Well We Do Learn One Thing From Church

Lorelei is constantly challenging us as we try and get her to stay quiet in church. We were amused that she did seem to pick up one good habit this Sunday. :) We always have a greeting during the first part of the service and she was actually shaking everybody's hand. They were thrilled of course. :)

Christmas Picture Taking

Well we embarked on the great adventures in Christmas picture taking! We went with our friends to the beach on Saturday so we could take each others picture, and especially entertain the kids in the picture! (Mike was great at this, he may have found a second career) Lorelei did not cooperate particularly well, but we have a few that should work. It was still fun to be able to enjoy some times with friends and makes the picture taking a bit less painful. :)

This is not even our Elmo (Santa is bringing her one, we don't have one yet) but Chase generously let her play with him the entire visit at the beach. I found it amusing that she found it important to feed Elmo sand. :) Thanks for sharing Chase!








The three ladies of course. And you can't even tell I'm surrounded by pregnant women. ;) Don't they look great?!












Thought you would also find it amusing to see the joys of attempting to get four kids in a picture together.

We took a few more of just Lorelei when we got home and as you can tell she cooperated much better. Guess it helps to have lunch in her tummy and warmer weather without that ocean breeze. :)

Thought I'd just put up a collage of some of our favorites we are choosing from.


Guess you'll get to see the final cut in your Christmas card! :)

One fun story I forgot to tell that will share now before I forget...We are just so amazed at how much Lorelei understands and knows these days...Thanksgiving Day as we were headed out the door I said out loud "Okay I need the keys" or something like that, and then turned back around to get my cell phone, then as I went to get the keys I found Miss Lorelei had already opened the black drawer where we keep them (so they she wont get them, but apparently its her own grown up choice to leave them alone) and was reaching in to get the keys for me! What a good helper. :)

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was pretty low key this year, but still a good one. This picture is Lorelei learning the very important jobs of preparing for the meal. You HAVE to eat the rolls right out of the oven to make sure they taste okay. :) I was in charge of mini pumpkin pies and rolls. Two of my favorite things to eat and bake. Plus no gross turkey to cook. Yay!

The other important tradition we continued is watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. She actually enjoyed watching most of it. Her favorites were the dancers (at least if she fell copying them this time it would be on carpet), and a few select floats, especially Sesame Street!



Unfortunately the excitement must have gotten to her because she took a very short nap, which resulted in a melt down by around 7 at the Krenz house. We went over to Jon and Mirinda's house for a Thanksgiving supper and unfortunately had to head out pretty soon after we finished eating as the previously mentioned melt down occurred. It was great to have friends to visit with for the holiday. :)

This morning (Friday) I dared to go out at 4 AM for a trip to Kohls. It was packed but I found some good deals and it wasn't that bad. :) May have to do more than one store next year! We are having a great day today and all Christmas decorations are up, minus the trees. Think I will do those tonight...we'll see how Lorelei does with leaving all of them alone!

Fun Package

We were excited to receive a birthday package from the Sr. Stahls! I got some wonderful goodies and of course Lorelei did too! This picture is her looking at her new coloring book...and of course it had to have puppies on it! Her other favorite is a new Christmas book that plays "Silent Night." We are enjoying everything. :) Thank you!

Still Rainin

Still rainy and cold here. Thankfully we keep finding more things to keep us busy inside. We were very thankful for our blanket from Aunt Heather today! This kept her occupied for a good 45 minutes! We made a fort over the crib, played peek a boo, and then she enjoyed running through the blanket to knock down the fort. :) Just glad for any kind of entertainment.



