Happy Birthday Shannon!!

Shannon turned 12! She is so happy to be in the Young Women Program!Shannon requested German Cholocate Cake and Sheperd's Pie for her birthday dinner. She received her birthday gift early this year.....His name is Drake!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

Week 1 with Drake....

Jason with his new baby.... (Breaking the rules already..

he is not allowed on the furniture!)

Drake and Toby (his brother from the previous litter) playing

Drake decided he likes sleeping and sitting in my TV cabinet.

Week one....it has been fun! The girls and I picked him up last Saturday.

We had a 1.5 hour drive home and with potty breaks for Drake and the girls, it took us about 2.5 hours to get home. We had lots of visitors. Drake was very sad on Sunday and missed his litter mates, so we asked Debbie if she could bring Toby over. Drake was VERY happy to see him. Drake, in an effort to find his spot in our family, took it upon himself to insert himself above Kellie. We had to buy him a stuffed animal that was a little bigger than him that he could "dominate". He loves his stuffed dog and has been placed under Kellie and above the stuffed dog.

Jason has been sleeping on the couch at night so he can take "his baby" out for a potty break in the middle of the night. We hear that in a few weeks he will be able to sleep all night without a trip outside. I was a nice wife on Wednesday and let Jason get a good nights rest. Drake decided that he wanted to play from 11:30 pm to 1:15 am. He was running around the kitchen like crazy! He is getting better. Last night he was only up twice!

As many of you know all of my girls play the violin. Drake was dead asleep and Kaitlyn began practicing her violin. He jumped up, ran to the gate , and started barking and howling at her! He only does this when Kaitlyn and Kellie practice (they are still a little screechy and scratchy). He apparently has a good ear for music....He enjoys Shannon's playing.

My nanny duties are going well. ( I am Drake's Nanny from 8:30 to 3 pm) I stayed home the first few days so that he could get used to us and our house. Now I have to plan my activities around Drake. It usually works out, but I was really busy this morning. It was pouring and I misplaced my umbrella. Drake was taking his time going potty. So, I am standing outside my house in the pouring rain with a Ledo's Pizza box over my head waiting for Drake to stop rolling in the puddles and go potty! I called Jason and told him he was going to have to pay me extra today for standing in the rain!

All kidding aside, Drake is very cute and we love him! He just cracks me up! He always sleeps on his back in this weird position that can't be comfortable. We look forward to all of our new adventures!

And the winner is........

DRAKE! After a total of 55 votes, Drake has 22 votes or 40%. Thanks to everyone who voted! Jason is happy that his favorite name won!

On Friday, the Girls, Ms. Debbie, Toby (Ms. Debbie's Dog from the previous litter ) went to visiti the puppies. In the 3rd picture, Toby stuck his head in and all the puppies rushed over to say hello to him. It was so cute! The owners said we can bring Drake home next weekend! We will keep you updated!

New Puppy

As many of you know, Jason and the Girls have been trying to talk me into getting a dog for YEARS! I always had good excuses/reasons (little kids, not enough room, we lived in a townhouse ect). I am now officially out of excuses. I knew I would loose the battle eventually, I just didn't know when. As you know, my girls are obsessed with dogs. Their favorite game is still pretending to be different dogs they know.

The Surprise...... Jason and I decided that there are very few surprised left in this world, so we would do our best to make it a good one. We made all of the arrangements for Sunday after church. We packed clothes and lunches so we could leave just after church was over. It is about a 1.5 hr drive to VA to see the puppies. We told the girls that we were going to look at a house to buy. When we arrived, the girls were thrilled to see that the owners had a few grown dogs. Then Paula mentioned that they had puppies.....They went nuts! Then Jason said "Girls, do you think they would let us keep one?"

They just flipped out.....They were sooo excited. (I did capture this moment on video, but I have to figure out how to upload it to the blog...this may take some time...)

We had 3 boys to choose from. We ended up picking the Orange collared puppy. We will be able to bring home our new addition on April 3rd. We are very excited! We have not decided on a name as of yet, but we are working on a few. I will post a poll so you can help us decide!

We will keep you updated!

Snow Day

So much for Global Warming! On Sunday Evening (March 2nd), I received the dreaded call cancelling school on Monday due to a significant snow storm (for MD). After all the snow had fallen, we received about 10 inches. The kids had a great day off and enjoyed sledding in the back yard. Here is a picture of our winter wonderland back yard.
How many more weeks of Winter do we have???

Friends.....

On Friday Feb 13th Ami Cragun came to visit us! I told the kids that Sister Cragun was coming to visit and they cheered and screamed for joy. They were so happy to get to see The Craguns (including the kids).....Then I had to clarify that just Ami was coming.....Then came the tears....All of my kids were crying and asking why oh why can't Garret, Kenley, Adi and Ava and Tim) come? They didn't quite understand that this visit was just for the mom's. They did eventually get over it and welcomed Ami with open arms.



