I'd love to tell you how much fun Morgan had rock climbing...

...but I can't. She got a "tummy ache" right after the instructor fitted her into a harness. It's okay. I tried to gently coax her into giving it a try, but the panic of needing to go home right then and there signaled that this was not going to happen. A good friend has a daughter a few months older than Morgan and she will join us the next time to see if that helps Morgan's "tummy ache." Yesterday Lorelai got a nice surprise in the mail. The Christmas present from Grandpa arrived and we took it out of the box and she instantly got on it to play. it actually hooks up to the T.V. and is a video game of sorts, but we don't have any batteries so until I go to the store and buy some she is enjoying it as a pony ride. Morgan's beloved Chella Chella also was included in the box. When we were in Florida visiting family me and her took a girl's trip down to Tampa to visit my best friend Kristin overnight. It was worth  a total of 12 hours of driving to go spend about 24 hours with her. We took the girls to the Tampa Zoo and I told the girls they could pick any toy from the gift shop for being so good. Morgan's pick was this ambiguous stuffed animal that is pink and grey and has a tail and whistles when you squeeze it's tummy. I've told her it's a sugar glider and she named it Chella Chella. She took it with her to stay the night at my dad's in Alabama the following weekend and it has been there ever since. Thankfully it arrived and she is so relieved. I was really proud of her that she was not distressed over the fact that her Christmas present didn't arrive at the same time. It makes me happy my kids are not concerned with material possessions or jealousies. Morgan was just so happy her baby sister received a present and was content to help her get on and off. She didn't even try to get onto it herself! I feel like my little baby is really growing up. Lorelai is about to start having some structure in her life. Now that I'm staying at home I'm trying to focus on her a lot more to help her learn some basic stuff. As I played with her today I realized I'd never sang to her "The Wheels on the Bus!" So we sat and played with her toy bus and sang the song. I feel like I've been absent the last two years. This weekend I'm going to the library and my days will be focused on her. I vow to sing, dance, and play more in hopes that I have not missed my chance with her. Enjoy these sweet pics of the girls. 

Hello 2009

So no pictures for this post. I don't have any because as a busy mom studying her butt off for the GRE I did not have time to relax enough to notice the very capture-able moments in daily life. I promise to do better. This year will be all about change. I guess we are joining in full swing with the new President and trying to make improvements. Eddie still is anxiously awaiting orders. We are really tired of the waiting and he keeps applying for every opportunity. Eddie's most recent attempt at moving involves us going back to Ft. Meade, Maryland. I never thought we'd actually be excited to go somewhere we've already been. What it really boils down to is we need a bigger house, we loved living in Maryland before, and the tour is guaranteed 4 years so there would be no anxious waiting for orders or fear of year long trips away from us to Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan. So while we are adventurous people who like the idea of going somewhere new and exciting, the comforts of going back to good ol' Ft. Meade are too appealing to just sit around and not at least try. Eddie is spending his free time studying for his test to promote to Tech Sgt. Hopefully he gets it this year. It's a hard one to make for his career field. Morgan is back in school and doing very well. We have applied for magnet schools just in case we don't get orders. The school we are zoned for is unappealing and I told Eddie we will move before I send her there even if it means moving into base housing that is half the size of what we have now. She is starting to branch out with her interests. At a playdate the other day I was delighted to overhear her say she wanted to be a rock climber. How cool? I am pleased that she has transitioned from wanting to be a princess when she grows up. This rugged attitude is more my style. The YMCA we joined has a rock wall and there are tiny kids younger than Morgan who climb all the way to the top. She has eyed it ever since we joined and I told her that if she wanted to be a rock climber she could try out the rock wall at the Y. I'll make sure I take pictures. Lorelai is almost two. I can hardly believe it. I still see her as my tiny baby because she lacks hair and the doctors tell me she's underweight. It dawned on me during the holidays that she was the same age as Morgan was when we moved into this house and I realized that we were not expecting the same level of maturity out of her. I realize all kids are different, but I thought I'd test her out to see what she was capable of. My first test was the transition to a cup. Morgan transitioned to an open cup at an early age when she was in daycare. I didn't know how the process worked so I figured we'd start off with a small bit at the bottom of a cup. I thought she'd fight and cry and spill it all for weeks and we'd go back and forth. To my shock she picked it up right away. It was so easy. She is very talented at carrying around cups of water without ever spilling a drop. I'm not brave enough to let her walk around with milk or juice, but at the table she drinks only from a cup and if we go out she gets a sippy cup. I'm so proud of her. Next on my list is going to involve some discipline. Morgan was responsible for picking up her toys at this age and we continue to baby Lorelai and do it for her. From now on she must help with the chores. More on that later. Today I made a freedom list. Even though school was over I had a lot going on with studying for the GRE. I still have some obligations involving volunteer work with the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood, but for the first time in years I have genuine free time. I will get the girls' scrapbook up to date, read all the unread books I've accumulated, go on more walks with the dog, take more photos of the girls so my family can watch them grow up, continue my PiYo and Step class so I can lose those stubborn 8 pounds I put on last semester, finally check out the Ansel Adams and Norman Rockwell exhibits I've been dying to see, spend quality time with the kids doing all the stuff I used to do before school took over my life, and teaching myself how to knit more than just the basic stitch and make more than just a scarf. I'll probably add more later, there is just so much more I want to do with life now that I can breath and relax. I probably wouldn't hold my breath for a lot of updates. My goals also involve major breaks from the computer. I spent the last two years glued to the computer for hours and hours doing homework every night. It feels strange to be away from it, like I'm forgetting something. But I don't need to be on as much as I am. All too soon it will be either time to get serious about finding a job or time to start grad school. I will be doing myself a huge disservice if I squander away that time sitting in front of my monitor instead of experiencing life with my family. 

