2009_08_30 Sunday

Today, we visited the Black Moshannon State Park's bog walk. They had so many wild blueberries still ripe that we picked them off the bush. Jonathan got a big kick out of that. And, he ran along the boardwalks, hiding from us at the turns. He thought he was pretty darn funny. It gave me a coronary, since there was no fencing from the water/bog. I saw a snake -- an anaconda, for sure. We also took a stroll into the forest, where he and Opa found lots of mushrooms, acorns, and trees to hide behind. When the clouds rolled in, we hightailed it to a gas station (rolled in on fumes!).

2009_08_29 Saturday

Today was a very busy day for us! The roosters woke us up very early: 6:30 or so. We spent the morning helping Oma at her local farmers' market.

In the afternoon, we went to the Grange Fair to see all the farm animals (piggies, chickens, ducks, bunnies, mama cows, baby cows, sheep, and goats) and farm equipment. It was rediculously muddy, but we had a nice stroller to keep Jonathan above it all. My poor car, though. Right outside the event was a train-themed restaurant, where we had dinner. Jonathan got a real kick out of all the trains everywhere. They even had two real cars to walk around.

2009_08_28 Friday

Due to the rain, I cancelled our weekly Stroller Rollers walk in the reservation. Instead, I got us packed up and out the door en route to the Barony. Jonathan is just so great in the car; he occupies himself with his toys and books. We made it around 3 and spent the rest of the day playing with the peeps and chickens and the cool trains and blocks.

2009_08_27 Thursday

Today we embarked on a new adventure: we went to the Dover Community Children's Museum because it was "Everything Dino" Day. That wasn't really all that impressive, but the museum was cute. Jonathan got to play in an indoor lake house, which had blue mats for the water and green mats for the grass. They had a small space station, a Picasso exhibit, some cultural items, a 'televised' stage, and an electricity exhibit. The biggest hit, though, was the train tracks, which were no different than what we have at home, but somehow cooler.

2009_08_26 Wednesday

We had our art class this morning at Whole Foods. Alanya and Josh both came, so that made it even more fun! Then, we blew some bubbles outside. He's getting very good at that, although he blows by making an 'f' sound.

Then, the excitement hit. I built up his toddler bed and he climbed in for his nap. He stayed for about an hour...without sleeping before freaking out for his purple paci. So, I placed the mattress back in the crib, and he's zonked out quickly.

2009_08_25 Tuesday

We spent the better part of today at the zoo. It was gorgeous out, so I figured we better take advantage! I didn't even bring the stroller, so I knew he'd get tired fairly quickly. We participated in their animal program, so he got to see a snake, a box turtle, and a skink (which he's confused with "stink" and says "peee-u" everytime) up close. Then we also splurged for a ride on the carosel. He sat on a frog with an eagle saddle and thought that was very cool. He began to sputter out when we got to the farm, which is the furthest from the entrance possible. Oh well. I was amazed, though, that he could remember which animals were at the zoo (porcupine, eagle, bison, etc). He wasn't interested in the train ride this time.

When we got home, I set up the toddler car bed for him, made a big fuss about how neat it was, and explained that big boys sleep in car beds without pacis. He was pretty skeptical, although he enjoyed playing on it. I left the "baby crib" up for him, and pacis are ok in there. He actually op-ed for the crib for both sleeping opportunities. I was a little disappointed, but it was just the first day.

2009_08_22 Saturday

What a rockin' good time we had today! It was Jonathan's 2nd birthday party. We had about 40 people come, including Grandpoppy, GreatGrand Aunt Janie, GrandAunt Holly, all three sets of grandparents, three sets of aunts/uncles/cousins, and a bunch of playmates. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate with us this year (rainy and humid; ugh!), so we had to do it all inside. Dave flew out to get a mega-air conditioner right before the party, and it was such a wise move!! I had about 5 stations throughout the house (puppet theater, club house, ball throw, truck mat, picture frame decorating, normal toys and VHS tapes in the den, and a bubble station outside w/ Oma/Opa) to keep the kiddies occupied, and a kiddy refrigerator for their drinks. Each kid got a picture frame to decorate with stickers in lieu of party favors; we sponsored a poison dart frog at the local zoo for a year instead. Opa grilled like a champion. And, we had cupcakes and ice cream sundaes (thanks to Uncle Steve's expert scooping). What a great time. It was really neat to see so many different friends/family mixing too. I was pooped, and I sure hope all of the kids slept well because they sure did get a lot of energy out.

