Quirktastic

The B-man is always good for a giggle.

Apparently, his request on Sunday afternoon for Lego-building was "Cafe Rio WITH the horchata machine."   (Cafe Rio is a fast-casual Mexican place nearby that we frequent and they do boast quite the beverage bar, complete with B's fave horchata.)   Seriously-- how delightfully quirky is that suggestion?!

Behold, the BG's creation:

I labeled the "machines," per B's description, so that those of you who have been there can see how true-to-life it is, and those of you who haven't, can imagine!   :-)

In other news, someone still finds Scentsy bars to be objects of play!  I heard some scurrying around one day last week during "quiet time" and walked into the hall to find this:

Who Needs A Bath When There Can Be A Shower??!

April 27th was selected as Anne's baby shower date months ago....and I'm pretty sure (Real) Auntie-to-be EmilyQ was working the whole time to make the party amazing.  She and her craftiness definitely succeeded!   Friends of Anne's from high school, college, grad school, and work traveled to Corning, along with family members, and we got to toast the expectant mother (with lemonade) all day long!

The BG very sweetly refrained from scheduling a track meet on Saturday so he could be on kid patrol all weekend.  I dropped them off with him at school at 4:00 and hit the road.  Of course, 4 pm on Friday is not the best time to be attempting to escape this area so it was 10 pm by the time I rolled into the Crystal City.   (And went straight to Aniello's to get a slice-- let's be honest here.)   Turns out Anne and the rest of the Philly crew had decided to come Fri night after all but weren't going to get in until well after midnight, so Emily and I worked a bit on some details.  Okay, mostly she showed me all the awesome stuff she'd ordered from our best friend, Vistaprint, along with all the craft supplies she'd bought at Michael's and Target.  Perhaps a party-planning business next, EmQ?!!!

I usually like to premiere photos on the blog first before releasing "to the masses" on FB, but after I spent all the time editing the pics last night, I just had to post them!   I know most of you, therefore, have likely already seen the shower album on Facebook so I'll just do a bit more of a skim here!

A few of the fun touches:

The diaper cake that fellow hostess Julie made had a champagne bottle as the centerpoint under the diapers, which I thought was so fun!

The nibbles.  We had sandwiches catered and a small cake made, but everything else we prepared ourselves:

After I wrote the post title, I giggled because, in fact, we DID need a Bath....Bath, NY, that is!  Emily tracked down a bakery in Bath (about 20 miles away) that still made "Long Johns," the beloved oblong chocolate-topped donut with custard inside that we all enjoyed from Corning's now-defunt local bakery.  (Side note:  the Bath place calls them "Bismarcks."  Has anyone heard of that before??!)   Anne has been really bummed that long johns have become so elusive so Emily was thrilled to locate this other bakery and use LJs as the favors!!   I then had the idea to carry out the long john theme and find some real ones for the baby!!  I found a woman on Etsy and, since we don't know the sex of Baby G, had her make them in Syracuse colors.  I wish I'd taken a pic of the front-- it has blue buttons down the front and is just so cute!

The Havalchak ladies found the most perfect venue (called "The Venue"-- ha!).  It's a large space above a crafting store on wonderful Market Street and everyone oohed and aahed!

The next two photos are such a study in lighting.  I didn't do a thing, editing-wise, to this photo of The Emilys:

...and then there's this one where my nose shadow obscures the half my face!  :-)   AKHG looks so cute, though, so we'll include here!

We all gathered Saturday evening on Market Street again, this time for appetizers and cocktails at The Cellar.  (The merchants are really creative with these names, huh?!)  Then around 10:30, we walked 2 blocks to Aniello's for a pizza fix.  Gotta love a walkable town!!

I also sure love these two (three!!!)!!    Can't wait to be Auntie Em Deux!!

It's Friday!

Grab a loved one and watch some interactive Green Eggs and Ham on a library computer!

 

Or, you know, just have a wonderful weekend!!

Active Feet

We had friends over to play Tuesday morning and the littlest girls managed to have quite the dance party on the coffee table.


(And yes, I am a hug-pusher.  Hugs, not drugs, people!!)

