Grammy Gets to Visit Again

Grammy was able to squeeze in an extra visit to us this weekend! One of her friends spends the winters in Florida and needed a driving companion this week. Her friend has a friend who lives in the next town over from us who she wanted to spend the weekend with, so my mom offered to drive with her, spend the weekend with us & then be dropped off at Uncle Doug's once they arrived in Florida. YAY!

She brought Jake's finished quilt that Grammy, Annie & Margo have been working on for months & months. You can see why it took so long to finish - it is absolutely beautiful! And obviously Jake loves it too. :o)

To Annie, Margo & Grammy:

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK!!!

Dino Feet!

HA HA

Our Visit to the Dentist

Lily & I had our 6 month dentist check ups this week. I am a little sad that this will be Lily's last visit to this dentist. The office is so nice & relaxing & the dental hygenist is so great with Lily. She makes her feel so comfortable & Lily will do anything she asks. She was also pretty excited about getting bubble gum flavored toothpaste & cotton candy flavored flouride (eww...). Then while I get my teeth cleaned, they let Lily help (she gets to hold the spit-sucker - I know - very technical terms here) and she gets to look in my mouth while the hygenist points things out to her. It seems like every time we find something we like, it's time to leave...

Lily's teeth look great - she takes excellent care of them. The dentist said she will more than likely start losing teeth soon (sob, sob!) and her back molars should be coming in soon too. The only concern he had was that Lily's baby teeth already fit in her mouth perfectly (i.e. there is no space between them), so when her adult teeth come in, there will not be enough room for them. Her teeth will be crowded, thus causing a need for braces. YUCK... The dentist said it is hereditary - and both Brian & I had over-crowded teeth & needed braces when we were younger. Poor girl never had a chance. He said probably by the time she was 10 or 11 years old she would need them. So that's a little disappointing...other than that everything looks wonderful. I, on the other hand, did not fare so well. I have a cavity in one of my molars and have an appointment next month to have it filled. Oh, what joy...

4 Months Old!

Jake had his four month well baby check-up today. He is weighing in at a hefty 13lbs 12oz (in the 50th percentile) and is 24 inches tall (between the 25th and 50th percentile). Mrs. Bohrer says he's doing great and he's developing all the skills expected at 4 months. She said he has great hand-eye coordination, he's standing up assisted, he keeps his head level with his body when we pull him up from a laying down position, he's pushing up well when he's on his belly and trying to roll over, and he's almost ready to sit up "tri-pod" (sitting up holding himself up with his hands). She said he's perfectly healthy and looks great. Poor baby had to get 3 shots though. He did not enjoy that part of his visit at all, but he only cried for a few minutes & was over it.

Here's a few new pictures of the big four month old:

He sleeps like this all the time! Funny thing is, we have pics of Lil doing the same thing when she was this little!

Getting those feet

It's Captain Adorable! I'm sure he will want to kill me for this when he is 16, but for now he is the victim to all my fashion faux pas. haha

What a handsome little man

Our Weekend with Hazel the Hen

On Friday, Lily got off the bus carrying a red bag and looking awfully excited. She ran over to me and said "I got to bring Hazel home for the weekend!" Hazel the Hen is Lily's class mascot and each weekend a different student gets to bring her home and take care of her. At the end of the weekend, we are supposed to write about Hazel's weekend in her journal and then return her to school on Monday. Lily was chosen first. Here is the excerpt from Hazel's journal from her weekend with us:

"Well, I had quite an exciting adventure this weekend! Lily took me home to spend the weekend with her & her family. She took such good care of me and we had lots of fun together. I met her Mom & Dad, her baby brother Jake, and her two dogs, Vader and Zoey. Lily’s Daddy is a soldier and he is very brave. I tried to play with Lily’s brother, but all he wanted to do was drool on me. Lily saved me from his slobbery mouth just in time! When I saw Lily’s room, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Everything was pink – even the tv! It was perfect and it ruffled my feathers in just the right way."

"On Friday, Lily & I watched a movie called ‘The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning’. I thought Ariel was very pretty and she sang such beautiful songs. When it was time for bed, I was a little nervous to sleep in a new place, but Lily held me tight and I wasn’t scared any more. She made sure I stayed warm all night long. "
"Saturday was a very rainy day, but I didn’t have to worry about having a boring rainy day at Lily’s house! First we went to Lily’s friend Stevie’s house to play. Donovan was there too. We made a club house under Stevie’s bed – it was awesome! Then we all went to play at Lily’s house. Lily, Stevie and Donovan were running, hopping, skipping and jumping all over the place. I had a fantastic time playing with them. When it was time for bed on Saturday, I wasn’t nervous at all. I was so excited I could barely sleep! I couldn’t wait to see what we were going to do the next day."

"On Sunday, Lily and I went shopping with her Mom & Dad. While we were in Target, I wandered away & almost got lost! Luckily, Lily found me quickly and made sure I stayed close to her for the rest of the day. After shopping, Lily brought me to a place called Chuck E. Cheese. I have never seen such an exciting place! There were flashing lights, ringing bells, a big singing mouse and lots of kids running around. Lily & I played lots of games, rode on lots of rides and won some fabulous prizes."