She was singing along GREAT and then naturally stopped when I started filming. At least you get the idea. :)

Leaf Vacume? :)

I found it very interesting to see how they were cleaning up the leaves today! The grass has been covered with leaves from the beating during the storm. The men who usually come mow the grass were here today to clean up the leaves. Rakes? No way, too old fashioned. They used leaf blowers to blow them into a nice orderly pile along the curb. Then the proceeded to come "vacume" them up with this machine! Just found it very interesting but maybe that's because I come from the land of no trees. :)

Too Hot

Well you've already seen her reaction to cold... she seems to also be obsessed with her food being hot...unfortunately brought on by her parents not cooling off a few things enough apparently. She makes sure to blow on it plenty before eating, and makes the sound anytime she see's food on the stove, microwave, or oven. :) Poor kid thinks everything is going to be too hot for her to eat now. :)

Grand Illumination Parade

Saturday evening we drove down to Norfolk for their Grand Illumination Parade. We went to this last year as well, but watched from Brad's building since Lorelei was so little. We were excited to see it up close this time! We knew from last year that the crowds start quick, so we were planning to get their very early, and ran behind but thankfully found a good spot for us all to sit, but the streets were filling up quickly at 5:30, when the parade started at 7. :) We were also very thankful that it was not as cold! We even got to enjoy the first part of it without our coats on.

The Bonfiglios and Checks joined us for the parade which made it all the more fun. The kids were doing some dancing with the "pre-parade entertainment", which were some cheerleaders, and Lorelei ended up falling head-first on the street and getting a decent bruise on her forehead...preventing us from getting our Christmas pictures taken at the beach Sunday as we hoped...will reschedule though! She was also amused by the dog mascot that was walking around.

Then we got to count down for the city to light up their Christmas lights for the season...which was fun, but the buildings we were sitting around didn't seem all that exciting when they lit up. We enjoyed the many different floats and bands for the parade. I put together a little slide show of the night that has a few more details from the parade on it. Enjoy!

Brrr!

Sorry for the lack of blogging this week! Somehow the time has just gotten away from me. It has been a trying week with Lorelei getting some more new teeth in. I call them her canine teeth because I'm not sure the correct term. They seem to be a doosy though!

The picture is Lorelei bundled up in her "I Spy" blanket. We have played "I Spy" every day lately. She also loves me to wrap blankets around her "snug as a bug in a rug". :) We'll work on video taping her finding the various patches later.

Wednesday we had a mini feast with moms group, where we had mini turkey sandwiches (with real turkey!) mini cornbread muffins, mini cheese puffed pastry, spinach cheese dip, and mini pumpkin pies. YUM!

Thursday Lorelei got her H1N1 shot and then I had an unsuccessful trip hunting for a winter coat for her. Found one later that night when Brad got home and I could run to the mall.

Friday we used the now much-needed winter coat to bundle up and go to the park. It was supposed to be a moms club scavenger hunt but since only three of us showed up. Since it was Sara, Melissa and I we just ended up letting the kids play and catching up on exciting things like their possible baby names (they are both expecting in April/May) and Melissa's trip to California. :)

Saturday was wonderful, especially compared to the rest of the week. Lorelei seemed to be feeling better, although still wanting the paci, which we are letting her have because of teething. Hope we can break the habit again without too much trouble....Anyway, we had a very lazy day and stayed in our pjs as long as possible! I can't remember the last time we just played and enjoyed our morning. Brad also got the important hair cut. I also got to bake during nap while he put in some extra time for a work project. We were excited to go to the parade that night, which will be the next post...probably done during nap. :)

The video is Lorelei's latest "cute thing". When you say "its cold out" or anything with cold, she goes "brrr" and shrugs her shoulders. Didn't teach her this, she just picked it up from me somehow. :) It actually come in handy at the parade because I knew when she got cold! :)

Lorelei Can Moo Can You?

One of Lorelei's new favorite books is from her Great Aunt Evie, "Mr Brown Can Moo Can You?"

"Oh the wonderful sounds Mr. Brown can do"...well we have been having some fun sounds from Miss Lorelei as well these days. The words she uses now are her versions of Daddy (usually sounds like dayee), Mom, Hi, Da (for duck), Eye, Mouth, Boo, Mo (for Elmo) Eeee (for Lily) and the newest one from yesterday she tried saying "knock, knock" (on the Mr Brown book) while she was knocking! It sounded just like it! Then you will see coming up she tried to say cupcake as well.

Just wanted you to be able to hear a few of them. Again she does not like to perform but have gotten a few.

