Walkin In A Winter Wonderland

We were amazed to get REAL snow this weekend! Although the weathermen were predicting it, around here you don't believe it till you see it. Since it has been nearly two years since we have seen real snow, we were excited about getting some, especially for Lorelei to experience it. I did made a Friday Walmart run so we were all set to stay home for the weekend.

To kick off the day, we had s'mores at 10 AM! Apparently Brad really likes them, so when I said I didn't know how we would fit in s'mores AND snow ice cream he quickly came to the obvious conclusion...morning snack. ;)

Then we bundled up to head outside. This took WAY longer than we anticipated. Putting two layers on ourselves and three on Lorelei (who was NOT happy about this, making it even more difficult) took quite some time, but at least we were warm!

And here you have her reaction to her first snow!










And of course eating it was on the top of her list.






Thought the outtakes were pretty funny in trying to get a daddy/daughter snow picture. :) They kept getting the snowflakes in their faces.




Since food is always on the top of the Stahl family to-do list...the afternoon we took on snow ice cream! This is something my family did when we got a good snow, so thought we should give it a try.

We thought we would attempt another play trip out after Lorelei's nap, but by that time the wind had picked up and it wasn't really fun playing weather. She was pretty unhappy when we closed the door after getting the snow without letting her play, but she did enjoy the ice cream. :)




Day #2

Well since the flakes finally quit falling around 5 or so Saturday, we figured Sunday was a good day to try out a little home made sledding. :) (Nobody sells sleds around here!) We did last longer outside this time, but only about 45 minutes before Lorelei was ready to call it a day with wet and cold mittens. :)





We had a fun weekend and looking forward to another lazy day tomorrow because Brad's office is closed. :) Guess we'll have to brave the snow at least one more time!

Let It Snow!

Giving you a sneak peak into what we are getting first thing this morning! SNOW!!

Now I know this is not too exciting because the rest of you have a TON already in the Midwest, but this is Lorelei's first REAL snow, so we are pretty excited for her. :) Its a lot easier to get excited about snow when you haven't seen it for nearly two years. :)

Lorelei was VERY excited to see it snowing this morning and I told her we would be able to go play in it later and she took off thinking we were going to play now! :) Brad went out and measured and we seem to have around 4 inches so far, and it is supposed to snow ALL DAY. Hoping tomorrow we can hit Mt. Trashmore or some other hills and try some sledding in our home-made sleds. :) Today we plan to head out just to let Lorelei enjoy being in the snow. Brad is getting the fire place going and we have s'more fixins and hot chocolate for later. :) See if it only snows once a year on the weekend it can be fun. :)

This is the most snow we got last year and took a picture of her in her "first snow."


More snow pictures coming later today I'm sure. :)

Our Lemon Sucker

Had to pass along this cute picture we got from Mirinda. This was taken last Sunday when we went out to Applebee's for lunch with the Krenz family after church. Lorelei was kept entertained by eating lemons! :) She asked for them out of our cups and then proceeded to eat them, even a bite of the peel! She was having a lot of fun as you can tell. :)

S'mores and Hot Chocolate

Today we had a S'mores and Hot Chocolate day for MOMS Club. This is one of the many events the three of us plan and then see if anyone else shows up. ;) We had two other ladies come to our event today so it was a pretty good turn out. Melissa was nice enough to have it at her place because she has the perfect fireplace and great sized house! Sara and Melissa kept me amused as they are not too familiar with roasting marshmallows, but definitely s'more making pros! We roasted and dished them out for the other kids and ladies who wanted them. Most of the kids just preferred to eat the marshmallows, although a couple of them did enjoy helping roast. :) I only caught about two on fire but you know that makes them nice and melted. :) Was a fun morning for all...and Lorelei took a normal nap despite all the extra sugar intake. :)

Lily and Lorelei enjoying some marshmallows. They probably had at least 5 a piece because they were easily accessible and oh so yummy. :)















Brad and Lorelei relaxing in their chairs while enjoying some popcorn.

I would like to note that in the first picture on this post Lorelei intentionally made her face like that when they took the picture! Also do you think Brad thought he was posing for a football photo for his picture? Sheesh can anyone cooperate around here. ;)

Where Is Lorelei Coloring?

Is she on the floor with her crayons??? Nooooo.








