Birthday Girl!

Eve: "Everyone was making such a big deal about my first birthday and for the life of me, I just didn't get it... that is until they brought out an entire cake just for me! Ohhhh, I get it now!"


Eve: "No way was I holding back! I was going to enjoy all of the goodness in a single sweeping bite!"


Eve: "As I learned, birthday girls go to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate. It's a good thing you're bolted into this car Chuck, because you're about to witness some of my insane driving skills!"


Eve: "What could be better than riding a pony on your birthday?"

Eve: "Birthday's bring out all of my cuteness. How long until my next one?"

Lunga Park - 4th of July

As we have done many times in the past, we went out to Quantico Marine Corps base at Lunga Park to enjoy the 4th of July fireworks. Finding a good place to sit is easy. Getting all three of the kids to hold still enough to take a decent picture isn't.


Heidi always makes sure we show up to these types of events prepared! Uno, snacks and a host of other distractions keep the kids occupied until the sun goes down and the fireworks shoot up!

As in previous years, the base set up some free activities for the kids prior to the fireworks starting. One of them was the watergun maze. On a scale of 1 to 10, Eli thought this was about an 11. Too bad his gun rated about a 2. As you can see, he probably could have spit the water out of his mouth with more pressure than it was coming out of his gun.

Sometimes, the firefights were intense, but that didn't stop Kjersti from trying to get a good drink of water from her enemy's watergun. So clever!

The humanity! What is it about shooting a watergun at someone else? I mean no one aims for another persons body. They go for the face. Kjersti it seems would have it no other way. She drinks it right up. Mmmm, high pressure water... so tasty.

Dixie Cups

Eve: "Oh boy... how long have you been there looking at me? You must have seen Kjersti and Eli come in here and throw these Dixie Cups all over the place right?"

Eve: "They were making such a mess that I had to use this box to protect my face from being hit!"

Eve: "It's a good thing I'm the angel around here. Do you want this box so you can clean up this mess?"

Heidi: "Eve, did Kjersti and Eli really make this mess? Or was it someone else?"

Eve: "Well... actually..."


Eve: "Dad did it!"

Hawksbill Mountain

The closest thing we have around here to mountains is Shenandoah National Park. At 4,050 ft., Hawksbill Mountain is the highest point in the park. On June 12th, we figured we would set out to scale that mountain. Fortunately for us, especially Heidi, that means it's only about one mile from the road to the peak. Here we are enjoying the view... or sleeping.

Given the hot spell we've had recently, enjoying the "high country" was a pleasant change of weather. It was actually much cooler up there. Eve fell asleep about 300 meters into the hike and Heidi wanted to make sure she stayed asleep, even if it meant carrying her to the top of the mountain; which is exactly what she did.

Of course our two adventure seekers, Kjersti and Eli, went about climbing on the rocks and posing for pictures upon request. Eli even stopped chomping on his apple for a few seconds to flash his grill for the camera. Awesome!

No adventure is complete without a few tumbles. Unfortunately, Eli had a couple of them and was dead serious when it came to pointing them out.

A few feet from the bottom of the hike, Eve woke up, jumped on Cody's shoulders and successfully steered him to the car using his hair as reins. Who knew it could be so funny to steer a grown man like that?

Love the New Home

The first outing with the kiddie pool in the front yard was a big hit with Eve! As you can see, her cute smile wasn't the only thing she was revealing that day. ;)

Kjersti and Eli just love the new neighborhood and didn't mind supporting their baby sister with her big day in the kiddie pool.

A modern, beautiful home, we couldn't be happier with the place.

On a recent outing, Eli just couldn't keep his eyes open. The picture really does capture Eli's laid back (legs crossed) and rough and tumble (scruffed knee) spirit.

Eve loves heckling neighbors out for an afternoon stroll from the window. She says it helps her unwind after a hard day.

After the neighbors are gone, she focuses her heckling, and direction, on closer targets. A request for a drink of water never looked so intimidating! "Get it yourself," would be an unfortunate response. "Aye, Aye, Ma'am, I'm moving at the speed of light," would be much more appropriate.

The Rigors of Spring Soccer

Eli loved his first year of soccer. Check out this four-year-old's intensity!

Sometimes the action gets so intense, you just need to take a break...

Other times, it just gives you a wedgie.

Kjersti had a great team and great coaches. It made for an awesome year. She really got into it. "Go Roadrunners, BEEP, BEEP!!!" After a cheer like that, she was ready to take the field!

She promptly ran over the opposing team. Ok, it really wasn't that bad, but by the looks of this picture, you wouldn't know that she's really a kind-hearted loving little girl... really!

This photo best captures the spirit of the team. Everyone loves a goofy photo, but seven-year-old girls relish it! This was one of the highlights of the day and it was Kjersti's best soccer experience to date! Thanks to everyone for making it such a success!

The Greatest Show on Earth

On April 1st, we enjoyed the Ringling Brothers Circus at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA. Brother Brunning was nice enough to splurge for cotton candy for everyone! Such generosity certainly didn't go unnoticed by Eli and Kjersti. Mmmmm, fluffy sugar!

According to Eve, nothing goes better with the circus than prune baby food. Circus and prune baby food... two concepts that are synonymous in her mind.

Only a circus could incorporate a song entitled, "Do not try this at home" into one of the main acts of the show. Clever or overkill? Either way, no one seemed to mind.

In other Strong House news, Eli managed to incorporate a new twist to the classic game of Twister. It's called the "Chubby Check". Basically, once you've assumed a new position, Eli will crawl through your arms and legs to see if he can make you fall. If you're still standing after he's made a pass, you've passed the "Chubby Check".

Contrary to popular belief, the "Chubby Check" isn't as easy as it may seem. Sometimes, it takes patience and skill to find just the right line to take through a players limbs. Here, Eli is doing his best to find the "Chubby Check" sweet spot!

One of the challenges to the "Chubby Check" is the mangled heap that becomes the Twister mat after he's made a pass. Even on a relatively easy pass such as this, disaster lies in his wake. Keep up the good work Eli and hang in there Kjersti!