We Love Our Friends!

While hanging out with the family was great - it was sooo good to reconnect with friends!  And reconnect we did!

We got to hang out with some long lost friends from Albania who are all going their separate ways :( 

We sure do miss these guys!!

And Shauna really misses these ladies!

One of the great things about this stage in life is that our friends are also having babies!  Everly got to meet and hang out with these fresh (and some not so fresh) out of the womb babies!

This "little" guys is two days younger than Everly!

And his big sister :)

And these goofballs :)

And his baby brother who is about two months younger than Everly.

They had lots of fun checking each other our :)

And of course, Shauna was able to have a ladies night and reconnect with friends from high school!

Good times all around with the people in my life whom I love so much!

Let the Summer Shenanigans Begin!

This summer was a blast!  Here are some highlights from our amazing time in Maryland!

Hanging out with friends at the Rio, riding the carousel, running through mazes, and of course...peeing in bushes and on trees (no pictures of the last one!)

Asher and Seth admiring Grandpa and his handy work.  These boys want to grow up to be engineers, just like their Grandpa!  

Anytime Grandpa had a job to do, Seth and Asher could be found nearby soaking it all in.  

Because of unseasonably cool summer temperatures, we were able to take lots of hikes! 

We love cousin time!

Attempts at fishing for minnows :)

We celebrated the 4th of July with some good friends up in Poolesville.  They had a great show, and Asher loved every minute of it.  As Shauna watched Asher "ooo" and "ahhh" over the fireworks, and see that look of pure awe take over his face, she definitely experienced a moment of motherhood, and the joy it fills us with as we watch our children enjoy the magic of childhood and the world around them.  She even recorded this on her phone, but Asher loved the video of the fireworks so much, that he kept asking to watch it!  And much to all of our dismay, he accidentally deleted it :( Sad day!

Love this kid!

Hanging out, getting ready for the fireworks to begin! (Not shown - oodles of funnel cake! yummy!)

Let the magic begin!

We were also able to celebrate Grammy's birthday with lemon meringue pie - or at least what we thought was lemon meringue pie...it wasn't, and it didn't taste good.  We got a refund :)

Happy Birthday, Grammy! 

Other random cousin moments :)

Hanging out by the pool...

Eating breakfast, while watching the ipad...

Seth teaching Asher to put his hand over his heart while the American flag was rising and the national anthem was playing.  Way to instill American pride in our boy, Seth!

And of course, creative play...

Loving it!

Love these guys!

Everly Meets the Family!

One of the best things about flying back to Maryland was introducing Everly to all her new family!  Everyone was excited to meet her, and we were excited for her to meet them!

Getting ready to go on the plane!

Everly's first of many flights!  She did a great job!

We arrived late, so the cousins weren't awake to meet her, but they were so excited the next day to get their chance to hold Everly.

Love!

All the cousins wanted to hold her and admire her as much as they could!  

Except for Andelyne at first :)

But then she changed her mind rather quickly!  

She then wanted to hold Everly as much as she could, as well :)

Apparently, the attention all the cousins were giving Everly sparked Asher's interest in Everly too!  He then wanted to hold her as well :)

The cousins admiring sweet baby Everly.

We have a baby breathing monitor with an alarm that goes off if Everly stops breathing, you just clip it to her diaper.  One time, I forgot to put it on, but Seth and Tade decided that they would regularly check Everly as she napped to make sure that she was still breathing.  They are the best! 

Then they made sure she was not disturbed as she napped :)

They made sure she had all the toys to play with...

They all love her so much!

But of all the family she met, who do you think made her smile the most?

That's right, Grandpa!  Both my kids sure do love their Grandpa!  

He makes the best funny faces too :)

After a full first day in Maryland, Asher was so tired by all the excitement and the jet lag, that he fell asleep at the dinner table :)  That's never happened before!

Everyone loved Everly and while we thought that the novelty of a new baby in the house would wear off, we were wrong!  

The cousins were quite attentive of her pretty much the whole time.  We loved it!