Winter Wonderland

Snow has blanketed everything in sight! I went out yesterday afternoon to take a few pictures of the neighborhood. Since we live around construction sites there are a lot of random things that you typically wouldn't see in a neighborhood, and it was funny to capture a few shots of things around us!

The workers need a bathroom right? Today it's blanketed in snow, last week it was blown over by wind!
A lot was cleared to lay foundation the other day....

Miss Utility came to mark our yard for the installation of our sprinkler system, sod and fencing on Friday. Of course, the snow has pushed all of that back!

The "snowscaping" in the front yard!

My new rain boots purchased just for this occasion, but will continue to be useful in the parking lot at work. My feet are soaked every time I walk in that building in the rain!

The backyard. In the distance you can see buses parked at the local "primary" school, which is where Wyatt and Reese will go. I have no experience at all with the primary and intermediate school system because I just went to elementary school, but I guess we shall see one day.

Snow Day!

We have gotten more snow in the last 12 hours than I can remember ever seeing! The last time we even got close to this much snow I was thirteen and in the eighth grade, and we were out of school for a week. We had to have a Saturday make up day, which sucked. I think my Junior Regional Orchestra concert got cancelled because of it too! We had a little snow about 8 years ago and Brian, Noelle and I spent the day at his park sledding on inner tubes and down slides with our friends. That's the beauty of having a Wrangler. You can drive in anything (which I wouldn't know because I've never actually driven it - period.). I'm surprised Brian hasn't tried to take it on a trip yet today! Without the kids and I of course. Car seats don't fit in there (and he doesn't have one of those new safe models).

Wyatt and Reese were both really excited to see the snow when they woke up this morning. Wyatt started asking to play in it immediately, which we declined. He then said it was okay, he would go play in it when it got "warmer." Well, we definitely didn't wait for "warmth" since it's going to continue to snow for the rest of the day and into the night.

We decided to take both kids out, but who knew it would take 15 minutes to get them ready? They both had on three or four layers of clothes and coats and wore their rainboots out. Wyatt started making snowballs almost as soon as he walked out the door. And when I say "snowballs," I mean he was pretty much picking up snow and throwing it, not actually waiting for the formation of the actual "ball."

Reese on the other hand kept toppling over because her boots are too big and every time she moves she falls down! She had fun touching the snow for about 5 minutes, but then her boot issue became a little too difficult. She was trying to make snow angels with Wyatt and I and her boots came right off!

The boys stayed outside for about 45 minutes and even got to meet one of our new neighbors and his dog. Right now most people don't have gates and there are a lot of empty lots, so even when we're in our backyard people walk by through the empty lots. It's kind of nice though. In this picture we're in our backyard, and there is a train track behind the two homes in the distance. We've been able to see three trains since we moved in, which Wyatt LOVES. Of course we'll be putting up a fence soon, so we may not be able to see it for much longer!

The boys will probably go out after naptime while the girls stay inside. I've made French Onion dip, chocolate chip cookies and currently have this sitting in my crock pot for dinner! I will probably also break open a bottle of wine at some point this evening (not actually break. I mean, I was a bartender. I can actually open it).

And one more piece of news: Reese has now gone to the bathroom in the potty 4 times! I've heard from a lot of people (including my own Mom, embarrassingly enough since I'm the oldest) that if you have two kids close in age they usually end up being potty trained around the same time because the older one wants to keep being a "baby" and the younger one wants to be like their older sibling. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that because that will clear up quite a few bucks in the budget (and potentially clear the way for Baby #3 :))!

Snow (Allegedly)!

There are some crazy reports surfacing around here that we're actually getting snow this weekend. While I'm in the (completely) disbelieving group of people, I also can't just let snowfall accumulate without a trip to the store for snow necessities. We'll have to see how this turns out...

17 Months Old...and Going Potty!

Reese pays a lot of attention to Wyatt when he goes potty. She watches and screams "Pee pee!" every time he goes. She's even taken to going into the bathroom and sitting on the potty when I go in. The funniest thing about her is that as soon as she sits on the potty she reaches out and says "Door!" because she wants it shut for a little privacy!


This morning Brian asked Wyatt if he needed to go potty and Reese shouted "Potty! Potty!" Then she ran over to the bathroom and tried to open the door. Brian helped her get her pants and her diaper off and then she went pee pee in the potty! I can not believe that she did it! We didn't even contemplate potty training Wyatt until he was two and a half (and he just urinates at this point) , and here Reese is interested in it all by herself!

