Enjoying the Weather

I think this is our last nice day for awhile.  My friend, Sandy, and I have started walking early in the morning a few days a week to beat the heat and get in shape.  But today wasn’t too bad til late afternoon.  This morning after my walk with Sandy, Madison, Ellie, and I headed to the park.  She is getting better on the swings the more we practice.  I still don’t trust her grip enough to swing her too high, but it is getting higher each visit.  Then, we came home and put Ellie down for a nap.  We called my dad to see if he wanted to go see the auction animals with us after Ellie woke up.  So, he came around 11, and we took our parade across the street.  This time we saw pigs in all combinations of colors – pink, black, brown, black with pink stripes, pink with black spots.  We saw some goats, a few sheep, and LOTS of cattle.  I forgot my camera, so we didn’t get any pictures with Grandpa.  He stayed for lunch, a little play time, and conversation before heading home.  This afternoon we got the pool out.  We tried for a group photo…

….It didn’t go so well.  (I wanted some of them in their matching swim diapers, purchased at DiaperHQ from my friend, Rachel… if you want one, just order and put her name in the comments! They are reusable, so I don’t have to spend a fortune and waste so many disposable ones.)  I opted for some individual photos instead.  Here is Madison, the photographer:

          

And Ellie (I think the pool water was a little too cool for her liking)

           

I hope we can handle the heat the next days.  I need some suggestions for some cool activities for us – maybe some that involve air conditioning and indoors…  Have a great Friday!

New Friends

We had Kenna over to play today.  Her mom had gone to church with me when I was younger.  She just had a baby a month ago and as any new (for the first or second or third…) mom will tell you, you just need some breaks.  I had the luxury of taking Madison to the sitter two days a week when I was on maternity leave, so I invited Kenna over for a morning play time.  For the most part, the girls did great playing together – out on the playset, in cars and on bikes, with balls, and with tea sets.  They had a snack on the deck and smiled for the camera.

       

There were a few moments of who should have what when, but I was very proud of both of them.  Ellie slept almost the entire morning away, so it left me to entertain them without another one in my hands.  They had a yummy lunch of pancakes, eggs, and blueberries.  Then, Kenna went home for the afternoon.  It was a good morning.

Yesterday, Madison and Ellie were sitting on the rocker.  It would have been a super cute picture if Madison wasn’t into running from the camera half the time.  This is the shot I got.  There has been some good sisterly love lately (with a little bit of sisterly pushing too).

Tomorrow is auction day here.  We might try to head there a little later in the morning and actually see some more animals.  Have a great end of the week everyone.

Baby Food

We started Ellie on baby food again.  We took about a month break because she just wasn’t into it.  I think that she is now “into it” since she downed a whole jar of sweet potatoes along with oatmeal last night! 

She also has become an excellent stander in her exersaucer.  And can almost sit on her own.  I am not sure where time went and how she acquired all these skills so quickly, but it amazes me!  I am still waiting for her to roll….

      

I wanted to say that I posted A LOT of different posts today.  They are kinda all out of order, and if I knew how to reorder them, I would, but I don’t so sorry for the confusion.  I am finally caught up though, and I hope to post on a more regular basis.  So, for the few followers out there, be ready for more consistency

Family

One perk of being here (as opposed to Columbus) is we are close to family – both our families, in fact.  The other night my parents invited us to come over along with one of my brothers and his family for a bbq and homemade ice cream.  It is good to see and connect with everyone again.  We came home often, but it always seemed a little rushed, like we were trying to fit so much in.  It is nice to just have time, and to be able to pop in for an hour if we want.  It is also really neat to see Madison bond with her cousins.  She liked Sam and Lilli, but was very impressed with Sam’s antics – although Lilli started to win her over with her dance moves!  The three were like peas in a pod for the night.  It started with the swings and what my brother called “turbo blasting” the kids, and it continued through bath time.

     

Madison liked wearing Lilli’s flip flops as well.

        

Ellie is also entertained by her cousins’ antics and enjoyed the extra time with Grandma and Grandpa and anyone else who wanted some baby time.

                    

Going Away

I never posted anything about the actual move away.  We had a small, spur-of-the-moment going away party at the park on a hot Sunday afternoon.  There were a few friends able to make it to hang out one more time…

Danielle, Rob, Mia, and Evelyn – they were some of our small group buddies.  During my maternity leave, Madison, Ellie and I went to story time with them as well.

Josh, Hillary, Graham, and Jillian – Josh was Jeremy’s co-worker at one of his jobs.  We didn’t get together with them much, but when we did we had fun. 

Deb – Jeremy’s ONU friend and my book club buddy.  She is always fun to chat with, and she is willing to entertain kids :)

The kids had fun finding “fireplace man.”  It sent them home super dirty, but kept them laughing!

