Carolyn turned 1 last weekend! Severin and Colleen just bought a nice 4 bedroom house, my friend Amanda had a baby boy in March, my friend Kelli bought a house last fall and I hadn't been "home" for a year and a half. With so many things to see, I just had to get back East for a visit. Flying with both kids, sans Mike was an adventure - really it was a nail biting pain in the you know what - but we survived!. Jak has no desire to sit in one spot for 10 minutes let alone 4 hours! Without the help of a fellow adult on the plane next to me, I checked my needs at the gate and focused only on what the kids wanted (within reason!) for 4 straight hours and some how made it through. The surrounding passengers were full of compliments so we must have held it together! I will always help single parents on airplanes...mark my words!
First Let's talk about Carolyn:
Carolyn, like her slightly older cousin Keira, tries real hard to keep up with Lillian and Jak.
The kids loved Carolyns new water table from the Hanou Side of the family - even when we filled it with rice they had a ball!
Uncle Severin just bought a canoe. Just think how much fun it will be in water!
I love the contrast of Carolyns bright red hair with the green tunnel. She's a cutie!
Next we visited Amanda, Jay and thier newborn Andrew James Luksis:
He's perfect and Lillian was so proud to show she could hold him like a big girl.
I love this picture, when Lillian does something she is especially proud of she sticks her tongue in the corner of her mouth and has this expresssion.
Lillian and Jak have always been close but this trip just sealed the deal! They will always have a friend...
Finally, a few pics of our girls night at Kelli's new house:
As usual, I'm kicking myself for not taking enough pictures of my girlfriends. I always have the camera ready when there's a cute kid moment - but when they're out of sight - this photographer is off duty!
This is me and my college roommate and best girlfriend, Jen. She's an angel, driving 3 hours down from Rehobeth, Delaware to spend 7 hours with me. I enjoyed every minute of it!
Friends since the early 80's....crazy how time flies but some things don't change.
Love hugs from Margalicious!
And here's a few other pics of random things we did while in Maryland:
Sev and Colleen had a great house warming party!
The ball I got at the grocery store didn't last very long, but at least we found other creative uses for it!
Great weather for the party!
The Shane's graciously included us in Steve's birthday soiree. As you can see they've already uncovered their beautiful backyard pool. Guess who wanted to take a dip in that freezing cold pool all evening!!!
Several times we caught him by the seat of his pants, literally!
Lillian's in a "Momma, take my picture" phase and I'm loving it! She really liked this little chair in the Raia's play room. I think Daddy would like one in his size too!
Grammie, the kids and I snuck in a lot of playground time.
We didn't wait in the 1 hour + long line to see the new baby panda, but we did snap a great picture of Grammie, Opa and the kids at the DC Zoo.
I'm sure if Mom really looked she could find a picture of herself with her four kids at this very site. The National Zoo entrance has looked the same since I can remember!
Carolyn's uncle Steve is so nice to let Lillian share in the birthday boys favorite part of the day! She's using an excuse possible to help blow out birthday candles to prepare for her big day in a couple of weeks!
