A Vacation at MeMa and PopPop's

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While Chris and I were away at The Homestead the girls went to MeMa and PopPop's in Connecticut.  The above slideshow gives a glimpse of all the fun they had. They decorated the Christmas Tree, went to the children's museum, took golf cart rides, rode bikes, played with blocks and even got to go visit Santa and see the Lordship tree lighting. At the end of the week my mom (MeMa) told Grace she was sad because she didn't want her and Sarah Elizabeth to go home and  Grace said:

"But Mema we have to go home. Don't be sad just think of all the fun we had and remember that when you feel sad."

A Homestead Weekend

Early in December Chris and I had a long weekend trip to The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia.  The journey started on Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 when I loaded the girls into the car and we hit the road to go to Connecticut. Grace and Sarah Elizabeth were AWESOME in the car.  We changed into their PJs in a Wawa bathroom in Delaware. (Grace still talks about how funny it was to be in in the store in her PJs.)  We pulled into the driveway at my parents at about 11:00 PM.  The girls had been sleeping in the car so they were rested up for a quick "hello" to MeMa and PopPop.  The "quick" hello lasted until about 1:00 AM because once the girls woke up they had a hard time getting back to sleep- they were too excited.  My alarm went off at 5:15 AM and it was time for me to hit the road back to the Eastern Shore.  Now to some of you the idea of 4 hours of sleep and then driving 8 hrs home seems awful.  BUT IT WAS GREAT!  Don't get me wrong the girls are great in the car but there is still the constant requests for snacks, drinks, books, toys, ect.  Then if/when they fall asleep you don't want to stop and wake them up for any reason.  So potty breaks, coffee stops, and gas fill-ups must always be carefully planned.  And then there is NEVER a quick in and out at a bathroom stop because I have to unload both girls and trek in with them, even if they don't need to go. By myself in the car I was able to listen to my book on tape in peace, stop for coffee on a whim, get gas at one stop and then stop again later for a snack.  OH SO NICE!!

I made great time and hit the outlets in Rehobeth Beach, Delaware for some Christmas shopping.(For FIVE hours.) Then I drove to Salisbury, MD for a stop at Target, Ross, Marshalls and the mall.  We don't have any of that stuff down near us so I was taking FULL advantage of the kid-free shopping time.

I got home at about 9:30 PM with loads of Christmas shopping done.

We met Kathy and Jeff in Richmond on Thursday afternoon and rode with them to The Homestead. Linda had no idea we were coming for the weekend, Eric planned for us to surprise her at dinner.  The timing worked out and we made it by the skin of our teeth. (Anyone who ever wants to go to the Homestead- don't use GPS or mapquest- they try to take you where there are NO roads.) Linda was VERY surprised when the four of us showed up in the suite before dinner.  It was a great long weekend  and although we were busy at times it was full of delicious food, a few Gingerbread Lattes from Starbucks, late nights, great Scotch, and even a game of Hand and Foot (a card game).  We woke up Saturday morning to almost 6 inches of snow.  It was beautiful!  The Homestead was decorated for Christmas, it was like something off a movie set, just perfect!

All together in front of the massive Christmas tree in the Great Hall.

The view from our window at 7 AM and then later on Saturday.

Lunch, the windows around us made it seem as if we were looking into a snowglobe.

A Winter Wonderland at night.

A  few of the Christmas decorations, including the Gingerbread scene, tree of Poinsettias, and the GIANT Christmas tree.

Chris and I are all smiles at the end of our weekend.

Christmas is coming

The girls are excited about Christmas.  Grace is trying to grasp the concept of keeping gifts a secret.  She has picked out a present for me from her that Chris helped her get last weekend but she keeps telling me what it is (rainboots!!).  She thinks if she whispers it that it is the same as keeping a secret.  Sarah Elizabeth keeps pulling presents out from under the tree and wants to open them. 

They both LOVE playing with their new Little People Nativity set.  It is so cute to hear Grace tell Sarah Elizabeth who everyone is. 

For those of you that got our Christmas card here are some other good shots from our living room "photo shoot".

Thanksgiving= guns and turkey

We had a full house for Thanksgiving this year.  It was nice to have the space to accommodate almost everyone. It was also the first time everyone had been to visit since we moved here in May.