Of Shades And Science

I recently bought these navy-and-white sunglasses for C and she is quite the fan.  So, too, have been several onlookers around town:  she's gotten quite a few compliments!

The picture above was snapped later in the day after she'd gotten dirt all over her original shirt.  I grabbed her latest "College" prize:  a T-shirt from the Language Development Lab. She and I had a campus adventure a couple of weeks ago (as you can see below, it was during one of our freakish 90 degree days) and these shirts were in the box o' toys from which the participants can pick out something at the end.  Who needs another piece of plastic when one can get a shirt, right?! 

This particular study was quite intense-- it lasted TWO HOURS.  I wasn't sure how she'd do but she hung in there.  There was a video portion, visual identification exercises, fine motor skills activities, and even some "playtime with parent" while they videoed our interactions.  Wonder what they thought of the following conversation:  "Camille, is that a screwdriver?  Oh, it looks like it goes with these pieces here.  Hmm-- kinda looks like those are wings so maybe this is an airplane?  Let's try to put it together.   Well.   Hmmm.   That doesn't fit.  Yeah, sorry, I have no idea how to put together 3-dimensional objects.  That pizza set over there sure looks like fun, though....!"

HA HA.   Thank goodness for the BG, who whips up 3-story parking garages in no time flat:

PS:  A big shout-out to Geoff and Nicki on the arrival of Griffin late Monday night!!   Mothers, feel free to line up behind me in jealousy that he, a first child, arrived with just one push!!   The family of 3 plan to go home later this morning....and then the real fun begins!  :-)

Look Who's Crafting

The B-man does not forget.  As soon as he heard we needed to make a run to a craft store, he asked if he could paint like I had at that Pinterest/painting party.   I realized there wasn't a great reason to say no, especially since we have plenty of glasses.  So off we went to get supplies.  I had an atypical-for-Emily common sense realization in the paint aisle that if we got only red, yellow, and blue, we could then make the secondary colors without having to buy them.  GENIUS.  ;-)   Unfortunately, this is what I found when we got home:

Darn whoever put the Metallic paint in the Enamel slot....and, of course, darn my own shopping distraction!!

So much for lovely, soothing blues, greens, and purples.  These glasses are gonna be HOT HOT HOT like the sun!

Pretty sure this is what Picasso's early work looked like:

Hey, at least he'll get to drink juice (or, um, Gatorade) out of fancy glasses every now and then!!   They've now been baked to become dishwasher-safe and are awaiting their inaugural usage!

Follower

C and I accompanied B's class on a field trip to a nature center on Friday.  She had SO much fun playing with the big kids (she's the one in pink in the forefront, following them around the circle of stumps):

She truly wants to do WHATEVER her big brother does.   He needs a band-aid?  "I DO BAND-AID!"  she yells.  He puts rocks in his pocket?  "I DO ROCKS IN MY POCKET"....even though she had no pockets that particular day.  While we await her expansion of verbs to include something other than "do," we'll certainly soak in her cuteness.

"I DO ROCKET SHIP (as B named this part of the playground equipment):

Food Recitation

I often ask Miss C to say "oatmeal" and "pretzel" because her pronunciations ("oatMO" and "pretzooo") crack me up.  Yesterday morning, it was really rainy when we were getting ready to leave and she started jabbering about "brellas" which was very cute so I decided to try to catch a video.  As things tend to go with toddlers, however, she spent the first few seconds acting like she had no idea what I was talking about and then got distracted by her brother with one of those brellas!   ;-)    It did give me a chance, however, to highlight what has now become my new fave:  her pronunciation of "octopus"!!!


HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Brother + Sister

I edited these pics after an hourlong phone conversation with my dear brother.  I can only hope that in 32 years, these two kids will enjoy talking about nothing and everything across however many miles separate them.  

Can you really go on a late-afternoon walk WITHOUT taking a shadow pic?!

The State of Eating

As INTERESTING as this blog always is :-), it may surprise you to know that some pics never get posted because something else funnier, cuter, or more topical comes up!   Before we get too far behind, I thought I'd better post 2 snaps from last month (since I have nothing else to tell you today-- ha)!!

