Don't move!

Lil would like to be hired by Old Navy as a mannequin.  Every time we walk in she heads right for the opening display and finds a spot to join the family of display people.  She fits in pretty well, although she could never stand still for that long.  ;)

Starting School...

This past Fall Lil started VPK.  She was very excited to start preschool.  On the first day of class I thought for sure she would have some nervous feelings, but she had none at all.  She barely even had any interest in saying 'good-bye' to us.  She did want to say 'bye' to Joshua, she thought for sure he would miss her while she was gone all day.  Joshua was about five weeks old when Lil started school... time flies!  

Five and Fabulous!

Lil asked for her fifth birthday to have a party where she could ride a horse for the first time.  We found a great little place that was only about ten minutes away from the house.  She (and her classmates) had a great time riding horses, feeding them, enjoying hayrides, and partaking in an on-site bounce house and playground.  Although participants had to be over 18 months old (as a rule of the location), we snuck Joshua in anyways and he enjoyed some of the atmosphere. Here are just a few pictures of us as we enjoyed the day.  Unfortunately the place is not open for parties around her birthday and so the party was at a weird time almost a month after her birthday, which made it hard for people to join us as well... we are so happy though that some of Lil's friends and family could be there and we definitely missed everyone who couldn't make it.

Weird Science

A few months ago Lil's vpk class went into the day school's science lab to do a little 'Weird Science' experiment.  She wasn't a fan, so we have been doing some science experiments here at home to get better acquainted with how the scientific method works.  I mean... Really... How can a child of mine *not* like science?!?!  Ha!

We have been picking up some kits here and there... museum gift shops are a great spot to find them.  Also, places like Tuesday Morning have some kits that are really reasonably priced and offer just the right amount of science + entertainment for a little one.

This kit came with test tubes and we worked on densities and colors... she had a great time!  Here are a few pictures of our experiment.

Cleansing in the New Year

One of our resolutions this year is to get into 'better shape'.  We are obviously going to exercise and try to eat better... cover all of the usual bases.  One of our new work out routines involves giving J a bath.  Don't laugh!  Trying to keep a large, squirmy, water-loving baby safe in a tub will give your biceps a work out for sure.  He had a small infant tub.. apparently those are only ideal for 'small' 'infants'.  After a couple of Shamu style shows, we moved the small tub into the larger tub to contain the mess.  Once he started using the edges of the small tub to try and catapult himself into the larger tub, we decided that it would be safer to just get rid of the small tub all together.  He loves it, feels like he is swimming laps.  L actually enjoys having a bathing buddy and showing off her 'watch how I hold my breath' moves.  Rob and I both enjoy the work out. ;)

Let's try this again....

Wow... a whopping two posts in one year!  ;)

We can all obviously see that I have not done a very good job of keeping up with the blog, and our family homeostasis has been thrown for quite the loop now that we have added a new member to our family.

New Year's Resolution.. Take 2!  Resolution Version 2.0!

Here we go again.  I'm going to make an effort to keep this updated as a record for us, but also for our family we love so much abroad.  The upcoming posts may not be in chronological order... I have some older stories, posts and pictures that I would like to share, even though I didn't have the time to share them previously.

I hope you are all having a wonderful 2013!  Here's to a year full of life, love, happiness and health... and I'm shooting for more than two blog posts!!

xo
A