Week 41

Today's week in review from Schuyler's school arrived in my in box and I was just tickled to read what all they did this week ... when I pick her up each day she says, "I had a great day mommy." ... but when I ask what she did the answer is always, "Nothing." ... like she is a teenager already ...

I was also very excited that the photo they included this week for the Mighty Ducks (the three year olds) was Skye ... she too was thrilled to see herself in the newsletter ...

Three’s:

This week in the mighty ducks they began the theme In The Fall.  They read the books: I know it’s Autumn and A tree for All Seasons.  They went on a nature walk and saw the leaves changing on the trees.  They found acorns and pinecones.  They learned that there are four seasons and that Autumn and Fall mean the same thing.  They painted with water colors and mixed paint to make fall colors.  They went on an apple hunt in the classroom.  They used pictures of apples to count from one to ten.  Noah Gross brought in an apple that he picked to share with the class.

School Photo 2009

Schuyler had her school photos a couple of weeks ago ... September 2nd to be exact ... and she was so excited to get them back ... I love that we have one of her whole class since she really enjoys seeing all these kids everyday ... and I am especially happy one of the photos got her duck shoes in it ... because that has been the defining item of her threes ... she loves those shoes and wears them all the time ... she even let me do her hair that morning which is a pretty big deal in our house ...

Clarkland Farm

Clarkland Farm 10/10/09

Today we went to Clarkland Farm with Skye's friends Sophia, Danielle and Jake ... the kids had an absolute blast ... running from one thing to another ...

Schuyler actually road the horse 4 times ... we bought one ticket ... she traded her hayride ticket for another horse ride and then Danielle and Sophia decided not to ride the horse so she used their tickets as well ... she absolutely loved it ... during one of the rides she proclaimed, "Mommy I want a horse!!!" ... of course she does ...

Part way through the day she stopped answering to Schuyler and when I asked her why she said, "My new name is Mrs. Plots" ... we still can't figure out why but she responded to that for the next hour and a half ... it was quite funny when she tried to explain that was her name ...

The group had such a great time that I think we are going to start planning something once a month to go and do ... all the kids love being together and all the parents had fun hanging out ...

Don't Forget The Tail

Lately Skye has been loving playing dress-up ... we moved all her dress-up into her room and she loves to put together an ensemble and the parade around at the top of the stairs then come down the stairs like she is in the Miss America contest and show us her outfit ...

I thought today's was especially cute but it wasn't until she was heading back upstairs that I realized it included the tail ... I had to give her a lollypop to come back down so I could take a photo of the tail ... after I took the first one she wanted me to take a photo of her giving me a little shimmy with the tail ...

Our Shenandoah Trip

This is a long post about our weekend away ... with just a sampling of my favorite photos from all the ones I took ... I'm almost finished with the video montage of the trip which has more photos and some funny videos ...

We set out for our big weekend away at 9:30 (that is after getting coffee of course) ... so we did fairly well ... we put Lincoln's big car seat in the car which he was thrilled about (he never ever really liked the infant seat) and we hooked up Skye's movie player to the seat in front of her and she got a new movie for the trip ... Mickey Mouse Playhouse in Wonderland ... I also remembered to bring headphones which schwoooo for that one ... she watched the movie the entire trip ... never changed the DVD ... we only had a 2 hour car trip and all in all we had a great time on the road ...

When we got to the caverns we had planned to visit I decided it wasn't the right one ... it was deserted and very cheesy looking ... just didn't feel like it was going to be good ... and we saw tons of signs for Luray Caverns and I had seen commercials for the place before ... so we looked up the address on the Pre (have I mentioned before I am in LOVE with this phone) and plugged it into the GPS ...

Once we got there everyone was a bit hungry and needed a bit of a break ...

After lunch we headed into the Cavern ... and it was AMAZING ... a little tough getting down all the stairs with a stroller and an excited 3 year old but we made it without any stumbles or falls ... Skye was worried it would be really dark down there so we got her a head lamp and she was way excited to get that puppy on ... let me tell you it was a big hit with everyone down there ... she got so many comments about how cute it was and what a great idea and not once did anyone get annoyed that she was shinning that thing right in their eyes ...