We have brinner (breakfast for dinner) several times per month these days:

It started as a way to capitalize on B learning to like/eat scrambled eggs and then has continued because he also now will eat bacon (or turkey smoked sausage) and, well, because it's tasty.  I see this particular  night there was no meat which probably just means we didn't have any on hand when I came up with the dinner plan on an eve the BG was working.  But it makes me happy to see all the food on his plate and to know it got eaten.  We've definitely noticed an uptick in the quantity of food he's eating which is a big HOORAY.  As weird as I know this sounds (because we really do eat quite healthily with lots of fruits and veggies), he ate two bites of a hot dog from a concession stand last week and I was unbelievably excited!   Since I imagine we'll spend many a night at school events with concession stands, it is a relief to see that he might eat a hot dog!! 

All in all, this season when the BG is home for dinner more often than he is not, we've had pretty decent luck with cooking meals that they'll each eat all of....even if the required "two bites of pork/chicken/beef" sometimes takes an hour.   Good thing B's daddy is so patient with him; it's not my strongest suit!

She continues to be the child that eats anything and everything given to her for the most part.   Not liking food?  What a HAIR-RAISING idea!!!

Berry-Licious

I think she's set for spring/summer strawberry shirts.

Thank goodness the Zeta symbol isn't the kumquat or papaya or something!   ;-)

PS:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favorite co-thespian and pen pal, Annie Kate!!!!

Protector

He's always looking out for her.

----

I can't help but feel like the love and protection shown by my elder child is demonstrative of the love and protection offered to us by the Lord.   While He offers each of us a loving hand throughout our earthly lives, He wraps his arms now around a new member of the Kingdom of Heaven:  Ed, the husband of JC, one of the most loyal readers of this blog.  I am so thankful that I was able to attend their wedding in the fall of 2010, and then soak in Ed's generous spirit at the Rotary Pancake Breakfast he just organized this past December.   I give thanks for the happy years JC and Ed were able to spend together.  We love you, JC!! 

Getting Close(r) to Nature

We were invited yesterday morning to go over to a friend's house and "see the fish."  Her husband owns a pond design/build company so I knew said fish would be in a backyard pond, but I had no idea about all the adventures that were in store!

Someone was super excited about all the water!

Checking out Pond #2:

A tour of some of the water features in the front:

Then we ended up in the indoor trampoline room!!  The family boasts many competitive divers and they have a huge room where they practice their twists and turns!   The kiddos got to take turns jumping, too!

After the jumping fun, it was out to see Pond #3 in the woods...which led to quite a nice little hike down to the edge of the nearby river:

After all that hiking, it was definitely time for some tootsie-cooling-off!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

One Shining Moment

No, NOT the NCAA basketball championship!

The (very brief) period of time where Miss C wore this bow!!

Just for funsies, check out her wearing the same bow (part of a Jen S original outfit!) almost exactly 2 years ago:

Private Playground

We met Jen W & Co. yesterday morning at a park in between our house and her house (which, as you might remember, is directly behind our old casa).  I hadn't been to this park in a year but was happy to be reminded it's a great spot-- AND we were the only people there!   We enjoyed good catching-up time and a picnic lunch.  The big boys avoided the camera by running around but the littlest 3 got snapped.

The Two Cs on the see-saw:

And the girls:  I was trying to get their attention by saying "lalalala" and Miss C apparently decided to wag her tongue, too!

We expect another day in the 80s today-- CRAZY!!  

Amphibian Fun

The B-man was recently introduced to the world of Frog & Toad and has been been getting quite the kick out of reading their adventures.  Since I remember F&T from my own book-rich childhood, I knew Librarian Grammie would love hearing that her grandson had developed affection for those little amphibians, too.  After he read her some of the stories over Skype recently--most notably, the one where Frog sends Toad a letter by (true) Snail Mail--we received this envelope in the mail:

It even had this disclaimer!

Thanks for making his day, Grammie!

We actually now have two different volumes of F&T's adventures and B has determined that Skype sessions are officially for the reading of them.  I caught the most recent one on "tape" over the weekend.  (This is for you, Polly!!!)

