Chicken Noodle Soup

How appropriate this title is, I thought. It's only been a week or so since my last post and so much has happened already so I'm going to throw it all in to this post...hence, Chicken Noodle Soup. We'll start with Matt's birthday. His birthday, technically belonging to his older sister Susan first, is Sept. 30th. About a month before, I checked all around trying to find just the right gift for him since we didn't get to celebrate his birthday with him last year b/c of him being deployed. After searching many sites, I finally decided to get seats to a pro hockey game. I've watched him play hockey on many occasions but thought it would be nice if we could watch a game together and just maybe I would understand what the heck those blue lines are in the ice or what a hat trick was. Unfortunately, there weren't any games on his bday so I had to go with the Thursday before his bday...which he was supposed to have taken leave that week. Well, with anything in the Army, I should have known...plans ALWAYS change. So, I couldn't keep it a suprise from him, I had to tell him. The night of the hockey game, I took the kids to my parents and I drove to the metro station and met Matt there. We then rode the metro to the Verizon Center together. I got a great laugh when we were riding there when I happened to look at Matt's leg. He was wearing the jeans I had gotten him for his bday but left the sticker strip with the size on his leg. LOL! We got a good laugh. Matt was so excited with the seats I had gotten. We were about 4 or 5 rows behind the players bench...center ice! Awesome! The Washington Capitals vs The Carolina Hurricanes! How appropriate since we just left NC. The game was great. Although it was a preseason game, we had a ton of fun. The Washington Capitals ofcourse won and we saw many many hockey fights! I think I was more interested in the fights than the actual game. I still don't know what the blue lines represent or what a hat trick is BUT to my delight, I was able to catch a t-shirt that was thrown out to the crowd! Whoo-hoo! My only complaint about the entire game is that I could smell the players sweat as they skated back to their benches. Yuck! Matt thought that was great! So, because he got a hockey game for his bday gift, Matt thought his bday would be business as usual. It was until he got a call from the staff duty desk asking him to leave the baby shower the company was hosting to sign for a package. Well, the package was from the kids wishing him a happy birthday by means of a big balloon bouquet. I heard it was a great hit at the office. Matt was apparently showered with off tune ballads of the Happy Birthday song all day long. When he arrived home, he had dinner waiting as well as a homemade carrot cake and presents from the kids. It was really a lot of fun to celebrate his birthday with him this year. We really missed it last year.

Looks like he's praying but he's actually making a wish! lol.

Blowing out the MANY candles

Ethan trying to help blow out the candles

Ta-dah!

Sorry, I know, it's a long post. Moving on, the patio has gotten another step closer to being completed. After receiving a few estimates with having it graded professionally, we decided to go ahead and have it graded. The kids loved wathing the digger/scraper..whatever it is. They were fascinated...so much that Katheryn grabbed the camera and took these shots. The driver let the kids hop in it while it was running. Katheryn loved it! But the patio area is atleast graded and we had a delivery truck come and dump some sand this past Friday. The kids like playing in the mountain of sand. I've had many sand piles in the house from them taking off their shoes. Hopefully this weekend though we'll have it leveled and pavers started. I can't wait till it's finished.

Katheryn has found her calling

Friday was a great treat for Katheryn and I. Our friends came up from NC to visit us. Katheryn was so excited to have her friend with her. On Saturday we went to the National Zoo in D.C. and spent most of our time at the Panda exhibit. Brian also braved the elephant house this time and we watched an elephant get his foot/toes cleaned. We had planned on touring the sites in D.C. but we were sooo tired from the zoo and all the walking we decided to save that for another trip. Matt was working that day but joined us later at the house. Then on Sunday we had a lot of fun going to the outlets. There were so many sales. I spent about $100 in The Children's Place and I got the kids sooo many winter shirts/sweaters. The pants weren't on sale so they have to do without those for a while. LOL. After the outlets, Matt called to let us know he was on his way home from work. He met us at Panera Bread, yum, for lunch and after that, we went to a corn maze. I had never been to one. Crazy since I grew up here. The maze was in the shape of an eagle and the corn was about 7 or 8 feet high. They had stations set up with tickets and if the kids collected all 5 tickets, they could get a prize. We made it through the maze collecting all 5 tickets. It was a lot of fun. I wish I had gotten a picture of it. I may find one online and link it here.

Katheryn in tears from Alanna's suprise visit

On the metro

At the z00

No room inside for these creatures

Showing off their new sweaters

After the corn maze, we went to the go-kart tracks. We raced and I have not been beaten yet!!! It was Brian's first time on the go-karts with Matt and he had a blast. We went ahead and reserved the kids' bday party for there for both Katheryn and Brian. I know I have written a lot and there was much to read. Although not quite as entertaining as the last few posts but I hope you enjoyed it still. On one final note, while shopping today, I found the perfect shirt for Ethan. It said, "Master of Disaster" "watch out" "here I come". It was just perfect. I didn't buy it, it looked cheap but I loved the saying. I could totally picture it on him. Well, until next time....I'm signing off.