Let's get muddy

With the weather near 75 degrees Faith and I decided to go down to the creek and get a little muddy. We took a shovel, rake, truck, bubbles, and cups. One side of the creek was all dried up but the other side had enough water to go to Faith's knees. I really thought that she wouldn't get dirty but after getting used to it she quickly poured water on herself only to follow up with a big dump of water on myself. As we walked about 100 feet up the way she saw a "cave" and a little frog jumped into the water. "Mommy, catch the frog. Here is the bucket." We splashed around and blew some bubbles. Faith was interested in the fact that the bubbles stayed on the water top. A trip to the creek wouldn't be complete without checking out the rocks. We did that as we headed home, bare feet and all.

Tiny tot workout

There is this wonderful gym here called the Little Gym in which they take kids of all ages and teach them gymnastics and fun recreational games. Today we took a free class to try it out. I loved it and so did Faith. She was in seventh heaven as she loves to climb, play, flip, swing, and dance. We started off with some jingle bells and singing followed by some warmup in which we walked and ran in circles. Part of the warmup said to practice somersaults. Faith did hers on her own and awhhed the instructor. Then one verse said to donkey kick which she did all be herself too. I don't think anyone else could do as much as she did. She definitely has my blood in her. She did somersaults down the cheese mat, swung on the parrallel bars, walked down the beam, pulled over on the big bar, clapped her hands whenever she finished something and shot some baskets with a ball. She smiled the whole time and ran from activity to activity. What a good way to spend the morning....with a little exercise.

Frying Pan Park

What a name for a park. There were no frying pans in site. There were no restaurants or shops that relate to the name just the road that it was located on. Kidwell Farm is the only working farm in Fairfax County. Better yet it was free. Yeah, this place was wonderful. Not only did Faith get to see all the animals and pet them we took a wagon ride around the farm and discovered much more. Not only did they have animals they had a professional horse ring in which anyone can come and ride their horses. There were logs for jumping, barrels for racing, and obstacle courses for the horses and their rider. It was so huge. They had their own fields they used to plant food and feed the animals. Also back by the obstacle course there was a nature trail. There were so many things to do we just skimmed the surface. Farmer Bob was planting the seeds as we rolled on past. Faith enjoyed an apple and she even got nibbled by a chicken. We warned her to not put her fingers in the coupe. The farm workers even had a milking demonstration in which the children were able to help. And did I mention it was free. It was so wonderful. We will definitely go back. Next time they may be having a horse competition that we can watch. Not only was it a farm it was a playground. The playground was huge and there was even a farm preschool housed in a old looking school house complete with a school bell on the top. Wow, what a nice afternoon. I can clearly see how our neighbors spent 3 1/2 hours there two days in a row.

It's a hard knock life

So I never imagined that Faith would be pretending to be little orphan Annie at the age of 2. But she is so imaginative. She asked for a wet wash rag today. I said what are you going to do(thinking she was going to wash the table for the 3rd time this morning)? She said she was going to be Annie and scrub the floors. I think that #1 she has listened to the song too many times and #2 she has been watching the youtube filmstrip too much. There can't be another song on in the room or in the car. She keeps asking to play it over and over again. Today she took the wash rag and cleaned the floors, windows, t.v, coffee table, couch, walls, my bed, and the tool bench. She is a cleaning nut anyways but Annie doesn't make it any better. As she is scrubbing she says, "hard knock life for us, hard knock life for us, steada kisses get kicked, shine chrysler building." It goes on and on. I just love that musical and to hear her sing it makes my heart pitter patter with joy.

Falling in love

Faith has become so attached to me since we've moved away from the midwest. I'd like to think that it is just a normal phase in development. However she is attached in good ways. She loves to be held both by Bud or myself. Which is ok until my arms start to feel like they are falling off. But what really had the tears flowing was yesterday when we walked in to Target. She asked to be held so I did. She took her little arms and squeezed my neck as tight as she could and said, "Need mommy. Love mommy sooooo much. love mommy so much" as she continued to cut off the circulation from my head with her strength. I love this little girl. Have I said that enough today. Probably not. I'll just have to go wake her up and tell her again because obviously she has heard Bud and I telling her this for 2 years now everyday all day long.

