Cute as a panda cub

My niece, Nora Jane, is a panda bear this year for Halloween. My sister sent me these pictures last night and I could not resist sharing. One, because Nora Jane is just too stinking cute and two, because my sister knitted the panda bear outfit!

Football and Nana's new house

The last Saturday in September, we went to see Andrew's cousins, Chase and Anthony, play football. It's pretty interesting to watch the kids play at this age (they are 10/11). The 11 year olds play 1st quarter and 3rd quarter, and the 10 year olds play 2nd quarter. 4th quarter is a mix of 10 and 11 years olds. And, they play iron man football which means they are out there the whole quarter. It was a good way to introduce Andrew to the concept of attending a football game (we are planning a trip to JMU in November to watch the Dukes play a game). He LOVED it...we sat down near the field and each one of the boys came over to talk to Andrew a bit. We showed Andrew their numbers on each of their uniforms (17 and 87) so he could find them on the field. I'm hoping this is a sign that Andrew will enjoy football as much as Colin and I do - we'll see in November!

On Sunday, we headed out to Nana and Oz's new condo in Gainesville. Nana and Oz have a Gator bike for Andrew to ride when he visits and we have been keeping it while they are in transition to their new digs. Now, that they are in their new place, we wanted to get the bike over to their place (and out of our garage!) and check out their place now that it is officially "theirs". Andrew rode his bike all around the parking lot and checked out every nook and cranny of the new condo. Then we headed over to 5 Guys for burgers - a total score for Andrew because they have peanuts which entertains him while we wait for the food! He was totally worn out after all the excitement of the weekend. As soon as we got in the car to come home he was out.

Slacking on the posts

I've been a big slacker on the posting as of late. The middle of September brought Andrew's 4th birthday and in my typical "Martha Stewart wannabe" fashion, I went all out for his pirate treasure hunt party - complete with a treasure hunt for pirate garb and 2 cakes - pirate face and treasure chest. I know it's alot of work to host a birthday party at our house, but I just know Andrew had such a good time and loved that all his friends came over to his house for his pirate party.

We followed that up with a 4th birthday party celebration at his school where I learned that black frosted pirate cupcakes might be a great idea in theory but boy, are they messy with a bunch of 3-4 year olds!

And it has not stopped since then. It's that time of year where there is some type of fall activity to do each weekend and we have been taking full advantage of those activities - keeping a little blonde child busy so he will just collapse at night from sheer exhaustion!

Future star of "So, You think You can Dance" or "American Idol"

In the past month, Andrew has discovered the fun of my iPod Shuffle - mind you, it's neon pink so seeing Andrew carrying around a neon pink iPod is completely hilarious!

He has figured out how to put the ear buds in, turn it on, adjust the volume and find the song that he wants. Now, I use my Shuffle for my daily runs, so it's a random mixture of songs that will keep me going when I totally want to stop running and walk home. His current favorites are "Barbie Girl" by Aqua and "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne. He dances around the kitchen singing to these songs. It's the funniest thing to hear Andrew's little voice singing "hey, you, I don't like your girlfriend, no way, think you need a new one" or "i'm a barbie girl, in a barbie world" and all the randoms ooh-oohs that he throws in! We've captured it on video so I suppose we will have to save it for blackmail purposes when he is a teenager!

Gotta love 34 - 3

Ok, I'm the first to admit, I'm a HUGE Redskins fan http://www.redskins.com/ ...so much so, I have suffered through the countless seasons of possibility only to be disappointed in the end and been known to chase after certain players in the local shopping center to chat with them (of course, I never have my camera or anything they can sign!) Since 1993 when Joe Gibbs retired, we have had 6 head coaches - Richie Petitbon, Norv Turner, Terry Robiskie, Marty Schottenheimer, Steve Spurrier and then Joe Gibbs again in 2004. When Daniel Snyder managed to pull Joe Gibbs out of retirement to come back and coach the Redskins for a 2nd time, we had a party.

