Another Connecticut Trip

J and I had a great time visiting Connecticut and hanging out Saturday at his grandmother & aunt's house with his brother and sister-in-law and Little Frog. We had a belated Christmas exchange and had a lot of fun catching up with everyone. Here's a photo of J, R, RUS, and I with Little Frog. The kids had a blast playing together running all around the house!! RUS pulled out all the pots and pans from under the stove and banged them together while R and Little Frog dressed up in Tinkerbell and Cinderella dresses and carried lanterns from room to room going on a bear hunt. Later they had fun hanging out together on Little Frog's snow tube. The next day R and Little Frog went sledding at the same park J went sledding on as a kid (even Grammie sledded there when she was a little girl, too). RUS and I stayed back at GiGi and PopPop's house and visited with Great-Aunt T. and then we all went down to southern CT for a playdate with two other friends of mine and their families. It was so much fun! We were served a decadent lunch of vegan chili, cornbread, and the. most. scrumptious. coffee. cake. EVER. from a place called Claire's Corner Copia that I think J and I really need to go visit in person the next time we are in Connecticut.

On top of just plain having a great time hanging out and getting to talk about such important topics as the wonders of Keurig coffee makers, the joys of DIY remodeling your kitchen, babywearing, and super-duper tips for organizing one's house, we had a ton of fun watching the kids all have a blast together. In fact, the three 3-year-old girls played together like they had been friends all their lives, and let me tell you, there is nothing sweeter than the sound of children squealing in laughter!!! J really had them all going when he let them all bury him in couch cushions. You can't even SEE him under those cushions--they really had him well-covered up!!!!
After hiding J, the girls all wanted to hide too, so they ran around the house hiding here and there and everywhere. A favorite hiding spot was in the bedroom closet (see picture, below) as well as on the bed underneath the quilt.
Here's the best shot we got of all three girls together:
And of course, we can't leave out the younger members of the get together, even though the three-year-olds definitely stole the show. They were so funny, and just so much fun to watch. Here's the two-month-old, who, astoundingly, slept through half the get together, even with all the children running around pell-mell in the living room . . .
. . . here's the 10-month-0ld who army-crawled everywhere--he definitely didn't want to be left out of the action . . .
. . . and of course, 15-month-old RUS, who found intense enjoyment in finding doors that were open and closing them. You can see me peeking through a door that RUS has just closed in the picture below.
And I just love this last one of him. It's just so sweet!

(caveat: none of the pictures in this blog post came from our camera--J's brother took the first three and the remainder were taken by one of my friends at the get-together).

Little Frog and R

R absolutely adores her cousin Little Frog. She talks about her all the time--several times a week she asks if she can go to Little Frog's house or maybe Little Frog is going to be at Grammie and Grampie's house and can she go there?

She's frequently very optimistic: "Little Frog can stay at Grammie and Grampie's house for FIVE DAYS!" she will tell us, very emphatically with several nods of her head. We tell her that maybe sometime Little Frog will stay at Grammie and Grampie's, but that she's not there right now.

Little Frog did come down to visit last month, though, and while R and I were reading Alice in Wonderland last night before bed, R tells me, "Little Frog and I went to Alice's house!" They did, indeed. At the Philadelphia children's museum, called the Please Touch Museum, there is a replica of Alice's house and various scenes from Alice in Wonderland that R and Little Frog absolutely loved playing in.

First, they took the sweets that said "Eat Me" and were too big for the house
here you can see Alice and Grammie joining them in the house (apparently Little Frog pulled Grammie in and insisted she come in, too).
Then they tried the bottle that said "Drink Me" and were too small for the house. R dressed as Alice and Little Frog was one of the playing cards.
Then they had tea with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare
And took a ride on the Dodo Bird!

