It is the Great Pumpkin...

...Charlie Brown

Please note that the time stamp on these photos are during school hours.....I will not be held responsible for scarring done on her self esteem in her teen years when she sees these photos. Just teasing honey. It is a joke around our family that Mark has a Charlie Brown head.. and he blessed his daughter with the same Charlie Brown head. So I thought the onesie that he found was pretty funny. Would I have taken her to lunch at Applebee's in it? No. At least he did take her pants out of her socks before they left ; )

Fun times with Toddlers

Take One..I am outta here Take two..We will look anywhere but the camera

Hey Tink, what's up! Props to my Disney Sista

Let me see if I can help you fall to the ground quicker
I want that binkie

Train Ride

Lydia has been pretty interested in trains lately..all big trucks on the highway are Choo-Choo's. This is a love that she shares with her Poppi. He has rode all the local train except for the one that just reopened in Elkins. So off to Elkins we went on Saturday. (We only got to go that day because they had a group cancel)
Does she look super impressed or what?! Dad decided to make some weird noise and scared her half to death...then she would not let go of him.
Here she is picking out and wearing one of her 10 toys she brought home from the gift shop. They tell you to come early..I sure so you will shop since there is nothing else to do.

Here is our big girl sitting in her chair on the ride.

Half way up they let you get off and go see some falls. I was glad to get out even if it was raining a little. Lydia needed to stretch her legs.

Family shot in front of the falls.

Uncle Vince taking her on the rocks.

After a while (this was a 4 hour trip, again it was the only one we could get one) Lydia did get bored and start to act up a little. That is what is nice with traveling with the whole crew, we all took turns entertaining her.

Until the adults start falling asleep too!

UPDATE, Cinderella's prince came through...I think he was a custodian or something but they found her shoe. I went and picked it up after work yesterday. Also our little big girl did great in her big girl bed in her big girl room! It is not decorated or anything yet because I was not planning on putting her in there until Christmas but after yesterday's acrobatic performance, it was pushed up a little. She was scared when we first put her down and kept asking for me. So I did go in there and sit by her bed. She stayed in bed quietly and fell asleep in about 10 minutes. She stayed in there all night. I had hoped that she would sleep in a little when she did not hear my alarm clock but no luck. When I went down at 6:30 to eat, I heard her in there talking. When I opened the door she was standing in the middle of her room. I know she had not been up long because I set up the baby monitor so I could hear her last night. I think it was harder on me not having my baby in her baby bed than it was for Lydia!!

Life Imitating Art...

So I had this grand idea to have some of mommy friends bring their kids to the Middletown Mall for the Halloween Party/Parade. I thought this would be an easy way for us to get our kids together, see them in their costumes, and chat...WRONG.

First of all, the mall was packed. For those of you in the area, you know there are no store to even shop at..I thought there was going to be like 50 folks there..WRONG. There were hundreds and hundreds. We had to just stand in line forever..have you ever stood in line with almost 2 year old. Yeah, she was everywhere. We finally found Miranda and her Luke Skywalker. So after standing in line for about 20 minutes, we decided that we were just going to leave because we really did not want our kids to have a bunch of candy and they really could not play with each other in the crowd. So we are stepping out the door when someone said...get this....your daughter lost her shoe..that is right, my little Cinderella lost her slipper at the ball. ARG....these are the shoes that Mark gave me grief for buying because they were so expensive..Miranda, Braylon and I looked everywhere (we really had not been that many places) I had them do an announcement. Still no shoe.

So as we were going to leave we ran into Mendi, Greg and their little monkey Karenna! We tried very hard to get pictures of the kids but none of them were really cooperating. I will try and post some of them later when I get home. Lydia did her favorite thing to do lately...flop down like she has no bones in her body like a 100 times. So we finally get home after a short visit with Karenna...and we put Lydia in bed. This morning I heard her in there planning her meals ("bite", "pasta", "cereal") so I was trying to do some yoga. Next thing I know, CRASH. Yep, she took a nose dive out of her crib onto our hard wood floors. She was not even asking to get out of bed or crying...She seems fine now. Dad said that she ate breakfast and did not get sick. She is walking around and talking just fine. I guess we are starting with the big girl bed tonight!

