July 5th

July 5th Tyson turned 28! It's crazy how fast the time is going now. It just seems to speed up each year! It's hard to imagine that Tyson is 28 and I am almost 29, but at the same time, we have 2 (almost 3) children and have been married for just about 5 years. So, logically, it all makes sense. It just doesn't feel like that much time has passed, but yet it does. (Cue: Time warp music) Anyways, his birthday was a fun day for all!

It's too bad he had to work because the kids and I did lots of fun activities during the day: water color painting, games, shaving cream, reading books, grocery shopping, and making dinner. Shaving cream was probably the favorite, followed by a close second of painting with water colors. Here is the proof of enjoyment:

First, it is serious business.

See? Serious business

Then, it's just fun....

and more fun!

I couldn't get Eve to smile for the camera, but she loved it!

It's always fun when mom lets you put stuff all over your body and doesn't even get mad!

When Tyson came home we had dinner (and I don't even remember what it was - I blame it on the pregnancy brain) and celebrated his birthday! We even made his favorite cupcakes with his favorite frosting (the rainbow chip kind - always a crowd pleaser).

After dinner he opened his gifts and we had a party! His parents sent him a birthday-in-a-box. This is an all-inclusive box, complete with party hats, noisemakers, gift card for dinner, gift card for home depot, party snacks, party game,and  prizes. It was pretty intense! Everyone loved it! It truly made the party :) He also opened our presents: 4 movie tickets to see whatever movie he wanted (we saw Harry Potter with 2 of them and need to use the next 2) and 2 games: guillotine and lost cities. It was pretty great!

After all the present opening, we sang happy birthday and Tyson blew out the candles! We ate our cupcakes, played pin the tail on the donkey, and played with the party favors. It was pretty great!

Happy 28th Birthday Tyson!

The pre-blown birthday cupcakes

The birthday-in-a-box

Eve is mesmerized by the horns.

Like father, like son :)

Opening our presents that were wrapped in newspaper.

About to sing....

Trying to blow it out, but it was a bit harder than expected.

He finally got his candles all blown out.

Cupcakes are fun - especially the frosting!

Pin the tail on the donkey - I think Reed legitimately won!

Singing "Happy Birthday" (Reed did a great job singing, I just sang too loud - so you can't hear him too well)

  Eve singing "Happy Birthday" - definitely a musical girl!

Independence Day - Part 2

Well, whatever was going wrong is fixed! Here are the rest of the July 4th pictures :)

My boys really do love sparklers!

I love the inquisituve look!

Mesmerized by the fire.

Mesmerized by fire (apparently, it runs in the family)

Playing and getting hurt

Statue of Liberty

Reed with one of his bffs, Taryn, sharing popcorn and anxiously awaiting the fireworks.

My favorite!

A close 2nd!

Independence Day - Part 1

Well, the picture upload is being a bit silly, so only half of my pictures will load. Well, I mine as well start and post some fun pictures of the 4th of July! It was a busy day for us :)

We went to a friend's birthday party at a park and played the morning and lunch time away. What can be better than playing with squirt guns and getting people wet?

We all went home for naps and then headed to a bbq at another friends' house. We brought (of course) homemade ice cream (butterfinger flavor) and the rest of the food was provided. The kids loved playing with each other and with the sparklers! But, I must say I think they liked the 'snakes' the best out of all the home fireworks. Reed was amazed that this thing kept growing and growing! Eve had fun doing just about everything - the swing, sparklers, eating, running. After a while of playing and eating, we headed over to a local Vienna park to watch the fireworks - set to go off at dusk.

Well, dusk came and went and there were no fireworks. The cover band that was hired just kept playing songs. 9 pm came and went (we were all getting excited because it was supposed to be starting in just a few minutes). 9:30 pm came and went, then closer to 10 pm, then 10 pm. I was almost ready to be done - kids were wanting to see fireworks and were getting tired. Sitting on grass for that long is not super comfortable when you are pretty pregnant.

Luckily, there were some fireworks in the distance that captivated everyone's attention for at least 10 minutes. Then, it was getting close to 10:30 pm and I was going to call it quits. Well, whatever the complication was got fixed and the fireworks started.

Our view was FANTASTIC! I have never seen fireworks that close before. They actually ended up scaring Reed (although he loved them a bit further away) partly due to tiredness, but partly because he was not ready when they actually started and it literally looked like they were going to fall on top of us! He spent the entire show hugging Tyson ultra hard. Eve was a bit scared, but soon started to like all the colors in the sky.

