bath time

we love taking theme baths together. we choose between the small and big tubs and then Momma or Daddy think of a theme, tonights theme is chef's soup! we put in pots and pans and both enjoy making some dinner for Momma and Daddy.

Madeline @ HD

Madeline wass not very happy that during the 4 minute ride to home depot she fell asleep. I carried her into the store, returned some items and then carried her throughout the store until I had to pick up the 40 lb bags of salt...

Playing on a beautiful fall day

Playing in the backyard together is always fun!

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Madeline's 18-mo Doctor Visit

Madeline had her 18-month doctor visit this evening. All checked out well. While she's still not talking, Dr. Thomas confirmed what we already knew that Madeline has an independent spirit, and she'll talk when she's ready! Also important, she confirmed that Madeline doesn't appear to have any issues with hearing, or otherwise we'd want to have a hearing test for her at this point. So we'll keep up with our signing and wait for the flow of words to follow. :)

Visit stats:
Height at 31 inches (25th percentile)
Weight at 22 lbs 10 ozs (25th percentile)
Head circumference at 18 3/4 inches (75th percentile)

Sleeping beauty...

I get to watch Madeline sleep away while Momma and big brother are in shopping.

My little climbing monkeys.

Madeline idolizes her big brother, and part of that brings a few more bumps, bruises, and stunts than we had with Andrew.

She climbs behind the couch on the window ledge like he did, but you will also get the leg kicked up onto the bookshelf to bring up her little tuche over the back of the sofa and flipping onto her back, giggling all the way. (He was just over two before we really let him back there behind the couch, and a little older before he learned that move.

Now, both of them like to flip chairs up and sit on them like they are on top of 'mountains' as they are in this one just before bed in their pj's.

Watching the puppet show at the zoo!

Coffee break

Some mornings come sooner than others, and this one came a little sooner than expected!

We were all a little tired, and Andrew made it clear that he really wanted to have coffee this morning and his OWN coffee to boot! So I made up a milk cup and mixed in the coffee syrup that we have and boy did it make a little boy happy that he was able to have a BIG coffee that was ALL his own!

Big potty

Last night Andrew got out of bed well after he originally went in and said that he had to go potty. Momma and I have decided that it is as good a time as any to transition from the cassette little potty on over to the big potty so that it will make things easier moving forward.

We still give him the option of using the seat from the little potty, but want to make sure he is accustomed to normal sized toilets. He wanted NOTHING to do with that idea last night!

After much groaning, moaning, and a few little cajoling we finally decided that we had to go badly enough that the big potty would work.

Hopefully other nights are a little easier, it sure is easier to clean up that is for sure!

Sussex County fair August 1, 2009

We went to the fair on Saturday and had a lot of fun. Racing pigs, pony rides, feeding animals and lots of giggles and fun!

Andrew wanted to feed every animal in the whole petting zoo, but we decided that we could spend our hard earned quarters on some food for the horses and the goats. The rest of the animals can have some food when we come back! :)



Look Momma, he's hungry!

Momma and Madeline hangin out while we watched the puppet show.

Andrew just captivated by his first marrionette and puppet show (well, first professional one at least!)

Daddy had to make sure that his daughter could get a good view for the puppy show! Andrew was right in the front row watching as closely as he could.

Little helpers

We worked on building some cabinets and our desk for the office this weekend (before the water started coming into the basement through the wall, floor and garage!) and snapped a few pictures of our little helpers.

Andrew worked really hard through the day making sure that we had all of the parts and knew right where they should go. If you have never worked with a 3 year old handing or helping with a project that has roughly 7,000 parts, it is a real treat. :)

But I LOVED having him help, and I always enjoy teaching a thing or two along the way. Hopefully he will be more handy than I am, but I know that I can never match my engineer Father in the handy (or at least authoritative in his answers and ability to come up with a solution) area!


