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Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

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Elly’s 1st Pony Ride

In Family on May 16, 2013 at 10:54 pm

A few months ago, Elly had informed me that she wanted a pet horse. As stubborn as my “little mule” is, she was not dissuaded by my excuses of why we couldn’t have a pet horse. Thus, it came as no surprise that the first animal Elly wanted to ride at the Philadelphia Zoo was a pony.

It didn’t matter that she couldn’t reach the stirrups. It didn’t matter that the staff woman held the reins for her. It didn’t even matter that she only got to walk slowly around in a big circle.

She was thrilled.

I held my breath after thinking she would ask again for a horse of her own. Thankfully, the zoo was filled with so many other animals to look at and places to run around that I was saved.

Of course, she did ask to ride the ponies again. As I’m sure she will ask every time we visit the zoo now.

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Sunday Snapshots (of the May Fair)

In Family on May 12, 2013 at 9:57 pm

Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful mothers out there, including my dear MIL!

Elly surprised me with a handmade foam ‘Mom’, a beetle pin and a Flinstone card. The best present though was when she ran to me in the morning and wished me a Happy Mother’s Day followed by a big hug. Melted my heart, it did.

Pictures this week are from the May Fair we attended last weekend at our local Pottsgrove Manor.

Elly’s favorite activities included petting the animals, particularly Tuppence the sheep,


Elly’s favorite thing about Tuppence was how she would say “Baah”. It never failed to send Elly into a fit of giggles.

watching an acrobatic show by the lovely Signora Bella,

and pumping water from their well.

OK. So playing in the water that poured out of the spigot was also a huge hit.

 

 

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Free Pizza

In Family on May 11, 2013 at 7:54 am

The Pottstown Library has a reading program during the summer. The goal is to read at least 20 minutes a day for a total of 20 days. As a reward, Elly gets a free slice of pizza this afternoon.

Meeting that requirement was super easy. Elly is a voracious reader. Which is to say that I am a voracious reader and Elly is an avid listener, since Elly is only 3 and can’t read. Although she is starting to recognize some words.

This is a typical stack of books that we read on a daily basis.

Her favorites are anything by Dr. Seuss, almost anything by the Berenstains (though I donated the one about the moon because I hated it) and Fancy Nancy.

Gone are the days I can change the story up so I don’t end up reading the same text over and over and over again. Even a slip of the tongue draws a correction from Elly now.

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New Wheels

In Family on May 8, 2013 at 8:06 pm

Dan has brand new wheels.

It’s a Honda Civic.
He went back to his first love.

Though the Toyota Camry is still going strong, our 2nd car the Mazda was on its last legs. It needed a new engine. A new engine it wasn’t going to get.

With this purchase, Dan has a new car, well new to him anyway; it was purchased used from Car Sense, to drive to work everyday and rack up the miles on and Elly and I have a reliable car that we can take out of Pottstown without having to hold our breath.

Though Dan and I operated as a 1 car family for many years before Elly was born and we even survived the first year of her life as a 1 car family, after having a taste as a 2 car family, there is no going back. The freedom of having a 2nd car is too tantalizing. Yes, Pottstown has a bus system and Septa can get us anywhere beyond the boundaries of Pottstown, but a car allows us to make our own schedule. Perhaps if the buses ran more frequently rather than every hour and if they actually ran on time, it would be feasible to live without a 2nd car, but they don’t. Too many times we were stuck in downtown Pottstown for an hour because we missed the bus by a few minutes. It’s not a fun scenario when you have a cranky, tired, and hungry child on your hands. A 2nd car is worth its weight in gold.

When Dan got home in his new car, he received a warm welcome.

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What the Moms Club Means to Me

In Family, Fun on April 29, 2013 at 6:00 am

Last week the Pottstown/Pottsgrove Moms Club held an open house at the Heather Place playground. Despite earlier predictions for rain, the day was beautiful.

Elly had went to sleep with a low-grade fever, but she woke up in good spirits. So, away we went to the party.

I joined the Moms Club when Elly was 18 months old because we would go to the playgrounds and nobody would be there. I felt like I either needed to have another child so Elly could have a playmate (and I so wasn’t ready for a 2nd child. Heck, I’m still not quite ready for a 2nd child) or I needed to find some other people who had kids around Elly’s age.