The show ended up being awesome! Pictures are coming in part 2 of this post, whenever I can get the rest of the pictures loaded. I was thoroughly impressed, except for the starting super late thing! Hopefully, it's not the same next year! Here are pictures of some of our adventures!

Eve admiring the play area - pointing specifically to the swing.

Aaaahhh! I love the swing :)

Reed trying out the huge sparklers (Thanks, Deanne - fabulous picture!)

Fire is awesome!

I love this picture! Thanks to Deanne who took it :) Don't mind the dirty shirt from playing and spilling food.

This is pure Eve. Deanne captured it perfectly!

Watching snakes is serious business.

Reed could've watch all day.

Playing with sparklers.

He seriously loved the sparklers.

Finger Painting

I thought I had posted these pictures, but apparently I did not! So, here are Reed and Eve finger painting - always a fun activity! June 16th was good day - we did finger painting, shaving cream, and it was all sorts of messy fun! (Eve was doing a special finger painting project for Grandma Walker).

Reed sporting his summer hair cut - he actually let me use the buzzers without screaming his head off!

Eve was pretty careful at the beginning, but then just painting everywhere!

Do you think he had a good time? I do :)

Eve really loved every minute of her painting!

Family Reunion and 18 months!

Yes, I am still catching up. With the birth of my 3rd child in the not-to-distant future (I am due in 3 weeks and have not made it to my due date yet), I have really been organizing and trying to prepare as best I can for this next little girl. But, here are some fun things we did at the end of June!

June 19th-24th we had a Rowberry family reunion in Orange, CT. My brother lives in New Haven (or Hamden, I always forget), so it was only about 20 minutes from his house. We stayed in these old cabins and had the camp area all to ourselves. It ended up being a great time (although I was completely exhausted by the end of it)! It was colder than we thought it would be, but it all worked out in the end :) Here are some of the fun things we did:

Hiked to a cool-looking mini-castle structure (along the way Reed fell and cut his gum and banged up his head. Poor kid is always getting scrapes/bruises on his head)
Reed got hit in the head with a frisbee
Older kids went geo-cashing (a new way to get people out and walking around)
Ate lots of good food prepared by each family (we cooked Thai food for our lunch meal - I was shocked when I saw kids putting cheese on it, but at least they ate it, right?)
Eve cut yet another tooth (more to come in a blog post to come about her teeth)
Went to a beautiful beach (Reed had a blast in the sand and water; Eve was scared of the waves, but loved the sand)
'Ran' a family 5k (I started to run it while pushing a stroller, but had to walk because I got cramps. Also, it started raining, so that was interesting. Reed and Eve were freezing by the time it was all over, but Tyson did finish the 5k)
Played lots of games with adults and kids (Reed's favorite: Don't Eat Pete, my favorite: Bohnanza)
Had a family talent show = kids from each family did something
Had a flag ceremony each morning where my nephew, Joseph, played the trumpet
Slept on not-so-comfortable beds, but we were so tired that we just fell asleep almost immediately
The warm water in the girls bathroom was either scalding or cold, so it was hit and miss
Had relay races
The adults went to a fun Indian restaurant while the kids stayed at camp, watched a movie, and ate chicken nuggets (of course, there were babysitters that came from my brother's ward)
Lot of late night chats with my siblings - which is always fun

I may be missing some stuff, but that is a quick run-down of what we did. After we cleaned and checked out on Friday, we (Tyson, Reed, Eve, Kristy, and myself) drive to Rhode Island for a little bit. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to check off yet another state on my goal to visiting all 50 states! It took about 1 1/2-2 hours to get there. We ate dinner at some random pizza place and then went to the beach and just played. Rhode Island is gorgeous! The sand was awesome! We saw lots of surfers and some of the biggest shells (in great condition) that I have ever seen! Now I just want to go back :)

Sadly, I brought my camera to all these things, but did not take a single picture! I finally remembered about my camera when we were in Rhode Island, but it turns out that my battery was dead anyway! Ah well. I think Tyson may have some pictures on his phone from RI along with Kristy. Hopefully they will make it to the blog someday. As for pictures from the family reunion, I am supposed to be getting some fairly soon.