2009_08_19 Wednesday

We are doing a lot in preparation for Jonathan's birthday party this weekend. Tino's been here this whole week, painting the stairwell and trim. Today, the guys who did our patio are here to create a wall, relay the bricks in a herringbone pattern, and cut away some of the concrete. (We generally have an art class on Wednesdays, but I can't get out of the garage very easily, so we'll skip it this week.) On Sunday, we also did a major cleaning of the yard, including burning a lot of garden waste in our Christmas present from the Puris. Dave also installed a new faucet in the upstairs bathroom; it looks awesome! Now, I need to return a defective one we bought online. And, over the past few days, I've been DIF-ing the last of the heinous wall paper in that bathroom, so I can paint with Kilz and then with some color (blue, of course). I really hope I can finish before Saturday. I believe our contractor is going to come back today to replace a cracked cabinet door too.

Jonathan woke up in the middle of the night for the first time in a long time. He lost his purple paci and was upset. Oddly, though, he had the blue one in his mouth. I guess it wasn't soothing enough. We're getting close to eliminating them all together. I typically check in on him around 11, and I pop out whatever paci he might have in. Without the bumper, he often drops/throws them out, so I'm confident it shouldn't be too hard getting rid of them...right?

Dave gave Jonathan his third buzz haircut last night. It's good for this ungodly humidity and heat!

I received and built a bookcase for Jonathan's room yesterday, and he helped me stock it with all his books. I'm really happy with it; stacking them in bins was getting annoying.

2009_08_14 Friday

Sesame Place!!!!

2009_08_11 Tuesday

I have spend the last two days prepping and painting our full (upstairs) bath. Right now, it has a coat of Kilz to prevent mildew, etc. Three pictures are in the 'house' folder. At some point soon, I'll throw a coat of light blue up there. Of course, I picked the two hottest days of the summer to do this project.

Jonathan's new phrase is: "[person], where are you?" as he runs around the house searching. The other really fun discovery is that baby carrots fit in his nose (and to a lesser extent, his ears, too). Love that. Can't wait for the first trip to the ER for that one.

And, we spent this morning making his newest 'club house' out of our new TV box. You'll see it even has curtains: bus ones, cat ones, and happy face ones! He can actually stand straight up without touching the top, and there's plenty of room for Baby Bear, Horsie, some trucks, and a ball. I cut out a sunroof for him to wiggle his fingers out of and to keep it bright inside. We may color a garden along the side this afternoon. See below:

2009_08_09 Sunday

Ha ha, we went to the diner again this morning! Twice in one weekend!! On the way, we bumped into Alanya, so Jonathan stopped to play with her for awhile. It's so neat that he recognizes her and likes to play with her.

When we got home, J2 went down for a nap...on his sleeping bag. I peeked back in later, and he was still mostly on it! Nearly 2.5 hrs later, and he's still quiet! Meanwhile, Dave and I hung our new TV. That was quite a production, and, boy, are they heavy! Even though it rained overnight, Dave is now outside cleaning up the yard in preparation for Jonathan's birthday party in two weeks.

2009_08_08 Saturday

Jonathan and I went to the diner together to start the morning off right. That worked, of course.

Then, we slowly got ourselves together to go to Darren's first birthday party in NY. We left just after lunch. Unfortunately, I hit some traffic along the way and ended up nearly an hour late. But, the party was fun. Jonathan and Dave got into the big pool for awhile. And, J2 had a blast with all the little kids who attended. We stayed until 9ish. J2 fell asleep no less than 10 minutes into the drive home; good thing I had him in his jammies.

2009_08_07 Friday

This morning we had our last class at the nature center; this time, the focus was on herbs. We picked four herbs and tied them to a stick to dry. Then, we made two sachets: rosemary/thyme and lavendar. The hit, of course, was the walk past the frog pond -- although we didn't see any frogs -- to the herb garden.

