Fix Fabulous

Beach Lashes

2011-07-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

When I took this picture, I thought of...

This picture. From our beach trip in 2009. Where you can see Rock's ridiculously long lashes.
While Lou's lashes are beautiful and impressive in length...

I think Rock still has her beat.

Summer Fellowship Portraits

2011-07-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

Look at those good looking grandparents and their cute grandkids!
Can you guess the impromptu color theme? And did you spot more matching outfits on the girls? We have Bethany to thank for those. If only Sarah and Ron could have been with us, but she's about to have her baby boy!

Summer Fellowship House of Chaos and Fun

2011-07-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

There's a reason Louisa is positively giddy in this picture. It was SUMMER FELLOWSHIP WEEK! And Zuni was here from London and staying in our house!!!

In fact we shared a house with the Rabenhorsts, Brockmans, Barnetts and Hathaways. It was a kid-filled house of fun for sure.

There was young love....

And lots of screaming from the two kiddies pictured here.

And there were matching outfits provided by Juju for all the young ladies.
Juju even hosted a Bingo night at our house.
And she gave away killer prizes.

At the other houses, we celebrated Copeland's birthday.

And her Uncle Greg's birthday.

And took an adorable picture or two of the Barnetts. No no no, we didn't take a picture of our family. That would be silly.
But we did take a picture of the matching outfits again.

At the close of each day, we'd go back to the house of chaos. Our Litchfield, SC home away from home.

Happy Birthday Susi!

2011-06-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

Someone is old. But not as old as me or her older brother. But she's old. And Fix and the kids went over to celebrate her birthday with her. This is the only picture they got but at least it shows the super cool Stella & Dot necklace her mother purchased. From www.stelladot.com/rachelfix.
Happy Birthday Susi! You are old!

Port Discovery

2011-06-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

We love the Rohals. And we love museums. So when we got the offer to go with the Rohals to Port Discovery we were ALL IN! For the record, I believe these free tickets were originally given to the Schwartz family who shared them with the Rohals who shared them with us.

Let's start with the best group shot of the day. Okay so Lynn's the only one looking at the camera. But at least you can kinda see most of the kid's faces.

Unfortunately, we Fixes couldn't stay all day, but during the few hours we had together, we enjoyed building mini log cabins...

Rolling around in giant pancakes...

Being fierce knights...
Grocery shopping...

Painting...

Driving...

Reliving my childhood with a giant Lite Brite...

and pacifiering.

And of course, Rock loved being with Adeline most of all. He's a fool for love.

Earth Box Garden

2011-06-28T08:54:00.000-07:00

So have you heard about EarthBoxes? They are a really cool planting system that enables you to grow a ton of veggies in a small space. And considering our backyard is all concrete, we needed an option that allows you to grow plants without planting in the ground.

Did you know you could make your own 'earthbox' and save money? They are ugly, but they are awesome.

Did you know that we also have a really ugly wall in our backyard? With ugly utility boxes and trashcans, this section of our backyard has always been an eyesore.

Enter my hunky gardener. Remember him? He decided to a) make our own earthboxes and b) make a beautiful wooden structure to disguise the ugly homemade earthboxes and the ugly part of our yard. Here they are half-way done.

Once they were done, he added clematis and another climbing flowering vine (name escapes me!) to grow around the lattice and hide the trashcans.
He's so modest, he wouldn't even let his full identity be known. I refuse to reveal his name, but I will let you know that I am SO grateful for all his hard work cultivating our own mini-garden in the backyard. We plan on enjoying lots of basil, peppers, tomatoes, squash, etc. all Summer long!

Oh and in case you think the other side of the yard was neglected, it wasn't. That's where the majority of our herbs grow. I'm so glad I have a hunky gardener as I also have a black thumb.

Eating is Exhausting

2011-06-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes eating is exhausting. When we stepped away from the table the other day, Louisa passed out right into her peanut butter and honey sandwich.

Poor tired girl (with beautiful long lashes!).

Rocks

2011-06-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

My two favorite Rocks. On Father's Day 2011.

Bad Watermelon

2011-06-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

Is it just us or have the watermelons been particularly un-good this year? Look at this nasty, pale pink watermelon!

Fix and his family pride themselves on finding the best in the bunch. In case you didn't know, you should THUMP the watermelons at the store and whichever one has the deepest, hollowest sound is the best of the bunch. Apparently this was the best in the bunch, so I guess the bunch was bad.
I will not reveal the name of the person who selected this gross watermelon. But I will reveal that my children ate a lot of it. They get their watermelon love from my husband. Apparently we need to work on refining their tastebuds.

Lions, and Towels, and Baths - OH MY!

2011-06-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

Remember this little guy?

Now he's gotta little sister (who is about the same age as he was when he first started sporting that towel).

She really looks up to him.
And they have a lot of fun together.

Especially in their hooded towels.**
**While I loved the idea of an animal towel for Lou, the polka-dots on this one made it too perfect to pass up!

Lee and Joanna's Wedding

2011-06-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

We were so honored to be asked to attend the wedding of Joanna Stough to Lee Whitesell.

The church were they were wed was breathtakingly gorgeous.

