(belated) Merry Christmas!

Well, I'm only 6 days behind...not too bad considering the whirlwind our house looked like after a house with a 3 year old celebrating Christmas! But here they are...a few action shots...and a few shots by the youngest photographer in the house himself! Santa was quite good to us all this year...perhaps best of all for mom and dad who get to take a little vacation in February! (Thanks in advance to all the grandparents for helping with that!) But A had a pretty darn good one too! Here's a quick recap...

First Santa came, bringing instruments and Jake gear!

But the Jake gear needed some more Jake stuff to go with it...

and of course a Lego/train table! (the picture of the car and man are courtesy of said young photographer)

So from our merry family to yours...hope you had a fabulous holiday season! Bring on 2015!

The Giving Season

I like to give back and I think it's an important way to connect with the community. But I don't want my time with the community to take time away from me and A, and so it just happens that taking him along provides that connection on multiple levels. 

The last few years I've just done an angel tree (or 3) gifts. But this year I decided it was time to step it up a notch. (We still did 3 angel tree gifts too, don't worry!)

Enter Meals on Wheels - Charlottesville, just after Thanksgiving. 

And then packing boxes of food in Rockbridge County with DD and DaDoc. 

It doesn't take much, but I'm hoping he eventually remembers these times. It's so important to keep us all humble and remind us of the reason for the season

Oh and sometimes it even pays off quicker than you expect. Here he is just after receiving a special fireman hat just after doing Meals on Wheels. He was ecstatic. 

We followed up with a thank you note of course :)

Here comes Santa Clause!

We're getting ready for Christmas time here. The tree is trimmed and cookies baked, so that means we're waiting for the big day. 

We have been doing an Advent calendar every night which is fun, though Christopher the elf is providing more antics of course. 

He's checking to make sure we're all behaving of course. Last weekend we had breakfast with the big guy, at which point A reminded him expects a xylophone for Christmas. Let's hope the elves are musically inclined!

 

Day out with Thomas

With the holiday season in full swing, I have been neglecting the blog! And I have such good pictures and post ideas! Clearly I need to reevaluate my priorities :) 

For A's birthday he received tickets to go see Thomas the Train. Awesome right? So we booked a hotel in Lancaster PA and headed up for the weekend. I enjoyed showing Kyle and A around a place I remember visiting as a child. The chocolate at Wilbur, the huge Central Market...even better than I recalled! 

Here we are in Lititz. Love this shot!

But the real reason for the visit was Thomas. Who doesn't love that cheeky train?

And here's the video of it: http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?a=Q5bhj3GXDdw&u=/watch%3Fv%3Dff70OLHqrz8%26feature%3Dem-upload_owner%23action%3Dshare 

The best part about this is that you not only see Thomas buy ride aboard! Look at A showing off his ticket :)

And Percy was there too! We took a short ride aboard as well. 

And they had fun games and stuff. Here is A rockin' his Thomas and Harold tattoos. 

So thanks for the tickets DD and DaDoc. We had a great time!! A told his teacher he was Thankful for Thomas after we returned. Not quite what we want him to aim for with that question, but I think the point was he liked it :)  

Time Flies

3 years old. Wow. Where does the time go? A friend with a newborn posted this article https://medium.com/the-cauldron/a-day-at-home-with-a-newborn-4bc53aa327d today and I couldn't help but chuckle. It is exactly what I remember, or rather try not to remember about those first few months. 

But it's different now and so much more fun. If those first few months were a glimpse of what it would be like forever, I may have given up hope. 

Things are fun now. And he understands and listens. And he entertains himself with toys and books and puzzles.  And he cuddles with us by choice (for now I realize!). And he talks and tells us what he wants. And he laughs and plays games. I love this stage. I did not love the baby stage, but it was worth it to get to here. 

Get ready for Halloween!

I'm so excited about Halloween this year. A understands it and we have a familycostume  ready. Pictures of that will have to wait until at least tomorrow, but in the meantime check out last weekend's fun at the Discovery Museum Halloween Party and carving our pumpkin!

The pirate in his pirate ship

Mad scientists!

Making a pumpkin 

Yummy spider cookie!

Pumpkin goo

Showing off our silly face pumpkin

S'mores and glowing jack 'olantern

Life's a Beach (Part 2 of the family vacay)

I meant to do this post earlier this week, because with Halloween looming, I already have some great pictures to share! Oh well, it's here at last :)

Most of the week we had fantastic weather...check out DaDoc (far left), Pop, A, Kyle and Fella enjoying the fishing and waves.
 
We mostly tried to fish...

though a few fish were caught (none good for eating).

And we went exploring too!

And on the one day we did have rain, we went to the NC Aquarium! This was our first full aquarium trip, and it was really fun.

Don't worry...we relaxed plenty too...mostly by playing play-doh and watching Jake!

We had a really great time with our family, and can't wait for the next family trip in 2015!

Crabby Time

Don't worry. Crabby time is not a reference to A's recent mood or behaviors. Instead it is a reference to the nightly ritual we had while at the beach this past week! Perhaps this was A's favorite part of the beach trip this year. (And I mean for real favorite, not just the last thing mentioned.)

With the sun going down around 7pm, it was perfect for us to head out to the beach and hunt for crabs each night. Well, except for that night it was pouring rain of course so we skipped. Fiddler crabs, ghost crabs, sand crabs...whatever you want to call them...are downright fun to chase around the beach for all ages! 

First, take a look at one. They range from 1 inch to 6 inches and are usually tan or spotted to blend in with the sand. Here's a tinier one that DaDoc was happy to hold for us. 

But searching for and running after them are really the fun part. 

Just wait til you find one!

Yep. We had fun. I think we'll do it again. 

Apples and More Apples

Last week I posted a menu that was mostly fantastic. A ate everything without complaint, though unfortunately the sweet potato quesadillas were a little lack-luster. But let me tell you that kid can eat some sausage with apples and cabbage. Lucky for us we have leftover pumpkin soup (recipe winner for the week!) so this week will be easy for dinner. 

If we do need something beyond leftovers, we have 30 lbs of apples to eat. Yep, you read that right. Thirty. And here begins the picture installment from our adventure to Carter Mountain today...

Look at this view...

Apple picking time!

Pumpkin patch!

On the hayride 

And now for some apple pie!