        

Myla – Madison’s Sunday School buddy…. every Sunday we would look for her.  Her parents helped with the youth group at the same time we did as well.

Jim and Ruth, our neighbors, came to say farewell on moving day.  Madison enjoyed going over to their house to visit.

Fun in Our New Town

It has been an adjustment for me – the end of school and a new place to live.  So, my usual go-to places are not here, and I have more time to hang out with the girls during the day.  Neither are necessarily bad, but it is a shift.  So, this is what I have learned.

Our new backyard, side yard, and front yard trumps our deck and our driveway.  We have climbers for Madison to play on (thanks, Grandpa and Grandma Yoh!).  We have a coupe car to drive around on the drive way (thank, flea market).  We have a go-to area for outdoor tea parties, buggy viewing, and kickball. 

      

We don’t have the zoo, but we have the auction every Thursday with a good variety of farm animals.  We went last Thursday, but we went to early in the morning to see many; next Thursday, we’ll go late morning.  Ellie enjoyed the goat who was playing peek-a-boo with us by standing on his gate.  Madison braved the catwalk to see the cattle from above.  I don’t know that it trumps the zoo (well, I do know – it doesn’t), but it IS only a short stroller walk away and the animals are different.  We also have buggies, which Madison still gets excited about and hollers “horse” and waves at the Amish inside.  (This is the only picture I took because I was had to juggle Ellie and the camera – not an easy task!)

There is a park in town, and the sidewalk is really not all that bumpy to get there.  It is probably about equidistant from our park by our house, so it is do-able.  The walk is definitely a better workout.  It is a short downhill to a corner, and then uphill to the park; I am pretty winded pushing the stroller there.  It does not have bucket swings, but Madison is learning how to sit in the big swings; we just can’t go as high. 

She discovered a small frog today while playing.  It was in a strange location, and frankly, I have no idea how it got there.  If you find Madison in the first picture, she is looking at the frog who is a long way from the ground.

        

Ellie does what she always does at the park – lay on a blanket, chew on anything she can get her hands on, and “talk”

        

There are more things I am sure we will discover and learn, but this is a start.

Good-bye and Hello

This is our farewell picture to our townhouse – our first home as a married couple, our first home for our kids, our first 6 years of memories together.  Although we were ready to move into something with one more bedroom, we will miss the memories this house created with us.

When we brought the girls to the new house, Madison’s favorite thing was the spare bed that we put in her new room.  She calls it her “cuddle bed” because it is a great place to cuddle her and for her to cuddle her animals.  Her delight was contagious!

          

She also enjoyed her tea set that had been packed away.

Ellie’s reaction was not as fun, but here she is in her new house

         

It's been awhile...

This is going to be short and sweet (I think), and lacking pictures today.  I have been silent in the blogging arena because we have been in the process of moving.  Jeremy started a new job a week after Ellie was born.  He was out of town at least three days a week for the past four months because of it.  We knew we would be moving to accommodate the job.  It was quite an experience being a "single" parent.  I was a stay-at-home mom for part of it and a working mom for the other part of it.  It was not easy, and it gave me a greater appreciation for single parents.

School ended June 8th, and we moved June 12th to our new home.  We rented our former residence out, so we traveled back there to clean one day, and spent the next three days unpacking here.  I forgot how long it takes to move into a space.  We are renting, and the landlords did a great job fixing the place up - we got new (beautiful) kitchen cabinets, remodeled bathrooms, and new coats of paint.  The girls have their own rooms, and our stuff fit just right into our much smaller room.  We have a nice big yard and a garage; two things we missed at our old house.

We are much closer to both our families.  This is a blessing we will enjoy while it lasts.  I am close to a number of friends from high school and church.  We have been working to meet neighbors and find things to do.  We miss Tara and Grace - our go to walking and playing buddies in Columbus.  In fact, I got a message that Grace wanted to play with Madison in the "mountains" (their speak for fountains) the other day, and I started crying.  It is hard to leave good friends.  I am thankful that her family is from this area as well; so I hope to see her when she comes home sometimes. 

I have taken a few pictures, but I am enjoying the moment to just be sitting.  I will work to post some pics and another update in the next few days.

Scioto Mile Fountain

We wanted to get to the downtown fountains before we moved.  So, last week, Tara and I planned for a Thursday get together and hoped for good weather.  The weather was great for the fountains today.  The girls had fun:

Running through the fountains:

    

Splashing in the puddles:

    

Filling up their cups:

    

Madison wanted to play inside this giant thing. 

It became Old Faithful when it went off; I am pretty sure she would have been blown out of there.  It explains why the pipes are so close together!

Eating/resting (Madison was more into this than Grace):

     

Me and my girls

This would have been a great place to hang out this summer.  I guess we’ll just come back to visit!