Potty Fun

Well we're starting to potty train. So far we've spent a lot of time in the bathroom reading the same books over and over. There are certainly worse ways to spend time with the little guy though, and it's great he's learning what the word "proud" means :)

Santa time!

I know you've all been waiting for it...a picture with Santa. Well, it's Christmas now, so here you go!

The first try didn't go so well, but luckily day care pulled through and we had a second chance to sit on Santa's lap this year :)

But the real question you all have is, how was A's Christmas? He had a blast of course! Kyle did a great job pulling off the Santa thing this morning, complete with his own leaf blower. 

Hope y'all had a Merry Christmas too!

The Infamous Elf

Don't believe all the hate you read...elf is magic and fun for all. The 30 seconds it takes us to move elf on a given day is worth every second of joy that A gets out of this. If you don't yet know about the excitement the Elf brings to a young child, then watch A's excitement in this video. 

Since December 1st we have been hiding the elf everyday. Our elf even has a special book that explains his magic and why he came to visit. Honestly? I think it's fun. A loves to scream "ELF!" upon waking, running to find the elf's latest antics. We had elf make a mess (in addition to the laundry as seen above, he also had a great time with some wrapping paper), and he tons of fun hanging from the light fixtures. See a few more we captured on camera.

Where's elf?

Hello!

Tomorrow elf will return to the North Pole also known as our basement) during nap time tomorrow. But first A will wake to find the elf's final hiding spot...just where Santa will visit on Christmas Day :)

Starting some traditions

I suddenly realized that A is at an age where we can really start some Christmas traditions.  We started a few this year and I think we'll definitely have to continue.

First, everyone needs a good Christmas flick. I've decided Polar Express must have been made especially for A...trains and Santa? Ho Ho Ho!

And of course we must have cookies! A helped with molasses cookies this year. He cut and decorated :)

And of course we had to have one...it goes perfect with the end of the movie!

Let's see what other great traditions we can make :)

Imaginary play

They say imaginary play is good for kids as they grow up. I feel like maybe all the cars and trains A wants to play with (and probably many boys) would make some think imaginary play wasn't important. 

Well, this momma is here to say he needs his cooktop and shopping cart too! I was pretty excited by this Christmas gift he got over the weekend :) Needless to say that I will probably want I play with him even more now! 

Winter is coming!

They're calling for a nasty mix tomorrow of snow then ice then rain. Fun huh? Makes me think of last winter when A could walk (kind of) but the snow was not fun. I can't wait to see what he'll do this year! 

Getting ready for the weather! 

A shot from a snow storm last year

Happy 2nd birthday!

Im a bit slow to post recently, but here's a quick one to appease all those who want some birthday photos :) A had a great day with his DD, DaDoc, Maga and Pop :) 

More to follow soon!

Much to be thankful For

Every day in November people post to their Facebook status what they're thankful for. I'm not a fan. One, I don't have time to do that every day. Two, I have so much to be thankful for that boiling it down to a sentence a day seems wrong. I am blessed beyond what even I can fathom sometimes. I have an amazing family and friends, a warm house and bed with clean water and more food than I know what to do, and luxuries that many in the world have never heard of. 

But today I was in a car accident (I'm fine...promise), and it really reminded me just how fortunate I am to have all these things. Yeah my car is messed up, but who cares? I'm still safe. Luckily A wasn't there as I can't imagine what the 1.5 hrs it took to get it everything resolved. But more importantly I can't imagine how much more it would have scared me if he had been there. 

I'm shaken still, but I am again reminded of just how blessed I am. So this November 14, the eve of A's 2nd birthday, I will remember that I am the luckiest mom, wife, daughter, sister and friend alive. 

Happy Halloween!

