The beginning of Spring

Flashback:  *April 21*

Since Fall is now in full swing, what better time than to back flash and post pictures that were taken early spring. 
Near the end of April, we choose the perfect day to head down to the Washington DC temple.  It was a beautiful day, and Eliza was so excited to be at the temple.  As always, the temple grounds were beautiful - especially at the time of the year. 

One of her favorite things to do at the visitor's center while waiting for mommy and daddy is play in the house.  The house has a porch and mock family room where the missionaries show videos and talk about the role of family.  This little rocking chair is the perfect size for her, and she plays in it all the time.  She's lucky in that she has plenty of time to play there - since Bruce and I switch off watching the kids and attending a session in the temple.  

I framed this picture and hung it in her room.  Every day she says, "Iza at the temple."

Attending the temple is an all day affair.  We leave at 7:00 in the morning (sometimes earlier) and get back home around 8:00 at night.  Despite the 6+hours in the car, Eliza loves going to the temple.  She asks two or three time a week if we can go.  Once a month is the best we can do at this time. 

How I wish this were my front yard. 

This picture just melts my heart.  Not only are they happy to be with each other outside, you can tell how much they love each other.  I hope that they will continue to have a close relationship throughout their lives. 

Zaby was only 4 months old in this picture and not able to sit up alone quite yet.  As always, he is an easy child to photograph.  He always looks right at the camera and usually has a smile on his face.  This one is framed in his room.  What a beautiful day at a beautiful place. 

Our little family - we can be together forever. 

DVC Homecoming 2013

Go Aggies!!!

On September 28, we attended the Delaware Valley College homecoming football game.  The night before, we went to the homecoming parade.  This year the parade only went through campus instead of through downtown Doylestown.  That was a little disappointing because it's fun to march through town.  Another big disappointment, Doylestown township has outlawed any candy throwing.  What kind of a parade doesn't throw any candy??

 

Although fascinated by the mascot, Eliza was a bit apprehensive when the Aggie ram tried to give her a high five.  We're lucky she was willing to pose for this picture.  The gift pom pom certainly helped gain her trust.  She loves to wave the pom pom around and yell "Go Aggies!!" 

It was a nice afternoon to sit and watch a football game.  It's a good thing there wasn't any room for us in the bleachers.  The children liked the freedom of the grass to roll, crawl, and run around.  Zaby had his first opportunity to roll down a hill.  It's unfortunate for me to say that he didn't enjoy it much.  He did however, enjoy cheering, clapping, and waving the pom poms every time Delval scored. 

And score we did.  After a slow first half, we turned up our performance through the second half and won with a score of 41-23.  We got some free pulled pork sandwiches from the agriculture fraternity tent, and then free dessert at the alumni tent. 

By the time the game was over, the kids were beat.  They both took a late nap in the car on the way home.  Go Aggies!  Go!  We enjoy watching the sports teams at Bruce's school and try to do so as often as we can.  This last picture was taken by Eliza who has recently developed  a passion for taking pictures "by self."  At least we know daddy was smiling. 

T is for tornado (Zaby 9 months old)

Height:  2 ft. 6 in.  - 96 percentile

Weight: 21 lb 4.4 oz - 75 percentile

Head circumference:  45.5 cm - 63 percentile

Baby Zaby (despite the fact that he still nurses about 8 times a day) isn't much of a baby anymore.  Every day, he is looking more and more like a little boy and less and less like a baby. 
He has 2 cute little bottom teeth, and 2 more that are just about to pop through on top.  He crawls - super fast.  He is everywhere and into everything.  He has no fear, is a bit mischievous, and giggles like crazy if tickled.

He empties the drawer of the coffee table, then sits in it

 

I am also considering changing his middle name to trouble.  He certainly has an uncanny way of finding and getting into trouble.  He's like a miniature tornado - he won't sit still, pulls everything out, and topples things over as he moves his way around the house.  His favorite things to play with are cords, outlets (he knows how to pull out the outlet covers already), night lights, plungers, bottom drawers, shoes, chairs, toilets (and toilet paper), and anything on a bottom shelf.  He's crazy!