Andrew chose a new Viking set when we went to the toy store the other day and really has enjoyed playing with the shield and sword. The helmet is a little too small, and is hard plastic without any padding, so he has not been wearing that around. But he wanted to watch a show with his Viking sword and shield while in the new 'cave.' It was tough to convince him that I needed to relocate the cave once the base was built, but he did help me carry it in once he agreed to moving it. What a big helper!


Momma took this one and asked Andrew to show her what a mean Viking looks like! I can hear Erik the Red quaking in his boots while Andrew gave a grimace!

Come on Daddy, I have it all ready. Lets just use this tool to put it all together!

Madeline got in on the action as well, and while wasn't as big of a help as her older brother, she sure added a touch of cuteness while she would run around on all of the parts and pieces with her little curls flying! :)

My lunch rock.

Here was where I decided to take a break and have some trail mix, take some weight off the feet, and grab some lunch prior to heading back.

Couldn't ask for a better lunch spot!

Lunch spot...

Playing hooky and came up to Sunfish Pond off of the Appalachian trail for a little getaway.

This was my lunch spot and where I turned around to head back home.

Stair climbing...

Daddy, we are just running up and down the stairs and throwning around the soccer ball.

Chug-a-lug on brother's bottle!

Climbing up the tower to play with Daddy!

Mmmmm..... Steak 'n Shake!

Good night Daddy.

Then we fell into bed ready for a book or two (actually four...)

One last silly picture before bed.

Say cheese!

Cheese!

Serious soldier Andrew.

Now make a serious face Andrew!

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Look at me!!!

Soldier Andrew making yet another silly face, but this time with his sword.

Soldier silly face gets ready for bed...

Andrew wanted to be a soldier for bed time tonight. As you can see, he has his father's dashing good looks. :)

fun at the playground

ride 'em ducky!

pirate ship

arg matey!

I am too cool...

I am so cool I have to wear shades!

My cutie!

Madeline just giggling and running around the back porch.

Having a little treat on the lawn...

Daddy brought out the special treat of popcorn on the kids tonight after dinner. So we had it while on a mini-picnic in the back yard.

Yum!

Two swinging buds...

Madeline and Andrew are having fun at the park now that Madeline woke up! They wanted to swing together and spent nearly 30 lins letting me push from side to side! :)

stuck!

Help, I was playing with Daddy on the guest bed and I found out it was pushed away from the wall (but the mattress was tight!).

Andrew in his Flash pj's!

Andrew is soooooo fast in his flash pajamas.

He was standing still in this onen and as you can see he is so fast he was a blur!!!

Construction worker tom boy.

Jersey girl hair...

Madeline is already trying her hand at some 'Jersey girl' from the 80's hair. She is getting there!

Back to reality

Well, we got back last night from our vacation in VA and are already back to reality instead of the alternate world of ‘vacation'.

We all are allowed desert and other fun things while on vacation and as soon as we set foot back into the house vacation is over, so we try to make the best of it.

Reality has struck with Momma and I both realizing that we have entirely too much work to do this week. She has two weeks of work to pack into a short week, I still have no computer which works, so I am going to spend valuable time this week rebuilding and recovering from a machine which died just days before the start of our vacation.

Andrew also has a pretty good fever, and while we did make it to a friends birthday party today, he was so tired that he asked to take a nap all on his own at 11am (a first for his whole life!). He was a little reserved at the party, but when we came home he just wanted to lie on the couch and watch some shows. No playing, no fun, just watching some shows and laying down with a blanket.

Even for dinner Andrew wanted to just lay on a blanket and not eat. We took his temperature and it was above 102, so we gave him some tylenol and hopefully it will start to come down a bit.

While I was rebuilding my laptop, Angela was getting some yummy Greek food for dinner, and Andrew was laying on the couch, Madeline decided to climb inside of two of Momma’s totally water logged pots. She was completely covered in potting soil mud from toe up to her waist and up to her elbows! I whisked her inside and hosed her down (while she was grabbing in her hair of course with her filthy hands) in the basement shower. She was a MESS and did not like the cool water one bit!