We were so excited to start our visit or as Jason called it, our "Restaurant Tour". Ami came in on Friday night. We met up with some friends (Deni, Amy, Angie, Ami, Jennifer and Katie) at the Pomo Grille. This was one of our favorite spots for Dining Divas. They have such great food.! We had a wonderful evening.







Saturday was also a very full day. We started off at Jazzercise. (Ami was the one who introduced me to Fabulous Jazzercise. I will forever be grateful to her for that). Saturday Feb 14th was officially named "Ami Cragun" day. Everyone was very happy to see her again. Many people asked if she had moved back...sadly she had to say no.

Next we were off to the the Mall. Yes, shopping sweet shopping! Shoes, clothes you name it we looked at it! We both ended up with a few new item. We hit our favorite Restaurant Chevy's for lunch.

















We decided to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. It was cute.



Sunday we went to church and had a visit from Laura and JoEllen. What a treat! They brought lunch and we caught up on life.


Monday - We went to Jazzercise and then went to lunch at Ruby Tuesdays with friends. Then it was time to say goodbye... It all went by so fast!



I wish she would just move back and make my life the way it was, but that isn't how life works. I guess I am supposed to be learning some lesson about friends because all of you continue to move away from me (you know who you are). It was wonderful to have Ami here just like old times. I am grateful for the opportunity to have her come even if it was just for a few day. I will count my blessings and be grateful for the short time we had. I am truly blessed to have such great friends in my life!



Thanks to all of my friends and family who love us for who we are, visit and keep in touch with us. Friends and family are the best part of life! Thanks for being part of mine!

The Challenge......

I am new to Middle School Orchestra, but I am learning. In September, Shannon had to audition for her seat in one of the two Orchestras. Shannon earned her spot in the Advanced Orchestra 1st Violin Section seat 5. She is the only 6th grader in the 1st Violin section. Well, there is something called a Challenge. In January, other kids in the orchestra get to "Challenge" other kids in the Orchestra for their higher seat. You don't have to challenge someone, but if you are challenged, you have to learn the music, audition and defend your seat. Shannon was challenged by two other students, a 7th and 8th graders. Shannon was nervous and her Violin teacher also teaches one of the students who was challenging her. This added to the suspense of whether she would keep her seat. It took 2 weeks for us to find out the results. Thur hard work and performing her best, she successfully defended her 5th chair violin seat! We are very proud of her!

Family Visits

Everyone loves to have family visit. Over Thanksgiving break we were lucky to have Emily and Matt, Ken and his family, and Aaron come to visit. We went to Buddy's Crabs and Ribs and helped Matt truly experience MD by eating crabs. We also did some sight seeing at Arlington National Cemetery. It was really COLD!!

Concerts

This was the first concert of the season (fall Yes, I know I am behind).

The middle school played at a county music festival.

We had a very busy Christmas Concert Season. Shannon tried out for the All County Orchestra. She made it and this started our CRAZY concert season. First we had All County, then the Middle School "Winter" concert and then Shannon and Kaitlyn played with the Suitland Strings Children's Orchestra at the Washington DC Temple Visitors Center. They also played in Church the Sunday before Christmas. It was a lot of fun and it is good for the girls to share their talent. (Kaitlyn started playing in July).

(Kate Slade, Shannon, Kaitlyn and Deni McMurray, the Girls Violin teacher)

Fall and Halloween

Fall - What a wonderful time of year.

Kellie went on a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch and picked out pumpkins for everyone.

Halloween: : The Girls had fun trick or treating in the neighborhood. We went to Boyd's house around 9 pm. Apparently we stayed too long for Kaitlyn. She sat at the table and fell asleep!

Oh to be 13 Again!

When I was a tween I loved New Kids on the Block. I went to 3 of their concerts in a 2 year period. Yes, I know this is shocking and something you did not know about me. I had to dig a little but I found a picture of me from 1989 (I am on the left) with my NKOTB shirt and jean shorts we customized with fabric paint. Oh the days with nothing to do.

Well back in June, I found out that the New Kids were getting back together. So, my friend Veronica and I decided that we should go to the concert. Why not???

We purchased tickets to the show. We were lucky to get tickets in the 12th row!!! It was great to remember the songs and sing along.

We did find it funny how the concert from 1989 was different from 2008.

1. We drove ourselves there

2. There were married and pregnant fans.

3. People were still buying the T-shirts for $40!! (I did not)

4. Alcohol was being sold.

All in all, it was a good time. I think it is important to just go out and do something fun.