Cheap Thrills

This past weekend was the big Mulch Sale at the BG's school.  The sale itself was Saturday and raised money for the Booster Club.  Then Sunday (as well as parts of next weekend), football players spread the mulch as a fundraiser for the team.   He was gone from 6 AM- 3 PM Saturday and 7 AM - 5 PM yesterday and, as you can imagine, was pretty much exhausted the hours that he was at home.    They did really good work, though, so hooray for that!

Less hooray-y, however, is me coming up with things to do with kids who have been home all day everyday for many days without a partner in crime to balance the effort.  Saturday didn't drag on too horribly because B had his group swim lesson (which we followed up with a trip to Dunkin Donuts and then a stroll through the shopping center to TJ Maxx because, honestly, I don't know what to do that doesn't involve treats and/or shopping) but I knew we'd need something adventurous for the next day.  The best answer would've been to take the kids to church by myself but I opted to get an earlier start on our day and planned an outing with 3 stops all along the very road off which we live!     First stop:   thrift store for 50% off day.   Second stop:  drive-thru Starbucks run with a gift card I recently received.  Third stop:  playground and a picnic lunch.   (Oh, look!  It involves treats and shopping-- SHOCKER.)

ANYWAY.

I only scored a few clothing finds at this particular thrift store but ended up having quite the time in the book section.  I got something like 12 books, each priced at 40 cents, but I was perhaps most excited about this title to which I know my brother dear will give a big thumbs-up:

Gotta love hardback books for 40 cents!

We arrived at the playground to find quite the activity brewing and the parking spots filled.  We pulled onto the adjacent grass and I questioned the woman next to me about the growing posse.  Turns out we were arriving at the same time as the participants in a Live Action Role Play event-- they had the fields reserved for their battle as soon as the current softball game ended.  I bet there were 60-70 people there by the time we decided to skedaddle, all in costumes ranging from the simple ones you can see below to full metal armor and headpieces!

We didn't stick around for the action but I have no doubt it looked like this and this!!!!

Sweets

I figure there's never a BAD time to visit the new fro-yo spot that is already doing much to support the BG's teams and his school.   Right?

These places might try to 'getcha' with the big cups but, I'm here to tell you, if you're careful about it, three of you can enjoy a tasty sweet treat for the sum total of $5!!!!

(I'm also here to tell you, Grammie, that B's hair isn't actually quite as dark as it looks in these shots.  I've become a fan of the "Vintage 3" filter on the "befunky" photo app and it darkens things up a bit!)

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Better.

I am happy to report our day yesterday was much improved.  No one is sick; the internet is working, and the plumber found an easily-accessible leak that was nowhere near as bad as it could have been.  So hooray!

Since we didn't really do anything else of note, I'll just have to show you Monday's evidence of the BG's Spring Break Beard!   (and his goofy son)

Shhhh......Don't tell anyone but there were definitely some gray hairs in there!!!

PS:  Thanks for the check-in texts yesterday!   :-)

And Then It All Fell Apart

I think Alanis would appreciate that we didn't go to NC so that we could avoid a stomach bug...but then got one anyway!

C got sick Saturday afternoon but she'd had a runny nose for a few days and we figured she just had a touch of something. She was fine the rest of the weekend although there was a period Monday with some messy diapers. Imagine my surprise yesterday when both kids got up making some gagging noises...and then I realized I didn't feel so good, either.

I put them downstairs in front of cartoons and laid down on the upstairs couch. B started throwing up shortly but he did such a good job of making it to the bathroom. Unfortunately, round 4 (which followed some juice and dry cereal) was not so successful and I was finally faced, after 5 years of parenthood, with trying to figure out how to clean couch cushions.

While I was dealing with that, I happened to look up and notice that there was a brown water stain in the corner of the basement ceiling. Seriously? The BG was home for 10 days and this all happens NOW?

I went upstairs to find the number for the plumber that everyone has raved about on a community listserv....and realized the Internet/phone/cable had gone out. Awesome.

Long story short(er), after sleeping on the hardwood living room floor yesterday afternoon, B seems to be back to his old self. (Well, he's not up yet today but he sure was fine the rest of yesterday). I had already emailed his teacher to say he wouldn't be back at school today, which is just as well since a comcast technician is coming during school drop-off time and the plumber is coming during pick-up time. I started feeling really bad again late yesterday afternoon so crawled into my bed before 5 and pretty much never left. My stomach stopped hurting and it became a feverish hot/cold thing. The Internet/cable/phone, which had come back earlier, went out again at 8 and hindered my chances for entertainment so I finally went to sleep. I woke up at 10:30 and felt much more "normal" temp-wise, so I'm desperately hoping that means I broke through. (Typing this from bed so I haven't stood up yet, either!!)

