Round and Round The Corner

This is a little rhyme that Lorelei's Grandma has taught us that she loves. :) She tells me "row row" to let me know I'm supposed to do the rhyme and tickle her. :)

Bodie The Cat

Lorelei is always thrilled to visit her friends houses, not only to see friends, but also their pets! :) She was particularly fond of following Bodie the cat around at Melissa's house on Monday. She had wandered into their room and when Melissa went to check on her she said she was just laying on the bed with the cat. :) Thanks for being so patient with our animal-loving girl Bodie! :)

Mega Blocks and Captain Crunch

It's father's dream is to spend time building with Legos with their child...but who knew mega blocks would be such a hit!? I had been looking to get some and managed to find a bag at a consignment sale on Friday. I was hoping this would possibly put an end to Lorelei's "more" when she would build since there are so many. Nope! Now not only is Lorelei still asking for more to build a bigger and better tower etc, but Brad has requested I make sure to get as many bags as possible at the next consignment sale in August! These two have enjoyed building with them all weekend.



And yet one more thing they have in common...I have managed to avoid giving Lorelei kids cereal for the most part...her favorite cereal being Crispix which made me very happy. Then I brought a box of Brad's favorite cereal home for a treat for him...well guess who is now ALSO in love with Peanut Butter Captain Crunch? Oh yes. Yesterday she even specifically requested it as a morning snack telling Brad something that sounded like "crunch" and then went to the pantry and pointed to the box. Hopefully once they finish it off it will be "out of sight out of mind." :)

Every...

Lorelei has a lot of "every's" that she uses so I thought it would be fun to note them.

Every...

- color is "blue" (although I think we are the verge of a major breakthrough with colors so this is starting to change!)

- time we eat its a "snack"

- letter or number is "A"

- "how many?" is "2"

- bug is a "bee"

Children's Museum

We are trying to beat the heat staying inside. This made for a playgroup at the Children's Museum on Wednesday...of course nobody but Melissa ended up coming but we didn't care, just need something for Lorelei to keep busy! She enjoyed building with various "blocks" they had at a few different stations, the trains, and also the grocery store. I was surprised as she was looking at all the bins of food and pointed to them telling me what they were...I didn't even know she could say "orange!" :) We stayed for 2 hours and could have stayed a bit longer but our parking was up, and she was pretty well ready to go anyway. Its not very big right now as they are remodeling the regular museum. Then we went and had lunch with Brad. Second week in a row which is a treat for us and we enjoy it so much. :)


Some large building blocks made of Styrofoam, she also enjoys lining things up now as well as the stacking. Of course the grocery store...lots of bins of food which they then just put in the huge shopping baskets and then don't want to put back. :) There was also a cash register she enjoyed checking out.

Was great to add something different to our days with this heat. Hopefully a bit of a cool down next week so we can handle going outside!

Library Books

One of my favorite things to do with with kids is read books...and as I have mentioned much to my dismay Lorelei has not let us read at nap or bedtime for quite some time now. She will tolerate a few books throughout the day and I try to at least sneak one or two in right after nap while she is still waking up...but its usually pushing it. I noticed she definitely enjoyed NEW books when we got them but when she had heard them a few times she wanted to move on. So finally I decided to brave the idea of library books. In the winter we went for story time, but I never checked out books. Lorelei has a tendency to look at books, see the inside cover which has no pictures and say "color" because she thinks every blank piece of paper needs to be colored on. This is why I have held off on the books until now. I was just sure we would end up with her artwork on every library book we checked out. She finally seems to be at the point where she realizes that these kind of books are not supposed to be colored in...but we keep them in her room as far away from crayons as possible, just in case. :) Sure enough its a HUGE hit! Not only did a trip to the library give us some playtime in the AC for a morning, but she is now very happy to listen to the books we have! When I finish one she even asks for more! This means we can even get away with a book or two before bed. Sooo happy and going to have to make sure and have a good list to pick up for our next visit. :)

Elmo Poncho

Lorelei was excited to get an Elmo rain poncho in a package from Nana! Lucky for her it even rained that evening so she got to try it out. :) She actually probably got more wet from playing with the water in her pool WHILE in the rain, but she had fun either way. Thanks Nana!