Hazel & Lily playing 'Deal or No Deal'

I think she must have won!

Riding the roller coaster ride together

Daddy the ping pong master...

Jaker's having fun too...

Hazel with her prizes

"I really wanted my picture taken with Chuck E Cheese, but Lily was having too much fun, so I asked her Daddy to take me. When Lily saw what I had done, she laughed so hard! She thought I was really silly. Chuck E Cheese’s was so much fun. I thought about running away and joining Chuck E’s band, but I decided it would be more fun to stay with Lily. And boy, am I glad I did! When we got home from Chuck E Cheese, we went to Lily’s friend Noah’s house for his 3rd birthday. We had lots of yummy cake – I wish mine had birdseed in it though...that’s my favorite." "I had an amazing time with Lily & her family this weekend. I can’t wait to see who I get to go home with next weekend."
Cluck Cluck for now,
Hazel the Hen

Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

Well, so far Lily loves, loves, loves school! She comes home from school exhausted every day, but with lots of fun stories from her day. This week, they read stories, learned some new songs, learned about recycling (they are recycling in the classroom), learned all about bus safety, and learned about the many school procedures. She has also enjoyed each one of her "special" classes (art, music, library and P.E.). She met her "Fourth Grade Buddy" (she actually has 2 of them), whom she will get together with throughout the school year to read, write, draw & play games with. She has made some new friends in her class and she is also able to play with the kids she was already friends with during recess. (Most of her friends are in different classes.) We are so happy she is enjoying school!

Lily's fall soccer season starts next week (just practice - games won't start until the end of Sept). We had a meeting this week to find out what team she will be on & get all the other needed information. She is on the 'Eagles' team this season, and Stevie, Noah, Donovan and Maddy are all on her team. We can't wait for the fun to begin!

Jake is doing great & growing too quickly! He started eating baby food this week & he can't get enough of it. So far he has had sweet potatoes, green beans and squash - and he loves them all! He ate the entire container of all 3 of the foods and I couldn't feed it to him fast enough. What a big boy.

He hasn't been doing as well with his sleeping habits though. Gone are the nights of 8 - 9 hours of sleep! He is back to waking up at least twice in the middle of the night (sometimes more). He usually wakes up at 3am or 3:30am - then again between 5am & 5:30am. Then on top of that, Lily has been waking up at night too, saying she is scared (though she won't say of what) and tries to climb in bed with us at least twice a night. Needless to say, we are seriously lacking in the sleep department lately! I was hoping a little solid food would help Jake sleep better, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I'm not sure what else to do, but I want my sleeping baby back! :o)

Jake started blowing raspberries this week and he looks pretty proud of himself whenever he does it. He's just too cute. He also started grabbing his toes this week - and now he's trying to put them in his mouth too...

We have made our initial plans for our much anticipated move. So far we have decided to leave Virginia on November 23rd, drive to my brother's house in Florida, spend the week (and Thanksgiving) with him & my parents (who will be flying there as well), then leave Florida on the 29th bound for Houston, spend some time visiting in Houston and then be at our new duty station a few days before Brian's report date. Now all of these are just preliminary plans and nothing is set in stone, but at least it's a start. We still have to schedule transportation and make sure their schedule will fit into our plans, we have to notify housing & schedule our inspections with them, and Brian's unit has to approve all of this, but this is what we're hoping can happen. We are all getting rather excited about all this!

1st Day of Kindergarten!

Miss Lily had her first day of big girl school today. She was so excited she could barely go to sleep last night. We went to school orientation last week where Lily got to meet her teacher and see her school. Her teacher's name is Mrs. Wicks. Lily liked her a lot & she was very nice. They've split the kindergarten classes up into four classes & each class has an animal as a class mascot. Lily's class is the birds. They have bird feeders hanging outside the classroom and they get to watch the birds when they come to eat from the feeders. One of Lily's friends, Donovan, who was in her pre-school class for a little while & was on her soccer team is also in her class & he sits right across from her. She was happy to see a familiar face at school. Stevie is also going to kindergarten, but he is in a different class. They will get to play together during recess though.

So this morning, we packed Lily's lunch & book bag & we were off for the bus stop. Lily was not scared at all - she was so excited & couldn't wait for her first day of school to begin.

Lily & Jake before school

Waiting for Daddy

Lily & Stevie waiting for the bus

Waiting at the bus stop

The bus is here!!
There she goes...

Brian & I met the bus at school (she wanted to ride the bus, but we wanted to make sure she found her classroom & would be okay for the first day) & walked Lily to her classroom. Here is a pic of her sitting at her desk in her classroom. SO CUTE!!

Uncle Spencer's Visit

Brian's best friend, Spencer (Lily's "Uncle Spencer") came to visit us over Labor Day weekend. It was great to spend some time with him & Lily was just over the moon that he was here. She & Spencer adore each other. Jake seemed to have the same feelings for him - he was all smiles whenever Spencer was around him.

Putt Putt!



Go Karts

Miss Priss waiting her turn

Bumper Boats!