Our Month of July!

I love to use this blog as a journal of the Rogers life, mostly for myself so I don't forget all the precious time that passes by with our little ones.  I used to do weekly recaps.  But now I have three kids (and really active little ones), blog over at The Chirping Moms, continue to have a husband that works a lot, and even try to sneak in a few moments to myself (to exercise or read usually!).  So I have decided to switch to monthly recaps to make my life easier:)  So I'm starting with this past July...

We kicked off July by moving into our new house in Virginia, right outside Washington DC!  Most of my pictures still remain on my phone from this time as I was Internet less and somehow haven't found time to download the pictures from my iPhone since Abby was born:)  (So all of these come from my big camera)!  Moving in was a bit crazy...Chris was at work while I held down the fort at home with the three kids unpacking one box at a time!  (It was a very slow process...)

Thankfully, we had plans for the 4th of July to head back down south to Emerald Isle again to meet Grandma Snow, my mom, and my brother Andy and his girlfriend Cynthia.  We drove through the night on the 3rd and were ready to celebrate all weekend long!  This family loves the beach time..

Then, we headed back up to Virginia for another week of unpacking and some super special visitors.  That Sunday, our good friends from NJ, the Nixons, were driving through back to NJ and stopped to stay with us for two nights!  Chris had to head to work, but I navigated the trains with all three kids and the four of them (they also have two kids) to show them the sights of Washington DC since they have never been there.  We had lots of fun touring the city and the kids LOVED having their bestie friends here.  And we loved having them here---hopefully we see them soon.  They left on Tuesday and it was back to unpacking  and we reunited with all of our toys that sat in storage for a month.  We may have attempted to get out of the house a little bit with some grocery store runs, park trips, Target errands, and some much needed caffeine at the coffee shop!

 We headed out the following Sunday to spend the night with Jill and cousin Jack up in PA!  The boys always love their play time with Jack:)  (And I always savor a little sister time!)  The following day, we headed up to Lancaster, PA to spend TWO days with our long lost NJ besties---Courtney, Maggie, and Alex.  We hit up the Strasburg Railroad, Choo-Choo Barn, some good ole Amish cooking, and an adventure farm.  Some may Courtney and I are crazy for attempting a vacation with five kids, four and under, but any one that knows us doesn't question our sanity.  Anything to meet up with our friends, right?  We even survived one hotel room with all five kids!  We miss this family like CRAZY!!!!!

 We arrived back home and spent the rest of the month finding our way around our new hometown and trying to turn our new place into our home for the next two years.  This includes...

• our first family run with all three kids
• learning the trails and playground of our new neighborhood
• discovering new parks around town
• a Mister Knick Knack concert at the Reston Town Center
• getting our new library card and checking out some new books
• loving that Whole Foods, Fresh Market, and Harris Teeter are all within 5 miles from here!  ( My grocery budget may not be loving this as I like to shop more often, but we are eating out less so I guess that's a good thing!)
• Chik-Fil-A Kids' Night with all three kids while Chris worked late
• Spent a morning at the farm, loving all the farm animals and tractors

In other news, Abby turned four months.  And her five month update will be here soon so I don't' want to spoil the update so I will keep her paragraph short and sweet.  Isn't she the sweetest little girl ever?!?!?  She is loved so much by all, what a lucky stinking girl!

Andrew is turning into a wild child!  He is quickly adjusting to his new home, although he misses his sandbox dearly.  He talks about it daily---I think I may have to break down and find one this week!!!  He loves anything that moves: trains, trucks, tractors, diggers, and more.  Riding on the Metro train is like the highlight of his summer.  This BIG boy started potty training has done wonderful.  He still is in a pull-up at naps and bedtime, but quickly adjusted to his big boy briefs!  He still loves his doggie and pacifier, but is finally only allowed them at bedtime.  He does NOT like to help clean up and loves to say "no" (I just love the twos:))  He loves chocolate milk, goldfish, and yogurt drinks.  He opens the fridge every morning to bring me the milk carton and chocolate bottle.  He loves Team Umizoomi and would love to watch tv all day (if only Mommy would let him).  He loves to use his TAG reader, especially the book Things that Go.  He is an outside kid, loves to touch bugs, has no fear at the playground, and scoots around on his mini scooter through the neighborhood.  How he has changed in the past few months...

Aiden is growing up before my eyes.  He has started to receive allowance, 50 cents per day for completing certain tasks.  He loves to play on our cul-de-sac with the driving tractor, his tricycle, scooter, and more!  He has a great interest in board games, his favorites right now are Guess Who, dominos, and Go Fish.  He wears polo shirts and shorts with pockets, always dressing himself with no input from me (unless he picks out plaids and stripes together!).  He loves to play cars and creates little towns and farms.  He loves chewing gum and sparkling water.  He goes to "work" every morning with his button down shirt, khaki pants, and dress shoes.  He likes to pretend he is drinking coffee and soda, just like Daddy.  Aiden loves to make my morning coffee, mixing in the splenda and creamer just right.  He is always the first child awake, running in for morning snuggles in our bed.  He goes all day long until he finally crashes around 8:30 pm.