My Wheels Arrived!

Yeah, I know, I know - I didn't even tell you that we had ordered new wheels and tires for my car, but we did. And they arrived yesterday and PJ installed them today. I love them so far (only drove once around the block). LOL



Here are the pics - I'm too tired to figure out the order in this blog right now.

Here's the wheel (ASA JH8 Black w/Mach Lip)

Here's the tire (Kumho Ecsta ASX)


245/40-18 in the front and 275/35-18 in the back.

Good to the last drop....

And this was the problematic dryer vent "connector" that caused our drip to begin with. Pictures of the completed project coming soon.

Sometimes an HOA is a good thing....

Where the heck did they get green bricks????

Took PJ hours to finish the dryer...no pics tonight. Hopefully tomorrow, but I have a lot to do before Friday's Pampered Chef party!

Adventures in Home Ownership

So, PJ and I are home alone without kids this week (they’re all on vacations with their other parent). What do we do? Homework…both kinds…PJ’s in class and there are always chores to be done.

On Monday night we were in the utility room discussing ways to rearrange / clean up the space. I noticed what appeared to be dirty water spots on the dryer and mentioned it to PJ. Nothing was leaking, no water spots on the ceiling, etc. I devised a way to test if the water spots were new or old and then threw a load into the dryer.

On Tuesday evening, I was down in the laundry room and while re-fluffing the laundry (that I had put in on Monday night and forgot), I noticed my test showed fresh water spots.

I called PJ (my knight in shining armor). He came to investigate. We ruled out the master bath (shower and commode are not in the right place) and the dishwasher. Then PJ saw the water dripping. It was from the humidity that happens when the dryer is running. For some reason it was leaking down the outside of the dryer vent-hose-thingy.

It was before dinner and we needed to eat, so we ate, and I went to run an errand. When I came back, I found that PJ had dismantled the dryer, hoses and ducts. It was a sight for sure! He showed me what had started our lint collection / humidity problem and it was the COFFEE CAN that was used as a connector. Um..yeah, can we say jerry-rigged??? Anyway, I pulled on some gloves and helped clean out lint (soaking wet) from the inside of the dryer and the bent connector and then I dragged the shop-vac all around the utility room trying to suck up as much lint and dust as I could while PJ pushed the 8ft duct pipe out the exhaust hole in the house. I should have taken pictures of this whole thing, but I was too busy vacuuming (really, there was a lot of lint!).

Tonight, we’re going to one of the local big box hardware stores to get the necessary duct pieces so PJ can put everything back together. Ah yes, this is why we love home ownership…we should be footloose and fancy free this week, but instead, we’re doing homework. *sigh* At least it’s not the dryer and we don’t have to buy a replacement yet! I'll try to remember to take pics tonight!

I think this is it for tonight

Pictures from our OH vacation

Upcoming stuff...

Football will be starting in August...once I have the game schedule, I'll post it. It feels like summer is almost over!!

Sam and Megan are going to the beach this weekend. Joe is working while they're gone. Ethan is going to FL to visit his grandma with his dad. PJ and I are just getting stuff done around the house. We leave for the lake in two weeks and two days! I can't wait!

Nickel is so daggone cute!!

Just look at him!!! From his trip to CA with my bro and SIL.

Joe's Graduation Party

Yeah, it was a busy time....Joe's grad party finally happened too. check out the cupcake cake. YUM!

Happy Belated Birthday, Sam!

Her birthday was on 7/3. How did I miss posting that??!! Hmmm...I guess I was too busy making blueberry muffin cake with her! LOL

It's alive!!!

Rhfam is up and running!!!!

Woohoo!!!

Joe just heard that he made the marching band at CNU. He's pretty excited! Way to go, Joe!

We're back from OH. We had a great time at the reunion and got back on Tuesday night. Good time and Cedar Point was fun. Pics to follow. :)

Tammy's Birthday Party

Megan graduated from Fifth grade!

Woohoo! No more kids in elementary school!!

Ethan's New Pet

Meet Ashe, Ethan's new pet gopher snake.

Ashe was born at Ethan's school, raised by one of the science teachers. We believe DOB was about September 2006. Not a lot of other details.

In other news, PJ and I went to Kings Dominion yesterday.

We also celebrated Tammy's birthday her on Sat night...pics to come soon.

And Happy Father's Day to all the dads!

Happy Anniversary to us!

PJ and I celebrated three years of marriage today. So far, I got one bouquet of flowers and three cards (one for each year???). But I haven't gone to sleep yet, so maybe there are more cards hiding in the house. :) **warning...gushiness** he's so daggone sweet. :)

He got one, count it, ONE card from me. But it was the perfect card. :P And really, we don't want him to get all gushy on me now, do we?

We also went to dinner, accompanied by Ethan. Ethan was very entertaining at dinner...I wish I had remembered my camera. Oh well.

I failed to actually say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Chris in my last post, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!!

And Ethan got a new pet...I'll be posting pictures soon. :)

Weekend Update

So, here's our busy weekend.
Stop #1, Mark's Pool Party
















































Stop #2, Chris' surprise party
























Stop #3 (not pictured), Danny & Natalie's band party




and then on Sunday, we went to a pool party at Todd & Tracy's. Fun times!

