Party Week

What a week!!! It all began last Friday with the Fathers and Sons campout. Damon was super excited to go camping with his dad. Barrett told me that Damon was so excited when he found out they were going to sleep in the tent.
Saturday, Kim came for the long weekend. Barrett of course had to go study for the bar...so us girls and the kiddies went to the grocery store for our entertainment:) That night, my parents flew in, so we visited for a little bit.
Sunday was Kim’s birthday!!! We made her French toast for breakfast, and then headed off to church. We came home to a yummy roast, watermelon, tangy beans, and potatoes. A delicious chocolate cake and ice cream followed with presents too!! It was fun celebrating Kim’s birthday!
Memorial Day was fun. Poor Barrett had to study, so the rest of us hopped in the parent’s rental van and headed up to Valley Forge. Dad bought a CD self tour to play in the car. It was a great investment as we drove around, learned, stopped and ran around, and had a great time. Damon fell asleep eating a granola bar…he must have been tired!! We picked up grilled KFC dinner and ate at the park. Kim had to drive home, but we stayed and played and took a walk. We introduced my parents to Rita’s water ice and loved every bite!
Tuesday was spent running errands and getting things ready for Barrett’s family to visit and getting prepared for the graduation festivities. My parents take such good care of us! Damon loved seeing his other grandparents and didn’t get to bed until really late. Ainsley was able to come too!
Wednesday….GRADUTATION!!! Barrett had his bar review class in the morning, so we met up with him at Macaroni Grill for lunch. We drove back to our apartment and he opened his graduation gifts…I got one too:) What very generous family members…we’re so lucky. Ice Cream Cakes for graduation are a tradition in my family, so we had a yummy one from Coldstone. I got an idea to make little graduation caps out of tasty treats from Bakerella. It was a nice added touch. We all got ready for graduation, then Ainsley took pictures. On the way up to Philadelphia, one car picked up Quinn at the airport. We got to the Kimmel Center for Drexel’s Earl Macke School of Law Inaugural Graduation Ceremonies!! We had great seats, and a great view. Rudy Giuliani spoke, plus a lot of others. Barrett was recognized in a few places in the program…Candidate for Juris Doctor Degree, Academic Honors—Cum Laude (top 25%), Pro Bono Service Honors (75-100 hours), and Donations by Students—class gift donation (he was able to give me a shout out there too:) It was fun to see Barrett graduate. I'm proud of him...he had awesome grades while in law school, 2 kids while in law school, went on many campouts with the Scouts while in law school, commuted on the train just about every day of law school, interned an hour away every summer and commuted on the bus! He's worked hard and deserves every good thing that has come his way! It is hard to believe we’re actually done…I can still remember his graduation from UD with his Master’s Degree knowing we still had 3 years of law school to get through…now we’re done! Since this was the first graduating class from Drexel’s Law School, they invited all to stay for a reception in the lobby. There were lots of yummy little tasty desserts. We sampled almost all of them, plus went back numerous times for our favorites…the little lemony tartlets with a raspberry on top were by far our favs! We made it home safe and sound. We had left the kids home, and we found them good and asleep thanks to my parents. Later that night, Damon woke up not feeling well. He ended up throwing up (for the first time!) then slept with Barrett on the floor. When asked about it the next morning he would say, “I spit in the toilet. I sleep on a towel on the floor.” Poor kid, but he was fine the next day!
On Thursday, Barrett went to his bar review class, then came home. My parents went to DC to see Kim and the Edwards Clan headed over to Fort McHenry. It was so fun roaming the fort. Ainsley let everyone practice taking pictures with her camera. Barrett got some awesome ones of Damon running. He ran all over that fort and then some. No wonder he wouldn’t settle down to eat dinner at PF Chang’s (Barrett’s early birthday celebration dinner). Tommy was an angel the entire day (a few fussy moments on the way home, but nothing to complain about). We had Rita’s later that night too.
Friday was the fly home day. Barrett’s parents left, the a few hours later my parents and Ainsley had to get to the airport. We decided to eat lunch at Valley Garden Park. A pleasant, peaceful little park. Ainsley took tons of pictures, I can’t wait until I get copies of them! It was sad to have visitors leave. It is fun to have family around!
Saturday was Barrett’s birthday!! Due to all the playing during the week, he desperately needed to get caught up and study. He’s discovered a new study place…the food court at the mall!! Silly, but pretty convenient! They have better hours than a library and you can eat there too:) I dropped him off, then went grocery shopping. We had a good dinner that night with left over graduation cake. He got some pretty neat gifts too. I had made so many signs already, that I just didn’t have it in me to make another one for his birthday. Damon made a card though.
Now, back to reality. Barrett takes the bar the end of July, then he’s officially done! We can’t wait!!!!

