Camping trips

So now that summer is almost over, what better time to share some of our favorite moments from camping. We keep our camper in a permanent site at Olde Forge Campground in southern Lancaster County. Rylee has seemed to really enjoy it over the last few years and it looks like Marissa is well on her way. It has been a long hectic summer but we've go our fair share of camping trips in, even with all the other obligations and Marissa's 2 day stay at the hospital. In July we took a week off since the daycare closed and rather than camping spent some time at the hospital after she spent 4 days very sick! She's better now thankfully. More camping pictures to come really soon...

Our 1st weekend, and the girls were helping to make the bed...

and than Marissa tried to attack the camera!!!

Rylee got some basketball time in while her daddy watched

And the bubbles were a big hit, daddy blew the bubbles and the girls popped them
Rylee provide us with some entertainment...table dancing!

We took many trips down to the pool! Clearly this exhausted Marissa as she feel asleep before making it back to the site, ring in hand :)

We spent a day at Muddy Run and it was very hot! Rylee and daddy took a walk though...

while mommy hung out with Marissa on the mat and snapping pictures!

Marissa has enjoyed her time playing outside in the exersaucer, even after being sick (this was the weekend after the hospital stay)!

Memorial Day 2010

And of course the most recent, Memorial Day. We went down to the beach and stayed with my mom who lives in Selbyville, DE. We spent one day in Fenwick Island and the other in Ocean City. Rylee hasn't been to the beach since she was 1 and when we went than she screamed bloody murder when her feet hit the sand. Jason was thrilled since he is not a fan of the sand. I, on the other hand, was very upset as I love the beach. This time, as you can see, Rylee loved the sand and even got in the ocean. I think she is going to be a beach lover like me, especially since she put up a huge fight both days when we left. On Saturday (which are when the pictures are from) it was a little chilly outside, but that didn't stop her from playing. On Sunday, we did get in the ocean even though it was rather cold (low 60s). Marissa seemed to enjoy the sand or at least trying to eat it. However, when we put her toes in the water she screamed, probably because of the temperature. During our trip we also took Rylee mini golfing which was a lot of fun. I was surprised as she actually made it through the first 12 holes before she lost interest. She still needs a lot of practice!!! I learned that I can mini golf one handed as I Marissa woke up on hole 3 and wanted to be carried around. Fun stuff :)

Spring 2010

So while I'm on a role with the blogging, here are some of the pictures of the girls getting to play outside on a nice spring day. This was one of the nice weekends back in mid-April. Rylee had a blast just running up and down our sidewalk. Though we also made a hopscotch board for her to play on with her sidewalk chalk and she did same drawing. Marissa hung out in the exersaucer and was completely content. She seemed she to enjoy watching Rylee play.

Easter 2010

So I'm super bad at this blogging stuff and super behind!!! Here are some pictures of the girls from back at Easter. They are a little upside down in the order :) Easter was more fun this year as Rylee actually understood the concept of an Easter egg hunt. Plus we could tell her how many the "Easter bunny" hid for her and she is able to count them. It was definitely harder for us with all her allergies. Not fun trying to find chocolate and candy that is completely peanut/tree nut/sesame free. As you can see, didn't make much difference to her though, she still had fun. She seemed to enjoy painting the eggs the most and was so proud of her finished work!

Hectic, crazy life of mine

Let's start by saying, oh how I love my life! I truly am very thankful for all that I have and feel so blessed to have a wonderful husband and two beautiful daughters. However, with that out there it certainly doesn't make the day any easier when you've been irritated by stupid people throughout the day. Than you come home knowing that your husband is yet again not going to be home because of work. And the icing on the cake is those two beautiful daughters who love you so much that they are going to scream at the top of there lungs. Of course, Marissa (who will be 5 months on Monday) is extremely tired and overstimulated from a day with her aunt, sister, and 2 other babies. So she starts crying. That sets off Rylee (3 1/2 years) who feels the need to scream "make her stop" or "give her the paci". And then the who can be louder contest starts. Guess who wins?? Well if you send me that's right, cause it ends in me freaking out, talk about overstimulation. But I do truly love my daughters, life is just easier when it's a 2 parent house and not a single parent house. I can say that I'm thankful that I did finish my master's degree the Friday before I went back to work which is a plus. So at least now it's only work and family rather than work, school, and family!

It doesn't help either that I'm stressing myself out of the changing of my jobs. I really like what I do know, but I can't move up any further than I am. At the same time I am really looking forward to the new job due to the new experiences and being able to provide services to children again. Hopefully things will settle down and again, and life can become smooth even when it is just me here with the girls. Anyway, now that I got that off my chest, the rant is over :)

Rylee

Of course we don't want to forget Rylee! She is getting so big and extremely smart. She has learned how to operate our iPhones and knows how to play most all the games that are on there for her. It's a good thing that there are so many kid friendly games and apps to put on the iPhone, not to mention it's an easy way to entertain her when we are out at appointments and she has to wait. Or the occasional play time at home as you can see below. She is also starting to learn about words and spelling, it's really impression. The other day we were watching Lost and at the beginning it shows the word Lost on the screen. She then took her letter puzzle and spelled out the word Lost with the letters from her puzzle. We were both very surprised by this. She is also learning to pick out her own clothes and dress her self. I think on both of these days that the pictures are from below, she had picked out her own outfit and dressed herself. Sometimes it's good and other times not so much!!! All I can say is she really is becoming a little miss independent :)

Marissa and the spoon!

So, Marissa had her first spoon fed meal this evening! We started giving her rice cereal through a bottle a few weeks ago and decided that she may be ready to eat from the spoon. As you can see below, she took the rice cereal and seemed to enjoy it. It was the funniest thing though, cause at first she was trying to suck the cereal off the spoon like it was the bottle. Even though Marissa is our second daugter it is like a whole new experience, especially since Rylee started eating much later. Clearly different doctors suggest very different things. With Rylee we never even gave her rice cereal in a bottle. She started eating right from the spoon, but she was more like 7 months or so. Marissa's doctor suggested starting her on rice cereal in a bottle and than moving on to other solids by 5 0r 6 months. Anyway, you can see in the first few pictures she was waiting in anticipation. And we had success with the spoon feeding!!