Melissa, Andy and the kids' Blog

I don't know why this has taken me forever to get done.  I guess it is because I still have a couple of DC posts and Houston posts to write about. At the end of our day in NYC, we headed for Times Square where I think everyone else headed towards as well.  It was crowded!  It was even crowded with tons of cartoon characters.  Little did we know, they expect money when you take a picture with them, and boy are they pushy!!!  We were taking pictures with Strawberry Shortcake when Hello Kitty busted in for some action.   Later we took pictures of them without them knowing! (Sorry Amanda, but I love this picture!)   Then we just took pictures of each other in Times Square   I would have loved to have seen one of these shows, but we didn't have enough time. Maybe next time!  As we were headed back towards our car, we took a quick stop at the Empire State Building.    It was an amazing day!...

We spent Saturday, March 9th, in New York City with Jordan and Amanda.  It was a beautiful day.  We were so glad that the weather warmed up, so we could enjoy a day outside.  We first stopped in Chinatown on Canal St.  We found out that it is fun to haggle with the street vendors.  We got some designer glasses for $10, a NYC shirt for $10, and 2 belts for $5.  That all happened in about 20 minutes.            Then we decided to head towards the World Trade Center Memorial. This was our first time in the Subway...not the sandwich shop! I'm glad that Jordan was there to help us navigate the subway system.     Here is the wall memorial.      Behind Jordan and Amanda is the tower being built by Ground Zero.     Then we decided to take a ferry to Staten Island because Ellis Island was closed.  This way we could at least ride by the Statue o...

On March 7th we flew to Pennsylvania to visit Andy's brother, Jordan, and family.  We got there late at night, so we just went straight to bed.  The next day we got to hang out with our sister-in-law, Amanda and the kids.  After both of the older boys were in school, Amanda took us on a tour of Doylestown.  Jordan was at work...in Paris.  Actually he was flying back so he could spend the weekend with us.  Since we were close to Philadelphia, Andy was craving a Phili cheesesteak.  After a few phone calls, Amanda took us to a small restaurant right in town.  It was yummy!   After lunch, we continued our tour of the town.  We stopped by this old tile museum where they actually still make tile by hand.  It was pretty neat.  Later we went back to the house to relax.  I actually had a cold, so I went and took a little nap.  Andy hung out and played with the boys.  That night we went with ...

I realize that it has been forever since I've blogged anything. As most of you know, Andy and I got a dog. She is a beautiful German Shepherd Dog. Her name is Zoe. On Ocober 16th, Andy emailed me and asked me if I wanted a dog because one of his coworker's dog was having puppies that day. Of course I said yes! Waiting 2 months was the hardest thing ever. A couple times we thought of changing our minds, but once we met her, we knew we were going to take her home with us.   This was the first time we met. (2 weeks old) This was the 2nd time we saw her.  (About 4-5 weeks old) She is the one on the bottom left.  We took her home on the December 8th.   She was 4 days shy of 8 weeks, but we wanted to be able to spend time with her on the weekend before we went back to work.     My preschoolers love playing with her, but now she is a little too big.  She likes to jump and play a little too much that she scratches pe...

I don't think that ever posted the after pictures of my bedroom. Well, here it is! It is nice and relaxing. It is much better than pink carpet, walls, and ceiling. The fan used to be brown and gold. I like the soft look of white and silver.   Before (with our landlord's furniture):     After:  

Our front living room is used as the kids playroom. I decided that I wanted most of the toys hidden, so that it could still look like a living room. The little dresser holds a lot of different manipulatives. I bought some of the manipulatives, but I made quite a few of them. The buckets hold blocks, fish, and stuffed animals. Then I have the toy chest holding....toys. :).  I hid the kitchen in the closet. Then the snakes and dinosaurs are hidden in the Ottomans. The books look great on the bookshelf and in the hat box. It works great, but I do wish that the room had doors, so I can keep the kids from occasionally trying to run out of it. I should have straightened the bookshelf before I took the pictures, but I guess that is how it often looks.