The forecast was sooo wrong!

We had a beautiful weekend. We made it down to the creek to throw some rocks in! Ethan found some HUGE leaves. He carried them around the entire walk.


Ever wonder what your face looks like when you run as fast as you can?
It's Steeler Sunday. They boys are dressed in their Steeler apparel. They decided to play some video games during half time. Lincoln was in a goofy mood today!
Look how long my little baby is! CRAZY!

Sing a Song of Hope!

I started thinking of this blog on the way to work while Robbie Seay Band sang "Sing a Song of Hope"! I thought Ohio had the most gorgeous fall colors, but I have to say Virginia puts it to shame. I knew that the forcast for tomorrow calls for rain and our beautiful fall leaves will undoubtably fall. So, on the way to work today I took a picture of my favorite little road. The tree limbs meet over the road. I swear this week I thought I was going to drive off the road three of four times from looking at the colors. It's gorgeous. My camera just doesn't do it justice!
This week has been a long one for all four of us! I honestly thought it was never going to end. The election on Tuesday was so amazing. I have to say that being so close to Washington D.C. has made this election even more exciting. Standing in line with so many people that were grinning and excited to vote was really special. The election has been such a buzz topic at work. So many people are invigorated and genuinely happy with the outcome. Nate and I have off inauguration day and we are going to go!
Ethan has taken on such a big boy mentality this week. He wants to help me cook, he wants to take Hunter out, and he wants to help Lincoln more. It's great! Lincoln had a rough week. I hope that some good ole sleep helps him! I hope that you Sing a Song of Hope this weekend! I am hoping next week is a little easier on the Leaps!

SCARY!

So, I am at work, so I don't have a picture of the Bink here, but I had to go ahead and post this. Yesterday afternoon, along with a million other afternoons, I picked the boys up happy as can be. We get to the car and the meltdown begins for Lincoln. He cried all afternoon. He would throw himself on the ground and cry for no reason. At one point, Ethan says, "Lincoln, you are going to have to be quiet...I can't hear nothing." When we were putting them to bed, I told Nate that I didn't know what we were going to do. We are putting them to put super early just so that we can all have some sanity. I feel like we have run out of options.
I checked my email and got my weekly baby center update. Read it for yourself:
Is your child a little ray of sunshine at daycare but a thundercloud when you show up on the scene? Try not to get upset by these end-of-day meltdowns. They're signs of true love: Your toddler knows that it's safe to let out all of his pent-up feelings around you. While you may be tempted to run a few errands on your way back to the house, you should probably opt to put those tasks on hold until your child is more at ease. It's a decision that could make your evening a lot more enjoyable.
The bad part is that we don't run errands after work. So, I wish they would have given a little more advice, but at least our kid is not the only one! Only seven and a half more months until summer, right?

Nerds???

Some people would call the Leaps nerds. Others may call us geeks. I like to call them ADORKABLE. These boys love their books! Ethan is into train books. He loves his sticker books, too. Lincoln loves any book that has an animal in it. He is obsessed with animals.
Ethan was a little piglet tonight. He started talking about dinner the minute I picked him up at 3:30. Nate was late tonight and we didn't even wait for him to eat. Ethan ate, and ate, and ate. Then, ate again when Nate got home. I later found out Ethan didn't eat his lunch. According to him, "they had tacos and he only likes the tacos at home." We had tacos for dinner! Look at his belly!

Lincoln can get on the chair all by himself now. He loves bringing his "stuff" up there. He is a little hoarder.
Did you VOTE???? My school was a polling location, so we had no school today. I went to the school up the street here to vote. I arrived at 8:30. The school is a square and the line was wrapped around all four sides. Thank goodness I brought a book. I finally got to cast my vote at 10:00! I stood in line behind a brand new citizen! She has lived in the states for the past ten years but recently became a citizen. She is a brand new teacher and this was her first time to vote. It was exciting! She didn't stop smiling!

Adjustment Period Over????

Let's see 95 days after we moved in, we just may have our old dog back. We started last week letting him stay out of his crate while we went to the grocery store, then to church and the grocery store, and then while we were gone on Saturday for 4 or 5 hours. Today was the ultimate test. We left him out while we went to work. I think....HE'S BACK! Yippie! I would love more than anything to be able to leave him out all the time. I hate that he had to go through the crate training AGAIN, but maybe it worked! Cross your fingers for him and us!

Sunday Picnic

I dropped Marilyn off at the airport this afternoon. When I got home, Nate decided to have a picnic on the floor in the living room. After a fun dinner on the floor, we played hide and go seek for an hour. We exhausted all the spots downstairs and then headed upstairs. It was actually really fun!

Wild, Wild, Weekend

The laptop may be dead. We are turning if off for a couple of days to see if that helps. My posts have been scarce!
Marilyn got into town late Wednesday night. She played with the boys all day Thursday. Thursday night we carved pumpkins for the big day! Friday night, we were unsure of how trick-or-treating was going to work here. We started out at 6:00...but quickly learned that it was too early. Most houses were not at home, or they were getting ready. By 6:30, most of them had their lights on. The boys had a great time. The weather was absolutely perfect.
Today, we decided to head into DC. We started out at the National Archives. We saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and many other National Documents. Again, the weather was perfect and the lines were practically nonexistent.
We left there and headed to see the Supreme Court. I had to get a cute picture with Mar, the boys, and their new shirts (MY AUNT ROCKS). Ethan wanted Daddy to run to the top with him. We even saw some protestors. Not sure why they were protesting on Saturday, but hey...more power to them.We ended at the Good Stuff Eatery. We learned a couple months ago that Spike Mendelson from Bravos Top Chef opened a burger restaurant in DC. We had to go by for lunch. As soon as we went in I spied Spike. We ate and decided to order a shake. Nate went downstairs to get a shake, and Spike came upstairs right to our table. He asked about our food and asked the boys if they enjoyed Trick or Treating. Mar and I both chickened out about asking for a picture. Nate came up and then told us that he had sent him up to us! After lunch, we headed down and Nate took our picture. He was really nice!!!
It was a wild, wild, weekend.