Picnic at Pleasant Grove

We had a wonderful picnic lunch yesterday at Pleasant Grove. Abby and Jake loved running around in the big open space!

Eating with Spoon

This is the skill that Abby pushes us to practice at every meal. Today was the very first time she did it all by herself!! Shortly after taking this video, she did it again, we clapped for her and she beamed!!

Rolling Down the Hill

This one is from Friday - Jake's end of year school picnic. A great time was had by all, especially Jake, who got stuck in a mud puddle and had the most mud on him of any kid there.

New Videos! Wheels on the Bus

I finally downloaded videos off my blackberry today. Here is the first of some faves:

Today at the Playground

...Jake played with his ball and dug up ants. Abby picked flowers. Gender roles, anyone?
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A Nice Smile

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a busy weekend, but it was a blast. It included time at the beach, lots of playtime at home, a cook-out with our neighbors and some studio photo shoot time in our garage. Some highlights are below. Now we're back to our routine, but only for a week - it's Jake's last week of school!

Watching Dora

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Mes Artistes

Hard at work!
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Happiness is...

Sitting in a pool, even an empty one, for water girl!

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Airborne

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Abby is 16 Months Old!

And she is just the most wonderful little person. She is gleeful most of the day about all of her activities, and is especially thrilled with any and all time we spend outside. Her favorite things now are climbing and playing with water. She's my water baby! Yesterday she toddled under the sprinkler and played there for over 30 minutes, until she was completely drenched, and was beside herself happy. She loves flowers, getting into whatever Jake is doing, and walks around pretty much nonstop during the day, exploring. She is very definite about her likes and dislikes; no is a stubborn shake of the head and yes is a little breathy giggle. She's having a little more trouble than before with transitions - she's highly attached to me and complains when I leave her to go work, but it doesn't last long. We can't wait to see what she's going to be like next month!

Out for a Wagon Ride

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Crossing Over

Met with Jake's preschool teacher last week, and learned something fascinating about my child. Apparently, up until a few weeks ago, his brain was struggling with which hand was his dominant one. She noticed he's been avoiding "crossing over" or using his left hand to cross over his midline and draw or work on the right side of his body, or vice versa. In tennis lingo, it's like he had no back-hand, and was passing the crayon, pen, or brush from hand to hand depending on what side of the page he was drawing on. But about a month ago, he stopped, and now uses his left hand on both sides.

We both marvelled at how this seemed to coincide with a huge new interest in drawing, painting and writing. Indeed, as you can see from the photos of his artwork below, a month ago he didn't even extend his work to the right side of the page. In the second picture he painted at Aidan's house a few weeks ago, he filled the whole page with strong left-handed concentric circles! She said it was a sign of brain development, pure and simple. And we're all pleased to see his newfound confidence with writing and drawing. I had no idea he was struggling with this!!

Great discovery, and kudos to his great teacher, who observed this carefully over the last 2 months!
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Digging

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Beach bunny

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A Mom on the Lake

Had a marvelous time kayaking on the lake today. Thanks, Mike!!
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Portrait of Mom, by Jake

I love the hair, and the very distinct belly button!
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Spring Spruce-Up

Jake and I helped mulch and plant flowers at the playground at his school last weekend. But the highlight of the morning was this toad that his friend Lily Kate found and captured!
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Sweet Boy

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A Pre-Shop Run at the Tennis Court

This is Abby stretching her legs in the park across from Jake's school before our big shopping excursion today. She, Mike and I went to a new store in Culpepper, called Aldi, which is a cross between a CostCo and a grocery store. Everything there is 25-50% cheaper than other stores, they said, so we thought it was worth a try. (Many of my very smart friends are saving huge bucks doing couponing but I do not have the patience for that. My head spins just reading what they did to save money!)

Anyway, we liked it! The money we saved in chicken and turkey costs alone will make it worth going regularly. I actually found the link to it on the Duggar's (18 kids and counting) site. Aldi is a great place to buy in bulk but I also liked that you can buy small quantities too and they are super cheap. Only downside is selection is limited and somewhat unpredictable. We stopped at Target and Food Lion to fill out our list for the next 2 weeks of meals.

Oh, and we also finally bought an extra freezer to store food in the garage and it was delivered yesterday so now we're stocked up on essentials for some time to come. And after all that shopping, tonight I was inspired and cooked the best chili we've ever had. Even the kids loved it! Abby was actually crying at me before it was done to give her more tastes. We ate half and froze half. Yay!