We took Grandma to the Kennedy Center to see a concert on the Millennium stage and then out for a nice dinner with Daddy.  To top the night off, we headed back home for some birthday cake. Grandma chose a yummy lemon cake with lemon curd and fresh blueberries.

Evan also enjoyed going with Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy, and Daddy to see Peter Pan 360 at the temporary Tysons' theater.

We love our Grandparents and hope they come visit us again soon.