Our Cats are Such Good "Sharers"

So Kyleigh was in the window enjoying herself, when Reno came up and placed himself in the window too. I watched him kind of back up as he was laying down. He's so nice.



In case you feel bad for Kyleigh, this is how I found them about an hour later.




It's a good thing we have taught them to share so well.

Melissa's Birthday

On the ninth was Melissa's Birthday. It was Sunday so we woke up and went to church. Melissa was substituting for the chorister in Primary, so she got to sing happy birthday to the kids and to herself. After church we just relaxed for a while because in a few hours it was going to get a bit more exciting. My sister Lauren, her husband and her two boys came over, Melissa's sister Sharon, her husband and her three boys came over, so for dinner we had seven adults, and five very active little boys. It was exciting. My mom mad a recreation of the top tier of our wedding cake, except it said Happy Birthday Melissa on it.



That was all good and fun, but the family that Melissa nannies for was on a long weekend and so she had Monday off. We decided to go to King's Dominion for some more fun. Growing up my family loved King's Dominion and went most summers. It had been many years since I had gone however and I was excited to go back.



This is the drop tower that takes you up and up and up and then lets you free fall for what seems like a lifetime.



This is us just before leaving on "The Dominator." It was my favorite ride. It has the world's tallest inverted loop. Lots of fun.
It was really hot and in the afternoon we went to cool off in the water park, which felt wonderful. Aside from the heat it was a great day.

So Melissa came home on Monday after watching the two kids. She was tired but happy. I saw her driving up so I went to meet her at the door, and as she came in I just started laughing. She had no idea why I was laughing, but this is what I found:





Mary had thought that it would be nice to decorate Miss Melissa. Melissa said that she remembered Mary touching her back, but she didn't realize that stickers were being placed. I guess that's what happens when you give a three year old stickers.

Nothing too exciting

Daily strawberries from the garden here in Maryland.


Reno and Kyleigh love the windows, they can hardly fit.


Kyleigh was not too sure about moving to Maryland, she loves it now though.

It's not so much that I don't like posting, it's that's there is nothing too exciting going on. We have moved to Maryland. Matt will be finishing school and working. I will be working as a nanny. I love being with children, so what better way to be with children then to be a nanny. The hours are great, Monday-Friday 8-6 p.m. The pay is amazing and the kids are adorable. Rob is eleven and Mary is three. Between swimming, story time, playdates, games, lessons, cooking, cleaning and just being plain silly with Mary, we will have a fun, busy summer. Once school starts, Mary will be in pre-school three days a week, so I will stay busy cleaning and organizing. I love doing all of the above, so it will be a perfect job for me. We are excited to start new here in Maryland, there is so much fun stuff to do. We will have something fun to do every weekend. My sister Sharon and her family are here, so that is even better. We are expecting lots of fun filled days in the future. I will be sure to post our fun times. Looks like Matt already posted the fun we had at the D.C. mall. I also will be posting my weight loss progress. There will be pictures and journals on my progress. I need to scrape off about 60 lbs. It will be hard but worth it. So look out for that.

A day on the Mall

Melissa's sister Sharon arrived in town last Saturday with her three boys. It was exciting to have them here finally. John has been here for two months already and I think that everyone was ready to be reunited. We went to their house for Sunday dinner and had a good time with them, and decided that Tuesday would be a good day to visit Washington DC and the Museums on the Mall. We went back and forth as to whether they would drive down and park, or spend the money to take 5 people on the Metro. In the end, they took the Metro. We met at the Archives and were on our way. We first went to the Air and Space Museum, which has always been my favorite. Melissa and I, not having any kids, didn't bring any bags, and since the Metal detectors there only seem to detect if you are carrying a chunk of metal the size of your head, we walked through and then turned around to see Sharon and John having their bags inspected. We were very sad that we don't have kids at that moment. Our life is much too simple right now. Anyway, the three boys loved the museum. They had seen the new "Night at the Museum" movie and were looking for all the things that they had seen. Unfortunately the effects of too little sleep and waking up early began to show. It was at that point that I thought again, "My life really is too easy, I need some kids." We solved the issues and moved on to the Natural History Museum. The kids all loved the hall of mammals and Justin especially loved the gemstones and crystals. Justin seems to be a geologist in training. The gift shops had lots of neat things and being kids they wanted some, but having just started a new job, and paying rent and Mortgage for a couple months, Sharon and John decided against buying them stuff. Sadness ensued, made worse by how tired the kids were, but we got through. At this point we headed toward the American History Museum. The last time that Melissa and I were here and went to DC we missed the opening of the remodeled museum by a month. We were excited to see it, but with Melissa having an activity that she needed to get home to and the tired kids we were only able to see two of the six wings. It was at that point that I decided I really needed to come back alone. Melissa doesn't get as tired as the kids, or at least is old enough to not let it ruin her day when she is tired, but she looks at Museums like most people read National Geographic: Look at the picture, move on. I was lagging behind because I like to read stuff. I don't generally read whole articles in Nat Geo, but I do like to read the blurbs that go with the pieces. Regardless of tired children and speedy look throughs, it was a fun day, and we look forward to spending more time with Sharon and her family as they explore the sights of their new home. By the way there are no pictures of the day because we forgot to bring our camera. We'll have to get them from Sharon who had hers.

Blog Mutiny

Melissa doesn't post much anymore. I think that I'm going to take over the posting. I guess the biggest thing that has changed in our lives is that we are in Maryland. Things are going well for us so far. I am still looking for a job, but Melissa has found a nanny job 12 miles from the house and she is super excited about it. It is for two kids. An 11 year old boy and a three year old girl. She says that they are super cute and she can't wait to start.
Our cats are adjusting well. They aren't so much getting along with the pre-existing tenant. Clio is not so excited to have them here in the house, but they are starting to tolerate each other. I don't think they will ever be best friends, but if they tolerate eachother we'll be happy.
I guess, long story short, we're doing fine, and hoping to just keep getting better.

R.I.P. Kitty

So this is Matt. A week ago Friday I was at work. It was a normal day. About half way through the day I get a call from Melissa. I picked up the phone and well... sobbing. We had been talking about putting our oldest cat to sleep. He was almost 16 years old and had lost half of his body weight over the last year or so. He slept more than usual. He really only left the bed to eat and use the litter box. We had almost done it a couple of times already, but Melissa wasn't ready. On Friday she got the guts to do it. She took him into the local animal shelter and said her goodbyes. She started to cry and ran out as soon as she could. On her way home was when she called me. Luckily it was a pretty slow day at work and when I told them what had happened, or at least what I figured had happened with the crying and the words that I could understand between the sobs, they told me that I could go home for the day and be with her. It was hard for her, but she knows that it was the best thing for him. He will be missed.