Thanksgiving 2009

I've been on break all week-but it is a working break. I have used the extra time to get myself ready for finals. But I have also spent a lot of time with the kids! Libby and I decorated MeMe and Pappy's Christmas Tree. She loved it! She put all the decorations in one spot. Joe was really good too, he didn't touch the tree (except with the fishing pole Deb and John got for him). Thanksgiving was spent with the Bozics! Libby and Joe were great. They loved the people and the chaos-and they slept through the entire meal which was nice for Corey and I. Here are some pics from the day.

Happy Halloween Weekend!

Another post-I know you all are surprised. I can't write much, but I'll share pics from our weekend. On Saturday, Libby went on her first Trick-or-Treating adventure with her best friend Elliott. She dressed up like a butterfly and had SO much fun. I'll save the whole story for Corey-who actually took her. Suffice it to say that she had an AMAZING time!

Sunday was pretty so we took the kids to the park and got some super cute shots of them playing. Enjoy!

Libby, Elliott and Aidan in their "costume suits" as Libby put it

Libby and Elliott running down the street
Joe loves to put wood chips on everything-swings, slides, his mouth.
Joe on the slide
Libby balancing on the beam
Libby discovering a spider on the beam-she talked to it for a good minute
Most of the pics are of Joe running away-he loves to run!
Libby on the top of the jungle gym

October Fun

Kids in their Halloween shirts, and behaving for the camera

We have had another crazy month, but the kids are great-and so are Corey and I. We have not done a whole lot-other than school and work, but it feels like we've been running a marathon. I can't tell you how excited I am for Thanksgiving.
Libby and Joe are both doing great. Libby is becoming a little parent. She tried to put Joe in "time-out" last week. I had to explain that only mommy or daddy puts Joe in time-out, but I think she was a little annoyed that she wasn't allowed. She has also become ridiculously independent. She dresses herself (most of the time), walks everywhere by herself etc. She does not want any help from anyone. The other day she picked out this outfit-a black shirt and black pants with a pink head band. I thought she looked very "Audrey Hepburn" so I took some pics.She loves to make funny faces-and cracks up if you make them with her. I've mentioned before that she likes hide-n-seek. But the funny thing is, if she hides, she jumps out as soon as you are done counting and says "You pound (found) me! Good job!" We are trying to teach her to stay hidden, but oh well.

Libby also likes to use our camera to take pictures now. She has her own, but when ours is available, she loves it. This is one she took at breakfast of me washing dishes. She gets really excited when the picture comes on the screen.

Libby dancing in the living room

Mr. Blue Eyes-he loves a bath!

Joe is growing all the time. He went to the doctor to have his 15 month check up and shots 2 weeks ago. He was 28 pounds 12 ounces (90th) and 30(ish) inches tall (75th). He loves to be chased and to read books. He loves blocks and legos. He is saying more words now including-"cheese" for the camera, "das" for yes (when he says it he nods -but it looks like a bow), "ba" for bath, ball, book, any word starting with "b". He's a hoot-he's too strong and too tall for his age, so he is constantly getting into trouble. One of his favorite things to do is climb inside of things, especially laundry baskets. He's been a bit of a grump lately because he is literally getting all of his teeth at once.

He's a goober for the camera!

Libby and Joe playing together-Libby would push Joe around by bumping him with the rocket

I thought this was hilarious-Libby with the remote, watching TV.

And this is lazy Joe-too cute!

In other news, I am more than halfway done with my first semester. It is a lot of work, but I'm keeping up-mainly because of Corey. He's been great! Also, Corey got a full-time day shift position, so NO MORE NIGHTS! It makes me so happy I cannot even express. I'm sure there are tons of things that I am forgetting, but I'll post again as soon as I can.

Where we are...

It's been a hectic month. Libby went up to Pittsburgh, where her doctor was very pleased with her progress! Corey went to Deep Creek for a leadership conference with 17three our college/young professional church. I got to go for one day of it and it was a lot of fun. I ran a 5k with Ellen. We placed 3 and 4 in our age group (there were only 7 people in our age group...shhh).

But in the midst of all our craziness, we have been home. The kids are home more than they are not-which is great. I haven't been a faithful photographer, but I have some new photos that are pretty cute.

Things to note:
Libby is pretty well potty-trained (she even started asking to go to the potty herself)

Joe says "Baa" when you say "What does a sheep say"-he also says "Baa" for every other animal.

Libby wants to do everything "herself" she wants to dress herself and walk by herself etc.

Joe's favorite activity is to run around the house with his blanket on his head-which contributes to 75% of the bruises on that poor kid's body.

There are more, but it's early and I cannot think of them. Enjoy the pics!Libby lounging in her princess chair

Joe loves to climb in or on or off of anything

Libby and Joe in their wintery PJs (it got cold last night)

Libby wanted to "hold" Joe which I thought was hilarious

Pretty Libby

Settling into a schedule

Our Big girl with a Big smile-she's rediscovered her love of the camera!

We've been busy these last two weeks. In addition to all my new law school activities, we went to Corey's 10 year reunion. Scott and Danielle and Ainsley came in for the festivities. Danielle took pictures but I didn't-so check out the Taylor's blog for that post. It was great to get the kids together. Libby and Ainsley played together really well-on their way to being best friends.

Joe and Libby snugging on the benches.Libby's baseball stance when she gets tired of standing up straight

In our house, the kids have been playing all sorts of new games. Libby loves hide-and-go seek. She counts to 10 (sometimes in Spanish) and gets so tickled when she comes to find one of us. She has also started pretending to play the piano and singing songs. Her best songs are "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "Row, Row, Row your Boat," and "Jesus Loves Me." She sits on the edge of a box and "plays" on a table toy.

