2.14.2013

Feb 2013



For Valentine's day we went to visit Dad at work.  We made him some cookies out of grandma's pie crust. We made him a really big one, but once we got there to deliver the cookies, Cambria decided that it was hers. It's always fun to surprise Dad!


Me with my little snuggly Valentine

Siblings

Mini "ice cones"

Baby Seth

I love watching the beautiful sunsets and cloud formations from our kitchen window


Making cookies with dad

Watching a movie with her popcorn

Bathtime!


 Some of Cambria's architectural creations. I don't want to play her in Jenga!







1.31.2013

Jan 2013



"I want to do it by my own" - Cambria



Nathan is learning to sing twinkle twinkle little star

Nathan does "gymnastics" by tucking himself through the bar underneath the slide and does the same through the step stool



"Kids, stop fighting over the vacuum!" #thingsineverthoughtidsay

Nathan does great in nursery with Cambria there

We play Red light green light, Simon says, Ring around the rosie, tick tock goes the clock and riding in the car (learned from music makers)

After asking Cambria to do something "Oh yeah, ok daddy"

Nathan: "Yeah!" and he repeats what you say

Seth started trying to roll over - gets to his side. If Cambria's around she'll flip him to his tummy and say "he wants to crawl."



Nathan is great at going to sleep and being put down for naps. He tells everyone "night night"

Every time we go the library Nathan makes a beeline for the elevator. He LOVES to press the buttons and take a ride to the 2nd floor

Nathan is putting together phrases. his first was a question "baby go?" "mama go?" "daddy go?" (where'd the baby go?) His next is "daddys home!" and "here ya go mama"

Cambria stopped calling Nathan "Nini" and calls him "Nathan." She calls Seth "baby Sef" or "Sep"

Nathan thinks Cambria's name is "Nini." He calls the baby "Baby" or "Ses"

They looove to wash their hands in the sink or play together in the kitchen sink. I often have to hide the bathroom soap since they love soap too.

Cambria calls rice krispy treats a "trick or treat"

They play following the leader and run "around around around" the table

At night after prayers Cambria always wants to sing "Hallelilujah," "Twinkle twinkle," and "lullaby"(oh hush, thee, my baby)




Cambria started taking pictures with one of our old cameras. She loves it and is hilarious. She instructs people what to do: "make a funny face" "smile"





This is Cambria being Santa. The reindeer are pulling her sleigh.



The kids love to take all the shoes off the shoe rack and throw them down the stairs. it's one of the best things they do playing together.

Nathan: "ites" = lightswitches
"doh-Y" = dummy
"ding-o" = thank you

Nathan LOVES turning on his ceiling fan before he goes to bed.



12.20.2012

Making today Special

We made a conscious effort to make today just a little more special.

In the wake of the connecticut elementary school shooting, everyones emotions are running rampant and parents seem to be holding their children a little tighter.

Things like this always seem to put so much in perspective. People realize what is truly important and what is not.

We danced around to loud music this morning as a family.
Cambria and dad had a date making Cinderella shoe cookies
We were a little more kind and patient as parents.
We made an extra stop at the park
Spent less time on the computer and our iPhones
Were Kinder and more sympathetic to one another
and Enjoyed living in the moment with our beautiful children



Also, Nathan's crib got moved into cambrias room - so they share a room now.
They were both so excited to be able to be together in the same room!

10.19.2012

Recent goings-on

Cambria has been hearing about Halloween, and knows that it involves candy, so she's very excited.  She knows there is a phrase she has to say, but she can't always remember what it is. She will at random times say to me "tick-tock, I want candy," forgetting that the real phrase is "trick-or-treat."

Nathan is starting to say a lot of words. His first word was "ball," but he also says choo-choo, dog, bubble, mama, dada, cheese, 'nana (banana), moooouse (mickey mouse), night-night, and whoa!


One time when Cambria was in the car the song Remember the Name, by Fort Minor was playing. She started dancing in her carseat so I asked her if she was "jammin'."  Now every time she gets in the car she requests "jammin song."  When the next track starts playing she says, "No, I want jammin song mommy!"

Cambria is becoming very independent. Her common phrases are "MY do it!" and "I do it all by myself." Usually this involves cooking, getting up and down from the table, washing her hands, climbing into the car and her carseat, and helping unload groceries from the cart to the conveyer belt, among other things.

Amos got a promotion at work, and now is heading up the implementation of a brand new BDC department along with another department, on top of his in-house DealerSocket work. He stays busy! We are really proud of him!


I started a photography business as a hobby/business venture. I have done a few family photoshoots so far and am hope to expand to into other markets like children, high school seniors, engagements, and newborns. My website is KaleidoscopeMoments.com and the Facebook page is facebook.com/KaleidoscopeMoments. Please check them out and let me know if you want photos done!

I read a great book about Nutritarian eating called Eat to Live.  It was really interesting and I can see why it is a great way to modify your diet.  Because of it I have been eating tons of fruit, beans, and leafy green vegetables and less meat, dairy, and starch. I hope to continue, and do even better once the baby is here.

Every day the kids ask to "do 'da park." Well, Cambria does. She has one that she named the yellow park, and another she calls the purple park.

When he's not working late or in church meetings Amos has been practicing hardcore with a rugby team! And he is going to start a boxing class. He's also been doing a lot of running with his iPod tracker
and working on beating his previous distances and times. Hopefully next year I can start training too and we can do a mud run together :)

Cambria is a little nut. She can wink, and she can raise her eyebrows. It is hilarious.


