Home again, home again, jiggidy jig

We arrived home last night after 4 days in North Carolina visiting family.  Jocelyn, Auntie and I flew to NC, where Pepere and Memere live during the summer months, and Uncle Steve and Uncle Clayton drove up from Georgia to meet us there.  It was one big family reunion! 
We spent our days doing lots of fun stuff.

We spent some time walking through town.










We took a boat ride around Lake Lure.





We mined for gemstones and look what we found!  That there is a GIANT amethyst, and we got to keep it!

Jocelyn found a new best friend in Uncle Clayton.

And 6 other friends....   Red Bear, Green Bear, Blue Bear, Yellow Bear, Orange Bear and Tan Bear....   gifts from Uncle Steve and Uncle Clayton.   (We can't hold them all!!!)



We visited some goats and fed them hay...  whether they wanted it or not!

And Jocelyn got to play the Gut Bucket  (yes that is really what it's called) as part of Memere's orchestra!








But Jocelyn's favorite thing to play with, by far, was the doll house that Pepere is making for her.  It's not quite finished yet, but she enjoyed it anyway!

We did so much in just four days, these are just the highlights!!!   It's going to be a few days before we recuperate!  :-)   But it was a great trip and it was so nice to see everyone!

Nap Hell

As I sit here typing, Jocelyn is in her bed "resting".  Notice I did not say napping because today is a No-Nap Day. 
Yes, I know she is 3 1/2.  Yes I know I am very lucky that she ever takes naps at all these days.  But on the said "No-Nap Days", I truly miss the oh so joyous 2 hours of peace.
Jocelyn now takes naps about every 3 days.  Here is how the pattern goes:

Day 1 - She sleeps 1 1/2 to 2 hours
          Bedtime - She can't fall asleep and we get hounded for up to an hour for drinks of water, snuggles in the rocking chair, hugs, etc.  She finally falls asleep around 9:15-9:30.

Day 2 - No matter what we do in the morning that might "tire her out",  there will be no napping today
         Bedtime - She's tired enough, but we might get a call or two for the usual excuses for testing our patience  -  needs.

Day 3 - Lots of yawning at naptime, just enough to tease me, but no nap today.  By dinner time, she is completely in-human, totally irrational.  There is no reasoning, no explaining, and no reality.   Everything is a world ending crisis and we just barely survive until....
         Bedtime - She can't wait to get there and barely keeps her eyes open long enough to get through one book

Day 4 - She naps 1 1/2 to 2 hours......   and the cycle begins again.

I consider myself lucky that she is still in the crib and is (mostly) willing to hang out in there for an hour or so.  I get a bit of a break, and at least I don't have to worry about her bounding back downstairs after 5 minutes to tell me  "Momma, I all done restin' ".  

I'll take what I can get....

3 and 1/2 and Other Random Stuff

Today is Jocelyn's 3 and 1/2 year old "Birthday" and we celebrated in our usual way!

Remember our buddy Gus?!

Laura, Gigi, Jocelyn,
 Lynette, and Mandy

It's been a really busy couple of weeks.  Jocelyn's camp ended on Thursday and she misses it already.  She really liked everything about camp, and her teachers and they LOVED her! 
Jocelyn held it together long enough to take this picture and then she started crying.  :-( 
I was so proud of her though.  She handled her time without me like a champ.  Each morning, I helped her get involved in some activities before I left, then we said our goodbyes and she was just fine.  When I saw some of the other kids so upset to see their parents leave, I knew how lucky I was.  She even handled it fine if she saw me in the hallway.  She would say "Hi" and give me a hug and go back to follow her class!  Wow!   I still notice that she is behind the other kids in some developmental areas.  She is still not as coordinated and confident with physical activities and (UGH!) she was the only kid in the class that is not potty trained!   I have been assured that she will be potty trained before college.  Let's hope so!

The latest favorite thing in our house is the "Cars" movie.  The whole family went to see "Cars 2" a few weeks ago, and none of us really liked it, but it has sparked a real interest in the original, which luckily, we have on video.  There's lots of "Cars" stuff out now, including books in the library, and Jocelyn has put in her order for a "Light-ing Queen" toy.   (I'm working on that!)  But in the meantime, our friend Colin gave us this great "Mater" toy.  We LOVE him!!  He says the funniest stuff! 


In a couple weeks, we will be traveling with Auntie, to North Carolina to visit Memere and Pepere, and we will get to meet up with Uncle Steve and Uncle Clayton, too!  They live in Georgia, and have planned to make the drive up to see us.  We can't wait! 
And the summer fun continues!

Patapsco and Camp

The Patapsco State Park isn't far from here and we have recently discovered this small creek, that is so much fun to play in!

It's the perfect summer fun activity!

Today was Jocelyn's first day of summer camp.  It runs for the next two weeks.  I wasn't sure how she would do, but she was ready to go this morning and when it was all over for the day, she was making plans to go back tomorrow.  She must have had fun!
Tomorrow, I think Mommy is going to find a nice quiet spot in the nearby library to enjoy my 3 hours of alone time! 
Here is the only picture she would allow this morning as we were getting ready to leave.  Don't ask me why she made us take it in the little corner at the front door!!   She looks worried, but trust me, she was just impatient to get going!

Summer is officially in full swing!

National Aquarium

Last week we took the whole family to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.   It was so *%&@! hot that day, that we decided we would rather spend the day in the AC, then sweating our way around the National Zoo.  We'll do that another day when it's in the more reasonable 70's or something!

So anyway, we had a really nice visit.  If you've been there before, you know that you follow a set path around the aquarium.  Jocelyn was facinated!  She couldn't wait to get to the next thing and the next thing!

I think the turles were Jocelyn's favorite.

