My Catalyst: An Unabashed Mommy Blog

Bowling

2012-01-30T21:48:00.000-05:00

I'm going to backtrack a few weeks and post about a play date we had with Maddie's classmates. We've been having weekly play dates or outings with her class thanks to the initiative of one of the moms. It's been great for Maddie because she loves to see her friends and for me because I love to see her interact with them (and also to get to know the other moms). One of the outings was to the bowling alley. It was a blast! It was the bowling alley that I used to go to as a child and for birthday parties. It was Maddie's first time bowling and it was my first time back to this alley in decades. It was such a blast from the past! Less smoky, but otherwise I think it was exactly the same. Seriously, I think Maddie's french fries may have been fried in the same oil as mine were back in 1987. Delish!

Maddie had a lot of fun, but I'm not sure she really got it. The kids would all happily jump up for their turn, but they were so lacking a competitive spirit (thank goodness) that sometimes they'd turn away and be back to their friends before the ball had even hit the pins. And even when they watched and jumped up and down after they knocked some down, they never asked about the score, winners or losers. My kind of bowling!

I do not remember having this ramp when I was a child. Bumpers, yes. Festive ramp, no.

Maddie and her favorite classmate were very sweet together. (And yes, I now see how poorly Maddie's leggings fit. I think they're going to be packed away!)

It's amazing no fingers were pinched since they all gathered around the ball chute, grabbing at balls. There were a lot of dropped balls, but just as amazing, none landed on toes.

Bowling together

Pizza and fries on the floor--pretty much the most unhealthy eating scenario I can imagine!

Hopefully I'll get to sift through pictures from C-Ville soon and share those. See you then!

Happy Aunt

2012-01-23T13:18:00.000-05:00

Last week Beth gave birth to her and Edward's second son, Samuel Anthony. He arrived at 11:58am on January 18th, which was his due date. He was certainly timely! Two minutes later and I'd say he was precise to the moment. I was lucky enough to meet him that evening at the hospital and then to see him again when Beth and Edward brought him home from the hospital. (I was also lucky enough to spend quality time with Nate while he stayed with my parents for a couple days. We hit up McDonald's and he joined us on one of Maddie's play dates with school friends at Jenkinson's Aquarium.) Samuel is precious--so adorable and already being so good to Mommy by sleeping and eating well. I'll leave the rest of the details from his birth and early days to Beth to post if she starts up her blog again. But you know I can't resist sharing a few (okay, many) pictures! The day he came home I took 250 pictures of him. WOW! I will sort through and delete loads of those, but I just couldn't stop snapping such a sweet subject.

A proud MorMor and PopPop

He is tiny, but I think my huge hands make him look even tinier!

These days cell phone photos via text are more of a rite of passage than the old school hospital wallet photos I think.

The picture is blurry, but I like having the whole happy crowd of kids in it.

The kids didn't know what was more exciting--the french fries or baby.

MorMor soothes her littlest grandchild.

First diaper change at home--I love how things that will soon be monotonous start out momentous when it comes to a baby.

First smile?!

Happy family! I'm so blessed that they are my family!

Cousins at Gym

2012-01-18T12:49:00.000-05:00

I'm still here! It's been a busy week which included a weekend in Charlottesville to visit our friends. I haven't had a chance to sort through those pictures yet, so in the meantime here are pictures from a few weeks before Christmas when Beth and Nate came to Avonlea's gym class. Nate was a pro and Avonlea so enjoyed having him there.

I'm so pleased with Avonlea's haircut...but I do miss those curls that would appear some days! Now it's more of a big flip at the end (which is cute, too!)

Alpacas

2012-01-07T23:27:00.000-05:00

The last couple days were relatively mild, but today dawned downright balmy. Yesterday was Andy's birthday and while we managed to squeeze in a small celebration, he's on call all weekend and spent most of last night and all this morning and early afternoon in the hospital. So, the girls and I lazed around, hoping he'd come home and letting the day slip away from us. I emailed my mom to see if she'd have time for a walk and she texted me to say she noticed a local alpaca farm was open for visitors. Andy finally came home (poor guy, he was exhausted) and helped me load the girls up and off we went to visit the alpacas. I don't know that I've ever seen an alpaca up close. (Llamas, yes, but alpacas in my opinion are a bit more cuddly cute whereas llamas are more cartoonishly cute.) They were quite sweet and impossibly soft. It was like touching a life size stuffed animal. The owner told us that they would probably be a bit nervous around me and my mom, but that they would be friendly to the girls since they were smaller. Sure enough they weren't keen on my mom and me touching them, but they let the girls get close and one even became quite enamored of Avonlea, sneaking up to nuzzle her hair whenever she turned her back. It was such a fun and unexpected outing and we'll definitely return. I went a little wild with the pictures but as you know I think my girls are cute and it turns out I think alpacas are really cute, too, so together it was pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen.

The herd--apparently they were all in the mood to graze.

Avonlea was quite bold and walked right up to Stan. Stan was a little skittish at first as you can see in the picture below.

That's Max giving Avonlea a little nuzzle when she turned around. (By the way, this is the first picture of Avonlea with her new bob. What do you think? I loved her long waves, but she doesn't like me to style it so it was getting a bit unruly. I love it now and I also think it'll grow out nicely and will be easier to pull back since it'll be even when it's long enough for a pony tail again.)

Here goes Max again! I told you he was enamored with Avonlea.

When she turned back around he seemed a little embarrassed and would put on this whole "Who me?" expression whereas Avvie would giggle and point to her head saying "HEAD! MY HEAD!"

Madeleine was a little nervous about the alpacas. She was caught in that horrible dilemma of wanting to touch them but being too nervous to do so. She begged me to walk her closer to them but that wasn't much help since they wouldn't let me get close. In the end it was Avonlea who lead her to them.

'Till next time Max!

And yes, we did also go for that walk and I took pictures that I'll share from that, too. But, this post is plenty long so I'll stretch out this day over two posts. I might as well savor our warm weather fun since the cold is sure to return soon.

Goodbye 2011

2012-01-04T22:29:00.000-05:00

Andy and I got each other an elliptical as a Christmas present so my blogging time has taken a bit of a hit as I now spend my evenings ellipting (what is the appropriate verb?). My waistline has also taken a hit in the last several months so it's a necessary evil. (Can I just mention, however, that my weight gain is a good thing? That's because I believe the primary reason I've put on a few pounds is because this is the longest time in years that I've gone without a major UC flare! So, even though it's probably a good idea for me to lose a few pounds by upping my exercise, I'll happily be a bit pudgier and have a vastly improved quality of life.) Enough talking about why I haven't blogged, here is a review of our last week.

Donna stayed for a few days after Christmas and the girls soaked up every walk, book read to them and snuggle. I did as well because besides having great joy in seeing them be loved and taught by their Nonna, it gave me free time for errands, chores and relaxing.

The girls were pretty bummed when Donna left but are counting down the days until her next visit. We had a couple low key days before New Year's Eve when we were having some family over. In the past few years we've celebrated Santa Lucia Day with my Swedish family. This year everyone was just too busy in mid-December to make the party feasible so I decided to move it to New Year's Eve. I ended up making a variety of Mexican dishes and margaritas and my Aunt Karen made Sangria and my mom made creme brulee so it wasn't our most Swedish of celebrations, but I did have various Swedish decorations. Maybe next year I'll have glogg and lutefisk. I took barely any pictures, but here are the few I snapped plus some that Jessie took.

When I brought out Kirsten in her Santa Lucia garb Madeleine was so excited. She didn't have any recollection of seeing her before and thought Kirsten and her accessories were pretty much the cat's meow. The trunk that Kirsten's stuff was in was painted by my MorMor, Kirsten was given to me by my MorMor and Papa and the clothes and accessories were all given to me by my parents and other family members or bought by me with birthday money in my childhood. Given all of that "history" (and the fact that Kirsten is now retired and neither the doll or her accessories can be purchased) make her that much more special. I haven't given Maddie free reign over all the things, but I am allowing her to play with it all as long as I'm there. I'm sure some day she'll want her own American Doll, but I'm so enjoying seeing her thrill over every detail of Kirsten's trunk of treasures!

Beth was looking through a bag of Berenstein Bear books that were hers from childhood to pick one out to read to the kids.

Sometimes I wonder where Maddie's cowlicks come from and then I see a picture of my hair pulled back and I remember. I don't know if they're cowlicks per se, but my hair certainly doesn't not all grow in one direction! (By the way, I'm torching the creme brulees.)

Having a finished basement is everything I dreamed of and more. Andy and I were insistent that any house we bought had to have a basement that was finished or capable of being finished and our realtor thought we were overrating basements, but she didn't know us! The kids play in it, I use it for a crafting space, we exercise in it, it houses a guest room and guest bath, Charlie has it as his lair, we have a workspace where I have various furniture refinishing projects going on, and much more!

Jessie was taking some bump shots for Beth and the girls jumped in to say hi to the baby.

Our cozy den, another thing I love in our new house. Actually, I love everything about our new house, especially when it's filled with family and friends!

Christmas Day

2011-12-28T22:10:00.000-05:00

Christmas on a Sunday poses some logistical issues when you have excited little kids, but all in all I found it a bonus to get to worship on the day we have set aside to celebrate Christ's birth. The pictures are pretty self-explanatory, but I'll caption a few.

This tent was from Ikea and proved to be the biggest hit of the morning and the days since. At $20 I consider it the bargain gift of the year seeing as they've already spent hours playing with it.

Checking out the stockings

I love Avvie's just-woken-up look in the top picture and mouth full of dark chocolate in the bottom picture (a stocking treat). Maddie was up a little before Avvie, but it was a reasonable 7:30 or so. We let her look in her stocking to stave her off while Avvie slept, but after awhile we caved and let her wake up Avonlea.

They each got to open a couple gifts before church.

Maddie asked for only two things (and had the same requests for months): ballet slippers and a jack in the box. I felt that these traditional gifts were pretty funny for her to request, but I was afraid they wouldn't meet her expectations. But, she was thrilled with the jack in the box Nonna got her and the slippers we got her (which we let her wear to church after some begging).

Charles Wallace looks grumpy, but he was actually pretty happy having just received his Christmas breakfast of Fancy Feast which is a treat for a cat who only gets dry food generally.

We headed off to church. I failed to get a single picture of the girls in their Christmas dresses. But, seeing as their Christmas dresses will continue to be worn all winter, I'm sure they'll be photographed at some point! (Plus, while they were cute, they weren't anything super special or Christmasy. Maddie's was dirt cheap at a consigment shop actually and her sweater was purchased by Beth at a garage sale.) Jessie snapped a few iPhone pictures.

Heading back home to tackle the presents!

After present opening I dashed over to my parents to snag some Christmas Eve leftovers to hold us over until our roast garlic chicken was ready for dinner. (It was so good, but the house stunk of garlic and roast vegetables--including parsnips in honor of my British husband, kids and mother-in-law eating the meal. It smells good while cooking, but not so good when you wake up to it the next day.) I'm wearing a super cozy robe that my parents gave me. I eyed it at Anthro once with my mom but deemed it too much of a splurge. I've said I plan to wear it to preschool drop-off or morning bagel pick-up, but my sisters gave highly disapproving looks. We'll see.

It's become a bit of a tradition for us to do a gingerbread house on Christmas day. I don't care for gingerbread so we always get a kit since I have never mastered making it (or even tried). This kit came with icing, but I should should have made my own royal icing because this icing never hardened properly and the house had to be held up by scaffolding constructed of popsicle sticks and gumdrops. We still haven't finished decorating it, maybe tomorrow...