Less than 3 weeks after starting to walk consistently, Nathan discovered how to jump! We were watching a B-I-N-G-O video on YouTube and one of the actions was "jump" and so Cambria was hopping all around. Nathan got very intrigued and started bending his knees and jumping. He gets a LOT of air when he starts bouncing!

Cambria looooves ice cream cones from Chick-fil-A. She calls them "ice cones."  It probably helps that most of the time when we go, they let her go behind the counter and make her own! How fun! We will sometimes make a Chick-fil-A trip after my doctor visits and she gets really excited when we pull into the parking lot. "Cafe rio!" she starts exclaiming. Poor thing has Cafe Rio confused with Chick-fil-A! But she'll also say "I love cows" since many times when she's visited she has seen a mascot dressed up in a cow costume and remembers when she dressed up as a cow for a free meal.

We have a fire pit and some outdoor furniture for our downstairs patio now! We got it at the perfect time, right as fall was starting. I love going out there to relax and chat by the fire once the kids have gone to bed for the night. It's like we have a whole new room in the house.

Cambria brings her whole entourage into our bed each morning. Dog, bear, blanket, and herself. She is content to cuddle for a few minutes and then usually asks for the iPhone or iPad to play on to keep herself occupied.

The kids get so excited to have dance parties. We play Moves like Jagger, which we've translated into "Moves like Daddy" and they hop up onto the coffee table and bounce, dance, and sing. They also like to dance to Gotye and Call me Maybe. Next up, Gangnam Style...

Cambria is really good at singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and requests to sing it every night at bedtime along with a "lullaby."  She sometimes will sing it to the "baby in mommy's tummy."  When you ask her when he's going to come she says "Halloween" and when you ask her what his name should be she says "Yai-an" (Ryan). For the record, the ones who actually get to name the child have still not made a decision about the baby's name yet ;)

When Cambria hears Nathan wake up from a nap she loves to "go get baby."  She climbs into his crib and they both hold on and have a little jumping party.

Nathan loves to bring us books and crawl into our laps to read them.

One of Cambria's favorite things to do when Nathan is napping is put together a princess puzzle. She is really good at it! She also loves to build towers with her blocks or cans and put her My little ponies on top.



Cambria is getting really good at recognizing letters. She can do each one in her name. And when you ask her what her name is she will say "Cambri-bear Hobby."  Just the other day she pulled out "Nini Richard" when talking to Nathan.  I guess I must say that a lot!




10.13.2012

the Pumpkin Patch

The pumpkin patch is one of my favorite things to do with the kids every year.  Cambria has seen videos of herself at the patch last year so she remembers and asks about it often ever since I mentioned it.  This Saturday as soon as Amos got back from work she told him, "when daddy gets home and baby wakes up we're going to go to the pumpkin patch and get pumpkins and see animals."

Seiple farms takes you on a hayride out to the huge pumpkin patch where you can pick your pumpkins, and then take a hayride back. After paying for your pumpkins they have lots of activities like pony rides, hay mazes, a carnival, and animals to go see like cows, pigs, and goats.

On the hay ride


Almost there!


Picking out pumpkins!





Back to the hayride


First pony ride. She loved it!


Enjoying her first funnel cake with Mom. 


Climbing on hay bales after seeing the animals



10.09.2012

Staying Dry


I got a lot of attention after figuring out this fun little setup for the kids when errand-running in the rain.

"Way to be resourceful" "Where did you get that umbrella?" "Wow, you stay busy."

The little munchkins are getting ever better at errand-running. I don't end every trip with the thought "Why did I even attempt that? I must NEVER ever do that again"

Cambria still gets really excited in the store and loves to run around, but she stays relatively close to the cart now rather than jetting off down the aisle.  She likes to be a helper and take what I tell her off the shelf to put into the cart, although, if she spots a can of Pringles, it's going in the cart no matter what. Either that or she insists on holding it, rolling it along the floor, etc.

They both love the "choo-choo" that runs along the ceiling at the dairy section of Wegman's. As a matter of fact, no matter what store we're shopping in, Nathan is always looking up trying to find the "choo choo."

I love my two little sidekicks!

9.12.2012

A "pie-cone" for Daddy

One day we had a bunch of extra strawberries to use up so I decided that we should make a strawberry pie.  Cambria got very excited and insisted on helping in the kitchen, as always.

We whipped up a batch of grandma's sugar-cookie-esque pie crust (the ONLY way to go -- regular pie pastry crust - ick!) and made up this little treat for daddy to enjoy when he came home. Although, even though Cambria isn't a strawberry fan, mom had to try it out before dad got home to make sure it tasted good.

She kept calling it "Daddy's pie-cone"

She calls an ice cream cone an "ice-cone," and she recently learned the word "pinecone" so I think she was just combining her love of desserts and a few other words.



Happy as can be, waiting to give daddy his strawberry pie-cone.

8.18.2012

A Mimi & Geepy visit and VOLT

We went to visit Mimi & Geepy and celebrate Mimi's 56th birthday. (don't let the 7 on the cake confuse you; it was the only candle we could find!)


The kids had fun playing and going to the park.





Aunt Debi came to visit with Molly. The kids LOVED it.


I had a chance to get out and get my hair done for the first time in years!! (no pic, sorry) Just a few highlights and long bangs.

A few seasons ago, Top Chef featured 2 brothers from Frederick, MD - Michael and Brian Voltaggio.  One of Brian's restaurants, Volt, is in downtown Frederick and I had a chance to go for a nice brunch with Mom while Dad watched the kids. It was so much fun!





Having some lemon raspberry coconut cake on the deck before mom opened her macbook air!