Nathan at 9 Months!

Workin at the car wash, yeah

Outside with dad washing the cars. This little girl sure loves to help!!!

Maybe we can remind her of how much she loves washing cars once she's a teenager!

My little nurturer

Cambria has always been a sweetheart. And now she is taking on motherly qualities at the ripe old age of 20 months.  Some examples:

I laid down on the couch yesterday because I was tired and she asked if I was sleepy "see-py?" and then she got out the blanket and put it on top of me.

When I was getting ready to feed nathan I had his bottle on the counter and she saw me heading toward she chair. She said "bockle, bockle" and reached up high on the counter to get it. She brought it over to me and she was so excited to help that I let her put it in his mouth to feed him.

She noticed Nathan's water sippy on the table when he was upstairs napping and she pointed upstairs and said "baby" and wanted to take it up to him. She does the same if she sees one of his pacifiers. Doesn't want him to be without!

When I am getting us ready to head out the door and Nathan is buckled in his carrier she pulls up his sun shade for him since she's seen me do that right before I pick him up to head out.

One day she was so excited to go in the car that after her shoes and socks were on she brought me my shoes and socks all the way from downstairs and started holding the socks open for me to put my feet in.

Last night she was waiting for daddy to come home and looking out the window. She kept telling me "daddy" "car" "hug".  In Cambri-ese that means that she was waiting for daddy to come home in the car and when he got here she was going to give him a big hug.

Announcing...

Baby #3! Coming on or around November 5th!

Eagerly awaiting their new sibling!

8 Months Old

Nathan started sitting really well on Feb 15th (just short of 8 months!)

He eats small chunks of food - peaches & bread and can hold his bottle on his own! He's such a sweet little blondie with big blue eyes.

Valentines - and a Murder Mystery

Here are the kids Valentines that I set out for them in the morning!

Before a little party they had at a friend's house I stopped at the store and we picked up this balloon that they both love to play with.

Amos and I got invited to a Murdery Mystery party this Valentine's day!  We have always wanted to do one of these parties but were never really sure how to get started or what it entailed, so we were excited to get the chance to find out!

We were sent invitations in the mail detailing our characters. I was Rose Darling, a flower shop owner, and my husband was Hershey Darling, the town's famous Chocolatier. We were supposed to act very dramatic and eccentric.

Here are all the men. A hunter, scientist, football player, and Choclatier.

And the women. A florist, cheerleader, scientist, and perfume shop owner.

We were all encouraged to really get into our characters and have a lot of fun with it.  Every so often throughout the evening we were handed envelopes that told us things about ourselves or others, and told us about conversations we had to have with certain people and some of the things we had to reveal in those conversations.

Then toward the end of the evening one of the participants disappeared and came out of the bathroom with white face makeup and a sign around his neck that said "dead." He could no longer talk to anyone.

Then we had some more time to talk amongst one another and offer up any final information and then had to use the information we'd learned throughout the night had to guess who murdered him. (several in the group had strong motives)

The murderer turned out to be me!  He happened to be my estranged brother who had been spreading rumors that I drugged my great aunt to get her inheritance money and I killed him to keep him quiet and  keep myself out of trouble.

It was such a fun night with great food and friends. We'll have to do it again next year!

7 Months!

Nathan is 7 months old!

He enjoys eating his puffs

He likes to log roll


He can sit up for a short time


He likes to gnaw on graham crackers

He has a set of spatulas that he teethes on. He a mini red one with a gingerbread man on it that Nana gave me for Christmas, and he loves it. It's nice since it is rubbery for his teeth but has a handle on it, and he can chew on it with his front or back teeth.

He loves to empty an entire packet of baby wipes

He can put his paci in

He likes to swing his hands vertically up and down like a tomahawk

Christmas Day

Christmas was at the Hobby home this year.  My parents and brother came up from Maryland to celebrate with us!

Our little Santa. Surprisingly NOT the first one up on Christmas morning. That honor belonged to his dad, chef Amos Claus.

Christmas was on a Sunday this year so we had church in the morning at 9. We were going to take everyone but then decided to leave the kids with Mimi & Geepy, who had gone to midnight mass the night before. It was strange being in church without the kids. It felt like we were on a date!

Meanwhile they got to open up their stockings and play with Cambria's fridge letter magnets, and her new magnetic mirror for the fridge so she can see herself when she dresses up with sunglasses, hats, and bows. 

Nathan with his new Thomas the Tank Engine pillow-pet to match his sister's doggy pillow-pet she got last year.

Baby Claus with Cambria and her new reading chair. It was her first taste of the Hobby Pringle tradition. It's safe to say she enjoyed them.

Present opening time!

Little man hangin' out with Geepy.

The table awaiting its guests.

Our chef preparing the feast.

After a large dinner we relaxed, played with the kids, and took naps. We didn't assemble Cambria's castle on Christmas Eve, so when she was taking her nap we put it together so she could come down and play in it. She had tons of fun! Her chair fits in there nicely and looks like her own little throne.

Looking quite the princess in her Snow White dress.

We also got to video chat with our family in England again this year and be a part of their Christmas, too. Thanks everyone for such a lovely Christmas 2011!

Merry Christmas!

Nathan at 6 months!

Here's our little man at 6 months!

Height: 29 inches

Weight: 18lb 3oz.

Head: 17 in.

The doctor said he was doing great and is the height of a 1-year old. He is only 3 lbs. less than Cambria is now.

His two bottom teeth have come in and he is starting to get some more teeth in the back, but he is a good sport and hardly EVER whines or is grumpy.

He is a rolling machine. He's not on his back for 30 seconds before he rolls over! This would be more exciting except he still spits up frequently so I have to try and keep him on his back for at least 30 minutes after he's eaten. Enter the Bumbo.

He is eating baby food now. He eats almost anything. Like his sister, the only thing he didn't really like were peas. I tasted them and quickly figured out why! But then I tried BeechNut instead of Gerber baby food and he will eat those peas just fine. Plus they have other awesome flavor combinations like Banana/Apple, Apple/Mango/Kiwi, Peach/Oatmeal/Banana, and Ham/Pineapple/Rice. Lucky babies these days with their gourmet baby food selections...

He loves to play with his bare feet when I am changing his diaper. He grabs them and puts them in his mouth.

He is very very very wiggly. It is impossible to hold him in your lap and get something done because he likes to grab things and move his little limbs around!

He is such a fun little guy. Loves to be cuddled!

A visit with Santa!

Cambria & Nathan got to visit Santa this year at the Fonthill tile works museum in Doylestown. Each December they have a little Christmas festival and you get to tour the first floor of the Henry Mercer (1856-1930) mansion, designed completely out of reinforced concrete. Thousands of his colorful storytelling tiles adorn the walls. He was an eccentric and brilliant man. The mansion reminded me a little bit of the Sarah Winchester mansion in California. Continuously being added to, with small round staircases everywhere and kind of like a maze-like.

We also got a free tour of the tile works museum next door. In each building winter refreshments were handed out, and at the end kids got to sit on Santa's lap with a beautiful christmas tree and real fire in the background.

The kids did great. Cambria is in the "doesn't-like-to-be-left-with-strangers" phase, but I managed to snap this photo quickly before she started to whine. It probably helped that little Nathan was so easygoing about the whole thing.

Here are some pictures of what the mansion looks like. (I didn't take these)

Family Photoshoot

While we were home for Thanksgiving break, we had a chance for our first ever family Photoshoot!  By chance I stumbled upon a photographer that had done some photos for a high school friend of mine. It was a long shot but she happened to be driving through Frederick on the same day we were hoping to get photos done. She did a great job. Check her out: www.cbirdyphotography.com