Luray Caverns

G has really shown an interest in science. For the longest time, he has begged and begged for us to go to these caverns so he could see stalagmites, etc. For Columbus Day, school was out and we made Cedric skip work because it was again, 80 degrees out. We thought it would be a beautiful drive with the fall foliage through the Shenandoah area. We were right! It was fun to see all the leaves change color. This is probably my most favorite season of the year. The kids loved the caverns. They had quite a bit of an imagination with the rock formations. They loved telling us what they thought the formations looked like. This was the end to our busy weekend while the weather stayed warm!

Apple Pickin

I think this is the first time I had to turn the heat and air conditioner on in the same week. This past weekend, we had weather in the 80's. We had to take full advantage of it. We took the kids apple picking. I didn't realize how many different apples there were out there. Before we loaded up on certain apple types, I made Cedric do a taste test to see if we wanted to pick any of them. By the fifth kind, he wasn't so willing to be our taster. I didn't blame him! The winner for taste for us was the Golden Delicious. The kids loved picking the apples off the trees. We have so many apples now that I have to get pretty creative with what to do with them! I've made apple crisp and will make some apple pie later today. I think I will make some apple dumplings soon too. If you have any good apple recipes, bring them on!

Clearing the Air

I have to comment on my previous post. I'm totally laughing (I'm probably the only one laughing) because there were so many people that thought I was really sick. The previous post was my attempt to make our big announcement in a funny/witty way, but I think I was one of the few that actually got it. So, if you don't get it, just replace the word "mummy" with "mommy" and hopefully you will then understand what I am saying! If not, I will just simply say, we are expecting our fourth Moran kiddo in late March/early April. It will surely add to the craziness of everything, but we couldn't be happier!!!

Egyptian Fever

These past couple of weeks, the kids have had all sorts of illnesses. It may be from the lovely germ spreading arena of school. I, too, had not been feeling well. I usually don't go to the doctor unless it is life or death, but I wanted to get some sort of relief, whether it be antibiotics, or just an assurance that it would go away. When I went to the doc, they ran numerous tests on me and took enough blood to fill the Nile. My doc later came back with the diagnosis. He said I have a rare case of Egyptian Fever. The bad news is that the symptoms will last for several months. Ultimately, when the symptoms are gone, I will then transform into a mummy. I told him that this is not as rare as it may seem, because I have had this case of Egyptian Fever three times before. So, now I am preparing to turn into a mummy for the fourth time. I assured the doctor that being a mummy isn't so bad! Be prepared for my mummy transformation in late March/early April. Stay tuned for details!

Let the Games Begin!

This past week, the rat race began. Sports. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love watching my kids play sports. I look forward to it, but this time, the coordinating nightmare has started for us. G started baseball again. He has one practice and two games per week. T started soccer this week also. She has one game/practice per week. This past weekend started like this: We loaded T's carseat in Cedric's car. Both of us drove to G's baseball game by 9am. By 9:40, Cedric was off taking T to soccer and I stayed with G to cheer him on with M. After G's game, we were calling each other to see if one ended before the other to coordinate meeting up.

I know this gets crazier as multiple kids enter multiple sports. I have to give it up to all the parents out there that juggle this. This was our first time with two in sports and we felt so guilty about splitting up and not having both of us there to support them at each event. I must say that I am very proud of them for how they've played so far. I guess we will be doing a lot of switching off this season. I don't see an end to this soon. G already has said he wants to do basketball in the winter and T wants to do gymnastics. Hopefully I can buy a few more years before M starts on something. We will just have to take it as it comes at us!

Over the Hill :)

Yes, folks, I've reached a major milestone in life this past week. That's right, I hit the big 30. I must say that I don't feel much different from before. You won't see me scooting around in a walker or using polident to hold in my dentures any time soon. I guess I can proudly say that I'm 30, have a great husband and three wonderful kids. What more can I ask for? Here are some pics of our little get-together with close family that Cedric tried to pull off as a surprise. A word of advice to anyone trying to keep anything from me...I always find out, bluhaha!

The kids and me (and cousin Cam) with the cake...

The cute cousins having fun together at the party...

The Piercings

My little girl is growing up! When T was little, we debated on the whole earing thing. Then it got too late and we just decided to go with the flow and see when/if she'd want to get them pierced herself. A few times she almost had them done, but got really scared when we actually walked in the store. The other day, we were walking through the mall and passed a place that does piercings. T looked at me and said "I think I want to get my ears pierced." I said, "Really? Why don't you think about it while we look at shoes and then you tell me what you want to do." The whole time while we were trying on shoes, she kept telling me she wanted to hurry up and go so she could get her ears pierced. When we got there, the girl told me that she was the only one working, so the ears had to be done one at a time. I told her we'd give it a try. T did great for the first one. She almost hopped off the chair when I broke the bad news to her that there was another one to do. She wimpered a little and said, "but the first one hurt me." She took it like a champ though. So there's a picture of our girl, all grown up (being silly with food hanging out of her mouth). Now, I am supposed to clean her ears 3-4 times a day...seems a little excessive, doesn't it??

