Happy Birthday To Me

On June 18th I had my 34th birthday.  Not one of those milestone birthdays, but a special day still.  A week prior, a friend and I decided that we wanted to have a play date for our four kids (my two and her two).  So I suggested that we go to the children's museum that Monday since we were able to have a friend get in for free with our membership.

This was maybe the best birthday present that I could have given to myself.  The kids were happy, I did not have to clean up after them too much, I got adult conversation, the kids ran and ran and ran so they napped very well in the afternoon.  It was a wonderful gift.

Tina (my friend) has a nine month old, who is more advanced than Glen but still liked to "play" together.  She also has a 3 year old who is also more advanced than Grace, but they loved to play trains together.  It was a pretty good match.

We spent quite a bit of time in the age 3 and under room and Glen just loved scooting around on the cushions, where he found a very dear friend...

Do you see how happy he is to see his friend in the mirror?

We had a wonderful time and I am so glad that Glen can enjoy this museum also.

Later on that day, Grace was home and she was drawing with chalk.  I drew the smiley face on the right of the board.  She drew the one on the left.  If you look close she drew two circles at the top as she was saying "eyes," then she drew a circle in the middle and said "nose," then she drew a circle at the bottom and said "mouth."  This was her first complete face that she drew all on her own.

Bicycle Bicycle I Want To Ride My Bicycle

or as Grace likes to call it, bikissle.  We went camping two weeks ago and some of the other families that we were with had some very small bikes.  Grace took a liking to a green and yellow one and decided that she must ride it.  We got permission from the owners to use it as much as we wanted.  Grace would have wanted a lot more, but there were not training wheels so we had to hold the bike up the whole time and it was torture on our backs.

After that experience we decided that we needed to see what we had as far as bikes for Grace.  We found two small bikes that were her size, both with training wheels, and two helmets.  So one bike and helmet set stayed at mamaw and papaw's and the other came home with us. 

The bike at mamaw and papaw's has been around and around and around the house already (I can not believe that my parents are letting my daughter ride the bike inside!)

The bike at our house has made its way to the cul-de-sac that we live on many times too.  I am so glad that she likes the bikes and I am so glad that we had some ready for her when she wanted them.

Glen eating

On April 21st Glen had his first taste of solid food.  He has been a very good and big eater ever since then.

On the menu these days could be anything including oatmeal, rice, bananas, pumpkin, blueberries, applesauce, carrots, watermelon, cantaloupe, green beans (he does not like these), corn, and many many other foods.  Tomorrow he is trying sweet potatoes for the first time, that should be fun!

Oh, and not to forget...he loves chocolate muffins any kind of pudding, and jello!

Children's Museum

This morning Amy had a doctor's appointment and so she dropped off Austin and Adam.  It was so wonderful, I want them to come to my house once a week from now on.  They played with Grace and even took care of Glen for a bit while I cleaned and worked.  I never got so much done in an hour and a half before.  In fact I got more done in that hour and a half than I usually do in a week.  I am so grateful that they do so well playing with both of my child.

As they were leaving, we decided that we would do something after lunch.  We were unsure if it was going to be going to a park or to the children's museum.  Well, Grace ended up not having a nap so I knew that she needed lots of activity and distractions or we were going to have multiple meltdowns.  So I suggested going to the children's museum.

The following pictures are the many activities that Grace did (at least once).  And there are many more that I did not get pictures of.  Another thing to keep in mind is that she did not even visit but about half of the museum.  It is such a neat place.

It did not take Grace long to find Thomas the Tank Engine.

But Adam decided to lure her away so that he could paint her face.

Amy thought that her heart on her cheek needed a bit of touching up.

Glen was there too, but this will be the only picture of him.

After the face painting it was time to take to the stage.  Amy and Grace danced in the lightening storm.

Grace decided that she needed a costume so she went to the dressing room and found this.  Later she changed it out for a princess dress that I could not get her to stand still enough for a picture of.

An undoing of the costume and a quick sprint down the hall we found the kids at the SMART board where they could write, draw, do designs, and just have a grand ole time playing.

Grace then found the kid sized house that has a kitchen, porch, and laundry room (as you see above).  Here she is about to feed her stuffed dog.

The dog followed her to the real ambulance that is parked in the museum.  It was donated from a local ambulance service and even still has working lights!  Grace made sure to drive.

The local news station donated an anchor desk.  Grace thought it was the neatest thing that she could sit at the desk and see herself on the monitors on the opposite wall.  Next to this was a green wall where you could do weather.  She loved dancing for the camera.  Austin and Adam loved taking the green cloth that is provided and standing in front of the green wall and making parts of their bodies disappear.

This is a bad picture because of the lighting, but this is a picture of the monitor that Grace was watching herself on.

Back to Thomas, she loved the train table.

Then finally she donned a white lab coat and began to play with batteries, circuits,

I had to take a picture of the sign outside of the lab because this is Merck's Science Lab and Merck is where Grace's dad works.

She was one very busy girl.  I did not even take a picture of the art room, the large operation table, the garden area, the cattle and chicken farm, and I could go on and on...yet we did not even see it all today.  It is a good thing that we are getting a membership, I think that Grace will explore, learn, and enjoy this place a lot!

Long Absense

I am sorry for my long silence, a lot has happened in the last month.

Here is a quick explanation of the last month.  Matt got a new job in Harrisonburg at the end of April.  Two days after we got the letter that he had gotten the job we had a POD in our driveway and a sign in our front yard saying House For Sale.  The next day Grace, Glen and I moved out of the house to my parents' spare bedrooms.  I did not want to have a call asking if they could show the house in 30 minutes and have a toddler refusing to put on clothes and an infant spitting up while trying to clean the house and get out.  So we left.

We were without Matt (except for weekends) for three weeks.  Then he started his job.  A week after he started his job we closed on our new house (May 11th).  But it was not till recently that we had internet access.  So I am sorry for the lack of blogs, but with all of the chaos of moving and no internet it was a forced vacation.

As a re-entry to the blogger world I will give a few stats and many pictures.

Grace and Glen went to the doctor this week and they are both healthy.  Grace is shorter than average but a normal determined 2 year old.  Glen is longer than average (he is the length of an average 9 month old and he is only 5 months!).

Glen helping out at the yard sale last weekend

Glen has been on food for a little over a month and he has been loving it.  He has eaten oatmeal, rice, pumpkin, banana, peas, cantaloupe, apple, pear, blueberries, and even a bit of chocolate :)

Glen is also a mover and a shaker, he is very proficient and rolling both ways and he army crawls to what he wants.  He also gets onto (almost) all fours and rocks as if he is going to crawl.  I have a feeling that boy is going to get into things quickly.

Grace is singing, dancing, talking, reciting parts of poems, identifying many letters and most numbers.  She is just shocking me daily with what she knows or can figure out.  But more than anything she loves to play with her brother and he loves to watch her around the house.