Reflections

Homemade pickles

The Garden

Jackson taking his first swing on a big boy swing (CSA summer gathering at the Farm)

As summer slowly comes to an end there are so many things that come to mind.

We have had a love affair with the garden this year. It's amazing how much we have produced, given away, stored and eaten. It also amazes me how much our children love it and will eat anything that comes from it... even the beets! Speaking of beets, I roasted some for dinner guests on Sunday and they were delicious, who knew! I think I'll grow more next year.

Time flys! The girls have gotten big and even more amazing is that the summer is gone! Abygail is in school and while we still go to playgroup the summer free days are gone and we didn't even take advantage of them. It's this time of year that I look back on those days of missed opportunities with remorse and a renewed sense of determination. My mantra? I will leave my house and show my children the world. Shall we see how long that lasts?

On the theme of worlds, we got to play in a fun play world on Labor Day at the Children's Museum of Play. This place is great. Jason went with us and it was his first time going. He loved it just as much as the kids. We went in the butterfly garden which was amazing. It's reported that Jackson had more than one butterflies land on his body/head, wish I had seen that. No worries, we were there with lots of friends so while I did not personally get to see it at least I can blog about it!

While we are talking about blogs, I've been horrible these last 7 or more months haven't I!!!???

Well, Let's move on to more pleasant topics, shall we? This past 30 days has been full of events and fun. On the 16th of last month we celebrated our 6th anniversary. I'm not sure that you could say we 'celebrated' it as we told no one and did nothing. We actually had dinner at some friends house and just enjoyed their company, nothing special but we liked it.

Last week was Jason's 36th birthday (shhh, don't tell him I told you)! We had a Mexican Fiesta with chicken enchiladas, rice, beans (a cold bean salad which was more like a salsa or relish but hey, it was beans), chips, cheese, guacamole and it was all washed down with a raspberry sparkling concoction made table side. Finally came the bonfire and dessert portion of the evening where we put 1 full box of candles (because they come in packs of 36) on a chocolate raspberry cake. It was bright, it was hot, it was a flaming cake!!! Just kidding, wink, wink. Too bad I forgot the ice cream in the freezer, it too was raspberry.

Just over the weekend we went to an ice cream party, a baby shower (well, not "we", just "I"), a girls afternoon (again, just "I"), entertained guests for dinner, played at the museum and park and finished the day off with a yummy dinner with friends again. We like our friends here, can you tell?

Have I mentioned that Abygail started preschool this week? I have? Are you sure??? Well, in case you missed it, she did. She loves it, but that's for another post.

Back to the the end of summer theme, we are excited for this fall season. We can't wait to get to the pumpkin patch, out to Letchworth, go on a few hikes, get the fire pit going and enjoy the weather and colors that await us. Here's to a great summer past and a wonderful fall to come!

A New Year

Well, we've successfully gotten through 2008. What was the best thing about it? I didn't give birth to any children :)

What does 2009 hold for us...hopefully 2 adorable and healthy baby girls, lots of visits from family and new goals.

Now, some have made fun or suggested that we do not make New Years Resolutions in our family. I am here to prove otherwise. First, let me remind you of 2008 goals (or as some call them Resolutions) which can be read here. In reflecting on those resolutions/goals I find that we did fairly well. Anytime we changed a light bulb it was to a CFL, we attempted to grow a vegetable garden where we had some successes and some failures, we used our own shopping bags at least 50 % of the time or more (every time we remembered to bring them), we started recycling but never started composting, and buying less stuff...well I don't know how I would measure that but we probably failed on that one.

So, what's on the agenda for this year? We are going to make it a priority to read with the kids from the scriptures every night. We are also working towards a family goal that we've set for accomplishment on August 16th.

Some additional goals on my part are:
+ attempt a modest garden again
+ incorporate beans more often into our meal planning
+ start a weekly meal plan
+ stick more closely to a budget

How about you? Any resolutions for this new year?