Decorating Pumpkins

So here are our two little pumpkins for Lydia. The first one is the one that Mark grew in his garden. The second pumpkin is the one that Lydia picked from the pumpkin patch. We got a sticker set in her goody bag from the birthday party.

We had made the mistake earlier putting in Cinderella so we ended up having to finish the pumpkins in the living room .

The final products. She moved the stickers around a thousand times..but she seem to have a good time! I think we are going to try and do our pumpkins tomorrow.

So we are pretty much still hot and cold here. I talked in the last post about all the bad things Lydia has been doing. She also has become very affectionate. She was never a big kisser but this month at book club she kissed everyone's legs! She is very snuggly and gives out hugs and kisses like crazy! I guess it is the hormones....

A Different Mommy and Me for Post Number 250

When I first saw this picture of Lydia I thought...hey she does look like me, I have a picture to prove it. So for months I had my mother, my aunt and any one else who I thought might have one, looking for this certain baby picture of me with a red dress on. I just thought for sure it would prove to everyone that she did look like me after all....


well my Aunt found a copy of the picture....







and I could not have been more wrong..

Oh well, maybe we will have a boy next time and he will look like me!

Lydia update, we have come back to the biting stage..oh how I thought we snuck by that with those few little nibbles a couple of months ago. Actually Lydia was in rare form Wednesday. As I was fixing my hair I smelled baby powder. I step outside the bathroom to find Lydia dumping baby powder all over her nursery...half the bottle. I bring her in the bathroom to dust her off and she drops "the D-word" we had not heard her use it for a long time and I also thought she was done with that. I speak to Mark a little later and find out she says Damn it like 8 times that morning. Perfect. Next that evening we go to Baby Sign (they started a second class that we got into) She loves the instructor's little boy. They play for a good while then I try and settle her down to start class. She bites me. Three times. So hard there is a huge purple bruise on my arm still today. I hope this ends as quickly as it came started. I do believe she is cutting a tooth and has been chewing on everything and ran a small fever last night. Let's pray that when the tooth comes in, the biting stops. We have been doing tons of fun stuff. I have to download all the pictures from the camera. We are going on a train ride tomorrow and the picture card is full! So keep checking back for more updates.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Again, I can see the photos when I look at the blog, but when I try and look at them on the editing page..all I see is text. So I will just say we had a great time with Bray and Mir. For some funny stories and much better pictures than mine..check out Miranda's blog















This last picture is something Lydia has been doing quite often, breaking something then "fixing it"..I think we need to lay off the Handy Manny

Happy Birthday Andrew

Ok, so my post is doing that weird that Andrea was talking about where the pictures are not there just text. So I will try my best to describe the pictures. Lydia had a birthday party this weekend. It was the son of a family friend. He and I acutally share a birthday and have went to school together K-12..it is so fun that our kids get to celebrate their birthdays together even if they are not on the same day. Lydia really did not want anything to do with the kids. Even when the broke the pinata..she and the birthday boy stood back. I think it is because those kids were more three and up. Andrew just turned 2 and Lydia is 1 1/2. But we had a great time..Happy Birthday Andrew.

Who are you?

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Marilyn!

You are a Marilyn -- "I am affectionate and skeptical."

Marilyns are responsible, trustworthy, and value loyalty to family, friends, groups, and causes. Their personalities range broadly from reserved and timid to outspoken and confrontative.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Be direct and clear
• * Listen to me carefully
• * Don't judge me for my anxiety
• * Work things through with me
• * Reassure me that everything is OK between us
• * Laugh and make jokes with me
• * Gently push me toward new experiences
• * Try not to overreact to my overreacting.