We will see how this week shapes up, but it will be a challenging one to say the least!

All that being said, a great vacation was had, we all enjoyed ourselves, had a lot of fun and really enjoyed playing and visiting with Angela’s family. But it is good to be home!

Tired little soldier...

I guess we should have gone to dinner tonight somewhere closer so he wouldn't have a chance to fall asleep! (4 miles was too tiring for my little soldier)

Clydesdale ride...

Sometimes even gladiators like to ride on little clydesdales. (note the breastplate, cape etc)

Cousins about to 'nap'

After a fun day playing at the park by Cousin Thomas' house we were really tired. So we came back to Amy's and Andrew invited Thomas to take a nap with him.

Of course this only laster for 3 minutes, but that's two longer than Daddy though it would last!

Zzzzzz that was a fun afternoon!

We made it to Busch Gardens after our drive down to Williamsburg, VA. Andrew and Madeline zonked out 2 minutes into our drive back to the condo after a fun afternoon at the park!

Cousins playing.

Got to Amy's house yesterday afternoon and we played and played.

This is a picture of the boys playing on the air matress during the day while Momma, Madeline and Aunt Amy are out shopping.

Sleepy little girl

Madeline was such a little trooper going with her big brother to their first movie theater movie this morning directly overlapping her normal nap.

Boy did she zonk out once the movie ended!

Our first movie theater.

We went this morning to our very first movie theater movie. I was a little aprehensive about Madeline being able to stay awake (and quiet) during a movie that started directly when her normal first nap happens.

A 10am start meant that we would be a little hungry and cranky during and especially after it, but we tried it anyway and had the best behaved children throughout the entire movie.

Andrew and Madeline both enjoyed watching the Pixar film 'UP!' along with Momma and Daddy laughing out loud during several parts throughout the movie.

We got Popcorn and a lemonade to make the first movie a full experience, but Andrew didn't even touch the popcorn (we had a big late B'fast anyway) but did have some lemonade.

Madeline sat mesmerized by the huge screen (and overly loud sound system) on Momma's lap while Andrew sat between us just as amazed by the big screen.

A fun time was had by all and I can't imagine a better first movie theater experience!

Waiting for the truck.

Andrew and I went to take the truck for serviced yesterday for a look over and an oil change prior to our road trip to VA next weekend.

I haven't gone with him in a while, so I had not had the opportunity to go into the kids waiting room lately and didn't remember that they have two full sized arcade games in there (free for patrons).

He enjoyed playing this 'Golden Tee' golf game quite a bit as you roll the ball back and then spin it fast forward to swing it. We did nearly 4 holes prior to getting tired of it.

They also had a full sized driving game, but we needed a little team work for that one since he couldn't touch the pedals and steer at the same time.

That one wasn't as interesting since we could't stay on the road for very long.

I was thankful that those were present as there was a full waiting room and we had a while to wait even before the truck came into the shop.

Memorial Day weekend 2009

We had a great time over the past holiday weekend. We were able to head down to Point Pleasant Beach early, and that made a big differance in the pace of the weekend and the happiness of everyone!

Friday morning we wrangled up the tykes and headed out the door by 9am and did our now 'normal' stop by Dunkin Donuts on our way South on any road trip. This time we opted for donuts rather than just holes, Andrew has really become a Donut connoisseur, whether that is a good thing or not!

We had no traffic at all (for those outside the NY/NJ area, that means very heavy traffic, but no places that came to a halt or below 20 MPH for more than a few minutes!) and made it to 'our' beach house just in time to unload and head right back out to the Point Pleasant Beach boardwalk.

