Birthday Week

My birthday was a week ago yesterday (May 8).  I turned 28, which is one of those birthdays that isn’t all that exciting.  I don’t really make a big deal out of my birthday, but I always insist that Bob recognizes birthday week, so that I basically get my way for an entire 7 days.

This year, however, Bob surprised me with a couple of date nights to celebrate!  I posted this screen shot on Facebook a few weeks ago.

 

Yea, he tries to trip me up with these random things that I should “have prepared”.  (Nightcrawlers?!?!)  Remember the hints he gave me for my Surprise Weekend to DC??  And yes, he pretty much always signs his emails to me “Sincerely”.  Silly hubs!!

Anyway, he told me that he had plans for both Monday and Wednesday nights and that he had already arranged for sitters for Clark.  I was really excited!!  We don’t often go out on adult-only dates.

When Monday rolled around, I found out that my little sis, Ellen was coming up from Bethesda to spend the day with me and then watch Clark while Bob and I went to dinner at La Scala, our favorite place in Little Italy.  There’s an indoor bocce ball court that you can play on while you wait for your table.  Funny thing…Ellen had given us a gift card to La Scala and a home-made coupon for one night of free babysitting for Christmas back when I was pregnant!!  So this particular date was long over-due!!

Before we left, I opened my present from Ellen.  Look how creative she was with the bag!!A couple of tanks and a new VT shirt.  I could ALWAYS use some VT clothes!  Go Hokies!

Ellen took a couple pictures before we left, and we headed out to enjoy the evening.We were halfway there when we realized, OOPS!!  Neither of us grabbed the gift card!  HA!  Thank goodness it was a Monday night.  We didn’t have any problems pushing back our reservations so we could head back to the house and pick it up.  Luckily, that wasn’t a precursor for the rest of the night.  Our food was delicious as usual and we had a great time chatting, people watching and enjoying some adult time!

On Wednesday, my actual birthday, Bob and Clark gave me some very appropriate cards!I think Clark’s handwriting is really improving, don’t you?  Update: I accidentally posted the card Bob got me for Mother’s Day first.  whoops! 

I also got a sweet surprise when I checked my email that morning!Cannot tell you how excited I am to schedule THAT!!!

My mom had made arrangements to come have lunch and spend the day with me and she already told me what she got me for my birthday:A butt-load trunk-load of plants!  This was so thoughtful and creative and HELPFUL because I have a less than green thumb and a half-bare garden in our back yard.  Remember our backyard beds?  Because Bruno has started using those beds as his toilet, I decided I’m probably not going to plant an edible garden this year.  My awesome mom got me plenty of colorful perennials to fill the empty space.

We planted them on Thursday.  And by “we” I mean my mom and Clark, while I took pictures and gave words of encouragement. Here is a slightly better “after” photo:

It’s going to look even better once we mulch and they grow out a little bit!

Okay, so back to Wednesday!!

Bob told me the event called for me to wear a gown!!!  Obviously he doesn’t know what a gown is because we were NOT headed to prom OR the Oscars!!  Glad I double-checked with Ellen while she was here.  (Bob let pretty much everyone in on the secret, except me!)  Even as we were headed out the door, I had no idea where we were going.I was thrilled when we arrived at the Hippodrome Theatre!!!  It’s a former vaudeville theatre in Baltimore built in the early 1900′s that seats about 2300.  

I snapped these photos of the theatre with my phone before getting reprimanded by an usher.  In my defense, I honestly didn’t know that photos weren’t allowed even before the show started.  The show playing on Wednesday was Green Day’s American Idiot: The Musical.  Bob got us great seats in the balcony.  The show is more than a little risqué and there’s a lot of language, so make sure you know what you’re going to see if you plan to buy tickets to this show.  (No joke: some older people exited after the first few scenes!)  Not-so-secret Secret of mine: I had a thing for punk rock for a while!  As evidenced by this picture of me from Halloween 2005:

Needless to say, I loved the music!  Plus it was an evening spent with Bob!  We had a great time and now we’re even thinking about getting season tickets through the Hippodrome to see some other musicals that come through.

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday week so special!!  Especially Bob!  Love you and your surprises!

Now I have to think of something really good for him!  Any suggestions?  Hurry, his birthday is June 30!!!!

Sleeping Cuties

I was going through pictures on my phone and realized I take a heck of a lot of pictures of my baby boys while they’re sleeping.  I thought I would share some of them.  Aren’t they just adorable when they are in dreamland?

 

Can’t handle the cuteness!!!  So much love for those boys!

2nd Annual Clark Jackson Invitational

About a year ago, right after we had Clark, Bob’s brother Brian was coming to visit (and meet Clark for the first time) from Florida.  He went to Virginia Tech also, so we have a lot of mutual friends that live in the Baltimore/DC area.  As he and Bob were discussing his upcoming visit, they decided to get some guys together to play golf.

