Spring Break 2010

Since Eliza is doing well entertaining herself on the floor for the moment, I thought I'd write just a bit more while I have the chance. This entry should probably come before the Saint Patrick's Day one, but oh well. No big deal.

Spring break was pretty low-key for us. We didn't go anywhere warm and sunny but we were lucky enough to have the weather get fairly warm. The snow finally melted away and we got to break out the flip flops, even if just for one day. It seemed hilarious to me that Hayden could be in flip flops, playing with the snow.


I celebrated my birthday - got to make any kind of cake I wanted. I went for basic yellow with chocolate buttercream frosting and a chocolate truffle filling. Hayden and Jason did the final decorations. :) Hayden picked out a yoga mat for me so we could do yoga together. We've already tried it out and it works great!



Eliza learned how to roll over and perfected her skills very quickly. Here are a couple pictures of one of the very first times she ever did it - we were downstairs hanging out by ourselves; luckily the camera was nearby!




Mom and Dad came up to visit - or I should say Grandma and Poppop. Hayden had a wonderful time with them. She loved showing them all her toys, telling them to read her books and just generally having two more people to bend to her little two year old will. They were good sports and everyone had a good time. Hayden also really loved that Dooley, the yellow lab, came to visit and showered her with love and fun.


Not quite the trip to the Florida Keys we took 4 years ago (4 years?!!!) but we had a nice time.
Now it's back to the grind...

Green

Happy Saint Patty's Day! In keeping with what seems to be a common theme, we dressed for the occasion - all in Green! Hayden was head-to-toe in green and Eliza was pretty close.
Jason and I were much more subdued, with only our tops fitting with the theme. Hayden had a good time with the green theme and was quite interested in the concept of pinching if you don't wear green. She wasn't actually interested in doing the pinching, just kind of worried about getting pinched. And also eager to point out who had green on and whether they might get pinched or not. I'm not sure she quite got the concept, but that's probably for the best.

And yes, it was early in the morning when we did our green photo shoot - notice the yawns! We're all still adjusting to the time change.

She did enjoy the green yogurt she had for snack (vanilla with green food coloring - we have also had blue and red yogurt since St. Patty's Day.) And Jason and I enjoyed our green chile and chicken casserole (with extra green salsa added in) and green guacamole. Yum!

St. Patrick's day was especially enjoyable this year because the weather was gorgeously sunny. I took the kids up to the park in the afternoon and both loved the swings. It was Eliza's first time in the swings and she thought it was great!

I also managed to capture her new trick - yoga!

She can roll over now and is getting so strong. She's started trying to lift her whole body off the ground, as well as roll over, scoot on her back and just generally move as much as possible. There have been a couple times that I've put her on her back on the floor, gotten distracted for a few minutes, and when I look back over at her, she's in a completely different place. It's almost time to put the baby gate back on the stairs! And this is only since she started rolling over on March 7th! We're in trouble now!

Ice Cream Galore

You might have noticed that we have a thing for ice cream, which makes us big fans of the Penn State creamery. In honor of my birthday (today), we went to the creamery yesterday to enjoy some chilly treats. While making our mouths happy, we also managed to solve two age-old questions. Do you get more ice cream in a cup or a cone? and Do you get more ice cream if you are cute?

Hayden selected a cone this time around and being in the birthday spirit, we indulged her. (In the past, she's only gotten to share with us.) She picked Peachy Paterno (after first saying strawberry, and then "green") and she got the biggest cone I have EVER seen at the Creamery. It was HUGE. My cone of cookies-n-cream was not quite as big and Jason's cup of Just Fudge wasn't even close. When we took off half of Hayden's to put it in a cup, it was just about as much as Jason had in his cup. Lucky for Jason, Hayden was willing to share! Thus we discovered that the cone is the way to go, especially near closing time, and if you are super cute, you get more!



Also, as you are looking at these pictures feel free to imagine the scene. We have ordered our flavors - Hayden is handed a GIGANTIC cone - while Jason is holding her. We also are then handed an almost gigantic cone for me, and Jason's cup. Jason is holding Hayden and ice cream. I have a stroller, eliza on my front, and we are needing to find a place to sit even though the creamery is packed. (who knew 5:15 pm on a Sunday was so busy for the creamery - all non-students since it's spring break?!!) It was a bit of ice cream chaos. We did manage to keep all cones upright, and find a table and then sit down to enjoy our treats. Yum!

And after we were done, Hayden enjoyed the multi-generational tradition of walking on the wall on campus. (I used to do that all the time at UNC with my dad!)

Go Heels!

Today is the last day of the regular season for the Tar Heels and thus is the day of the final showdown with Duke. Though the Tar Heels have struggled a bit this season, to say the least, we still wanted to get in the spirit today to maybe help them pull out a win. And with all of us dressed in our Carolina blue, I just had to take pictures.

GO HEELS!!!


Eliza got a few extra pictures taken because she can't say no and she is just so darn cute.
Look at Eliza's new trick - sitting up!

Mmm, my hands are delicious...


Cutie pie!
Rah Rah Carolina - lina, Rah Rah Carolina - lina, Rah Rah Carolina - GO TAR HEELS!