School Days

I'm a little slow in posting this, but G started first grade last week. It was a bit of an adjustment for him because last year, kindergarten was only half day. He came home grumpy and tired and said the day was too long. To top it off, his teacher is very big into homework, so he had homework on the first day and has had it every day since. He matter of factly told me that I didn't need to bother waking him up the next morning because he simply was not going back!

Well, today's a new day. He's gotten use to the schedule and has made several friends, while keeping old ones. He loves to ride the bus to/from school because it gives him a chance to socialize with his friends. Today, G actually came home with three "tornado tickets." For those of you who don't know, these tickets are given out to students that exemplify good citizenship and behavior. They aren't given out too freely, and are a pretty big confidence booster when received! He got a bunch last year, but never got three in one day. As you can probably tell, I am very relieved that G has changed his tone and is enjoying school. Next week, T starts preschool. We'll see how that goes!

Our Beach Getaway

For the longest time, we often saw "OBX" stickers on cars on the road and wondered what they meant. You see them everywhere around here. After asking around, we found out that it means the Outer Banks. Many of our friends faithfully go back every year and now we know why. We had to book our beach house at least six months in advance. It was a six bedroom, 5.5 bathroom beauty that we shared with some family and friends. We had our own private pool, hot tub, sand volleyball court, grills, and everything you needed from bikes, strollers, nets and buckets for the beach.

We all had a memorable experience and now are hooked! I thought I'd get sick of the beach after the first day, but not so...we went every day of the week we were there. Ced loved boogie boarding, G loved catching baby clams and trying to "surf" and the girls, T and M, thought it was a new adventure each day collecting sea shells. T also loved building sandcastles with dad. I loved soaking all the sounds and sites in. It was truely relaxing. We took the kids go-karting, where G got to drive his own car, which was probably a big highlight of the trip for him. We also rented a boat and went fishing for a few hours, in which I caught my first fish ever (and many after) with a dinky kid pole!

What we loved about the Outer Banks is that it is not commercialized and crowded. There is no boardwalk (which could bore you if you are into that), but we had fun during the day and enjoyed some family time (and adult time watching scary movies after the kids were in bed) in the evenings. We miss the beach and are hoping that next year we can return, or at least once every two years. I think we are now officially OBX junkies! We have even started looking at beach houses for future trips!

Here is a montage of some of the pictures I took. Maybe I can get you hooked too...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Big 4!

Miss T has been planning her Tinkerbell party for months. Since her birthday fell on the day we were leaving for the beach (see upcoming post), we felt a little bad. I decided to put together a little party for her and her closest friends from the neighborhood and church. There were about six girls there. I cannot even tell you how easy and fun it was to keep the games going, etc. Girls are so much calmer than boys! Most of the girls dressed up in princess or fairy attire. I made them walk the plank and fish for prizes, I had them go in a teepee and painted them with fairy dust. We played "princess, princess, fairy (duck, duck, goose)" and did bubbles in Neverneverland. I even made her pinata (I couldn't bring myself to paying $25 for something that would get thrashed in seconds). Overall, it was a success. You will see a shot of the aftermath...but it was worth it for our little Tinkerbell!

Here's a shot out to T. She is our little diva with a lot of spunk. She is not afraid to tell you how she feels and how it is. She is a sweetheart. Whenever she has treats or something she thinks someone would like, she always saves it for her daddy or anyone that would enjoy it. She is a leader by nature and we expect her to hold her own pretty well in life. She's a wonderful sister and daughter. We love you, babe! Life would be boring without you!

Busy Weekends

I know, I know, it has been quite some time since I've posted. I have found that I am on the computer less and have no desire to get on, now that I am not required to sit in front of one for hours at a time for work.

A few weeks ago, we took our little animals to the zoo to see more animals. The weather was nice and we wanted to take advantage of Cedric's half day Fridays while they lasted. We took my neice with us. We got a kick out of people giving us a double take as we walked by them, pushing two strollers, with four kids, our oldest being six. Of course, they thought my neice was ours, but the looks of "are you guys crazy?" cracked us up. Before we left, I found the kids in the laundry room getting excited (notice M's lovely pink crocs she put on with her blue dress as she chanted "I yove the yoo")...

The day after we got back, Ced's good friend from high school (in NY) was driving through the area (they took a slight detour to see us). We met them up at a nearby town center. It was fun to catch up and reminisce about old times. Thanks for coming to see us, Jon & Allison!

What We've Been Up To

Today it has been almost four weekdays since I completed working full time. What have we been up to, you ask? Surprisingly, things are just as busy as when I was working, but filled with different types of things. I'm now trying to do things that I never got to before. I've been searching for fun and free events for the kids to enjoy. We have always been money conscious before, but it seems we are more so, now that I am not working. So free things are the best things! Some highlights of our days include: spending some time at the library. They had a reptile show there where they brought in a huge albino python. It was pretty nasty, but the kids loved it. We've gone to the playground, can't beat that. We saw a Peter Pan at the theater...they have free summer movies on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

We also visited with McGruff for National Night Out. This is when the police come and tell you about safety and they had a moonbounce and a bunch of stuff for the kids.


Then the kids rode on this thing and were pulled around the block...there were flashing police lights and they loved it...

We had to get creative with our time, so we made toilet paper towers...

And lastly, I think I've worn them all out by staying home and doing more things with them!