"helping" unload the dishwasher - he went straight for the sharp knives

I seriously am amazed at how quickly he can carry out his destruction.  I move him as far away from the danger as possible and within seconds, he is right back there.  He's a danger to himself.  He broke one lamp already, and we had to move our end table in front of our other lamp to keep him from pulling that one over.  It takes constant vigilance to keep this adorable child safe. 

And adorable he is indeed.  Some days, he is plain silly, he cracks me up.  He still has got the best smile and the brightest eyes.  He loves taking baths, but he will no longer sit down in the tub.  He is always standing up.  He loves riding in the wagon, but once again he stands up to dance.  It's slow going since we have to keep stopping to make him sit down.  He toppled out head first once (within seconds of me sitting him back down).  It didn't seem to phase him because he still does it. 

Playing with Eliza's kitchen.  He always opens all the cabinets and dumps the dishes out all over the floor. 

 

Any food placed in front of him is devoured with such enthusiasm.  The only thing he will eat off a spoon however is yogurt.  He has to be the one to put the food in his own mouth.  I don't think he has a favorite food yet, (with the exception of baby food and baby cereal), he has eaten everything we put in front of him.  Sometimes, he will eat things he shouldn't because he can snatch things out of people's hands so quickly, and his sister is extremely generous in sharing her treats with him.  I'm embarrassed to admit that he has already had cake, cookies, Rice Krispie treats, ice cream, and chocolate.  Of course, he likes them all. 

You're supposed to use the other end Buddy!

 

Dad set his ice cream bowl on the floor for a second

 

Except when tired, or when something is taken away from him, he is an extremely happy boy.  People comment all the time on how pleasant he is.  He is pleasant, but he's not a fan of sitting still at church.  In the past 27 months, we have only taken Eliza out of sacrament meeting a total of two times.  Zaby, on the other hand, has to be taken out two or three times each week.  It's funny how different the two are, yet they are the best of friends. 

One of his favorite places to play is under the kitchen chairs and table.  He and Eliza push the chairs back and forth. 

Eliza loves that he can do more things.  They wrestle, hug, roll around on top of each other, crawl around the house together, and when he starts tearing things apart, she thinks it's so funny that she joins in.  Eliza loves to sit and read books.  Zaby, not so much.  I can't get him to sit through even a couple of pages of a book.  He is always Go, Go, Go!!  Eliza is going to love it when he starts walking.  I can already picture them holding hands down the hallway. 

It's hard to cook dinner when he insists on pulling out all my pots and pans, and emptying the entire oven drawer.  Of course, he does this while I am trying to stand at the stove.

Caught!  As soon as Eliza's door opens in the morning - Zaby makes a bee line for her nightlight

 

Oh but he is full of so much love!!  He's always hugging and kissing me.  He crawls up to me and tugs on my pant legs until I pick him up.  He gives me hugs and kisses, wiggles down, plays for a couple more minutes, then does it again.  I love it when he says, "Mama - his smile melts my heart.  Thanks for being my little buddy - you may be a destructive tornado, but you are MINE!! 

July: Indianapolis trip

Flashback:  *July 6-13*

The second week of July, Bruce had a 5 day conference in Indianapolis, and the entire family decided to join him.  We drove 13 straight hours on Saturday, and stayed overnight with the Johnson family.  I was amazed at how well the kids did in the car that long.  We left at 5 am.  After loading up the car, the kids promptly went back to sleep.  By the time they woke up again around 8:00, we already had 3 hours under our belt.  We stopped at a rest area and ate breakfast.  The kids ran around for a little bit, then it was back in the car until lunch.  After an hour lunch break, the kids took their naps while we drove.  By the time they woke up, we had just over 2 hours left on our journey.  We read books, sang songs, told stories because I must add that we DO NOT have a portable DVD player, so this entire trip was electronic free!  Our kids are wonderful.  On a side note: they were great travelers, but terrible sleepers during this entire trip. Boo!  Sunday we went to church in our former ward (which was so small compared to our glory days); and chatted with friends.  It was great! 

