Alissa came to visit...

Last Thursday night my good friend Alissa came over for a visit. It had been far too long since we'd gotten together, but with her relocating to a school in Alexandria, we hope our visits will be much more often now!

It was so great to catch up with her and most importantly I got to introduce her to our little man. Adam went right to her and was even flirting a bit! So adorable.




After dinner we drank some wine and looked through all of my high school photo albums--yikes! It was quite the trip down memory lane!

Looking forward to our next get together!!

(can we say CHEESE!?) ;)

Sunday funday!

Last Sunday, Adam and I headed out to spend the afternoon with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mark, Uncle Lee, Aunt Kathleen, and cousins Olivia and Andrew! I hadn't seen Olivia in over a month and Andrew had been visiting his mom in Atlanta so we were missing him as well!

We all had fun playing with Adam and he did a great job at showing off all of his tricks! What a ham!

We also had a great afternoon visit from Sommer!! She is due with a baby girl in November and she looks great, as usual! It was so nice getting to catch up with her and I know she enjoyed being around the kiddos, just a preview of what's to come!









Days like that that make me so thankful that my family (and friends!) live so close!

Adventures in baking cinnamon rolls...

For whatever reason, I've always shied away from baking anything that required the use of yeast. I guess the whole process just seemed so complicated and so I just stuck with using pre-made doughs or recipes where yeast wasn't an ingredient. That being said, I've always wanted to learn how to make really good cinnamon rolls. My friend growing up, Cindy, her mom used to make the BEST cinnamon rolls and I know that she and her sisters have continued the tradition baking them up for their kiddos. The only problem--the yeast!



So I took advantage of having Andy's dad with us for the weekend and asked him to help me conquer my fear of yeast! (He is always baking up such yummy pizza dough, saffron rolls, etc) So Saturday night, we suited up with our aprons, rolled up our sleeves, and made homemade cinnamon rolls, yeast and all!






It was so much fun and surprisingly easy, albeit messy! :) We made two kinds, the traditional cinnamon roll and a batch of chocolate rolls (a combination of cocoa powder, sugar and Nutella!) I have to say the chocolate ones came out the best, but we learned a few things along the way that will make both batches even better the next time around!






Thanks Poppy for being our instructor for the evening! I look forward to many Sunday mornings filled with the yummy smell of fresh baked cinnamon rolls in the oven and who knows, maybe someday Adam will be talking about those yummy rolls his mom used to make! ;)

Feelin Crabby...

Ok, so not really feeling crabby, but we did have a very "crabby" day on Saturday! Andy and Poppy were up before the crack of dawn and out on the Wye River by 6:30 to catch us some crabbies!!





And catch they did! I don't think we ever got an official "claw" count, but we're thinking we enjoyed over two dozen. You can't beat enjoying a practically free crab feast on a hot summer day! And better yet, they did all the picking! (well, I did pick a crab or two, but preferred playing with Adam while they big boys did all the work!) :)







We even got to enjoy more crab meat last night in the form of my Grandmom's crab dip! So good!

Thanks Andy and Poppy for hauling in such a crabby load!! Watching all those episodes of "Deadliest Catch" really paid off! :)

Let's go Redskins!

Fall can't come soon enough and by fall, I mean football season! We are craving football games in our house and while VT football is top on our list, the Redskins are a very close second. With the pre-season getting underway tonight, we thought it was time to bust out our (in some cases new) Redskins gear and celebrate the (almost) beginning of fall!




Poppy is also here to enjoy the first pre-season game with us and Adam was so happy to see him and even showed off all of his new tricks for him.





Now, let's see if the Redskins are as talented as Adam...

Sandy Adam...

Last week's beach vacation was so fantastic! We ate amazing food, played cards, read, relaxed, and most importantly, spent a ton of time with Adam.

It's amazing the difference that two months can make. He really was a lot more active but at the same time, much more sure of himself and anxious to actually play in the sand. The last trip, I was far more cautious about him getting in the sand as he automatically wanted to put everything in his mouth. Aside from a few fingers in the mouth this time, his mouth really did stay sand free, and that meant we were really able to let him explore and enjoy the beach!










From making sand castles with Uncle Mark (ok, Mark made the castles and Adam knocked them down) to crawling non-stop for about 30 minutes all over the beach, to actually enjoying the surf, I'd say that Adam is officially a beach bum! :)



Here's to planning next year's beach trips!! :)

Family beach portraits...

Aside from helping with Adam our extra helpers were also quite handy when it came to snapping family photos! :) Thanks mostly to Mark for having his camera out and ready to capture lots of great family time!

Happy birthday Mark!

Yesterday we got to celebrate Mark's birthday right here at the beach. He couldn't have asked for a better day. He got to play in the sand and build a little sand castle with Adam, he played ladder golf and swam and threw the frisbee with Andy, I made a yummy shrimp and scallop pasta dinner, and we finished the evening off with his favorite, a sherbet cake! Adam even gave Uncle Mark a great new Polo shirt to match all of his!









Happy birthday to a great brother and an even better uncle!! :)