Backyard Catch

As we gear up for tee ball season, Coach Daddy has been practicing in the backyard with our little all stars.  Enjoy this photo blog entry documenting the children's first game of catch this spring:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I had $100...

Luke's class celebrated their 100th day of preschool last week with lots of fun activities.  One of their projects was to write what they would do if they had $100.  The children's answers which were posted proudly on a bulletin board and included cute responses such as "I would go to McDonalds," and "I would buy an American Girl Doll."

Here was Luke's answer:

 

When I asked Luke about his unique response, he said, "Mommy, that means I could buy ONE HUNDRED things, and not just one!"

 

And seeing the world through a 4-year-old's eyes, where quantity far often supercedes quailty, I giggled at my smart little man's idea.  I knew his finance-minded Daddy would appreciate this ingenuity of this answer, too.   

 

Later that same afternoon, Luke requested to wear his pirate costume while watching a video, and sat motionless on the couch in this position:

 

 

My, how this preschooler keeps us entertained each day!

WFU Basketball

Our family took a daytrip to Winston-Salem, NC on Saturday and attended a Wake Forest basketball game.  We continued our annual tradition of going to see the Deacs play b-ball with a visit to campus first, where we all burned some energy after our car trip by running and playing tag on the quad:

Decked out in our black and gold, we posed for pictures in front of dear old Wait Chapel, and ate a picnic lunch on campus with take-out from our favorite restaurant, the Tavern:

Next we headed to the game, where Mommy squealed with delight upon seeing her beloved Deacs dressed in PINK uniforms (to support Coaches vs. Cancer):

Both Luke and Leah were attentive and devoted fans during the game.  We had great seats that were just 5 rows from the court, and it was an exciting and suspenseful game.  Luke kept close track of the score, adding the points from each basket, and it was really neat to watch his little mind process the addition and excitedly announce each point: "Mommy, we had 11 points, and then we scored a 3-pointer, so that makes 14!"  Leah sat happily between Mark and me, and had a MUCH longer attention span and tolerance for watching the game than Luke did at age 2.  Each year, it's getting easier and easier to take the children to activities like this, and they understand more every time, which is fun for us to observe as parents:

Although she liked our mascot from a distance, Leah still wasn't too thrilled about meeting the Demon Deacon up close and personal (but at least she wasn't screaming like last year):

We made a wise choice to leave at halftime, and as we were driving back to SC, we got caught in the middle of a surprise snowstorm.  This didn't negatively impact our travel (since we got on the road in time), but transformed our drive into a Winter Wonderland and deposited 2 inches of snow on the ground at home:

Cheering on those Deacs wore out this sleepy traveler:

It was a fantastic family day at our alma mater, and we proudly donned our WFU attire:

Go Deacs!

Love Notes

Some of my favorite shots from Valentine's Day this year:

Bulletin Board in Luke's preschool class.

Oh, to be 4! 

This made my heart happy.

The best Valentine present EVER. 

Red & white hearts and goodies.

A few of our cards and gifts.

Afternoon entertainment:  Remote control car races.

Opening presents from Mommy and Daddy.

What a special day to celebrate how much we cherish our little Love Bugs!

Dinosaur Disaster- The Sequel

For a stay-at-home mom who loves holidays and baking, what could be more exciting than planning her son’s homemade Valentine cards and treats for preschool?  This year, Luke and I chose a dinosaur theme for his Valentines, and we created adorable personalized Valentine cards for his class.  So of course I pulled out our now-infamous stegosaurus cookie cutter (refer back to this post in case you forgot), and attempted to make dinosaur-shaped sugar cookies to accompany our homemade "dino-riffic" cards.   And this is what happened:

  They may resemble aardvarks, anteaters, or some other sort of unidentifiable animal, but certainly were not cute enough to give to 16 other preschool students.  And here’s the annoying part:  I followed the recipe EXACTLY!  I’m a baker, and love this form of cooking because it relies on precise rule-following.  There’s something so satisfying to me about following a specific set of instructions and having the end result be just what you had envisioned, with no surprises.  Martha Stewart’s recipe for cut-out sugar cookies required about 28 steps including: rolling dough to exactly 1/8” thickness, chilling for 15 minutes, placing between 2 layers of parchment paper, placing on cookie sheets in the freezer, adding dustings of flour as to not be too sticky, etc…. The list goes on and on, and that’s BEFORE you even cut out or bake the silly things.  And like the aspiring Martha apprentice that I am, I willingly completed each step, only to end up with unevenly cooked, burnt, and in some cases, decapitated prehistoric cut-outs. 

The good news is that because I anticipated some sort of snafu with this darned cookie cutter again, I made these cookies a few weeks ahead of time, with the idea that I would freeze them until Valentine’s Day.  Being a planner paid off in this case, because I had time to come up with a Plan B:

$26 worth of red, pink, and white Jelly Bellies later, we were all set! (I didn't realize how "gourmet" those jelly beans are when you buy them by the pound).