Fun Filled Morning

Our days have seemed rather long lately and I have been feeling we are stuck at home more than I can handle, so I was excited for our playgroup on Wednesday. We even headed into Norfolk early so we could hit the mall up before playgroup! (This is even after walking over to Food Lion for a few groceries...we have LONG mornings!)

Getting to the play area at the mall before the 10 o clock opening worked very well and there were only a handful of kids there, most of which were younger than Lorelei! She had a fun time climbing and sliding for about 30 minutes before we headed over to Town Point Park.

Each Wednesday they have some games etc set up for kids for FREE, plus the water fountains for them to enjoy. This time they even had free ice cream! :) We had a great turn out of 6 moms so it was a very successful playgroup day! Lorelei enjoyed the fountains but was more hesitant than the ones at the gardens as most of these are bigger and the water gets in her face easily. She still had fun and when I would run through them with her she really loved it. :) Guess I'll have to bring my suit next time? No thanks!



Then we headed back over to the mall to meet up with Brad for lunch! Lorelei LOVES seeing her dad in the middle of the day and definitely knows that "mall" usually means "dad." As soon as we get to the mall she starts asking for him and I have to explain we are playing etc first and we will see him at lunch. :) She even got to end her morning of fun with a couple of rides with Dad on the escalator. :) I was thrilled to get home and get her down for nap right around 2 o clock. Love having such a busy day to get us out of the house!

Early Morning Dress Up

Had a little fun yesterday morning when Lorelei woke up...I try and steal every chance I can to read her a book since she doesn't really let us read to her before bed or nap anymore...so usually right after waking up she is a little sleepy and will tolerate a book or two. Have not usually done it in the morning though, but this morning she seemed game. Then as we read the book she decided to dress up like the little girl in the book! :) So cute!

Just A Few Reasons Lorelei Is A Daddy's Girl

Been trying to catch these two in action over the last month or two to show just a few of the games they enjoy playing together. I'm always amazed at how much fun Lorelei has with Brad being home and how he can make a day so much different than the days at home with just us girls. There was one Saturday morning Walmart trip when I came back and no toys were out, so I asked why...it was because they were just doing this sort of thing all morning! Lorelei loves it. :) Such a great daddy!

Play Dough

Yet another activity we are trying to use to keep busy in the house! Apparently I have turned into a wimp when it comes to getting her outside in the heat. Thankfully I found a quick and cheap little bag at Walmart to try out some tools and soft play dough - and its a hit! She is finally over eating it! :) I did make sure to give her the speech that it is not for eating before she started and she did great! The other day it even kept her occupied for 30 minutes! And 20 of those minutes I actually got to get a few chores done while she played. Lets hope it continues for a while. :)

A Big Girl Kitchen

Since we already have to figure out how to fit one more family member and all of his baby stuff in our apt, we figured what the heck...why not try and fit a kitchen AND table too. ;) After all I do like a challenge right? ;)

Well, we have been waiting to get Lorelei a big girl kitchen for a while now, and it was easy to put off when we thought a move was soon to come, but after deciding we would be staying longer than planned, I quickly started a craigslist hunt for a kitchen. I just couldn't wait until her birthday when I kept watching her try and fit her dishes in the little mini kitchen we have had for a year now and tell her they were too big to fit! This girl needed a kitchen. :)
We'll just consider it an early birthday gift...

Then as I started seeing the craigslist postings I decided not only did she need a kitchen, she needed a kitchen with red counter-tops. Perhaps my lack of happiness with my own kitchen made me that much more set on finding her the perfect one? :) I would also like to note HER frig has an ice maker. ;)

When I found the red counter top kitchen it also happened to come with a table and chairs that we really didn't plan on getting...but Lorelei is very much enjoying them. We hope to get a nicer table and chairs in the future, but this will be good for now...if we can manage to find a spot for it to fit. :) As you can see she was proudly cleaning everything when we brought it home. She also sat right down at the table and said "snack." She has actually been using that just as much as her kitchen!

We have been very thankful for having a new toy to keep us busy around the house as we have been staying in a lot lately to keep out of the heat. Right now I would say one of her favorite things to do with her kitchen is push the "popcorn" button on her microwave...what will they come up with next? :)

"Tee Up!"