The job offer is in

The job offer of Rainbow Station is in for me and we are attending an open house for this brand new school on Saturday. I am anxious to see it however I am keeping my options open to these other schools around here who seem interested in me. I guess I'm just apprehensive because I know that it is new and everyone will be new there also. I know Faith will enjoy it. Although I wasn't asked to run the music and movement program I was asked to assist in the 3 1/2 to 4 year old room. Faith will be in the yellow room with the 2 1/2 year olds and if it seems to be a bore to her they will check into moving her into the 3 classroom. I am anxious to see what teaching method they use. The director said it was play through learning. No workbooks for the kids and no pencils for writing. Just fun and learning.

After just sitting and playing with her today I am just overjoyed at what a good little girl she is. As Bud fell asleep tonight his last words were, "I just love Faith so much." I often find him just sitting and staring at her. He is just as amused as I am to watch her play and learn. She brought her Barbie up to him tonight and said the Big Bad Wolf was chasing her. Yesterday after pretending to have our dolls all sit down and read for family scripture time, she took it upon herself to call all the dolls together for another round of reading by herself. "Everyone sit down. Get your Book of Mormon. Come on everyone. Reading time." Then she handed everyone one of her scripture books and opened it up. She is playing better on her own. She is becoming wonderful about following directions and following the rules and is just learning so much. I am grateful we get to start back to school. I think that this will give us something new to work on and goals to set.

What a weekend!

It was a wonderful weekend here in the hills of the east. Since it was Bud's birthday weekend we decided to enjoy the nice weather. Saturday we headed to Prince William Forest Park and I loved it. I think Faith enjoyed the trails also. She ran and hopped and skipped and climbed as much as she could. We even found a creek and headed down into it to skip rocks and build a sandcastle. You should have heard her. "One, two, three." Then she would throw these huge rocks into the water to see them splash. She came too close to the edge and decided to just step into the water all together. I haven't seen her that excited in a while. I wish we could have stayed longer. It just takes so long to get anywhere. Next time maybe we'll bring some food with us and enjoy a picnic at the tables.

Just take a breather, Gymnaste

So I'm sitting here wondering where this school thing will take us. We decided to visit two other schools both of which looked nice on their webpages. I was overwhelmed with the lack of interesting things for the children to participate in. In both of the 2-3 year rooms they had books that Faith was enjoying when she was 9 months. There were no stories just books; if you can see the difference. The second school said that the preschool classroom (which had 3 year olds in it) did desk work. What child does desk work at 3 years old. By far this private school we attended on Monday was the best. The Rainbow Station would be the most fun. The Lake Mannasas would be the most educational. I was really hoping for a nice school from both of these facilities today but they both looked down and frumpy. They didn't even have a big slide for the 2-3 year olds to climb on. Reminded me of Motown alot and we don't want to settle for that here. The teachers seemed fake and I don't like the fact that most of the kids in the class were in diapers. I don't want her to be there in a baby classroom. Ughhhhh!! It is so frustrating.

New scrapblog

Who would have thought that the endless days of cutting and printing pictures to make a scrapbook is over. What technology and the computer has allowed us to do is just remarkable. I found this awesome site to put all our pictures together. What is even better is that they said that I should be able to print my pages in the near future. Check it out. The link is over on the right side of the page. I love to scrapbook but find I don't have time with Faith running around and getting into all the stickers and such. This way it is all compiled on the computer. If I get side tracked I don't have to clean up my floor. Anyways.... it is cool.

