A Glimpse into Annie's Mind... what could be scarier? ;)

My mind works in tunnels... er. wormholes is probably more appropriate. Remember that image of Jodi Foster in the movie Contact- where she's in the chair flying through tunnels and then dropping into wormholes, then flying through another tunnel only to end up at a clear destination of a beach.. well that's the best way to describe how my mind works.



So if you're still interested come along on a journey with me and keep reading! :)




Getting in the chair and strapping in: Last weekend Ken and I watched the movie 2012. Then two nights ago I watched a show on the History Channel about 2012. And they spoke about how the Mayan calendar (which is apparently really precise) ends on December 21st,2012. And they went on to talk about how the Chinese have a book called the I- Ching that ends on the same date, and of course they brought in all kinds of stories about people prophesying the end of the world as we know it. Most of the time, my reaction would be "click" - change the channel. I don't know what the pull was that kept me watching it (maybe it was the movie being fresh on my mind) Anyway, I watched the whole show which got me all worked up because they had said that astronomers and science had confirmed that Dec. 21, 2012 is when the earth and a bunch of other planets come completely in line with the sun which could cause polar shifts, etc. etc. Sounds plausible. Well being a mom this had me all worked up. I'm not so much worried about it being an apocalypse because if that's the case we're ok. But what if its not the end of the world and it just means some really traumatic geological stuff is going to happen? It physically hurts me to imagine not being able to save my children from harm.


Enter my constant spell of worrying...

Tunnel: So, for the past couple of days I've been pondering what I would do if some major natural catastrophe were to strike. Possible scenarios, Where would I go, What would I do, How can I plan or prepare in order to keep my family safe (thats the major one). Sure I can pack an emergency kit, maybe even pack one of our hiking backpacks to be ready to go... (yes, I'm that crazy that I would do that- don't judge me! ;)


Wormhole: So I started to create a little mental list. For example, each person would need a change of clothes, (something warm, waterproof, and lightweight). The girls would want their blankie... so have to pack that.. And then first aid kit, trash bags, flint stick, knives, tent, sleeping bags, food and water. Then I looked around my house to see if there was anything else that we would "need" and it was like my eyes were opened for the first time.


Beach: We have so much that falls under the category of "want" it was very grounding. Yes, I was always keenly aware that there are others out there that have far less than we do but it didn't quite hit home until today. WE ARE SOOO BLESSED! Our closets and drawers are beyond full, the toyboxes/ baskets are overflowing, we have so much stuff that we don't know where to put it all. It was a really good reality check to have especially since the holiday season is gearing up. I've already been eying Christmas presents and cute matching Christmas outfits for my girls for the past two weeks now.


Back to Earth: But now with this realization I've had today it makes me think.. Some of my favorite presents were presents that were "thoughtful presents" not just filler presents (ie. more boxes to open). Toys and clothes get outgrown, is there something that you received as a child that has always stuck with you?


As for the end of the world stuff. I'll probably have a bag packed just in case. ;)





And do the same exercise... If something were to happen and all you could take with you had to fit in a backpack.. what would it be? Then take an inventory of your belongings.

Its finally here!!

Its my absolute favorite time of year... The air is crisp, the leaves are changing and the relentless summer heat finally gives way to the refreshing breezes! Oh FALL! I've missed you!

One of my favorite family traditions is going to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out our pumpkins. We've gone every year starting when AJ was 2 months old.

This pic is us and anna from this year... (4 months)

This is us and AJ when she was 2 months old..

LOOK at Ken's bald head! Skinny man. ;)

This is Addison at 5 months old

Its always such a great time and the kids always have so much fun. There's the sandbox, concessions, facepainting, music, inflatables, pony rides, a petting zoo and of course the hay ride to the main pumpkin patch!

This year we invited our good friends the Pattersons and the Cowles along.


Homer and Addison had fun running around and exploring.

And AJ and Claire are bestest buds.

Here are some of the pics we took. I guess you can tell that Halloween is getting close because almost every picture I got on my camera at least one person was making a funny face... Although I don't think it was on purpose. :) Take a gander and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Happy Fall!!!!