Christmas 2008

We had so much fun this Christmas. The day before Christmas Eve there was tons of snow on the ground but Christmas Eve it started melting and now it's all gone (via the rain and sun). We did have a White Christmas but it was an old and dirty white Christmas - not the kind you imagine or see on postcards.Christmas eve I had a Dr apt in the late morning after which we went to Rachel & Tyler's Ugly Sweater Party. We had so much fun eating, talking and making boxes to take to local charities. This year we went to the Ronald McDonald house and dropped off a box of food, toys and toiletries. It makes everyone feel so good to share and give at Christmas. There was a toy in the box that Abygail especially liked and we told her she could hold it and look at it in the car but that we would have to give it to another little girl who was sick for Christmas. When we got to the R.M. House she went inside with Jason (Jackson was asleep) and willingly gave the toy away - so sweet!That evening we opened our PJs and took our annual PJ picture, then we read about the birth of Jesus in Luke and talked about it with Abygail who understood a little of it. Last year she and
Jackson got a nativity set from Allison and they have loved playing with it this year. After we read Luke we talked about it and the figurines from the nativity set, it was a nice experience.

Christmas morning the kids went straight to the stuff that was unwrapped. Abygail saw her doll stroller first and she was very excited. Then she saw her dress up stuff (Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, a too too (sp?) with 3 pairs of shoes and 3 tiaras - all displayed nicely in her new dress up basket).
Jackson loved his building blocks and cars. He also loved the doll stroller :)

Jason and I also had great presents. Last year Jason got me a camera and I got him a water bottle that he still enjoyes and uses. This year the tables were turned and I got him a Wii and he got me a 2009 calendar that I will use and enjoy throughout this next year.

Christmas day I cooked dinner (ham, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie...and Jason made smashed sweet potatoes - yummy!). Our friends came over and we all enjoyed the day/evening. We played the Wii while the kids played with new toys and watched a movie.

We've had so much fun and we hope all of you had a very merry Christmas too!

The Santa Train

Can you tell how excited they were to see Santa?!

Too bad this is blurry!

Saturday after Jason got home we all headed to lunch and to ride on the Santa Train. The kids have been obsessed with The Polar Express movie this year (I could probably quote the whole movie by now)! There is a train museum about an hour from here and they do seasonal rides (fall foliage, Thomas comes to town once a year, wine train tours, etc) and during the Christmas season they do a Santa Train. It was a little expensive but we decided to treat the kids to it and make the whole train experience come alive for them.

First on the agenda was to fill up our bellies. We stopped a The Original Pancake house and had some yummy brunch. Then we headed out to the train museum. We got there about 15 mins before the train left and it was CROWDED! When we got on our assigned car the only seats left were on the sunny side of the train. O well, we survived the sun.

Jackson, "ts Santa!" and Abygail hiding from Santa

Shortly after departure Santa came through our car. Abygail was very shy and covered her face the entire time. Jackson was fine as long as Santa kept a reasonable distance. They both knew who he was, Jackson even pointed at him and said "ts (it's) Santa". They may not have liked Santa being so close but they enjoyed the candy canes his elf passed out. After Santa some more elves came through and sang songs. We enjoyed singing Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer when the Elf sat across from us. The conductors came through and punched our tickets and chatted...we got a picture with ours, who also happened to be the oldest on the train...and probably the cutest too. Another Conductor did some magic tricks for the kids. We all had fun.

Jason and the kids de-boarding

It was a good experience for the kids, but I don't think we'll do it again. Unfortunately only half of the windows on the train DIDN'T fog up and ours was not one of them so we couldn't see out our windows and the tracks were blocked or backed up before we got to our midway point so we had to turn back early. It was about a 1 hour train ride total. The museum itself was ok but most of the toy trains were not even running and there were no BIG or REAL trains to tour (at least that we saw). So, although it was a fun time we overall thought it was not worth the cost. I'm still glad we went...but next time we'll just do something Christmasy closer to home and less expensive.

Side Notes

Here are some side notes, additional comments, on our trip to the pumpkin farm. (Thanks Erika for taking the pictures!)

Doesn't my little girl look all grown up!?

Abygail was checking this turkey out and got a little too close...then it pecked her!

