August Update Part 2

I apologize for not getting to my update numero dos. It was a little crazy this weekend with the whole uproar on hurricane irene...more on that in another post. Hope everyone stayed safe, and for those who lost power, had flooding and home damage, praying that everything gets restored sooner than later!

8.19.11 Ethan & Evan's 1st Birthday!

***These are the adorable cupcakes that their previous nanny made for them. she is very talented and loves these boys a whole lot***

Since the beginning of July, I have had the privilege of working as a part-time nanny for two of the most adorable boys, Ethan & Evan.  I am thankful to have started working full-time for these boys and their wonderful family just last week!

Meet Evan:

• He is an extremely messy eater, but he loves to feed himself.
• He is super energetic, and constantly loves to find new things to entertain himself.
• He took his first steps at 11 months and now he is a walking machine.
• He has to have three pacifiers before he can go to sleep: one in his mouth, and one in each hand. 
• He says mama and dada a lot, and is very talkative. He will be speaking sentences in no time! 

Meet Ethan:

• He cannot fall asleep without his doggy. And if he is upset, all we need to do is give him his doggy and he will be all better.
• He has the cutest giggle, especially when I make silly noises feeding them. 
• He took his first steps on his 1st birthday! It was so exciting to watch :) 
• He is very sensitive and loves his family a whole lot.
• He has been growing teeth nonstop. Already has four teeth: two on the bottom and two on top.

I have only been with these boys for two months and I already adore them.  I am excited for all of the things I will be able to see and do with them.

8.19.11 Tides Game with Jess & Justin Brockett and Brandon & Nicki Kristol

The tides are the professional baseball team here in Norfolk.  We were stoked to get tickets and check out what all the hype was about.  I do not particularly enjoy watching baseball, but this game was a lot of fun.  Maybe it was the good company, the hot dog & coke, or the dippin' dots.  Either way it made for a great night! 

August Update Part 1

Is it just me, or has August flown by? A lot of events and activities have happened this month that I have not gotten the time to sit down and write about them, but don't you worry!  I have taken pictures of what has gone on in the past month :)

8.7.11. Peach/Pear/Apple Picking in Knott's Island with Jess & Justin Brockett

Usually, Sundays for us are "super lazy" but this Sunday we decided to take a mini road trip with our new good friends Jess & Justin.  We drove down to good ole North Carolina.  As soon as we crossed over the border I felt a warmth and sense of home in my heart! I miss my beautiful state. Although it was extremely hot, we enjoyed searching for good produce and piling our bags HIGH with peaches, pears, and apples!  We even got to enjoy a ferry ride home and then stopping for delicious icecream!

8.13.11- Big breakfast with Bryan & Whit

Bryan and Whit, our two good friends from college (Bryan from Mike's high school) came to visit for six days (Friday through Wednesday).  Bryan came up with the plan of going to the grocery store late Friday night and stocking up on breakfast goodies for Saturday morning.  He wanted to have a BIG breakfast, and ladies and gentlemen, it was just that.  We had waffles, bacon, biscuits & gravy, eggs, fried bologna, sausage, toast, coffee, & mimosas! 

We enjoyed the rest of the visit by going to the beach, hitting up Cogan's Pizza for $5 pizza night, late night Netflix movie watching, and Zumba at the YMCA!

The next August update will be coming shortly! 

W.R.V.

My older sister, Jen, and my nephew, Micah, came into town two weekends ago.  I was so excited to have them come visit.  For those who know me well, you know how much my sister means to me and how close we are.  Since I just moved to the area and am still get aquatinted with living here and meeting people, it was refreshing to have my family come and visit!

They got into town on Friday night, and after a long week of work (for Michael and I) it was nice to have a relaxing evening with three of my favorite people.  

Micah Bartley Cook is a little over 2 1/2 years old, and with this age comes a lot of energy and a lot of excitement!  

We enjoyed the beach on Saturday morning:

Micah enjoying the beach for the first time this summer!

He loved making smashing sand castles

Uncle Mike and Aunt Heather love our nephew!

Dumping sand on my head. He thought it was hilarious! 

I thought it was pretty funny as well...

Thanks for visiting the beach with us!! 

After the beach we all headed over to W.R.V. (wave riding vehicles) a surf store in Virginia Beach.  We had to get Micah a t-shirt...so he will never forget his adventures in Norfolk/Virginia Beach!

That afternoon we took Jen and Micah on a tour of Norfolk.  Micah loved all the "boats"

All in our W.R.V. shirts!!

Micah loved the mermaids everywhere! 

Such a cool dude! 

Thanks for visiting Jen and Micah! Can't for next time!!

First Family Visit

We had a house full of the Stemler's this weekend!!

