DOVE FAMILY

It's so cute watching Matthew & Julia interact with one another- he just loves her so much and truly looks after his sister (minus the days that she takes his toys). Now that they are in the same daycare (Matthew in PreK and Julia in a 2 year old class) he checks up on her dialy! In the mornings, he likes to walk Julia to her room and he gives her a kiss on her head. During the day when they are outside on the playground- he looks for her and he reports to me each day if Julia was outside, or if all the babies were inside. The teachers tell me that they meet at the fence and they say a few words to eachother every day. They also say that Julia likes to watch Matthew play with his friends.

Saturday September 25, 2010 we joined family and friends to celebrate Jessica & Greg's wedding in Sherwood Forest, MD. The day started with an outdoor wedding by the waterfront followed by cocktails, dinner and dancing at the Sherwood Forest Club House. It was a beautiful service & fun evening. Congratulations to the beautiful couple and may they have many happy wonderful years together!



Jessica & Greg

The groom & groomsmen...

Jessica & her bothers (Dustin-left/Nicholas-right)

Jessica & her daddy!

Proud Parents- Aunt Denise & Uncle John

Firts dance as Mr. & Mrs Karanzalis

Aunt Sandy, Uncle Charlie, Mom (dave's mom), Faye, Debbie & Jim

Stedy & Jen
(We don't see them often so it was so nice to be able to catch up with them.

We had a blast talking, dancing and laughing!)

David & I outside of the clubhouse getting some freshair!

September 23rd is the first full day of Fall (Autumn) and it's time to put away the flip-flops and get to work! I will do another Personal Assistant reminder in October with more tips!

1. Put your beach gear and accessories away in your shed, closets and basements. Don't forget to shake off all the sand first so next summer when you are preparing for your beach vacation you don't have sand all over your closet floors or shed!

2. Switch summer clothes to Fall clothes- if you are like me you don't have a Hollywood size walk in dressing room. Pack up your teeny-weeny shorts, yellow polka dot bikini and pull out those warm cozy sweaters. Don't forget to leave out a few t-shirts to wear under sweaters, blazers and cardigans

3. Winterize your garden. Have you ever heard of someone say this to you? I have no clue what it means. But call it what you want-- free your garden of weeds, pullout any old and brown flowers that are dead. Add new fall colors like a fall flag, Mums, etc.

4. Calendar, Calendar, Calendar- don't forget to add school & work events for the next 3 months on your calendars! Highlight important dates and use stickers for important dates!

The last few months Dave and I toyed around with the idea of buying certain foods organic. Now, we do not have organic sheets, organic materials in our house or by no means going 100% green. We just thought we would change the way we eat and purchase certain foods. After doing some research (isn't online research wonderful these days!) and reading lots of food journals and magazines, I found a list of things you SHOULD buy organic. Basically we started purchasing foods organic that were very highest level in pesticide contamination, highest level of growth hormones or other antibiotics. Some things we started buying organic are apples, peaches, potatoes, spinach and strawberries. We also started buying organic chicken (my kids LOVE chicken)

I know you probably are thinking that we grew up on that other stuff and we turned out just fine! However, we have changed some of our eating habits anyway and I can say that I can taste a small difference in the foods.

I don't know if we will stick with it. I don't know if it will make our eating habits more healthy. But we are giving it a try and so far so good...

I am in love with Honey Cup. No, its not a nickname for Dave. No it's not a crush on a secret Hollywood movie star. No, its not Matthew or Julia.

Its ..... honey mustard! Honey Cup "uniquely sharp" is fabulous. Once you put it on your sandwiches you will get this first taste of the sweet honey mustard, followed by a hint of tangyness (is that a word?) and then at the very end of the bite you get this pinch of heat. The heat is not too much or even "spicy at all" it just very subtle. Then all the flavors are just dancing in your mouth. It turns a normal sandwich into a sandwich with fireworks and love. Its wonderful. It's a little pricey at the market at $5.63 for a small bottle but I use it sparingly and just a tiny bit on my sandwiches. So good....you have to get a bottle becuase I won't share this with you.

I found this great website - which I'm sure has been around for a long time. Women have so many varieties for websites that discuss makeup, fashion, home & gardne, decorating and food. Our big strong manly men really just like their sports and gadget and some even like DIY projects :)

Recently I have been going to this site to check out stories, articles and tips and I like it just as much as my girly sites! I thought I would share...enjoy reading!

www.askmen.com

Last week I watched Renovation Realities on DIY Network and saw a couple remodle their whole kitchen. Such a fun show to watch from demolition, tearing down to installing, wrking together, some fighting and blaming but in the end it comes together. Although I have seen some episodes where it doesn't really come together and they have to call in a professional.

Well, I told Dave that I wanted a new glass tile back-splash and after watching the show I had all confidenc ein him that he could do it. So we took a trip to Home Depot, picked out the glass tile and purchased all the materials....3 days later we have a brand new glass tile back splash!

Dave did a great job and I am so proud of him! We also changed up our hardware on the drawers to make it look more sleek and modern! On to the next episode on DIY to come up with a new project for Dave......what can I have Dave do now??



Matthew watching Dave put the first layer of compound on the wall
See the plain yellow/neutral background? It will be gone ver soon...
















First few sets of tiles on the wall

Old drawer pulls- very country looking

Labor Day weekend we took the kids for one last summer fun before it starts to get cold. We took the kids to Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA. It was a gorgeous day and the park was very busy. Matthew truly enjoyed the water park while Julia decided to sit on the lounge chair and watch him. We rode the train, tug0boat, monorail, classic cars and more! Families with kids of all ages were there- little ones, babies, teens and adults! The majority of the rides are for little ones, but they do have a few big coasters and rides for the older kids. Every one seemed to enjoy themselves despite the crowd and long lines. It was a great day and we are so happy we could take the kids for one more outing for the summer.





Matthew enjoying Dukes Lagoon Waterpark
























Lola & Julia watching Matthew going down the slides.































My neice Amaya loves splashing around