We had some difficulty finding parking in any of the close lots, so had a 5 block walk to get there, but with double stroller in tow, we all made it there without incident. We lubed everyone up prior to heading out, and other than the standard complaints from the peanut gallery, we were set to go wnjoy some boardwalk food prior to hitting the rides.

This year we managed to order some ticket books (secret 1/2 off sale over Easter weekend) so had everything we needed. Momma found a picnic table under an awning and out of the sun while I ordered some yummy pizza, cheese fries, and a chilli dog. Yum! (It was vacation after all)

After lunch we strolled on over to the rides and Andrew had a hard time taking it all in and deciding which ride he wanted to go on first. He would look at them and point around saying he wanted to do them all. So cute! So we decided to just work our way around the rides, and started out with the safari truck ride where Andrew wanted, and fortunately got, the first car to drive.

After the safari ride, we took our turn on the alligator, the carousel, and the helicopter rides. Angela and I laughed at the stoic look on Andrew's face during each of the rides. He is so serious, hardly cracking a smile the whole ride! Of course he had a great time, and smiled both before and after getting on, but during his ride, he always has such a serious face on!

We worked our way around the amusement park with Madeline being a perfect little trooper watching Andrew with each ride and sharing some water with Momma. She will be going on them soon enough, and I realized that I should have taken her on at least the carosel while we were there, but she was just laying back and enjoying seeing all of the people and kids running this way and that way.

We finished our boardwalk excursion with a ride on some motorcycles, fish, biplane, and elephants and decided that it was time to head back for an afternoon nap for Andrew and Madeline.

Andrew twisted Momma's arm and got some cotton candy while she enjoyed a funnel cake as we walked back on the boardwalk to the car.

Once we got back to the truck, Madeline was out like a light, and Andrew was close, so Angela drove the truck around to the grocery store and ran an errand or two while I walked back to the Walsh's house and tried to talk Andrew into taking a snooze while we walked. About two blocks short of their house, Andrew finally gave in and started snoozing. So I walked to the end of their dead end street and parked the stoller under a shady tree (right next to the very active train tracks!). They slept peacefully and I posted a few snapshots from my phone to the blog while I waited for Angela to come back from the store.

Once she returned we swaped spots and I took in some groceries and prepped the room a little for our stay.

That afternoon, the kids enjoyed playing in the yard, and yummy snacks while the adults caught up chatting and had fun chasing the little ones around. Madeline discovered that not all stairs are as soft and smooth as the ones at home, and took a nose dive from the stair onto the cement pavement just as Angela was catching her. We shed some tears, but wasn't hurt too badly, though her scraped up nose looked like a skinned up knee!

After dinner, the Dad's took Andrew and Lindsay over to the local minor league baseball game and had lots of fun. It is my first minor league game as well as Andrew's so we weren't sure what to expect, but it was perfect for the little kids.

Cheap tickets, kids got a coupon for free hot dog, chips, and drink and we all had fun playing in their inflatable bouncy houses and obstacle courses.

Cap off the evening with a Sponge Bob ice cream (sorry Andrew they were out of Spiderman) and we had a great day!

The kids were pooped (as were the parents) by the time we got home, but they both remembered that there was some cotton candy left over from our visit to the boardwalk, so each had a handful before heading off to bed.

Great first day to the weekend, and a fun filled way to start out the summer!

Vroom vroom!

Once in a while you just have to hop on your hog and take it out for a spin at the park.

Hangin on the fire truck

Just smiling as we are playing tickle monster while at the park with Andrew, Lindsay, and Cooper.

Picking up out wiffle balls...

'I can help you little brother' as we pick up our bucket of wiffle balls that we played with all morning.

Playing ball and running around.

Just another lazy day at 'our' beach house. Madeline watching and getting ready to play with the big kids in the yard.

Sitting with our snack.

We are both enjoying such a wonderful day at Point Pleasant Beach just hangin and eating a snack together.

Friday afternoon nap

A nice long nap in the stroller after a hard afternoon at the boardwalk.