Our first few adventure in Virginia

We live about five minutes away from the Air and Space Dulles Smithsonian. It houses the Discovery Space Shuttle, and many other planes from many different times. We decided it would be our first adventure. It was busy since it was a special weekend, but really cool. They also have a air control tower that you can see plans landing and taking off from Dulles. I can honestly say that the Discovery Space Shuttle was amazing. We will be going back. We also got to see the Piper Cub Airplane.  When we had Piper I think a million people when they heard her name asked if my husband was a pilot and my brother even called her Piper Cub for while.  Fun fact is when they flew the Discovery in the elementary school the kids will go to had an outside day just to watch it fly over. Here are some of the pictures

Moving to Virginia

Well on June 7th a new adventure in our lives started.  We moved to Virginia.

God has been preparing us for sometime, but we really thought it would never happen.  I had started nursing school and loving it.  We never thought Brian's work would come up with the numbers for us to move and maintain our same lifestyle, but the numbers we prayed for were the exact numbers that they came up with.  So in January we decided we were going to move.  We had to get our house ready to sell and put it up for sale in February and ended up selling it in a week and half.  We got the exact price felt like we needed to sell it for. The week it sold was the same week we got to go on our house hunting trip in Virginia.  We saw some great house, but none just jumped out at us.  However, we found one we really liked and were about to make an offer when our realtor said there was a house that just came on the market today would you like to go see it.  We said sure.  We walked into our house and it was home!  It was at the very high limit of our budget, but we would not have to do anything.  The great thing is we would not have to do anything to it.  So we went for it and got it.

We closed on our house in Texas on May 4th.  We moved into an apartment for the next month until the kids finished school.  The Hills was having their Sports Camp the week right after school was out and so we decided to stay and the kids had a great time doing basketball (Christian) and Art (Piper). 

We made an amazing decision and decided to let the kids stay with grandparents for a week while Brian and I get unpacked ect.  We got so much done that week and almost everything unpacked by the time the kids got here.

I flew and picked up the kids in Tulsa and we flew back the next day.  The kids loved the house, but that night as they went to bed both of them broke down in tears and so did we.  I think reality kicked in and they realized their friends were not here.  We have had a few sad moments, but the kids love our alley in the back where all the kids play.  There are a lot of kids in the neighborhood and Piper has really bonded with the girl next door, Vivian.  I just wish we could find a little boy that Christian would love.  I don't know if anyone will compare to Nevin and Mason Harwood.

Here is a picture of the move and the massive amounts of paper and boxes.  However, as I am writing this- all but one box is unpacked!

Sking 2010

We had a great time sking. It was mine and the kids first time to ski. Brian had not been since he was 19 or 20. The first day we got there checked into our condo, which was amazing. Brian and I said it was almost nicer than our house. It had granite counter tops and a fully stocked kitchen. The kids really enjoyed sleeping together in a room with 2 twin beds. Brian's mom decided not to come so we had an extra bedroom. The next day we just tried to figure out where everything was, rented our skis, ect. We played in the snow a lot and just had a great time together. The third day the kids and I went to ski school. The kids had a great first day!! I had an instructor that was not that great just said do this and didn't really give any individual instruction. We are going up on the mountain after lunch and turned to him to say "How do I get off the ski lift?" His answer was you stand up and ski right down. I fell down getting off and one of my skis came off and a total stranger helped me get them back on not my instructor. After I was crying my instructor decided to give me off to another instructor for a private lesson. He was patient and amazing. The insteresting part about both of these men and the 3 or 4 others I met is all of them were over 60 and this was their retirement job. The private lesson went extremely good and at the end of the day on the last run down the bunny slope was "I think I saw a smile that time." I was still a little nervous to go up with Brian the next day. However, we dropped the kids off at ski school and we were off and I got off of the chairlift better this time with a little help from my honey. He helped me and was extremely patient. I was hurting and fell a couple of time and decided to take a break while he went and skied a little more. I decided I would give it another try and it was much more relaxed and fun this time. I said we could come back sking at some point in time. The second day of ski school both kids got to go up on the mountian with their teachers. Christian fell a lot and was not sure about going again the next day. We decided on the third day that Brian would go up with Piper first and Christian and I would stay down and then Brian would switch kids. We were not sure how hard or easy it would be with them. Brian took Piper up and came down and said I can take both of them. He took both of them on 2 runs. Brian said they were both awesome. They will be happy to tell you they are better than mommy. Brian had to make Christian play follow the leader with Piper so he would not go too fast. I have never seen Brian beeming so much as when he came off the mountain with them except maybe the day they were born. We went back to the condo every night and enjoyed a dinner and games-I think the kids favorite was probably yatzee. The last night we went to Fat Boy's Pizza and went in a few shops on the town. We headed back for the last night in the condo. The trip back we made in record time because I think we only stopped to go to the bathroom twice and stopped to eat once. We didn't stop one time from Amarillo to our house-5 and 1/2 hours. We had an amazing time!!!

The view from our condo

Good Night Things

Christian started a ritual of good night things before he goes to bed.  It started out with just a hug and a kiss, but has progressed into much much more.  It is also a stalling tactic to lengthen good night time.  Good Night things include:
Kiss
Hug
Eskimo kiss
Butterfly kiss
high five
zurburt
tickle
goobble up
scratch your back
big fat whoopin

Piper has now picked up on the stalling tactic and started doing it too.

It really is just sweet moments with our kids and just don't know how long it will last.

Christian got his first argument from one of his books

Christian has started a trend in his kindergarten class to make and bring in their own books.  A few weeks ago he brought in a book called All Kinds of Race Cars.  One of the race cars was a police car and a little boy said that is not a race car.  They talked about it, but nothing happened.  A few days ago this little boy brought in a book called Police Cars are NOT race cars.  It was too funny!

My little Christian and his books

I am going to write more often than I have and this is one of those times.  Christian for about a year has loved to make books.  He made a series of superhero books with only pictures and the story changed everytime he read it, but today he got home from school and usually we veg out in front of some TV for a little bit.  We rode bikes for awhile and then he came inside and worked on a book for an hour or more.  This was his first  book with real words.  It is titled Jungle Animals.  It is about an alligator that tells everyone to eat blueberries and all the animals do and they all turn blue.  It is so cute.  He is one of the most creative 5 year olds I know.  I pray God helps me to learn to funnel that energy into something great.

Six Flags 2010

We went to six flags for the first time as a family on June 10th.  It was really awesome.  The crowds were light so we only waited about 3 minutes max for any ride and as soon as we got off of one our kids said can we do that again.  So most of them we got to do twice.  The great thing was Christian is right at 42 inches and Piper is not quite 48 so they both got to ride everything that was not over 48 inches.  The kids loved all the roller coasters and had a blast screaming all the way.  I guess it is the only time that we tell them they can scream.  We brought a change of clothes and let them do Aquaman Splashdown twice and then changed into dry clothes.  I think one of the kids favorites was the Vegro-It is kind of like bobsledding.  I am scared to go back because in just a year or two they can ride some scary things.

We had an amazing time and more memories to cherish.

The bad thing is we got home and Shadow had gotten sick and had diarreha all over the house.  It got cleaned up, but we were all tired and ready for bed.