Now, Joe Gibbs football will give you a stress attack on a weekly basis...the games are ALWAYS close and they come down to the last minutes of the game. I don't ever get my nails done during football season, because I bite them all off watching the game each week. So imagine my delight to get in the car Sunday afternoon and hear the score 14-0 - Redskins ahead. And they managed to keep the lead - even though many of the starters were out with injuries - and won, not a nailbiter, but a good solid thumping of the Detriot Lions with the final score 34-3 (who by the way, are supposed to have an incredible offense!) What a great way to close out the weekend!

Sterlingfest

Sterlingfest is an annual event that showcases the Sterling Volunteer Fire Department. Our family has a special place in our heart for the Sterling Area Fire Department since one of their crew responded to the daycare when Andrew had his seizure two years ago. But the event a little boy's dream - there are firetrucks are parked everywhere, a helicopter lands and they demonstrate the Jaws of Life. We met Andrew's buddy, Matthew, there and they wore each other out playing on the playground at the rec center next to the Fire Station, dancing to the bands, and playing in the three different moon bounces. He was EXHAUSTED when I finally loaded him into the car at 4 pm - he and Matthew closed the place down!

We ARRRGH Pirates

Our house has been overtaken by pirates.....Andrew is completely obsessed with pirates and treasure since his birthday party.

Busy weekend ahead

We are up and moving early this morning - actually I should rephrase...I am up and moving early this morning. This weekend is packed - I'll be registering for the 2008 ScrapBowl this morning at 11 am http://www.getcroppin.com/feb_class.cfm . I'm super excited to go - I'm really beginning to enjoy putting together pages that document the fun times Colin, Andrew and I have with our family and friends. Then Andrew and I will be heading out to catch the end of the Columbus Day Parade and Sterlingfest with Andrew's buddy Matthew.

Colin's dad and younger brother, Tom, arrive at 2 pm today so he's going to be getting the house somewhat organized for them. Tonight I'm heading out to Alexandria to go to the Mount Vernon Wine Festival with some friends. This is an annual event that we hit every year and we normally discover some new Virginia winery that has GREAT wine and buy a bunch of wine to enjoy over the next few months. http://www.mountvernon.org/calendar/index.cfm/fuseaction/event/calID/72/

Tomorrow, some of my friends and I are going to a Williams Sonoma class on decorating cookies and cupcakes and following it up with a girls day brunch. It's also game day - the Redskins play the Lions at 1 pm. One of my favorite Redskins players, Gary Clark, is being inducted into the Redskins Hall of Fame. He was an amazing receiver for the team during some of their better years and it does not hurt that he went to my alma mater - James Madison University! So, I'll be cheering the team on in spirit during our girl's brunch...I'm going to spare my girlfriends and not wear my jersey to the class or brunch even though that breaks the Wood family game day rule! More to follow.....

What happens when you leave a 4 year old alone for 5 minutes

I ran upstairs to get a few items together for our crazy Wednesday (we fit work, daycare, soccer and tennis lessons into the day all before 5 pm). And Andrew managed to himself stuck in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle dress up belt he just got for his birthday.

I just don't even want to know what was going through his head when he got himself stuck that way!

We have a costume!

Since Andrew's birthday falls about a month and a half before Halloween, we seem to be continuing the birthday party theme into the

Halloween costume. Last year, he had a "Cars" themed birthday party and then he wanted to be something from "Cars" for Halloween - we ended up with the pit crew costume because he just could not be bothered with the big bulky costume they created to be "Lightening McQueen". This year, he announced that he wanted to be a pirate (go figure, he had a pirate party for his birthday!). Gymboree had an absolutely adorable pirate outfit, but it sold out quickly online and it was almost $50 for the whole costume. So Andrew and I hit every other store that might carry a pirate costume to see if we could find something that he might like. Who knew 4 years olds had such particular tastes and opinions! He hated every other pirate costume in every other store.... On a whim, we hit the mall late last week to see if the Disney store might have a costume that would suit Andrew's tastes. I peaked in the Gymboree store on our way to the Disney store and guess what? They had the cute pirate costume AND it was on sale AND Andrew LOVES it! Whew, pirate disaster avoided!!!!