It's been a minute...

Shannon is back and it's definitely been more than a minute.  I'm going to do better.  I promise.  Let's pick up this past Spring with the start of birthday season in our house!  Our Hudson turned 7!  Hudson James - the middle child - is so incredibly kind, sweet, and tender-hearted.  He's quiet, athletic, and more than happy to play catch outside with his Dad, watch baseball 24/7 (while swinging a bat), or....nope, that's it.  His life is summed up with one word....BASEBALL.  ;)  He just recently made a local travel team and we couldn't be more proud of him.  His love and commitment to the sport amazes Scott and I daily!  His favorite team is The Baltimore Orioles and his number on his travel team is none other than his favorite player... #13 Manny Machado.  Here's a few pictures from his birthday party back in March with his buddies.  They celebrated with pizza, cake, and a Wizards game!  Lucky guys!

 

      

 

A throwback. 

Neighborhood birthday celebration with cupcakes!

 

Sienna Grace was up next on April 18th!  Our sweet 1st born turned 9 (whatttt??) and celebrated with a movie and sleepover fun with some of her closest friends.  At 9, Sienna is such a rule follower, loves to help with the boys as much as possible, loves to help cook, make "concoctions," swim, dance, attend CCD and can memorize song lyrics like nobody's business.  She is standing firm on a career choice in prosthetics, and is also standing firm on not going to a college too far from us.  ;)  Currently, JMU or UVA might be a stretch at 2 hours.  She sang in our church children's choir this past year and loved it and recently announced that "I just think musical theatre and dance is going to make me the happiest."

 

 

Her throwback. 

 

Heart to heart with Noah during one of Hudson's games. 

 

 

With her new friend, Paisley. 

 

 

Before a joint birthday celebration with the family!

 

 

Cake!

 

 

Grammy and all her grandkids with a cute photo-op.

 

 

Sienna's birthday morning.

 

 

 

 

Sleepover fun.

 

Before school was out, Sienna and I took a trip to an allergist to get some allergy testing done and also some breathing tests done.  Turns out the girl has some serious seasonal allergies, but the asthma test was inconclusive.  It looks like her "asthma" could just be related to the seasonal allergies, and not exercise induced like originally thought.  With the help of some daily meds and the occasional albuterol inhaler, she is doing SO much better. 

 

She wasn't exactly thrilled about this. 

 

 

Mother's Day was awesome!  We had a family dinner with My Mom and sister, followed by brunch in WV with my in-laws, followed by a surprise solo shopping trip to the outlets, followed by a picnic at a local park with fried chicken.  Does it get any better?  This is the only picture I have, sadly. 

 

These are the kind of selfies we send Scott during his day.  Haha.

 

 

A few hikes with sweet friends to enjoy the view of the Potomac - and help kill time during Spring Break.  ;)

 

 

Easter Morning!

 

Busy baseball season with both boys playing ball.  Hudson played on the Single A Raptors and Noah played T-ball for the Express.  This was the first time Hudson played on a league that allowed a few innings of kid-pitch.  He pitched quite a few games and loved it!  Man, did that make me nervous!  I had no idea watching your son pitch would make crazy?!  Lol. 



 

 

 

Noah played on a team with a lot of his preschool buddies this year and that made a HUGE impact on his love for the sport!  He loved it and has shown a greater interest in playing at home, too.  Can't wait to see what the fall season holds for him.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some pictures from Noah's preschool graduation!  At the very end, they turned around, put sunglasses on and danced to Pharrell's "Happy" out of the church.  I die.  

 

Scott's beautiful cousin, Stephanie, got married on a gorgeous May evening at the Hay-Adams in DC.  Probably the most gorgeous wedding venue I've ever been blessed to be a part of.

 

My dear friend Meredith celebrated her birthday!  Love this girl. 

 

 

I finally sought chiropractic help for some lingering back/hip/sciatic/leg pain.  :/  Good times.  Good news is I think they are fixing me.  Well, as much as I can be fixed.  ;) 

 

 

Date night at a local diner with this stud.

 

 

For our 10 year anniversary, Scott and I road-tripped to Nashville and Asheville for a few days away.  It was amazing!  It rained almost the whole time (exactly like our wedding day, ha!), but we did not care.  Exploring two new cities with the love of my life was just what the doctor ordered.

 

A family of street-performers in Nashville, TN

 

Before dinner at Ruth's Chris in Asheville, NC.

 

Sienna and Hudson had their first ever Serve Camp experience.  This amazing camp is run by a local church and these kids spend the whole week dancing, playing outside and SERVING their community.  Some of the tasks they completed were, visiting nursing homes and delivering handmade vases and flowers, planting flowers, weeding community gardens, washing cars to raise money for childhood cancer, sorting clothes at a thrift store and more.  I wish they had this camp every week.  By serving others, they learned so much about themselves.  I'm so grateful. 

 

Day 1, Hudson was not a happy camper.

 

I stopped by the carwash and snapped a pic of Sienna washing her own car for a good cause!

 

Sweet summer days.

 

Fourth of July party at my bro-in-law's house in downtown Leesburg.  BBQ, fireworks, and hand-picked mulberries.  America. 

One of my nearest and dearest friends celebrated her birthday on 7/11.  Family BBQ to celebrate.  SO thankful for these guys. 

 

A little Go-Fish at a local winery with our dear friends.  Starting them young.  ;)

 

Finally, I organized a little hospital bonding trip to 3 local wineries (see a theme here?).  We definitely rode in style and threw it back to 1998 prom in a white Lincoln limo.  ;)



 

Lots of crazy selfies were taken. 

And that's my Spring and half of Summer recap!  The hard part is over, now it's just staying on top of it again.  I'll be back.