More visitors!

I am really slow to blog lately, but with our new internet finally working now I am trying it out while Ashkii and the kids are at baseball.

We had another parade of visitors in April and a lot of fun. Ashkii's parents brought cousin James along, which was great fun for the kids. Ashkii's sister and hubby, Daija and Jonathan joined us from Boston, and Ashkii's brother Mike and his friend Heidi also came from out west. We toured the Naval Academy, did a little DC again, and also just hung out here. They helped us with the basement and yard which was a HUGE help. It was great to have them all.




The flowers at the Academy are sooo beautiful!



Thanks to Alisa and Vicki for providing the cute matching outfits for the boys - I love that they are still young enough to enjoy this!

Grandma and Grandpa and Daija observed Savvy's dance class one night, then we all proceeded to Trev's baseball game. He was VERY hesitant to sign up - he thought there would be "hundreds" of people watching him. We finally were able to talk him into it, and he is loving it. He wants to go out and play catch every day. It was fun having others here to do that with him, and of course, being the Lintons they are, they all joined in the game:).





Grandpa in the outfield with Trev

James on the field

Savvy giving Grandpa a big goodbye hug:)

Easter visitors!!

We had an exciting week last week. My parents and little sis, Lindsi, came to visit. They had never been to DC, so we drove in a couple of times and saw Arlington Cemetery, several monuments, and some museums. It was inspiring to see Lindsi's passion for art as we toured the National Art Gallery. She has an amazing talent in remembering details of every artist, their life, every piece. It is amazing. My mom experienced her first cab ride, with the worst cab driver I have ever had - no personality whatsoever, and here is my mom trying to learn about DC from him. Too funny. My mom was so impressed that I got us out of the city on the metro to where our car was parked. Yes, Mom, I have big-city skills:). We also had fun in Annapolis, and Trevor enjoyed cracking into crabs at a local seafood house. So yum! Oh, and Savannah insisted on wearing her bunny ears to the restaurant - hopping in and out! It worked out well that we had the cottage through the end of March - it was a great guest house for them, and we dyed eggs and had a great egg hunt over there. You can see lots more pics here. Thanks for coming, guys!!!

Moving In

Boxes, boxes, everywhere . . . how did we ever accumulate so much stuff??!! That is what I have been thinking the last two weeks. We closed on the house, painted a couple rooms, and then the movers brought all our stuff out of storage. As they were bringing it in, I kept asking, "Are you sure this is all ours?" And as we have been unpacking, we have been discarding a lot.

Anyway, we are loving the house! Here are a few pics of the house, painting day, and how we ate the first few meals in the new place.

In other news . . .

We have had a busy few weeks. We found a house! We are supposed to be closing next weekend, but with all we have gone through up to this point to get settled here, we aren't celebrating quite yet. Let's just say that the housing market (at least in this area) is not what the media is portraying it to be. We had hoped to get a serious "deal" and soon found out that anything in good condition in a good location is still going fast, and at almost full asking price. We lost out on a few houses we liked, but it all worked out and we feel like this is the house we are supposed to be in and that best meets our most important needs (good schools, location).

Anyway, we have made some fun memories in this little cottage and are excited to have my parents and youngest sister come stay in it for Easter while they are visiting us. It should be a fun week.

We have been on some roller coasters of emotions with all the house-hunting and Trevor starting a new school and all. I think that has been harder on me than on him. I just find myself emotionally exhausted with all the transition sometimes. Last week Savannah and I spent a lot of time visiting dance studios, since she is going crazy without dance class, and I am waiting to put her in a preschool here until next fall. We also found and visited a pediatrician, and I have an appt. at my new dr. this week. Slowly but surely we are checking things off the list of things to do when moving to a new area.

I am really liking it here, though. People are very friendly and welcoming (for the most part), it is beautiful, and there are lots of fun places to shop! By shop, I mean that Savannah and I like to roam and check out new places. She is my little shopper. She can last longer than I can! I am excited for spring because then we can get out more and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Here are some pics of some of the fun activities we have done the last few weeks:



Fishing off the dock behind the cottage




Free staff night at a Navy basketball game - Savannah wanted to track down and meet the mascot!




Our first ever Lacrosse experience - the deputy of finance at USNA invited us to watch the game in his suite - it was awesome! I mean, I still don't understand Lacrosse, but this was definitely the way to watch it!



Watching sailboats at USNA - Trevor has decided he wants to learn how to sail for his birthday:)



Snuggling in our favorite chair at the cottage - too bad it stays with the cottage! I love my little munchkins!

P.S. I am craving chocolate chip cookies this pregnancy - Grandma, can you please come make me some?

A "Super-Fly-Good" Birthday!!!

Today was Savannah's 4th birthday! So hard to believe. The past four years have been very busy, and she has been SUCH a trooper through living in 3 states and traveling to or through at least 15 others. Perhaps she is easy-going because of this, or perhaps she is easy-going because she is what our family needs! She is a huge blessing in our lives. We love you, Savvy!!!!

The day started out with breakfast-in-bed, a birthday tradition for the last year or so. This was her first time, though, and she loved it! Then Trevor begged us to let her open his present. He knew exactly what he wanted to get her and has been counting the minutes until she could open it!

After church, Trevor decorated everything with pink crepe paper, then we did more presents, followed by dinner and decorating cupcakes! It was a fun day - "super-fly" fun as Trevor and Savannah would say!

Thanks to everyone who sent gifts and cards - she loved it all!

In case you can't understand the video, Ashkii asks her how good her cupcake is, and she replies, "super-fly!"

Happy Hearts Day!!

We hope you're all having a fabulous Valentines Day. We are celebrating in a hotel back in VA! Richard had a conference down here this week, and when the power was out in MD Sunday, we decided to go with him. I'm glad we did - it's been a fun week. I was able to get into my OB back in VA for one last visit (about an hour from where we are staying), and the kids got to hear the heartbeat of our new little one. They thought that was very cool. We were able to stop by and visit some friends last night, too, which was great. The kids have been swimming at the hotel and Ashkii and I have been scouring the internet for real estate. I have strange dreams when I am pregnant, and lately they have to do with houses we see on the internet. I can't get away from it!

We seem to have cured our kids of ever wanting to eat out again. Over the past month or so with all the back and forth (my dad calls us nomads), we have had to eat out quite a bit. Now when we ask the kids what they want for dinner, they sort of moan and say, "whatever." It will be nice to get into a more permanent situation. But the cottage is fun, and it makes me want to buy waterfront property someday. I can dream, right?

This is our 11th Valentines Day together! One of our traditions has been making yummy heart-shaped sugar cookies. Ashkii likes to decorate them. I'll never forget when we were newly married, my sister Camille came over and we three decorated cookies together. She really got a kick out of Ashkii and his double-decker cookie creations. We made cookies a month early this year, before all the moving chaos. It was fun - the kids had a BLAST decorating their cookies and eating way too much. Hope you all enjoy this fun, love-filled, sugar-sprinkled day:)

We made it

Wow, we are finally in MD. We officially moved into the cottage yesterday and we are all exhausted. I have much to blog- hopefully that will come this week . . . right now I am too tired to blog! But, my sister keeps reminding me that I have yet to share some important news . . .