The Moms Club had a weekly playgroup for moms and their children that were around Elly’s age. It was great for Elly. She had always been a social butterfly, but she really blossomed when she finally got to make some lasting friendships.

Several side benefits occurred including learning how to share, experiencing time away from Mom, and learning kid games like tag and run away.

The surprise was learning how supportive the Moms Club was for me.

Elly had been a baby who hated sleep and thought most food was poisonous. It was so reassuring to hear that Elly was not the only baby in the world who held fast to these notions. More importantly, it was just a phase. Elly would grow up. She would learn to eat better and sleep better.

At 3, Elly does eat better. She is still picky, but she will eat more than just French fries although they remain her favorite food. She is a MUCH better sleeper too though she has still never slept through the whole night. But what started as a nightmare of waking up every hour on the hour now has turned into only waking up once in the night.

Now when Elly and I attend Moms Club activities, Elly runs off to play with her friends. I pull up a chair, relax and chat with some pretty awesome women whom I am proud to call my friends.

Perhaps feeling the way I do, it is only fitting that I have been nominated to be the next president of the Pottstown/Pottsgrove Moms Club.

If the Moms Club sounds pretty awesome to you, check out your local chapter.

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Sunday Snapshots (of singing)

In Family on April 28, 2013 at 6:00 am

Rest assured no singing was done by Dan or myself. We are both tone-deaf. We keep any singing limited to our small house and for the sole entertainment of our daughter. Surely nobody else wants to hear us sing. It’s not a pretty sound.

Elly, on the other hand, sings anywhere and everywhere.

She loves to sing.

LOVES.

Can she sing better than we can?

She does have a great memory for tunes. It’s amazing how quickly she learns a song.

As far as sound quality goes, well Elly is 3 and virtually anything she does short of whining is pretty adorable.

 

Yep. Adorable.

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Sunday Snapshots (of playing by the river)

In Family on April 14, 2013 at 6:58 am

The yellow flowers were all in bloom when Elly and I visited the Riverfront Park last week.

While I took pictures, Elly threw rocks in the Schuylkill river.

Then, she watched an older boy dig in the mud. Elly wanted to join in on the fun, but my dainty girl does not like getting her hands dirty anymore. (Thankfully, dry garden dirt is still OK). So, she grabbed a stick.


Getting her to leave was the tricky part.

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Sunday Snapshots (of a new haircut)

In Family on April 7, 2013 at 6:00 am

Cutting hair is not one of my talents. After my last attempt to cut Elly’s bangs, I knew it was time to call in the professionals.

Elly spent the entire drive to the salon telling me that she did not need a haircut. At the salon, Elly cried when I tried to get her sit in the chair. So, she sat on my lap. Very little hair was actually cut off. Elly really just needed her hair to be shaped.

After the haircut was over, Elly spent the next few minutes telling me she didn’t like her hair.

All that changed when we got home and Daddy told her how beautiful she looked. Now she loves her new hairdo.

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Easter Eggs

In Crafts, Family on March 26, 2013 at 8:24 pm

Dan was sick last week.
This week Elly and I are sick.

The house is a mess.
Very little food is getting cooked.
Sometimes we wear our pajamas until noon.

Yesterday was like that.

To pass the time, we dyed Easter eggs.

Elly dyed each egg a different color.

When they had dried, I encouraged Elly to add stickers to her eggs. The sheet inside the Paas kit has something like 50 stickers. Elly, ever the lover of simplicity, added just 1 sticker to each egg.

This year Dan and I decided that Elly would of course get a basket Easter morning but there would be no mention of the Easter bunny bringing it. Neither of us grew up with that tradition and it seemed like a hard thing to deceive her on especially since the eggs in her basket would be the eggs she dyed today. Surely she would recognize her own eggs.

Is the Easter Bunny a part of your Easter celebration?

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Come On Spring!

In Family, garden on March 15, 2013 at 6:00 am

Winter needs to leave now. The cold weather is keeping me from my garden. Seeds for the garden arrived 2 months ago, but it’s still too cold to plant them.

The cold weather is NOT keeping Elly from doing what she loves to do:

playing in her sandbox

(note the boots)

and swinging

Balls of steel my girl has!

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