Is she at her new easel with the chalk??? Noooooo.

























She's in the dryer of course!




Wanted to show the progress she has made only this month on coloring. First picture was her coloring over three days to get it that filled in. Second picture, just a few weeks later, was what she did today. The back looks about the same. :) Glad she is enjoying it so much! Can't wait to start art projects in a year or so. :)




Before I started taping she kept saying "flow" (flower) over and over. Did get her to say it on here although you can't hear it that clearly. Apparently that is what she has been drawing all day...can you tell the only thing her mother attempts to draw? :)

Easel and Bill Cosby/First Real Babysitting Saturday

As you can see, we got an easel...and its HUGE! This spot is where I originally thought it could fit...but then there is pretty much no way Lorelei's high chair can join us at the table for supper...so we have some rearranging to do, but for now it will work. Found a great deal on craigslist as these are normally $100+ and we got it for $30 but of course had to drive basically all the way down to North Carolina (even though they technically still live in Chesapeake...pretty big city limits if you ask me!) and had to pay $4 in toll fees to drive like a mile on the toll road! Fitting it into the Escape was doosy too as we ended up even having to put the seat down. :) So far Lorelei is enjoying it and Brad got a dowel rod for the middle so now all we need a roll of paper and hopefully she will love coloring the paper as well. Hopefully will enjoy for many years to come...she can definitely grow into it. ;) And hey its wide enough a friend can draw on the same side as her! :)

Then after nap time we got ready to head off to drop Lorelei with the Checks so we could enjoy Bill Cosby. SO first time leaving Lorelei with someone when she wasn't sleeping (we have gone on several dates throughout her 16 months of life but she has always been asleep before we left!) was a bit nerve wracking for me, but she, of course, dove right into playing with Lily, Sara, and Mike and had a great time. They said she did miss us some, but over all had a fun time playing in Lily's tent, coloring, dancing around and of course eating some of her favorites, mac n cheese and chicken nuggets! Thanks to the Checks again!

We had a fun time with Bill Cosby. He has such a natural ability and it was a great chance to get to laugh. I don't think anyone can tell jokes the way he can. :)

Well off now as Lorelei is done with breakfast. Enjoy!

PJ Day

Well we had a very lazy day out house today. Watched way more TV than I ever, EVER want Lorelei to watch, and Lorelei was in her pjs all day. :) Both of us seemed to be feeling a bit under the weather so guess it was much needed rest.

Have been slacking the last couple of days taking pictures, even though we were having fun. Wednesday we played at the park and then the new Bonfiglio house and had some yummy pasta for lunch. Then Thursday was library and the mall with the Bonfigs again for a few rides on the little electronic rides they have there including the hot dog truck, bus, and mini carousel. Very cute pics but no camera!

Back to today...over this last week Lorelei has been infatuated with a new toy...yes that would be MEASURING TAPE! Now most of you know I don't sew, so this tape is getting more use than it has gotten in all its 8+ years I have owned it. For some reason she is enjoying measuring everything...our heads, her dog, Elmo...you name it. Whatever works!









Not too exciting of a video but figured I'd post it anyway. Was trying to get her saying "Mo!" and then shaking her head no, which is very common these days because I have to continually tell her no she can't watch anymore Elmo! Its pretty funny so I'll keep trying to get it. Was trying to ask her more questions to show how much she is nodding lately, but she was trying to pose for the camera instead. :) She has nodded for a while now, but the last week or so it has been so much more! Fun having her answer so many questions and saying more words. Love communication!



First Oreo! And of course we had to dunk it in milk. :) The smile says it all. :)

Lows: cold weather, feeling lousy

Highs: going to see Bill Cosby tomorrow night!, having such a sweet husband who will fix food for me, finding an easel on craiglist (post tomorrow)

Spring Weather in January

We enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL day today. The high ended up being about 61 according to weather.com...and we just appreciate it so much after these cold winter days stuck inside! I decided the zoo would be more fun than a park since we went Monday and will go again Wednesday, plus they have "Zoo Tales" on Tuesdays which I thought would be a bonus. Lorelei LOVED getting outside and seemed to enjoy the zoo even more this trip. We visited the farm animals, where she enjoyed seeing the chickens and pigs and I got to dodge a turkey who looked a bit possessive...but you know me and birds. Then we took a quick trip to see the monkey's before heading to the story time.

