Baking Cookies

I was looking through some old photos (you know the ones that you leave on your camera and then every 5 months upload) and I came across these. For FHE one night we all pitched in and baked cookies, daddy took pictures. It was so cute watching Kate help in the kitchen. She was almost 18 months then (she just turn 20 months) it's amazing how much they grow in just 2 months, she looks little to me in these pictures.

Kate helping put eggs in the bowl.

Didn't quite make it, try again

Best part about baking cookies...licking the beaters, I know raw egg, gross, you only live once!

Just a cute smily picture of Kate

The Golden Rocket

Does it make me a total weirdo that I have wanted a Honda Odyssey for the longest time? It happened so fast, a friend bought my Corolla and then we turned around and got this. We got a great deal, we don't even have a car payment! Funny thing is you won't see me driving it. It mostly sits in the driveway when I'm not using it to get to work. We try and take the civic everywhere since gas is so expensive. We recently went camping and all crammed into the small car just to save on gas. Here are a couple of pictures of the golden beauty.

Looks Can Be Deceiving

I know she is cute but she is no angel! Today we learned that naps indeed are not optional. Watch the video of Kate around 7:00pm after taking 0 naps.



Kate's normal bedtime is 8:30 tonight it was about 7:05. She had been throwing tantrums on and off since around 4pm. All it takes for this strong willed child to throw a fit is her not getting her way, which happens a lot around here. "No Kate you may not stand on the kitchen table".

I'm sure she was worn out from our fun filled day, today we went to the Hamilton parade. Hamilton, VA is a small quaint little town, population 742, our church is located there. It's about 10 miles from Leesburg. Today is Hamilton Day which is why they had the parade, after the parade we went to the park and saw a clown, and ate a hot dog. It then started pouring rain which ended it for us.

All in all, I wouldn't trade her for another kiddo on the planet. Even one that doesn't throw tantrums if such thing exists. We love our Kate and I am so grateful that I get to be her mom. Oh and we learned that she is a water hog and popsicle thief. Yesterday they had water day at the day care. They got to play in the sprinkler and Kate was standing in front of it and not letting any of the other kids play in the water. They also got popsicles (they made them the day before) and Kate was the first to polish hers off, so she proceeded to try and steal the other kids popsicles. Do I have a will full child on my hands or what?

Strawberry Daze

We headed out Memorial Day Weekend for some old fashioned strawberry pickin but the farm was all picked out. Watch the slide show for some great pictures of us goofin around on the farm. There was a petting zoo with lots of goats, a turkey, peacock, chicken wondering around, a calf, miniature horses, ostriches and rabbits. There was an air pillow that the kids jumped on, a tube slide for toddlers and a 60 footer for the grown ups. There were old fashioned pedal cars to race each other with. The coolest attraction was the corn bin, a small area that had nothing but kernels of corn to roll around in. It was kinda like being inside of a beanbag. We didn't get to pick our own berries but we did pick some up at the country store. They were fabulous! The first berries of the season put us in a strawberry daze! (The red spot under Kate's nose is rug burn, the latest malady from trying to escape the pack n play)

Felt Name Book

I saw this on etsy.com (a cool website that sells custom made things). I fell in love with the idea and thought it would be fun to try. Well it was totally fun to make and be all creative. I miss doing crafty things, I rarely do anything crafty these days because of time. I made all the patterns by myself and a lot of it was freehand, meaning I didn't even bother making a pattern I just cut the felt until it looked right.







The lobster page is my favorite. It was hard coming up with something that started with a Y so I did things that are yellow. Anyone got any good ideas for a Y besides a yoyo or yak?


I was asking a friend what I should do for the letter N and she asked her 10 year old daughter who immediately responded Neopolitan Ice Cream! We love ice cream so I thought it was perfect.

All Play No Work

That's right, we got to play for a whole week. We went to Massanutten resort for our family vacation, we own a timeshare there and this is our second year going. We had such a great time and it was fun to be around each other for a whole week with no distractions from work, emails, and phone calls. My sister and her husband and son came up for a night and Brock's mom and dad came up for an evening. Some of the highlights include miniature golfing, two trips to the indoor water park, a visit to the children's museum, many dips in the pool and picnics in the park. Oh and Brock's highlight is that he caught a rainbow trout. Nana babysat for us one afternoon so we could take a chairlift ride up the mountain to see the valley. It was so fun to focus so much of our attention on Kate, she is such a funny girl and I'm amazed with how grown up she is. She is so self-sufficient and very independent. As she will tell you "I can do it". She loves to help mommy with whatever I'm doing. We got a kick out of hearing her talking as she has become quite a little parrot.

I hope you enjoy the slide show, I'll post some video too:

South Mountain Creamery

We toured a local dairy farm this week during their farm festival. It's a great little farm that makes all their own dairy product and it's all organic. It was fun to get away from the city and see the beautiful country side.

We got to feed the baby cows their milk

The baby cow givin some lovin to Kate, she got a kick out of it.

We got to go on a hayride through the cow pastures

Kate's favorite part of the farm tour, ice cream!

Check this out, milk in glass bottles and it's delivered right to your door. We haven't started getting milk delivered yet, but I checked out the prices and it's cheaper then what I pay in the grocery store. I just picked these up while I was at the farm along with homemade yogurt(also in a glass bottle). I just had to show this picture off because I thought it was just so cool.

Kate learned a new word that day. Owww or baby language for cow! It was such a fun get away.

On a side note I did my March of Dimes walk today! We had a great turn out in spite of the dreary weather. It was a lot of fun and I want to thank all you who sponsored me at this event. Your generosity inspires me. My team raised over $800. I can't wait to do it again next year.