Fall and Winter of 2008

Fall and Winter of 2008 began with Morgan's first day of PreK. She was so happy to get on the bus that she barely remembered to kiss me goodbye. No tears for my fearless four year old. Not a lot of excitement went on during the latter half of 2008. I was too focused on the finish line of school to have any time to do anything. I'll admit taking 5 courses made life more difficult for everyone in this family, but at least it's over. Over the last few months the girls have changed so much. Lorelai talks up a storm when there is enough quiet for her to get a word in edge wise. To my extreme surprise she has learned some of her colors such as brown, pink, and her most favorite, purple (I certainly didn't teach her with all I had going on, so who knows how she picked that one up). Morgan is learning to spell words. She can spell t-h-e, w-i-l-l, d-o-g, c-a-t, w-e, m-o-m, and d-a-d. Even though she's not being taught phonics the way I was taught, she is still picking up on the process of reading. The photos in this entry are my favorites. The girls got new winter hats and scarves because of the severe drop in temperature. This is by far the coldest winter since we moved to Virginia. They were so excited to pose in them. The top two photos are of the girls at a Bob Evans somewhere in North Carolina. It had been many years since me and Eddie were able to eat at one and as we drove home from our holiday vacation in Florida we decided this was the place we would stop for dinner. The girls seemed so relieved to be playing and out of the car that I had to snap some happy shots of them. 2008 ended only a few days later. 

Summer of 2008

Summer gets its very own blog. It was very full of adventures and growing up. I selected some of my most favorite photos from this past Summer. As you can see we spent a lot of time at the beach. Our family could have supported a sunblcock company with the amount we had to use. I know that our beach bag full of towels, diapers, sublock, and beach toys did not leave the trunk of the car. I couldn't narrow down my favorite beach photos any more than what is already here. Lorelai continually ate beach sand all summer. Morgan's friendship with Sophia really blossomed this summer and we spent a lot of time at my favorite beach, the Grandview Nature Preserve. During the summer we also spent time at the zoo in Norfolk. The girls were very excited to see all the animals. My favorite photo from this trip is the one with them taking a break and Lorelai made her baby doll take a break too. It was one of the first times I saw her really playing pretend. We also went to New York to visit my family for a reunion. The Castskills in August was cold, wet, and grey, but we had so much fun hanging out with everyone  and watching the girls play with their cousins (well second, third, twice removed or whatever cousins. They are blood somehow lol) If anyone ever has to drive up the eastcoast towards New York I recommend bypassing the New Jersey Turnpike for a more scenic route filled with mountains through Pennsylvania. After years of driving to New York we finally found a visually appealing route through the mountains. Morgan got her first short haircut at the end of summer. She wanted her hair like mommy and I indulged her. You can see the changing lengths as she convinced me to go shorter and shorter. It's all grown out now, but she's already been bugging me to take her back for another short do. The other photos are of the girls playing and some of the pets. Clare is still the same size she was at the end of summer. I doubt she will grow any more. Luna the kitty is huge and is on a strict diet to try and shed some pounds. She's almost as big as Morgan in this photo! I don't have any of the hamsters we got. Freckles and Mr. Binky are the names Morgan picked out. Mr. Binky was put to sleep at the end of summer due to an infection that would not go away after months of expensive treatments. Morgan handled it very well and has learned in important lesson about death that would have been hard to explain in an abstract /hypothetical form. Summer came to an end much too soon for all of us. We enjoyed all the beachcombing and park outings. But every summer has to end.

Spring and Early Summer of 2008

I'm aware that 2009 is just beginning and all the sweet promises of a new year are already forgotten and everybody is getting into a 2009 routine. For me, I feel as though last year did not exist. The inability to even remember to think really weighs on you over a year and so my good intentions of using this blog to keep in touch with family never took off. So this is me catching up on 2008 in the course of one evening. 2008 was such a great year for us. So many exciting things happened. First, Lorelai grew out of her severe reflux and quit throwing up! Life became soo much better after that point. After a disaster attempt at rescuing an abused Corgi who had a desire to bite Lorelai in the face, we settled on our Aussie (although I still think it's questionable) Clare. This is a photo of her smiling as a puppy. Who knew dogs could smile?! She's so perfect for our family, and fits right in. She goes on the shorter hikes with me, plays with the kids, and is content to curl up in a quiet corner and doze while the family does evening activities. Lorelai turned one in April and learned to walk just days before the party. It threatened rain all day, but we got lucky and the rain came after we got home from the park. Morgan finished up her first year of preschool at Faith Presbyterian. She also was in her first ballet recital and was adorable on stage as the preballet class performed as ribbons. She decided she didn't like ballet all that much and so chose to sit it out this year. She needed something a little more high energy and we are thinking that swimming lessons are next on the agenda. That about raps up the Spring and Early Summer of 2008.