Saturday, August 29, 2015

Second Grade

way back in the olden days when i was in school, we didn't start until after labor day. but, these days, here in the good ol' south, we start in the middle of august! what a bummer!
again this year, roman has a brand new teacher. she is brand new to the school, but has been teaching for a while. her name is mrs. brock.
they had an open house the day before the first day, so toby took ro in to meet his teacher and drop off his supplies. he also got this really neat stack of books to bring home and have mom cover for him. seriously, how is he old enough to have this many books? on another note, his reputation must preceed him since his desk is right up front, center spot!

this boy is growing way too fast, right?

of course, we have to have little sister in the picture too.

and then, she wanted to hold the sign by herself, but he couldn't resist photobombing. hilarious!

i'm a lucky momma since i got to take him on his first day. he sits next to his good friend, logan and they were having fun getting settled.

 

looking so studious

i must be in denial about how fast he is growing up. i just refuse to believe it. i can't believe i have a second grader.

roman, i pray that you have a wonderful year in second grade, that you learn a lot, are kind to others are let God use you to do great things.

 

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Celebrating Us

our 10th anniversary is coming up really soon and we decided to get away for a weekend about a month early to celebrate. we didn't go too far and for me that is key because i still get really nervous about being too far away from the kids. not because we don't have great family to take care of them, just because i have anxiety and knew i wouldn't have too much fun if we were too far away. so we went to savannah, ga, which is only about 30 minutes away (yay).

we went to dinner on friday night and then took a quick walk down river street and took a pedicab back to the hotel.

when we were at dinner on friday night, i shared my surprise "gift" with toby. for many years, i have said that would not get a tattoo. simply because i couldn't think of anything that i needed to have permanently on my body. however, i had a change of heart and decided that it would be a really great bonding experience to get matching tattoos for our anniversary and show toby how much he means to me.

so, on saturday, here i sat. waiting for our appointment to begin. very nervous. not having second thoughts, but just unsure of what it would end up looking like. i had drawn up a sketch and sent it to the artist 2 weeks before. but, i knew it would need tweaking, and that made me nervous. toby seemed to think my nervousness was hilarious and decided to take my picture.

finally, the time arrived and i went through with it. and yes, it hurt. but, not that bad, and for not that long. i mean, come on...i've had 2 kids. this is NOT THAT BAD.

toby ended up getting his on his bicep and mine is on the inside of my ankle. we both got them on our left side, the side you wear your wedding rings. as you can see, it's an infinity symbol and the words are "con te partiro" which is our wedding song and it means "i will go with you" in italian. obviously, the hearts are for the babies we love so much. it was toby's idea to color them in blue and pink. so, something i never thought i would do, i really did it. and i love it.

that night, we spoiled ourselves and took a carriage ride around the historic areas in savannah. it was really cool to see the town squares and old buildings and hear all of the history they hold.

i could do that every night. and the weather was gorgeous. very nice for a southern august night.

we walked down river street again and had a late dinner. we people watched and had a great time together.

it was so nice to get away (not so far away) and celebrate us. time has flown by and i can't believe we've been married 10 years. i would do it all over again. there is nobody that makes me laugh as hard or makes me feel as loved. love you, babe!

 

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Visiting Millers

we've made the trip to delaware two times this summer, and it sure was nice to see our family, but that trip is a tough one. especially so close together. so, we were super pumped when uncle josh, aunt colleen, lilah and ady made the trip down to see us a couple weeks ago. we know how hard that car ride can be on little ones and we sure are grateful that they were able to come down.
this little hot mess was waiting for me when i got home on thursday after work!
and it seems like she was very thirsty when we went to dinner.
which kids had been up at 1am and in the car all day? betcha you can pick them out!
one thing we really love about being with family is that we don't have to do anything fancy. we just like to hang out with each other. a little disney channel on the big bed, and they are happy!
or a little disney channel on the small phone...ady will even sit with uncle toby for that one!


we don't need a big pool...we will just play in our baby pool in the backyard!
and take a golf cart ride to feed the ducks.

then head to the park.
the boys did want to do something a little more risky though. they headed above the island for a helicopter ride.




us ladies will keep our feet on the ground, thankyouverymuch!
time for some backyard wrestling, i guess.
 that's s'more like it.

on sunday, grandpa and grandma came to visit and we remembered to get a picture before they left.
thank you guys for coming all the way to sc to see us, we sure did enjoy our visit!

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Unplanned Trip

on july 21, toby got a phone call from his sister letting him know that there had been a family tragedy. his cousin, jennifer, had been killed. so, of course, we packed up and headed up to delaware to be with his family and try to help out in any way we could.

how much easier can it get for these kids? we drive and they get their own personal movie theater in the back!

the first full day there, we all piled in the car to go hang out with toby's family and uncle pete (jennifer's dad) at their beach trailer.

and we left them all there! we were happy to have a night to ourselves...that rarely happens. so, we took a quick trip down memory lane. and yes, we started at wawa. no wawas in the south. such a tragedy.

this townhouse with the light on is the first home that we shared together. my friend, lori, owned it and after she moved out, toby moved in with me. we brought our duke dog home there and i have such fond memories of it. one thing i really remember was sitting in that front living room and crying while watching tv all afternoon on 9/11/01.

then, we drove by the bar where we had our first "date". except, back then, it was named Porky's. so classy, i know! basically, mike and missi set us up and we all went out that night and have been inseparable ever since.

then, we headed down main street in newark. i think it is so pretty at night with all the restaurants lit up. we parked and walked up and down both sides of the street. we even stopped at Margarita's Pizza shop and had a slice.

we took the kids to a candlelight vigil that jen's friends organized at her home. i thought that it was super sweet when roman signed the picture of jen. he wrote, "i love you jen, love roman". he has the biggest heart.

this was such a sweet way to remember jen and we got to see a lot of her friends. that was nice because we only got to see her at christmas time each year and we were both happy to know that she lived life to the fullest and was very loved.

a little fun back at mimi's house.

this was a pictured posted at jen's funeral.

we saw a resemblence in that picture...do you?

RIP Jennifer Fertig. You are loved.

 

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Bye Bye Boat

for the last few years, we have not been using the boat like we wanted to. even with it being at a marina all summer and just having to make a call to put it in the water, we just weren't taking advantage of it. the kids are getting older and busier, and we are on the go a lot more often. so, we decided to sell the boat. toby had it tuned up and we worked really hard to get it clean. we had it looking really shiny and new and toby listed it to sell on a saturday night around 9:30. by 2pm the very next day, it was sold and gone.

and then we had a moment or two of seller's remorse. we do get kinda sad thinking that we don't have it anymore, but when i think about how much work it was, and how much money we are saving in payments, storage and insurance, i don't feel bad anymore.

the kids wanted to go out one more time, but we had let someone borrow our lifejackets and it ended up selling too quickly.

maybe someday we will be able to get another one...bye bye boat!