A Weekend to be Thankful For

We are all a little sad to see this weekend come to an end.  It was a wonderful holiday and so nice to spend four days together as a family doing lots of fun things. We started with Thanksgiving.  Julia helped me get ready by putting together cheese and vegetable trays.  She made turkeys out of apples to decorate them.  You can kind of see one in the upper right corner of this tray.

Of the Thanksgiving dinner Julia ate turkey and a little bit of a roll.  She was also a fan of the cupcake we had for her!  Thanksgiving night ended with a new pair of pjs – getting us ready for the next big holiday!

Friday was a quieter day, spent hanging around the house, taking out some Christmas decorations, getting lights put up on the house (Andrew decided it was in his best interest to take advantage of the 60 degree weather for that task!), and taking care of chores.  Then  Saturday we jumped right into Christmas season with a trip to the tree farm to pick out a Christmas tree for ourselves, Grandpa Rick and Grandpa Lesley, and Aunt Katie.  We tried a new tree farm in CT and were very pleased with it.  It helped that it was close to 60 degrees again but of course, we still found our tree on the furthest plot of the 100 acre farm!  Here are a few pictures that Julia took documenting her day.

   

From the tree farm we headed back to Grandma Lesley and Grandpa Rick’s house to help them decorate their tree and to celebrate birthdays (mine, Merrill and Grandpa Rick’s)!  Julia and Alex were really excited to decorate the tree and did a great job putting up the ornaments. 

Then this morning it was our turn to decorate.  Again Julia was excited to get the ornaments out and help decorate.  We also put a little tree in her playroom so she had fun picking some ornaments for her tree and decorating it how she wanted.  I’m sure this will be a recurring project in the coming weeks.

Here’s a before and after of the “big” tree! (Really not that big because we have surprisingly low ceilings in our house.)

As we were decorating, Julia loved hearing us tell her the stories of our different ornaments, when we got them and where they came from.  It was fun to see her really take an interest in it and ask questions about different things. This is definitely going to a fun holiday season.

A Little Pilgrim

Julia had a Thanksgiving Feast at preschool today and came home a pilgrim!

Tubby Time

This is how J chose to take her tubby tonight… not sure why but she enjoyed herself!

A New Routine

Part of our settling into our new home over the past few weeks has been finding a new “school” for Julia.  Originally we were going to hold off on enrolling her, thinking that it would be nice to get her settled and let her have time with us before she started at a new place.  But within a week of us moving to RI Julia was asking where her new school was and when she was going.  We were a little surprised and I guess hadn’t fully realized how much she enjoyed going to the Frog Pond in VA even if it was only one day a week.  So we began a search for a new place and found a wonderful nursery school called The Little Red Hen only about 5 minutes from our house.  I knew as soon as I walked up to it when I went to check it out that it would be a good place for Julia and all of our interactions so far have confirmed that.  As their youngest class is three year olds Julia could not start until she was 2 years and 9 months.  Luckily for us that was yesterday and today Julia went to school!

She has been talking about it since we took her to visit there a couple of weeks ago and was very excited last night and this morning.  We weren’t exactly sure how it was going to go as her drop-offs at the Frog Pond had occasionally involved tears but she settled in as soon as we got to the Little Red Hen this morning.  She followed her teacher, Mrs. Drolet, to the coat rack, and hung up her things and then quickly claimed a seat at a table to draw with markers with the other kids.  Andrew and I squared away some paperwork and then went over to say goodbye.  Julia barely gave us a glance as she held her hand up and waved goodbye!  She was still happy when we picked her up and told me quite a bit about her morning when she woke up from her nap this afternoon.  Hopefully, our new Tuesday and Thursday morning routine will continue to be as successful as today for our new little chick!

Dad & Julia Go To Florida

This weekend Julia and I set off on a big adventure to visit Ahma Susu and Ahmpa Herb in Florida.  Unfortunately, Alyssa’s doctors told her that she couldn’t go with us and while we missed her a lot Julia and I had a great time.

We started the trip before sunrise - here we are at the airport waiting for the plan to Florida watching the sunrise.

After that we just had to find the plane.  It took a couple of guesses but we finally figured out it was this one.

With a start like that we had to go big the next day, so Julia, Ahma Susu and I headed off to the zoo.  We got to see lots of great animals but the best part was the giraffes.  Here was the Dad of the family.  He wanted to say hi and have a little snack.

The rest of the tip was spent doing all the fun stuff.  Playing doctor with and making sure Nono felt good. 

Eating ice cream for lunch, spending a lot of time in the pool (Julia and I even went for an after dinner swim) and little time at the beach.

All in all Julia and I had a great trip but we were excited to get back home to see Alyssa.  We missed her a LOT!!!!

Why????

why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?why?WHY?

Can you tell what stage we’re in?!?!?

Some of the questions that have been posed in our house lately include:

-why do bugs come in the house?

-why do trees live outside?

-why can’t I have Oreo cookies for breakfast?

-why is the sun going to bed?

-why can’t Mommy come on the airplane? (Andrew and Julia are off on their own adventure to FL this weekend)

-why do yellow lights mean be careful?

-why do we need to make dinner?

-why can’t I have Nerds (the candy) for breakfast?

-why is the baby in Mommy’s tummy?

-why can’t I see the big dipper? (asked mid-day)

-why do plants need water?

-why does Daddy have to work?

-why can’t I have M&Ms for breakfast?

… and many many more!

I have to admit it’s pretty amazing to listen to her as she thinks about things and wonders why they happen and puts things together in her mind, or makes leaps that I completely don’t expect.  Even so, though I try pretty hard not to, the phrase “just because” has been coming out of my mouth on a much more regular basis lately… usually after 3:00pm or so!