While it seemed like a good idea...Lorelei's interest was not kept at all with the books. (can't expect it when the reader is less than entertaining and the book is tiny and far away and she doesn't even try to show it to everyone!...guess I'm going to have to do my own story time since none of these are up to my high standards. ;) ) Got to see a tarantula and we would have liked to have pet the bunny but by then Lorelei had no patience so we headed out for the rest of the zoo. Got great views of the giraffes, elephants and lions...all very up close! Had the sandwich and grapes we packed and then headed home.

Then had to wind down a bit (hoping for a longer nap after the fresh air and walking but wanted to be double sure by putting her down a bit later too) so Lorelei played with sidewalk chalk on the balcony. Now it is over an hour past her nap time and she is still talking in her crib! I will remind her of this someday when she is a teenager and wanting to sleep all the time I suppose. :)


Enjoying some more chalk drawing outside with Dad when he came home.

More update of today...when telling Brad about our day I asked about each thing we did like "did we see pigs?" and she nodded about everything. She is big into nodding lately.

The other funny thing she does now I keep forgetting to mention...instead of just saying "no throw" we tried saying "we don't throw ____, we only throw balls" Well this plan has somewhat backfired because now every time she throws something she isn't supposed to, before we can even say a word she just says "ball!" Hmmmm.....

Chilly Three Day Weekend

We enjoyed a three day weekend this weekend. We didn't really do anything too exciting, but did get to a park Monday while the weather was fairly nice. Still a little cold for my taste, but needed to get the munchkin some fresh air. Sunday afternoon Brad also took Lorelei for a walk to the nearby pet stores to get her outside a little more (we had already gotten some balcony/slide time) and I got to get a few more chores done. Mt. Trashmore was our pick of parks for Monday simply because it doesn't have any trees and we needed all the sunshine we could get! Lorelei had a great time and even went down the swirly slide by herself. So much easier when one parent can send her down and the other can catch her. :) She hasn't quiet gotten sitting and starting on those slides yet so makes me a bit nervous to send her up alone when we go. She also had a great time "cooking" macaroni and cheese (wood chips of course) at the little table they have set up there that is always a huge hit. Now we girls will have to tough it out without Brad the rest of the week...getting more than my fill of Elmo these winter days!

Tidbits: This week Lorelei has started pointing at different things to count them. She does good up to three, but when its more than that will point to the same thing more than once. Still gets the idea though!
Latest words: Shoe, foot, knee

Movin Forward

Lorelei has been able to ride her lion backwards for a while now, but we wondered when she would ever get the hang of going forward! Over Christmas she figured it out with her train. I tried to wait hoping we could get a nice long video of her going down the hall...but she only likes to go short distances so far. :) Had to put a few together and of course in the end she decided to give her puppy a ride. :)

Little Miss Crispix

Lorelei has come to LOVE Crispix! She was never really big on eating cereal like most babies eat Cheerios...although she did like to eat it when her friends would have baggies of it, I could never really get her to at home. Well, after eating some of my Crispix during her breakfast, she has now progressed to her own bowl, and I have finally even gotten brave enough to give her milk! As you can see its a mess, but she loves it! She also had almost an entire banana and her usual huge helping of blueberries. Oh and of course I had to teach her to drink her milk out of the bowl...don't worry I helped with pretty much all of it otherwise she would have been even more soaked. :)

Big Day For Our Big Girl!

Well today was our first day of library class! So exciting because this is really the first technical class I have braved taking Lorelei to. They have them for the younger children so she could have gone last winter but I was afraid of her screaming the entire time. We will have this class every Thursday at 9:30, so looking forward to that to do this winter. As you can see she was excited to go, and then we have her working on a lock puzzle just before class started. There is an area in the children's section with puzzles and things like that for the kids to enjoy. I have to say the class was not exactly what I had pictured... but I guess we will see how it improves over time. We sang a lot of songs, which is always good. :) Lorelei didn't want to just sit... but she wasn't the worst behaved there. :)

Then we ran errands to Sam's Club and Food Lion, came home and enjoyed the warmer weather on the balcony and in the mean time got the hot water in our shower finally fixed! We are spoiled having two showers so normally don't have to move Lorelei's toys etc all the time. Then Lorelei finally took a two hour nap! She has taken only 1 hr naps basically the whole week so I was thrilled and got so much more done around the house. And THEN...