A trip to a new school

This morning Faith and I went to local private school to check out the facility. I liked it alot. I was excited to hear that they would consider Faith to be in the older classroom. They would work with her to help her learn the most. I am excited about this because the thought of her learning everything we've already taught her is exhausting. We played in the younger classroom for a while and then even attended a 15 minute music and movement class. She shook her bootie and waved her scarf like I've never seen her do. I am hopeful for the first one that I interviewed for however I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch. It was funny to see her with these kids because she knew so much more than them. The teacher asked who could find her a red ball. Faith was the first to find it and give it to her only to be followed by the green, yellow, and orange when asked. She knew the animals figurines that weren't common and just showed her stuff. Hopefully we will decide something soon as to where she will go.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

You Were There...
You were there when we took our first steps,
And went unsteadily across the floor.
You pushed and prodded: encouraged and guided,
Until our steps took us out the door...
You worry now "Are they ok?"
Is there more you could have done?
As we walk the paths of our unknown
You wonder"Where have my children gone?"
Where we are is where you have led us,
With your special love you showed us a way,
To believe in ourselves and the decisions we make.
Taking on the challenge of life day-to-day.
And where we go you can be sure,
In spirit you shall never be alone.
For where you are is what matters most to us,
Because to us that will always be home...
Author Unknown

I love you mom.

"C" is for Caterpillar

Did I mention that Faith at one time was terribly afraid of bugs. Yeah, she would scream, "run, spider" when she saw one in the bathtub. Not anymore. She loves caterpillars now. Grace taught her about the eastern tent caterpillars and we researched it some more to discover it turns into a moth. We ventured out yesterday to find one because this week is the letter "C". I told her to look carefully and find one. I was walking along and then she piped up, "mommy, caterpillar." Where peanut? "Right there." I didn't see it at all. I told her to show it to me. She bent down and pointed to one sunning on a tall blade of grass. Of course she held it and played with it. It even came to the slide to play with us. Then we decided to put it back into the tree so it would be able to eat. She has come along way with bugs. She even took turns with the neighbor boy, Anthony, to put rocks into a box for one he found. She sure loves them.

Finding our way

This week is all about finding our way around here and the apartment. With everything still boxed up and not much storage space it is hard to find where our belonging can go. It seems like Faith has so much stuff. I agree that she does play with a majority of it but would she miss it if it were gone? Probably not... but she can decide when it should go. Until then boxes will remain filled until we find another house in which Abby can come to. I hope it won't be long. Everyone misses the big fat kitty.
We are all going to try to get back to a sense of normalsey. Bud back to work and getting used to commuting. Faith's would include art time, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, outdoors time,play time and reading time. Although there is alot to accomplish around the house (I hate clutter) I have to remember that Faith needs her attention too. It keeps her happy. And when she is happy, we all are happy. Without Grace around I have to seek out my two year old self again. Thanks Grace for showing me just how crazy one can be in order to have a little fun.

Welcome home!!

A home feels so good to have. Not a home with lots of other people but a home with just Bud, Faith and I. We finally made it back together and have settled into our new place here in Virginia. Although a basement; it is quite roomy. Do you know what I love best about being here? I love the trees and hills. I loved the mountains we drove through. I think I have a sense of peace knowing they are only an hour drive away. A place to disappear to and enjoy nature. I'm comforted knowing that some of my family is now closer. I am comforted knowing that Faith will have excellent education this year instead of crap like last year. I just feel comfortable. I'm anxious to get our belongings out and set up our place to live.
Grace, Forte and Carl all came down from the secret house to surprise Pa Pa with a surprise birthday greeting. What a surprise. I think I was crying from happiness of having my family all together. It has been too long. Grace and Faith chased each other around all afternoon. I'm thankful for that. They are just like two peas in a pod. Grace even read to Faith and put her to sleep; and Bud. It was cute. Thank you Grace, you are a wonderful reader and a great cousin. Faith sure loves you.
Today is a big day. We are all venturing out to Washington D.C to tour like tourists tour. Our first destination will definitely be the war memorials.
Welcome home Faith.