The girls were excited to put on their new princess and Minnie pjs from Uncle Justin and Aunt Elisabeth at bedtime that night.

Maddie received a kid's digital camera and while she seemed to like it, Avonlea has been more taken with it. Her composition could use some work...after they've used it a few weeks p'haps I'll do a post of the pictures they took.

It was a great Christmas. And even though our secular Christmas is over, we're still savoring the celebration of our religious Christmas. Craig had another great sermon that morning which I've already found is impacting my view of waiting in a couple areas of my life. I highly suggest you listen to it (here). Maddie is already talking about what she wants to leave for Santa next year (coffee instead of milk--she sees Andy use his Keurig a lot!) and what presents she might ask for on her list. She seems like she's enjoying just talking about it and "planning" for next year. I only hope she can take this feeling of excitement and anticipation for Santa and earthly gifts and apply it in a magnified and sanctified way to her Savior and his good and perfect gifts!

Merry Christmas (Eve)

2011-12-27T22:09:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas! It may seem a few days late to wish you a merry Christmas, but I don't think that celebrating the birth of our Savior ever goes out of style. We had a lovely weekend of celebrating and we're still trying to enjoy "both" Christmases by continuing to reflect on Christ's birth and keep up the Christmas cheer and treats.

On Christmas Eve we had our traditional party with my mom's side of the family (plus some extra family and friends). I didn't take all that many pictures because I wanted to enjoy seeing everyone through my eyes and not my lens, but here is what I have.

Beth made the girls these adorable terry cloth robes. She made us other great gifts, too, so I will try and do a post this week highlighting them because they're too special to not share.

My parents got the kids these massive bean bag chairs. We found them online at PB Kids and when my mom went to pick them up she was totally unprepared for how large they are. I think they'll break in a bit, but regardless the kids love them and I think a lot of movies will be watched and books read with the kids (or maybe me since they're so big!) curled up on them.

New baby doll (our first boy, or I assume based on the blue, nothing else to suggest gender!), new sled, new playfood (made by Aunt Beth)

The kids kept falling/jumping/rolling off the bean bags. Here is an action shot of Aunt Jessie catching a falling Madeleine.

Yes, that's rock and roll Elmo (not sure if that's his official name). My dad surprised the kids with him and I've got to say he's pretty entertaining.

Indoor sled rides

This series of pictures is the kids checking the NORAD Santa tracker website. (For those of you not in the know, this is the website that the North American Aerospace Defense Command sets up to let kids track Santa across the world. It's a lot of fun and apparently it's been going on for years, previously via only a call center. I read about how it started and I think it's pretty fun that an otherwise serious agency does this silly and cute project.) Maddie and Nate were old enough to understand it a bit and were excited. Really excited. They were jumping, screaming and Nate even made up a little song. And of course Avvie got caught up in it and started chanting "Santa" (when she wasn't shoving stolen candy canes in her mouth). Given how much I played Santa down, I sure have kids who are taken with the myth and the man (as long as he's not in person)! (And I'm cool with that, I just didn't want to go overboard. Turns out I had not choice.) They were watching videos of Santa taken by soldiers and cameras watching the sky (for him or missiles, I'm not sure!) and also seeing on the map where he was. He was getting close!

Milk and cookies waiting for Santa along with reindeer food outside (Maddie made it at school--yet again I was foiled in trying to minimize the Santa obsession :)

I guess I did take a lot of pictures (with some help from Jessie). Between the length of this post and the fact that Blogger is being a pain about uploading pictures, I'll save our Christmas day post for tomorrow.

Angels

2011-12-21T22:32:00.000-05:00

Today was Maddie's Christmas program at school. She's talked about some of the songs they were practicing, the church sanctuary they practiced in and mentioned that we would hear about baby Jesus, but she didn't share most of the details with me. Donna flew in a couple days early so that she could attend the program and my mom came as well. I pretty much melted when the kids came parading in and they were each dressed up and my Maddie was an angel! I asked her afterwards if she knew she'd get to wear a halo and wings and she said it was a surprise that day which I believe because I don't think she would have been able to keep that to herself.

The pastor of the church gave a lovely welcome and prayer at the start which made me so happy. We picked her school not necessarily because it was affiliated with a church, but the fact that we have observed the teachers and pastor taking advantage of opportunities to work in little lessons from the Bible and routines like praying before eating has been a lovely benefit.

What lucky girls to have two doting grandmothers!

I got such a kick out of all the moms and dads snapping away (me included, obviously).

When Maddie's finger went in her mouth I got nervous because I realized she was nervous. I was certain she would bail out of walking up the aisle to the front, but I was wrong. She sweetly folded her hands and walked up with the rest of the "host" of angels.

Mary and Joseph with their donkey

Getting ready to walk up

I wish this picture wasn't blurry, but it was too sweet to not include (at least that's how I felt).

Doing hand motions to Away in a Manger

I know that's a lot of pictures, essentially of the same shots of Maddie, but forgive a mommy who is completely smitten with her little girl. It was our first experience with a school program and I was pretty much bursting with with happiness to see Maddie (who can be shy and nervous) happily singing with her classmates and listening to her teachers. I have videos, too, which I may post once I get them downloaded. But who knows how long that'll take and I couldn't wait to share these pictures.
PS All this talk of angels with Maddie (along with her comment that angels always wear dresses which I think is theologically suspect, but not something I felt I needed to counter her on :) made me think of two things. The first is the book The Glorious Impossible by Madeleine L'Engle. You must read it. (It's sadly out of print which makes it hard to find.) In fact, I'm going to make it a point to re-read it this week. It's illustrated with Giotto's frescoes from the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua and is the story of Christ's life (as told by Madeleine, anyway). She opens with this:

An angel came to Mary. A fourteen-year old girl was visited by an angel, an archangel. In Scripture, whenever an angel appears to anyone, the angel's first words usually are, "FEAR NOT!"--which gives us an idea of what angels must have looked like.

So, I think probably Gabriel did not look like Maddie! The second thing I thought about was Craig's sermon from this past week. You can listen to it here. Have you ever thought much about when the angel said "Fear not!" and how Mary responded? This is a good time of year to ponder it!

Beth's Sprinkle

2011-12-19T21:00:00.000-05:00

(If you're looking for our Christmas letter, click here. Otherwise, feel free to look around and see what we're up to.)

On Saturday I hosted a sprinkle for Beth. I had not heard of the sprinkle concept until the last couple of years, but I loved the idea of doing a little something for second (or third or fourth or you get the point) babies. It's not so much about the gifts as it is about celebrating the mom and soon-to-be-born baby. Beth, Jessie, my mom, grandmother and the kids all gathered for a little luncheon and to open a few gifts. Andy helped me out by running errands and keeping the kids occupied with their lunch for awhile which was a huge help. Even though it was only my closest family coming over, I still seemed to be running around Saturday morning trying to finish up everything. It all got done and it was so nice to visit with everyone without any other distractions. All we had to do was eat, visit and get excited for the new baby boy we'll meet soon!

The kids were thrilled with their Happy Meals!

No one really "got" these cupcakes. I saw it on Pinterest and went with it because with all the holiday baking I just didn't have cake pops or a decorated layer cake in me. The cut out clouds and blue sprinkles are supposed to make you think of a shower (or in this case, sprinkle).

The puff pastry on the brie got majorly puffy.

Before we let the kids loose on the Happy Meals we took a few pictures of them. I couldn't help but post a few because they are just the cutest. Man, I love those three!

For the record, Madeleine picked out her whole ensemble. I love the dress (it was mine as a child), but it's a bit too small on her now and definitely too summery. And the shoes wouldn't have been my first choice. But she was so excited that I couldn't say no.

The kids were so excited about the gifts. In the picture below, you can see Maddie jumping up and down with excitement. (In fact, the days leading up to this Maddie was so excited and couldn't stop talking about Aunt Beth and the new baby. She thought she was meeting the baby but finally I was able to convince her that Beth would still be pregnant.)

My grandma gave Beth a sweater that she made for my father when he was a little boy. It's a little big for Nate, but in the years to come both Nate and the new baby will be able to use it.

Nate and Maddie were in wild, dancing moods!

Edward had a rare few hours off (seriously, he works practically 24/7!) and stopped by. Here is the soon to be family of four!

Caroling with Christopher Wright

2011-12-17T17:56:00.000-05:00

(If you came to the blog via our cards and want to see our "Christmas letter", click here. Of course, feel free to look around, but that's our year in review of sorts.)

Last night my parents had a Christmas party/concert with their friend Christopher Wright. Remember last year's house concert? It was the same idea and just as much fun. In fact, it was more fun because Andy was able to come this year and I wasn't in horrible pain due to a UC flare. So, yeah, it was lots more fun! My cousin and her friend babysat (thanks girls! and thanks Mom for "hiring" them!) which freed us up to enjoy the music while the kids had their own party down the basement. I went down a few times to see if Maddie wanted to come up and sing some Christmas carols with us but she was having way too much fun with Hannah and Catherine and basically ignored me. And Avonlea had to be pried from Catherine's arms at the end of the night. It was a late night and the girls were wired when we finally left at 11:30ish. But, we had to get home because today we had another fun family event. Watch for that in the next post!

Here are some pictures. The quality is pretty poor between fiddling with my new lens (I always have a bit of a learning curve with a new one), the low light and my parents decor. Their decor is lovely. It's a very warm and coppery space which is cozy and pretty. However, it makes pictures, particularly in low light, very tricky for me because on top of trying to accommodate the incandescent light at night, I'm also trying to adjust for all the reflecting warm tones and it seems I always fail and end up with orangey pictures. And given my mom's (justifiable) resistance to the (cold and sterile light of) eco-friendly lightbulbs, I think I'll need to be content with the orangey pictures, give in and use my flash or keep fiddling with the settings...

There were about a million holiday treats.

Blurry, underexposed and poorly composed, but still so cute!

I included this because for all the times that "white kitty" or "meow" is with Avvie, I don't have a lot of pictures of her holding it.

Chris's daughter, Lauren, came and sang, too. She has such a pretty voice.

Christmas Letter 2011

2011-12-15T10:40:00.000-05:00

I just began sending out our Christmas cards, so it's possible that some of you might see the blog address on it and wander over for the first time or for the first time in a long time. Therefore, I thought that a Christmas card style letter might be in order. I'll try to keep the bragging and inane level of detail to a minimum, but that's sort of what the genre calls for so I can't completely eliminate it!

Our big news for the year was Andy's new job and our move. Andy graduated from his fellowship program at CHOP and began a new job at a community hospital in the PICU. (Yes, Andy is now an attending physician after 4 years of med school, three years of a peds residency, one year of a chief residency and three years of a PICU fellowship. That represents a lot of school loans, long hours and hard work by Andy. But by the grace of God he survived, our marriage survived and he's an excellent doctor. YAY!) It's quite a change from CHOP and, as much as he loved CHOP, overall it's been a good one both for him professionally and for us as a family. We see a lot more of him which makes us all happy.

His new hospital allowed us to move much closer to my parents. In fact, we moved right in with them for the summer! It was a full house since my sister's family was there as well, but my parents were gracious and even acted a bit sad when we quickly found a new home which we closed on and moved into in October. The fact that it is only 2 miles from them meant there wasn't much of a dramatic goodbye! We were, however, very sad to say goodbye to Beth's family when they moved because the cousins became very close during their summer together. We're hoping Nate will come stay with us for a few days when his new baby brother arrives.