She's been feeling a little under the weather over the last two days. Last night she had a fever and a runny nose and watery eyes, and today she still seems a little un-Reesie-like. She does such a good job entertaining herself though. She loves to play with her new kitchen and with all her babies. She cracks me up the way she loves on them!

She is a great night time sleeper, and she takes pretty good naps during the day. Our kids are a lot like us in their sleeping patterns. Brian is one of those people who can get through a day on 4 hours sleep and be fine. He goes to bed late and wakes up early and loves to take a nap when he can. I like my sleep at night! When I have to wake up early for work (5:30ish) I like to be in bed by 9:30 or 10. And on weekends I usually try to get Brian to wake up with the kids on my days! Wyatt is just like Brian and Reese is just like me.

The other morning Wyatt woke up early after going to bed late again and we were hanging out in the family room. We were listening for Reese to wake up and when she did he shouted "Mom! Mom, We have to go get her! Baby Oranges it awake!" I have no idea where that came from! I mean, yeah she has red hair, but Baby Oranges? And now he also calls her Reesie Oranges. What a weirdo!

Wyatt's New "Hideout"

The other night we were (get ready for this, because it's shocking) shopping at Target, and we found this new play hut for Wyatt on sale for $4.80. Typically I wouldn't buy something so atrocious, but Wyatt was really excited to get it and have a "hideout."

As soon as we walked in the door Wyatt started the "Please put my hideout together Daddy, please!" So while the kids and I ate dinner Brian put the little tent together. While we sat at the table eating Wyatt looked at me and said "O.N.G. Mommy, I got a hideout. O.N.G." Which I assumed meant "O.M.G." and that I say that too much. I eliminated "like" from my vocabulary and replaced it with something way more mature!

Both of the kids love this play tent. Wyatt immediately asked for his light saber and started to pretend that he was a jedi. Reese just enjoyed the opportunity to get to play with her brother and his new toy.

More Swimming Lessons!

Wyatt had his second swimming class last night. Of course his classes are smack dab in the middle of football playoffs! I don't really care, but Brian goes to the lessons and records the games then goes out of his way to make sure that we don't find out who's winning before we get home!

Wyatt's class this week was a lot of fun to watch. He practiced putting his ears, face and hair in the water and then went under! I expected him to shout "Towel, towel!," which is what he does in the tub or shower, but he didn't even flinch. He also did a really great job holding onto a pool noodle and kicking through the pool. He was told to throw a ball and then swim to it, and every time he got the ball he picked it up and threw it further! He was partnered with his buddy Tyler last night, and while we were all expecting them to goof off, they both did a really good job paying attention and waiting patiently for their turn. He didn't get his second sticker this week, so hopefully next week he will finish up the second level and move to the third because that lessons involves teaching them to float on their backs and yell for help.

All in all, I have to say he loves his swimming classes. He keeps calling the girl his teacher and constantly refers to it as "swimming school." Brian and I have decided to enroll him in pre-school 2 half days a week next year, and we're taking tours of a couple this week. Wyatt is really excited about the idea of going to school. I'll have to record his excitement and show it to him when he's bigger and doesn't want to go. Ha!

Grabbing the ball!
Gathering his pool supplies

Swimming on the noodle...can you tell he's exited?

Getting ready to go under!

We've Moved!

Why are my kids so happy?

Because we're in the new house of course! It has been a crazy week of closing last Friday, having PODS delivered and picked up every day, unloading said PODS and unpacking all of the boxes. We didn't stay here for the first night until Wednesday because we weren't ready to stay until the house was somewhat organized and we had blinds up. We also needed to have some electrical work done to put fans and lights in the kids' rooms, so that resulted in a delay as well. But we are FINALLY getting settled in and I am super excited that we will have all of our things this weekend when we unload our storage unit. Even though it means that we will just have more things to unpack!

Right now we have like, a million decisions to make. Like, what kind of fence? Are we going to SOD or seed? Which sprinkler company are we going to use for our new sprinkler system? A part of me is bummed that we're moving in and doing all this stuff outside (because you know, outside is Brian's area) when there's things I want inside, but the reason we left our old house was to get a backyard for the children, and now we have one. Kind of. That's where the sprinkler, the seed and the fence come in!

