Life as a Leach

Our family was so honored to represent the Ronald McDonald House of Baltimore last night at the lighting of the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon!  Along with the mayor of Baltimore and Steve Smith Sr. of the Baltimore Ravens, we lit the monument and officially kicked off the holiday season!  This is a HUGE deal in Baltimore and there were an estimated 20,000 people there last night!  Incredible!! Abby was the "official" lighter with a magic wand that caused the monument to light up.  She loved it and proudly held her wand up high in the air!  Caleb actually got to push one of the buttons with the mayor and Steve Smith Sr. to make it happen, so he was thrilled!   We were interviewed by two Baltimore TV stations!  Here's one: http://www.wbaltv.com/article/crowd-gathers-for-annual-washington-monument-holiday-lighting-event/8457145 I can't find the other one online, but a friend taped it from her TV with her phone and shared it ...

There have been so many blessings that have come out of our journey the last five years.  At the top of the list is most certainly the Ronald McDonald House of Baltimore.  The staff has created such a warm community there, and it really is our home away from home.  We love it and shout that from the rooftops! We were so honored that they invited us to their Hamburgala fundraiser.  The kids presented flowers to the chair of the committee, and we all held signs to direct people to dinner.  It was such a fun evening and a great way to raise money for the new house! Abby loved her new dress and enjoyed twirling in it! Caleb got so many compliments on how sharp he looked. Abby decided to practice her princess wave for Disney World while we waited for the shuttle to take us to the Gala at the Four Seasons .  :) Our menu for the night. Everything served included McDonalds ingredients!  (but much fancier!)...

The weekend of the Red Shoe Shuffle, we were able to visit Fort McHenry.  For as often as we are in Baltimore and for as much as Caleb loves history, we have never gone there!  Needless to say, he was a happy kid.  There wasn't much for Abby to enjoy, but she liked running around in the open spaces. Cannons Inside the magazine Caleb pretending he's a war captain Signing a document Of course, Abby went right for the broom!   Caleb was pretending to battle on the hill Daddy came up for a sneak attack :)

Because of the way this summer has gone, I haven't had nearly as much one-on-one quality time with Caleb as I had hoped.  It's just not that exciting for him to be at the hospital all day, but I have needed to be.   We have been able to do a few fun things though.  We snuck away a few weeks ago to the Science Center for a few hours, and he had a great time! building moon cars...  ...trying to feed the baby bird like he's the momma bird...  ...simulating an earthquake.. ...creating a cool track... ...pretending to be a ship's captain... ...admiring turtles, because they are his teacher's favorite animal... ...pretending to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle... ...playing on the underwater simulator and chasing down a sea turtle for his teacher... I was also able to take him to Port Discovery again last week...but I purposely didn't bring a camera so that I could have even more quality time.  :...