Monday morning, Bruce drove to Indianapolis, and I stayed in Champaign for an extra 2 days in order to meet up with some former co-workers I really wanted to see.  Fortunately, I was able to see all but 1 of the persons I wanted to see (Denise Demers).  Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture - not a single one.  You will just have to imagine it.  Tuesday evening, Bruce came back to Champaign to pick me up, and we headed back to Indy.

While Bruce was networking, conferencing, and listening to speaker after speaker, the kids and I decided to take advantage of our last week with 2 children under 2 and hit the adventure spots.  We spent 2 full days in Indy.

Day 1 in Indy:
Buckled into the double stroller, we waltzed around down town.  With a destination in mind, I walked block after block after block.  After 12 blocks, the high humidity finally got the best of me and I stopped to rest inside the library.  Asking for directions to the Children's Museum (our planned destination), I was told that it was an additional 20 blocks up the street.  What?  The ladies at the mall where I parked told me it was 6-7 or so blocks up the street from them.  So.... we decided to hang out at the library.  The Indianapolis public library is a huge building with 7 floors.  The children's department was larger than our entire home library.  It had some cool technology.  Surprisingly, Eliza wasn't as excited about it as I thought she might be.  I think she was so distracted by the dozens of children running around that she may have overlooked the fact that we were at the library.  I only say this because she asks to go to the library every day.

 Playing with the magnetic board

 They had a theater with this green stage.  Anyone who stood on the stage was projected onto a TV screen.  The TV had different moving backgrounds that you could pretend to participate in.  Like jumping hurdles on a track, or driving tractors, etc.  Zaby had no idea what was going on around him, but he sure looked cute sitting on that stage. 

 After a couple of hours roaming the library, we headed back to the mall to meet dad for lunch.  After lunch, we decided to get in the car and drive the 30 blocks to the Children's museum.  I now know why children under 2 are free.  Children's museums are made for 5-9 year olds, there's not a whole lot babies and toddlers are actually able to do, but I think Eliza had fun anyway.

We started out in Mr. Bear's playhouse.  Here they had a rotating sand table - Eliza loved this.  A change the face on the sculpture exhibit - which Eliza was completely confused by.  Zaby playing with gigantic Lincoln Logs, and an activity center, which he managed to pull on top of himself about a dozen times. 

Next, they had glass statues.  The entire ceiling, pictured in the bottom right corner, was covered with glass bent into various shapes, sizes, and colors.  In the center of the room was plastic representations of the same things for the kids to design their own statues.  They were both entertained for about 10 minutes.

The archaeologist dig site.  I thought this exhibit was pretty cute.  The kids could dig in this fake sand for ancient artifacts and fossils.  They played in here until the exhibit closed. 

 

We ended our time here with Eliza rebuilding the sarcophagus of an Egyptian mummy.  She really enjoyed picking up the "heavy rocks" and putting them back together. 

 

They both zonked out on the ride back to the mall where we picked up Bruce and headed to dinner.  

Eliza was excited to sleep in a hotel (she's done it plenty of times before) - so excited, in fact, that she would not go to sleep.  At 11:30, I'm pretty sure that both Bruce and I fell asleep before she did, so I'm not even sure what time she finally hit the sack.  Despite her lack of sleep, she was every bit as ambitious to tackle the next day's activities.

 

Day 2 in Indy: The Zoo

 

I must say that I was impressed with this zoo.  It was just the right size and had a perfect mix of the ordinary and exotic animals.  They had a cool aquarium where you could touch baby sharks.  Eliza really wanted to and would put her hand in the water.  As soon as a shark would come remotely close, she quickly pulled her hand out.  I don't blame her, it would probably be pretty scary to an almost 2 year old.  She loved watching the fish and the seals swim around.  They were quite boisterous which she found absolutely hilarious.   