Jackson REALLY enjoyed his sister's ice cream.

Jackson playing peek-a-boo (his favorite game) in the pumpkin pyramid.

Our family (wish I had taken my glasses off and maybe even done something with my hair!)

Two super cute kids playing in the pumpkin pyramid! Don't ya just want to pinch their cheeks?

Family Time: Part I

Saturday we took some much needed family time. We took a trip to Brown's Berry Farm (on a tip from some friends :). Any-who, we got there around 4:30 and they close at 6, so we didn't get to play in the playground area or go for a hay ride or even build our own scarecrows but we did get some fun berry and apple picking time. It was a perfect day, the weather was just great and a few trees were showing their colors. Fall is certainly in the air :)

Abygail was very intent on the job at hand. She loved picking raspberries - I don't think she ate as many as the rest of us, in fact...I never saw her eat even one, while she was picking! Jackson on the other hand was a pick and eat-er! We didn't wind up with as many as we thought we would, they seemed pretty over picked and we were running out of time. The blackberries, well, they were non-existent, guess we should go earlier next time.

Jackson really enjoyed picking apples, but Abygail just wanted to sit in the stroller and look at her basket of raspberries, and munch on them - she was very proud of her handy work.

After all the picking we had ice cream (well, I had a salad and everyone else had ice cream). I wish we had pictures of the fun mess that was made. Turns out that Abygail doesn't like eating the cone. She likes having a spoon and eating her ice cream out of the cone with the spoon - then giving the cone to Daddy to eat. Jackson - well, he likes it all!!!

On our way home we stopped at a state park that was just on the banks of Lake Ontario. It was beautiful! The kids enjoyed seeing the lake and then swinging on the swings. We tried to take a walk in the woods but the sun was going down and Abygail DID NOT like being in the woods when it was starting to get dark...guess we know a little more about her night problems now.

The kids fell asleep before we even got home and they stayed asleep too!!!

This is definitely something we will do again, it was such a good family experience.

A Perfect Wednesday

Today we met some friends at a farmers market. We got some cherries, peaches, tomatoes and chow chow (yum, yum). The tomatoes and chow chow were local but the cherries and peaches were not. It's still not the season here yet, but it's coming very soon. After the market we went to Cazanovia park and ran around on the water fountain pad. I wish I had the camera. The kids were so cute. Abygail was Miss. Brave and ran everywhere with out worry of where Mommy was. She got knocked down a few times by other excited kids but she did really well. Jackson also ventured further than I thought. Each time he would come back, reach up to me with a huge grin as if to say, "Did you see what I did Mom? It was sooo cool!"

I love my kids and admire their bravery.

It was a perfect summer day:)

Just When You Think It's Safe

Yesterday was a great day weather wise. Sure it was still in the 30s but it was partly cloudy and little wind so it felt great. The kids and I went to the zoo. They were both bundled up and I was in a t-shirt with a hoodie over it - again, it felt great. (we all wore hats to help keep our heat in)

There were some people there but it wasn't very crowded. Abygail walked most of the way and by the end she was so tired she wanted to crawl, then just sit on the ground. We finally got back in the car and she fell fast asleep.

This morning we woke up to this:

Just when you think the snow is pretty much over, you've got to shovel again! O well, it's really beautiful.

Another first happened yesterday morning. Just when we were starting to think the McFallville tragedies were over...Jackson fell down the stairs. He got some bumps and a scratch but he seems none the worse for it.

Some other milestones: Abygail counts to 10 now, she loves playing hide-n-go-seek. Jackson waves good-bye, he was doing this at the zoo when we would say bye-bye to the animals and it was too cute.

