Longwood Gardens

Kiki and I met a friend and her son at Longwood Gardens this past Monday and it was beautiful. What a great place for kids. It is so pretty and they have a "Children's Garden" now as well. I think it opened in October of 2007.

Kiki loved the fountain show, the garden and got soaked in the water garden area. She had so much fun. Her friend she was with, A, and her are so cute together. They had a blast running around the place together. They have been friends since they were 7 weeks and have always had this amazing relationship. When I told Kiki we were going to see A on Monday her whole face lit up(That great smile I talked about before). It was great to get out with my friend and her son.

If you live in the area and are looking for something to do than make sure you check out Longwood Gardens.

Off to Grandfather's House We Go

This weekend my husband, daughter, parents and I went to visit my grandfather. It was so great to see him. Since he lives about 2 hours from us we do not see him as often as I would like. He was really excited that we visited him and was really happy to see Kiki. She loves her great grandfather. All she wanted to do was take his hand and lead him around his house. They were really cute together.

My grandfather lives on a bay and so there is always fishing and crabbing involved when we visit him. Kiki took part in action during this visit and actually caught a crab. I missed it the whole thing because I was inside helping my grandfather pack some things up, but my dad videotaped it for us. I am looking forward to watching the video. Kiki came in and was so proud of herself.

The picture above is from our visit last summer when Kiki was only 5 months old. I did not get any pics during this last visit because I lost my camera.

Goodbye Tree

Well the adventure is over (in regards to the tree). Thursday morning the guys came to remove the tree from the front of the house. I was happy to see the tree removed from my front doorstep, but sad to know that the tree would no longer be standing proudly in front of my house. I loved that old maple tree. It protected us from the late day sun, and gave us privacy. It was a great tree. My daughter was in amazement watching the tree taken down. The picture is her standing at the front door in total awe as they took care of the stump. It was if she was saying Goodbye Tree. I think she was a little sad to see it go as well.

The tree was removed rather quickly (a little too quickly if you ask me). Don't get me wrong, I wanted tree to be taken care of, but the the guys who did it were so quick. It kept banging back into the house. They knew what they were doing, but I was still nervous. Anyway, the tree is gone, the damage seems to be minimal, and the house has proven itself to us (it sure can protect us).

So all I can say is Goodbye Tree. We will miss you.

Another Adventure

Hello!

Kiki and I sure did have another adventure today. A tree came down on our house. At 4 the house shook like I never felt anything shake. I looked out my front window and saw nothing but tree. I looked out the front door and our front tree greeted me. I called my husband at work, told him to get home, and took the baby, dog and books down to the basement to wait out the storm. My neighbor called about 45 minutes later to make sure I was okay and to tell me the storm had passed. I spent the rest of the evening meeting my neighbors and discussing the tree. Thank goodness Kiki, the dog, and I were all okay. The house seems fine so far, but tomorrow the tree will be removed and we will see the damage (hope there is minimal).

Mother Nature has a funny sense of humor because just this morning we had an exterior door put on and now it is covered with a tree. At the same time, Kiki, dog and I are fine and we got a chance to socialize with our neighbors. When you put it all in perspective it could have been worse. We were lucky and we are all safe.

The picture above was taken by one of my neighbors. My neighbors have all been great. They have taken pictures, stopped to check on us, and one neighbor even offered to bring us dinner. We are lucky to be surrounded by such nice people.

I hope everyone's evening was less eventful than mine. Talk to you all later.

A Great Group of Friends

Today Kiki and I had the pleasure of having lunch with some friends from our mommy's group. One of our friends, we will call her M, and her family (hubby and two adorable kids) are moving away. Kiki and I will miss them terribly. We have known M and her oldest, we will call her E, since E was 2 weeks old. I cannot believe all the kids in the group are over 1 already. It seems like yesterday we all met at a hospital class when our little ones were less then 2 months and we were just trying to make it through the day with our newborns. We all grew together as moms and bonded during this special and frenzied time of our lives.