Luke's Valentines were darling and exactly what he wanted, so it was all worth it:

But, after Stegosaurus cookie cutter vs. Mommy Round 2, I concede defeat.  It's been banned from future cooking adventures and will now be used solely as a stencil for craft projects.  Hope everyone has a DINO-mite Valentine's Day tomorrow!!

Dress Up

 

There is a swashbuckling, dashing young pirate in our midst, thanks to a fantastic hand-me-down costume from our neighbors.  We're all practicing our best pirate grimaces and voices, but it's hard not to smile at this charming lad:

 

The pirate costume is not the only dress up outfit that Luke has donned this week, as he happily put on his construction apron at the Lowes Build and Grow Clinic on Saturday.  This is one of our new favorite weekend activities.  Both Home Depot and Lowes have monthly sessions where children create cute projects from wooden kits (as if Mark and Luke needed another excuse to head to a home improvement store on a Saturday morning!).  These free sessions include child-sized hammers, goggles, badges of completion, and lots of manly building, of course.  Luke's preschool class lovebugs joined us this weekend, as it was our turn to host them for an overnight adventure, and they, too, enjoyed constructing the Valentine's-themed project:

Not to be outdone by her big brother, Leah also dressed up in her own apron and participated in the Kids' Clinic at Lowes.  However, you'll see that she chose a slightly more methodical approach to the project (opening and reading the directions, then carefully applying sticker adornments) vs. Luke's immediate noisy hammering:

 

One of the cutest parts of our daily dress-up routine occurs after bath time each night, when Leah runs around in the dinosaur towel that Luke also loved when he was a toddler:

 

 

She roars quite ferociously, and we all pretend to be terrified, which sends Leah into a fit of giggles.  The whole routine repeats itself over and over again, and it's too cute for words: 

I know that these adorable days of my babies in the bathtub together are going to be a fleeting memory someday, so I had to post a couple of pictures of their sweet innocence while they are dressed up only in their darling birthday suits:

And it wouldn't be the beginning of Valentine's Week without holiday-themed dress up attire.  Leah's shirt says it all:

 

What fun playing dress up in our house can be!!

Little League 101

We're beginning a new era in our lives, as we enrolled Luke in our local Little League this spring.  He will be playing tee ball, and Mark is the team coach.  This is an entirely foreign experience for me, as I did not grow up with any brothers, and I am excited to embark on this new adventure with my son.  Last night, Mark attended the first Coach's Meeting, and came home with great news:

"Carrie, I had first pick of team hats, and guess what I chose?"

Mark held up a bright red baseball cap, embroidered with a pretty, white "W".

"Oh, we're the "W's?" I eagerly inquired.

Mark closed his eyes and began shaking his head slowly.

"Yes, W for Winterhoff!  How PERFECT!", I squealed.

Mark gave me one of those looks, you know, the "I can't believe I am married to such a dork" stare of disbelief that I often receive when I comment about any thing sports-related.

"Are you serious?" he asked.  "It's the Washington Nationals logo.  You know, the team that is a virtual obsession for BOTH sides of our extended families." 

"Oh,"  I replied.  To my chagrin, I did create a personalized Nationals baseball calendar for our niece this Christmas, and used pictures of the logo several times during my project.  I've watched many Nationals games and cheered for this team.  But I did not know that Little League Teams adopt the hats/logos from professional teams, and I was so excited about the initial of our last name being on the hat that I didn't make the immediate connection.

When the children woke up today, everyone was excited to try on Bubba's new baseball hat:

 

I commented to Luke, "Look, Buddy, there is a "W" on your hat, for...." (dramatic pause here).

 

Luke eagerly responded:  "WAKE FOREST!", and I smiled, thinking how the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  (Yes, I know that he's only 4 and hasn't extensively learned about professional sports yet, but it still made me feel slightly less un-cool). 

 

I thanked my lucky stars that Daddy will be coaching Luke's tee ball team, and will be the parent who will provide a solid foundation of sports knowledge to our children.

 

And I think that I will be in charge of something more up my alley, like creating adorable baseball-themed snacks for everyone at the concession stand...  or color-coordinating our family outfits each game to match the team jerseys... or....

 

Oooh, the possibilities are endless.  I think I'm really going to like Little League!!

News from the Nest

I hardly took any pictures for most of the month of January.  After seemingly endless weeks of toting my camera  around during the holidays and Leah's birthday, it was nice to have a little time off from my self-induced pressure of capturing every event in our lives.  But we've been full of little pieces of news that deserves mention in this blog post.  In no particular order of importance:

-We finally painted the children's bathroom, and it's an adorable bright green that matches their Hungry Caterpillar-inspired decor.  I searched for months to find a cute theme that would work for both a boy and a girl, and was happy when I finished decorating Luke & Leah's bathroom last year. However, the paint remained our builder's tan/neutral, and I couldn't muster the energy to complete that finishing touch to the room.  A few weeks ago we selected a paint color, and we are thrilled with the final result!  It's a much fresher room now, and satiated my need to have a house project last month. 