Adventures Past the Mason Dixon

This past weekend, Ken, AJ and I had a much needed mini vacation! We traveled up to NJ for my friends Ria and Mark's wedding (AJ was the flowergirl) and got an invitation from my wonderful friend Ashley to stay at her family beach house in Ocean City! It was Ken and AJ's first time past the Mason Dixon line and we learned so much. We learned all kinds of things like: 1. there are bandit cabbies who will try to rip you off. 2. I sound southern. 3. Chaos is bound to ensue when all my friends get together and 4.we learned some new vocabulary. :) The first night was spent with Ashley at her family beach house - which was AWESOME! In the first hour that we arrived, we learned/ tried three new things. Ashley walked us down the boardwalk and we had some Magical Pizza at Mack and Manco's.
Tried Birch Beer. Which is like rootbeer- but better.. The waiter asked if we wanted White Spinach and Red Spinach on our pizza... Feigning confidence in our choice we just blindly chose one. After the waiter left Ashley kindly explained that white Spinach pizza doesnt have sauce and red Spinach does! For a second there we thought there were different types of Spinach up north. lol! After Pizza, we went to Shriver's candy store and got some yummy fudge and licorice laces. Then we headed down to the arcade/ amusement park.. We bought our tickets for the rides and whaddya know.. it started pouring and they closed the rides. We did get in one ride on the carousel though, thanks to Ashley charming the ride operator. :) We played in the arcade for a bit then headed back to the beach house- occasionally ducking into a shop or under an awning in a futile effort to avoid the downpour. We finally gave up and just walked in the rain which was fun for me since my parent never let me play in the rain. (I know, I know- I was deprived as a child. :) )
The next morning, we had some delicious breakfast at Brown's. On the menu- typical breakfast fare: doughnuts, eggs, bacon, sausage, scrapple, pork rolls.. I know, I know- SCRAPPLE?! Pork Rolls?! haha! Ken and I were intrigued. Scrapple- Also referred to as Pon Haus is basically leftover parts of pork combined with spices and cornmeal formed into a loaf, sliced and then fried. Ken ordered the scrapple which is actually pretty good. As for the Pork Rolls, Ashley let me try a bite of hers and that was REALLY good. Apparently in North Jersey, its referred to as Taylor Ham. For all of us southerners - its like fried balogna. YUM! YUM!

After we had brunch, we went for a walk on the beach. Alexis was playing in the waves lapping up on the shore when she lost her balance and face planted in the water. IN HER CLOTHES. It was so comical. Her foot sank into the sand and she lost her flipflop and as she was trying to right herself, she stumbled and in what seemed like slow motion, her face turned from a bright smile to a "oh no, oh no! I'm going down and I can't stop it" look.
We all couldn't stop laughing. After that, we decided to skip the boardwalk and let her play in the ocean in all of her clothes. An hour later we had to practically drag the child out of the ocean. She had so much fun playing and her shorts were absolutely soaked she had to hold them up to keep her undies from showing! After we cleaned up it was time to pack up and head to the resort for the wedding festivities.

Ria and Mark had an abbreviated version of the Indian Wedding Ceremony and it was beautiful. A bunch of my friends from High School made the trip as well and we had so much fun. Alexis made friends with a couple of girls at the reception and had a blast running around. Ken lost a game of ping pong to Marty now has to call him Uncle Marty.

Saturday morning, AJ went into Atlantic City with her new friends to walk on the beach and boardwalk and found a massive clam shell. In the meantime, Ken and I had lunch with Sarah's beaux Sean and watched some football. Not spelled with a U OR a W - Eli! :) Then it was wedding time! Here are some pictures of the beautiful flower girl.
The ceremony was great and the groom's mother sang Ave Maria so beautifully. The wedding and reception was held at the Carriage House and it was amazing -The food was awesome- I'm drooling thinking about the shrimp nachos they had- and the mashed potato bar was awesome. and I've got too many pics to post here so you'll have to check out my shutterfly site.

