Okay, so I’ve been having a hard time setting time aside to blog. I’ve had some people asking me about Christmas ideas for the girls, so I’ve put together a couple of “wishlists” from a few places. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do this since the websites I used didn’t allow me to create a registry  This wishlist is from http://www.fisher-price.com. These are some things that I thought Lily would enjoy. (I just realized if you click on the pictures, it will bring you right to the website) |
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| Item Description | Product Code | Approximate Retail Price | |||||||||||
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Little People?? A to Z Learning Zoo?? | J0134 | Price: $48.00 | ||||||||||
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Peek-a-Blocks??? IncrediBlock??? |
C5523 | Price: $60.00 | ||||||||||
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Peek-a-Blocks??? Alphabet Blocks | G8683 | Price: $27.00 | ||||||||||
Copyright(C) 2009 Mattel, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This next list is from http://www.christianbook.com/. I just realized that if you click on these pictures, it will actually bring you to the registry I created…yeah!
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Christmas Wishlists for Peyton and Lily
Meme and Pepe’s Visit Part 2
The second day that we spent in Rochester was filled with adventure. We headed out to go to a small beach that Meme and Pepe had discovered a few days before, but as we were enroute, we saw a sign that said Hamlin Beach this way. About a half hour later, we were amazed to find ourselves looking at a REAL beach right here in Rochester, NY! Who knew we lived this close to one? It had real sand and even seagulls! I felt like I was in Cape Cod all over again. The girls had a blast. We found out that Lily is a water baby at heart. Peyton loved making friends, playing in the sand, and chasing the seagulls.
Here is Peyton and the friends that she made within the first 5 minutes. She has no problem making friends no matter where we go.
Here is Meme relaxing on the sand.
Okay, so I never go too far away from my coffee…
Here is Daddy going for a stroll with Lily:
Peyton found a long, thin, white piece of wood that looked like a conductor’s baton. She picked it up and headed to the lifeguard chair. At first, she tried to sneak climbing up into the chair, but when that didn’t fly, she settled for sitting underneath the chair and conducted her own orchestra.
This is the seagull that Peyton fed her goldfish crackers to. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the seagull is surrounded by red and green goldfish crackers. Apparently, this particular seagull was colorblind and only ate the orange ones.
Meme's turn for Lily duty
- Meme and Lily striking a pose
Alright, so that’s part 2 of Meme and Pepe’s visit. Believe it or not, there is still more to come! I can only blog a little at a time, but at least I’m beginning to get caught up. So stay tuned for Part 3…
Meme and Pepe’s Visit
Meme and Pepe came for a visit too this summer. Pepe had a conference up in Rochester for a week. We were able to spend a couple of days up in Rochester with them and then they came down to our house for a few days after the conference before heading back home to sunny Florida….err I mean Alabama 
Of course we had to take them to Farmland. Actually, Peyton had been asking to go back to Farmland ever since we got in the car to leave it last time 
Unfortunately, I was only able to get one picture of Pepe helping Peyton feed the goats before my camera died I know…I wasn’t being a responsible parent…sigh. But, here is the picture!
The first day that we spent in Rochester, we went to the Strong National Museum of Play, which was awesome! They had so many things to see and do there. Here is Josh and Peyton outside of the museum.
Our first stop was a big discovery room that had lots and lots of things to play with for kids of all ages. Here is a look into the future:
One of the little walls in the room had a bunch of little cubbies that you could open and see what was inside. Lily loved playing with these.
This is a room where everything was slanted. Lily liked walking around in here.
Our next stop…123 Sesame Street! They had an entire section set up for Sesame Street and Elmo’s World. I think this was Lily’s favorite part of the museum.
Here is Lily talking nonstop to Big Bird, Elmo, and Zoe here. She kept running back and forth between the cutouts, laughing, pointing, and talking.
Here is Peyton playing with the taxi cab that was set up there.
Our next stop was Wegmans, which is our local grocery store here. They had a Wegmans set up inside the museum where the kids were able to get their own shopping cart, walk around the store, and go shopping! Once they made their selections, they then had to wait in line, put their selections onto the conveyor belt, and then they had to rind themselves out. As soon as Peyton got her cart, she made a beeline for…the pizza!
However, Lily chose to stay in the produce section. Daddy had a hard time getting Lily to leave this section
Finally, Daddy was able to lure Lily away with some bananas.
While Lily was washing the bananas, Peyton decided it was time to check out. She ended up getting 3 blocks/wheels of cheese, 2 pizzas, and to make it look not so bad…1 carrot and a watermelon.