 

I don't know if we just hit a good day or what, but all the animals we saw were very active and easily visible.  There wasn't a single animal in hiding all day long.  They had a walk in Aviary, 2 different playgrounds, a splash pad, a dog show, and a dolphin show.  As my luck would have it, both children fell asleep on my lap during the dolphin show.  It made it difficult to walk down the narrow steps with crowds of people back to the stroller.  Not to mention trying to put them both in the stroller while trying to keep them asleep, but I managed it.  They even stayed asleep through some of the exhibits.

 

 

At the zoo, we saw manatees, penguins, and Eliza's favorite - Pink Flamingos. 

Black bears, Polar Bears, Rhinos, Giraffes, Tiger, Lions, Elephants, and Zebras just to name a few. 

 

 

I paid $1.50 for the kids to ride the Carousel - Eliza kept saying she wanted to get off during the ride.  When it was over, she decided she didn't want to leave, rather she wanted to ride again.  Silly girl - some days I don't understand her.   

 Zaby loved it!

 

 

Until I became a mom, there are lots of things I didn't even think about or pay attention to.  I must say that the mother's nest was my absolutely favorite thing about the Indianapolis Zoo.  This was a building specifically for nursing mothers.  Inside, they had 1 large playing area stocked with books, and 3 changing tables.  3 enclosed private rooms were complete with rocking chairs and enough space to park your stroller.  It was amazing and made me a much less nervous to feed my nursing baby.  2 years ago, I probably would have thought it was silly - my how your opinions change!  The $16 I paid for an adult admission ticket, was well worth the visit.  We all had a fun day.

 We stayed up late eating popcorn and watching TV in our hotel room.  Bruce conference ended at noon the next day.  We headed back home to Pennsylvania immediately afterward eating our sandwiches in the car.  The children were equally as cooperative on the ride home as they were on the ride there.  We put them in their jammies after stopping for dinner.  Around 8:30 that night, they fell asleep and stayed asleep when we transferred them to their beds after arriving home at 1:30 am.  This trip reconfirmed to me that I have wonderful children!! 

 

 



S is for sandbox

I recently mentioned to Bruce that we should put a sandbox in our backyard next summer.  Although I don't care too much for a sandbox, I know my children would absolutely love one.  A couple of weeks later, a friend from our ward asked me if we wanted her sandbox.  Umm, Yes please!!  When Bruce went to pick it up, Eliza kept saying, "Daddy is getting MY sandbox."  Even though I continued to tell her that it wasn't her sandbox, it was the family's sandbox, she insisted that it belonged to her.  Of course, she couldn't wait to try it out.

I put Zabien on the grass right outside the door and ran back inside to grab a camera.  In that minute I was gone, he not only managed to crawl into the sandbox...

but.. he also filled his mouth full of sand. 

 

I wonder how many more times of suffering through a terrible fungal infection in the diaper area its going to take to make him stop eating sand!  Silly boy!

Oh Well.  This sand box made for some happy, happy kids 

 

 I think they could dig and play in the sand all day long.   I'm happy to let them provided the boy doesn't eat all the sand in the box!

Camping - Hickory Run State Park

Flashback *Camp trip - August 30, 31*

Once again, we waited until nearly the end of the season to head over to the Poconos for a camping trip.  We stayed two nights this time, but in my opinion, that wasn't long enough.  I just needed to get away and spend some time not worrying about all the things I've been stressing over.  Even with our young children, and despite the inordinate amount of work and preparation it takes, there is something about camping that relaxes me.  Despite our best efforts, we describe this camping trip as funny!

Upon arrival at the campsite, I asked the kids to show me their excited faces:

Bruce took Eliza to the camp store to buy firewood, while Zaby and I started to set up the tent.  The kids looked so cute in their little camp chairs while I prepared our dutch oven dinner and Bruce started a fire.  Of course, this was when Eliza discovered the playground down the road from our campsite and took off.  It took a lot of coaxing to get her to wait until after dinner, but we were successful. 