Michael's family drove up from Concord, NC (about a 5-6 hour drive) on Thursday and arrived at 1am early Friday morning! Unfortunately, Michael and I both tried to stay up but ended up falling asleep before they got there.

Our festivities began on Friday morning! Michael had to work until about 3. So Carolena, Brad, Wayne, Barb, and I took the morning to be lazy.   We watched a couple of FRIENDS episodes, ate a late breakfast at 11am and enjoyed catching up! We took a visit to Jersey Mikes for lunch to see Michael hard at work. Which he always is :) After he got off, Michael, Carolena, Brad, and I ventured over to the YMCA to get a workout in, because we knew this weekend would consist of GREAT food, but not healthy food :-\

Friday evening we went down to the Waterside in Norfolk where there are tons of fun restaurants.  We ended up going to Outback steakhouse! YUM YUM! Waterside is a beautiful place. There are tons of hotels and restaurants that line the water and there is a naval shipyard, so you get to a see a lot of cool navy ships! Also, they have music festivals most weekends that a lot of people go to.  It is really a fun place to hang out on a Friday or Saturday night! After dinner, we took a nice walk outside and enjoyed the scenery.  Unfortunately, we forgot to bring our camera that night so I don't have any pics of us :(

We headed back home for a chill evening, where we popped in a redbox movie and relaxed.  

Saturday morning we slept in, but I made WAFFLES!!

We headed to the beach after we all got up and got ready! 

We were supposed to play bocce ball, but the boys decided to "juggle"

Nicki came to the beach with us! 

We only ended up staying for an hour, because a huge dark cloud started coming our way.  There was a little bit of thunder, but we thought it would pass, so we decided not to leave yet. Then we saw a huge strike of lightening about 10 feet from us.  We got all packed up, but it was too late, the cloud opened up and dropped a massive thunderstorm on us.  I wish I could have video'd us running off the beach, it would have been hilarious to watch, but it really was not funny at the time! 15 minutes later, our towels were soaked, my hair was wet and tasseled in my face to where I couldn't see in front of me, and my rainbow sandals were pretty much shot. We all made it back to the cars alive and got back to Norfolk safely! 

That evening we had a dinner party where Marsha & Brent VanNorman, and their nephew David came over, and Nicki and Brandon Kristol.  

Barb cooked a delicious meal- Barbeque ribs & chicken, her famous hash-brown casserole, corn on the cob, baked beans and watermelon.

and I cleaned and set the tabled!

For dessert we had an amazing strawberry pound cake, topped with strawberries and whipped cream that Marsha prepared! DELICIOUS! 

You may be wondering what happened to Mike and I's crazy weight watchers diet.  We are still on it, but took a little break for the weekend.  It was really hard to count points when there was going to be a delicious meal prepared for us! (which was not all that healthy, but it was GOOD) 

After dinner, we played family feud, where of course the GIRLS team WON!  Then we broke out into different groups.  One group played SORRY (David's favorite), and another group played scotch bridge (A Stemler favorite). 

We had a great night and enjoyed everyone's company! 

The boys- Michael, David, and Brad Boy

Marsha & Carolena chatting

Our new and great friends in Norfolk: Nicki & Brandon Kristol

My favorite sis-in-law :)

the cute couple Carolena & Brad

My wonderful in-laws :) Wayne & Barb 

The Stemler's headed out Sunday after church, it was sad to see them go but we had a great first family visit! Can't wait for many more.  

I am getting excited about our next family visit THIS weekend from my sister, Jen and my nephew, Micah!! 

Weight Watchers

My husband and I got engaged over a year ago and always talked about losing weight before our wedding.  I started off super dedicated to it and then I decided I liked loved food more than I enjoyed dieting.  I think I ended up gaining weight than losing it.  I always hear horror stories of newly-wed couples gaining weight the first year of marriage.  Michael and I decided that it would not be us! Today is our one-month anniversary of being married and we decided that together we are going to lose weight by the end of this year.  My goal is to lose 20 pounds before my birthday, November 26th and Michael's goal is to lose 50 pounds by his birthday, December 1st.  We thought this was a great plan, but of course we needed some kind of incentive to lose all this weight.

Michael knew right away what he wanted his reward to be.

If you know Michael, he already has 2 tattoos on his arm.  He has been wanting another one, but I have not been too thrilled about it.  If he loses 50 pounds by his birthday I am letting him get another tattoo of his choice.  I may be dumb for doing this, but I know how awesome it would be if he lost this weight.

So you are probably wondering what I chose for my reward if I lose 20 pounds before my birthday. 

Yes, I want to go to New York City and see a broadway show! I have been wanting to do this for so long! If you know me, you know how big of a deal this would be for me to do! 

So now that we have incentives LETS DO THIS!! Day 1 of weight watchers! 

Say goodbye to these two people