Addendum: Apparently 4 people dressed in light blue does not a win make this basketball season. Not even close. I think the headline read : Duke Routs Struggling Tarheels. Oh well. There's always next year.

Valentine's Day Fun

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a fun time this year celebrating the pink and red holiday. I signed up to bring treats for Hayden's valentine party, and I went the domestic overachiever route and made red velvet cupcakes with buttercream frosting from scratch. Hayden had fun decorating them with red sprinkles and candy hearts. I didn't take a picture of the finished product but I did get Hayden after tasting the batter. Yum!

We also spent quite a bit of time making homemade Valentine's for family and teachers as well as putting together class valentines. Hayden signed an H to every single one! (sometimes multiple Hs). She was especially happy about the singing card we picked out for Jason. She did let him in on the secret, but did start to learn that we couldn't give it to him for "two weeks," even though it was really only a couple days. Here she is working hard on decorating it - keep in mind that it's playing "you are my sunshine" over and over as she works! She can sing most of that song now too!
Hayden got lots of valentines at school and had fun opening them all up while Eliza watched. She was especially excited about the candy; particularly the tangerine lollipop! And what better place to eat a lollipop than in a bumbo!



Saturday was a pretty quiet day but the girls were still festive in heart covered onesies and fuzzy pink pants. Hayden like when we moved the coffee table out of the way to make a really big train track! Then Eliza took a nap on daddy - that's the best kind of naps!



On Sunday, we went over to help Brittany move some furniture and she graciously agreed to watch the girls while Jason and I went out to lunch. She did just fine with the two of them in their matching pink/red outfits. When we came back, Eliza was fast asleep in her arms. So snuggly!

Brittany also took a family photo that turned out nice! Don't we look festive?!
And one more cute photo of matching outfits! Aren't they both getting so big?! And yes, Eliza's cheeks are quite pink- they almost always are.

Pleasant Conversation

In our house growing up, if we asked to be excused from the table too early, we were told to stay in our seats and make "pleasant conversation." We always hated being told that but I think Hayden might feel differently. She's well on her way to making pleasant conversation, even if she's not so good at letting someone else get a word in edgewise!



She started chatting about how sometimes when she's in bed, she hears the door open and she thinks "hmm, is that Mommy coming in?" and similar thoughts. She had talked for a bit already when I grabbed the camera and then the narrative just kept coming. I wish I had the patience and time to transcribe her conversation. You'll just have to see what you can pick out. She talks a lot about upstairs and downstairs, folding her hands together like this, etc, etc. I think she's still talking about lying in bed hearing things and thinking things but you just never know. I just love how animated she is about and so detailed! This is often what she sounds like as she talks herself to sleep at night, though there's often songs included in the narrative at nighttime.

Want to come over for dinner and see what else she has to say?!!! If you're lucky she might talk about (and ask you lots of questions about) what we spotted recently in a parking lot near the library...

And not to leave Eliza out, since it was her 4 month birthday recently. She went to the doctor for her 4 month checkup. She is one happy, healthy and huge baby. 17 lbs! H

And then here she is practicing some emotions, right after Hayden's big speech at dinner.

Sad....

Happy!
If only the camera blinked less so that it made her avert her eyes, this would have been super cute!

S is for Snow, Sore Throats, and Super Bowl

As the title suggests, we had quite the weekend. For the first time both Jason and I got sick at the same time-aches and sore throats. Luckily it was staggered just a bit. I begged for quiet time Friday evening and Jason was able to do the girls by himself. And then we took turns being "on" for Saturday. I rallied enough to shovel the driveway and take Hayden out to play after we got almost a foot of snow. And somehow we managed to get better so that we could host our annual Super Bowl party. (but not take any pictures of it!) All in all, it's hard to believe it's Monday already since the weekend wasn't the most restful, even though we didn't go anywhere the whole time!

We didn't quite as swamped as Virginia did with quantity of snow, but there's still a lot out there. And this Southern girl did a pretty good job shoveling the driveway. It did take two trips outside and then Jason finished the last part by the road, but we did get it shoveled in time for the party. This is how it looked right up to our door - which has an overhang! And there was a TON of snow in the carport - weird!

Hayden had a good time in the snow. I was less efficient at shoveling that I would have liked because she kept wandering around the yard. She'd venture into fresh snow and fall down and call for me to help her up. Sometimes she just sat down, sometimes she fell on her back, sometimes on her front. It was pretty funny. She liked coming over where I was shoveling and making a "seat" in the snow. We also tried a snow angel but it was too deep.




Eliza and Jason didn't get out in the snow but they did watch Hayden and me play in it. Jason took some cute pictures and Eliza got to spend a little quality time with our shoes while he did so.
(I don't know why this is sideways - it's not sideways in the file on the computer!!!)

this one shows you how deep - those are galoshes I'm wearing!

I wonder how long this snow will last? We might even get more in a couple days! Hopefully we'll get a true "snow day" too with no sore throats!Thanks Grandma and Poppop for the great snow suit. It's really getting a workout this year!