Congratulations Mark and Ria!!

Then Sunday came and it turned out to be a great down time day. We had a breakfast in the main dining hall and ran into a bunch of the late nighters.. 2 of which had YET to go to sleep and listened to stories of riding in Eli's Semi, Ginga and all the other craziness, lounged around the pool, then packed up and flew home. We had such an amazing time and we are looking forward to seeing everyone again soon!


To see more pics of the trip check out our shutterfly account. www.englandfamily.shutterfly.com

(fyi- Some of the pictures were taken by AJ- hence the weird angles and the finger in the pics :)


PS> Ken found SCRAPPLE at Publix yesterday! We didn't buy any - but its there! In the frozen meat section for any of you who'd like to try it! :)

Playdate at the Gardens

Anna is 4 months old today!

So today was a gorgeous day! We had a nice little visit with Ken's parents this morning, Sold Ken's Camaro ( WOOOHOOOO!!!) and then Addison, Anna and I had a last minute playdate with my best friend Erika and her adorable little boy Homer! We went to the botanical gardens and had a little snack picnic for the babies and just watched them run around. It was awesome! The sun was out and there was a nice breeze. It gets me so excited to know that fall is around the corner! Its my absolute favorite season!!! And being outside was so refreshing.. I really needed it and it wore the babies out.


Here are a few pics of the outing.

Here's a pic of me failing to properly paci train Anna.
I think she's been watching Addison. What do you think? ;)

And as a bonus- here's a video of Addison dancing. :) She's a dancing machine.

Update!

So its been a while since I've posted and I know I promised to be better at posting but MAN, this whole stay at home mom thing is not as easy as I remembered it to be! To be fair, the last time I was a SAHM I had ONE child and now I have THREE!

So let me catch you up quickly:
Alexis is in second grade and is doing WONDERFULLY! She's so smart! She's also cheering for the Hoover Raiders and absolutely loves it! She cheers CONSTANTLY and believe me when I say I am not exaggerating. The child cheers in the shower, getting dressed, eating, .. you name it.

Addison is growing like a weed and her vocabulary is expanding by the day. Its so fun to watch her little personality develop. The child is an animal! :) She's always good for a laugh! She'll dance, boss her big sister around and OMG she's become Obsessed with her little sister Anna! From the time she gets up till its time for bed she's constantly saying "an-na" "an-na". She'll hug her, try to pick her up, give her kisses and even try to give her a paci or a bottle. Its so cute.

Anna- my sweet little baby. She turns 4 months old tomorrow and she has grown into quite a little chunk considering she was only 6 lbs 2 oz when she was born. :) She has the absolute sweetest disposition and is always smiling. She's so happy and content it almost makes me want another.. haha! I said ALMOST! haha!


So I am constantly being asked, how is being at home?.. whats it like having 2 under 2?
Well, Being at home is wonderful. I feel so blessed that I am able to spend the important first few years of my babies' lives watching them grow and develop. But I have to be honest- being at home isnt the cake walk I remembered it to be! Yes, SOMETIMES I take naps during the day because I usually dont get to bed until midnight and then maybe one or both babies wake up in the early am hours and then there's getting up to get AJ's lunch and ken's coffee made before they head out at 7:30. With a toddler who is into EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME, its hard to keep the house picked up and all the household duties done daily so that's my greatest hurdle at the moment. I have great expectations of myself being a stay at home mom and I get frustrated when I don't meet my goal for the day/ week, etc. So I'm still working on that. and having 2 under 2? its constant but not as bad as i imagined- chaos wise. i have them on similar sleep schedules so when they're napping its awesome and when theyre awake- its like an adventure. hahah! you never know whats going to happen. But thats what keeps it fun. :) All in all I think the following picture best illustrates my life at times...

hmm.. what else?...
Ken's doing well. Working hard as always and finishing up his last semester of grad school. I'm so proud of how hard he works. He does an amazing job at work, has a 4.0 in school and still stays involved with the girls. :) He's like superman to me.So that's pretty much it for now. Have a great weekend!
ps. the pics of anna and addison were taken by my friend AMY CARSON! She's awesome. Check out her blog http://acpgallery.wordpress.com/

Ruffles and Lobster Tails

After dinner tonight we decided to let Addison have another try at getting messy with her cake.