We put our house in Haddonfield on the market in the spring and moved in with my parents in the summer while we began our house hunt. I guess house selling and house hunting put us in the mood to travel because we went on two special (and grand) trips during those times. In the spring we spent a week in Disney World with (and courtesy of) my parents and both of my sisters and their families. It was amazing! We had so much fun as a family, the weather was perfect and the kids loved all the parks. In the summer we packed our bags again (literally the day after having packed up our boxes to move to my parents' house) and headed to England with Donna. This trip had been in the works for a long time and it was fantastic. We spent time with Andy's family who welcomed us with open arms and also got to sneak in a little touristy stuff on the side. We were sad to say goodbye, but are hoping to have a mini-reunion at Justin and Elisabeth's wedding next summer.

We were fortunate that our Haddonfield home sold relatively quickly given the current market and as much as we miss that house (we truly loved it!), we are smitten with our new home. It's both cozy and open at the same time and we've all settled nicely into it. Plus, it's in a neighborhood that I've loved since childhood.

The girls love our new home and proximity to more family. They spend lots of time with my parents and are already getting to know my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins better. Since our new house has lots more room, they have anointed the guest room as Nonna's (yes, we have a bona fide guest room and bath! come visit, friends!) and love to show her around our new neighborhood. Madeleine and Avonlea are so blessed by the love of family near and far!

Maddie's big news this year was starting nursery school (for two and a half hours, two days a week). She loved it from the first day and we've only had one tearful drop-off when silly Mommy forgot her Peppa Pig backpack. Sunday School has been a hit as well. Maddie is still a willful and emotional little girl which means she is either SO HAPPY and giddy or can be SO SAD and hard to console. But, she's learning to control her emotions and be more obedient and while it's still a work in progress, we are thankful for the maturity she is gaining. And it turns out she is very obedient and calm when it's her teacher talking to her! In our opinion, she is smart as a whip, funny and adorable...but I guess every parent thinks that about his or her child!

Avonlea is still home with me all the time to my delight (no sarcasm there, I really love having my girls with me!). She is sad to say goodbye to Maddie at school drop-off and shrieks with delight and screams "HI MADDIE" at each pick-up. Suffice it to say, the girls adore each other. They definitely have times when they will fight over a toy or just push each others' buttons, but more often than not they are playing together happily. Avonlea has a great vocabulary for a 21-month old so they actually have little conversations. Avvie is still our happy girl who delights in a good meal, a long nap, being cozy, playing with her favorite toys and cuddling with her favorite people (Uncle Tim, most of all!). As she approaches two we definitely are seeing her will emerge more and more, but unlike a certain other little girl we know, if she's upset she will usually cry and protest for about a minute and then accept our authority and move on. Folks, this is amazing to us as we are accustomed to tantrums at this age that could last...well, let's not even document Maddie's tantrum stamina!

This is obnoxiously long, so I'll wrap it up. We are treasuring this happy time when life is relatively calm and we're all happy and settling into a great community and church. I started out the year with a lot of health problems and we've seen friends and family go through a lot of physical suffering and emotional heartache this year so we do not take these happy family times for granted. We also look to that heartache and remember that while we don't know what the future year holds for us we can cling tight to our Savior who we know has a plan for us whether in good times and in bad. Our Christmas celebrations are full of fun and silly traditions, but most of all remind us of our God who subverted expectations (but not prophesies!) and sent a Savior and King as a baby and gave us life through death and a resurrection. (I can't help but go to what's to come at Easter as we think about the Christmas story.)

Thanks for reading all this! If you made it this far, you deserve a picture so here are couple of us from the year. We hope y'all are doing well and would love to hear from you, too. My email's the same, our address isn't (but I'll send it if you email) and you can always leave a comment.
Love, Sarah

At our hotel in Disney

The Magic Kingdom

Easter

The English seaside

Christmas tree picking

ZZZs

2011-12-13T22:43:00.000-05:00

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook may have seen me post a similar picture from my phone recently. I got such a kick out of it, I had to post pictures here, too. Maddie often requests that someone cuddle with her a bit before she goes to sleep and I'd say that about 50% of the time whatever parent stays with her falls asleep, too. (I say "too" but that's probably not the best word choice because sometimes we fall asleep but Maddie doesn't! I guess she's not the only one who could still use an afternoon nap.)

PS The funny thing about this picture of tranquility is that about a minute after I took this picture I heard a thud because Maddie fell out of bed! Andy woke up and got her settled again.
PPS Maddie's room is going to be painted soon (at least I think so). Say goodbye to the test patches and say hello to a "girly-ish" colored room. (Maddie's word and request, not mine--Mommy, can it be a girly-ish color, not a boyish color?)

Angel Chimes

2011-12-11T21:09:00.000-05:00

It feels like the weeks leading up to Christmas are flying by and filled to the brim (woah, mixed metaphors). The last several days we've had fun things going on every day and evening. We were all pretty exhausted this evening so I'm leaving some chores undone while I take a few minutes to blog, relax...and then review my calendar and make lists to I can try and squeeze in all the special activities we have planned while keeping up with our regular activities and chores. I've been tempted to schedule even more Christmas activities, but I know we're precariously close to being so Christmasy that we completely miss the point of Christmas (and also fall over from exhaustion) so I've resisted the temptation for the most part.

With all the comings and goings of the season, it's been nice to have some quiet times. The other day Maddie and I had a nice time setting up the Swedish Angel Chimes that we bought when at a Scandinavian Festival with my Aunt Karen recently. (I never blogged about that but it was a few weeks ago. Aunt Karen goes every year and since I'm trying to learn more about my Scandinavian heritage, Maddie and I joined her for a special girls' outing. It was fun to see the Scandinavian wares and Maddie got such a kick out having such a grown up outing.) Once we set up the chimes, Maddie loved watching the candles flicker and the angels spin and chime. I remember my mom setting up our angel chimes when I was a child so to do the same with Maddie made me a bit nostalgic.

In case you've never seen these chimes before, the heat from the candles causes the angels to spin and chime. Despite my explanation, Madeleine preferred to believe it was some sort of magic and who am I to try and convince her otherwise.

Avonlea Updates

2011-12-07T22:42:00.000-05:00

The last several months I've been remiss in doing posts about the girls' various milestones and stats. It's a little harder to do these posts for Madeleine, but Avonlea is still at a stage where new skills are emerging in an easily identifiable ways. This post has taken me weeks of working on in fits and spurts but it was well worth it because I'll be able to enjoy looking back at it in a couple years just as much as I enjoy looking back at Madeleine's old posts now.

Communication
The area that Avonlea is most clearly and rapidly progressing in his her ability to speak. She started speaking early and her vocabulary truly is amazing. I feel a little silly saying that, but each kid has things that are their special skills and Avvie's happens to be talking! I'm pretty sure that her conversational skills are a direct result of spending all day every day with me and Madeleine (and a fair amount of time with MorMor as well). We are rather chatty folks and I think she just tries to keep up. When Andy married me, it was quite a learning curve for him as he was never quite sure how to respond when I would ask him to tell me a story from his day, describe how he felt in any given situation or just request that he talk about whatever was on his mind. Maddie is on my wavelength and can often be heard saying "Mommy, let's talk! What should we talk about? Let's talk about [insert anything from ice cream to God]." Avonlea is obviously not talking like that (yet!) but she is using four word phrases/short sentences, can make (very) short inquiries ("Why?" "What this?" "What?") and has an ever expanding vocabulary. So let's get into list mode and record that vocabulary. This is in no way an exhaustive list, but it's the words we hear the most.
A lot of her words relate to food such as eat, pasta, pizza, cheese, chips, candy (indy), banana (nana), ahti (her made up word for liquid), apple juice (appjush), milk (mul), chocolate (choc--we hear this a lot and usually in the context of "EAT MORE CHOC!"), cereal (cerul), M&Ms (emem). We do in fact feed her healthier food as well, but she seems to use the words for the unhealthy food more (although she does say hummus ("hummish") so adorably when I pull out the food processor and chickpeas)! Other words include: tissue, shoes, bow, hot, kitty (often pronounced "tia"), meow meow (what she often says instead of kitty), pumpkin (often said "putty", not sure why), pillow (po-po), pretty (sometimes used to mean pretty, sometimes used to mean princess), light, yes (said "yah", "yesh" or "yup"), no, chair, leaf, night night, bye, hello, hi, ouch, music (u-ish), TV, Minnie, sheep, doggy, puppy, bunny, read, book, more (sadly, she rarely does her cute little sign for more anymore), baby, doll, walk, stroller, door, garage (having an attached garage with a remote operated door has made quite an impression on both of the girls!), thank you, please (sometimes said without prompting, sometimes not said even when we plead), kiss, out, off, down, home, iPad, ball, bubble, peepee, poopy, all done, cheese, e-i-e-i (which is her code for a certain praise song she likes on a CD), happy (code for "I've Got the Joy Joy Joy Joy" or just to tell us she's happy), want (said "Wanney" as in "I wanney choc"), duck, quacky, horsey, toe, blue, pink, orange, purple, mess, dance, me, my, mine, Avvie, book, teeth, brush, piano, tights, clean up...Okay, this list is getting ridiculous. I started his post weeks ago and every day she adds several words and speaks more frequently in short sentences so I'm going to stop listing. Suffice it to say, she's talking and in sentences!
Obsession
Avonlea's biggest obsession right now is Minnie. It's actually Mickey, too, but for some reason she only ever says Minnie. She loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and goes crazy anytime she sees any Mickey or Minnie (or Disney logo or anything that even resembles the Mickey ears). Disney is pretty ubiquitous so you never when she'll point and start screaming "MINNIE!" She has a few key things that she likes to sleep with and one is a Minnie. For a long time it was a small Minnie that we got her in Disney World (which oddly was before her obsession and doesn't seem to have even been the impetus). Now she's smitten with a Minnie that is dressed like a princess (she calls it "my pretty Minnie") that Donna got Maddie when we were at Disneyland last year. One of the only things that will prompt our happy and agreeable girl to have a tantrum is if we tell her she can't watch Minnie on TV. Oh the tears!
Sleep
Avonlea is still a great sleeper. She takes an afternoon nap for 2-3 hours and often when I say its nap time she will gather her lovies (pig pillow pet (po-po), giraffe stuffed blanket, Minnie and currently a little white cat (meow-meow) and an Elmo book) and walk over to her crib. She loves to get cozy with her quilt tucked around her, lovies surrounding her and book in hand. If I forget something, she will call for it until I bring it, and then she will happily take it from me and go to sleep. If that happened with Maddie at that age, she would not settle back down that easily. The other night I had to go in Avvie's room a couple times to look for my phone and each time she quietly watched me and said "Night night" when I left and didn't make another peep despite the disturbance. Speaking of night, she goes down nicely at bedtime as well. She usually goes to sleep about 8, maybe a tad before, and gets up about 7:30. She wakes up and says "Mommy, mommy, mommy" calmly until I get her, although occasionally she'll say "Minnie" instead...sometimes she wakes in the middle of the night and calls out for Minnie! (Since I wrote this post, her obsession with her "white Charlie" as she calls her stuffed cat has grown and is with her for sleeping and at almost all other times. Also, she has begun to request some nights "Rock, Mommy" meaning she wants me to rock her before putting her to sleep which I happily do!)
Food
Avonlea is still a great eater! She is exhibiting a bit of pickiness about a few things and unfortunately I think a lot of this is prompted by seeing Maddie refuse certain things. However, she still tries a variety of foods and eats a lot. A current favorite is broccoli which she requests specifically. She is learning to drink out of a little glass and while we won't be dropping the sippy cup anytime soon, if we're eating a meal we are defaulting to giving her a regular cup more and more.
Sense of Humor
Avonlea is funny! She makes little jokes (as much as a 21 month old can). If I ask if she has poopy in her diaper (knowing full well she does) she will often say no and giggle. She'll keep saying no until I'm about to take her diaper off at which point she'll shriek and giggle "YES!" b/c she knows I'll see. (Of course, the smell gave her away, but I guess I'll give her a pass for not understanding that yet.) She has a funny throaty laugh that always makes me and Maddie giggle. She and Andy have fun chasing each other around.
Best Friends
Avvie and Maddie are truly best friends. When we drop Maddie off at school they often embrace and Avvie will sometimes cry. If she doesn't cry, she'll keep repeating Maddie's name and "Bye Maddie" until we've driven away. When we pick up Maddie she shrieks and tries to run into the classroom when she spots her. Maddie's teacher and other parents have commented on how joyful Avvie is to see her sister. (Maddie on the other hand is already old enough to be a bit embarrassed by the display.) They play together so nicely. Puzzles, dress up, "reading" to each other, taking care of baby dolls--they truly enjoy each other's company. Maddie is very protective of Avonlea. For instance, at the library there is an automatic door and it makes Maddie nervous. If she sees Avonlea heading for it, she will grab her to stop her. (Other times we've actually seen her wrestle Avvie to the ground when she felt Avvie was heading towards danger.) This is not to say they don't fight. We've already had some knock out, drag down fights over toys, but they generally work it out.
The Stats
Finally, here are Avonlea's stats from her last two doctor appointments (I don't think I ever posted them and since this is her baby book, I can't stop myself!):
At her 15 month appointment in the beginning of June she weighed 23 lbs 12 oz (75th percentile), was 31 1/2 inches (90th percentile) and her head circumference was 18 1/2 inches (80th percentile).
At her 18 month appointment at the end of September (which makes it closer to her 19 month appointment) she weighed 25 lbs 4 oz (50-75th percentile), was 32 inches (50th percentile) and her head circumference was 18 1/2 inches (50-75th percentile). I'm not sure if she's moving more towards being an average height and weight (remember these days or these?) or if that just reflects different charts used by our new pediatrician. Either way, she's clearly growing!