As I keep mentioning Lorelei is talking more and more each day. This one cracks me up..."tee up" is "clean up" if you can't tell. :) We have been singing the clean up song for a LONG time now so I guess she should know this one!

Our Furry Friends

Capturing such a cute moment the other day...Lorelei lined up her stuffed animals along the crib, sat down next to them and said "friens" (friends). Thankfully she stayed put long enough for me to grab the camera for a picture!

Lorelei The Builder

Sorry for the lack of blogs this week! Our computer got a very nasty virus and reminded me just how thankful I am to have a husband who will work and work to fix it...Brad put in a lot of hours to revive our computer and earned his right to pick up random computers at garage sales for $5 as that hard drive is what saved this computer!

Now I have a weeks worth of pictures to get up here for you. :)

Here we have Lorelei enjoying one of her favorite activities as of late...stacking blocks! These are blocks we picked up at a garage sale a month or so ago and she really loves using them. I try to bite my tongue as she has to experiment over and over with the various sizes, but she does at least understand "big" and "small"...just doesn't quite realize the order they need to go in without experimenting. I guess that's the point right? :)

Her other current tower-making tool is the box of Legos! With each tower she makes she usually says something along the lines of "tow" "tall" and then "more" because she wants to add more to make it taller! :) As you can see she is proud to show off her tower to all of you. I usually have to hold onto it while she is building to make sure it doesn't fall over, but she does the building herself.

4th Of July

Party Prep - we spent the day getting ready for visitors to come in the evening. Lorelei was SO well behaved all day we couldn't believe it. Plus she let us sleep in until 7:15 and then took a 2 hour nap that afternoon! She is big on helping lately so we hear a lot of "heh, heh" when we are in the kitchen. She was a huge help with mixing the lemonade, and she had to taste test it of course. :) Brad was also a huge help and made the watermelon bowl! He did such a great job. Then the other picture is Lorelei keeping herself occupied on the ipad. :)

Posing for pictures SO good for me. Then my camera battery acted up and the posing mood was over by the time Brad fixed it. Oh well. :)











She was yet again happy to play in the dirt/mulch so we got to relax a bit while she enjoyed that. I was a bit worried that the plant was poisen ivy but she did not break out thankfully!

My latest favorite Lorelei picture. :)

Somehow I managed not to take a single picture while our friends were here to celebrate with us! It was our usual Check and Bonfiglio families and we all just visited while the kids played.


It was just the three of us who ended up walking out to the fireworks. Lorelei enjoyed her chair for a while but then decided to kill some time with the dirt and rocks on the ground. The other shot is our view of the pond/park/Town Center while waiting for the last bit of sun to go down.

Lorelei's reaction to the fireworks...there were so many I had to jot it down as soon as we got home! :) I was not sure how she would do since louder noises are more frightening to her now that she is older, but I was pretty sure she would be okay. For the first 30 sec-1 min she was clinging on to my arm for dear life (on my lap) and shaking. As soon as she got used to it she relaxed and enjoyed the show. She waved "hi" to the fireworks, gave them a kiss, opened her hand to "catch" them and take them home with us. I also heard a "wow" in there somewhere. When they ended, she clapped along with the crowd and then said "gain!" Of course we had to explain we can only do that once a year! As we were walking away she kept saying "Fi! Fi!" (fireworks) and then saying "bye" and waving. :) I would say it goes down as a hit! :)

Apple Pie

I decided to take on my first-ever apple pie to make for the 4th! I only make pie about twice a year and its usually either pumpkin or peach, but apple sounded like a great choice.

Brad cut up most of the apples...what a huge help that was! He definitely earned his pieces of apple pie. :)










The finished product...not the most beautiful but it does taste good. Will have to work on perfecting it...maybe when we get some kind of apple peeling device though. ;)

Lorelei enjoying a slice of apple. She and Brad both like the green ones!

July 3rd Festivities

We were lucky enough to have fun plans for two days of our 4th of July weekend. The Checks had us to their place for some fun out in the backyard and some great grilled burgers for lunch on the 3rd. The kids had a wonderful time in the backyard playing with the various water toys.

Lorelei enjoyed the water toys too, but her favorite place by far was the sandbox. Brad and I actually got to just sit and relax most of the time because she was so content. Hopefully when we turn her pool into a sandbox in Sept. it will have the same result!