Now the kids are all walking, talking, and full of energy. It has been great watching them all grow up together. Although I did not get together with them as much as I would have liked during the school year ( I was so overwhelmed and just made it through each day trying to enjoy the little time I had with Kiki after school and before bedtime), I always know this amazing group of women are there for me and their kids and Kiki are great friends. I was so happy to reconnect with these women when the school year ended, and Kiki and I had time to spend with everyone. Today was a great lunch with the ladies and the kids. It was so great to get a chance to say safe trip and safe move to M and meet her new little one, A.

Well M, I will miss you terribly. Lets not lose our connection and keep in touch. Goodluck with the move and make sure to email when you arrive safely. Kiki and I will also miss E terribly. Keep us posted on your family through emails and pics and we will do the same. You are great friend and terrific mother. I know we will meet up again. Whenever (or if ever) you come back to visit, we would be happy to have your family stay with us. Let me know. Our door is always open.

Have a great day everyone. Kiki and I are off to another adventure. =)

Swim Classes

Kiki and I started swim classes today at the Y. She was so excited to get into the pool and splash around, but once we got in she became very timid. This was only her second time in a big pool; I could imagine she was a little nervous. I was with her the whole time (holding her close as we sung songs) and after about ten minutes she was splashing around and trying to kick. She loved getting out of the pool and counting to three to JUMP back in ( while I had a tight grip on her of course).

I was so excited to start the classes with her. It is something I have wanted to do since she was born, but just never made it to the Y to sign up. Well now we are signed up and really enjoying them so far. One class down and already she is kicking in the water. I want her to appreciate the water and learn how to act in it as well.

I am looking forward to the future classes and spending this quality time with Kiki. She gets this great smile on her face when she is really happy and since class she has had that smile on her face. When I ask her if she liked the pool she say "YES!" and gives me that great smile. She did not want to take her bathing suit off and when we got home tried to put it back on herself.

She is napping now and we have errands to run this afternoon, but later I am going to let her get into her little pool. She is going to be so excited. Of course it is not as cool as the BIG pool, but she loves that little pool.

Have a great day everyone.

My little Reader

From the start of KiKi's life we wanted to make sure she appreciated the written word. This is one of my favorite pictures of KiKi and her father reading together. She looks so engrossed in the newspaper.

The other pictures are from last summer. She actually looks like she is reading the books. She just loves to look through books and point at the pictures. Even her daycare teacher told us how much she loved books and that KiKi always made her way to the book shelf a few times during the day at school.

Now she carries books with her everywhere. Most kids have binky's or blankets as their comfort lovey's, but my daughter has books. As an English teacher this makes me so proud. I guess she gets her love for books from both her father and me. We both love to read and we read just about anything. Right now I am in the middle of two novels and my husband in the middle of one novel. It is safe to say that she sees us with books in front of us a lot and loves to mimic us. I cannot say it enough, SHE IS SO CUTE (and SMART). =)

Introduction to our little Princess

Hi Again! I wanted to introduce my daughter to you all. She arrived kicking and screaming into the world in 2007. She is now a year in a half and she is a lot of fun (most of the time). I started with this picture because her expression is priceless and one she still gives when she is annoyed. She cracks me up. Her nickname is KiKi so that is what I will call her on this blog. She has completed our family and brought my husband and I closer as a couple and as friends. Together we are a team and now that we are reaching the terrible twos (6 months early) team play is important. So here she is. My little princess. Isn't she so cute?!?!?!?!

Hello World!

Alright, here I am blogging again. Some of my oldest friends have blogs on this site and as I was reading I thought what a great way to communicate with people I have lost touch with and people I talk with everyday. It is just a great way to get your life story out there for people to read about (even if you don't care what I have to say)! I am going to post about life in general for me and my family. I will discuss the adventures we take, the activities we do, and joys of living within our little family (daughter, dog, husband, wife). The one goal I have for myself is to live life to the fullest every day. When I look back on my life I do not want to have any regrets. I have the same goals for my daughter. I want her to enjoy each and every day we spend together and look back on her childhood with fond memories. Her father and I are a great team, and I hope she appreciates and loves all the adventures we will embark on as a family. So here it is- Life: Enjoying it FULLY!!!