Picnic at Kinder Park with the family

Everyone hanging out at the table

the cousins playing with sticks

Jake coming down the slide

Goofing around and chasing each other

Leah and Uncle Matt

Me and my baby girl =)

Hailey and one of her favorites!

June 2009

June was an exciting month, and a busy one! We took frequent trips to downs park to play, and sometimes cook out too! We also visited family in Pennsylvania and took a week-long trip to Ocean City with a LOT of family! Oh and of course, our first family camping trip to Cunningham Falls in Western, Maryland.

We absolutely LOVE downs park! It is in Pasadena, MD and is right on the water. There is a very nice playground and plenty of area to explore. The kids loved watching people fish off the pier, chase after lizards, and throw rocks in the water from the beach... and of course, just run around! We took a couple of trips there alone, and some with friends and family to cook out.

Our trip to Pennsylvania was quite impromptu, but a lot of fun! We started off the adventure with a stop at Valley Forge Park to learn some history and explore. Then we went to visit cousins and lots of family! We saw most of my family on my mom's side and of course my brother, Mike and sister, Heather! Jake and Aidan are best friends, and love spending as much time together as possible! They are going to be future trouble makers together, haha! =) Hailey LOVES babies, so of course she loves visiting "baby Chase" and "baby Michael." Although, Michael is not really a baby anymore and sometimes she seems him as competition. =)

Our second trip to Ocean City this year was spent with most of my family on my dad's side. 3 Aunts, 12 cousins, 9 little cousins! It was a lot of fun and so good to spend time with family we don't get to see very often. We had a crab and spagetti feast at the beach house, lots of trips to the beach, and even an evening trip to go ghost-crabbing on the beach with flash lights! Oh and we did family pictures, which turned out so cute!

Camping was a lot of fun, and the weather was amazing. The kids had so much fun hiking and playing in the woods, and of course climbing up the falls and swimming in the water. We will definitely be taking many more camping trips, maybe even this fall! We bought a bunch of new camping gear, and had a lot of fun trying it out. The kids enjoyed searching the woods for sticks and firewood, and just to explore. We did forget the futon mattress to sleep on, so it wasn't the most comfortable sleeping conditions, but we managed! We expected the kids to be completely exhausted early from hiking and playing, but it turns out we were more tired than them! So we decided to go for a ride to Gettysburg. It was really neat and the kids fell asleep in the car, so we just moved them to the tent and Matt and I sat by the fire and relaxed and spent time together. All in all, June was an awesome month! Enjoy the pics...

Playing at the top of the falls!

Hailey and Daddy chillin' =)

Half way up the falls... taking a snack break

Mom's kids and grandchildren (minus a few)

The Kanaly Family!

Cousins on the beach

Jonathan's Elementary school graduation

Father's Day at Down's Park

Hailey and Grandpa roasting marshmallows

Me, Matt and Dad

Dinner at the diner with my cousins!

Snuggling with G-G-Pa =)

Jake locking G-G-Pa up hahaha

cousin bath time

Little Chase having some tummy time

The covered bridge at Valley Forge

The houses that our military slept in that cold winter in Valley Forge

Silly time at Downs Park

Climbing the rocks

P.S.- I have WAY too many pics to pick just a few for each month! =) Just in June alone, I took 1500 pictures! Can you tell I love taking pictures of my kids??

May 2009

Hey Everyone! I have been so behind in blogging this summer, so I am going to update month by month what we have been up to... with a few pictures, of course! In May I had surgery to remove my gallbladder because it was filled with gallstones and causing me some pain. I am blessed to have my wonderful sister Heather, who drove down from Pennsylvania to take my kids for two nights so that I could recover. The recovery took me by surprise and was a little harder than I expected, so Heather's help was greatly appreciated!!!

Mother's day weekend we were supposed to go camping, but it ended up being a very rainy weekend and the camping trip was postponed to June. May was mostly spent relaxing and hanging out with friends and family! We did take a long weekend trip to the beach... and an evening to the carnival with Grandpa, Jonathan, Tyler, and Elisabeth. The boys are getting older, so of course they met up with their friends at the carnival. I guess we're not as cool to them as we were when they were toddlers! =) Anyway, enjoy the pics of our adventures in May!

My handsome man

My little bathing suit model =)

Jake and Chloe playing in the pool

On the beach with my hubby =)

Throwing rocks in OC

Pool and water guns! They were so excited for the warm weather

Fixing the fence with their cousin Aidan =)

Sleepy Jacob

This weekend the kids stayed with Aunt Heather, Uncle Jason and their cousin Michael while mommy and daddy had a weekend away with Matt's friend Jacob (from the army). They had so much fun and even got to go to a baseball game and jungle wonder (an indoor play area)! Of course they were absolutely exhausted by the time we got back, but still very excited to see us! Here is a pic of Jake on the drive home.... 

Sassy a.k.a. Hailey =)

My "baby" Hailey is getting too big too fast! I feel like she is going to be a teenager, dating and getting ready to go off to college before I know it! Me, matt and my entire family call her sassy because she has this cute little sassy attitude to her. She cracks us up and her and Jake love each other so much. This morning they were going to play at grandma's house.. freezy pops, baby pool, and baking cookies... and she was a little sad to leave me. So Jake, being the wonderful big brother he is, kept telling her how much fun they were going to have and how they are going to see mommy later. =) I love my kids so much! Anyway, here are a few pics of our sassy little girl...

Baby Ella

My friend, Danielle gave birth to a beautiful baby girl this week, Ella Pierina Shriner! She is absolutely adorable and they are all home and settling in. I was able to go up to the hospital both nights to visit little Ella and her mommy and of course hold and cuddle the baby! Here are a few pics from my two visits...

Easter

This Easter we were able to spend it with the entire family at my mom's house! Jacob and Hailey did an Easter egg hunt with their cousins in mom's back yard. We had so much fun, but we completely forgot to get a picture of all the cousins like we planned to! My camera battery also died, so I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted to, but hopefully Mom and Heather will share their pictures with me! 

     Here are a few of our pictures...

Getting ready for the summer....

So to get ready for the summer, we went out and bought a few new summer outfits and of course- Sunglasses!!! The kids love taking pictures on the computer, and loved modeling their new shades, haha! We just can't wait to get to the beach so we can play in the sand and put our sunglasses to good use! Here are a few of our pictures...