Look what I did!!

Before:

After:

About 12" being donated to Locks of Love

So, I have no idea

Where I left off and what I need to be updating everyone on.

Here's a video of Ethan at his concert. Not that you can see him, but you can hear them. :)

and Shutterfly isn't working this evening, so I can't do the pictures thing tonight. sorry....

Ethan's team is #1!

The St. Louis Cardinals (the little league team Ethan is on), won their game on Monday night putting them in first place in the league! Ethan made it up to bat three times and to home plate twice. He also played left field and first base (did a great job there too). Way to go team!

Trisha's Wedding (part duex)

Couple of pics...

First dance

First dance with Chuck. :P

Self-portraits!

A quick pic...

Joe, on his 18th birthday! I promise more pics are coming soon. I just need to finish editing them all. :)

Check back soon!

ETA: two more pics...this kid had THREE parties!

Trisha's Wedding (pt 1), Will's bday...

I don't have time yet to go into details, but Congrats to Dave & Trisha! They were married on Sat, 5/5!

Will had his birthday on 5/6. Happy Birthday, Will!

I hope to have pictures done this week...I have a few to catch up on...

Happy Birthday!

Joe turns 18 today!

My mom's birthday is today too, but we don't mention her age. :P

Happy Birthday to you both!

(Pics to follow soon.)

Birthday Madness

Heidi's birthday was March 30 and I am remiss in wishing her a Happy Birthday. OF COURSE I SENT HER A CARD! But I was trying to do it here too...Happy Belated, Heidi!

Dawn's birthday was yesterday...I didn't get on here yesterday to post, so it doesn't count as belated yet. :P Happy Birthday, Dawn!

Joe and my mom's birthdays are on Wednesday.... Woohoo!

In Memory...

Our deepest sympathies to all the families and friends of the Va Tech students and staff who lost their life in yesterday's senseless killings. I cannot begin to imagine your pain. You are in our prayers.

I'm back!

I promised to share some pictures of Rumor's farewell.

I also promised pictures and a video of Ethan's hair. He doesn't want me putting the video up and you can see lots of pictures of his hair in the vacation photos below. :)

On March 24, PJ and I went up to MD for Trisha’s shower. I was at the shower all day. PJ and Dave were at BWB all day. The girls had a good time and things went well. The guys had a really good time. LOL

At the end of March, we left for Massanutten for Spring Break. We rented a house that had plenty of room for all six of us and allowed dogs. We did a lot…we went horseback riding on Monday (except Megan…grow please!).

Then on Tuesday, we went to visit JMU and saw Carrie. We had lunch at good ole D-hall. The kids went go-karting after that.

Wednesday we drove to Charlottesville. We visited UVA’s campus, but never got out of the car (parking sucks). After that, we headed to Beth & Brian’s house to see their new digs and have dinner with them and Amanda & Tom. Grace was looking ADORABLE!! Amanda just found out she’s having a BOY and she’s due the second week of August (so close to Ethan’s birthday!).

On Thursday, we went to Massanutten’s huge indoor water park. Thank goodness for waterproof cameras!! On Friday, we didn’t have as much planned. I was able to catch up on quite a bit while PJ and the kids again went go-karting and putt-putting. We hiked around the neighborhood the first couple of days and the kids did a lot of biking. By the end of the week, the temps had dropped forty degrees and we got snow the night before we left! The dogs were great and I think the kids had a good time. It’s nice to be home though! Here are the bulk of the vacation pictures...about 130, if you have time.

On Saturday night, after we got in, I met my mom for church.

On Sunday, I headed to my dad’s for Easter. Nickel was there too. Isn’t he cute!?! PJ’s kids headed home earlier than normal (due to the Spring Break schedule), so PJ and I ran a few errands and then headed home to get ready for the work week. We ended the night watching Sopranos.

I bet you thought I wasn't coming back....

Well, I am. I'll have more as soon as I can. In the meantime, a video of Ethan bodyboarding on vacation!

See Ethan Here!

Behind the times!

I hope to post some info tonight and update everything, but just as an FYI, I've updated the Family Calendar!

Catch up!

Has it really been 2 weeks since I've posted? AGH! Sorry!

So, here's what we've done...

March 3, we had Megan and PJ's joint family party. We had tacos for dinner.

And look at those cute cupcakes!

On March 4, we set up the aquarium. Here are Ethan and PJ studying the water...no fish yet!

On March 10, we were supposed to go out to dinner for PJ's birthday. Well, don't you know that PJ had a surprise party planned for me! So, after dinner, we came back and had cheesecake and the house was decorated! And then we went out to Bung's. Here's Trisha and me...I don't have many pictures for some reason. LOL

On March 11, we got fish for the aquarium. I still need to take some pictures.

Rumor will be going to live with the Saylors this coming weekend. We'll have lots of pictures from that!

Happy Birthday Megan! (and pictures)

Today is Megan's birthday. Here she is opening her gift. And check out Ethan's new do in the background. And here's a clip of Megan opening her gift.

