Just the Three of Us

We enjoyed a cozy, relaxed Thanksgiving yesterday here in Virginia. We kept things pretty low-key and we liked it that way. It was nice having Chris around more and getting to spend time together as a family. Here’s how we spent our day.

Brendan really loved watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, which surprised me at first. He had fun seeing all of the balloons and different floats, especially when a train float appeared. The boy loves his trains.

Brendan had some computer time with Chris. Brendan loves to go to the Starfall website and practice his letters.

Brendan attempted to help in the kitchen but ended up just playing with the camera’s remote feature. I had lost the remote several months ago and recently found it in my car when we cleaned it out, so I thought it would be fun to use it again. Brendan went a little nuts with it.

I have about 30 pictures like this now.

After a delicious dinner, we all relaxed by playing with Play-Doh. Brendan could do this all day.

Chris made Brendan a Play-Doh hotdog and he loved it, although he didn’t love the salty taste. That didn’t stop him from trying to eat it more than once though.

We finally ended the night by playing Brendan’s favorite game on the Wii, MarioKart, since Brendan loves to race. He hold his own controller and plays along with us even though his isn’t on- but don’t tell Brendan that.

All in all, it was a fabulous day and we have so much leftover pie that we’ll be set for the next week. And now it’s time to get ready for Christmas!

Brendan’s favorite activity

This is what our house looks like most days. Brendan loves to build his tracks and make obstacle courses for his trains and cars.

Unfortunately, most of the time he builds his tracks in the middle of the living room or the stairs, making it a little difficult for me to get around.

But at least it keeps him occupied so I can get some things accomplished and if he’s happy, I’m happy.

And to end this post, some silly faces.

Outfit of the Night

A sweet pair of rain boots to accessorize some awesome pj’s- it doesn’t get cooler than this. We recently picked up these boots at Target (oh, how I am so glad to have Target back in our lives again!) and I think I love them more than Brendan does. I’ve had my eye on these for quite some time and I finally found a pair in Brendan’s size so they had to come home with us.

Now I’m actually hoping it rains again soon so Brendan can wear these bad boys. I think we’ll be in luck since when saw the weather report this evening, it looks like rain is in the forecast **tomorrow**. I’ve never been more excited for rain!

How we began our day

This was the first thing that Brendan did this morning- crawl under his crib to play with his trains and track. And I really do mean the very fist thing. As soon as I took him out and set him down he was under his crib in about 2 seconds.

Usually Brendan can’t wait for breakfast so this was a strange turn of events. I couldn’t get him to come out from there even with a bribe of pancakes (his favorite breakfast food, which he calls just “cakes”).

That just shows you how much Brendan loves playing with his Thomas trains. He’s getting better at saying “Thomas” and now it sounds more like “Tommy”, which I think is pretty cute.

He spent about half an hour this morning playing under his crib and it was a nice quiet start to the day. I just wish our day had continued to be so quiet and mellow. Instead we had a fun day of running errands all over town and Brendan had a meltdown at Target and the library (twice). Of course. At least now we are enjoying some freshly baked pumpkin bread and some quiet time watching an episode of, you guessed it, Thomas the Tank Engine.

HAPPY "V" DAY!

Today is a Valerie's birthday. I think she'll be more surprised to see me posting here of my own volition than by any of the gifts Brendan and I got her.

This has been a pretty busy and exciting year for Valerie. She kick started it by driving 2500 miles across the country in a 17' moving truck with a car in tow and a baby on board. She lived in Berlin, NH ("The town that paper built") where she enjoyed views of burning houses and snow to the rooftops. Four months later she loaded up the car and some trucks and moved again (Brendan and I helped a little). This time only about a mile and a half. And this time the house didn't smell like cigarettes, but it was full of all sorts of bugs and spiders (Valerie's worst fear). In the mean time, she made some good friends and found out that we were moving yet again. This time there were movers that packed and did all the work, but a move is a move and it's never really fun. Now we live in the complete opposite environment than we did in Berlin. We enjoy tons of traffic, tons of people, stores open past 5pm, more shopping choices than Walmart, etc. The only problem now is that I have the car all day while Valerie and Brendan are trapped at home wishing they could go out and see all the stores, parks, and other great places they've heard about. Hopefully that will be resolved soon (It's a surprise, but I'm building Valerie and Brendan a car out of some scrap wood and an old mattress I found behind our house).

Other notable events from Valerie's past year include reading over 80 books (possibly 90 by the time this is published), speaking in church three times, becoming an "expert" in Rockband, driving up Mt. Washington (tallest mountain in New England and home to the most extreme weather in the world), driving down Mt. Washington, drawing a picture of Brendan pooping, per his request (not joking, good picture too. Stink lines and everything), killing a spider all by herself, selling some of her cool, homemade crafts/accessories, voting over 1000 times for Adam Lambert to win on Idol (just kidding!), and encouraging me to change my clothes more often; among other things.

All in all, the past year has been eventful. Valerie has been a little trooper when things have been difficult and has been a sweet mother and has made life in general much better and much more fun than it otherwise would have been. For that, as Valerie's big gift this year I'm going to try to not get another job and not have us move for at least 11 months.

I want the whole blogosphere to know that Valerie is my BFF and I love her. Just like Edward loves the girl in Twilight. I forgot her name, but she's the "moody" one.

Chris the Hiss- out

Our First Visit to Washington DC

The weather was absolutely beautiful today and it couldn’t have been a nicer day to head into our nation’s capital. We spent the morning doing all sorts of tourist type stuff and it was nice to get to see so many iconic sites in person.

The Lincoln Memorial was our first stop and I was quite impressed with how quiet and respectful it was there considering how many people were coming in and out. Even Brendan was quiet, which is a small miracle in and of itself.

Chris looking angry and Brendan looking at the duck instead of the camera. We ended up taking a break from picture taking to feed the duck (luckily I had a sandwich in my bag) and then Take 2…

Much better!

The Vietnam War Memorial and some fall leaves. It’s amazing to see just how many names are on that wall.

The Washington Monument is much bigger than I thought it would be and it’s the first thing that we saw driving into the city. It was so cool.

We didn’t actually get a chance to visit the Jefferson Memorial but at least we could see it across the river. That’s definitely on our list to go to on our next visit.

It was a busy day and we ended up leaving a little earlier than planned since Brendan was a little cranky and tired, but we’ll definitely be going back soon. I can’t wait to explore some more.

I hope this entices all of our family and friends to start planning a trip to come and visit us soon!

What we made

Last night for FHE, we made bird feeders out of a milk jug and soda bottle. They’re not the prettiest things ever but it was a good activity for Brendan and he enjoyed every minute of it.

He was a great little helper and poured in the seeds for both feeders all by himself (mostly). He made a small mess by spilling some of the seeds but when does he not make a mess? That’s normal for our house.

He’s my artist-in-training, my mini Picasso. And now his works of art are hanging in our backyard from a tree and they are patiently waiting for the birds. We checked off and on all day but never saw a bird near them. We’re hoping that the birds figure it out soon and we’re really hoping to attract some cardinals but even if no birds come and use it, it was fun making them together as a family.