The formations were gorgeous ... Skye thought it looked like a cave from Dragon Tails ... and she oohhhed and aahhhed the whole way through ... so did David and myself ... even Lincoln stayed awake the whole time craning his neck to get a look at everything ...

We stopped for a quick push-up break when we got out of the caverns ... and to get a look at the garden maze we were about to enter ... it looked amazing from up above and we couldn't wait to get inside ...

The maze was so cool ... there were cute butterfly and bee wind socks that spun around ... and misters all over the maze ... tons of dead ends ... and 4 stamp stations ... I think that was Skye's favorite part because she got to stamp her card herself ... so each time we would finally find one she ran to stamp her card ... we did pretty good ... and no one got frustrated even though it could easily happen ... and the secret message from all of Skye's stamps ... "Mazes Around The World" ...

After the maze it was time to head to our hotel ... Skye has stayed in a hotel before but doesn't remember at all ... she thought it was so cool that it was "her home for tonight" ... she checked everything out and was excited to find out there was a playground right outside our room ... after a bit of rest we decided to take a drive around town and through the countryside ... saw lots of farms and the most amazing full moon ever ...

After our drive we wound up back at our hotel at the Johnny Appleseed restaurant ... Saturday night was Prime Rib night and David can't miss that ... he got the biggest piece of prime rib ... even the waitress was impressed with the weight of the plate ... Skye was just excited to get some strawberry ice cream as a vacation treat ...

Once back in the room we all just hung out having fun ... lots of tickling going on ... movies to watch ... snuggling ... it was awesome ... everyone was just so happy to be together ... hanging out ... new scenery ... it just rocked ...

I loved seeing Linc and Skye hanging out together in the morning while I got everything together ... they are going to have such a great time when he is finally big enough to play with her ...

After a quick breakfast at Burger King (where they had what I can only say was a 3 story play land area with the longest slide) ... we hit the road to drive through the Shenandoah National Park ... we were really hoping the trees would have changed more and that fall was more apparent ... but regardless it was gorgeous ... the drive was wonderful and peaceful and beautiful ... you can't go over 35 MPH while on Skyline drive so it was just a nice relaxing Sunday drive ... we stopped at several of the lookout points and the view just takes your breath away ...

After our drive through the park we all got situated again for our ride home ... several times on the way home Skye would just proclaim, "I had a good time!!" ... which made me so happy to hear ...

I did post to the blog from my phone on Sunday morning ... I am going to start planning these little trips more often ... it is good for all of us to get out and do something different and fun ...

Hey Friend

Yesterday a friend of mine on Facebook posted that she and her husband weren't going to be able to go to U2 because of a sick child ... I volunteered us to babysit ... now we have never met in person but back in the Rock-n-Tot days she totally helped me out so I figured if she was up for it I am sure Skye would love having a friend over ...

They took us up on our offer and Ian came over to play ... and play they did ... they both had such a blast ... riding scooters in the kitchen ... watching Cars ... making each other food in the play kitchen ... having their own Rock Band concert ... snuggling in bed to watch Sprout ... everything is more fun with a friend over ...

Skye did struggle a bit with his name ... and would just call him friend ... "Hey friend wanna come see my room?" ... "Friend wanna watch Sprout with me." ... it was so adorable ...

As they snuggled in bed to watch Cars I heard David say, "Well I was trying to avoid this for another 18 years but oh well." ...

Eventually they fell asleep and Ian's mommy came and got him ... unfortunately Skye didn't quite realize that he would be gone in the morning ... and when she awoke she came to the top of the stairs in tears asking where Ian was ... she kept saying over and over again, "I didn't get to say good-bye to my friend Ian." ... It was so sweet ... she ran to her room and threw herself on the bed in tears ... I told her we would invite Ian over any time she wanted and that he knew she had wanted to say good-bye ...

She dried her tears and told me she had had a lot of fun and she couldn't wait to play with Ian again ...

He's Doin It

This morning Schuyler started exclaiming, "He's Doin' It!!! He's Doin' It!!!" ... and she was right ... Lincoln was holding his bottle all by himself and drinking as fast as he could ... he of course got a big kick out of how excited Skye was and couldn't stop smiling ... David and Schuyler both grabbed cameras and got these great shots ...