And here are some pictures of our sweet girl. She bring much happiness to our family. Andy, Maddie and I are all often giving her kisses, telling her how cute she is and laughing at her antics. Avonlea is a perfect combination of sweetness and spunkiness!

Yogurt

2011-12-06T20:12:00.000-05:00

Madeleine and Avonlea are big fans of yogurt, particularly vanilla flavored yogurt. I go back and forth as to whether I should get it because I'm never sure which brands actually have substantial nutritional value and which are just sugary dairy (or even worse, aspartame-filled dairy). Does anyone have any suggestions for brands that don't have artificial sweeteners, not too much sugar and have all the probiotics that make yogurt a worthwhile food? (As someone who cannot stand yogurt except in certain savory Greek and Indian dishes, I don't have a lot of experience.)

But, back to the reason for this post. Madeleine and Avonlea are big fans and here is an example of what Avonlea looks like when allowed her own serving.

See, Avvie is suspicious about the contents, too.

No thanks little girl!

Donuts and Memories

2011-12-04T20:40:00.001-05:00

Madeleine and my dad have started a new tradition which involves them going to Muellers to get donuts and crumb cake on the Sunday mornings before church when my dad isn't playing the music at church (and therefore doesn't need to get there early for practice). Avonlea was pretty sad to miss the trip last time so my dad kindly took both of them this morning. The girls were so excited when he pulled up (and Andy and I were so excited when they pulled away because it meant time for us to get ready for church without having to keep an eye on them). They all looked so cute together that I couldn't resist snapping a couple pictures. Thank you Dad for not only a childhood full of great memories for me, but making them with my kids, too!

Waiting for PopPop

PopPop and his second generation of girls :)

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-03T20:45:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures of our Christmas trees. It feels pretty posh having two trees! A bit of a splurge for thrifty me, but we are enjoying it immensely. The big tree (our Charlie Brown tree because the branches are a bit spaced which is the look I was going for--more room for ornaments) has all of our fragile ornaments as well as some others. The short and plump tree is our Swedish tree with all of the straw and Swedish ornaments. The girls keep taking the ornaments off which is okay with the short tree b/c those are pretty sturdy, but we've had some casualties from the other tree so I've had to get firm about hands off.

Maddie was running because she heard Andy come in after work. I loved the profile it created against the tree.

Some ornaments:

And here's a picture so you can see some more of the living room. One of these days I'll get around to the house tour.

And here's the Swedish tree and a view of the den, we'll part of if anyway. Just keeping in real with the toys and pillows all over the floor.

PS I turned 32 yesterday! I feel like I'm supposed to say how old that seems, but really it doesn't. It was a pretty laid back birthday. I got to Christmas shop while my mom watched the girls. In the evening Andy and I took them to the candy cane hunt in Manasquan which was CRAZY! Thousands of people and kids racing around Main Street. I really appreciate the hard work of the chamber of commerce, volunteers and generosity of the stores, but I don't know if we'll be doing that again or at least not until the girls are older. Maddie got knocked over, the crowds were crazy (and at times pushy) and I actually saw people being bused in to participate. After the insanity we picked up dinner (pizza for Andy and the girls and spaghetti carbonara because I really wanted a birthday calorie splurge). I was thrilled to get a new lens and reflector from Andy and the girls. But most of all I am thrilled to have the privilege of starting a new year of loving Andy, my family and friends, mothering my sweet girls, and serving my Savior.

Cookie Monsters

2011-12-01T20:35:00.000-05:00

Maddie recently requested that we make chocolate cookies. Even though it wasn't on my to do list, I'm trying to work on seizing the moment and saying yes to the girls when I can (because there are plenty of things they want to do that I have to say no to!) so we got to work baking. Of course I let them have them fresh out of the oven because that's pretty much the whole point of making them (besides licking the cookie dough off the spoon which I won't admit to letting Maddie do on the blog).

You better believe there's milk in that cup. Milk + cookies = happiness

Nonna's Autumnal Visit

2011-11-30T21:22:00.000-05:00

Recently Donna came out for a quick visit. It was her first time to our new house and the girls enjoyed showing her around the neighborhood. It wasn't a long visit, but we managed to squeeze in a lot of fun!

Sometimes Maddie is a total ham for the camera and other times she just wants me to put it away. Even though this is an anti-camera face, I love it!

Twins!

Seriously, these two are like twins!

Maddie often wants to drink out of a "glass like Mommy." If it gets her drinking water instead of always wanting milk or juice, I'm okay with the occasional wine glass!

Leaf cleanup in our yard

We're looking forward to seeing you for Christmas, Nonna!

Sampling Shutterfly Cards When I Should Be Folding Laundry

2011-11-28T22:03:00.001-05:00

Snowy Window Christmas Card

Make a statement with personalized Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Hello Christmas Season

2011-11-26T21:27:00.000-05:00

The day after Thanksgiving we dove into Christmas activities. We actually dove into Christmas activities last week when we hosted the Advent Pizza Party for the kids at church, but I won't post any pictures since I don't want to put all the parents on the spot about whether they're cool with having their kids pictures on the web. I do think everyone would be fine with me saying that fun was had by all and hopefully we're all a little more excited about preparing our hearts to celebrate Christ's birth. But, back to yesterday and our Christmasy festivities. We headed to the Christmas tree farm of a friend which was lovely and made even lovelier by the mild and bright weather. We ended up getting two trees, a full and squat one for our den and a tall and Charlie Brown-esque one for our living room. Photos of decorated trees to come in a future post.

This sunset picture is the view from our kitchen. A couple blocks in that direction is the river so one of these days I really need to set aside my usual dinner preparation tasks and head down to the river to take some pictures. That particular evening I didn't have any dinner preparation to do because my aunt, uncle and cousins were bringing over pizza. After a fun dinner we all headed over to another aunt, uncle and cousins' home to see their annual light show. My cousin Ben creates the show every year complete with lights, music and a radio station. Afterwards they have us all in for drinks and dessert. It's a fun family tradition that has developed over the last few years. (Here are some other years that we went-2010 and 2009.)

Avonlea was saying "CHEESE"! I love that face! (And I love when I get a picture with my girls since I'm usually taking the pictures.)

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T22:15:00.000-05:00

We're only a day past Thanksgiving and between Christmas tree picking, a cousin having his annual house lighting and the relentless Black Friday advertising it feels like old news. I love the Christmas season (both the secular and religious seasons which are pretty separate in my mind, but are both celebrated by our family), but it's too bad that Thanksgiving gets short shrift. While it's not exactly a religious holiday, it's one of the less commercialized holidays so it sort of has a reverence about it and ability to cause reflection that is sadly being obscured in other holidays.

We kicked off our Thanksgiving with a service at our church on Wednesday night. Andy was still at work so the girls and I met my parents. As always, Craig gave a great sermon and I was challenged to think about giving thanks and being joyful at all times. He read from Philippians 1:3-6 and reminded us that while Paul was praising God and giving thanks he was chained to a Roman guard. I wish I could link to the sermon, but I don't think it was recorded.

Poor Andy came home for only about 10 minutes and then had to turn around to head back to the hospital and didn't come back until the morning. I wish he could have been home, but I felt worse for the kids who were unfortunate enough to be in the PICU. My dad came by in the morning to get the girls and they all went to visit my grandmother. They also made a stop at Dunkin Donuts, the beach and my parents house. That gave me some time to clean up and shower which was nice.

We headed up to my Aunt Karen and Uncle Franco's house in the early afternoon. It was a lovely and relaxing afternoon. I really missed my sisters (and nephew and brothers-in-law) but they were all with their in-laws. However, I got to spend time with my cousins who in many ways feel like siblings to me and my cousin Jonathan's in-laws were there as well which was nice. Maddie had so much fun with Becky and keeps asking when she'll come spend time at our house. (I think she felt a bond to her when I explained that her job is "doing projects" every day because as some of you know, Maddie's favorite thing to do is undertake projects, crafts, etc.)

I tried again for a Christmas card picture and still didn't get one. I think they look a little zombie-like in the one where they are both looking at the camera.

I really need to work on white balance. I'm usually pretty lazy and leave it on auto white balance, but as you can see the camera doesn't always do such a great job since the shots above are too cool and the ones below are too warm. I used my external flash a couple times and it's definitely better than the built in but makes me wonder if the next Speedlight up from mine would be even better...not quite in the budget, but something to research.

Maddie loves to do puzzles.

Andy was still catching up on sleep after we ate. (For the record, the meal was delicious.)

Avonlea enjoyed Jonathan's game with her kitty cat.

There was a large puzzle (maybe 1000 pieces) that kept luring people into the sunroom. I think everyone sat down to work on it at some point.

Becky was so patient with the girls!

More puzzlers

The turkey was my contribution. It was rice krispie treats covered with chocolate icing and yellow sugar. Maddie had a great time helping me make it, but to be honest it was more the novelty of it that was great than the actual taste. I'm not a big fan of most chocolate icings. I held it on my lap during the ride up and after smelling it for an hour I couldn't bear the thought of eating it. Later in the evening I did pick on the rice krispie treat center a bit.

The Lees brought an assortment of Korean desserts that were fun to sample.

Even more puzzlers

Playing Set

Making espresso

Maddie was dying to help with the big puzzle, but I knew she'd just get frustrated and possibly lose the tiny pieces. It did inspire me to get her some more puzzles for Christmas. Obviously she's not ready for the 1000 piece puzzles, but since she can race through her current puzzles which go up to about 48 pieces it's probably time for a more advanced one.