A Week In Review

Silly Songs:
Abygail loves to have us sing to her. Most of the time that's how she goes to sleep. Lately (the past month or so) she has been requesting some interesting songs. This is my favorite song for this week:

Abygail: Sing Abygail.
Mommy: Ok, 'Abygail, you are my sunshine...'
Abygail: NO! Sing Butter.
Mommy: Ok, 'Butter, butter, who's seen the butter...'
Abygail: NO! Sing Pancakes.
Mommy: Ok, 'Pancakes, panny cakes, everybody likes panny cakes...'
Abygail: NO! Sing Butter Pancakes.
Mommy: Ok, 'Butter on my pancakes, what's better...'
Abygail: NO! SING ABYGAIL BUTTER PANCAKES!!!
Mommy: OK! 'Abygail likes butter and she like pancakes...'
(a sigh of relief that we've finally found the right song)

Testing the Limits:
Abygail has also started testing the limits. She likes to try and demand to run around diaper-less (nekky bum). She also wants to go to the bathroom "by self" and closes the door behind her among a vast number of other things (playing during dinner, pushing Jackson...)

Wiggle Wart:
Jackson is such a WIGGLE WART. I was cracking up the other morning when he woke up for his 5:30am feeding. I was nursing him and his legs were pushing and bouncing, his eyes are closed and he's moving! It's so hard to get him to stay still long enough to get food into this crazy boy. I just love him so much and it really cracks me up!


Daddy Date:
Wednesday we had a "Daddy Date". Since it is still pretty cold here and there is still snow remaining on the ground there are not a lot of places where the kids can get out and stretch their legs for very long. There is a mall here that has some indoor play equipment (it's pretty small but beggars can't be choosers). Wednesday we decided to go to the play place in the mall and Jason was free for lunch so we swung by and brought him with us. Of course, no family outing is complete with out a little car sickness. We got to the mall, I was looking for a parking place and I started hearing the signals that Abygail was about to do her thing. I quickly stopped, Jason and Abygail got out of the car planning to meet us inside. But...It was too late! Jason got as far as Abygail out of the car and in his arms about ready to close the door for us to drive off when IT happened...all over the ground and on his shirt! It was a good thing we were at the mall, he got a new shirt out of it.

We got to see the Easter Bunny. Abygail was very cute. She was shy and didn't want to touch him/her or have him/her touch her but she told him HI.

We enjoyed lunch together and then the kids played in the indoor playground. There were a lot of kids there but they both had fun. Jackson wanted to be right there with all the big kids too. He climbed up a slide and crawled all over the place.

We all had a lot of fun. When it was over we dropped Daddy back off at school. A perfect Daddy Date.

Potty Training:
Abygail is not completely potty trained. Really, she just knows how to use the potty when she wants to. She has become very adept at taking her diaper off as well. I know I need to be more firm about her using the potty, I just haven't figured out how to do it in a nice way that she will respond positively to.

Yesterday I lost it. She went pooh pooh in her diaper and then took it off and came to tell me that she had gone pooh pooh (nothing unusual there). She also said "uh oh mommy. I poopie on my foot". Sure enough there was pooh pooh on her foot. I told her not to move, I would be right back to clean it up. I walked out of the library and past the bathroom, where right in front of it was laying her diaper with poop in it and poop on the floor as well. I got some stuff to clean it all up and came back to see that she had moved. I told her again not to move, then proceeded to clean up the mess in front of the bathroom (dummy me, should have cleaned up her foot first). When I was done and ready to clean her up, I found she had moved again and now there was poop on the furniture in the library. GREAT! I cleaned her up while yelling. I know, it really wasn't her fault and yelling just scared her but I just lost it. Next time...hopefully there won't be a next time.

We Got Barely Any Snow

Ok, so we got a little bit more than 'barely'.

It's been snowing since Thursday night (i think) and it's beautiful. Some kind neighbor come through with their snowblower and cleared our sidewalk, now we just need to get the front walk and driveway clear.

I'm hearing the call of the back yard crying for a snowman!

Before And After

This is what the front of the house looked like before
This is what the view looking out of the house is after

Here's a short video of the clean up not even an hour after my post yesterday. The city came and cleared it up. Now we just have to figure out what to do with the large stump.

