Finally, a wedding!

While the title is more in reference to the fact that it's been over a month and a half since we attended the wedding of Lori and Wes, it could also refer to Lori herself and her feelings about getting married. I remember many an evening during grad school when Lori was over to watch some TV and eat our food and complain about the dating pool of State College. I didn't have much to say, being happily married and all, but I listened and fed her yummy baked goods. And then, low and behold, she moves to Durham and finds a spouse almost immediately. Apparently she should have talked to Jason more - he would have told you that Durham has some good spouses!!

Anyway, enough rambling. We did head to NC back in the first part of April to attend the wedding of Lori and Wes, and visit with Poppop and Grandma. Despite driving down in torrential rains (seriously, we followed the rain of an incoming cold front all the way down the east coast), Lori's wedding day dawned with sunshine and blue skies. She had the weather I had dreamed of having for my outdoor wedding. I might have been a tad jealous, but also so happy for her that she had such a beautiful day.

Hayden and I went to the girls brunch on Saturday morning. I thought it would be a special treat for Hayden to have some one-on-one time with me and see the Penn State girls. She was quite taken with the idea of going to brunch and that daddy couldn't come. (post wedding travel, any mention of brunch stimulated the question - can daddy come?) We had a lovely meal and Hayden got to play with Lori's niece, Kylie who is almost the same age. Hayden was shy at first, but by the end of the meal they were running all over the restaurant.

Hayden was invited to be in this picture of the Penn State girls but she chose to sulk in the corner. Go figure.

The wedding was in the evening, and as I said, it was just as beautiful as it could be. It was held in Duke Gardens and we brought both girls and my parents to join in the fun. Even though the goldfish pond was closed for renovations, Hayden enjoyed exploring the gardens, with Poppop in tow.
The ceremony was lovely and both girls were very well behaved. Lori and Wes both looked great and very happy. During the photo time after the ceremony, Hayden and Kylie had a great time playing, going up and down the steps of the pergola many times.

Then my parents were gracious enough to take the girls home and put them to bed, while Jason and I went off to the reception to have some fun! Mom tried out my new sling that she helped me to acquire. Not sure she's a convert, but at least she tried! And Hayden was willing to give the bride a big hug goodbye. I don't know if Hayden would have been as willing to go with Grandma and Poppop if she knew she was missing out on cake!

The reception was a lot of fun. There was delicious cake made by Lori's mom - we were so excited to finally taste one of her wedding cakes! And an amazing array of berries. There was dancing, and chatting, and eating. All without kids! It was great.
On Sunday, after a bon voyage brunch, we stopped by their new house and got Wes to carry Lori over the threshold. Then Eliza practiced her yoga on the carpet. I think she approved of their new digs.

Happy Wedding to Lori and Wes! Congrats! Thanks for letting us join in your celebration with you. May you share a long and happy life together!

May 24th, a big day

May 24th is a momentous for our family. It's Eliza's 8 month birthday. Cousin/niece Lucy is 6 years old. Granddad's birthday is today too (I won't tell you how young he is!). And Jason and I have been married for SEVEN years today. How time flies when you're having fun! Just a few quick 8 month pics from this evening.

Eliza and her tongue-sticking-out smile, a common sight these days!
me: Hayden what are you thinking of?
Hayden: Whoopie Pies!
(whoopie pies had not been mentioned in days...she must be Jason's child!)

Eliza demonstrating her love of pulling up on anything and everything.
Look up here! Look up here! And so Eliza looked up there....

8 months old and just adorable. Well, except for the dry red skin on her chin. If only she would stop drooling...

10 days

Hi everyone. Still don't have the time, quite yet, to catch up on the backlog of blogs, but thought you might be interested in another video of Eliza crawling. Really, you say? She only just started crawling, how different could it be? Well, it's only 10 days between the first video and this one, but she can now cover distances AND pull herself up. I'm not sure she's stopped moving since she started crawling, at least if when she's on the floor untethered. And she is pulling up anything and everything. Even last night, when she was having a hard time going to sleep (we think she was teething bad), when we went in to check on her, she had pulled herself up in the crib. Good thing we dropped the crib down! So anyway, here's Eliza in action. Crawling a distance and pulling up on the stool we have deemed safest to pull up on due to it's low height and rounded corners. She's a super star!



And just so you know we're still taking pictures, of Hayden and life in general, here are a few fun ones. First, you have Hayden in a compromising position. She likes to sit in Eliza's car seat like it's a little chair for her, but she recently tipped herself back and couldn't get up. Being the kind and loving mom that I am, I had to take her picture before rescuing her.


Second, here's Hayden being as close to a "mini-me" as she can get. She may not look all that much like me in her face, but she can wear jeans, t-shirt and a ring sling while shopping, just like mommy!
and one more goofy picture of Eliza in the tub. Isn't that the cutest big ol' baby belly?!!And last, but not least, in honor of Mother's Day, a pile-on picture! I love my two best girls!

She's on the Move!

She's been doing the downward facing dog forever, rolling over for at least a month and scooting backwards for a couple weeks. But now the big moment has finally arrived - she managed to coordinate all body parts to propel herself forward. Life as we know it, where we can plop Eliza down and know she'll still be there when we come back from grabbing the load of laundry from the dryer, is over. Break out the baby-proofing supplies, it's time to lock up the cabinets!



Hayden has no idea what this means for her toys and play.

Moments

Though I have many blogs sitting in my mental "to write" folder, I thought I'd just share a few photos that capture little moments from the past week or so. Soon I will try to get the big blogs - our trip to NC, Lori's wedding, apple blossom festival, etc - put together and posted but for now, just these little tidbits that make up our wonderful life.

