Family Worship--Jay Style

Every evening after dinner we read from two books: Right Choices and Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. Following our reading we head into the music room for singing.

Last night, Jay gave us his own rendition of a few of the songs we sing...priceless!!

What Day is it Today?

Our trip to DC was absolutely fabulous!! Having an extended period of time to spend with Steven and Heather and Mom and Dad was both relaxing and full of excitement!

On Thanksgiving morning, Heather and I ran the Arlington Turkey Trot.

Yes, I know, it is amazing to see a photo of myself doing something athletic! But, in all honesty, running the 5K wasn't as difficult as I had imagined. I trained (and by trained, I mean ran around Silver Lake and my neighborhood) for about three months in preparation for the big day! And, as it turns out, about two thousand others were ready to run as well!

Here we are getting ready to start...

Finishing mile one...I seriously had this grin pasted on my face for the entire race!


Our running stats were recorded by these chips we tied to our shoes. Our finish time was 35:27. Not bad at all! Heather and I kept telling each other how cool we were as we ran! Sweet!

After the race we came home and got ready for Thanksgiving Dinner. In the midst of all her recipe preparations, Heather took some time out to take Christmas card photos of Josh, Jay, Asher and me. Literally, folks! How does she do it!

Anyways, the food was delicious! Heather was in prime form with the preparation and presentation!





It was great just to be together and hang out!





A couple more thoughts...Both Jay and Asher had fun with Steven and Heather. They bought Jay a Lightning McQueen car and Lightning McQueen fruit snacks, which won him over immediately! Jay enjoyed getting to know Pringles and Carly, their Yorkies, even though Pringles did not love Jay. When I was driving Jay to his doctor appointment this morning he said, "Mom, let's just stop by Steven and Heathers house. Is this Washington DC?"

Asher, being his normal, spirited self, took to the puppies right away. He loved smiling and laughing at both Steven and Heather. I would have to say though that Asher's favorite part of the visit had to be his new best friend....Mario!

Mario sat with Asher the entire way home and now resides in Asher's crib. They are about the same size and were fast friends!

Thank you for everything Heather and Steven!!!

Even though we have been home for two days, I am still out of my normal routine. I sold nine polishing cloths while we were away and I had been busy sewing and packaging. Tonight I was leaving Bible study and asked, "What day is it today?" Tuesday. Sounds good to me.

Outlet Mall!!! Finally!!

Today I had my first-ever, long-awaited trip to the Leesburg outlet mall. I know, I know, it may sound silly to be so excited about a trip to an outlet mall, but this day had been five years in the making.

In June of 2004 we came to DC with Josh's parents and sister. While we were here I saw a brochure for the Leesburg mall and instantly knew I wanted to go there. The stores are all my favorites: J.Crew, Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, Restoration Hardware and Kate Spade. All fabulous stores---at outlet prices!!! Seriously!!! During the 2004 trip I was outvoted and we did not make it to Leesburg.

While visiting Steven and Heather in August of 2006, we actually made it to the outlet mall, but never actually into the stores. It was literally 100 degrees outside and Jay was only eight weeks old. The combination meant a very, very limited shopping experience--only about an hour, which included a break to feed the baby. Not good.

Fast forward another year. In June of 2007 I knew, just knew that I would have time to shop while in DC. Unfortunately my shopping partners did not want to be there and again we were there and out in about an hour. Boooo!

But, today, after starting out with gingerbread lattes, Heather and I had a fabulous day of shopping! Our loot included light fixtures from Restoration and Pottery Barn, Miramekko fabric, Crate and Barrel dishes, and suiting (for Heather) from Benneton. What a great day, filled with great deals!!! It was everything I had been waiting for all these years!

Mount Vernon

After a few restful days at Steven and Heather's place...


We spent the day today taking in Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington.



The weather was a bit rainy, but we had fun walking the grounds. We learned that the movie National Treasure 2 was filmed at Mount Vernon, so we took a guided tour featuring locations out of the movie.




Waiting for our turn going into the mansion...


We ended the day touring the new George Washington museum, which was quite interesting.

As a side note, Heather and I went for a pre-race run this morning and we did great! We are going to rock the Turkey Trot on Thursday!!!!

Big Boy Shoes!

Last week I took Asher to get his first big boy pair of shoes. The fact that his Robees were too tight, combined with the cool temps, set me to Stride Rite.

My little guy is a size 4 already! Wow!

Asher had a ton of fun playing with the box...

and chewing on them, of course!

Before I know it he will be walking!

Happy Funny Day!

What a funny day this has been--and I LOVE funny! I laughed a lot today!

Before morning naps, we took a minute to sing Happy Birthday to Amanda! Jay wanted us to play our flutes for her, but somehow along the way, mine got taken away. There's nothing as funny as a three-year-old with flutes! He loves them!

Regardless, Happy Birthday Amanda! We love you and wish we could be there with you tonight!!!!


Also funny today were my lessons. Students came with joke after joke, which I always like!

My favorite of the night was Gabe. What a charachter! As a distraction from our usual half-hour of structured piano instruction, I taught him how to play chopsticks. He played it almost perfectly right away, and then he had an epiphany!!!

"I just had the BEST IDEA EVER!! There's a school talent show coming up! I could play chopsticks with chopsticks! Quick! Do you have any spare pens! No, seriously, Mrs. Mulvihill where are your pens?"

He then played chopsticks for me with two Bics. I was laughing so hard--it made my night! Hi-larious!

Another one of my students had a face drawn on his hand...you know, like this!

Again, funny! I couldn't stop looking at it! I'm going to draw one on my had tomorrow and see what Jay thinks! I will keep you all updated!

Halloween 2009

Halloween came in two installments this year. Friday night the boys donned their costumes and we all headed to the Wooten's Halloween party.

 

There were so many people there! Look at this picture of the kids! I love that 90% of the kids look a bit out of their element but the Schrandt kids are perfectly smiling! Too funny!


We had a lot of fun!

Yesterday night we headed to church for the Saturday night service and youth Halloween Party. Jay, Asher and I went without costumes...

But that was not the case for Josh!

 

The Pope loves football, right!

The high school worship team did the Thriller dance! It was fabulous!

Asher and Grammy

The middle and high schoolers lined the halls of the chidren's wing for the little ones to go Trick or Treating, so even though we officially didn't trick or treat, Jay still ended up with entirely too much candy. It was a fun weekend! Next year Halloween won't be on a church night so we'll probably go trick or treating-for real!