We figured- maybe she was just shy and didn't want to be in the spotlight on Sunday so this would be great! It was just Ken, Addison and me in the kitchen (AJ was in the shower). So I put the cake in front of her expecting total obliteration... She stuck her finger in it and whined. So I thought "OK! maybe it would work better if I cut a big piece to put on her high chair... So i cut off a big piece and cut it into pieces to entice her to pick it up and eat.. Still nothing. She sat there with a look of horror on her face. As if to say... "what am I supposed to do with that?!" I turn to Ken "what the heck?! What child doesn't want cake and icing?!" He said, "I bet you she'd eat ruffles.. The girl likes salty stuff" So we grab the bag of ruffles and what do you know?! She ate a TON! hah!

I hated to let all that yummy cake go to waste so I asked Ken, "Can AJ have this small corner piece with the flower?" He proceeds to shoot me a look and said "THE GIRL HAD LOBSTER TAIL FOR DINNER! THAT WAS HER DESSERT! Not to mention a half rack of baby back ribs and mashed potatoes! .. Do you know when I first had lobster!? It was after I married you! And we ate crab when we went down to the beach and CAUGHT IT OURSELVES!!!"

bahahahah!

What can I say- the girl has expensive tastes!
She loves lobster, crab legs and shrimp!

I JUST had a baby!

Well not really.. but this time last year I was in that state of shock, bliss and happiness because Miss Addison Salee England was just born! 12:21 pm to be exact. Its insane to think that a whole year has passed so quickly. Addison is a toddler now. She still prefers crawling as it allows her to escape from whomever is chasing her faster. But we work on walking at night and she is doing sooo well! My mom has been such an angel and helping her practice so she can take a good 6 - 8 steps or so!

She is a girl on the go! Most of the time her body moves faster than her feet and she face plants but she's a tough girl and is ready to get up and try it again. Oh did I mention she's completely fearless? The child scrambles up and down the stairs and she LOVES to climb.
I caught her trying to scale the drawer handles in the kitchen.. I've heard of moms finding their climber kids on top of the fridge.. I'm hoping i'm not one of them! :) Thankfully, I think the top of my fridge is just too cluttered for anything else to fit up there! Her favorite toy at the moment.. This big box.

She is such a loving girl and absolutely ADORES her big sissy AJ. Its funny to watch them play and see how different their personalities are.
Lately she's been infatuated with Ken too. Always banging at the window or screen door squealing DaDa!!!! He'll turn and wave back at her then she'll look at me with her little squished up smile like "did you see that? he waved at me!"





Life has been hectic this year but very good nonetheless. Here are some pics from her party we had on Sunday. AJ did a great job putting together the paper flowers for the centerpieces/ favors, we made a banner, and decorated some water bottles. It was a lot of fun and Addison almost lasted the entire party!

So here's to you our sweet Addison...

The youngest of our household for one whole year...
We love you and Happy 1st Birthday!!!!

A Fresh Start

OK, its time for us to start over. I admit, I've done a horrible job keeping this blog updated but times they are a changin'... This spring is my renewal.. I'm starting fresh! So get ready guys because I'm back and i'm bigger than ever... no really.. i am!

Here are a few maternity pics to prove it! (Courtesy of Amy Carson - http://www.acpgallery.com/) And yes you can say it.. "Didn't you JUST have a baby this time last year?!" Yes, Yes I did. What can I say- "Oops I did it again!" Addison turns ONE next week and her birthday party is this Sunday. I'm still working on all the little details but will post pics soon! My little baby is going to be a big sister! And soon you will get to hear all the fun details of what life is like for me as a stay at home mom with 2 under two and a 6 year old who's going on 16! EEK! Fun times though right?! right?!!!