One thing led to another and the Clark Jackson Invitational was born!

Last year they played 2-man scramble with about 12 guys and while the men were on the course, the ladies came to hang out with me and Clark and get ready for the BBQ after!  Some pictures from last year:

Original CJI golfers

Bob’s cousin Paul and brother Brian with Clark

Receiving the winning cash

Winners! Jeff and Bob’s cousin, Dave

Because everyone had such a great time last year, we decided to do it again this year.  And we weren’t messin’ around!  I mean, Bob even got a trophy made with the winners of last year engraved on it!But we’ll get to that…

This year there were 16 guys and they played 4-man scramble, with some other challenges like longest drive, etc.  We have a really good friend who works as a golf pro in Florida.  He wasn’t able to make it last year or this year, but he has officially been name the commissioner of the CJI and he made awesome score cards again this year using photos of Clark and all the guys playing.  The girlfriends/fiancés/wives came to our house to hang out with me.  We basically had a baby/dog play date with margaritas!  Seriously, there were 4 girls (and one who came a little later), 4 dogs, and 2 babies.  And we lost count of the margaritas !

We could not have asked for a better day for the guys to golf.  It was just gorgeous!  When they got back, the winners were announced for each of the categories and the 4-some that took it all.  

Oh the winners?  Yea, it just so happens that both my hubs and my little brother were on the winning team.  The 4-some from back left: Andrew Atman, Ben Grossman, Sam (my bro), and Bob.  We’ll get the winners’ names engraved on the trophy each year, but keep it at our house for safe-keeping.

Then we ate!!  We had all kinds of BBQ foods, and one girl even brought Georgetown Cupcakes from DC!!!  Those were obviously a hit!

Once the BBQ started and the keg was tapped, I didn’t get a whole lot of pictures.  We had an awesome time hanging out in the beautiful weather, watching babies and dogs play together, and catching up with old friends.  Not to mention eating large quantities of food.

In the end we had 26 adults, 4 babies, and 9 dogs who made appearances at our house at some point on Saturday.  It was a blast!  Let’s just say we were exhausted on Sunday, but we can’t wait till next April for the 3rd Annual Clark Jackson Invitational!

Proud to be a Hokie

Today, I’m remembering my alma mater.

We are Virginia Tech.

We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.

We are Virginia Tech.

We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again.

We are Virginia Tech.

We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.

We are Virginia Tech.

The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.

We are the Hokies.

We will prevail.

We will prevail.

We will prevail.

We are Virginia Tech.

-Nikki Giovanni’s convocation address, April 17, 2007

Please keep Virginia Tech and all those who were affected in your thoughts and prayers today.

 

**Praying for Boston and the families affected by yesterday’s tragedy.  

Easter

Two weeks late, but finally…the Easter post!

We spent Easter in Pittsburgh with Bob’s family.  It was a really special weekend since our niece was baptized AND Bob’s sister shared some exciting news!!

However, it was an exhausting couple of days!!  We stayed with Bob’s sister, Leslie and her husband, Kev and because of traffic issues on Friday night, we didn’t get in until a little after midnight.  Clark slept the whole drive and must have thought it was morning when we finally got there because he refused to go back to sleep until we brought him in to bed with us!  Not fun!

Saturday we woke up pretty early to take care of Bruno and then went to Bob’s parents’ house for breakfast with a bunch of the family.  Which also included our sister-in-law’s family (her sister and brother-in-law and their 2 kids).  Bob got to spend most of the rest of Saturday at a Penguins hockey game while I was on baby duty with a kid too exhausted to take a nap!!  At least I was in good company!

Saturday night, Bob and I got some adult time with some high school friends of his for a couple hours while grandma and grandpa put Clark to bed on the dining room floor.  (not joking, he passed out on a blanket and was more than comfortable there until we brought him back to Leslie and Kev’s house)

Sunday came with so much to celebrate!!

The Julius family has an easter egg hunt tradition.  This was the first year that I’ve experienced it AT the Julius house.  Here’s how it goes:

• Each kid gets assigned a color egg to look for.  You only collect your color! 
• Once all the eggs are collected, we open the eggs to find numbers inside.
• The numbers coincide with our gifts.  For example, if your egg has number 3 inside, you open the gift marked #3!
• There’s also special multi-colored eggs that have candy or some other kind of treat inside.  Those eggs are anyone’s game!