Family Visit to CT

We had a wonderful visit to Connecticut last weekend. We drove up Saturday and returned Sunday, so it was quick, but we packed in quality time with all of J's grandparents, several aunts and uncles, and his brother and sister-in-law. R and Little Frog had the best time playing together--it was like they were best friends from the moment we arrived.

They share a love for Dora and dressing up in princess outfits.

Cousins!

We took a quick trip to CT last weekend to visit JW, C, and Little Frog. They moved into a new house just before Christmas so we were also pretty excited to see their new digs.

The house is gorgeous. They've been hard at work fixing it up and J and I were very impressed with everything. JW and C hosted a birthday party for J, inviting lots of the local family to come hang out with us--we got to see Grammie and Grampie as well as quite a few of J's other extended family members.

It was so wonderful to see everyone! But in the end, nothing--NOTHING--beats seeing two cousins spend all their time squealing and laughing and having more fun than you would believe running around the house together. Little Frog has some pretty awesome toys, from a little play house that they would run into and then laugh and laugh together, to a Tinkerbell tricycle, to a most excellent play kitchen. It was all kinds of awesome.
R and Little Frog were inseparable. And when they weren't together, R was asking when she would be able to play with Little Frog again. On the way home, R kept asking when she could go back to Little Frog's house, or when Little Frog was going to come to our house. Hopefully we'll get the girls together again soon!

Meanwhile, in New England. . .

Yesterday we dropped S off in Massachusetts for a week long writing workshop. It was a very nice day and we were all glad to take a break from driving and spend some time with JW, C, and Little Frog along the way. After a delicious meal we found a little green spot to frolic and take pictures. The girls got along great!





R and I returned to Grammie and Grampy's to stay the week. Today was another nice day and Grammie and I brought R to the park where she climbed up to some slides, cooked wood chip cupcakes with some new friends, and got a little wet with the sprinkler. After that, she was ready for a long nap. We'll see what other adventures await for the rest of our stay.

Visit to CT

We took a weekend trip up to CT last weekend and got to see C, JW, Little Frog, and Grammie and Grampie. We had an awesome lunch at this thai restaurant in Hartford, and got the waiter to take a picture of all of us. It's the first group shot we've gotten of all of us in a long time! (unfortunately, Little Frog turned her head at the last minute... oops!)
Then we went outside and took some more photographs. There was an interesting looking Japanese noodle restaurant across the street, so C went in to look at the menu and J and JW and Little Frog and me and R waited so we could get a good group shot of the six of us. J made me laugh hysterically, which got a chuckle or two out of Little Frog, too.Group Shot!And of course, grandparents with granddaughters... R was not too excited about more pictures so we had to make this one really quick.

Happy Birthday, Little Frog!

Love, R.

The best laid plans of mice and men

This weekend so far has been a little rough. R had her doctor's appointment on Wednesday and came down the next day with a cough. J and I weren't too worried until she threw up twice. Then I came down with the flu, which sucked a lot.

It was such a disappointment to get sick right now because it threw a wrench in our plans to travel up to visit Grammie and Grampie and get to see Little Frog, who, we hear, is about to start walking on her own!!! They grow up so fast! I can hardly believe that our gorgeous little baby niece is turning into a toddler already.

But the good news is that I'm definitely recovered and R, while still coughing, is generally happy and playful, so we think she's on the upswing as well, too.

Visit from JW, C, and Little Frog

JW, C, and Little Frog stopped by our house today on their way to the shore.

R really took a shine to JW. She kept asking him to pick her up.Isn't Little Frog just adorable? I love taking her picture-- she has hundreds of different expressions and they are all so incredibly cute!!And among the many interesting things we learned today, we learned that Little Frog is very, very ticklish on her back!

Seeing the family

We had such a great time at GiGi and PopPop's house yesterday. R was a huge charmer and spent a lot of time hanging out with various friends and family members. When Grammie and Grampie's old neighbor, Bill, stopped by with his dog, R fell in love first with the dog, and then with Bill. She gave him several hugs before he went on his way, and I think he was really tickled by how much she liked him right off the bat.