Joe still loves books. He has started liking to build with blocks. But he climbs everything. He climbs onto the couch, onto the bench, onto chairs and tables and anything else that he can pull up on. He is talking a little bit now. His first phrase was "Sit Down." I say that to him probably 100 times a day-no wonder he can say it so well.
We've tried to make some fun out of my non-studying hours. Last week we took the kids to the park in Star City. They had a blast running around-and then getting Chick-Fil-A for dinner! On Saturday, Corey and his dad went to the Mountaineer game. The kids got super cool Mountaineer gear from Gramma, but Libby preferred her princess dress to her cheerleader outfit. Joe looked super cute in his jersey-with the flying WV on the butt!

All in all we are adjusting. Every week it is a little easier!

Libby all bedecked-princess dress, Dora back pack and sunglasses!

Our last few weeks

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of fun. I'll start with our very spontaneous decision to drive to Martinsburg to get me a new computer. We found a computer online that was 1. affordable 2. more than adequate 3. lightweight and 4. OUT OF STOCK everywhere we looked. We could have ordered it, but there was no timeframe for delivery. So the only store that had ANY was the Best Buy in Martinsburg WV. So Corey and I threw the kids in the car, drove 2.5 hours to the eastern panhandle and then back. When we got there, Corey dropped me and the kids off at a Chick-Fil-A so we could eat and play until he was done purchasing the computer. The drive home was ok-and we ended the day at a birthday party for Addi Smith. My kids were of course a bit cranky, but overall it was a really fun day. And I love my computer.

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed. Early that week, we visited MeMe and Pappy who were in Deep Creek. It was SUCH a fun day. The weather was perfect for the first few hours of our visit so the kids played in the sand and in the lake. Joe LOVES the water. He dove head first into the lake as soon as we got there. Libby is a little more timid, but still had a great time. She loves the swings and the sand. She would walk in the lake but didn't want to try to "swim" very much. Later the day got rainy, so we packed the kids up and headed to Candyland in Oakland MD. This is a place of my childhood. And some things are just as good when you grow up too. This place has 700 varieties of candy-all the modern favorites and tons of the classics. MeMe and Pappy let Libby pick out a whole bag of fun treats (that we are using to help potty train). After that adventure, we headed back to the condo and took the kids in the indoor pool. We were the only ones there and it was a blast. Joe was content in water wings and one of us minimally holding him while he swung his arms and legs around. Libby was happy to be held by one of us while we were swimming or to be in a floatie. By the end, we were exhausted.

The next day I started Orientation (Corey wanted a bus stopesque picture of me on my first day). And I love it already. There is a lot of work. I spend every evening reading and briefing cases. We just dive right in. But I've met a lot of great people and my professors are wonderful-so far. My opinion may change as the year goes on. The kids have adjusted really well. Their Daddy is a great playmate, so when he is here they don't even realize I'm gone. On the days that our moms take, the kids are so excited they don't care.

On other fronts, potty training is going really well. Libby has very few accidents-usually 1 a day. She loves her panties and every time she pees she says "I did such a good job." She will never lack self-motivation. She has started liking to play hide-and-seek which is fun. Joe and I hide and she counts and comes and finds us. When I count, she rarely hides-just runs away but that is fun too. The kids are playing together a lot better too. Last night I looked over and Libby said "I'm rubbing Joe's shoulders." It was precious!

That's us in a nutshell. We are getting along. My first official week of classes is almost over and I am still enthusiastic. And my family-Corey, the kids, my parents, his parents and so on have been so supportive. Everyone in school thinks I'm crazy because I have 2 kids and I'm tackling this huge task. But when you have support like I do, it doesn't feel like a heavy burden. So thanks to all of you who are helping shoulder the weight.

Finally here is a video of Libby walking. Blogger finally let me upload it!

A Little Weekend Fun

We've kept busy over the last few weeks-with birthdays and physical therapy and the everyday things that go on. So it was nice to get a call on Friday from Corey's Aunt DeeDee inviting the family down for a BBQ the next day. We were celebrating Brandon's (Corey's cousin) homecoming after spending a month in Africa. It was really fun! The kids loved being outside-and getting to see their cousins Aubree and Mia. Libby made a new friend named DC-a fluffy cat who actually was petable. The boys (Brandon, Corey, Chris, Rick and Danny) played with the toys that Brandon brought back from Africa-by toys I mean drums. And the rest of us enjoyed good food and conversation.

In other news, I am letting the followers of this blog know that the posts will be fewer and farther between because I start back to school next week. The first year of law school is busy-coupled with kids and lives etc, I am unsure where blogging will fall in. But we'll see!

Updates

Sorry I don't have pics today. I promise to post some soon. We've been busy lately. The kids are great. Libby is walking on her own a lot now. She is getting stronger and stronger-and smarter. She has learned to take her splints off at night, which makes them slightly ineffective! We go to Pittsburgh next week for a follow-up so we'll have some new input from them.

Potty training is also going okay. We haven't been too hard core, but Libby is getting it. Yesterday she sat on the potty and she knew that she had done something. She turned and looked in the potty and cried "Oh Mommy, there is a little bit of yucky in there!" She had pooped on potty and was very excited about it. As long as we initiate the going to the potty, she will do her business-but so far no sign of her telling us!

Libby also had her 3 year check up on Monday. She weighs 24.6 pounds and is 33.5 inches long. Both are below the 5th percentile, but just right on her curve. She is growing and that is what matters.

Joe is also growing. He loves to eat and play and gibber-jabber all the time. He can say "Ball" and "Book" and he knows what "No" means now. He is also a fit-thrower. When he doesn't get his way you would have thought the world had ended. But most of the time he is just as happy as a lark.

As I said more pics later!