Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
6 States, 13 Days, 1879 miles
We just returned from our 2 week trip to New York! We spent 5 nights in a tent in Old Forge, NY in the Adirondack Mountains, where we slept in a tent and ate s'mores every single night! The week before we left Abby learned to go potty, one week later she was a pro at peeing in the woods!
The next leg of our trip was at a resort in Lake George. After 5 nights in a tent, it was great to be in a real bed and to have a bathroom just steps away!
The last leg of our trip brought up to Poughkeepise for a family wedding. We met up with Matt's family and tried to stay cool in the 104 degree weather. We ended the trip with day in New York City where the kids saw Lady Liberty and hung out in Cental Park!
The kids are exhausted and I am nearly buried underneath the pile of laundry that came out of the minivan! If you ask the kids their favorite part of the trip, they may answer that it was...
Having S'mores by the campfire
Sleeping in the tent
Taking the Adirondack Scenic Railroad
Canoeing on Moose River
or possibly, taking the New York City subway
Whatever their answer, it was a fantastic trip! (But I'm happy to be home!)
The next leg of our trip was at a resort in Lake George. After 5 nights in a tent, it was great to be in a real bed and to have a bathroom just steps away!
The last leg of our trip brought up to Poughkeepise for a family wedding. We met up with Matt's family and tried to stay cool in the 104 degree weather. We ended the trip with day in New York City where the kids saw Lady Liberty and hung out in Cental Park!
The kids are exhausted and I am nearly buried underneath the pile of laundry that came out of the minivan! If you ask the kids their favorite part of the trip, they may answer that it was...
Having S'mores by the campfire
Sleeping in the tent
Hiking up Bald Mountain
Taking the Adirondack Scenic Railroad
Canoeing on Moose River
or possibly, taking the New York City subway
Whatever their answer, it was a fantastic trip! (But I'm happy to be home!)Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
We are taking care of Nisha, my friend Jen's dog for the week. Jackson was thrilled from the beginning, throwing Nisha's ball for her constantly and following her around the house. Abby on the other hand, began the week running away from Nisha and crying.
By day 2, as Nisha sat patiently below Jackson's breakfast table waiting for him to drop some Cheerios, Abby decided to read her the story of Danny & The Dinosaur. Nisha seemed mildly annoyed....but at least Abby has stopped screaming and yelling!
...and this morning, the kids were cuddled up with her watching Tom & Jerry. From the kitchen I overheard Abby whispering, "You're my favorite dog Nisha!"
By day 2, as Nisha sat patiently below Jackson's breakfast table waiting for him to drop some Cheerios, Abby decided to read her the story of Danny & The Dinosaur. Nisha seemed mildly annoyed....but at least Abby has stopped screaming and yelling!
By Day 3, Abby was hanging out with Nisha in the backyard.....
...and this morning, the kids were cuddled up with her watching Tom & Jerry. From the kitchen I overheard Abby whispering, "You're my favorite dog Nisha!"
Monday, June 20, 2011
Good Night-Sleep Tight
This what Abby's bed looks like when she goes to bed. I wish it was an exaggeration, but it's not. Included in the mix are her piggy bank, vase of fake flowers, a picture of her and Matt, her basket of diapers/pull ups, a container of wipes, a pretend cake and set of cupcakes, a magic wand, at least 3 purses "with a lot of stuff in them!", many baby blankets plus the two from the upstairs couch, too many stuffed animals and dolls to count and every single book from her book shelf. It's amazing that she finds room for herself in there!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Quote of the Day
"I like everyone that I know, except for people with mustaches."
-Abigail Ann, age 3
-Abigail Ann, age 3
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
A Day in the Life....
My neighbor asked me to help her out with a class project. It involved recording how my children felt each hour of one day and document it with a picture. I thought it would be nice to help her out and it sounded like it might be fun.
Disclaimer: The project only required an hourly check, so any fights, meltdowns or timeouts that happened in between the hour are not recorded, so the results are a little skewed. Still, we did have a pretty good day even with those non-recorded meltdowns!
So, here it is....a day in the life.
7:15 Abby wakes up in a particularly good mood. She wants to eat breakfast immediately. It might have something to do with the Fruit Loops we bought yesterday in honor of Jackson’s birthday week.
7:30 Jackson wakes up, following suit with the excitement about breakfast. Jackson eats cereal like he is Cookie Monster, very enthusiastically and very messy!
9:00 The kids are building forts in the living room and are surprisingly not fighting over the pillows, blankets, stuffed animals or who gets which side. All is good.
10:00 Jackson, the budding artist, works on art project #13 for the day, while Abby pouts, cries and screams about getting dressed. It’s what she does every morning, so nobody in the house is surprised or phased by her behavior. We eventually coax her into an outfit.
Disclaimer: The project only required an hourly check, so any fights, meltdowns or timeouts that happened in between the hour are not recorded, so the results are a little skewed. Still, we did have a pretty good day even with those non-recorded meltdowns!
So, here it is....a day in the life.
7:15 Abby wakes up in a particularly good mood. She wants to eat breakfast immediately. It might have something to do with the Fruit Loops we bought yesterday in honor of Jackson’s birthday week.
7:30 Jackson wakes up, following suit with the excitement about breakfast. Jackson eats cereal like he is Cookie Monster, very enthusiastically and very messy!
9:00 The kids are building forts in the living room and are surprisingly not fighting over the pillows, blankets, stuffed animals or who gets which side. All is good.