It’s really a TON of fun!!  Plus, I was lucky to participate after an unfortunate incident of accidentally posting pictures on Facebook of my mother-in-law that she had not pre-approved.  :-/

After the hunt, we all had breakfast, took some pictures and got ready to head to church.  (Bob, Clark, and I headed back to Les and Kev’s to let Bruno out first and Clark took that opportunity to catch some ZZZ’s)After the church service, our niece, Taylor Rose, was baptized.  I can’t think of a more perfect day to perform this sacrament than the day we celebrate Jesus’ sacrifice for our salvation!!  And it was so sweet to have so many family members there to witness it.

We headed back to Leslie and Kev’s to pack our things and pick up Bruno, then went to Bob’s parents’ house again for a huge Easter lunch with most of Bob’s extended family.

When the aunts/uncles/cousins/etc. had left, I insisted we get a Julius family picture.  This was the first time all of us were together since Taylor and Clark were born.  There were a few complaints, but I think everyone is glad we did it!  Right?!?

Back: Kevin, Leslie, Earl, Mary, Brian, Jason, Taylor
Front: Bob (with Clark), Kara, Lauren

 

We drove home that evening with full bellies, full hearts and REALLY tired eyes!!  It was a wonderful weekend!

…And who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.  Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.  Romans 1:4-5 (NIV)

How to UN-shrink your pants

**Sorry about the absence.  I haven’t had access to my computer for a while because we were out of town for Easter weekend and then we were having issues with our computer power cord.  Luckily, I bought a new one yesterday and we are good to go.  I hope to put up an Easter recap post by the end of next week.

So, right before Thanksgiving, I bought a new pair of jeans.  I literally wore them once before I accidentally shrunk them in the dryer.  (I’m not a pro at doing laundry.)  I tried to rock them anyway, but they were obviously too short on me yet not short enough to look like it was “on purpose”.

I was going to toss them in my give-away pile but then I saw this on Pinterest.

 

Originally pinned from here

After reading the instructions, I wasn’t sure that they would work on denim, but what did I have to lose?

Following the instructions, I first filled up my sink with lukewarm water and some baby wash.

I added my jeans and let them soak for a few minutes.After I knew the water and shampoo was worked through, I wrung them out (without rinsing).

I laid my jeans out on a big towel and rolled them up.  My goal was for the jeans to be damp, but not too wet. After I unrolled the towel, I just started stretching the legs.  I found the easiest way to stretch them was by pulling by the side seams.  I only needed a couple inches, so it didn’t take very much effort.After stretching them as much as I needed, I just let them air dry.  DO NOT DRY IN THE DRYER.  That’s what got me here in the first place!  When they were good and dry, I tried them on.  Voila!!Here’s the side-by-side before and after:

Yay! Now I don’t have to buy another new pair.  AND, I’m sure that I can un-shrink them again if I need to.

In fact, this process would probably work on a lot of clothing items.  Anyone else have some tips on righting laundry wrongs?  I’d love to hear them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boy’s best friend

Clark and Bruno are getting along quite well…

Bruno

We expanded our family this weekend!!!  We had been talking about getting a dog for a while now. Bob didn’t grow up with pets so he took a little bit of convincing but he has already fallen head over heels for our new fur-baby.

Meet Bruno JuliusIsn’t he precious!?!?

He’s a Doxle (Beagle/Dachshund mix).  On Sunday he was 8 weeks old.

Clark really loves him too.  They are gonna be best buddies!

Bob picked the name on our drive home from picking him up and I just loved it right away.  And no, he is not named after Bruno Mars.  Bob doesn’t even know who Bruno Mars is.  HAHA.

Bruno is still in the sleeps-a-lot-of-the-day stage and has been found in some pretty adorable places!  His favorite spot?  Clark’s car seat…We can’t wait for spring to get here for real so we can play with Clark and Bruno in our back yard and go for walks after dinner together!

Port Discovery via Hipstamatic

I know I still owe a couple of posts but I haven’t been in the blogging mood lately.  We got some bad news last week, so my mind has been on other things.  To cheer us up, on Sunday after church, we took Clark to Port Discovery.  My mom got us a family membership for Christmas and this was the first time we’ve been able to use it. We will definitely be going back.  Clark is still a little too young for some of the exhibits, but he had a great time exploring all the hands-on activities they had to offer.

I’ve been loving my new IPhone since I got it back in November!  My brother-in-law introduced me to the “way better than Instagram” Hipstamatic app and I used it all day on Sunday to capture the experience.

Busta Move

Recently, Clark has been gettin’ down with his bad self every time he hears music.  I think it’s adorable so I often play music on Pandora throughout the day.  I was able to catch some of his moves (really just one move) on camera.

And from the front:

I think he really has ‘moves like Jagger’!  (Not that I’m biased or anything!)  Bob loves to dance with him when he gets home from work.  It’s so sweet!

Okay so I know I still owe a post with the finished buffet.  Promise I’ll get to that soon!  I also have a super easy art project/craft to share, so stay tuned!