Thanksgiving morning started with pumkin bread and coffee, yum!  And then before the dinner prep we shot some guns. Yes, that's right we set up a skeet shooting range in the back field and took turns taking aim.

 

Kathy keeps a hold on Grace and Jackson  in the back of the pickup.

Chris gives some gun safety lessons to Ben, and Ben checks the barrels for ammo.

Eric takes aim and Kathy gets some pointers.

Mimi, Grace, and Jackson watch from the safety of the car.

Watch out, Mamas with guns! 

Like father (Jeff) like son (Ben).

Kathy (aka Sarah Palin) is "Going Rogue".

Jeff and Jackson take it all in from the pickup and Jackson is the skeet thrower, "PULL!"

PopPop joins in on the fun.

I never thought my Thanksgiving activities would include shooting guns.  I guess, "welcome to the country". It was fun though. 

A miscaluculation on the oil amount we needed sent Eric and Ben on a hunt for more oil.  It seems we run into an oil issue every year.  This year we wrote down the amount we needed, so hopefully next year we will have the correct amount.  Eventually we got the turkeys fried and the sides made.  Then we were ready to eat.

The table.  Grace helped fold the napkins and made the placecards.

Turkey carving and cousins at the table.

Two great pairs.

The Loppackers and The Bentleys.

By the end of the night Sarah Elizabeth's face showed how we all felt, full of food and very thankful for all the time we were able to spend together as a family. Eric, Linda, Kathy, Jeff, Ben, Jackson, Chris, KJ, Grace, Sarah Elizabeth, Jerry, and Kate, 12 in all!

Friends

I have been thinking a lot about friends lately.  I am very thankful for the friends I have and it's hard to be so far away from all of them now.  While living in Wilmington for the past 12 years I had the opportunity to meet new friends and watch friends move away.  But as I made new friends and said goodbye to others I was never in a situation where no one knew me.  I haven't been in a situation where I was making friends totally solo since August 1996 when I was a freshman in college.  The difference between then and now, besides my age, is that in a college situation everyone is in a position to make friends.  Even those who went to college with people they knew come to college looking to meet new people.
So here I am now at 31 working at making friends.  Don't get me wrong, opportunities to meet people are getting more and more available with church, school, birthday parties, the YMCA, and a Wednesday morning playgroup.  The "working at making friends" part comes with perfecting my ability to small talk.  Think about conversations you have with your friends, they mainly re-volve around shared experiences or people you know.  My additions to conversations are limited to: where we moved from and why, the ages and names of my children, Chris' job, and where Grace goes to school.  I think if I was working it might be a bit easier, at least I would have a shared experience to talk about with others.  But I want to be home with Sarah Elizabeth and so I have to be patient with the process.

I was telling Monica today that somehow I wish my yes, no, or short sentence answer could somehow convey the depths of my soul.  She said I was overthinking things. She's right.

 I know making friends takes time, I just wish I could jump ahead several years to the part where they know me and I know them, and it isn't so much work.

A Nor'easter is a hurricane without a name

Flooding in Wachapreague at the marina.

We are on the tail end of what they are calling the "November Nor'easter".  Since Wednesday afternoon we have had rain and high winds.  The gusts have been up to 70 mph at times and the current rain measurement is up to 13 inches in places.  In the 12 years I lived in Wilmington I rode through a few category 1 and 2 hurricanes.  The difference between those storms and this is the wind seems so much stronger when it blows right off the marsh with no other structures to buffer the force.  Luckily we don't have any trees around us, but we live right on the marsh so the ground is definitely SQUISHY.  We lost a few shingles, our trash can, and the swingset needs some reinforcement, but besides that all is well. 

We had a bit of a family adventure last night when Chris thought driving down to see the marsh was a good idea, until the tires of the Subaru started spinning in the mud.  For a few minutes we were stuck, the kind of stuck that when Chris got out to check the situation he sunk down into the mud halfway up his boots.  After a lot of forward-reverse-forward-reverse and prayers (from me) we made it out to solid ground- whew!  Then we decided to drive over to Wachapreague (the next town) to check out the flooding in the marina.  On the way we had a bit of an "uh-oh" moment  when we had to drive through a low spot on the road that was a bit flooded.  We got through without incident.  It was a good thing too because the other way out of town, over the Quinby Bridge, was washed out.  In Wachapreague the water was flowing through the streets, with the waves lapping the middle of the stop sign pole.  According to the locals this was their worst case of flooding in over 20 years, which is good to know, because we didn't flood from the marsh and we were still able to get out of Quinby to the main road.