After our shopping trip, we headed over to the flight section. Here are Mommy and Peyton trying to figure out how to fly the fighter jet.
While we were flying, Meme took Lily to the giant table of Legos.
There were lots of other parts of the museum, but I didn’t take pictures for some reason They had a Bernstein Bear section, a train that you could ride, an Americana section (we didn’t go in that part because they had breakable stuff), and the entire upstairs was the actual “toy museum” where you get to feel really old as you walk through it and see all of the toys that you use to play with.
After the museum, we met up with Pepe for a nice dinner at a restaurant by the water where we could watch the boats go by. Then we headed back to the hotel for a dip in the pool and the hot tub before going to bed. Stay tuned to part 2 of Meme and Pepe’s Visit…
Our Summer (part 2)
We finally got up the courage to try camping with the girls for the first time. We’re glad we did We had a lot of fun. We stayed close to home and went to Watkins Glen State Park, which is only about a half hour down the road. The girls didn’t mind being outside. Lily was a piece of cake. She didn’t seem to mind being in the pack n’ play at all. Peyton had a blast exploring and looking at things with her own flashlight.
Did I mention Peyton was excited?
Josh decided it would be fun to take the kids on a “hunt” around the campsite. I’m not quite sure what they were all hunting for, but it didn’t matter to the kids. They had fun bringing their flashlights and using stickers to mark the trees so they could find their way back to our campsite. (Yes, all of the stickers were removed from the trees on the return route)
Daddy and Lily hamming it up
Our tents
Lunchtime
Mommy and Lily
Our Summer
I hope everybody had a great summer! I know we had a blast finding new things to do each weekend here. School started last week, and I must say I do not miss it one bit. Fall has always been my favorite season, but it was always bittersweet because I was either young enough that I had to go to school or when I was older it meant I had to go back to work. I love being able to just enjoy my favorite season now. Like I said, we’ve really enjoyed being able to do new things that were close to home on the weekends. We found ourselves asking each other, “Why didn’t we do this before?”. But, I guess that is what happens when you have kids.
One of the things we did this summer (well we did it a couple of times) was to go blueberry picking. Each of these jugs holds about 4 lbs. of blueberries. It was a good thing that everybody loves blueberries here!
Getting ready to pick some berries
We found out that there was a huge petting zoo, called Farmland, that was only about a half hour from us. We went there and the kids absolutely loved it.
Peyton and Brent are like best friends. They are almost inseparable. Here they are cutting across one of the fields in search of a cow.
Peyton and Brent
Believe it or not, these goldfish are about 5 years old. (We found this out when we went for a hayride) Apparently, the owners of Farmland won these goldfish at one of the local county fairs and threw them into this little pond…and now look at them!
Here come the ducks! No, seriously….here come the ducks!
Then we found an old slide like the ones that Mommy and Daddy use to ride on when we were kids
Of course, I couldn’t miss this photo opp! Amanda would kill me if she knew I posted this on here…shh…
Here are the kids on the seesaw.
Then all of the kids went for their first pony ride.
Yes, even Lily had her shot at riding the pony.
They even had baby chicks and bunnies for sale. Yes, we were able to refrain from buying one for only $15!
What is that Daddy?
Quick!
Summer Is Here!
We’ve been staying busy this past week. We decided to sell our truck. We know God has His hand in that process. I listed the truck on Craigslist Monday afternoon, by 6pm that night we had a buyer. We spent the remainder of the week getting all of the bank stuff done so the guy could pick the truck up this past Saturday.
After we got rid of the truck on Saturday, we went to see the fireworks in Big Flats. Here are some pictures.
Getting ready for the fireworks to begin
Peyton with her glow in the dark wand
Lily with her giant thing of bubbles
Daddy and Lily getting ready for the big show
Monday was the big day for Peyton. She turned 3 years old! We decided to spend the afternoon at Harris Hill with Dan, Amanda, and their kids. We had a picnic lunch there. Peyton played on the playground for a little bit and then we went over to the ride section. They have 4 or 5 different kiddie rides. She had a lot of fun.
The Super Duper Computer from Super Why
Peyton and Abbie
Mommy and Daddy
Blowing out the candles
Present Time!
One of the party favors I had was a pair of sunglasses. Peyton is always asking for sunglasses like Mommy’s. Here is a picture of the kids wearing their shades!
Wearing our shades!
Lily's first time on the merry go round with Daddy
Peyton and Abbie riding together.
Riding together in a fighter plane
Before the saucer cups took off...
During the saucer cup ride
Lily's second time on the merry go round
Lily's first ride all by herself in the tugboat!
Peyton’s Eggstravaganza!
