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Happy Mothers Day!
I had a great weekend with my boys. We all went camping on Friday afternoon to Cunningham Falls State Park in Thurmont MD. It was a surprising success considering we had a 2 yr old and 3 month old. We were joined by Andy Meekins and his daughter Maple, and our neighbors the Crothers. Bennett had two other kids his age to play with and I think that was the key to everyone’s enjoyment. The kids played with sticks, dump trucks & flashlights, baby Coby laid around, and us adults unpacked – cooked – then packed again. Read more »

May 1, 2010
We spent the weekend at a park cabin in Douthat VA. My aunt Claudia and uncle Randy Sullivan had invited us to join them and their 2 doggies. It was just what we enjoy: relaxing, hiking, good weather and wine! It reminded us of a Norwegian cabin, but without the snow. (we never went to a summer cabin) Read more »

Baby Coby was born a month ago on Feb. 23rd 2010 at 12:55am. He was 7lbs 13 oz. I can’t believe it’s taken me a month to post the update to my blog. It’s been quite the blur, but I’ll try and recap the last month.

I went into labor around 10pm Monday night while we were watching the winter Olympics. Labor moved along so fast, that we could barely get Bennett to Cyril and Mary’s house and me Read more »

Dave and I decided we love snow and we need to move more north. Strange since I’ve lived more than half my life by the ocean.

We have successfully entertained ourselves hanging out with our neighbors: Poker night, Beatles Rock Band, sledding, Xcountry skiing, preparing the house for the baby to come (maybe next week??), lots of shoveling and baking junk food. We currently have whiteout conditions outside, but the fireplace is on and we are cozy! Hopefully the power won’t go out like it did over the weekend. The news is saying the blizzard conditions are like an “arctic wasteland”, but I disagree. I don’t think this weather is as bad as it was 2 years ago when we took 3 week old baby Bennett to Ustaoset Norway. Read more »

Dave's Baseball Birthday Cupcakes

Last weekend I experienced my annual “Gotta make my husband’s homemade birthday cake” dilema. This request is bestowed upon me and usually includes which specific recipe I am supposed to make. Past years were carrot cake with avocado frosting, tres leches and some other anti-Betty Crocker ideas. This year my husband graciously asked for kid friendly cupcakes since we were going to celebrate at a bowling alley. Phew – it could be worse! I immediately looked to Allison Cafe to see what’s been tested in the kitchen by my friend.

Kid friendly requirements in MY book is: No nuts and lots of sprinkles. I don’t care about quantity of sugar or fat. If it looks cool, they love it. My kid is crazy anyway with or without sugar.

The recipe that seemed to fit the bill was Allison’s “Chocolate Cupcakes with Creamy White Frosting“. What I didn’t like about it was that it asked for things that I didn’t have in my pantry (buttermilk & coconut extract). Read more »

Nov. 1, 2009 Hi – we are back live with a blog!  Long story … and who cares now. We had a fun Halloween weekend.  Bennett sure had a great time and filled up on candy and candy wrappers. He wasn’t prejudice against eating paper.  Read more »

What the heck have we been up to!! OK this blog isn’t easy to update since it requires uploading images and using my brain. I’ll give a shot until Bennett wakes up from his nap.

We have had several weekends of visitors since March. Jeff and Erica were in town for work reasons. We tried to do minimal projects on the house (unlike the previous visit from them). Then we went to California for a week. Dave had work out there and I saw my family and played with my nephews. Immediately afterwards, we had Steph Mumma and Neil Dixion came in town for work reasons. We checkout out the cherry blossoms downtown with them and hung out. Read more »

This past winter I was very bothered by all the trash in the Fallsgrove neighborhood trails and streams. I found a Rockville city trash program similar to the I Love A Clean San Diego which I had participated in. The following is an article I wrote for my neighborhood newsletter after my 1st “organized” trash pickup event. Since this article was printed a whopping 2 people are interested in joining me. Not so great returns considering how large my community is. But, I’m proud that I did something about the problem and I know it will get bigger next year. I’m glad my karate friend Sarah Adams made me participate in all her trash clean-up programs in San Diego. Thanks Sarah and give Monte the cat a kiss for me! Read more »

March 21 – 28, 2009
We recently got back from a week vacation to Southern California! Ohhh – how I miss the sun and liquor being sold in grocery stores. Ok ok and my family too! Read more »

On March 1st I marked the calendar that Bennett took his first steps (as in 4 or 5). But today, he crossed the circle in our toddler Funfit class to get to our friends Danielle and Joana. I was happy with that. But afterwards when we went to Starbucks, his momentum really picked up. He walked 20 – 50 steps! Maybe it was Starbucks, maybe it was Danielle being a cute older woman. Who knows. Read more »