Month: June 2015

Theo completed his Pre-K year and we couldn’t be more proud.

Here is a photo of Theo with his teacher, Ms. Gallagher.

His class put on the sweetest performance last week. I loved it!

Theo and his BFF, Hazel, dancing!

Me and Theo outside of his school after the stepping up ceremony.

Theo, we couldn’t more proud of all that you accomplished this past year. You write all of your letters, upper and lowercase. You can recognize some words when reading. You know all the months of the year and understand time in a much deeper way, i.e. seasons, days and months as they pass, as well as time in the day. You’ve learned to be a better sharer, and a good friend.

And now, Kindergarten here we come!

Little Miss is 17 months old. Hard to believe. Just one month shy of 1 1/2. The sweetest little girl to ever walk the Earth. Ruby is blossoming into a little toddler. The picture above, for whatever reason, just really struck me. She looks older… much more kid-like than I’ve ever seen her before.

Ruby is beginning to say several new words. Some that I can think of right now are: go, baby, bagel, stairs, chip. She’s a gal of few words. She is quiet and thoughtful and clearly has comprehension without saying much. She has a name for Theo that I’m trying to decipher. It sounds like “mimi” or, simply, “baby” (said repeatedly like “mimibabybaby”). It’s sweet. She shakes her finger, saying “nononono” while also shaking her head, in an adorable act of mimicking Mama when she knows she shouldn’t be doing something.

Ruby has about five teeth coming through at the moment. Her favorite foods are watermelon, chicken sausage and cheese, I would say. She’s a climber and loves exploring that skill. She has complete control to walk up steps, and is still cautious going down steps (which is good!) and she holds on tight. Ruby loves to go down the slide at the playground. She is just beginning to have more interest in the baby swing.

Ruby just had her first flight! I took her to Austin to visit my dear friend of 30 years, Diane. I’m happy to report she did amazing. A little squirmy on the airplane when she wasn’t sleeping, but overall I’d say pretty awesome. I’ll post more photos soon.

Happy 17 months, Ruby!

Memorial Day weekend we set off for our first family of four camping trip. We went with two other couples and their kids. Sylvania Tree Farm is a lovely, remote campground that is part of land owned by one family in Lackawaxen, PA. It’s on the Delaware River, and was complete with horses, a railroad track and (thankfully) a well kept bath house! Theo was so excited for the trip. He was such a big helper and really was in his element. The land owner, Jane, was this amazingly friendly woman who really keeps this place running nicely. Her and her sons bring fresh water for washing dishes, firewood, ice, quarters for the hot shower 😉 etc. She also drives around an ATV and the kids were THRILLED to get a ride on that bad boy. We even drove over the railroad tracks and the kids took turns on her lap steering the wheel. The kids mostly skinny dipped in the river, skipped rocks, pet horses, built stuff at the campsite, played with their scooters and wiffle ball we brought and roasted marshmallows.

The downside… the first night was freezing. We were cold and I was up most of the night just cold and anxious. Theo seemed to sleep fine, Ruby slept a long stretch and then after she woke up to nurse she basically just stayed on me or closely sandwiched between me and Jay as I presume she was cold. I was fully prepared to enjoy the next day and then drive home after dinner. Jay decided he would hit the nearest Walmart for reinforcements, plus the temperatures were much better and the night lows were probably 20 degrees higher the second night. Needless to say, we survived and the second night was much more comfortable. Ruby took up practically an entire queen sized air mattress, and Jay and I slept smooshed into the crack between the two air mattresses. In the morning when Theo woke up he said, “When you’re camping, nighttime is really quick! I closed my eyes and then woke up and it was already morning!”. I beg to differ, young man. I’m so happy that he had such an awesome time, though.

And, Ruby girl! She did amazing. She really enjoyed herself and had a blast. No complaints, whatsoever. She subsisted on watermelon, cheese, chicken sausage and breastmilk the entire weekend. She was happy as a clam.

My favorite part of the trip was when the four of us explored from the Delaware River through the creek back to the campsite. We each had walking sticks and waded through the babbling brook, wove our way around and got to walk under the railroad track, which was definitely a big highlight for Theo.

It was a ton of work, but really fun. Theo and I each brought home a tick, and Jay did six loads of laundry. All in all it was a success! 🙂