This week has also included researching (and getting applications for) pre-schools for Wyatt next year. I'm thinking 2 days a week at 3 should be good for him. We're mostly concerned about his socialization at this point because now he relies on us for playdates and things. I mean, he's great with Reese and his other little friends and I think that there are two little ones moving in next door, but he needs more little friends his age. And this kid is ready to go to school. He asks all the time if he's going to get to go! I was also incredibly fortunate to have a flat tire on the way to work this morning. Fortunately for me my Dad was available to come help me change it. I pretty much know what I'm doing, but the jack was shoved in there to the point that I wouldn't have been able to get it. And Brian was home with kids with no way of getting to me. I don't know how people live away from their parents. I love that mine are (now) never more than 20 minutes away from me! By the way, Happy Birthday Dad!

This weekend we have some pretty nice days planned. We're going to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond. And maybe Home Depot. I don't know, I'm not sure if there will be enough time. Okay, I'm done paraphrasing Old School. We have to unpack. We have to pick out curtains for our room. We have to pick up touch up paint. We have to watch football. I think the Jets are going to beat the Colts in a major upset. And we have more swimming school on Sunday. Wyatt is super excited for more swimming!

So a lot of this has been rambling, incoherent sentences, so I'm going to go ahead and end it now. Hopefully I'll have more to blog about as the weekend progresses and I feel comfortable enough sharing pictures of how the house is coming along!

First Swimming Lesson!

Tonight Wyatt had his very first swimming lesson! We've been talking about signing him up, and when we found out that his friend Tyler was taking the class we decided to sign him up too.

On the way to the class Brian and I were both really nervous about how he was going to do. While he's not home exclusively with one of us, he's never been left alone with any one but his grandparents until just this past week. I left him at Tyler's house so that I could go to the doctor, and he didn't even miss me! I was worried that he would react poorly to his instructor, or that he wouldn't want to swim. Brian was worried that the instructor wouldn't watch him closely and he'd end up underwater.

I have to say, he did a fantastic job. He grabbed the girl's hand as soon as she offered it, and he walked right in the pool with her. As soon as he got in she told him to hold onto the wall and kick, and he loved it. He spent the entire time smiling and having fun. He even jumped in once! I never let him jump in at the old house because I didn't want him to think it was something he could do without one of us, but he didn't even give it a second thought. He loved every minute of that class! Besides the kicking, he practiced "swimming" to the middle of the pool to get a ball, he held onto the noodle and kicked, and he even held onto the pool wall while his instructor helped the other little girl.

When class was over they handed out certificates for his level, and they get a sticker for each week that they "pass." Wyatt got his certificate and a sticker for passing week one! We asked Shannon if they hand them out to everyone (she works for the swim league), and she said that they don't. There were even some kids in his class who didn't get one!

As soon as the boys changed and came out Wyatt said he was ready to go back for more swimming. He is so excited to go back next week, and I am getting so exited for the summer time when we can take him in the pool at my parents' house, or to the Waterpark to visit Daddy! We are so proud of him!

Getting ready to go in the pool.
Practicing his kicking!

Grabbing his noodle to float on in the pool.

Holding his certificate.

The student center at Virginia Wesleyan (or "Daddy's school" as it is now known) has an aquarium. Reese was actually the member of our family who first noticed this. We walked by and she shouted "Fish! Fish!"

Sleeping Beauty!

...and her baby!

Yes, brown and pink are her signature colors :).

First Hockey Game!

On Monday I was out running about a million errands with the kids, and while I was listening to (my new obsession) ESPN Radio I heard that our local station was giving away free tickets to the Norfolk Admirals last night. The kids and I were nearby so we picked some up. Brian and I have been talking about taking Wyatt to a game all season, and this was a great free opportunity. Last night we left Reese with her grandparents and the three of us went to the hockey game!

First let me say, that Wyatt amazes me. On our way to the hockey game he was telling us about everything we passed, and what was coming up. He saw the tall buildings in the distance and then said "Oh, here comes the church with the clock Daddy!" We take this same exit to get to the zoo and we talked about that church the last time we got off the interstate, but it's been at least a month and half since we last went!

Once we got to the parking lot we all got out to walk, and I think one of the first things that we thought was "Is this what it's like to only have one kid?" It was so easy to get him out of the car and inside. He listened so well, and did a great job holding our hands and walking with us. I couldn't believe it. When we had one it seemed crazy, and then we had two and we adjusted, and now having only one seems like a break!