So that's our Thanksgiving. I hope we can keep a spirit of Thanksgiving in our hearts as we look to celebrating the birth of Christ because I can't think of a better thing for which to be thankful!

Thanksgiving Feast

2011-11-23T22:31:00.000-05:00

Maddie had her Thanksgiving Feast at school this week. She was so excited for it, counting down the days. The teacher said it was okay to come in a couple minutes before the end so we could see the kids and snap a couple pictures. I wanted to take pictures and see her, but was a little nervous she would be upset if I came. The thing with Maddie is that if her routine or expectations are thrown off (even by a "good thing"), she can get really anxious. For instance, a couple weeks ago the opening exercises of Sunday School were in a different room which made her anxious and she was too nervous to go sing with her friends and cried when I dropped her off at her class. When I peeked in at the feast I could see her smiling away, but sure enough when I came in and she saw me, she got a little anxious (because while I'm generally her favorite person, she didn't expect to see me). I heard her tell one of the helpers, that's my mommy, and she seemed to be torn about whether she should stay at the table, or run to me and then she just looked sad. The good thing was that she did stay at the table, didn't cry and happily lined to go back to the classroom when called to do so which means we have progress! I feel like not that long ago she would have been so thrown off that she would have insisted I come next to her or her to me. Enough about that, I just like to document things like that because when I look back it reminds me how much she has grown and matured! She had lots to tell me about the feast later and it was clear she enjoyed it as well as the accessories they made.

Andy and I are trying to not be insulted that when asked what they are thankful for, almost everyone else said Mommy and Daddy and Maddie said pasta. I can't say that I blame her.

First in line!

Maddie was especially proud of this coffee can drum.

The girls were in silly moods after the feast. I'm so thankful for them (and pasta)!

My Sweet Baby

2011-11-22T20:21:00.000-05:00

Recently Avonlea had a 24 hour bug. She threw up a couple times and ran a fever. She was the sweetest sick baby. So pitiful and drowsy. She kept falling asleep everywhere. When she fell asleep in the car and I tried to take her out she woke up just enough to say "No, no" and waved me off. (I felt bad, but had to take her out. But she fell back asleep inside.) Of course it was a day that Maddie had preschool so I had to keep waking her up for drop off, pick up and each time she fell asleep in the car. Fortunately she's pretty laid back and went along with it all. She even took her Tylenol with minimal fuss.

Post bath (to clean off after throwing up), wrapped up in towel with sippy cup

Trying to fall asleep standing up

Passed out

After picking up Maddie she got cozy on the couch with a snack and blanket.

As her fever rose, she shed clothes and eventually her blanket. Eventually the Tylenol did the trick.

Another Day, Another Failed Christmas Card Photo Shoot

2011-11-20T20:17:00.000-05:00

The dress Avonlea is wearing was mine as a child.

The best of the lot, but I still don't think it's going to make the cut (although it may since I'm running out of time!)

Snacktime

2011-11-20T13:08:00.000-05:00

Our girls love hummus (or "hummish" as Avonlea starts chanting the minute she sees the chickpeas and food processor come out). It's a bit harder to get healthy food into Maddie than it was when she was younger so I'm happy to oblige with an afternoon hummus snack whenever they ask.

Autumn at the Park

2011-11-19T21:23:00.001-05:00

Attempting to plank

Chowing down on candy corn (I'd hoped we would get a Christmas card picture, but before the candy corn they were uncooperative and after they candy corn they looked like they were chewing a mouthful of tobacco--lots of big chewing and extra spit, not exactly what you want to feature in a card)

I love the next few pictures. The sun flare, the happy running...

CHEESE!

What We Do While Avvie Naps

2011-11-17T22:19:00.000-05:00

12 Hours

2011-11-15T20:56:00.000-05:00

Bedtime usually means bath, music and dancing, a couple books, prayers and snuggling. Generally the routine starts a little after 7 and we've finished tucking in and "one more glass of water please" by 8. (When I originally posted this I accidentally wrote we have them in bed by 9. I was off by an hour, we actually finish up by 8. Thank goodness b/c I treasure our bedtime routine, but 2 hours would be a bit excessive.)

Andy is apparently a fan of 5 Little Monkeys.

There are always bows, barrettes, elastics and other little girl accessories littering the vanity no matter how hard I try to keep up with putting them away.

I would rather she be clutching a more classic childhood book, but heck, she often likes to fall asleep reading (not actually reading) which is a virtue in my book.

The girls usually get up between 7 and 8. (Maddie actually gets up and crawls into bed with me around 5:30 when Andy first gets up, but she'll go back to sleep. She loves to cuddle and sometimes will lay completely on top of me in an attempt to snuggle. I love that she wants to be with me, but that is not comfy for me so I usually can roll her off, still asleep.)

These pictures are from a few days before Halloween and those are pumpkin pancakes. They were a big hit!

I love the sequence of Avonlea eating. This girl relishes her food.

(And what breakfast is complete without a pink light saber flashing on the kitchen table.)

The Rest of My Visit with Kim

2011-11-13T15:38:00.000-05:00

I'm going to start by saying you should definitely visit Kim's post for better pictures. Now here are some of my pictures from the weekend. (For the first part of the weekend, here's my earlier post.)

Kim is unbelievably patient with kids. Candyland makes me want to pull my hair out, but Kim kindly played with Madeleine and didn't even snap at her when she changed the rules (that makes me crazy!)

We took a walk and stopped at the park. The girls insisted on wearing costumes and I relented since there's such a short time of life when you can get away with a tutu at the park.

Swinging!

Avonlea kept finding candy corns she dropped. It was reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel but with a tastier food trail (and she ate her own trail).

Kim and I spent some time walking along the beach. It was one part therapy session for me and one part photography session. Kim is a great listener and always has such Godly and encouraging advice.

That evening we tried Firefly Bistro. It was great! Jessie joined us and I wish Beth had been in town to come out, too. Kim is such a dear friend to me and I can't wait for the next time we get together. Hopefully Andy and I will get a Virginia trip on the calendar sometime soon.

West Coast Friends

2011-11-12T20:26:00.000-05:00

I'm still going to go back and finish blogging my visit with Kim and the rest of our autumn activities, but while I sort through those pictures, here are a few from a visit with friends this week. Heather, David and Claire were on the East Coast for a wedding (they're Californians) and drove many hours to have a quick visit with us. We so appreciate it and it was a great time! Heather and I went to law school together and had a special bond for many reasons, not the least of which was during the first day of classes our eyes met and we realized we had already met when interviewing for a scholarship at Pepperdine Law School during our senior year of college. (And for the record, we both got it and obviously both turned it down...we had a good laugh about the fact that we said no to full rides in exchange for a rather expensive education, not that we regret it!) We both were feeling lonely and overwhelmed (well, I was) and it was such a relief to see her. When I told my mom that we had connected she cried because she was so happy since she knew I was on the verge of a breakdown. We had an intense law school experience together which included all the normal academic rigors, attending Tenth Pres together, helping to reinvigorate Christian Legal Society at Penn and last, but definitely not least, helping each other to plan weddings (I married Andy after our second year and she married David after our third year). It was the first time I met her sweet little girl, Claire, and the first time she met Avonlea. Claire was smart as a whip and so pretty with the most beautiful blue eyes. We're hoping to see them on the East Coast again or maybe even make a trip out to their neck of the woods.

I wanted to get a picture of the three of them together, but the rocks were too much of a distraction.

Another failed attempt at taking a picture of all three of them...Avonlea had already dived off the couch before I could snap. (Heather has a nice camera and takes lovely pictures so hopefully she managed to get a couple better pictures I can swipe!)

It felt a bit miraculous that we were able to get a picture of all the girls together with everyone looking in the general direction of the camera!

Maddie's Room

2011-11-08T22:57:00.001-05:00

I have lots of pictures from the past month (including the rest of my visit with Kim, but until I have time to finish that post you can see her post here). But, right now I only have a couple minutes because I'm about to nod off. So, I thought I'd share a few pictures of Maddie's room that I took this morning. I guess the house tour will come in fits and starts.

Since we moved in, all that I have done in Maddie's room is painting some test colors on her wall. But, we're gearing up to get it done and I think it'll be a perfect little girl room. Last weekend I painted my old headboard from childhood white and we bought her a mattress. We made the bed up in her room with a quilt that used to be Aunt Jessie's and moved out her little toddler bed. It definitely has me motivated to paint a couple other little pieces, make a trip to Ikea for a larger dress and get the walls and molding painted (pale pink and white respectively). I bought a couple little accessories for the room at Home Goods and I think Maddie will be really excited when I pull them out as finishing touches. We want to change the carpet out as well to something more neutral, but that will probably have to wait until spring when we've had time to budget and save for changing out the carpet in all the bedrooms and the loft in the master bedroom (am I whetting your appetite to see pictures of other rooms, too?)

The girls were having a tea party picnic with stuffed animals while I took these pictures. Poor Maddie would set up everything just so and then Avonlea would mess it up.

Anyone have a brand of slipcover they've really liked? The chair under that blanket was my MorMor and Papa's (so it is many decades old) and I just love the shape and find that it's a good solid chair. The upholstery has held up well, but it's dated and worn. I'd love to have it recovered, but I just don't think it's in the budget right now (especially since I suspect that I could get a new chair for not much more than the reupholstering would cost). So I'm on the search for a slipcover that stays put and is washable.

I'm brainstorming affordable window treatments...I have some long white panels with eyelet that might do the trick, but I think some sort of valance also would help tie it together.

I love the big closets in the bedrooms. We plan to paint the doors white as well as the molding.

If you couldn't make it out in the earlier pictures, those are horses that make up the border. While it's not the right room for Maddie (who likes, but has no great love, for horses), it's clear that this room was decorated with much love! The girl who lived here before rode horses and had carried the theme throughout.

Special Lunch

2011-11-04T22:23:00.001-04:00

My Aunt Rosemarie recently had the girls and me over for a lunch with her girls and Grandma. She made it so special with delicious sandwiches, fun desserts, treats for the girls and most special of all lots of toys from her kids' childhood that she pulled out for my girls to play with. Laura and Jill had only about a day at home during a short reading break so we were flattered that they spent the afternoon with us and playing with Maddie and Avvie. The girls had a great time and I am so happy to see them getting to know more and more family. Since we moved here they have had special visits with each of my aunts (their great-aunts!) that they probably wouldn't have had if we didn't have the luxury of living so close to them (and even though we're still almost an hour from my Aunt Karen, we're closer than before and have had more visits to see her, too.)

Maddie and Avvie got a little less cooperative with each picture!

I'm hard at work on a post about Avonlea's milestones so hopefully I'll get it done this weekend. We have lots of stuff around the house to work on so we'll see where it can get squeezed in. And for those of you who have asked to see the house, I'm sorry I haven't posted pictures! It's not intentional at all, it's just that I've had a back log of pictures from before we moved and then we were so busy the first couple weeks of unpacking that I barely took any pictures. I should start having more pictures from our new house up soon, even if I don't get to put up a full picture tour. And I do have an online album from when we did the house inspection. I don't want to post the link here since I want to be respectful of the previous owners (their stuff was still in the house during the inspection) and post it on the web, but if I know you in real life, I'd be happy to send you the link privately. Just drop me an email or leave a comment if you're interested.