Winter Weather

This post is for my family back in Texas and other parts of the country that don't get to experience all four seasons, but it is especially for Alicia who posted a picture of her kids playing on the swingset in their backyard wearing only socks, jeans, and shirts. Seeing the picture made me pause at the stark contrast to the weather we have been enjoying. I don't have pictures of Abygail's random tracks in the snow, nor do I have pictures of Amber's snow angel, my shoveling snow to clear the drive and sidewalks, or Jackson buried under coat, hats, and blankets galore in his car-seat, but thinking I wanted to share our winter weather (which I do so enjoy), I did take a couple pictures this morning looking through windows in our house. The first is of our backyard through the library window, and the second is of our front yard through our living room window.

Scheduling A Date

We've finally gotten the 'clear to close' on our house. FINALLY! We will be closing on the house on the 27th. So we'll be taking down Christmas decorations and packing all at the same time. It should be a whirlwind of a move with just 4 days to get it all done. We won't be able to have the kitchen done or even started before we move so I guess that will just have to be done ASAP after the move.

The hold up has been the seller's lawyer not getting everything done on his end AND we just found out that the seller (who lives in OH) is going to be staying in the house over Christmas. Lets just recap here, the house is empty - completely empty except for a stove and fridge. It's been empty for almost a year now. So I ask, WHY????? I guess it doesn't really matter, just as long as we move before the end of the year but we were certainly not happy to hear this news. We were going to close this Friday (21st) but then the seller decided to live in it for just the holidays - crazy!

In other news: Jackson is pulling up on just about anything he can. He's still really wobbly and falls a lot (especially when he pulls up on things that move out from under him like the swing) but it's so fun to see him developing and trying his hardest to stand. He's getting to his tip toes in a leaning position or just on his knees - so funny. He's also fascinated with the cat now (Darwin). We really are lucky that we have such a docile cat that lets the kids climb all over them.

Abygail has been really enjoying the snow and so have Jason and I. Only time will tell if we still love the snow once we have to start shoveling it. ;o)

I finally got a little Christmas shopping done the other day. Jason stayed home with the kids and it was nice to be out of the house all by myself. It was a rushed trip though and only one stop, o how I miss the Christmas shopping of my younger years when I could go as often as I liked and spend as much time as I wanted, but it's so much fun to shop for the kids now that I'm older and have some.

A Blanket Of Snow

Last night it was snowing when we went to bed. I just love watching it snow so much that we slept with the blinds open (not such a great idea when you live on a busy street but we did it anyway). Every time I woke up during the night I could see the snow falling and it was just beautiful. It snowed basically all day long and is still snowing now. There is a gorgeous thick white blanket of snow covering everything and it's so beautiful.

The following is more for record keeping and nostalgia's sake.

I have a bottle problem. I can no longer say that it's Abygail's problem because it just simply is not, it's not even Jason's problem. Just mine, all mine. I LOVE giving Aby a bottle just before nap time. I know, this is wrong on so many levels: she's too old, it's a bad habit right before sleeping, it is bad for the teeth, etc, etc. We have stopped giving her one before bed and even in the middle of the night when she wakes up. I was hoping to preserve that special time right before nap but she take milk from the cup really well now and well, there is just no reason except my one emotional attachment to give her one before nap any more. I just want to cry! I loved rocking her and giving it to her, cuddling and snuggling while I hummed or sang. Now it's over, she's not a baby any more and I just need to face it, no matter how hard that might be.

Snow Angel

So I got home to late to build a snowman, but Abygail and I did get out in the snow for a little bit. I think it must be inborn for kids to eat snow, because Abygail sure enjoyed it. She also enjoyed laying in the snow.

1:45 And Still Snowing

Maybe Jason will get home before it gets dark and we can all go and build a snowman?!

Look at the bushes in front of our door and across the street, also the window ledge gives you a good idea of the difference of the two pictures. They shoveled the walk in front of our door not even 2 hours ago and then they just came back through and plowed the sidewalk again. The walk in front of our door now has snow on it and the side walk shows you the depth of the snow.

Living In A Winter Wonderland

We awoke this morning to no snow, then it was snowing just a little and now it's really snowing good - fabulous! Here is a pic, not sure if you get the full grasp as this is my camera phone which doesn't take the best pics.