Happy Birthday Megan!!!

And here's the surprise 4" of snow we got on 2/25!

Busy weekend coming up. PJ's birthday is almost here too. We'll be celebrating on Saturday!

Guess what Ethan did?!?!

He shaved his head!!!

Pictures soon....and a video I hope.

Potomac Falls Winter Guard

Sam's WG took first place again! Here's the video from last week's competition!

Couple of Pics

Valentine's dinner (we had pink eggs too) and Rumor enjoying a lollipop.

Snow Day...Oh and Happy Valentines!

I'm standing ON the snow here.

Crazy snow/ice storm. I think we have like four inches of "stuff" to clean up. PJ is faithfully shoveling...I think the kids get to finish the job later though.

Report Cards are in…

Megan got honor roll!
Ethan almost made honor roll!
Samantha did not do so hot…hmmm, does this mean a probation period for her?
Joe almost made honor roll also!

Samantha’s Winter Guard team took first place at a competition this past Saturday. There were about 50 teams. Way to go, Sam!

Happy Belated (2/3) Birthday to Jordan!

Happy Belated (2/7) Birthday to Natalie!

Happy Belated (2/10) Birthday to Rob!
...okay, I get it, I'm behind the eight ball here! Sorry!

We have an impending ice storm coming overnight and tomorrow. If it hits, that’ll mean a snow day for the kids tomorrow.

For Valentine’s Day, we’ll be having pink, heart-shaped pancakes for dinner!

Nickel!

So on Friday, 1/26, Ethan and I drove down to Raleigh to see Rob, Dawn and Nickel. Oh he's a cutie, that's for sure! And such a good baby. Here's a clip of him being adorable.



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Aside from that, we just did stuff around the house this past weekend. I'm sure I have more updates, but I need more time. :)

THIS JUST IN!!!!!

Joe got accepted into his first choice college!!!! Wooohooo!!! Decisions, decisions....

Congrats Joe! We knew you could do it!!!

Busy Times....

So there’s no school today. We got about 2.5” of snow, but a lot of freezing rain apparently fell too (we weren’t home for this). There’s a lot of ice on the roads. I wish I had the day off too!

Polo had a vet appointment last week. $360 and a low white blood cell count, but otherwise he’s okay. We’re double-checking the blood work here soon and then we’ll decide if further testing is necessary. I hope not.

Aaron’s 14th birthday was this past Friday. We weren’t able to celebrate with him on Friday, but we saw him for a minute. The kids all spent the night with Aunts Tammy & Lisa and then we celebrated Aaron’s birthday on Sunday. It was a good time to catch up with family too.

We attended PJ’s company’s post-holiday holiday party on Saturday night. It was nice and the food was good. We only knew a few people, but had a nice time meeting others. Next year, I assume we’ll know more people and it should be even more fun.

Ethan and I are going to NC this weekend to see Rob, Dawn and baby Nickel! woohoo!

Rumor did some redecorating in our backyard recently. Great, huh?

yessir, that's my boy....

You may or may not have heard, but Joe was in a couple of competitions over this past weekend.

Saturday morning, he was involved in district level DECA (Distributive Education) competition. This is related to his marketing class. They compete in written tests as well as role-playing scenarios related to the real-world work environment. Results were not shared until Monday night.

Saturday afternoon, he had tryouts for the All-District band. He's played a couple of instruments in the band over the past couple of years, but he chose to do his tryouts on the French Horn. He got the results later that afternoon, and was accepted to play with the band.

Monday night, he got the news that he scored second in the District on his DECA competition. He'll be competing in VA state competition coming up in March.

CONGRATULATIONS ! ! ! !

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

It's totally 2007 and I'm so slacking in my blogging already. Why does the rest of the world have to intefere with my blogging? *sigh* HAHA Anyway, lots and lots of news!!!!

First of all, Merry Belated Christmas and Happy Belated New Year! Happy Belated Birthday to me. Ah yes, I celebrated the big 3-1. And I bet you thought I was going to be 29 AGAIN! I wish, but alas, time marches on.

So, my little nephew, Nickel (that's his nickname...his parents have more class than to give him that as a real name, puh-leez), was born on Christmas day. 8 lbs, 1 oz.! He was 5 days late...the little booger. I couldn't go visit him cuz of his tardiness though. It'll have to wait...maybe January works...hmmmm. Here's a little picture of him.

Isn't he a cutie? I know, small picture and all. I'm waiting for even more pictures from my brother. I have a feeling there's a lot of sleep deprivation going on there.

PJ started a new job yesterday. He's still with the same employer...just a different contract. His commute went from about 90 minutes down to 12. Yeah, he's a happy camper. I think he likes what he's doing, but it's too new to know.

Oh yeah, I promised you our family picture. I don't think I posted it yet, here it is. :)

Kerry did a fantastic job. Thanks Kerry!!

Hey, if you haven't yet, consider subscribing through bloglines. It'll automatically update you when I update the blog. AND IT'S FREE PEOPLE...come on, feed my ego. There are only two subscribers so far. waaaahhhh!!! There's a button on the right of this page somewhere.