Halloween

2011-10-31T21:28:00.000-04:00

After what felt like the longest lead up to Halloween ever, it finally was the actual day. We started out by watching the Today Show since Beth, Nate, my mom and Aunt Mariane went into the city for the costume contest. They didn't win, nor did they get nearly enough screen time given how adorable Nate looked, but it was exciting to see them a few times on TV. We dropped Maddie off at school which was low key since they celebrated last week. Avonlea and I raced around the grocery store to buy some things for dinner and then we spent the afternoon relaxing. Unfortunately the week or so of celebrating seemed to catch up with Maddie right before Beth, Nate, my grandma and my mom came over and she had a monumental tantrum. After being threatened with not going trick or treating, she pulled it together (for the most part) and off we headed. In our neighborhood there is a pretty big association (we just paid our first dues!) that has lots of events, one of which is the Halloween parade. We all met up and there was a firetruck waiting to lead all of us (hundreds! parents, children, grandparents, dogs, etc.) to the neighborhood park. The truck stopped at the park and someone atop the truck began throwing bucketfuls of candy to the kids. It was quite the kickoff to trick or treating! Then we all began the business of visiting homes for candy. Maddie started out in a rather bratty mood (residual tantrum moodiness, I guess), but pulled it together and was polite to the people handing out candy and enjoyed herself. I love our neighborhood because there are not only oodles of kids, but also people of different ages, all different types of homes and it has such a tight feeling of community.
We finally convinced the kids it was time to stop and get dinner and we headed back to the house where my mom and grandma were handing out candy and heating up the soup and other things I'd made earlier. Jessie and Tim were over and my dad came over after work. It was such a cozy and fun evening (and actually rather impromptu, we just kept adding people and food!). I don't like to sugarcoat too much on here because I know impossibly perfect blogs make me feel badly, so it sure would have been nice if Maddie hadn't started off with all the nonsense. That said, I'm glad she was able to reign it in which is something she can't always do so I'll take any progress! I feel so grateful for our home, neighborhood and most of all family that we got to make such special memories with today.

Avonlea has a crazy obsession with Minnie and is cycling through various Minnie things she likes to carry around. Currently Princess Minnie (or "pretty Minnie" as she calls her) has to go everywhere with us.

Poor Edward was working hard while we all had fun. (And poor Beth had been up since just after 4am and had been carrying around Nate a lot of the day all while 20 some odd weeks pregnant.)

The kids agonized over which candy to pick (Nate in particular!) and would take a piece, then rethink it and put it back in exchange for another and then think some more...this may have been calculated since in some instances people offered them an extra piece of candy as a solution to the indecision.

The costume I was wearing was my cousin Becky's from middle school. My Aunt Karen made it, Beth made the one Avonlea is wearing and I made Maddie's. I offered to make Andy a costume, but he declined my offer.

One house was done in a particularly creepy manner. This "person" had glowing eyes and sort of crawled along the sidewalk. I don't like the emphasis on death and evil spirits on Halloween, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a kick out of the kitschy scary stuff. My girls on the other hand did not care for it. The series of pictures shows their terror and lest you think I just sat laughing and taking pictures, Andy was right there offering to carry them and all of the pictures were taken with a rapid shutter and only took a couple seconds. They ultimately let us carry them over to the porch (and candy!) and oddly enough it became a teachable moment with Maddie when she brought it up later. ("Mommy, that was scary. I don't like scary things! What should I do when I'm scared?" We told her that we would keep her safe, but that when she is scared she should always pray to Jesus for his protection and comfort and that genuinely seemed to comfort her. I remember when I was young my mom telling me something similar and that moment has stuck with me for all these decades. And many times I have prayed that prayer!)

Avonlea initially was nervous, but not enough to stop stuffing candy in her mouth.

And here they are happily trick or treating at the next house. Quick recovery!

Hugs for MorMor! Food and playing by the fire revived everyone (or maybe it was just all the sugar).

Avvie was so excited about the candy that whenever we turned our back she would start eating it, wrapper and all. She is a huge chocolate fan and will proclaim "CHOC! CHOC! EAT CHOC!" when she hears any mention of chocolate. (I think she gets it from me since I have uttered similar sentiments.) She consumed a Kiss, including most of the foil, and managed to dig into a Hersey bar by tearing the plastic wrapper with her teeth. (She ate other candy, too, but we opened it for her to spare her teeth and digestive tract.) At the end of the night I found this Tootsie Roll. I am curious what the diaper situation will be the next few days...

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-30T23:00:00.000-04:00

This weekend was not exactly what we planned for many reasons, including a nor'easter and snow that prevented friends from visiting from NYC. We had planned on pumpkin carving with them and figured we might as well proceed since we certainly weren't going to venture out in the nasty weather to do anything else. The girls enjoyed it, particularly scooping out the innards. It didn't actually take all that long since they are too young to carve and even though we let Maddie draw her own jack o' lantern face that didn't take long since she went totally basic. I cooked up the pumpkin seeds which surprisingly Maddie enjoyed (or not so surprisingly since they were salted rather heavily).

Here are some pumpkin pictures. I still haven't snapped a pic of the glowing pumpkins, perhaps I'll try and do that tomorrow night when they're on the front porch. For now they are safely ensconced in our kitchen since there are roving groups of tweens tossing TP around. Hopefully they won't get destructive and smash pumpkins, but I don't feel like testing them.

A few days ago I invited my mom to join the girls and me for lunch at McDonalds and then a visit to a local farm to take pictures in the pumpkin patch. While we all had fun together, the patch was a big disappointment--mostly some rotting pumpkins. But, the girls had fun so even though I didn't get any great picture opportunities, it was a nice afternoon. The other night we also visited a Halloween event at the local first aid and the girls were thrilled to ride in an ambulance. Saturday morning (during pouring rain but before hail, sleet and snow) we went to a Halloween/fall themed birthday party for one of Maddie's classmates and over the last few days it's been a treat extravaganza so it's hard to believe Halloween hasn't even happened yet. I think we'll all be detoxing from sugar after tomorrow night (and after a month of a sore hip that has kept me from exercising I think I'll need to power through the pain and do it because oh my have I had a lot of candy and calories!)

This picture makes it look like there were a lot more lovely pumpkins than there actually were. If the background was clearer, you'd see those were mostly broken or rotting pumpkins...

I originally started off making ghost cupcakes (mounds of icing on top with faces) but the type of icing I used doesn't hold up to humidity and rainy weather well and they were just kinda sliding down and off the cupcakes so I experimented with some other more 2-D designs.

Okay, off to bed since it's a full day tomorrow. If you watch the Today Show, look for Beth and Prince Charming! Hopefully Matt and Anne will see what we see--that he's the cutest kid with the cutest costume--and award him top costume honors!

PS Happy Reformation Sunday! Good sermon at church, fascinating movie on Martin Luther and inspiration for Andy and I to spend more time learning about Luther and his teachings. I'm so grateful that God used Luther to point the church back to Him in areas where it had strayed. We were both overwhelmed by some points of stress this weekend and I think all of that helped us refocus a bit.

Catching Up

2011-10-27T21:55:00.000-04:00

Just some random pictures from the end of September. We have a busy weekend leading into what should be a fun Halloween so I'm sure I'm going to have a busy week of blogging ahead of me.

The Pre-Party

2011-10-26T21:06:00.001-04:00

A lot of our Halloween activities are scheduled before the actual day this year. In fact, today was extremely busy from start to finish with Halloween events. I dropped Maddie off at school today wearing part of her costume with the rest tucked away for her to don later in the morning before the school party. Avonlea and I raced over to gym where everyone was costumed. She wore her costume longer than I thought she would and even managed to do some tumbling in it.

After gym was over we went and picked up Grandma to come to Maddie's school "parade." Over at the school we met up with my mom and Nate. The parade was very cute--all the kids circling around the big room and then stopping to sing some songs. Avonlea still had her costume from gym and decided that she would look good up front and joined in with the big kids. I let her stand with Maddie for a bit rather than risk a tantrum if I pulled her away (because how can I explain to someone not quite 20 months old why she was in costume but not part of the festivities?!)

You may recognize Avonlea's costume from last year. Beth made it for Nate. (Wait until you see what she made for him this year. It's without a doubt the cutest Halloween costume I've ever seen-Nate is perfect for it!) I made Maddie a larger blue one which if you know me, was quite a feat. I did make her oompa loompa costume a couple years back, but that was minimal sewing and mostly involved fabric glue (and brown dye--what a pain in the butt). However, I did manage to load the bobbin and thread the needle and use my machine (passed down from a friend) to sew Maddie's costume (and I did use the glue gun for their hair ribbons). If you see them up close the craftsmanship on Beth's is far superior, but as long as mind holds up through Monday I'll consider it a success!

After school Grandma offered to take us all to Wendy's so we loaded up and invaded the Wendy's (where we ran into an old friend from high school who was there with his family celebrating after his son's preschool Halloween parade!)

They really chowed down at lunch. I think poor Grandma may have had indigestion due to her fear that one of the kids was going to fall off the bench or get us kicked out for being too noisy. The picture below was supposed to be a group shot, but I gave up and only captured the mayhem of trying to get three preschool-aged children who are loaded with sugar and french fries to look at the camera.

We dropped of Grandma and headed home to relax a bit (Avonlea actually ran to her room for her nap and Maddie conked out on the couch) before getting ready again for the costume contest for our town. Poor Andy was home from work for about 5 minutes before we had to head out again. I thought the kids would enjoy seeing the other costumed kids and despite some initial fear about a werewolf and ghost they did indeed enjoy it. None of us left with a trophy (which we expected, although Nate should have won!), but fortunately we're in that sweet spot where the kids were old enough to enjoy it but young enough to not care about the contest aspect. It was a long day, but a good day. Now we need to recover a bit before Halloween.

Avvie was crying because of the scary costume. But, before long she was saying "me-now, me-now" to the werewolf sitting next to her. It was a pretty scary mask, but somehow she thought it was a kitty cat, hence her approximation of "meow" which she says all day long to Charles Wallace.

Isn't he the perfect Prince Charming? And yes, Beth made his amazing costume.

Closing

2011-10-26T13:23:00.000-04:00

It's been quite a few months for us between selling our beloved home in Haddonfield, living with my parents for a few months and then buying a new home not far from them. (I'm happy to share our address with any friends who want to update our contact info. Just send me an email and I'll let you know. I just think it's prudent to be a little more vague on the blog.)

We were so grateful that our home in Haddonfield sold relatively quickly in this market and were excited to move since it was for great reasons--a wonderful job opportunity for Andy and a chance to be closer to family. However, we adored that little house (and neighborhood) and I sobbed when we finished packing it up. I still owe that sweet little house a post so I won't get too sappy here, but all that is to say, I was unconvinced we'd find another house we felt could match it in such a short time. When we saw this house Andy and I were both immediately envisioning our family here. But, we hadn't yet closed on our other house so we put it in the back of our minds. It was still on the market after we closed so after consulting with my parents, coming back and prayerfully considering it, we took the plunge. This was sometime in August and we ultimately closed in the beginning of October. The family we bought it from was very nice and obviously maintained this home with great care. It was a smooth process from start to finish and we couldn't be happier with our new house...make that, home! We only moved in a couple weeks ago but already feel settled and comfortable. God willing, I see us spending many happy years here!
At some point I will do a post giving a little tour of our new digs (oh, the space!), but for now, here are a few pictures from closing day. After the closing (which took about 10 minutes, compared with the two hours the closing for our Haddonfield house took!) we raced home to get the girls so we could bring them to the house. It was so thrilling for us all.

Rutgers Football Game

2011-10-25T21:22:00.000-04:00

Even though I have more blogging to do about our weekend with Kim, I'm going to take a slight detour and blog about our afternoon at a Rutgers football game. I realized that Kim has a picture from our dinner out that I don't have, so I thought I'd wait until she has a chance to sort through her pictures and send it. In the meantime I have plenty of other pictures and stories to post about, so no pressure Kim!