 
This is when we discovered the "funny" of our camp trip.  In our rush to get on the road, I forgot to pack half of the ingredients of our dinner, and the wood we were given was so green that we couldn't for the life of us get a decent fire going.  Hence, our amazing dutch oven chicken pot pie turned into luke warm gravy over bread.

 At least both kids liked the bread!

We had such dud wood that after an hour of coaxing, babying, blowing, and what have you, we ended up with lots of smoke, half burned logs, and the lamest smores coals imaginable.  Sitting in the near dark did have its advantages.  Not only was it easier to see the stars , but we were quite entertained by the raccoon who bravely entered our camp to snatch up our marshmallows.  Eliza still talks about the raccoon who tried to steal our food.  While talking on the phone to Grandma Richards, she kept saying, "the raccoon steal my food grandma, he steal my marshmallows grandma, my marshmallows."  How cute!! 

 

Early the next morning, we once again tried and tried to start a fire.  Our lame wood struck again.  It's a good thing I decided to grab our camp stove right before we left; otherwise our sausage and eggs wouldn't have come to fruition. 

 

For the afternoon, we decided to hike to the lake and swim.  Even with a map, we got so turned around that our short hike to the lake ended up taking much longer than expected.  We seemed to hike forever.  Zaby fell asleep in the baby bjorn (20+ pounds of dead weight hanging from the front of you makes everything more difficult), and Eliza insisted on walking the entire way, stopping every once in while to watch the bugs, or touch the flowers, etc.  Oh Yes, and she had to be the one to carry her sand buckets.  Needless to say, by the time we got the lake, I was ready for lunch - but guess what we didn't pack with us?  Our lunch!!    Bruce and the kids enjoyed the time at the water, and Zaby and Eliza especially loved the beach area.  I think the two of them could play in the sand all day.  That boy still loves to eat sand. 

 

 After a while, I sent Bruce back to camp to get the car and some food for us to eat lunch there.  Oh yeah, I forgot some of our lunch ingredients at home as well.  He followed the correct trail back, and it only took him 10 minutes to get there.  I guess you could say that we took the "scenic route" on the way there. 

For dinner, I ended up frying our tin foil dinners on our camp stove because our lame wood struck once again.  We headed over to the playground where we were finally successful in breaking Eliza's fear of slides.  Before she wouldn't go near them; now she goes down again and again and again. 

Later, I worked on the fire for a solid hour, and after blowing, blowing, and blowing and constant vigilance, I was able to muster up enough good coals for some excellent smores.  The moment I stopped babying the fire, it went out leaving half burnt logs in the pit.  Shortly after that, our lantern ran out of propane, and we really were in the dark.  We put the kids to bed, then sat up a while talking. 

It did get cold at night.  We had the kids share a twin air mattress.  The first night, Zaby woke up a couple of times.  I heard him moaning and rolling, then grunting and finally screaming.  When I reached over to get him, I couldn't find him in his bed.  He had managed to roll off the top onto his belly, and get his head wedged between the mattress and the side of the tent.  I yanked on his legs and was able to pull him to safety.  He slept between Bruce and I the rest of night and slept quite soundly.  Eliza was out like a light, and didn't move a single muscle.  I double jammied them the next night and everyone slept the whole night through.  Eliza was so excited to sleep in the tent.  She has asked several times since this trip if she could sleep in the tent.  I think I will get both children sleeping bags for Christmas, then we won't have to layer them with blankets and towels to stay warm. 

(Eliza likes to close her eyes when she smiles big)

 

Sunday morning we woke up, packed up, and headed home to attend church in our ward.  Next summer, we will not only camp longer, but we will bring both the truck and the car so I don't have to worry so much about conserving space.  Many important items were forgotten this trip simply because we didn't have enough space in our little Corolla to pack them.  Despite our food and fire mishap, we had a great time - I look forward to doing it again.