Sunday, October 9, 2011
Falling into Fall
Saturday, October 1, 2011
The Princess and the Boo Boo
Yesterday we dropped Jack off at school and Emma and I headed out to do some errands before meeting up with friends for story time at a local baby boutique in Ghent. We met Melissa and Abigail at The Silver Rattle and listened to Beauty and the Beast. But, the best part - it was a musical. There were two characters that sang after the story - and one was Belle! She was sweet enough to stay after for pictures. Emma (still cranky from the tooth that will never come in) wasn't feelin' the princess pictures...but, I snapped one really fast. After story time, we went and got some delicious frozen yogurt with Abigail and Melissa, and hung out until it was time to go pick up Jack.
After naps, we ran around the back yard for a while and got "pizza" for dinner. Actually, it was Moe's....but Jack calls quesadillas pizza. After dinner and baths, Jack spotted a bandaid on my leg (Cars) and asked for one. We looked through them all and found the Lightening McQueen one. I asked him where he wanted it and he said on his boo-boo, pointing to his knee (however, there is actually no boo-boo there). After I put Emma to bed and came back into the living room, he asked me for another one, like the one I have (Finn McMissle). So we found that one and he put it on his other knee. Then, we had to look up the names of the racecar Cars on the bandaids, so we knew what to call them. After stories, Jack wanted to take the bandaids off, so I put them on the headboard of his bed so he could still see them. As I turned off the lights and said goodnight, Jack gave me a hug and said "Thank you Mommy, for Cars artwork on bed." So, he's either easily impressed, or will end up being a world famous modern artist :)
Here are just a couple other snapshots from the day...
Jack found the kitty ears for Emma's Halloween costume and they were a quick hit!
Emma loves the easel that Grammy brought down last weekend. Grammy added a new coat of chalkboard paint to an easel that my grandfather made for me when I was little. It's cool to see them love to play with something that I loved using so much too, when I was a kid!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Forts and Firsts
It's been nothing but rain here for 2 weeks. It hasn't been the constant pouring rain that the DC area had a couple weeks ago, but it's still soggy and gross out. So, we have colored, painted, splashed in puddles, chased Hokie in the rain, played with blocks and trains, watched movies...every inside activity I could come up with. So, on Saturday afternoon, with a fussy, teething baby and a toddler bursting with energy....we decided to build a fort. Jack wore himself out by carrying chairs around the kitchen, and then had a blast doing everything in the fort. He had his snack in there, colored in there, played cars in there, and even asked to eat his dinner in there...until Hokie came in too.
We also had a very exciting first this weekend! Emma has been cruising for quite a while, but she wouldn't take the leap from one piece of furniture to the other. Finally this weekend she started diving from tables to couches and on Sunday night, she took her first independent steps!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6roAd0Tgy0
We were lucky enough to have Grammy come visit us this weekend while Matt is underway. We loved having her here and miss her already!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Puddles, Purses, and Pumpkins
The mommy giraffe and baby giraffe were recently weaned, and the baby giraffe is inside a small area on the side of the exhibit. The daddy giraffe is still in the exhibit, next to the baby, and comes over to visit. Here he is, standing next to the baby giraffe.
Our backyard pond was pretty deep....
While Jack and I were out splashing, Matt was inside watching Navy whoop up on USC (ok, maybe they didn't win, but they sure did scare 'em). Apparently while Matt was watching football, Emma was using up all of our anytime minutes.
The constant theme this weekend, cooler weather. The evenings and mornings have been crisp, and even the leaves seem to know fall is coming....
Monday, September 12, 2011
A Day of Celebration
Last night Jack had a special surprise - FIREWORKS! We had some wonderful friends over for dinner - Ed and Gwen. Ed was one of Matt's best friends from the Academy and the best man in our wedding. This was the first time we had the pleasure of meeting Gwen, Ed's lovely wife, since we haven't been stationed near them for quite some time. When we do have friends over, Jack normally gets a free pass to stay up late - until our friends leave. So, last night he was able to stay up way past sunset. Over the last few weeks, our neighbors have been setting off fireworks on the weekends....not the kind you buy at the stand outside the mall.....the kind you buy at a shady roadside stand in South Carolina. These are for real fireworks...the kind you see on 4th of July. They are so big and loud, the first time they set them off, Matt and I thought they were gun shots. (We do live in Norfolk, after all). Anyway, Jack was on the couch in the playroom watching TV and all of a sudden we hear the fireworks go off. Jack shoots up and jumps over to the window and shouts "FIREWORKS! FIREWORKS!" Of course, his partner in crime also jumps up next to him and they sat at the window for several minutes, watching their own personal fireworks show.
Today after naps, we took a leisurely walk to the park. Matt wasn't going to be home tonight, so we didn't need to be home to make dinner at a specific time. Jack, Emma, Hokie and I walked the long way around to the park on the sidewalk and then took the more "scenic" route through neighborhoods on the way home. We stopped on the bridge over a shoot off of Mason Creek to spy on an egret trying to catch his dinner. Jack told him to come to our house because we have fish in our yard. Maybe he'll come over tomorrow!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
A Day of Rememberence
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Reflections on the Week
(The beautiful quilt my mom made for Emma to hang in her room.)
To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty. ~Author Unknown
Children make you want to start life over. ~Muhammad Ali
Between the innocence of babyhood and the dignity of manhood, we find a delightful creature of a boy.
~ Author Unknown
The language of friendship is not words but meanings. ~Henry David Thoreau
Friday, September 9, 2011
A New Year
Everything feels fresh in the fall. The crisp, clean air of the fall replacing the heavy, sticky summer heat. And, this fall was no different for us. Ok, I know it's not technically fall yet...but Labor Day has come and gone, college football is approaching it's second weekend and my neighborhood is already sporting Halloween decorations...so, to me, it's fall. This fall will also be a fresh start for me with the blog. I took a mini summer vacation!
Most of you know that we moved from Newport, RI to Norfolk, VA in July. We enjoyed a wonderful week long vacation with Matt's family to the Outer Banks, followed up by the whirlwind month of August trying to find a daily routine. We did capture the memories in photos...check them out on Facebook!
I've given myself some "new year" resolutions of course...I want to make some fun new things to sell on Etsy and I want to pick up my weekly mileage...a lot! I signed up for a 10k on Halloween weekend. I know a 10k doesn't seem like much, but getting back to running has been a slow process for me and I'm excited to have a goal in my sights! Next year I'll think about the "m" word :)
What a busy week for us. My sweet baby turned 1 yesterday (and I turned 31 - which I have decided sounds a lot worse than 30), my big boy started preschool, and my even bigger boy checked onto his ship this morning.
Emma and I had a double princess party (something I told Matt we were going to do before I was even out of the OR the day she was born - as soon as I knew it was a girl!). We decked ourselves out in matching tee's, tutus, and tiaras. It was a wonderful affair and we want to thank all of our amazing friends for attending, especially those who drove (or flew) from far away!
Even more proof that my little toddler is starting to grow up, as soon as he gets home, he walks in the house and takes off his shoes and socks, and sets them on the stairs leading up to his room.
Speaking of shoes, Emma got her first "real" (as in I will probably walk in these) shoes today. Of course she has baby shoes. You know the kind, they sneeze and the shoes fall off. But, with my little cruiser starting to take more risks between couches, I thought it might be time to let go of the summer bare feet and start the fall with some shoes.
Monday, July 4, 2011
4th of July Weekend!
We enjoyed a beautiful evening with a stroll through the park and we scoped out downtown Bristol to prepare for the parade this morning! Jack really enjoyed running the bike paths and looking out over the water from the fishing pier. We even saw a horseshoe crab!