Eliza and Blizzard share a moment. I will admit this is partially staged. They were sharing a moment for real, but then Eliza started scooting backwards as she's prone to do these days, and by the time I got my camera, she was out of the frame. But luckily she and Blizz still wanted to work on their staring contest skills when I moved her back.
Yesterday was a dreary day. And of course, right as we all get suited up and strapped in for a walk, it started to rain. But we didn't let that deter us. We walked - all of us - up a few houses, then came back and played outside for a bit. Hayden thought it was fun to try to taste the rain.
As the younger, defense-less, sister, Eliza was recently the recipient of two stickers after a trip to the doctor. Ironically, the trip was a 6 month check up for Eliza - but Hayden got the stickers, and decided Eliza's back was a good place to put them. Eliza didn't seem to mind.
A little play time for the girls. This usually devolves quickly into "gentle!", and "we don't bop our sister on the head" and "you can't roll over her!" But Eliza keeps laughing and Hayden keeps coming back.


And here's Jason attacking Hayden with belly zerberts. She thinks it's hilarious and often asks for more!And now two of my favorite recent pictures of the girls. Eliza with a big laughing smile and little nose scrunch. Off centered because I was playing peek-a-boo behind the camera to get her to laugh.
And Hayden looking gorgeous in the sunshine as we were finishing up dinner. I love the different expressions I caught on her face.

Easter 2010

Now THIS will be the post about our Easter shenanigans. There might even be some more bunny ear pictures - if you're lucky!

Saturday we decorated eggs. This was my first time doing it with Hayden (at least where she participated) and she did great. I don't quite how the hard-boiling turned out, since we haven't eaten any yet, but we had lots of fun decorating them. Despite my cooking and food interests, I still have to look up directions for hard boiling eggs every Easter. Guess they aren't in my regular repertoire. Also, we were using a dye package that was 2 years old, from when M&D came up when Hayden was 8 months old - but it still worked great. Hayden especially liked labeling the eggs for people. We made ones for Hayden and Eliza (marked with an H and an E respectively) and one for Daddy, and one for Logan and one for Lachlan.

the dye cups

Hayden working hard

you mean, dye THIS egg?!

the finished products!

On Sunday, we had a GREAT Easter including (but not limited to) Easter baskets, buttermilk pancakes for breakfast, egg hunt in our front yard, the donning of Easter dresses without complaint, attendance at church including Hayden's first experience in the church toddler room during the service (these days, if there's baby dolls to play with, she's all good), an easy drive to Harrisburg and a wonderful time in Harrisburg with family on my dad's side. The only bad thing about the day was the drive home from Harrisburg where we had a little bit of a navigation issue AND Eliza decided that being in the car seat was last on her list of places she wanted to be. She expressed this by crying the whole way home. But even with that not-so-fun part of the day, I still say we had a fantastic Easter, complete with 75 degree sunny weather and family. What could be better?!!

Here are some pics...

Easter baskets! Yes, we might have 'reused' some items we already had in the house (i.e. the frog).

Patiently waiting (mostly) to go outside for the hunt

Pretty smile in her Easter dress

Eliza is wearing her Easter dress, but we wanted to make sure she wasn't cold. Jason is not yet in his Easter finery.

finding eggs

Egg hunts are fun!

Jason's Easter bunnies before church

In Harrisburg, Meredith and Hannah (my second cousins) organized an egg hunt for Hayden. She had a great time having another egg hunt but she was a bit particular. When she found hardboiled eggs, she refused to put them in her basket; at first she held them gingerly and then put them back in the grass. Then she willingly put them into the egg carton that Hannah provided, so as to keep them separate. She also refused to pick up the toys that were also hidden. Only plastic eggs were to go in the basket!

Notice the slinky in the grass that has been cast aside in favor of the egg.

Hayden also got mad when Meredith tried to get Eliza to participate in the hunt. Hayden promptly snagged the egg from Eliza and put it in the basket. I'm not condoning that behavior but I think next year she might be ready for a real competitive egg hunt like my sisters and I had growing up. Hayden had a great time meeting all of my family over Easter. She was a tiny bit shy in the beginning but warmed up quick and settled right in. She helped Uncle Jay fill the bird feeder (just like she would help Pop-pop, his cousin). She met Meredith's dog, Juno. She played a bouncy ball game with Meredith and her husband Paul - and even told Paul "good shot!" during the game. AND she got both Aunt Joy and Aunt Jane to do sidewalk chalk with her.

I think Jason had a good time too - mainly because he got to eat the dessert we contributed to the buffet - pound cake doused in cool whip and homemade blueberry sauce.

Eliza watching the sidewalk chart artistry.I think Eliza had a good time too. I'm pretty sure that just about everyone there got to hold her and she tolerated it like a champ. She even managed to take a little bit of nap halfway through our time there. She woke up in a good mood and had fun showing off her love of screeching and bouncing. And she got Meredith making funny faces. Bunny ears can do that to you!

the screeching
the funny faces
(so technically E is crying in the picture but moments before she was laughing hilariously)

I even managed to get a photo with just about everyone who was there (we're missing my second Eric and his girlfriend Alexandra, and my great-uncle Harry and his wife Marsha)
from l to r: Meredith, Hayden, me, Doug, Joy, Jay holding Eliza, Jane and Hannah
(maybe next time we'll try to do a picture not squinting in the bright sunlight)

And finally, we were lucky enough to get a family photo taken while we were there.
Aren't we cute? Happy Easter everyone!