Sorry Patty and Gina, Fix could only focus on one of us with this lens.

The service was lovely, and my favorite touch was the...

BAGPIPES! Rob Schonthaler played Amazing Grace while we all exited. So cool.

The reception took place at The 1840s Plaza Ballroom which was as cool as, if not cooler, than the beautiful church!

The fabulous wedding coordinator, Lynn, and her fabulous husband Patrick.

A rare (these days) picture of just the two of us! I was 11.5 weeks pregnant in this picture which is funny because I wore this same dress to a wedding when I was 11.5 weeks pregnant with Rock. Both times I felt like I was going to bust the seams open by the end of the night.

Joanna was a lovely bride...

But Fix was there for the cake.

Painting

2011-06-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

While Fix was out of town for General Assembly, we did some craft projects. First, we made octopuses out of toilet paper rolls. Don't they look happy?

Until you realize that mine is missing a few legs.

We had fun being creative together, but we were most excited about making this. A banner to welcome Fix back home. You might have been able to read that it says "Welcome Home Daddy" if the little boy in this house wasn't so into black paint. We missed you Daddy!

RPCB at Bowie Fest

2011-06-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in June, our church participated in BOWIEFEST!

It was fun to get out there, eat some yummy fair food, meet people in our community and share why we love our church.

Of course I spent more time making sure Rock and Lou didn't fall into Allen Pond than I did talking to strangers, but such is life these days. And major props to Rock for spotting both the Texas Roadhouse Armadillo and the Chick Fil-A cow -- multiple free meals in our future!

STAYCATION: DC

2011-06-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

We spent the last day of Staycation in DC. As we neared our lunch location (Cosi), we saw a Krispy Kreme store with their "HOT NOW" sign lit. So of course, we got Krispy Kremes for our appetizer.

Unfortunately, Fix and Louisa can't eat KK's, so Rock and I had to ~~scarf down~~ eat two each.

Yum. Yum. Extra Yum.

But don't feel bad for them, Fix and Louisa got to eat yummy Cosi bread. We all enjoyed their salads and sandwiches.

Then it was off to the zoo to see the bears...

And the tigers (not pictured).

Sometimes these two heads look SO similar to me!

Notice there aren't a lot of live animal shots. That's because there weren't a lot of live animals around. Perhaps they opted for a VAcation instead of a STAYcation like us. But the kiddies enjoyed this fake panda as much as the real deal.

When we wandered over to turtles...

Louisa fell asleep grinning.

Then Rock got sleepy too.

And they both slept in the car while we drove over to Jason and Heather's house (and the new farmer's market around the block) for dinner to finish our vacation right. Staycation 2011 = SUCCESS.
p.s. Can you guess the color of the day?

STAYCATION: Meadowside

2011-06-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Don't we look ~~blurry~~ cute? We all wore navy, red, and white for our Staycation day at Meadowside Nature Center in Rockville, MD.

As we walked around the indoor portion of the park, I had a vague recollection of having been there before. In preschool. It hasn't changed much.

But Rock loved getting up close and personal with the (stuffed) animals and exploring their habitats.

Louisa (who doesn't have a black eye -- she just got bit by a mosquito two times right next to her eye) enjoyed getting up close and personal with our pictures. The room pictured here had all sorts of log cabin items - furniture, games, rockers, etc.

Outside there were some really cool birds (not pictured) and some really cool cats (pictured). Rock's wingspan is about the size of a Cooper's Hawk.

My wingspan was about the size of a Turkey Vulture. Louisa was too tired to get out of her stroller and show us her wingspan.

Fix's wingspan was also the size of a Turkey Vulture. Does that mean my arms are long or his are short?
After the birds, we decided to hike one of the trails and explore the woods a little. Isn't this cool? After walking a bit, we ran into a stream. We wanted to cross it, but it took a little finagling to figure out how to get two kids, two adults, one stroller, one diaper bag and our lunch across the creek. It reminded me of the old Fox/Chicken/Grain puzzle.

First, I went across with Rock. He did not like crossing because his flip-flops got a little wet.

Then Fix brought Louisa and our lunch across.

Then Fix went back and got the stroller. After all this, we walked for about a minute down the path and decided we were over it -- too many bugs, too few naps or hiking boots -- so we crossed the creek again and went home.

STAYCATION: Pool

2011-06-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

Clutching the bug spray because she insisted on wandering into the mosquito infested grass. Bathing suit provided by Juju. Hat also provided (temporarily) by Juju.

Rock, Buzz, Woody and the gang. Bathing suit provided by Juju.

Don't tell anyone but Fix brought his Chick-Fil-A cup into the kiddie pool area. BIG no-no.

STAYCATION: Beglins

2011-06-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

We were so happy to use one of our Staycation days to FINALLY catch up/visit with our friends, the Beglins. Although they live just around the Beltway, we don't get to see them often enough!

Elsie and Rock bonded over their love of their mother's sunglasses and were inseparable.

And although he's a little over two years younger than Rock, Benton showed him a good time. "1.... 2....3...."

"JUMP!"
Thanks to Megan and Ted for hosting us, making a fantastic meal, and being a wonderful if rarely seen addition to our lives.