LORELEI'S FIRST HAIRCUT!!!

I wasn't sure if it would work out to go this afternoon but we had been thinking this over for a while. I was afraid I would chicken out but we went for it! After her nap we went to Pigtails and Crew Cuts for Lorelei's first official haircut. It was starting to look pretty mangy so we just needed to get it cleaned up. The lady was very very nice and Lorelei did a wonderful job! After she was done the lady said "Well she is a quiet one."... now we know that isn't normally true, but that gives you an indication of how well behaved she was. :) Officially a success on all accounts!

Drivin and Jerky

Since some certain people got a bit spoiled with me doing a blog every day in December, I'm attempting to post more often, so I guess they will just be short and sweet that way. :) We got a package from my parents this afternoon (very toughly wrapped because the first attempt to send these got stolen from the postman who left nothing but a ripped envelope and the note with an apology from the post office) with some venison jerky for Brad and coloring book and outfit for Lorelei. Well turns out Brad is only going to get about half his jerky because Lorelei loves it as well! I tried a few bites and it is very peppery so can't believe she likes it! She is her father's daughter I suppose. :)

Here I was able to get her doing one of her many latest actions, "driving" because I say "daddy's driving home" so in my attempt to help her understand did a steering wheel motion and of course now she does that all the time. Here she looks like she must be driving a tractor for that big of a steering wheel. :)

Popcorn and Movie

All I can say about our weekend is that I'm glad it was the weekend so Brad was here to help! Lorelei was a major grump all day Saturday. We just played around the house and got a lot of laundry done. All she wanted to do was sit and watch Elmo. Finally just to get her out of the house and my hair Brad took her on a trip to Food Lion all bundled up. He also went next door and rented Air Buddies and we had a family movie afternoon with popcorn and everything! She ate the whole bowl of popcorn and sat through the entire movie either on her chair or on my lap and didn't get antsy until the last 15 minutes or so. We were amazed and just glad she was finally content.

Doggie Dress Up

Yes I'm afraid if Lorelei has her way when we finally get a real dog we will be one of those families who's dog has those freakishly human sundresses or a Snuggie...she likes to dress up her dogs! This is her dressing up one of her puppies with her necklaces...because apparently the sweater and hat accessories it was already wearing weren't enough. :) She also made me put her bunny slippers on one of her other dogs the day before. :)

Getting Into Coloring

We have a drawer with crayons, toddler markers and chalk that Lorelei can get into whenever she feels like it, and lately has been wanting to color most days. So far she seems to have a hard time with crayons because she does not press down hard enough, but as I'm gradually using the same piece of paper it is filling up to make a decent piece of first art work. :) Right now it seems to work best if she sits on my lap, but she goes between that and the floor.

She tends to prefer her chalk. I think because it write easier without having to push as hard. She also prefers the one broken piece to all the others, so we have a lot of yellow. :)

Lorelei's Latest

Thought I'd do a quick update with sort of some milestone points...just what Lorelei is doing now at 16 months.

Physical - Running and climbing would have to be the latest, although she was probably doing both at 15 months, but faster now. :) She climbs on her high chair and crib. Thankfully not out of her crib...think that's still a long ways off. :) She has also gotten very precise with toys such as Mr. Potato head, being able to get the pieces into the small holes.

Latest Words - cah (car), ba (ball, balloon), mow (meow for cat) keys (keys), flow (flower), ow (out but only when I ask her to say it so far), pree (pretty)

She also now does the actions for Twinkle Twinkle and Itsy Bitsy Spider and Wheels on the Bus are a work in progress. We have been having fun with other songs as well. She loves knocking down towers...she can stack some blocks but would just rather you stack them so she can knock them down. She also loves dumping anything she can. That's all I can think of mentioning right now! :)

Remote Snatcher, Dress Up and Riding Mexican

This is how our morning started today. :) We have moved our remotes to different places throughout the year as soon as Lorelei became mobile...first under the pillows, then under the afghan on the couch...but when she learned where they were she was always getting them. The back of the recliner has worked well...but I think she must have grown a few inches lately because although she knew where they were...she didn't used to be able to REACH them! She even knows which button to push to turn on the tv.