Here we got her saying mom...

Next was our attempt at eye and mouth...mouth she does well but then eye, can hear her say but she doesn't really do it for the camera! Then we kept rolling to try and get it for you to see, and it sounded like she just said "I don't know" :) So had to keep that on film. :)





We realize a baby monitor is not as exciting as the real thing but you can hear her saying "da"...maybe she thought Brad would get her out of going to bed? :)





And of course the cupcake! Sara left us some cupcakes to enjoy that she brought over Saturday, so I gave one to Lorelei after her lunch. I said "do you want a cupcake" and surprisingly she said "cupcake"! I couldn't believe it but she did it couple times before I brought out the camera to catch it. At first you can hear "cake", then took a nice long drink to keep us hanging and then said it pretty good. Thought it was amusing. :)




Low: being frustrated with Lorelei most of the day today!

Highs: telling Lorelei I needed a hug actually getting one from her, getting more Christmas gifts checked off the list (aka less shopping later and enjoying the Christmas season!), the amusing moment mentioned below :)

Amusing moment - Lorelei was chewing on some piece of food (I think a bagel) and had gotten it off the floor or something and I said "what are you eating" so she stuck out her tongue, grabbed an imaginary piece of food off of it and then put it in my mouth for me to taste what it was! Cracked me up.

Shopping Weekend

We had a good time doing various things this weekend. Saturday we did some shopping, and then that evening our friends Mike, Sara, and Lily came over for our favorite meal - brisket of course! We had been trying to have them over since May, so glad we finally got a good weekend for both of us. The girls had fun playing and even rode together on the lion...if only they knew how to move their feet to make him go it would have really been easy! :) Decided he needs a sidecar. :)

Brad and Lorelei enjoying a home made smoothie that tastes almost as good as the ones from the smoothie place next door, minus the sugar!

We found a great bag of frozen fruit that makes a smoothie just like the one we love from Tropical Smoothie, so they enjoyed this for breakfast this morning. Lorelei is not very patient to let Brad take a few sips, so decided to get two straws.
This morning started out WONDERFUL as we got to sleep in until 8 am! Lorelei did go down late from our visit, but she usually doesn't make up the time right away the next morning. Needless to say we were thrilled...not sure the last time we slept that late. :)
Then church was another doosy as we headed to the nursery quickly after starting, and then when I left her and she realized I was gone was very upset so had to go back with her. She did play a few minutes before she realized it though. Guess we'll keep trying. We did go back for communion which was nice since I have missed it most of the time lately.
Then that afternoon I was able to go shopping while Lorelei took her nap! Sara came as well, so then its even more fun! Got the important winter hat and also loved shopping at the girly stores for our niece, Hannah. Saw a glimpse of whats to come in about 7 years for us.

More to come tomorrow on some of the words Lorelei is trying to say. Trying to get some on video but she does not like to perform for us. :) She is also loving to give us kisses now which is SO cute. I'll try to get that too!

The Old Man Is Snoring

As I write this we have a huge storm raging outside. I am just hoping that the electricity will stay on, especially so I can finish this and so that our apple turnovers will finish baking! :) They are calling it the November Nor'easter and wow it is powerful. Brad headed into work before they called him to let him know that the building was closed, so he could work from home. Thankfully he made it home safe and was able to get some work in from here. Here are a few things going on the last couple of days.

We got some shelving/totes in the mail to attempt to start organizing our toy collection. Lorelei was excited to see them in the morning and I love that the toys are way more organized and easy for her to see, so she plays with them more. Today the cow puppet has been her favorite thing and it was buried before so she hardly noticed it. Even though it is smaller than I thought, its doing its job.



Wednesday playgroup was at the pet store very close to our house. We got to pet a bunny and go into the bird cages (they are basically rooms, human sized). They also got out a snake but I passed on that adventure. Lorelei loved the bunny. :)









Lorelei loves to play in the dryer. What else are you supposed to do when it rains out? :)

Lorelei did not understand why Dad could not play with her when he was home all day! This is the reason for the chairs, obviously. We did love that he was able to take a lunch break and play, as well as no commute so was technically home early as well. We'll see what tomorrow brings since it supposed to be WORSE tomorrow morning. Yikes!