To give you another idea of how "out there" we are here on the Eastern Shore: there was no TV news coverage of the Eastern Shore.  This was probably due to the fact that there is no local TV station located out here.  The Hampton Roads TV station got their Eastern Shore info by calling our local radio station for a report.  Quite a different experience from having Jim Cantore (the Weather Channel hurricane guy) camped out in town when Wilmington was in line for a hurricane.

Our 1st Parent-Teacher Conference

Grace in front of school in September.

     Tonight Chris and I had our 1st ever parent-teacher conference with Grace's teacher Gillian.  Since Grace started school in September I have been dying to know exactly how things are going in the classroom.  But I have used all types of restraint to keep from bombarding Gillian with questions everytime I see her.  So tonight we got to get a glimpse of what a day at Montessori Children's House of Franktown is like for Grace.

     Gillian said Grace has taken to Montessori "like a duck to water".  She told us about the work that Grace has been doing in the Practical Life Center (buttoning, zippering, folding, spooning, pouring), the Sensory Area (ordering by size, length, color), the Writing Center, and Geography.  Gillian has noticed that Grace really enjoys the butterfly vocabulary cards, she can name many of the different types of butterflies. Grace has a special bud, Leah, who she likes to eat lunch with and do her work next to everyday. Gillian said the two girls are very cute together with lots of chatter and singing between the two of them. 

     Although I was pretty confident that things were going well for Grace it was nice to hear that things really are going well.  Chris and I are so happy we found MCHF for Grace. Gillian is a great teacher, she really enjoys the differences among the children and truly meets each child at their level and works with them to step to the next level.  This is not something she views as a goal for the year, she sits with each child daily to teach new lessons and extend their learning from previous lessons.

     Each night Grace asks, "Is tomorrow a school day?"  When I tell her yes she gets a huge smile on her face.  I don't think there is a better sign that she loves school.

Halloween- Eastern Shore style

The days leading up to Halloween had me feeling a bit blue, no friends to make Halloween cookies with and no PC3 Trunk-or-Treat to plan on going to. So on Halloween day I didn't have very high expectations, but for the kids sake we were going to dress-up and go to the Harvest Festival at our church.  The day started looking up when the weather allowed us time to play outside.
Chris, the girls, and I planted some trees next to the house.  Grace really got into helping Chris shovel the dirt and push the wheelbarrow.  This was the first family project we have done since moving here.  It was nice to have us all outside and working together. 

Grace and Chris roll the dirt to the driveway and Grace waters the new trees

Sarah Elizabeth "rides" on the shovel.

So, after our morning project friends called to invite us to go trick-or-treating in Wachapreague (the next town over) after the Harvest Festival.  Suddenly the night started to look like it would be better than we had expected.  We all suited up in our Goldilocks and the 3 Bears costumes and went to knock on Shabaka and Nuria's doors for our first two stops.  Sarah Elizabeth caught on quickly to the idea of opeing her bag to get a treat.

We headed down the road to Franktown to the Harvest Festival where the girls played some games and ate dinner with some friends.  There was a costume parade across the stage in the fellowship hall.  Sarah Elizabeth was the first one on stage and WON a prize for "Most Creative Costume".  Baby Bear was pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself.

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Grace playing a game

MaMa Bear, Goldilocks, and Baby Bear. 

(Chris was PaPa Bear- but he was taking the picture.)

Sarah Elizabeth plays to the judges on stage during the costume parade.

Grace on stage as Goldilocks.

We headed back up the road to Wachapreague for trick-or-treating with 3 other families.  It was great to see Grace having such a good time with her friends from school, especially Leah and Issac.  Sarah Elizabeth had fun too.  She was quite the ham, walking right up to even the scariest of houses.

So in the end the night was a lot of fun!  Grace and Sarah Elizabeth had friends to play with and so did we!!