Our house can't get any warmer....

No we aren't suffering from an early heat wave.  And no our A/C isn't broken.  But we did have a REALLY good house warming party (almost a full year after moving in). It was so good in fact that we forgot to take any pictures!  We were so blessed to have about 100 friends, family and neighbors join us!  The taco bar was a big hit to all who ate and a success in my book - because - I didn't have to work at all during the party!  Of course, we'll be eating tacos for the rest of the summer cause I made way too much!
Here's a few recent photos - not taken during the house warming party but, to help keep this post interesting!

Q

Three!

When Lillian woke up on Friday, May 9th....I said, "Do you know what today is?"  Her eyes got bright and she said, "My birthday?"  Then right away she said, "Can I go see it on the calendar?"  She and Mike have been turning the months forward on the calendar and counting the days til her birthday since Februaury!  FINALLY, it was her big day!
She couldn't wait to go to school.  She said Miss Stacey and Miss Shelly were going to let her be line leader, and sit on their lap for storytime and all sorts of other special priveledges!  We sent fresh fruit and whipped cream in for snack.
After school, Holden, Everett and Keira met us at Jumpin' Jordy's to bounce then came back to the house for dinner and birthday cake.  Saturday morning, Lillian's cousins and 3 of her 4 best friends came over for her birthday party.  We kept it small because Lillian was so specific about only wanting, "Mia and Sophia and Hannah and Marek". It was perfect weather for a party!  Thank god Grammy and Opa were in town - we never would have had our yard and house ready for a party without their help!  We had several hail storms last week - the backyard was a mess!

Maryland! Or as Lillian says Marlaland!

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!

Family Mountain Fun...

FINALLY, I think our kids are ready for some outdoor mountain experiences!  Mike and I really miss our mountain time. While we won't be hiking or skiing like we used to anytime soon, we'll settle for some fresh air, sunshine and clean mountain living anyway it comes! Easter Sunday, we took the kids to White Ranch Park.  Mike and I couldn't believe how well they hiked!  Jak's little legs were giving out on him after 45 minutes but he refused to let us carry him.  He kept on running, all the while grinning ear to ear!

Easter Fun

The kids had a whopping four Easter Egg Hunts this year.  The neighborhood hunt was early on April 6th.  It was a gorgeous sunny morning, but wouldn't you know it, at 12:30 when the hunt was about to start....a big dark cloud came over us and it snowed like crazy.  This was Jaks first experience with this fun, holiday tradition, so he couldn't quite understand why we were outside at the playground in the snow!  

The Easter Bunny visited the Wooden Shoe last Friday, and the kids came home with quite a goodie bag!  Then Saturday morning, they got to come to momma's work and hunt for eggs for all the "old folks" to witness.  It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a great turnout.  

Finally, Easter morning, the kids awoke to a backyard full of hard-boiled and candy filled plastic eggs.  Lillian came out of her skin when she spied the first egg out the kitchen window!  By this time,  Jak had really caught on to what this holiday tradition was all about, and he gave Lillian a run for her money!

Momma Mia!

Oh how much we love Mia in this house these days!  Lillian's current best friend from school, Mia, is a sweetheart.  Lillian frequently, calls me "Mia...I mean mommy.."  Mia's birthday party last weekend was all we could talk about for the days preceding it.  Followed by, "when I turn 3, I want Mia and Marek and Sophia and Hannah to come to my house".  Mia's little sister, Zoe is in Jaks class and they really get along too!  Happy 3rd birthday Mia!