Well, we made it through our first "real" Halloween, and luckily Kyle didn't ask for a divorce after all the festivities I forced on the family! We had a blast though, attending 2 parties, playing on the Lawn, and trick or treating with friends. Here is a collage of the highlights :)

I'm sure you can all clearly see that A is a train conductor. My and Kyle's are a bit more cryptic (it was a Monster Mash-up theme...) so I was from Soul Train (together...Soul Train conductor) and Kyle was Apathe-tick-tock). I know, we're funny :) 

Lucky for us, the train conductor is really darn cute :)

Fall Eats

I love fall and everything about it...especially food. Since my days of food blogging gave way to family and lifestyle, I kind of miss the outlet to discuss food. So, here's a little change of pace with a few awesome recipes we've eaten just in the last week. And all come with 2year old taste bud approval :)

Butternut squash, ham and apple hash No picture, but it was delicious!

Butternut squash and mushroom risotto with fresh puppy drum

Pork chops with salty sweet fall salad

The Things We Learned on Vacation

Ocean

Lighthouse

Kite

A learned other words this week too, like "almost" (the waves almost touched our feet) and "dominoes". And he counted to 14. 

So, as A would say (as he learned this week)...How about that?

A Real Vacation

We're in vacation down in Hatteras. And let's just say this is the first real week of relaxation in almost 2 years. We've been on trips, and we've come down here before. But never like this...

There is a ratio of 4 grandparents to one very spoiled grandson. A is eatin' up all this attention. Meanwhile, I've gone shopping, on 2 runs, 2 bike rides, and Kyle and I got to celebrate our 7 year anniversary with a nice dinner and no babysitting bills (or texts from incompetent sitters). 

So yes, this is vacation.

Road trip - Annapolis!

We took a little trip up to Annapolis this past weekend for a long overdue trip to visit Kyle's longest friend and her family. 

We had a great time at a local fall festival that included me riding in a barrel pulled by a tractor. (Now I know why my parents were always anxious to go to the local carnivals in town...)

And in true MD fashion we went to a crab shack on the water where A and friend enjoyed chicken nuggets of course :)

But what would a trip to Annapolis be without lots of boats? Between all the boats and the planes flying over, you can imagine it was not a quiet trip as A yelled "BOAT!" Or "AIRMAIN!" Non. Stop. 

Here's hoping the drive to Hatteras this weekend goes as well...and that we get as good of weather as last weekend!

The F Word

Well I bet the title grabbed your attention...but actually I was referring to furlough. I have been blessed by the current Congress to find myself without somewhere to go (and earn money) all week. This has resulted in a clean basement, lots of baked goods, and a chance to get into a new show on Netflix. 

But even better is that I have picked up A early every day, helped get him ready in the morning, and today I got to join him for a special train ride! Since he is OB-sessed with trains right now, this was pretty much the best thing ever. 

So yeah, I hate the fact that we're furloughed and I know it's affecting many people's lives in very real ways, but for now I'll just relish in the fact that I got to hang out with my son more :)

Flavors of Autumn

This weekend we checked out the fall festival at one of the local orchards. A isn't much for sitting at a table and doing a craft yet, but we played in the apple orchards and the pumpkin patch. 

Now to make some pie together :)

Little Chef

A is finally getting to the age where I feel like I can let him help me in the kitchen. He pours the flour, helps me hold the mixer, and of course licks the spoon. I recall my early years in training with fond memories of these same tasks, so I'm glad my little chef can follow in my footsteps :)

Don't worry...we're also starting him on setting the table too.

Can't Sit Still

I know I should expect that A doesn't want to sit still, but don't hate me for trying. Two weeks in a row now I've taken him to a story time - last week with Elmo and this week for a Curious George book. 

He did a lot better this week, but clearly he would rather play with a train set or look for choo choo books than listen. Oh well...he still got a reward because I'm a sucker (as if we don't have enough books for him...but in my defense, he only had 1 book about trains!)

Watching Elmo from a distance.

Carrying his new set of Thomas the train books to the register at B&N

QT with Pop and Maga

The bad thing about traveling is that I miss time with my favorite little man. But I wanted to keep my career, and my husband and I tackle parenting like the good team that we are :)

The good thing is that usually we plan to have family visit when one of us is gone. It's not that we can't handle things alone of course, but why not let A spend time with the grandparents instead of missing Mom or Dad? 