10:00 Jackson, the budding artist, works on art project #13 for the day, while Abby pouts, cries and screams about getting dressed. It’s what she does every morning, so nobody in the house is surprised or phased by her behavior. We eventually coax her into an outfit.
11:00 We have successfully left the house and have arrived at the Peggy Notebart Nature Museum. We spend way too much time in the waterworks room getting soaking wet. Abby proceeds to spend way too much time under the dryer, but it doesn’t matter since everyone is happy!
12:00 We were disappointed that the upstairs treehouse was closed for construction, but happy enough to play on the slide/tunnel/ship/treehouse area downstairs. We pretend to eat snakes, be pirates, fend off evil beavers and take naps in the cave. We are happy, but hungry…time to head home!
1:00 Lunch. If you plan well enough, any meal can go without issue at our house. You will need: the purple spoon, the mermaid plate, maga’s cup and two booster seats on the opposite side of the table. You might also want to consider not putting any fruits or vegetables on Abby’s plate if you don’t want to get a dirty look. Luckily for us, we were well prepared for lunch and all went well.
2:00 While at the Nature Museum (see above) we read about making your own crayons. Fun! Thought we’d try it out for ourselves. The project involves finding all of your own broken crayons, combining them in your sprayed muffin tins and watching them melt together in the oven for 7-8 minutes at 275 degrees. The kids loved it. If this project were about the parents’ moods, I would say that the cleaning of the muffin pan tarnished the overall project a little. But it’s not about us, it’s about the kids, and they loved the project! Still, next time I think I'd use muffin pan liners.
3:00 Baking cookies. Enough said.
4:00 Per a supermom’s suggestion, (Thanks Amy!) we introduced Uno to the kids this afternoon. We adjusted the rules a little, played open faced and the kids loved it. It snowballed into the kids pulling out every game we own to play! We played Chutes & Ladders (the regular version), Chutes & Ladders (the Superhero version), Memory and Gone Fishing. Everyone had the chance to win so everyone was happy!
5:00 Dress up! We pulled out the Halloween costumes to play dress up. Abby managed to get into the kitty costume that is a size 6 months and the monkey costume that is a size 12 months. Maybe we should donate those? There were several costume changes, including Spiderman, a Dragon, a Spider and Wonder Woman. The only downside was when we made them take them off for dinner. Who likes a messy superhero?
12:00 We were disappointed that the upstairs treehouse was closed for construction, but happy enough to play on the slide/tunnel/ship/treehouse area downstairs. We pretend to eat snakes, be pirates, fend off evil beavers and take naps in the cave. We are happy, but hungry…time to head home!
1:00 Lunch. If you plan well enough, any meal can go without issue at our house. You will need: the purple spoon, the mermaid plate, maga’s cup and two booster seats on the opposite side of the table. You might also want to consider not putting any fruits or vegetables on Abby’s plate if you don’t want to get a dirty look. Luckily for us, we were well prepared for lunch and all went well.
2:00 While at the Nature Museum (see above) we read about making your own crayons. Fun! Thought we’d try it out for ourselves. The project involves finding all of your own broken crayons, combining them in your sprayed muffin tins and watching them melt together in the oven for 7-8 minutes at 275 degrees. The kids loved it. If this project were about the parents’ moods, I would say that the cleaning of the muffin pan tarnished the overall project a little. But it’s not about us, it’s about the kids, and they loved the project! Still, next time I think I'd use muffin pan liners.
3:00 Baking cookies. Enough said.4:00 Per a supermom’s suggestion, (Thanks Amy!) we introduced Uno to the kids this afternoon. We adjusted the rules a little, played open faced and the kids loved it. It snowballed into the kids pulling out every game we own to play! We played Chutes & Ladders (the regular version), Chutes & Ladders (the Superhero version), Memory and Gone Fishing. Everyone had the chance to win so everyone was happy!
5:00 Dress up! We pulled out the Halloween costumes to play dress up. Abby managed to get into the kitty costume that is a size 6 months and the monkey costume that is a size 12 months. Maybe we should donate those? There were several costume changes, including Spiderman, a Dragon, a Spider and Wonder Woman. The only downside was when we made them take them off for dinner. Who likes a messy superhero?
6:00 Dinner time. Jackson and Abby eat amazingly well and are awarded with fresh baked cookies (see above).
7:00 Time for bed! Everyone has gotten into their jammies, brushed their teeth and chosen their 2 books to read and their side of the couch. Jackson will fall asleep in 2.2 minutes and Abby will negotiate with us about things she might need in her bed (books, flowers, diapers, more books, wipes, purses, pretend cupcakes, stuffed animals-no not that pink bear- and many blankets). She will whine and cry and ask for another backrub and won't fall asleep until after Matt is already snoring on the couch. This is what we do every night, so nobody is surprised or phased by her behavior. This doesn't mean that we don't desperately wish she would just GO TO SLEEP!
7:00 Time for bed! Everyone has gotten into their jammies, brushed their teeth and chosen their 2 books to read and their side of the couch. Jackson will fall asleep in 2.2 minutes and Abby will negotiate with us about things she might need in her bed (books, flowers, diapers, more books, wipes, purses, pretend cupcakes, stuffed animals-no not that pink bear- and many blankets). She will whine and cry and ask for another backrub and won't fall asleep until after Matt is already snoring on the couch. This is what we do every night, so nobody is surprised or phased by her behavior. This doesn't mean that we don't desperately wish she would just GO TO SLEEP! Sunday, January 2, 2011
Winter Fun
We knew all of that fun snow wouldn't last long, so we made sure to get out there and enjoy it while we could! Now we are anxiously awaiting the next snow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)