What I Like About Being a Marilyn

• * being committed and faithful to family and friends
• * being responsible and hardworking
• * being compassionate toward others
• * having intellect and wit
• * being a nonconformist
• * confronting danger bravely
• * being direct and assertive

What's Hard About Being a Marilyn

• * the constant push and pull involved in trying to make up my mind
• * procrastinating because of fear of failure; having little confidence in myself
• * fearing being abandoned or taken advantage of
• * exhausting myself by worrying and scanning for danger
• * wishing I had a rule book at work so I could do everything right
• * being too critical of myself when I haven't lived up to my expectations

Marilyns as Children Often

• * are friendly, likable, and dependable, and/or sarcastic, bossy, and stubborn
• * are anxious and hypervigilant; anticipate danger
• * form a team of "us against them" with a best friend or parent
• * look to groups or authorities to protect them and/or question authority and rebel
• * are neglected or abused, come from unpredictable or alcoholic families, and/or take on the fearfulness of an overly anxious parent

Marilyns as Parents

• * are often loving, nurturing, and have a strong sense of duty
• * are sometimes reluctant to give their children independence
• * worry more than most that their children will get hurt
• * sometimes have trouble saying no and setting boundaries

Family Day

Well it really was more of a family morning but it was very nice. We wanted to sneak away for a family (just the three of us) getaway. We tried to get on to a train and see the leaves but that is not going to work out. Then we thought about going away and going camping but that doesn't seem possible either. So we settled on going to church on Saturday night so we had Sunday morning free. We has to be at a relatives house for dinner at three. So we headed off to Coopers Rock since we had never taken Lydia there. We even had a no cell phone rule!

Mark and Lydia on the big rock.

We decided to take her on the Raven's Rock trail. I would not recommend this trail unless you have a jogger stroller, a regular one would have not made it. Lydia did great. She loved collecting sticks and leaves. We saw a couple of cool looking caterpillars.

We did not make it to the end of the trail. So we stopped at this big rock to have our pictures taken and take a rest. I love this picture of us..not sure why..I just do.

So here is another funny Lydia story. She is starting to pretend. She stood on this rock and proclaimed "stuck". Then she pretended to try and pull her foot off and that it would not move. We never did figure out how to unstick her..she would just decided on her own that she was unstuck and say "come on, lets go" and wave her arm.

We went on to Beverly and Tony's new house and had a super yummy lasagna dinner. They also had a huge yard to play in and a really nice park right beside their house. As expected Lydia crashed. I even put PJ's on her when we got home and she would not wake up. Nonni and Poppi picked her up and took her home with them. My mom had the day off and wanted to do something special with her. They ended up going to the game farm.

Game Day

Here is a picture of Mary Gay and her husband Frankie. They are so good to Lydia and actually bought the cheerleaders outfit she has on. I have been wanting to get a picture of them with her so I am glad that we ran into them outside before they went in the game.

This is Lydia's Great Aunt Louise and Great Uncle Mike..They were right behind our section but in a box. So as you can see Lydia was about 2.4 seconds from passing out. Aunt Louise was very grateful and kept Lydia out of the sun while she napped the first half.

Lydia and Daddy watching the second half.

Two family photos in two days...Thanks again TJ!
Here are some of the old school Mountaineers. We ran into Andy outside the game. He was the Mountaineer while I was in undergrad and then went on to law school with Wendy. Why oh why I did not ask him to hold Lydia and get a picture I will never understand. He has his buckskin on and everything!!

WVU Homecoming

So this weekend we took part in some Homecoming festivities. Friday night we met up with Bryce and Wendy to have dinner and watch the parade. Lydia was super excited about the parade and talked about it all day after I told her we were going that morning. She loves watching the bands. I was super packed and the parade was really long. MUCH longer than I ever remembered it being, but there were plenty of bands for Lydia to watch. Several of the fraternities and sororities made floats and it seemed as if the theme was countries..I thought they did a really good job. Here is Mark's good buddy TJ. He came up from Charleston for the parade and stayed with us. Lydia calls him TG...
This will count for our mommy and me picture.

and a real rarity...a family photo. TJ was nice enough to take it for us. It was not the greatest but it still works for me!
Here is the first official Husky mascot (were I went to high school) and the first female Mountaineer...Natalie Tennant. She had her musket with her last night. I wish I could find the picture of me standing with her in her Mountaineer gear...