Maddie was more interested in the game this year than last year (another game here) and spent a fair amount of the game sitting outside with my parents and Andy. Avonlea, on the other hand, was skittish about all the noise and spent most of the game hanging out inside with me. That was fine by both of us given the comfortable seats and abundant food.

Sometimes it was a tad loud for Maddie, but she coped.

A fast and furious coloring break

The only time Avonlea wanted to come out was after a touchdown because the "'orsey" would come out. (Putting one of her words makes me realize how desperately behind I am on a milestone post for both girls. In sum, they are both doing well and Avonlea is talking up a storm. She's already combining words to make three words phrases and she marvels us all with her new words each day. But more on that soon!)

PumpKIM Patch

2011-10-24T22:08:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to decide if I've been too busy to blog much because we're still settling into our new home or if we've entered a new phase of life that has us on the go a lot more. In the evenings I seem to have a lot less time to go through pictures and draft posts because I'm busy sewing Halloween costumes, wrapping presents for birthday parties, ironing and laying out clothes for my little schoolgirl and sorting through yet to be unpacked boxes. (Lest it sound like all I do is run the lives of a toddler and little girl, I also have been excited to dig into some new bible studies at our new church, something that I sorely missed the last couple years. And on a completely different note, Andy and I have also been spending time working our way through Arrested Development and jumping back into Lost to finish it.)
But, I love when I can go back and read old posts so I want to keep up with the blog. Would you like to hear about some of the posts I need to cram in this week before the Halloween picture rush? There is a end of summer post with miscellaneous pictures from the end of September, a Rutgers football game, pictures from the day we closed on our house and a little picture tour, a luncheon with my Aunt Rosemarie, a visit from Kim and various fall themed pictures. (And one of these days I'll blog about selling our house in Haddonfield and how excited we are to have Andy settled into a new job post-fellowship and to be living closer to family.)
I'm going to blog out of order and start with Kim's visit. She was here this weekend and was, in fact, our first overnight guest. We had hoped to have a little getaway together this fall, but when we started talking about it I had no idea we'd already be moving into a new house. Since I was a bit too overwhelmed to leave town, she graciously agreed to visit us instead. As always, it was a wonderful time! We've sort of fallen into a pattern for when we visit each other--eat out somewhere fun, cook a new (or newish) recipe, long walks, long talks, and staying up visiting until we nod off on couches. The girls adore Kim and she's so lovely to them so it's just as much a treat for them as it is for me.
I wanted to do lots of autumnal activities, including pumpkin and apple picking. Unfortunately when we showed up at the orchard they weren't picking apples even though the website said they still were. (And they opened up an hour later than the website stated so we had to kill some time in the parking lot.) They did have pumpkins, but rather than being in a patch they appear to have been taken from a distant patch and left in a dusty lot. Hmmm, not exactly the experience I was envisioning, but the girls still enjoyed it and we got a few pumpkins. And since I got to spend time with Andy, our girls and Kim, I still consider it a success! (But I still think they should update that website better...)

I have lots of other pictures from Kim's visit, but I'll save them for another post. (Plus, I'm bound to have more pictures from this outing once I swipe some of Kim's!)

Duplo-icity

2011-10-15T22:01:00.000-04:00

Nate was quite the builder of towers this summer. Maddie got in on the act, too, but he was definitely the architect of the group.

He was pretty proud of some of his creations. Jumping, shouting, celebrating his wobbly tower.

But there was one little person who was not so much into building towers as she was into knocking them down. She came over, acting like she just wanted to admire the tower, but she had other plans.

I think now that we are settled into our own homes Nate is probably pretty happy to be building his towers without Avonlea swatting them over!

The horror of a destroyed Duplo tower!

A B-24 and Book Recommendation

2011-10-11T20:45:00.000-04:00

In September we heard that some World War II planes were coming to the local airport on a tour of sorts. A year ago if someone had mentioned to me, Beth and my mom that a B-24 would be on display, I don't think we would have given it a second thought. In fact, I know we wouldn't have. However, several months ago Beth read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and recommended it strongly/forced it upon my mom and me. It was an amazing story of redemption (in more ways than one) and a B-24 featured prominently in it. (Featured even more prominently was Louie Zamperini whose life is the stuff movies are made of...and in fact there is a movie being made. Unfortunately we've heard rumors that an actor I consider less than stellar is in talks to play him.) My dad, Edward and Andy came along, as did the kids, and we all enjoyed seeing a bit of history.

Can you imagine sitting there, alone in the back of the plane while you stared down another pilot chasing you and tried to shoot it down? Or can you imagine getting close enough in another plane to see someone concentrating as he aimed those barrels at you? I get a funny feeling down my spine just thinking about it.

Seeing the inside of the planes was not for the feeble. Actually, though, there were many WWII veterans there who were rather old and were sporting canes or scars from what I imagine were replaced knees, yet many managed to navigate the planes. You had to climb up a ladder into a small opening and then walk across what was basically a narrow catwalk. I was surprised Maddie did it and didn't chicken out.

I thought about bringing Avonlea in the first plane with us but thank goodness I didn't! I never would have been able to safely carry her through, or at least not without a lot of stress and distraction from actually seeing the plane. My dad kindly skipped coming in and walked around with her.

Unfortunately the plane and not us is in focus, but I still love having a few pictures of me with my Avvie-girl who was in a hugging and kissing mood.

Do you see me?

How about now?

This is inside the second plane, a B-17.

There's PopPop, now watching both girls since Maddie wasn't up for another plane walk through.

Eeek!

In case you're wondering where the pictures of Beth, Nate and Edward are, they went a little earlier than us so Beth had already seen one plane and was in line for the second by the time we got there. Maybe if she ever starts blogging again (hint, hint) she'll share some of her pictures.

Blogging from a New (House) Address

2011-10-10T21:03:00.000-04:00

Okay, okay. I am still behind on posting. But I have an excuse...in the last week we closed on our new house and moved in! So blogging took a backseat to unpacking, locating favorite toys and necessary clothing items in boxes, acclimating two little girls to a new home and keeping up with our daily schedule. I haven't even done my nostalgic post saying goodbye to our house in Wellington Avenue in Haddonfield so now I'm feeling even more behind. Rather than talk about that, let's get to the pictures!
Donna came for a visit in September. The girls were thrilled to see her after spending the last month talking about their time with her in England. (Maddie did most of the talking with Avonlea interjecting a lot of "Nonna! Nonna!") We had lots of fun and hit up some of our favorite summer activities including the sprayground, boardwalk and Atlantic Farm to visit the animals. It was Labor Day weekend and a great way to mark the end of summer.

Avvie was okay with it at first, but ended up hating it. She used to be braver on rides, but has now found fear.

In the past Maddie has been too nervous to do rides by herself, but suddenly she found confidence. She went on a few without us and would have done more if we'd had time. She was rather proud of herself!

Maddie has had a recent interest in my camera so in hopes that it'll keep her from trying to use it by herself when I'm not looking, I let her take supervised pictures sometimes. Granted my face is not framed so well, but I love that she captured Avonlea's hand on my shoulder. I have some others she took of me from August...I've got to remember to go back to those pictures because they are of her wearing a dress that was mine when I was a little girl and I want to post some side by side pictures of us. Remind me if I don't do it soon!

Tomorrow (or the next time I can find a few minutes to sit uninterrupted and have already crossed daily devotions and emailing off my list, things I've woefully neglected of late) I will blog about our visit to some WWII planes.

Dentist and the Rest of Our Week

2011-09-30T08:52:00.000-04:00

I always have the best intentions to blog, but we all know what is paved with those (the path to hell in case cliched sayings isn't your thing). We've been so busy between Maddie's school, library time, Avvie's gym, doctor and dentist (yes, dentist for my uncooperative little girls!) appointments, making new friends and running into old and getting ready for our house closing next week (lots of posts to come about our new-to-us house) that I haven't had time to take all that many pictures, but I do have lots of stories and firsts. And of course I still have pictures from the beginning of the month and tomorrow is going to be October. Enough about the backlog and busy-ness. Let's look at some phone pictures!

Neither Madeleine or Avonlea had ever been to the dentist and we figured it was time for Madeleine and since we have dental coverage for Avonlea she might as go well to. We talked about it for weeks with Madeleine and even though she seemed excited, I was nervous she would lose it once we were there. Rather than hold you in suspense, she kept it together and was a model patient. We went to a pediatric dentistry practice, something I'd never been to as a child. Back in the day, we went to a regular dentist and I never felt deprived nor like I could only behave if I was being tempted with TVs mounted everywhere (including the ceiling above me), prizes, brightly colored walls, quirky decorations, etc. But, either I'm a pushover or realistic about the chances of getting my girls (more specifically Madeleine) to comply without all the bells and whistles so pediatric practice it was. The staff was very nice and ultimately it didn't cost anymore than a regular dentist so even though it goes against my weird Puritanical values, I'm going to declare our foray into the wild world of fancy pediatric dentistry a success and something we will continue with rather than finding a bare bones practice. And even though I implied Maddie was going to be the problematic child, it was Avonlea who completely lost it. However, at not even 19 months that's pretty much what I expected and the staff was prepared and handled it well. I doubt it's the first kid to have her fluoride painted on while held down by a mom and hygienist.

Here's Madeleine on her first full (2.5 hours) day of school without me. Drop off was a breeze and she was full of stories when she came home.

Avonlea is loving her gym class. I actually forgot we had it this week until I was dropping Madeleine off at school. I called my mom who was watching Avonlea and asked her to dress her in something comfortable. I raced home, grabbed Avonlea and we made it there only a couple minutes late. Now you can see why I was only ready for us to do two day a week nursery school. Three days and I might have lost my mind with all the scheduling!

Library time is actually meant just for Madeleine since Avonlea is too young for the group. Normally Avonlea and I hang out in the back with the other younger siblings, but this week was movie week so I let Avonlea sit with the big kids since I knew she would sit nicely. She loved it and in fact had to convince Maddie to come join her on the rug (normally Maddie races off to sit with the group but the darkened room had her a bit nervous). At the end when Miss Tracy pulled out the stickers to put on their hands Avonlea raced up, muscled her way past the three year olds and thrust her chubby hand up for a sticker. Can you see her just past the little girl in the dress?

They are Skyping with Nonna. Every time Avonlea hears the computer make any sort of beeping she races over yelling "NONNA!" thinking it's her calling to Skype.

Stories before bedtime

Lunch at Wendy's with Great-Grandma

I'll be back sooner than I was this time. Avonlea's vocabulary is amazing and Maddie has the funniest stories and things to say so I hope to do a post about some of that soon. Plus, I have pictures from our visit to WWII planes that have been waiting patiently in my picture file.

First Day of (Nursery) School

2011-09-21T22:25:00.000-04:00

Today Maddie had her first day of nursery school. Even though I'm not quite caught up on posting pictures from the summer, I couldn't wait to share this milestone. Before we had children and when Maddie was younger, I decided that I wanted to hold off formal schooling as long as possible. I thought we might not do any nursery/preschool at all and if we did, definitely not more than one year. Fast forward a few years, and yet again I'm eating my words in regards to a parenting decision. While there are certainly some decisions that I think should not be subject change, I've learned that 90% of parenting is adapting as we learn, get to see who exactly our children are, and start eating slice after slice of humble pie as I realize my earlier pronouncements were self-righteous, ignorant or based on pride! (For the record, Andy was very easygoing and never felt particularly strongly about when Maddie started school. He balances out my constant over-analyzing...) Turns out Maddie was more than ready for nursery school and after talking about it all last year when most of her friends began to go, we decided to sign her up for this year. It's only two days a week for a couple hours a day, but I think it'll be a great time for her to play with other kids and satiate her desire to constantly do projects, practice letters, sing songs and play on the playground. I'll still do all these things with her, but it'll relieve me a bit from the constant begging to produce crafting supplies and sing songs with elaborate hand motions (I hope).