Low: lousy weather and being stuck inside

High: more time with Brad; Lorelei not being too bad for being stuck inside for two days; Sesame Street!


Quote: Brad was asking about my day this morning (Wed) and when I am first waking up don't feel like talking so was doing my own made up sign to answer "are you going to walk over there?" and I did what seemed to be the obvious sign to mean it would be raining and he said "you are going to take your magical floating car?" Maybe you had to be there but it cracked me up even when I was half asleep.

Eat More Chicken

The beginning of the week has been gorgeous weather, possibly to make up for the rest of the week, which is supposed to be a torrential downpour from the hurricane.

We went to the zoo with Sara and Lily on Monday and enjoyed many animals and just a chance to be outside. There is also a park outside the zoo played at a bit before eating our packed lunches. All of this must have tired Lorelei out because she took a great nap!

Tuesday Lorelei and I headed out to Sandbridge. This is the "non touristy beach", as we call it, that we love to go to, but is a further drive than the normal oceanfront. It was going to get to about 70 degrees, so had to seize our chance for the trip during the warmer weather. There is a playground out there as well, so we played on that and then went out to enjoy the beach after.

On the playground Lorelei is getting so good at going up steps on her own. Thought you would like to see so have a few clips for you.

Oh and the cool thing was at the playground there was another family and the little girl looked about the same age as Lorelei, so of course I asked her age (the worlds most popular question when you have children) and she said "oh 14 months" and I said "oh they are the same age" and she said "Sept 2nd" and my jaw dropped! They had the same birthday! Such a small world. And also the little girl's name was Lily! :) Easy for us to remember. The family also brought their huge curly haired dog with them, which naturally made Lorelei's day even better!


Chasing the lone seagull who was really hoping we brought snacks for him.

After a while at the park we headed out to play in the sand. I was hoping we would do okay staying out of the water. We stayed far enough back that Lorelei didn't venture to the water. This means we can keep going anytime it is a nice day! She just enjoyed some time in the sand and we had the entire beach to ourselves. It was great therapy for me to have our feet in the sand and hear the waves and great fun for her to play in God's gigantic sandbox. :)






That night was our MOMS club family night at Chick-Fil-A. There were only three moms there with families, but it was still great to get out at night for once! It is also officially family night at Chick-Fil-A, so that meant they had kids activities and also a free kids meal with one adult meal. Yes we intentionally planned this on this day. :) Anyway, there was a lady making balloon animals, which we had to stand in line FOREVER to get, but at least we had some fun as well. Lorelei got a dog of course. Oh and we can't forget the cow! They had their cow mascot there and at first Lorelei was a bit hesitant, but he was so good and was even playing peek-a-boo with her. She LOVED him after that.







Low: the line for the balloon and craziness of chick-fil-a

High: Lorelei didn't eat ANY sand at the beach!; Lor's long nap, two days in a row!

Washin Hands

Lorelei now loves washing her hands. She is also great at the anti-bacterial soap we take in the diaper bag. Gotta keep those germs away!

What To Do Saturday

Well we decided against a trip the the Virginia Living museum and decided to try and get a few things done instead. Took a trip to Toys R Us to scope out Christmas presents (and hoped to get some without Lorelei noticing...I'm sure this won't work next year but for now she forgets).



We decided to check out The Jumpin Monkey nearby and see how it was. We figured Lorelei would enjoy the bounce houses if they were for her age. They had a toddler section and she could also go on the big ones with me. WELL this was another lesson learned that we don't always know how Lorelei will react. Rather than thinking it was a huge bed to jump on a lots of fun, she was basically terrified to go on any of them! Poor thing does not like being unsure on her feet and really was not happy when I sent her down the slide by herself. :) Had to try it out though. (After all another kid about her age was enjoying it, so why shouldn't she?)

We went down this one together, and she did okay with that.





So glad we paid money to this place so you could play with a doll... ;)

Thankfully she did like the other toys the place had to offer. They had a few playhouses and obviously doll toys for her to enjoy.