Well Pop and Maga (Gamma gets confused coming out) are visiting now, and boy, has he had a good time. The wether was unbelievable this past weekend so we got outside and got some great photos too :)

Safety first

A has gotten a lot better about wearing hats. We really worked on this all summer, so he knows that outside means hat time. This is carrying over to our bike rides when he has to wear his "special hat." And A enforces mommy wearing her hat on these rodes too! Obviously he's channeling his inner DaDoc on this one :)

But to take his blog a little off its normal course for a moment, what angers is me is all this are the people out there telling me how to keep my kid safe. By doing this blog, some people may think I'm sharing too much, others probably think I post too much on Facebook. 

So I ask, at what point do you stop? At what point do I become that overprotective parent? And at what age does it stop? I know I'm on a soap box, but I just feel like, with everything else about pregnancy and parenthood, people always have an opinion and us parents are left feeling bad from all the decisions we make. 

So here it is...everything we do is for our kids and is our best attempt to keep them safe ALL the time. And part of that is sharing his joys and laughs with family...and the Internet just happens to be a great a venue for that. So parents out there, you're doing a great job and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Football Season

Football season is Kyle's favorite season. I, however don't think 5 months constitutes a season as it starts in summer and doesn't end until well into winter. But what do I know? Well, I do know that football is something that Kyle and his dad bond over, so I hope A can have that too. 

Enter UVA and our season tickets... We may not have gone to UVA, but 2 of the 4 grandparents have higher degrees from it and it is a good school with a legitimate athletics program. Also, it is often heralded in Southern Living and elsewhere for its football fanfare and customs so I can wear my sundresses and the boys madras as we tailgate in style :)

So last year we made it to one football game and did not buy season tickets. This year we decided to go in with some friends and get real seats so it's actually worth it to go to a game. 

You think we have a good view of the home team coming out?

A seemed pretty happy about the game and was quite enjoying himself. 

Unfortunately, the weather did not comply and we had to leave after the first quarter and saw the victory from the comforts of home (and not soaking wet). But that's ok...A got to see Cav man and dance to the Good Ole Song, so I think that is a pretty good start to the season in his opinion :)

My Cheering Section

Next Saturday I'll be running the Women's 4 Miler, a race in Charlottesville that raises money for the UVA Cancer Center Breast Care Program. It's the largest all-women's runs the state and the course is along the rolling hills west of town. This will be my 3rd of the races; we've lived here 4 years and I've only missed one due to being 7 months pregnant! Anyways, it's an awesome race with a whole mile decorated in signs of dedication to those who have battled breast cancer.

This year I've made it a goal to improve my time. I've never thought of myself as fast, but thanks to some interval training I've shaved a minute of my pace and hope to run at about 8 minutes per mile! I'm pretty excited about that as I've never run that fast in my life! 

I'm also trying to raise a little money for the cause, so if you want to cheer me on in that way, I would greatly appreciate it :) A big thanks to those of you who already helped out! Just be sure to give it to me...I'm the only McNew in there :)

 http://www.dominiondigital.com/womens4miler/donations.asp 

But I couldn't do this run without my cheering section. Number one of course is Kyle. He helps me make time in my day to do my run. I don't have pictures in here of him, but that's because he's usually at home or at work while I'm out running.

And a close second are my running partners. They help me get dressed (Fella had been playing with my socks just moments before!)...

...and happily ride along. 

So next Saturday mornign around 8am, can you cheer me on too?

River Life

This past weekend we went and visited my brother and his family's new home, which is at a new (and, in our opinion, more awesome!) state park. We had a blast spending time with everyone and exploring the grounds at the house and Boardwalk. A especially had a blast with his cousin, but somehow I managed to get no pics of that! I think Dad got some, so I guess he'll have to send those around! In the meantime, check out a few good ones taken on our ever convenient iPhones :)

John swooped in and high jacked a picture Dad was taking on his big camera and got us this family shot on the steps of the house. A was clearly laughing at his silly Uncle.

At the playground later that day, A even decided he was big enough to try out the big boy slide!

After the playground, we wandered to the river's edge and A went crazy in the water. Clearly the kid loves the water (it only took a very persistent mom all summer)!!

We missed Kyle's family though...we had to channel some Pop :) Maybe next time they can join!