June 27th, Eve had her 18-month check-up! Here are the stats:

Weight: 22 lbs. 10 oz. - 30%
Height: 31 1/2 in. - 40%
Head Circumference: 18 3/4 in. - 70%

So, despite Eve's eating habits (she eats a ton!), she apparently does not like to gain weight. Ah well! She also had just gotten back from vacation (family reunion) and so she was more active than at home and probably ate less. I also think that she was actually taller that 31 1/2 in, but each nurse measures a little differently.

She was a trooper when getting her DTaP vaccination and she also got tested for anemia and lead (I usually test low on iron, so I always get my kids tested). Turns out, she does not have anemia and there is no lead (from lead-based paints and such) in her blood. She is just a healthy little girl!

Piano Is So Much Fun!

June 9, 2011 - We watched a cute little boy for our friend and had tons of fun! The cutest thing by far was when all 3 kids were sitting the piano bench playing the piano. After all, playing the piano is so much fun! They had a blast!!

I was amazed that they all got along on the piano bench.

Trying to get everyone to look was easier said than done.

Well, theres 2 out of 3 - not bad.

Got the other one :)

Reed must have been doing something really interesting.

June 11, 2011 - I had my end-of-school piano recital and it turned out fabulous! Thanks (again) to Mina for hosting the deal! The kids did awesome! I am always so proud of them when they perform. I know how hard they worked and how scary it can be performing in front of people, but they all introduced themselves, played their songs, and bowed after it was all over. I really know how they feel because I actually performed "Homecoming" by John Schmidt after the rest of my students had performed. I didn't have as much time to practice as I would have liked, but it ended up pretty good. I realized it has been so long since I have performed a more challenging song, I am completely out of practice of that whole performing thing. I guess I will have to keep practicing and keep performing.

Sadly, 2 of my students were not able to attend the recital, so the picture is missing those beautiful faces. This was also sort of a farewell to a lot of my students. Many are not taking summer lessons and after the baby is born I decided to only take a few students back around October (if everything goes well). So, it was a bittersweet ending to the recital, but we all had a lot of fun! Here are 9 of my 11 beautiful students (plus Eve who had to be included in the pictures).

I love my students and piano!!

Benjamin, Sophie, Isabel, Chandler, Kira, Katriel, Jack, Talia, Maria, Eve, Myself (not shown: Makenna and Andrew)

Guess Who and Fun in the Sun

June 2, 2011 - A group of mysterious pictures (that I did not take) showed up on my camera today. Can you figure out who might have taken these? :) 

I guess this pretty much gave it away :)

I think this is the only angle in which Reed could have a double chin.

He actually took a good shot of Eve...and yes, that is my pregnant belly in the background.

Of course, something green had to be added to the mix - especially if it is a balloon!

 June 4, 2011 - We went to Fairfax County Spray Park (not really a park - it's inbetween a mall, movie theatre, and some restaurants) for a birthday party for our little friend, Elise. She turned 3!! Congrats to her! She has also moved away to Ecudaor (I think) since the birthday party, so it was also a little going away party. She will be missed!

Reed was a little hesitant at first. But, once he had some friends get in the water, he was hooked! The water sprays in intervals, so the kids loved trying to figure out when it would spray where. I guess I should have checked Reed's swimming suit before buying it last year because the string that tightens his suit does not go all the way around the suit. Weird - don't most kids suits do that? I guess not. Anyways, poor little Reed's suit was falling down as soon as he got wet. I tried to get photo proof, no such luck. I may just have to sew the sides in a little. He has his father's lack of a bum...ah well...life could be much worse than that, right?! But, he still had a great time!

Eve WOULD NOT even get close to the water without being held. I know that it was because it was spraying up. She loves the swimming pool. So, she spent the afternoon relaxing in a chair next to me. I guess I should have gotten her a smaller size swimming suit (which she now has) because I put it on and it was almost falling off! Pictures will show you what I mean. It's a good thing she was wearing a swim diaper - or it just may have fallen completely off before the day was through. Hopefully it will fit her next year and not be too small :) Fingers crossed.

Starting to get brave.

Girl in the all blue (maybe more of a periwinkle) suit is the birthday girl! Oh, and I love Reed's face in this picture!

Eve just lounging in her huge bathing suit! Don't her legs look super long?!

You can tell that his suit is coming down.

Also, Eve lets me put pigtails in her hair! I just love it :) Helps her to stay at least a little cooler.