Fall is here!

Fall is here in WV and we are keeping busy. There is one festival after another and of course our usual weekly activities, like music class, art class, playgroups, and now tot swimming. I am behind posting pictures from Terence's visit, so they are below with some random ones.

Sam wanted a stroller ride the other day and I was planning on walking to the Greek Fest for lunch, so I was checking email for a second and she decided to remedy the situation by getting in the stroller herself. Not sure if I should be more worried that she can climb in herself or that she expected me to acquiesce and take her for a ride after she did.

When Terence got here Sam was still napping, but she was so excited when she woke up and cuddled up with him.

We went to St. Joe's Catholic Church Carnival and Sam got her first face painting. She was so excited, but she touched it too quickly.

She had a great time at the Marshall game, so we let he stay up and she did great, but we paid the price later :)

She loves when I put her hair up in rubber bands. Cute pigtails, huh?

I drew this Elmo on the small magna doodle. She loved it.

St. Joe's had inflatables and Uncle Terence took Sam on the slide a couple of times. What fun!

Dance, baby Dance!

Here is a video of Sam dancing at the wedding. Uncle Terence came to visit this weekend and we had a jam packed weekend of Carnival at St. Joe's, Chilifest, and Marshall game (Go Herd!). Pictures coming soon.

Where's Mickey and rubber bands

Sam has been doing some really cute things lately. When my mom was here she was wearing a rubber band as a bracelet and one time my mom asked about her bracelet and she said no, rubber band. And then tonight in the car she took a small Mickey Mouse out of a cereal box. She hid it under her leg and said "Where Mickey" and then shouted Mickey. She laughed a lot when we joined int he hunt for mickey. She likes to search and then will say "Here Mickey" when she finds it.

Nick's birthday was last week and although I gave him a lot of grief for being gone for mine, I took off the day after his to head to Atlanta for a wedding of a friend from high school. Sam and I did the 500 mile drive alone. She was great, so much better than expected. we also squeezed a lot into the trip.

We went to the zoo. It was not very crowded, so the birds that are usually hard to convince to eat the seeds were even landing on Sam and scared her a little. But she still had a great time.


She was excited to see the pandas.


And was really excited about the carousel, but just picked the bench. She had a great time lookign for Nana on each spin around.

She loves birds of all kinds, and has been saying flamingo for a while, although sometimes its just 'mingo.

We also rode the train.

She loves corn. Not sure why she did not want to pick it up, though.

We had a playdate with Izzy. Sam really wanted to help with her cup.

And give her a hug.

At the wedding there was a beautiful fountain and when I told Sam to look up so I could take a picture, this is what she did.

Sam had a great time with Izzy again.

She wants to do everything we do, so Nick rigged it up with tape to hold down the button and we let her try her hand at wii mario cart.

And just being cute!

We are....Marshall

So things have been rough lately. The house we are renting has a lot of issues. We are still not sure if the roof is fixed as before the tarring it rained so much and now it has not for weeks. Our classes are pretty rough. The kids are really polite, but just will not engage and do not seem willing to come to class prepared.

Sam is also really testing the limits, lots of no's, running away in stores, and crying when she does not get her way. Early terrible two's it seems. Makes life interesting. Poor Nick on the nights I teach, too. She gets so upset when she wakes up and I am not here. But two times in the last few days she has peed in the potty. Nothing like a good accomplishment to make a really rough day better.

In other news, we finally turned Sam's car seat around. She kept complaining about her bottom hurting and we thought it might be the angle and even though it is best to keep it as long as possible, she is well over a year and over 20 pounds. So she likes car rides more now, which is nice.

We have also been leaving Sam in the nursery at the YMCA, which has been rough on her. She alternates between being okay and fussing/crying. The staff is wonderful, letting her sit on their laps and such. One poor lady who took her from me one day is so upset that Sam does not like her. But we hope she will soon adjust and I can get double stress relief of exercise and a break.

I also signed Sam up for an art class, which she enjoyed. It is actually taught by one of the moms in the moms club I joined. She is wonderful with the kids and it is great exposure for Sam. And it is cheap. I think we will also try a gym class next month after the art class ends. Got to keep busy, right. And Sam has been doing a lot of downward dog, sometimes into a roll lately, so I think she may enjoy a gym class.

Here she is being silly when she saw the camera.

Here she is at art class with some dabbing markers, which she loved.

This is before class outside the museum. She loved the rooster statue.

Still loves her toddler snacks. And her current favorite is fruit snacks or gummy snacks.

Some good news of the day was all the positive football results. GT stomped Jacksonville state! And UGA lost! And ND creamed Nevada. And Marshall even won. We taught Sam to say Marshall in response to the We are... Pretty cute if I do say so myself.