It was really great to catch up with folks we haven't seen in awhile, including the awesome M, who did my hair at my wedding and who we haven't seen since then, as well as S&D, who have a brand-new 3-week-old granddaughter who we enjoyed hearing more about.

We got some great shots of the family, too.

Here's PopPop, holding R, and GiGi, holding Little Frog, with the gang-- Grampie, Grammie, JW, C, J, and me.
Here's Great-Aunt L and Great-Grammy with JW, Little Frog, C, Grampie, Grammie, J, me, and R.R had a lot of fun hanging around with J's cousin, Little J. At one point, she tried to trade him her pink stuffed hippopotamus for his PSP. He wouldn't go for it, though.And I know I've said this before, but seriously, is this not the cutest Little Frog you've ever seen? I have lots more cuteness to share but my camera cord is at home, so I'll add those later--these photos are all from Grammie's camera.

Party!

We're off to a party at GiGi and PopPop's today. Hopefully we'll get to see lots of family, including JW, C, and Little Frog, if they are feeling better. They've apparently all been sick this week, boo.

Lots of photos to update with once we get back home, as I didn't bring my camera cord. I may be able to snag a few off of Grammie's camera later, though!

J and I are also planning on going to "the train store" which is apparently an amazing toy store near where GiGi and PopPop live.

I'm so glad we're here in CT, too, because our tv apparently gets NO stations with just our bunny ears (GAH!) so this has been my only opportunity to watch the Olympics. Got to see Michael Phelps win his 7th gold medal last night in that photo finish, which was pretty awesome.

Exploring the Back Yard

Our back yard here in Delaware is totally cute. And it's a nice space to let R run around and do some fun stuff when we want to give her a break from running around in the living and dining rooms.P.S. Huge thanks to R's aunt and uncle, Little Frog's parents, JW and C, for the incredible cuteness that is R's dress!

In Delaware! And some explanation...

We've arrived in Delaware! We're staying in a hotel tonight and our movers should arrive sometime tomorrow. R, Grammie, and I are already here. J and Grampie are still driving and expected to get to the hotel sometime around midnight. Right now they're probably still driving through Virginia. They got going this morning at 5:30-- it's been a long day of driving for them.

And a commenter on my last post asked about Little Frog's nickname. I came up with that because of this painting that Grammie made for Little Frog's bedroom.
Isn't it awesome? And check out this picture we took at the zoo, complete with little frog on lily pad. SO CUTE! And the scene totally made us think of Little Frog's painting.

Grammie's offered to paint something for R's room too, so we've been talking about what we would like her to do. I would really like to do something like what this artist does and spell out R's full name using little tiles--one letter per tile, with a cute background or theme painted on each tile. We're brainstorming ideas. Maybe while we're getting settled we'll have time to run to a hobby or craft store and get some other ideas.

If you've seen other cute or inspiring examples of ways to put children's names up, feel free to share ideas or links--we're still doing a lot of brainstorming.

Little Frog

Is this not the cutest Little Frog you have ever seen? Seriously.

We had a great visit with Little Frog yesterday. She is cute as a bug, and so lively and active. Check out that smile!!!

Hanging out with Little Frog brought back all sorts of memories about when R was that small, but more than anything, it reminded me of all the things I don't remember about that time.

R wanted to do all kinds of things with Little Frog's toys. She spent a lot of time too chasing after B (the dog) and B's laser pointer while I just tried to keep her from walking on top of Little Frog. Fortunately Grammie and I were mostly able to alternate both babies, although at one point we each had them both on our lap.It was really good to see J's brother, JW. Grammie and I babysat for the girls while JW ran to the grocery store. JW picked up a chocolate cake (my favorite kind) for my birthday and we celebrated when he got back, and talked to J on the webcam. (That's why R is reaching across the table in the picture above--she's trying to get at the computer.)