A Pain In The Neck

It snowed last night and this morning. The first REAL snow, we have about 4 inches on the ground and it is so pretty and white.

This morning while getting ready for church Jason fell. Not on the snow, not even outside. He fell out of the rocking chair. Well actually he fell back and hurt his neck really bad. He immediately went to the couch and laid down because he couldn't move his neck at all. So we stayed home and pampered daddy. It hasn't gotten much better and he is teaching tomorrow so we've decided that I'll need to take him to work (could you imagine him driving without the use of his neck?!?!). I hope that he gets better soon, it's very sad but also SOOO VERY FUNNY!

Last week and this weekend has just been crazy, Jason has been gone all week studying, teaching and he just had to start working a new lab rotation. So the research begins - he'll be working in the lab during the Winter Break as well. This week he'll be super busy again, he's got a final on Friday and then he has a test to write over the up coming weekend and then he's done (except for the research) until mid January when school starts up again.

For now we will just enjoy the fabulous weather and start getting ready to pack and move.

Firsts

Yesterday we had our first snow. It was a really wet, heavy snow that did not last but first snow it was none the less. I'm really excited to see the snow this year. I won't be prego and Abygail is just old enough to start enjoying it. I hope we can find a place to go sledding! :o)

Another first happened yesterday, Jackson had his first bite of rice cereal. He actually did really well, I think he swallowed about a quarter of what I offered him. Abygail was a bit upset at first that Jackson was getting the cereal and not her (not that she would have eaten it - I think she just wants all the attention) but then I asked her to help me and she was happy just sitting in my lap and watching me feed Jackson. By the end there were so many hands in Jackson's face that he just started to cry and we had to end the session. Abygail was grabbing for the spoon, I was holding the spoon and trying to grab Abygail's hands and Jackson was trying to grab the spoon and our hands.

On Sunday morning we experienced another first: Jackson got up on his hands and knees and started rocking. Since then it's been his favorite thing to do, other than army crawl/inch worm to what ever he sees and wants. I am so amazed every time something new happens with Jackson's development. It amazes me that they learn to do these things mostly on their own, you can help them and do activities with them about how to crawl, how to use their hands, lift their heads, roll over, walk, etc. But really they learn it on their own just by watching us. It doesn't matter when they do it, if they are 1 month, 6 months, 9 months or a year...it's still amazing every time. Whether they take their time or charge right through the milestones - it's still amazing when it happens because the bottom line is they have changed and learned something new and have grown. SIMPLY AMAZING.

One last first happened yesterday. Those cookies that I made finally got decorated. Jason and Abygail decorated cookies. Abygail preferred to eat the frosting and sprinkles but whatever, it was fun to watch.

**UPDATE**
Abygail has finally learned and can say her name. This evening she was even saying her version of our last name.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Today was Halloween, bet you didn't already know that!

Both of the kids have the croup (sp?) and I seriously debated on even taking them out. We already had plans to hook up with Alaska and Diana (Buffalo friends) and eat pizza and trick or treat. This was Abygail's first Halloween, I know she is 19 months old tomorrow but last year the city was recovering from the October storm and it was just too dangerous to get out and trick or treat, so I decided that we had to go anyway. The kids and I went and then I had to go back and pick Jason up from work since his class didn't end until 6:30. Abygail was a duck/chicken and Jackson a pumpkin. Abygail did really well the first several houses and then she got tired. She carried her own treat bag and even said 'twik twet' towards the end. Her duck feet that I made were very cute but they kept spinning around and were backwards and then we would step on them and it would trip her so we took them off after just a few houses. Jason the kids and I went back to the house early since Jackson was coughing up a lung and Abygail was pretty much over the walking and getting candy scene.

We enjoyed the homemade pizzas and hanging out with friends. All the kids looked so cute! We even got some real doctor advice from Alaska's hubby and I got some advice from the girls about sick babies (much needed advice too, I still feel so new at this whole being a mom thing).

We didn't have our camera (It was enough to just get everyone ready and get out the door) but Alaska took some pics for us. As soon as I get those I'll update this post.