Sisters

Raquel is loving riding the bus to school everyday and Natalya is out there everyday with her waiting to send her off. Natalya loves her sister and is so excited for Raquel to ride the bus. I had to take these pictures of the girls waiting for the bus with Natalya's arm around Raquel. Its so neat to see how much they enjoy being with each other.

Marcus' Pre-Birthday

We decided to celebrate Marcus' birthday while Mike was still around, so we had a little party for Marcus 2 weeks early. We invited a couple of family friends over and enjoyed a BBQ and cake with ice cream. I think Marcus had a great time eating lots of watermelon and cake.

Marcus loves anything with wheels, so I made him a cake with a car.

Marcus with his favorite- Watermelon

Marcus and Me

Nick, Raquel & Luke enjoying the party

(I asked them to smile and this is what they gave me)

Marcus enjoying his cake!

Playing with his new birthday toys

1st Day of School

Raquel started kindergarten today. She was so excited that she finally got to ride the bus. A few days earlier we went school shopping and she was able to pick out a new backpack and a few new clothes. She has a new kindergarten teacher named Mrs. Brooke, she doesn't know anyone in her class (which is amazing because she know about 10 other kids that started kindergarten at the same school) but she quickly makes friends and I know she will do great.

Sitting waiting for the bus to come with Natalya & Marcus

Showing off her new backpack

Waiting for the bus

Its so nice the bus picks Raquel up at our driveway

On her way to her 1st day of school

Testing

Raquel has really enjoyed taking Taekwondo classes and learned her white belt form and 1 steps. She tested for her yellow belt. It

was so fun to watch her she did everything perfectly. The teachers

wouldn't tell us if she passed or not that night so we had to wait a

week to find out at the award ceremony.

Raquel listening during testing.

Raquel passed and is now a yellow belt. Here is her getting her yellow belt from one of her teachers at the awards ceremony. The ceremony and potluck was at a park so the kids got to eat and then play for the evening.

Mr. Abbott & Raquel

Showing off her new belt!

Blueberries

After finishing off 2 gallons of fresh blueberries Raquel and I picked in June the family was filling a bit of blueberry withdrawal so we headed to another patch to pick a few. The whole family came this time and enjoyed picking and eating blueberries.

Heading to the patch

Raquel with her blueberry bucket

Natalya was a great little picker

Marcus was a great blueberry eater.

He would get mad if he didn't have enough blueberries to eat.

Virginia Beach

We had a fun family vacation at Virginia Beach. The kids enjoyed playing on the beach and then hoping right into the beach side swimming pool. We spent hours in the water and sun. Raquel got a new boogie board and enjoyed learning to ride the waves. When Mike had to attend his medical conference the kids and I enjoyed shopping and the Virginia Aquarium. Together as a family we toured the battleship Wisconsin and enjoyed the VAFP dinner where they had face painting, fun music and good food. The only downside to the vacation was the bad traffic leaving the coast on the way home, which added a couple of hours to our drive.

Hanging out on our hotel balcony

We loved playing in the pool

The girls enjoyed jumping off the diving board

We loved the beach and playing in the sand

Raquel and her boogie board

Marcus enjoyed the sand (brown sugar as Natalya called it)

until he tried eating it.

Battleship Wisconsin

Virginia Aquarium

VAFP dinner

Charlotte

Mike was flying out of Charlotte to go to military training in Texas. Since we had to take him to the airport we decided to make it a little mini vacation and stay in a hotel and swim the night before he had to leave. We all had lots of fun playing in the warm pool for hours. The next day Mike flew off to Texas for the week and the kids and I came home.

A week later we drove back down to Charlotte to pick up Mike and have a little fun at the Discovery Place, a big children's science museum. We played for the afternoon to wear the kids out so they would sleep on the drive home.

Discovery Place

Fairy Tale Feasts

The girls both took a class this week called Fairy Tale Feasts. They got to read books and sing songs and then cook something that went along with the books theme. They were able to make porridge (which neither of them wanted to eat, so Marcus finished off both of theirs), carrot muffins (were a big hit with all three kids), blueberry yogurt parfaits (Yummy!) and gingerbread men.

The girls decorating their gingerbread men

Harry Potter

The kids and I headed down to Radford to the library where they had transformed it into Hogwarts Castle. We became students at the school as soon as we stepped through the doors. We were a little late so we missed Potions class, which I'm sure Prof. Snape would never have allowed. But we did get to stop by Honeydukes for a chocolate wand, have a few drinks at The Three Broomsticks, get our future read in Divination class, play a little Quidditch, make wands and plant pumpkins in Herbology class. It was a fun filled Harry Potter day!

We got to try Butter Beer and Pumpkin Juice

at The Three Broomsticks

Raquel getting her future predicted by Prof. Trelawney

Playing a Beater in a game of Quidditch

Practicing their spells with newly decorated wands

Learning to plant in Herbology class

4th of July

We stayed home for the 4th and enjoyed watching the town parade and BBQ'n with some friends. We planned on lighting our own fireworks in front of the house but it rained. The rain did stop for the towns big firework show and Raquel happened to be awake so she and dad quickly hopped in the car, bare foot and went to watch the fireworks at the park. It was the first time Raquel had see a big fireworks show on the 4th and she loved it and has already made plans to go next year and take Natalya with her.

We eventually got to light off our little fireworks the next day. Raquel and Natalya loved helping light them.

It may have rained on our parade but it didn't dampen our patriotic spirit.

Enjoying the parade and all the candy

Fireworks!

10 months

Marcus is 10 months old and becoming such a happy cute big boy. He has added 4 new teeth on top and uses then to eat his favorite food watermelon. I think he could eat his weight in watermelon if we let him. Marcus had learned to pull himself up and climb stairs. He is quite the babbler at times (sometimes saying dada) and loves his binky which he often sticks the whole thing in his mouth.

Marcus loves wheels, drawers and doors and often gets locked behind a door when he is playing. If it has wheels and moves Marcus is usually playing with it.

He is in love with this red car and gets so excited when he sees it

and mad if he doesn't get to play in it.

Marcus loves the water and enjoys playing in

the tub with his older sisters.