STAYCATION: Kerry's Birthday

2011-06-01T18:12:00.000-07:00

Although part of the reason we decided to do a Staycation was to spend time as a nuclear family, we ended up doing a lot of things with other people. Not that I'm complaining, I'm just observing how Fix and I are social people. We especially enjoyed getting to celebrate Nana on her birthday!

We started her birthday celebration by surprising her at Silver Diner for lunch. Kerry thought she was going out with just John and Susi, but when the hostess showed them to their booth, we were already in it!

After lunch we went back to the Fix casa to hang out with the birthday girl. We stayed for dinner.
Susi made a lovely, yummy birthday cake with pink icing for our favorite Lady in Pink.

Apparently our Happy Birthday singing didn't sound good enough for someone's discerning musical ear.

I blame this vocalist.

STAYCATION: Smallmans

2011-05-30T22:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday night the Smallmans came to visit. It was so nice to catch up and watch the kids play together.

Maisie and Louisa (and Rock and Geneva) were like two peas in a pod.

STAYCATION: Anniversary

2011-05-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

Day three of our Staycation was Rocket and Juju's 40th wedding anniversary. Can you believe these two young things have been married that long?!

We let them celebrate by taking us out to lunch. Louisa was happy to be there so she put on her happy face.
Not really sure what face this is.

STAYCATION: Memorial Day

2011-05-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

On Staycation day number two, we really stayed close to home. It was Memorial Day weekend so we tossed the kids in our wagon and crossed 450 to join our neighbors (not pictured) in viewing the Bowie Memorial Day parade.

I was very excited that we had an excuse to wear matching outfits for the second day of Staycation. For some reason we are usually out of town on Memorial Day weekend so this year was our first time to see the parade.

And oh whatta parade it was! Things started with the essential flags...

And a patriotic band.

Then all sorts of things went by! There were airplanes...

And a really cute Boy Scout group "fishing" off the end of their float.

When the waving beauty queens passed by...

Louisa waved right back. Okay so she waved at everyone.

I was THRILLED to see my alma mater's Pep Band looking just as scraggly and fun as when I left ERHS (almost 15 years ago!).
There was a stilt walker who high-fived an incredibly cute 3.5 year old boy. For the record, I was so proud of Rock for being brave enough to run out there on his own.
There were people in unflattering yellow outfits...

And horses...

And a gang of tricked-out Chryslers. Or is that a Dodge?

There was a fantastic steel drum band...

And of COURSE the fantastic Bowie Fire Department.

Rock was very pleased with the parade.

Louisa was very pleased with the Fritos.

I was very pleased with the free Chick-fil-A coupons (not pictured). After the parade, we went to John and Misty's house for a yummy BBQ lunch. For dinner we ate free Chick-fil-A.

STAYCATION: Baltimore

2011-05-27T19:21:00.000-07:00

This year instead of traveling, we decided to stay put; a Staycation for just the four (five if you count the babe within) of us.

Day one was in Baltimore. In support of the Orioles, we all wore orange. We started by dropping our car at BWI...

And catching the light rail into the city.
Our destination was this little gem. The USS Constellation, has a long history of service to our nation, and we thought Rock would really enjoy it.

Rock and Rachel at the helm.

Despite our efforts, we were unable to sail away.

I'm not sure if these were "We're trying to move the cannon" faces or "We're blowing things up" faces or "Fix and Rock were confused about which emotion to portray" faces.

Just another gorgeous girl with a sippy cup and a cannon.

They were both tempted to stay and sleep on the hammocks, but we opted for lunch instead. Fix and I had read online all about the historic Lexington Market and while I can't find the exact description of this food market, it sounded something like this:"Old as the nation itself, Baltimore's fragrant, gleaming Lexington Market has been a wonderful epicurean tradition since 1782." Sounds picturesque, no? So we walked several long hot blocks over to the Market. But the closer we got, the area got sketchier and sketchier, and there were more and more people who looked like this:By the time we got the Market, we had seen enough sketchiness and heard enough yelling by people with burnt faces (seriously!) to convince us to dine elsewhere.
After a quick light rail trip to the Jimmy John's by Camden Yards, we felt safe again. After a quick lunch and another quick light rail trip back to our house, day one of Staycation was done. Not a smashing success, but fun nonetheless.

Pancake Makers

2011-05-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

These days, when Daddy's making pancakes, he's got TWO helpers.

But in this case, having two many cooks in the kitchen isn't a bad thing. They're delicious and of course, gluten free!

Literature

2011-05-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

Not sure why they are both concentrating so hard on a Sweet Pickles book, but it's good to have Miss Becky back in Maryland where she belongs.

Monday Mornings

2011-05-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

As the weather gets warmer, we've been having a lot of fun relaxing outside on Monday mornings. We eat some breakfast, brew some coffee and take our mugs out to the backyard.
We wake up slowly as we blow bubbles for Rock and Louisa....

And hang out in our pajamas under the canopy in our backyard. Sometimes our pajamas match.

It's a nice time to plan our day, but apparently not a nice time to get cute family pictures.

At least Fix looks good.