The kids enjoying their lunch inside on the picnic table. Lorelei and Lily tend to feed each other their food sometimes. :) Not sure that is what they are doing but could be!

Thanks to the Checks for a fun Saturday!

22 Months

I've been trying to jot down a few notes about Lorelei's personality at 22 months. I'm sure I will think of more after getting this all down, but at least we will get a few tidbits!

Talking - we are hearing more new words from her every day! I love how much she is learning and it usually makes for some fun memories and a few laughs along the way. Its just amazing the words she is saying now. Most of the time she leaves off the end of the word but she attempts to say most things she knows...except "thank you" of course. :) A few new ones I heard the other day were "mir" (mirror), "fa" (farm), and the big shocker that the grandparents will just love is "whee" (wheat)...this was much to my surprise just identifying it in one of her picture books, without me even asking what it was.

Terrible Twos - well these seem to be in full swing...I've been told that Brad's grandma used to say that they should be called "terrific twos" because they are learning so much, which is definitely true, and on the list of things Lorelei is learning is how far a fit will get you...she has no hesitation to lay down on the floor and kick and scream in an attempt to get her way. The other day we went to the zoo and she screamed the entire way there because I took off her shoe (thinking that is what she wanted but apparently not) and then she screamed the entire drive home from the zoo because she didn't want her pb&j sandwich and I wouldn't give her another snack. I'm not sure having a mother as stubborn as she is will pay off...but at least I can only blame myself. :) So far I have not had her laying on the floor of the grocery store, but I'm sure its only a matter of time. :)

Loves - a couple of Lorelei's Loves would be tickling and dancing. She has the most contagious laugh when she is being tickled and she just loves it. When you stop she grabs your hand as says "tick" wanting you to keep tickling her. She also loves dancing. Right now it is usually more like galloping, although sometimes she does get those hips moving as well.

Jumping - A noticeable physical milestone, she can jump and get both feet off the ground!

Pillow - she has requested a pillow in her crib for a few weeks now. The one pillow that was in her room seemed a bit large so I found a smaller one thinking that might be more comfortable for her. Now she sleeps with both instead. ;) Her stuffed animals in her crib continue to grow in numbers as well...there are probably about eight in there tonight!

"More" - we have always had a healthy eater and although she has gone through a more picky phase lately she seems to be getting back up to her usual eating habits. One of the things we find hilarious is when she loves a food she wants more right away, even if she has something in both hands and in her mouth. I always say "you need to finish what you have first." Then she proceeds to stuff whatever the food is into her mouth and with chipmunk-filled cheeks attempt to say "more!"

We cannot believe how grown up she seems each day and are trying to just appreciate every minute of her "terrific twos" stage. :) We love you little girl!

Heat Relief This Week

Toward the end of the week the heat gave us a wonderful break. The temps were in the mid to upper 80s which was just right for getting out and doing things again, much to my relief! One of our outside visits was to the Botanical Gardens.

In this picture Lorelei is having some fun at the fountains. She was actually stepping on top of two of the water fountains to stop the water from coming out. :)




This was Lorelei's big achievement of the day. She is always interested in this rope ladder but usually needs a little assistance from me getting up. This time she did it all on her own...at least 4 times! And in flip flops nonetheless! :) The first time she made it up she got to the top, lifted her arms up and said "Yay!" :)

Looking forward to going here even more often as we split a membership with the Checks. Hoping we can even go in the evening with Brad a time or two as well!

"Our Tree"

When thinking of a few blog posts I wanted to write about our day-to-day, I thought we should include one about "our tree." When Lorelei and I go for walks we usually end up playing here for a little while, and sometimes just go to the tree. It's a beautiful little weeping willow and Lorelei usually has fun peeking out behind the branches and of course playing in the dirt. Naturally when I went there to take pictures, they had just trimmed the tree! So much for out nice long branches like usual. :) Anyway thought you would still enjoy the post. Maybe we will get some pictures when it "grows out" again. :)



When we went to visit it this time she spent an entire hour just happily playing in the dirt/mulch. I should have brought a book to read! She also enjoyed laying down and looking up at the sky and even made her first attempt at climbing the tree. :) It's not exactly built for climbing but she had fun anyway.

Also wanted to mention if you ask her to take you to "our tree" she knows exactly where to go. :)