So many thanks to the BG for taking care of things yesterday afternoon/evening. Guy's amazing. I should be thankful this happened yesterday since he has coaching obligations both today and tomorrow. Hope we all have a better day today!!

The Adventure

We decided on the way down to go straight for the Blue Bell to pick up a few pints for the evening (Buttered Pecan and Cookies and Cream).  The kids didn't really grasp the momentous nature of this event but they were happy to be loose in a store!

Most of the area's lodging is close to the interstate but I decided to pay a bit more (please note we are still talking not-fancy here) to stay in the Courtyard located right on the historic downtown street.  We are SO pleased we did this because we could walk and explore everywhere.  Our first stop was actually the Presbyterian Church a couple blocks away where I popped in to see if a Baylor friend who is on staff there (thanks, Facebook!) happened to be on site.  She wasn't, but it turns out her husband (whom we'd never met, largely because I hadn't even seen the friend since I graduated) is the Associate Pastor so the church secretary took us to him.  It was so fun to send Sarah a text out of the blue with a pic of her husband and this crazy old friend from college!!   They invited us to come by their house later so we could visit with them and their two kids.

But first, we did our perusal of kid-friendly shops in the downtown area, where even the cupcake joint was in a 19th century rowhouse:

There was also a toy shop that was a huge hit; there, I bought a "Virginia-made" bow for Miss C that OF COURSE she pulls out immediately.   Harrumph.

Our friends suggested a restaurant on the main street for dinner so, after our visit with them, we came back, parked the car by the hotel, and walked for some grub.  It was a wonderful suggestion and we had much tastiness and enjoyment!

The giant Bavarian pretzel we noshed on to start:

Capital Ale House is quite thoughtful of kiddos with a package of Wikki Stix for each one.  I am rather uncreative so only could come up with letters:

...but the BG worked on shapes with Meelie...

...and made me some chic spectacles!

(The video from yesterday was also taken at the restaurant.  When I went to the restroom before we left, I realized there was yet another room behind us that had big couches with baskets full of games under the tables.  The kids and I hung out in there playing with Jenga blocks and Connect 4 boards (and danced) while we waited for the BG to pay the bill.)

Friday morning, I threw on some clothes to enjoy an early walk down the street to grab some breakfast treats.  Here's a shot of Caroline Street-- very Market Street-esque for the Corning folks out there, albeit with older and prettier buildings;

Along my multi-block journey, I passed an Apothecary Shop that obviously made me think of this guy.

Then I saw this sign in the window and realized it was more of a museum.  Too funny!

Finally, I arrived at the bakery (housed in a former church building) that had been recommended to me by the Presbyterian church secretary.  I got there right as they opened at 7:30, although I knew from their website that they start making all their pastries at 3 AM:

I can't believe I didn't take a photo before we devoured them but we enjoyed a chocolate croissant, a pecan roll, a raspberry streudel, and an almond bear claw.  Divine!   Totally would've gone back for lunch if we'd still been around.

Next up?  Swimming!!!   Couldn't stay in a hotel that didn't have an indoor pool!

(He's waving, not blocking the paparazzi!)

After showers and dry clothes, we were able to pop in one more bookstore before needing to move our car, so Miss C also had some more time to visit with street friends:

Caroline Street had SO MANY boutiques and gift shops that I would have LOVED to poke through.  Can't wait to go back sometime on an adult schedule!

On the way out of the historic district, we stopped at a battlefield.  It was a gorgeous morning for exploring some history:

Running up the big hill:

 

Checking out the cannon:

Then it was back to the largest area of retail stores I have EVER seen (and I've seen a lot!) to grab some lunch and make one more trip back to the Walmart freezer selection for a ride home in the cooler:

The B-man has been saying every day since: "That {Homemade} Vanilla is SOOO good that I don't want to stop eating it!"