As luck would have it, the gutter guy came by today right at Jonathan's nap time to clean off the roof and give us an estimate for the ripple above my office. Naturally, I left J's window open, since it was so nice out. So, I had to sneak in so the guys wouldn't disrupt his slumber.

I had a really off day. Nothing was going my way, although Jonathan certainly wasn't doing anything to goad me. Little things were driving me nuts all day, and my temper was really short. I felt horrible even snapping at J2, since he wasn't doing anything wrong. ugh, then I felt worse!

Dave called and is going to spend the night in NY after attending a buddy's father's memorial service. We'll head up to NY for a birthday party tomorrow, so it really doesn't make sense for him to come back tonight and then head back up tomorrow.

2009_08_06 Thursday

We went to the movies again this morning. We saw Escape to Madagascar, and I even splurged on a small popcorn (for $5.08!!) this time. Jonathan seemed to enjoy it, but toward the end he got restless and wanted to stand in the aisle or climb on the chair in front of us. I think his threshold is just under kiddy movie length!

2009_08_05 Wednesday

We had a ton to do today! Our first order of business (after getting up and breakfast, of course) was our art class at Whole Foods. Today's was a little disappointing, in that we made melon parfaits, which we've done before and I was hoping for a piece of art for the grandparents. No matter, we had a good time anyway. Jonathan was too shy to say his name infront of the group, though.

Then we hit Home Depot for paint, spray paint, and some Cars appliques for Jonathan's room. Then, to the paint store for 4 more gallons of paint. Then, to the post office. Then, home for lunch/snack and a nap. Tino is going to come next week to paint the hallway. We put up 2 cars and 2 'signs' in his room. When I get them all up (later this afternoon), I'll post some pictures. Then, the gutter guy came to check out why we have crazy amounts of water pouring over one side of the house; he'll come back tomorrow to inspect and give us a quote. I'm waiting for a call-back from our electrician to see what he suggests to do about our downed power line to the garage.

So, all in all, it's been a very productive day. I've accomplished a lot that was on my shoulders.

2009_08_04 Tuesday

I finally got my hair cut! Jonathan hung out with Oma and the chickens. We got on the road back home around 2, which had us arrive right in the middle of rush hour. I can't seem to not do that! The drive was uneventful, and I decided against stopping at Reptiland this time; maybe next time. Jonathan barely napped in the car; that seems to be a new trend of his. But, we sang lots of songs and nursery rhymes. He picked up Ring Around The Rosie! We managed to get home right in time to pick up Dave, so that was really nice. Good to be home. Of course, the minute we got home, Jonathan asked where Oma, Opa, Gambol, the chickens, and the peeps were!!!

2009_08_03 Monday

Oh boy, did morning come early!! The sun rises much earlier at the Barony than in NJ. Plus, we don't have the pleasure of having roosters crow as soon as the first ray of sun shines. ugh. We were all up before the clock hit 7; I think the last time that happened was either here or when he was still an infant!

After a hearty breakfast, courtesy of Opa, Jonathan cracked into the train set and is now driving the engine across the couches while Oma tries to snap photos.

Now, Oma wants to capture all the words/phrases that Jonathan knows.

2009_08_02 Sunday

We left NJ for the Barony this afternoon. Jonathan and I hit bad rain right away, so rather than muscling through it, we stopped for coffee and a bagel somewhere early on I-80. We were pretty soaked, but it was a good stop. I balanced him in my arms (he was hugging me tightly), the umbrella (which he helped hold upright), a coffee for me, a bag of treats, and the car keys. He managed to get a bunch of donut holes for free...must have been the cheeks. I put the car keeys in his window pocket and forgot them in my rush to get out of the rain; when I couldn't find them, he sweetly reminded me that they were in his pocket and then passed them to me w/o even hitting the car alarm button! what a smart boy. Then, a few hours later, he dropped his paci, and I needed gas, so we stopped again (UGH!). At least the weather cleared up nicely. We finally pulled into port at about 3.

He did a pretty good job with his new sleeping arrangement too. Oma and Opa got him a very fancy sleeping bag; it has a forest scene with a bear as a pillow. Very cool. We had him in the bathroom for awhile, but he wiggled around too much and ended up on the hard stone floor. Then, we moved him to the bedroom floor, and that worked out pretty well...until the morning sun and roosters...