We got to our seats just as the game started. Approximately 15 seconds after we sat down there was a fight (or a "play fight" as Wyatt called it). Once they were actually playing again, Wyatt couldn't take his eyes off the ice. He loved watching the puck, and he asked a ton of questions. Most of his questions were goalie related, like why he wore a mask, why he had on all that stuff, why he didn't skate like everyone else. I couldn't answer any of his questions because the extent of my hockey knowledge is that I've seen The Mighty Ducks a million times. Now that I think about it, I've never heard Mike & Mike or Colin Cowherd even talk about hockey. But Wyatt absolutely loved every second and actually sat down and watched it. It was a completely different experience than our trips to Harbor Park last summer, but he's also a lot older now. I can only imagine what he's going to be like at baseball games this summer!

The boys having a little chat about the game
We were down pretty low, so Wyatt learned to watch the TV when he couldn't see the ice (I seriously love this ESPN sweatshirt. This is his second one, and it is adorable. We got them both at Downtown Disney).

Learning about the goalie!

Wyatt and I. He's eating popcorn and showing off his super cool hockey shirt.

The boys watching the game!

Tomorrow we close on the new house! We are really excited and ready to move, but I'm guessing that posts this weekend will be sporadic at best. After closing in the afternoon, we plan to empty our first POD (because the second is being delivered Saturday) and have our fans put up. It is going to be a crazy weekend because Wyatt also starts swimming lessons on Sunday! At least Target has swim suits out now, because I don't know if I'll find his by Sunday!

Finally, apparently it's delurking day. So if you're reading this, let me know. Show yourselves!

Friends!

Carolyn and Darcy have been my good friends since high school. Back then we got to see each other all the time, whether it was in class or the foyer or at each other's homes after school. These days we rarely get to see one another, and when we do it's never all three of us at the same time!

In high school we would hang out and do each other's make up (this was usually done in math class. We had our own little Clinique counter at our table. And no, I'm not kidding you). Or we would hang out and do homework, because there was a never ending mountain to be done. You know, teenage stuff.

Three and a half years ago Darcy came from DC and Carolyn flew all the way from Utah to be in our wedding! I was so happy that they were both able to come and be there on my wedding day.
We've all seen each other once or twice since then, but we were finally able to all be in the same room over Christmas! Of course, this reunion included three kids (Carolyn's daughter Brooke and obviously Wyatt and Reese), but we had a great time! On this visit I was surprised that Reese was more interested in playing alone while Wyatt and Brooke played together. The girls have always had fun playing before, so I thought that they would have played more together. Reese still had a fun time though, taking off her shoes and asking for cookies!

But once the break was over the girls had to go back to their homes far, far away. Hopefully we'll all get together again soon!

Girls Can Play with Star Wars Toys Too!

Buying Wyatt Star Wars bath toys was probably one of our best investments ever. He loves to play with them, and while he can tell us what they all say (thanks to an iPhone app, his R2D2 is hysterical), he also likes to pretend that they're other people. Two weeks ago, for example, Chewbacca was Johnny Damon. Who knew?
We haven't ever talked to Wyatt about guns (is there a need to at two? We don't exactly have NBA players over very often. We're more into baseball where they carry around bats), so he thinks that Chewbacca and Storm Trooper are carrying around guitars. Since they have guitars they must be in a band, right? Apparently C3-PO sings and Han Solo plays the drums. Yeah. At least I don't have to worry about his imagination.

Reese has become a big fan of the Star Wars toys recently as well. The other night she had a blast playing with them, and if you ask her what Darth Vader says she roars. It's hysterical. I would like her to play with more girly things (which means I should probably get her some girly bath toys), but she has such a good time! See?

Who Knew Getting a New Washer Could be This Much Fun?

On Saturday Brian's parents' washer died. It had a nice long life, but it was time to replace it. They went out looking and a new one was scheduled for delivery yesterday (during the football games).

When that truck came, you probably would have thought Christmas came two weeks late in this place. Wyatt was super excited to see the truck, but then he got to watch them take away the old washer and bring in the new one while sitting on top of the dryer. This kid was in seventh heaven. It was all fun and games during the drop off, but when it came time to get it installed, Wyatt was very serious about this stuff!

When the delivery man walked out the door with the old washer Wyatt said "Hey, where's him going?" (We're trying to work on the whole pronoun thing). When he used the restroom, Wyatt let us all know that "That man is going pee pee." And of course, when the nice guy left, Wyatt wouldn't even look him in the eye and say good bye!

Waiting for the new washer to come!
This is soooo exciting!