But we saw lots of other fun animals too!

And of course the dophins!

At the top of the Aquarium is a giant greenhouse area that is meant to be like a jungle.  The animals there are so interesting.
Allie and Shelby especially liked this little guy...

Some of the birds are really pretty too.

All in all, it was a really fun day!

Catching up

Somewhere between the blog mania of the playhouse build, and present day, I got lost it seems.

So here's what's old, what's recent, what's new, and what's up and coming.

The Old -
The playhouse is done, the outside anyway, and I'm pretty sure Pepere was much relieved to head back to NC.  We all agreed this was the first, last and only project we will ever take on like this.  Jocelyn will have years of enjoyment, but don't ask any of us if it was worth it!

The Recent -
Pepere and Memere headed home and a week later, Grammy came for a visit.  I'm not sure where the 2 weeks went, but Jocelyn had Grammy wrapped around her little finger for the duration!
During Grammy's visit, I finally let Jocelyn stay at Auntie's house over night.  I had no doubt that she would be fine.  It was ME that I was worried about.  I survived, but I definitely did not like not being able to check in on her one more time before I went to bed.  Daddy missed her most in the morning when she wasn't here for their quiet time.  My favorite part was when she got home and was so happy to see me.  My place in her life is secure. 

We discovered with this sleepover that Jocelyn is finally too big for the pack-n-play, but she is still, (yes still) in her crib at home, so we were worried about where and how she would sleep at Auntie's.  Well it seems she managed just fine sleeping on a twin sized air mattress.   Minus a number of shout-outs to Auntie for water, snuggles, etc.!    I was a little afraid that she would want the same freedom here at home, but she went back to the crib just fine.  Whew!!

The New -
Allie and Shelby are officially on school break, so we are doing some fun family stuff.  Last week we went to the local pool and playground.  Check out some comparison shots!

Fall 2008

Summer 2011

Summer 2009

Summer 2011

The Up and Coming -
Next week Allie and Shelby will be here with us for a good part of the week.  It's pretty much the only week all summer that one, two, or all three of the kids don't have camp, so we are planning at least one day trip to the aquarium, the National Zoo, or something.  Stay tuned, and of course there will be plenty of photos!
And for the last two weeks of July, Jocelyn will have her own summer camp.  It's organized by our local county program and it will be all about the alphabet and animals.  She'll have camp 4 days each week for 3 hours each day.  After our success with "My First School" I can't wait to see how she does.  I am already collecting a pile of things to read while I have those hours to myself.  Of course, there's still no guarantee that I will actually leave the school  :-), but reading time is reading time no matter where you get it!
So there is much more summer to come!  Hope you're having a wonderful summer too!

Dutch Wonderland!

Last Saturday we spent the day in Dutch Wonderland just outside of Lancaster, PA.  (How did the week get away from me?)
What a fun day!  We got there at 10:00 and if we had let her, Jocelyn would have closed the park!
We started the day with a train ride.

Then Jocelyn decided to go straight for the Turtle ride!  Daddy gets motion sick, so there was no way he was getting on there, so that left me to go on it with her.  Yippee.  Essentially this is the old fashioned tea cup ride with an update.  The turtle spins AND the ride goes in circles.  I was shocked that she wanted to try it, but somewhere in the last few months, Jocelyn has turned into a daredevil!! 

We went from there to driving a car.  Yes, Jocelyn is driving.  We'll be going to the MVA for her Learner's Permit next week.  Ha!

Then the slide (which I lost count how many trips she took down that slide) and the monster truck.  Yeah!  We let her drive again...  Daddy seems worried....  I can't imagine why!

We took a leisurely boat ride....  3 times...

And then we were off to the water park!

Including multiple trips down the tunnel water slide!

We ended the day with a few trips on the log ride.  We spent way too much money on the park photo, but what the heck!

Jocelyn had an absolute blast!  At 6:00 pm, the parents decided we were toast.  It was time to go.  We put Jocelyn in her stroller and went straight for the exit.  If we had hesitated for a second, I think we would have lost her to another 20 rides!!!  We had to tell her "Yes, we will go again another day".  It was the only way to get her out of there!

Forget it! I have no idea what day it is.... But....!

The Shed / Playhouse is finished!!!!

Yeah!  Yeah!  Yeah!

Ok...  well, we still have to paint the left side and the back, and the inside, AND level the ground around the porch, return unused building supplies and get rid of the giant junk pile in the back yard!  (Free scrap wood for the taking!  Just let me know before next weekend!)  AND make curtains, and find toys, and decorate.....  I think that's it....

But the playhouse is open for business!!!

It's been a busy few days.  Every surface of the outside had to be primed, then the doors needed to be hung, the floors and patio were stained, and then everything had to be painted a second coat of paint.  We really had a hard time picking out colors.  Every time we looked over the swatches, we asked Jocelyn what she wanted and consistently, every time, she said "Red!"   But there was no way we could stand an all red playhouse, that would have been just too much!   So we went with the beige - yellow walls and red trim and she is quite happy with that.
She's very excited to FINALLY get to play in her playhouse.  I think the rest of us are just happy the worst is over!
"Thank You" is not nearly enough to tell Pepere how much we appreciate what he has done, but Thank you Pepere!

Lucky Day 13!

Put down that hammer

 and grab a paint brush!!!

Other than putting on the doors and thresholds, the building is done!

Jocelyn couldn't wait to check out the ladder to her loft today,

 Not just once...

Not just twice...

But at least a dozen times, up and down, and up and down!

Poor, tired, Pepere will be back tomorrow to stain the floors and porch.  The good news is the temps should drop by 10-15 degrees by then.  Whew!  It's been a hot few days.