I love how David captured Skye in the shot and then you can see exactly what Schuyler took a photo of ... and even though the photo is a bit fuzzy ... you can see that Lincoln clearly watches her over anyone else ...

I'm not as sad about him holding his own bottle as I thought I would be ... it does make life a tad easier ... and it means he is that much closer to being able to play with his big sister ... which she can not wait for ... besides the feeling of pride you can see in his face makes it so worth it ...

Making Costanza Proud

In true George Costanza form Schuyler decided to make a bed under my desk at work today ... it was all her idea and I almost didn't get the photos because I was laughing so hard ... she only snoozed for a moment but she loved being down there ... eventually she got something to read and a few toys to play with ... it was like watching a live episode of Seinfeld ...

Pig Tails

For a split second today Skye let me put pig tails in her hair ... my eyes welled up I was so excited ... they looked so cute ... and before I knew it ... poof ... they were gone ...

Favorite Hats

Lincoln got his Born To Love Clothing hats today ... and he was smiley about it ... but Schuyler was the one who was really excited ... she needed her hat right away so I could take photos ...

First Play Date

Today Schuyler (and Lincoln too) had her first play date ... and boy was she excited ... she was going to get to spend the morning with her best friend Sophia ... and get to go to her house ... the two of them talked about it non-stop every day at school ... by the time this morning rolled around Skye was beside herself with excitement ...

She wore her favorite new sweater that she got from Kate's store La Compagnie des Petits ... she just loves it and asked me to take some photos of her in it before we left ... once we got there Sophia was so excited to show Skye her room and her playroom and all her dress-up clothes ... the two of them were adorable together while Sophia's mom and I hung out with the boys (who are about 2 weeks apart) ...

We cooked out in the backyard for lunch and really just had such a blast ... it was a great play date ... so great in fact that on the way home Skye started screaming that her stomach hurt and I needed to kiss it ... wouldn't you know we pulled over ... I kissed her tummy and right there she threw up everywhere ... I think it was from not wanting to stop playing to blow a runny nose ... made her tummy upset ... once we got home and she took a nap she was back to herself and immediately began asking when Sophia could come to her house to play ...

Commute Convo Two

So as we were getting close to the school Schuyler was growing ever more impatient at the last stop light before school ... we hit it as it turned red and it is a long light ... (as a preface to this convo Skye uses the phrase "Its time for _____" ... like when it is time to leave the house Schuyler announces "Its time for go")

Finally she yells:

Schuyler: Mommy it is time for hurry up.

Me: Sweetie we are at a red light. I can not go until it turns green.

Schuyler: Mommy all my friends calling for me. It is time for hurry up it is time for go.

Me: Your friends are calling for you? Can you hear them?

Schuyler: Ahhhh no mommy we are still kinda far from school.

Me: Well then how do you know they are calling for you?

Schuyler: Because they want to see me - it is 40 o'clock and they all need their hugs from me. So it is time for go.

(Schuyler says everything is 40 o'clock - except the other day she looked at the clock and said it was 3 o'clock and it was)

Well she was right when we got to school half a dozen of her friends ran up yelling Schuyler with their arms open for their hugs ... took her a good few minutes to get through all the hugs ... it was almost like watching Richard Dawson and his kisses during Family Feud ...

Commute Convo

While on our commute this morning Schuyler and I had the following convo:

Schuyler: Excuse me

Me: Did you fart?

Schuyler: No ... I ... I ... I farted with my mouth ... like Lincoln

Me: You mean a burp sweetie?

Schuyler: No a fart from my mouth ... it was stinky ...

At Grandmommy's

The President

Schuyler is presently studying America in school and she talks about it all the time ... not a lot of it makes sense to us right now but she gets so excited ...

Tonight we had dinner with my mom and as we were getting ready to leave she started talking about America again ... I asked her, "Schuyler who is the President of America?" ...

She got so excited and started jumping up and down and said, "MICKEY MOUSE!!!! It's Mickey Mouse!!!"

My mom and I burst out laughing ... she was so happy and so proud and had no idea how funny what she said was ...

Sleeping Friends