This stuff is very serious!

In other big news, today we signed Wyatt up for his very first swimming class! Wyatt is going to be taking swimming lessons with his good friend Tyler every Sunday. I know that we don't have a pool anymore (Thank goodness!), but it's still incredibly important to Brian and I that he learn to swim safely without the assistance of any other flotation devices. This pre-school class will teach him to float on his back and get to the side of the pool. After that we'll see. We're not looking for him to be the next Michael Phelps or anything!

Do you know the Muffin Man (and Other Ramblings)?

Brian and I have a tradition of letting one another sleep in one day each weekend. We usually just switch off, and one of us wakes up with the kids (around 7) while the other sleeps as late as they'd like (which is usually around 7:45 or 8). We refer to these mornings as "your morning with the kids." As in "Boy, I sure stayed up late watching football. It's a good thing tomorrow is your morning with the kids."

Anyway, today was Brian's morning with the kids, so I slept in until 7:45. When I walked into the kitchen I saw this:

In an act of shear bravery, Brian decided to make muffins with the kids. They love to help "cook," so they had a lot of fun, and they made some really yummy muffins!

After we had breakfast, read the paper and played we went out to run a few errands. Target has the kids toy storage containers on sale today (although that price isn't reflecting online...hmmm), so we went and picked up an extra one for the move, as well as foam play mat flooring that was on sale. We decided to turn our new dining room into a playroom for now, and since it has hardwood flooring we bought the play mat to keep the floor from getting messed up and to keep the kids comfortable while playing. We've been debating what we were going to do for a few weeks because even though we have 5 bedrooms, 2 for the kids are upstairs and 2 are downstairs. One downstairs room would make a great playroom, but we're not ready to put either kid upstairs and away from us, so for now the dining room will be our playroom. Plus, I'm not about to drop all that money on a table for a room that we'll rarely use!

Besides that, we're pretty much just hanging out today. Watching football, playing, watching Toy Story and maybe going on a walk later on. We currently are without HBO so I will not be enjoying the Big Love season premiere like I'd like to. I love that show! It's a pretty big week for TV with American Idol about to start, 24 coming on next week, and all the other shows picking back up. There's one new show I'm interested in called Life Unexpected that is being billed as a new Gilmore Girls. While it's difficult to imagine anything that good ever coming on TV again, I think I'll give it a shot! The one thing that I'm really bummed about is Friday Night Lights. NBC hasn't announced its start date yet (I'm assuming sometime after the Winter Bore-lympics). This is unfortunate because if I'd known that I had to wait forever, I would have been watching on Direct TV here! I need my Coach Taylor fix!

Fortunately we will closing on Friday and Verizon will come on Monday to install our cable, internet and phone. We plan to spend the entire weekend moving (pretty much one POD delivery after another), so we're pretty excited. I can't believe we'll have our own house again in 5 days!

Must Love Dogs

Both kids absolutely love dogs. Right now we're having issues with Wyatt chasing them because he doesn't understand that when a dog runs away from you, it does not mean that it wants you to follow it. When Noelle was alive this was rarely a problem because while Noelle was up and walking around, she was certainly not running. But Brian's parents have two dogs who are about two years old and while they are playful and fun, they don't like to be chased. At this point chasing dogs is a mandatory time out: there is no warning, just straight to the corner.

But for all of the crazy shenanigans he tries to pull with the puppies, he loves to take care of the older dog Cody. He had a lot of experience taking care of Noelle, and he always did a great job (you know, as much as we let him do when he was a year and a half) He always wants to check on him, give him cookies, pet him and help Baba take care of him. Reese has joined in on the caring as well, and the other day they decided to help Baba feed him.

Both kids have also mastered the art of letting the dogs out of there crates. There have been two times that I know of where we thought the dogs were crated: until they were running around the house.

And since it's been so cold here lately, both kids have been bundled up anytime we leave the house! We take their coats off in the car because it lessens the safety of the car seat to have them buckled in with their heavy coats, but Reese still likes to wear her hat!

Our Christmas season is officially over. We were on our way to the Garden of Lights on Sunday, but then Wyatt had another "coughing" episode in the back seat. I'm not sure who had more fun that night, Brian who had to clean out the car, me who had to actually deal with the "episode" and ended up with it on me, or Wyatt who immediately felt better and asked if we were still going to see the Christmas Lights. Fortunately we take the winter coats off in the car...they act as GREAT "cough catchers."