Obviously Lorelei and I have a lot of time to kill in the mornings, even if we do leave the house to go to something at 10 AM. Today we were going to Petsmart and lunch with friends, but in order to keep our early morning busy I broke out the dress up stash. I have a drawer of stuff I had saved from HS things and trips etc that I wasnt really going to use, but knew little girls like our niece would have fun when they came over. Lorelei has found this drawer in our closet and likes to pull everything out and explore, so I figured she may as well have some fun with it, even though I'm not leaving it out permanently for her right now. So took a few dress up shots...she much prefered just to have her neclaces and tutu on, so the stuff we have out now seems perfect. She was digging in the drawer again this morning though!

We headed out for the morning to meet our friends at Petsmart. :) The kids loved seeing the animals they have from gerbils and birds to fish and cats. They also enjoyed running up and down the aisles. We also got to see a huge St. Bernard on its way in for grooming...maybe I should start keeping track of the different dogs Lorelei gets to pet...somewhat like the liscence plate game? :) We are so glad people are so generous with their dogs!

Then we walked over to Z Pizza for lunch. On the way Lily crashed and burned on the sidewalk, but tough girl she is still joined us for lunch and seemed to have a good time. We walked there in order to get the kids outside for a bit and using up some of their energy. I had actually walked to Petsmart as well because as you all know Lorelei definitely needs as much walking as possible to wear her out. Anyway, we decided to hit Carter's in the opposite direction and it would have taken forever for all those toddlers to walk both ways, so everyone hitched a ride with me across the parking lot. And yes we were riding Mexican! :)


Then we got home and all that walking didn't even wear Miss Lorelei out because she only took an hour nap. Thankfully she seems to be sleeping longer today though! We'll just blame it on the teeth. :)



We topped of the day with a trip outside to enjoy the slide since it was the warmest day in quite a while. Lorelei was very excited to finally start going down by herself...her feet hit and she stops so only gets to ride about half the slide, but I'm sure she'll get the hang of getting all the way down and catching herself soon. :)

Hodgepodge of Busy Days

Just another cheesy picture. Have not been doing too hot with the pictures this week so you'll have to lower your standards. :)







Silas and Carly came over to play! Naturally I didn't remember to take a picture until they were ready to leave and Silas was ready to sleep. Lorelei did a great job sharing and I think only made him cry once. :) Plus that was when he was already really tired, so they are getting along much better. :)





Since Lorelei no longer wants to stay in her crib until 7 as I was enjoying so much for a while, I have yet to get motivated enough to get my hair dried and make up done before she is up...going to have to work on that but 5 am (in order to shower and let Brad get ready too) is just so unappealing. I know that you farmers are thinking piece of cake but THERE IS A REASON I DIDN'T MARRY A FARMER! :) Anyway, this is her having fun playing around while I was getting ready. Brad had tried to set up the tv so we could watch an episode online, so the keyboard was out for her to enjoy. Looks like she is ready for her own computer. :) It kept her entertained for at least 5 minutes.

Playing I Spy for you...didn't get to as many as I would have liked, but she was already loosing enthusiasm because we had already played for a bit and done the same ones I was asking her here. You may not be able to tell she is really pointing to John Deere but she does know it! She kinda points in the general area but couldn't get her to do it better...figure I'll take what I can get. :)

Here she is playing at the Children's museum! We went there this morning for moms club and the kids all stayed totally entertained in two smallish rooms with trains and foamy playing mats for two hours. Yay! At only $3 we will definitely be going back some more the upcoming cold months. Will get better pictures then too!




Lows: Lorelei's lack of sleep/less time for me!, Brad working overtime

Highs: having hot showers again! (we had been putting up with lukewarm for several weeks, maybe a couples of months and I finally asked maintenence to look at it and they are ordering a part for the inside of the shower...who knew that could break?...but we realized we can use the guest bathroom and it DOES have hot water...if only we realized this earlier, but at last we can enjoy it now!), Lorelei knowing the actions for "Twinkle Twinkle"....she was doing them as I was trying to sing her to sleep...guess going to have to take that song off the list for bedtime. :), Library time scheduled every week to look forward too, watching epsidoes of "Chuck" with Brad to catch up before the new season starts this weekend! woo hoo! :)