 

-Winnie tore her ACL last weekend.  She was running in our backyard, chasing a ball, when suddenly she yelped and collapsed.  Winnie couldn't bear any weight on her rear left leg, and we feared an ACL tear, as that is a fairly common injury to labs.  Our suspicions were confirmed at the vet on Monday morning, and our poor, furry girl is confined to her crate and resting her leg until Valentine's Day, when her swelling will be less and we can see if there is any improvement. She will undergo x-rays at that time and we will determine if surgery is needed.  Poor, sweet Winnie.  Get well soon, so that Leah and I can have another cohort to wear Bubba's fire hats while he is at school!

 

 

-I registered Luke for Kindergarten last week, and it was fairly anti-climactic.  I've heard from other moms of first-time kindergartners about what a big deal that day was for them, but it was really just a bunch of paperwork.  I am slightly intimidated by the knowledge that the elementary school that my first-born will be attending in August has 1,200 students (which is 3x larger than my entire high school) and I did have a pit in my stomach as I filled out all of those forms.  However, I know that my hesitation mostly lies in my need to be able to picture what life will be like in the fall, which is impossible right now.  It's the logistics that make me nervous (carpool vs. bus riding, the fact that none of his preschool friends will be at that school, etc), and for that I am grateful.  This transition would be so much harder for me if Luke didn't love school so much or if I felt like he wasn't ready, which he most certainly IS...

... which leads me to the report from Luke's Parent-Teacher conference at preschool this week.  Luke's teacher effusively praised his academic skills.  He's the only one in his class fluently reading, and his wonderful teacher continues to upgrade parts of the class curriculum specifically for Luke (i.e. buying him advanced books to read, introducing math to our son when other children are just recognizing numbers, etc.).  Ms. Ashley also reported how proud she was of Luke for maturing so much since September, and she has absolutely no concern at all about some of the impulse control issues and strong-willed behaviors that sometimes prove to be a challenge for us at home.  She reported that Luke is a very smart, happy, cooperative student each day at school, who has no difficulty listening, sharing, taking turns, and getting along with friends!  We are very, very proud of our big boy and basked in the glow of a terrific school report. 

-Mark attended Doughnuts for Dad at Luke's preschool on Friday, and it was darling.  A few days before the big event, Luke reported:  Mommy, I worked SO HARD on my project for Daddy..." and told me that he "wrote a sweet message to Daddy."  We eagerly anticipated the big reveal, and Mark proudly took his gift to his office to display:  "Doggone Crazy 4 U!" reads the adorable handmade painted dog, crafted out of a paint stick and clothespins.  We thought that the best part was the special envelope and note:

I know that it's typical of any preschooler's handwriting in the world, but I don't think I can ever throw this one away, as it is the FIRST fully independent written message of love from OUR preschooler to HIS DADDY (without Mommy's assistance), and it just makes my heart melt. 

While I enjoy all of this preschool cuteness, I am fully burying my head in the sand about the list of important dates that Luke's teacher sent home last week which includes PRESCHOOL GRADUATION in May.  Umm, we JUST started preschool, about a minute ago in our lives- It certainly can't be coming to an end soon!  I will remain in denial indefinitely...


-Leah has had a yucky cold for the last week, but is still her bright, sunny self, despite the fact that her big, blue eyes can't stop watering and she constantly has a tear running down her cheek.  She looks pitiful, but when you ask Leah how she is, she always responds, "Date!"  ("Her pronunciation of "Great!") with a big smile.

-Our silly girl made me laugh last week while we were baking banana bread together.  She asked to lick the beater from our electric mixer, and I noticed that it was taking her an incredibly long time to finish the puny amount of batter on it.  I continued to put away ingredients in the fridge when out of the corner of my eye, I caught Leah repeatedly dipping the beater back into the full mixing bowl reload her "beater-batter-treat"!  Needless to say, no one else ate that batch of cooked bread, and it was one surefire way for Leah to outsmart Mommy and get a whole loaf all to herself!!   

-Leah found her Princess Potty in the midst of one of my closet-reorganization afternoons this week (Yep, that's what I do for fun!), and has been asking to sit on it every day.    She strips down and plops her chubby little body on that pink potty (which resembles a throne of course), and she's simply delighted when the royal music plays intermittently (it's supposed to be liquid-sensitive and play when a child goes pee pee, but the batteries are dying, which makes the song play completely randomly).  In true royal fashion, Leah even ordered: "Read a book to me Mommy, while I sit on my potty."  Tonight, we had a milestone moment as Leah actually went pee in the potty for the first time before bed!  Mark and I clapped and cheered, and commented to each other that this is an ENTIRE year before someone's big brother EVER went on the potty.  And so far, it's been fun and entertaining with Leah!  I'm not going to start a specific potty training plan now.  I'm still of the mindset that kids will do it when they are ready (or when their parents impose a weekend-long boot camp b/c you HAVE to be potty-trained to begin the 3 year-old preschool class, Luke!).  We'll follow Leah's lead and whenever it happens, it happens, but wow, what a different experience so far with our two kiddos! 


I love her expression here.  It's as if she is thinking, "Mom, do we really HAVE to take a picture of this?!"

And I think we'll leave you with that image, so that you can be thankful for that photo being a clothed re-enactment of our latest breaking news (and that we spared you the real going-on-the-potty pictures)!