I had everything planned for taking the girls for a nice long walk around Corning. The farmer’s market was today, so I thought it would be nice to walk through that…Peyton had other plans though. I went back to get dressed…and when I came back out to the dining room, this is what greeted me.
Of course, she didn’t grab just a dozen eggs…nope she had to go for the whole 18! Needless to say, we didn’t make it for our walk. Does anybody know how to get egg out of a carpet?
What We’ve Been Up To…
I figured it was time to finally upload some pictures from the camera to here. We’ve been keeping pretty here. I moved Peyton up to the next level of curriculum that I’ve been following. She has been doing very well with it. Each week, we work on an upper and lower case letter and the sound that it makes. We’ve been trying to go on “field trips” on Saturdays as a family also. It’s been a lot of fun learning what is available to us around here. Here is a picture of Lily getting ready for church one morning.
Every year, the LPGA comes to town at the end of May for the Corning Classic. Unfortunately, this was the last year that the LPGA will come here. Josh has always wanted to go and see what it was like. He took a day off and took Peyton to see it this year! Peyton only lasted about it hour before I got the phone call to come pick her up (Apparently there is only so much she can take of watching balls fly) But, Josh had a great time. Here is a picture of Josh and Peyton before they left that morning.
The first field trip that we took the girls on was to the zoo in Binghamton because Aa is for Animals. It isn’t a big zoo, but it was just the right size for us and it was very clean. We had a lot of fun there.
The Big Turtle
Roadrunner
Bald Eagle
Sleepy Tiger
Let's go get some food for the animals
Hmm..that didn't work out the way it was suppose to Daddy
Look closely and you can see the baby fawn
Lily snacking on a piece of cake after her swim
All tuckered out
Back from my hiatus
Alright, I finally found some time to sit down and get caught up on the blog. We’ve been keeping pretty busy these past couple of weeks. Before I begin, I have to put this picture of Tommy in first. Peyton wanted Tommy to play with her one day…
Princess Tommy
So, I went for my weekend Walk To Emmaus! I can’t really share too many details with you about what happened there. It was definitely an awesome experience and I would do it again if I could. I can’t wait to be able to sponsor somebody to go and to also serve on a Walk. I will share a couple of things that I got from the walk. The first thing that I realized was that I had never really forgiven myself and accepted God’s grace for the past. That was a big thing for me, and I feel a ton lighter these days now that I’ve dealt with it I also finally learned what true agape love is (since I was pretty clueless about it before my walk). The last thing that I learned was that Josh is quite capable of handling both girls for a weekend
Like I said, we’ve been keeping pretty busy. Amanda’s daughter, Abbie, had her first tee ball game a couple of weeks ago. Here are a couple of pictures that I got of the girls.
Hanging out
Playing Catch with Brent
- The Birthday Girl
hmm...this isn't my cake
Being sneaky...
Waiting patiently...
That was yummy!
I know what to do with this
Birthday Ideas
Okay, so I might be taking a little advantage of the blog here, but I thought it would be an easy way for me to give some ideas for birthday gifts for the girls. Lily’s birthday is just around the corner, she will be turning 1 on May 7! I can’t believe it’s already been a whole year. Peyton’s birthday is a little ways away still, it is on June 29 and she will be turning 3.
Josh and I are trying to get stuff together, so we can take the girls camping and hiking this summer on the weekends. We think the girls will have a lot of fun exploring and playing outside. With that said, both of the girls are in need of sleeping bags, and whatever else they would need to go camping. We’ve been looking at Dick’s Sporting Goods and L.L. Bean’s for supplies, if you prefer to send a gift card.
Lily really isn’t in need of anything that I can think of. She is inheriting all of Peyton’s clothes. It is nice though, to be able to put a new outfit on her every now and then. She is in 12-18 months clothes. She will also be in need of some shoes to wear once she gets to walking, maybe even some water shoes if we go somewhere where there is a lake for her to walk in a little.
Peyton will need a bathing suit for the summer. I would go with a size 3T for that. As for clothes, Peyton wears a 4T on top and 3T on the bottom. She will also be in need of sandals or crocs for the summer, probably a size 9. She may even need a pair of water shoes if we go somewhere where there is a lake. Peyton can also always use bubbles, crayons, markers, paint, sidewalk chalk, stickers, and construction paper. Josh and I are thinking about buying Peyton a bike for her birthday, we already have a helmet, but she may need knee and elbow pads (or a whole suit of armor).
Any outdoor activity things would also be good. Both girls enjoy playing with balls.
Anyway, these are just some ideas if anybody is stumped as to what the girls might need. If I think of anything else, I will add it on here.
