April 16th Anniversary

For those of you who didn't know, April 16, 2007 was the date of the shooting that took place on Virginia Tech campus where 32 innocent lives were taken. This tragic event is still remembered here at Virginia Tech, allowing us who were here to heal together as a community and as a Blacksburg family. One of the events held on Thursday to honor the victims of that day was a 5K race (3.2 miles in honor of the 32 victims). It was a totally last minute thing, but a friend and I, Seantylle :), decided to run it together. It was so amazing! It was really powerful to see the 32 white balloons lifted into the air minutes before the race began. Then, shortly after, watching the 2500 hokie-colored balloons raised to the air symbolizing our respect for those who have passed, and showing to the world that we are ok and hokies are united! Bryce and the kids were all there dressed in hokie gear to cheer us on! It was a great start to our day. Here's a link to a video that shows highlights from the race (although I doubt you will see any of us in it!)

http://www.weremember.vt.edu/2009-events/video/2009-04-16-run.html

Springtime

Honestly, I just needed to post something. I guess I haven't been taking very many pictures lately. So, here is my cute baby in a spring dress last Sunday. Isn't spring so refreshing! I love it!

Favorite Quotes of the Day

Lucy: "I'm on Daddy's team! (that means I get to tease people)"

Lucy: "James, let's pretend we've never seen each other before." (actually replaying the scene in the Parent trap where the two girls are at the isolation table and not talking to each other)

Mom: "James, quit copying Mommy."
James: (in a high pitched voice) "Quit copying Mommy!"

Lucy: "I can't wait to tell daddy that mommy made a shake and I told her how!"

James: "Mommy, do we live underground?"

Snow Day!

It had to be March, apparently, before the first real snow storm of the winter to hit! I'm not sure how much snow we got, but our neighbors measured 8 inches in their truck! We were out making snowmen last night and attempted to sled today! The kids (of course) got really cold really fast. Oh well. It sure looks pretty!

Caleb Loses First Tooth!

Ok, finally! Caleb has had 2 loose teeth for about a week now and has been very excited about losing them! We were visiting DC this weekend, and while we were staying at the Carr's home, Caleb lost the first one! He and his cousin, Leah, were rough housing and she knocked it out! It was quite painless (thank goodness), and he can't wait to lose the next one. He's already adding up the money he will be getting from the tooth fairy!

Lucy's First Dance Class

Lucy has been asking to do a dance class for some time now, so for the last 4 weeks, she has been attending a ballet/jazz dance class for the first time! Her teacher turned her garage into a little dance studio and Lucy has really loved going! The first week, she stood in the corner with her head down and wouldn't participate at all! I was a little nervous, but we decided to try one more time - and she joined right in (thank goodness!). Her are a couple of pictures and (hopefully) videos for you!

New York New York!

What a fantastic weekend we had in New York! Since Caleb and Bryce had Presidents day off, we decided to drive up to New York to visit my sis, Kristen who is doing an internship there! Here are some of the highlights of things we did together:

New York City!

Yes, we ended up taking the whole family into downtown Manhattan on Saturday. It was actually really fun! It was a little cold, but most of the time we were on a subway train, on the ferry boat, or inside Toys R Us, so it was bearable. The first thing we did was take the Staten Island ferry boat to get a close up view of the Statue of Liberty. I think Caleb was most excited to see that since he's been learning about American icons in school. The others just liked being on a boat ride!




Next, we took the subway up and walked around Time Square. A place always full of lights and funny people to look at! The kids really had a good time in Toys R Us: Lucy loved the huge Barbie Doll house; Caleb couldn't get enough of all the Lego's that were there (and couldn't believe how much they all cost! I think he was wanting to buy something); and James enjoyed the huge dinosaur and the superhero/StarWars section.

We went down close to Chinatown to Canal street and did some bartering for our I heart NY t-shirts. We got them for about $2 a piece! What a deal. Canal street was an interesting place full of all sorts of stuff for sale. Lucy and Caleb couldn't believe all the watches on display! Chinese people kept coming up to me and whispering things like: Gucci, Rolex, Prada to try to lure me to, no doubt, their warehouses full of stolen merchandise where i probably could have found some pretty sweet deals! Alas, i didn't want to subject my children to such an environment, so i passed the temptation.

I think that's pretty much it for the city. We settled down at Kristen's place for some good ol' NY pizza for dinner and called it a day. What a great day! New York is so enchanting and exciting. I think everyone had a really fun time.



Sunday we went to a bi-lingual branch for church that met in an old building in Queens (I think). It was awesome! I don't think I had ever been to a branch before. I was so impressed with the two speakers (both youth) and their testimonies! It was really nice to be there.



We went to Atlantic Beach and/or Long Beach for a nice Sunday walk after lunch. We brought bread to feed the seagulls and the kids got a kick out of that! The beach was cold, but beautiful and very quiet.



Thanks, Kristen for such a wonderful trip! Can't wait to see you again!