Vacation I

Here's one of the long over due posts. At the very end of June (spilling over into July), we went on our first trip to the beach as a family. We joined the rest of the DeRousie clan for a week at Virginia Beach. It was Hayden and Eliza's first trip to the beach and they had a lot of fun. Both of them took to the ocean and sand with such gusto that it made their beach-loving (some might say obsessed) mom proud.

Since this post is so overdue, I'll just post pictures with some commentary. First I'll stick to pictures of the beach and our little family. Next post (Vacation II), I'll show you all the fun we had with the DeRousie side of the family.

Here's Hayden (and Eliza) being introduced to the ocean. Since the ocean is one of my favorite things, there was a formal introduction. "Toes meet ocean, ocean meet Hayden's toes." It was love at first sight.

Not only did Hayden love the ocean (when asked do you want to go the pool or ocean, she picked ocean), but she picked up the technique of rinsing your feet off in a flash!
We were lucky enough to stay in an ocean front hotel. You can see it behind me and Eliza as we pose in front of the famous Virginia Beach beachball statue. We did not have ocean front rooms, but that didn't stop Eliza from having a great time looking out the window. Towards the end of our stay, Jason and I ventured up to the exercise room at the top of the building (19 or 20 floors) to check out the view.



We did have a great time, and I learned a lot about what makes a good family vacation with small kids. Having a pool, as well as the ocean, to play in was terrific. Both kids had a great time in the pool. But I'm not sure I'd recommend a beach vacation with a crawling baby. Eliza had fun in the sand but boy was it hard to keep an eye on her! She grabbed the sand and wanted to eat it. And with her big sun hat on, it was hard to see what she was up to. But we managed, and everyone had fun.

Can't you just hear her making happy screeching noises?!

(yes, Eliza is eating my finger while playing in the waves.)

Surveying the waves with Daddy. She even went out past the waves with us on a calm day.

We had a very nice trip but we were very happy to reach Pennsylvania on the way home. The rest area we stopped in just inside the PA line had snacks - cookies and lemonade! And Hayden helped us capture the perfect sign for the end of our trip. We were smiling to be in Pennsylvania...

.....but in case you didn't already know - We are moving to North Carolina! More details later, but we move in a couple weeks so Jason can start a new job. That's what's been keeping me so busy! Good thing we already had our vacation this summer!

Celebrations

I'm so embarrassed. It's been over a month since I last posted! We have just been so busy with travel, housework, jobs, job possibilities, and life in general. Craziness! I hope to get caught up soon, but for now, here's just a few pictures of recent celebrations in our life.

First, in the middle of June we celebrated the two year anniversary of the dirt pile next door. Yes, that's right, dirt. Our crazy neighbor ordered some dirt, had it delivered, SENT IT BACK, got some more delivered, and it's been blocking half of her driveway for TWO years. I wrote it on a calendar, so I know it's been that long! In honor of the two year dirt pile, we made dirt cake which was DELICIOUS.


As a co-celebration with the dirt, we celebrated our friendship with Ali/Matt/Lachlan and Sarah/Brad/Logan. I have referred to them previously as the preggo posse, even though none of us are currently pregnant. :) Since Sarah and Brad are moving (have moved) from State College, we got together one last time for dirt cake and pizza to say goodbye. We've come along way from this!

Want more celebration? How about Eliza turning 9 months old! I've been trying to take a picture on the day of the month birthday each month and barely squeaked this one in. We spent the day driving down to North Carolina, and I didn't take pictures until after we got there, around 11 pm. Couldn't quite get a perfect one, but it does capture her right now - always on the move. Standing up, looking for something else to grab. Eliza is awesome, but SO busy!

Okay, that's all for now. I'm sure Eliza will wake up from her nap soon. Hopefully in the near future I'll be able to post pics from our recent trip to Virginia Beach (came right after the trip to NC) as well as pictures from the fourth (watch out for giant marshmallows!) and maybe random spring/summer activities.

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.