Computer Geek Jr.

So it was only a matter of time before this...

March 2009

Turned into this....

September 2011

Jocelyn has always loved "playing" with us on the computer.  Often this involved telling Daddy what to do with his computer game characters, or pushing buttons on the keyboard that would frequently "help" his character get killed.  Or we would "play" on the Sesame Street website, which involved a lot of pointing and telling us what to do on the screen.  But recently, she is starting to get the hang of using the mouse.   We found a fun toddler game website called "Fungooms" that has easy games that help her get used to using the mouse.   I'm a little worried that we have finally created a...

July 2008

I wonder how long I have before her computer skills overrun mine???

Se-ame Srweet Place

Yesterday we made our annual pilgrimage to the wonderful world of

Sesame Place.

Hey!  There's Daddy!

The first thing we did when we got there was eat some lunch.  (Note to self for next year - a leisurely departure will assure traffic delays.  Get out by 7:00am!)        Once we had our nourishment, we headed for the carousel.  Jocelyn scoped that out from her lunch table!

Then we headed over to the water park area.  The weather was perfect, but the water in all of the water park attractions was FREEZING, compliments of the recent downpours from Hurricane Irene.  Doesn't matter, we were game!  Jocelyn wanted to try it all, but the lines were huge for everything.  We did go down Slimey's Shutes (water slide) and meandered along Big Birds Rambling River though.   Sorry for the lack of pics, my camera is not water proof you know!

Much to our surprise and pleasure, we found out there was a parade at 4:00pm.  I only thought they came through at 7:00pm.  We got to see all the characters!

Including these two characters!

After the parade, we caught a show - Abby Cadabby's Treasure Hunt!

Then it was off to the balloon ride and one last trip on the carousel. 

Despite Jocelyn's best efforts to close the park, we swung through Hoopers store to bring home our very own Telly Monster, and then headed home.  Jocelyn was asleep within 45 minutes of our ride home, and when we got home, she only cared to grab Telly Monster and her lovies and snuggle into bed.  

We will of course make another venture to Sesame Place next year and Jocelyn looks forward to being bigger so she can ride some other rides, but in the meantime, here is a trip down memory lane from last years visit.  Sesame Place 2010

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!