*Most of these pictures are from Ainsley's camera...most taken by her too!

Almost 2 and a 1/2

So, Damon is almost 2 1/2 years old. He is totally giving us a run for our money. He's getting so sneaky and conniving...who teaches him these things?! One day he was playing with sidewalk chalk and kept throwing it in the air. Barrett told him not to through it or else...Well, what does a 2 1/2 year old do next?! Throws it in the air. When Barrett told him the consequence, Damon replied, "I was bouncing it, not throwing it!"

Damon's also given up naps unless he goes for a drive in the car. What's even more wonderful is that he's been waking up before 6:00 am!! He's totally exhausted and such a pleasant person to be around in the afternoon...ha! I came home one afternoon and found him like this
(PS. Barrett had been home with the kids). Probably never to happen again.

I bought these little jeans at Kmart last year for 2 bucks. They are our favorite jeans...I bought more the other day for $3.50. I noticed they were getting a little worn in the knee, so I put a patch on them. A few days later, there was a hole above the patch. Today, I realized they were torn from seam to seam. Before I knew it, they looked like this!
When I figured it out, I said to Damon something like,"Did you tear you jeans some more?" He looked at me and with a sweet smile said,"sooo beautiful!" All I could do was laugh! I guess they definitely have to be retired now.

Pictures

This is what I found when I came home from Enrichment meeting.
We went to Costco for our "fun" thing of the day. We got a "berry smovie" (as Damon calls it) and enjoyed every sip of it! Hooray for $1.45 treats!
I finally found this exersaucer at a second hand children's store for half the price of it new. Tommy likes it, eventhough his face may not say it in this picture.

DONE!!!

Barrett finished his last final Monday! He's DONE with law school!!!! Hooray!!!! We can't believe he's actually done. It seems like just a few months ago that he was graduating with his Master's Degree and we were imagining what law school was going to be like. Now, 3 years later, it is behind us. Wow. So, I drove the boys into the city to meet up with Barrett after he finished his last test. We walked around (Damon ran) and tried to let reality sink in. That night we went to eat at Moe's to celebrate. Damon didn't stop moving.


Tuesday, we headed to our future home to check out apartments and visit the law firm Barrett will be working at. The boys did pretty well. We kept bribing Damon by telling him we were going to the park...we've since learned we need to be more specific...park does not = just running on grass, but means a playground.
Wednesday we hung around the house. It was free breakfast day at Chick-fil-a, so we stopped by and picked up a few chicken biscuits, then head over to the park to walk the trail, then go to the playground. It was fun to play all day and have no set thing we had to get done.
Today, we drove down to the Temple. Damon had found a See's lollipop in a drawer this morning and begged to have it. Barrett kept telling him they'd share it at the temple. Well, by the looks of the pictures, no sharing actually took place.

Barrett starts the Bar review course Tuesday and the studying begins. We sure have loved these few short days of freedom.

Shout Outs

So I have 3 shout outs...not for people, but for products.

1. T.G.I.FRidays has this awesome deal right now (we're not sure how long it's going to last). All their sandwiches and salads are only 5 bucks!!!! We don't go out to eat very often because of family funds...but we do have a little money set aside in our "date fund" whenever we feel the need for some restaurant food. Well, last night we called in an order for a sandwich and a salad. We picked it up and exactly $10 later, we were sharing a delicious meal...we didn't even feel like we had to take it out of our "date fund"....so, try it out, we're definitely going to do it again soon:)

2. Siblings Without Rivalry. This is a book that 3 other moms in my ward have recommended. I haven't finished it, but have enjoyed the few chapters I have read. Basically, it just makes me feel like I'm not alone, my kids are just being kids, and that I don't have it THAT bad yet.

3. The Sneaky Chef. Another book I heard about from the Today Show. Great ideas for sneaking fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious things in food that kids like. I haven't tried out any of the recipes yet, but have enjoyed some of the author's comments. Again, it made me feel like I'm not the only one who struggles at dinner time with a 2 year old...he's just being normal.

So, there you go.