What we did today...

Violet's friend Taylor and her mommy skyped with us all the way from CA today. We've been trying to work out a good time to do this with the girls who miss each other dearly and ask about each other pretty much everyday. It's hard with nap and bedtime schedules and the time differences, but we finally were able to skype after lunch today and before nap. The girls had a great time chatting, playing playdough, coloring, and showing each other their new things:) There were a lot of tears when I told Violet she needed to say goodbye. She kept asking me if she could go into the computer to where Taylor is:( It's so neat that they can stay friends thru technology, but I don't think she quite understands how this whole thing works yet... Seeing them was great for Violet, but I think it made her miss her buddy a whole lot more. It definetly made me miss the whole Blackann family a whole lot more...


Here is the picture that Violet colored! We are working on staying in the lines, and we both thought she did quite an awesome job on her first attempt to stay in the lines on this kitty cat. Since it is a thank-you card for someone we thought we should take a picture of it:)

Colombian Backyard Concert

Another reason why we love living in the city! Our neighbor is from Colombia and her brother is in a Colombian band. The band was visiting DC a few weekends ago and they had a little party/show in the backyard of our neighbors house! They invited us over and not only did we get to experience some great music, but they also had lots of authentic foods from Colombia. It was so awesome and the band was incredible. We love living in such a diverse neighborhood and love the experiences that it offers in our own backyard!

Annual Deep Creek Vacation!

Our family spent the 4th of July and the following week on a much needed family vacation up in Deep Creek, MD with our good friends the Borja's and Schmidgall's. We stayed in Christina's parents vacation home up there right on the lake and got to enjoy time out on their boat as well! We are so thankful for good friends and hospitality!

Family in front of Swallows Falls Park

Hiking at Swallow Falls

Our little dare-devils

This is our whole family water tubing! Both kids loved it and Vi just wanted to go even faster!

Here is Owen watching the big kids

We also discovered that he really had NO FEAR of the water!

Of course, Brandon got some good ski moves in! When he was done, Violet wanted to know when it would be her turn to ski....

Driving the boat with Daddy

All the kiddies in their beloved life jackets! Wow, 6 kids under the age of 3...not a whole lot of sleep happening here...just lots of FUN!

The Whole Gang!

The lake water was pretty cold:)

Momma's sweet boy!

O was a big fan of the smores!

The 3 "babies"- Zeke, Owen, and Cali!

The gang on our last day. Catching a few bites of pizza before heading back to the city... All the kids were pretty sad to leave each other and for vacation to be over:(

Blackann Farewell

With heavy hearts we send off our beloved Blackann family to Denver CO. It has been such a joy to have them in our hearts and lives! Violet has developed such a neat bond with this family and it has been such a joy to watch her fall in love with such an awesome family!

Come back so I can kiss you goodbye!

These girls are best friends forever!

I love you Mommy Laura!

We are going to miss these sweet kids:)