Now we sit and listen to the NE/OU game on the computer because it is not on tv here! Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Friend Filled Week

We have been keeping busy with friends a lot this week, which we love!



Wednesday night Lorelei had her first "nonsleepover." :) Lily came over to visit so her parents could celebrate their anniversary. We got to color and use stickers, watch Sesame Street, eat smiley potatoes and chicken nuggets, and then play with dolls, legos...you name it. Lorelei was SO excited as soon as she saw that Lily was coming over to play...and in the evening no less! She could tell it was exciting stuff. Lily did great since this was the first time with anyone other than her Nana.

Thursday Lorelei and I explored the "castle" part of Mt. Trashmore which we have not played at before. It was nice to have a new place to explore but it is much better for older children since there are soooo many stairs to climb. Lorelei is getting better at the whole stairs thing though. Then we headed to Applebees since we had a children's coupon for a free lunch. We moms thought we should take advantage and chat before Melissa went on her trip to CA. The kids actually did very good for as long as it took to get our food and eat it! I think we are sticking to a little faster paced places to eat from now on though. :)



Today (Friday) it was cold (high of 55 which you mid westerners are probably thinking is warm by now) but very windy so that made it not the best of days for any outdoor activities. We got to have company again and enjoyed some Starbucks (I think I had gone two weeks without my pumpkin spice latte), then a quick trip to Kohls and then Petsmart where the girls could look at the animals. I didn't even know they had animals, so was very glad when Sara mentioned the idea. We saw birds, hamsters, cats and fish.


These girls love each other! :) We are so thankful for our friends!

I should also mention that Brad officially got promoted to lead software engineer! Congratulations honey we are so proud of you!

And November Fun Begins!

This week has been a bit more mellow than we have had for a while. We have also been working on getting some frames up (finally...takes me 14 months to get poor Lorelei in a frame on the wall) so have not had much that was blog worthy. Have been taking a few pictures randomly so this will be a bit of a hodgepodge for you.

Another Sunday jumper. Just love getting her dressed up. She was her Dad's shadow while we were trying to make lunch. Always underfoot. :)










Enjoying the glow necklace from Grandma. This was one of Brad's usual Halloween traditions. We waited until the day after since we were going with the other kids, plus its good to spread out the excitement.









Eating the frosting off the cookie. :)








New bib that should cover everything! Hopefully no more stains! We are only on the second day of using it so we'll see how it holds up. :)












We had our usual playgroup with MOMS today. We got to go to a new park and it was a lot of fun (minus the daddy long legs that freaked me out a bit). Had to include this picture because she looks so old! I got her dressed today and had one of those "oh my you look so grown up" moments.



Peek-a-boo behind the tree. Melissa trying to blow bubbles as the flock of children surrounds her. She is so good about bringing sand toys, balls, bubbles, chalk. Going to have to take some notes and start doing that as well! :)



Just love this one.






I was trying to get a pic of the girls together. Lily happily sat down for me and then this is all I could get before Lorelei started trying to push her off - yikes. Sorry Lily!




Much happier to have the step to herself. :)

Always a great day when Lorelei can happily play outside for a couple of hours. So glad there are so many great parks around here to enjoy.

Been working on writing down highs so I don't forget to have a decent amount this time!

Low: taking forever to get the pictures all organized and printed and still waiting to get the beach ones since they take longer!

Highs: Watching geese fly right over our head in our jammies (and cherishing it because most moms are getting ready and taking their kids to daycare at that time), Lorelei handing a ball back to baby Luke that he had dropped without me even telling her to (it was like you realize your kid actually cares about others without you scolding them), sugar cookies, listening to Brad and Lorelei during bath, awesome smelling candle, steakhouse bread (and only 99 cents!), figuring out why our internet was flaky and now not having any more problems with it!, my sister who usually loves black and white refusing to make our pictures like that because "we can't steal the colors out of rainbow land.", Lorelei pointing to her eye and saying "eye" and then mouth and saying "mow"- SO EXCITING