All of that blathering is to say that Maddie was REALLY excited to go to school given she was the one who basically requested to go. Unfortunately Hurricane Irene damaged the school (which is affiliated with a church in the area although it's not a religious program per se). School started two weeks late while things got sorted out, but finally we went for orientation today. My parents are out of town, but thankfully my Aunt Mariane was willing to babysit Avonlea so my full attention could be on Madeleine. Turns out that Maddie didn't care much about my full attention--after I walked her to her classroom I expected a big goodbye when I had to leave her to go to the parent meeting but she barely glanced back at me! (It was good that Avvie wasn't there because there was a lot of paperwork to fill out, parties to sign up as helpers/cupcake-makers for, etc.) When I went to get Maddie at the end, I peeked in and she was sitting at a table coloring with the other kids while the teacher spoke to them with the biggest smile on her face. She had a great time and can't wait to go back. On the way home she confided me "I think I made a new friend today!" Oh my, how I love that little girl (even if she did act a tad bratty before we left for school...)!

And now for several pictures that are almost exactly the same but she's so cute that I can't help myself:

This summer I took her shopping for a first day of school dress. I'm not sure how well you can see in these pictures, but it has little paper dolls and dresses printed all over it. Madeleine adores this dress and has been dying to wear it since we got it. I let her wear it for the first day of Sunday School (which she also loved!) but other than that it's been waiting for today.

Here she is proudly wearing her Peppa Pig backpack from Nonna.

She was chomping at the bit to go to her classroom while we waited in the main room.

She was excited to see Avvie and tell her about her day. (After we picked Avvie up, in the backseat I could hear Maddie telling Avvie about her morning.)

I hope that Madeleine has happy years of learning and loving school ahead of her. I was fortunate to have many wonderful teachers throughout my schooling and I have fond memories from all my levels of education. Maddie's most important learning will hopefully be done in the context of our home and church, but I'm excited and hopeful that she can have years of valuable and treasured schooling in a brick and mortar setting. (She comes from a family of teachers--one grandmother, an uncle and three aunts--so I'm sure she'll know what a privilege it is to be a student and how much her teachers deserve her respect!)

Tea Party

2011-09-15T08:24:00.000-04:00

When I was young, my grandmother had a little tea set that she would pull out on occasion. She would fill the tea pot with coke and pull out Little Debbie zebra cakes which she would cut into quarters and she'd fill the tiny sugar bowl with sugar. We'd each liberally spoon sugar into our tea cups filled with coke and sip them until all that remained was a sugary sludge. And we'd place piece upon piece of cake onto our plates, probably resulting in us eating more than we would have had if we'd just eaten one whole cake instead of teeny tiny pieces. But the tiny plates demanded tiny pieces.

I hadn't seen the tea set for years. But then a few weeks ago my Aunt Maryjo suggested that we have a tea party with Grandma, Maryjo's girls and my girls. She had the tea set in safekeeping and wanted us to have the chance to have the tea party with the next generation. I, of course, accepted. Maddie and I made some very pink cupcakes and I dressed the girls in their most tea party-ish apparel (read traditional and girly dresses) and off we went. Sure enough there was the tea set, but the rest of the experience was quite a bit fancier than our old tea parties! Aunt Maryjo outdid herself and had bagels, quiches, fruit, brownies, Rice Crispie treats, little candies and favors and activities for the girls. They had a great time! Madeleine loved drinking milk (about a gallon) out of the little tea cup with Amy diligently filled again and again and again and both girls loved the attention they received from Amy and Amanda. Aunt Maryjo pulled out all the stops and the girls enjoyed playing with Amy and Amanda's old toys, coloring and having free reign of the desserts.

More on Madeleine's dress to come in a future post...try not to get too excited from all the suspense!

Amy and Amanda had a huge collection of Polly Pockets from their childhood that my girls couldn't get enough of.

The royal icing flowers decorating the cupcakes were actually made by me and Nan Warren. When she was out for Maddie's birthday she made her beautiful first birthday cake and also taught me some piping skills. I'm pretty hopeless, but together we did pipe a bunch of flowers to use to decorate in the future. Royal icing keeps pretty much forever so I pulled them out of their Tupperware container to adorn the cupcakes.

The picture below shows the scale of the tea set--teeny tiny.

A rare picture of me with Madeleine and Avonlea where they're both looking and smiling.

I'm all hunched over because I thought my and Avonlea's head would be blocked by the chandelier. Clearly I don't estimate things like distance and perspective well!

Thanks Aunt Maryjo for having us over for such a lovely party! Maddie is still talking about taking you up on the offer to paint her nails!

Exit 0

2011-09-14T09:56:00.000-04:00

Jessie and her husband lived in Cape May this summer while he ran his seasonal business, Geared Up. (If you need a bike, wagon or other similar merchandise, check out the GU Facebook page because he is selling off some his stock.) The kids are used to seeing a lot of Aunt Jessie and Uncle Tim (as are we) so it'd been a long summer without them. We decided a trip to Cape May was in order and loaded up my dad's Expedition with all the car seats and headed down to Exit 0. We met up with Tim and Jessie at the Cape May Zoo. It is a free attraction and was a great little zoo.

Look how close we were to the tiger!

And here we are close to a bear. It was neat but a bit unnerving since the night before we watched a TV show called something along the lines of Animal Encounters Gone Wrong and a featured video was a polar bear grabbing a woman through a fence at a small zoo. (To be fair to the bear and zoo, she had breached a fence, but there was still a barrier between her and the bear and he reached out and grabbed her.)

Maddie asked to go on the carousel and I acquiesced because she loves carousels and since Uncle Tim was willing to take her I knew it would be that much more exciting for her.

After the zoo we met Tim's mom for lunch at the Lobster House. We sat on a dock right on the water and enjoyed a ton of shore delicacies. After leaving the Lobster House we heard about the earthquake. It seems that it happened while we were on the dock which is why we are surmising we didn't feel it. A week later all of Cape May would be evacuated for Hurricane Irene and the dock where we ate would be completely flooded. What a week for Cape May (and the whole East Coast)! Here's a (post-earthquake, pre-hurricane) picture from Mrs. Mucha:

Mrs. Mucha treated us to such a nice lunch and then we headed out to get a tour of the downtown. I have never been to Cape May before and really enjoyed seeing the charming mall (an outdoor shopping promenade), a grand old hotel and the pretty beach. We plied the kids with candy from the Fudge Kitchen and walked all around.

This doesn't really do it justice, but what I'm showing here are the tan marks from Avvie's leg rolls. Somewhat unexpectedly given their fair father and fair complexions at birth, my girls tan rather nicely as opposed to just burning. I'm pretty diligent in applying sunblock, but they both still tanned this summer and Avonlea had funny tan lines from her chub rolls.

The kids were exhausted after such a long and full day and all conked out on the way home. Thank you Jessie, Tim and Sandy for a lovely day in the sun!

Dog Days

2011-09-12T21:09:00.000-04:00

Here we are, well into September, and I've barely blogged about anything from August. This post will be a smattering of pictures from August and then I'll probably do a couple posts about bigger August events which will hopefully get me totally caught up. Let's go!

Story time with Great Grandma

Beth came up with a great rainy day project of painting sugar cookies with runny icing. The only problem was we didn't have any rainy days so we picked a hot day and made it a nice indoor activity. If only we'd known how much rain was headed our way a few weeks later perhaps we would have saved the supplies.

One day we headed out to pick apples and it began to rain (I guess we did have some rain pre-Irene). We were close to where Auntie Alice lives so we decided to visit her. We were so glad that we did because the kids were in good moods and Auntie Alice was in happy mood and enjoyed seeing them (and us too, but more them!).

We sang songs together.

And then Auntie Alice got a kick out of watching the kids run races.

Tuckered out cousins

England Day 10

2011-09-06T08:45:00.000-04:00

Finally, more than a month after our flight home, I've made it to the end of blogging our trip to England. We were up bright and early on our last day and after doing several sweeps of the house to make sure we hadn't left anything under a bed or behind a door, we headed to Heathrow. Maddie was a bit under the weather, although you'd never guess it from this cell phone picture:

A quick stop at the airport Boots (similar to a CVS) resulted in a Tylenol alternative (apparently Tylenol is not the go to in the UK, but Andy was familiar with the alternative). It helped to diminish her fever and she fell asleep on the plane relatively quickly. Just as she had on the way to England, she stretched across her (kind) seatmate. On both flights Maddie had young men in the seats next to her, neither of who looked like they would be super child friendly (purely based on their age and hipster appearance), but both proved me wrong and went above and beyond by letting her stretch her legs and stinky feet onto their laps.

The flight was uneventful albeit a bit long and tedious. Avonlea napped but, unlike Madeleine, was awake for most of the flight so we had to do a lot of entertaining. We landed in Newark where my dad was waiting to pick us up. We had to immediately say goodbye to Donna who was catching a flight back to LA.

We were exhausted and there was a little complication since between wrangling the kids and all the luggage we managed to forget one of the suitcases at the airport...at the baggage claim BEFORE you go through customs. We weren't sure how we would get it back, but turns out even though we hadn't brought it through customs personally we could pay an airline courier to retrieve it. (He delivered it around 1am if I remember correctly...it's all a bit hazy.) Seems like a bit of a customs loophole, but in our case it didn't matter since we had nothing to declare. Everyone's schedules were a bit off, but it didn't take long to get back to regular sleeping habits.

It was a great trip and after all the talking about it, I can't believe it's done. It came at such a unique time in our lives that it made it feel even more monumental. Days before we left we packed up our everyday things and moved into my parents' house. Throughout the trip we were negotiating with the people who ultimately bought our home in Haddonfield. Only a few days after returning, Andy and I had to completely pack up the rest of our home in Haddonfield and watch movers take everything to storage. And a few more days after that and we closed on our house. A few days later Andy started a new job and right after that we made an offer on a house! It was a pretty crazy time and squeezing in international travel between all of that could have been disastrous (packing for the trip while packing our house did almost do me in!), but I think in the end it actually served as a nice distraction from all the stress of selling a home and moving.

Aside from the timing of the trip, it was monumental because how many people get the opportunity to take their little girls across the Atlantic to discover they have a whole other family who love them? We felt so blessed by how welcoming everyone was to us and the girls. That side of the family are a regular presence in each others' lives and I was afraid we'd seem a bit like the obnoxious American interlopers. Quite the opposite happened, however! We were welcomed with open arms and I heard about memories from when Andy was living in and more frequently visiting England and together we all made lots of lovely, new memories. The girls had a great time and while I'm not sure how much they'll remember from this trip, I feel certain they will always treasure the pictures of them with their (four!) great-grandparents and will enjoy hearing how they ran around their homes and sat in their laps. It was a joy to have a chance to share that special trip with Donna who was, as always, such a help with the girls. I'm sure there will be more trips to England in our future and right now we're counting the days until Justin and Elisabeth's wedding since we're hoping at least some of the family will be able to make the trip to California.

Thanks for sticking with me through all these posts. I'll start catching up on summer posts now that summer is (unofficially) over. I'd better hurry up because before I know it we'll be immersed in my favorite season and I'll be wanting to blog about leaves and pumpkins and costumed little girls.

For those wanting to revisit the whole series of posts about our trip, here are the links: