By the looks of things, Jocelyn has been busy trying on Daddy's accesories. Hey, they sorta fit! :) I admit, I helped stage the photo with the military cover. But the shoes were ALLLLL her idea. One day I'm sure she'll realize how hard it really is to put herself in someone else's shoes. She sure is happy just loving her Daddy!!
I'd like to think that I'm not a crazy Mom for taking my girls to get Ice Cream-not only on a cold February 30 degree day, but also an hour BEFORE dinner time! It's nice to get dessert first for once! And who are they to say no to that idea? :) I'm proud to say that our little ice cream run didn't end up spoiling their appetite for Taco Salad.
Jocelyn and I walked down the street to get Aubrey off the school bus this afternoon and when we came home, Jocelyn found sisters little play piano and started dancing in the front hallway. It was so cute that I caught a little bit of it on video. Shoulders sliding back and forth and everything. She cracks me up!! :) Notice George in the background...supervising as always.
Just a side note: I manage to get a lot of photos and videos of Jocelyn (partly due to her being home with me during the day while big sis is at school) so I will do better and get some more things posted of Aubrey as well. Not that I don't have thousands of pictures of Aubrey at Jocelyn's age or anything. LOL Alright...I won't make you wait any longer. (TURN ON THE VOLUME) Here's our little Dancing Queen~
Jocelyn dancing to music - 2/27/08
today was one of those days that felt quiet and lonely, but the things going on around me would truly tell of a different story. the day came and went. it was challenging at first but i (we) survived. and the girls kept me going with occasional talks with john. aubrey had piano lessons, dinner wasn't as much of a chore as i originally thought it was going to be, gave jocelyn a bath before bedtime which she sang along to "old mcdonald" for the first time, and then concluded our day with a fun game of connect four before bedtime stories with dad. for what transpired, overall, it was a good day. i feel so blessed to have these sweet girls as my daughters - they sure bring me true joy and happiness and i love them to pieces! here are some pictures from our day today.
Our long awaited trip to Mount Vernon finally happened! We met up with my cousin and her family for the day on President's day and toured the Washington home. I have to start out by saying that I didn't think that the weather was actually going to cooperate with us and our plans for the day spent mainly outside as it rained all night last night and early this morning before we left. But the skies cleared, the rain stopped, and it was humid, sunny and in the 60's the whole time we were there. Mount Vernon was an hours drive north from our home and we arrived around 9:45am - just in time for the morning festivities. Today was a celebration of George Washington's 276th Birthday. In the Bowling Green outfront of the Washington home was a Revolutionary marching band. Army personnel from Ft. Eustis are assigned to this marching band as a full time job and they dressed up in uniforms and costumes as they once did in the 1700's. During this program, there was a short line already formed at the President's home and we decided this would be the best time to take our tour and not wait a long time. It was amazing to see the inside of where George & Martha once lived and entertained. The line had to be moving at all times so it was a rather quick tour but the rooms and the things they used back then were just stunning -- the platewear, interior wall colors, style of furniture, and the art work -- just amazing! Every room had a specific reason to be used...entertaining, mail, guest chamber, dining, reading, playing the piano, and sleeping quarters. The home has no indoor plumbing and therefore, they'd have to travel across the frontyard to a corner 'privy' also known to us in these times as an outhouse. The exterior of the home looks to be made of white brick but we were informed earlier on in the tour that it was actually made and styled out of wood and when they had painted the home white and was still wet, they'd throw sand up on it to make it look like brick. It for sure fooled many eyes. It believeably looked like brick! As many of you most likely haven't been able to tour Mount Vernon, you can go HERE to learn more (click on the left side to see all the rooms and buildings), HERE to know more about George Washington, as well as HERE to take a virtual tour. It's pretty neat so take a look when you get the chance. After the tour of the home, it put us out in the back yard overlooking the Potomic River. What a sight that was!! Especially with the sun out and a light breeze. We couldn't have asked for better weather! We stayed until almost 2pm walking around seeing various sites along the grounds some including the new barriel tomb of where George and Martha a laid to rest (George wanted him and his loved ones encased in a brick enclosure but wasn't made available at his time of death. About 30 years later, it was built and they moved him and Martha over from the old tomb to the new one), the animal farm, loading dock, slave quarters, shoe mill, ice and salt houses, the servants' hall, the stables, laundry yard, upper and lower gardens, and the George Washington Museum. There was so much to see and even though we covered a lot of what was there, there was still more to be seen such as the 16-sided barn, the slave memorial, and the old tomb. These sights were set to being some of the fartherest perimeters of the Estate so if we do go back, we'll travel to these sights for sure. At the time of us leaving to go home, dark clouds rolled back in and the rain started up again. Was that perfect timing, or what!?! It was so great to have beautiful weather the whole time we were there and I'm so glad we had the chance to go and see this amazing historical site and to be able to catch a glimpse into the life of the Washington's. This was such a fun day to spend with family!! We wish you were all there to experience it with us. But because you weren't able to, I thought I'd put together a clip of pictures we took for you to enjoy. :)
Mount Vernon
It's hard for me to believe that our youngest child is already 17 months old today, but she's happy, healthy, and doing really well!! Here are some things to add since her last month's update that I wanted to document for her journaling - as well as for you to enjoy knowing about her and her growth. (Next month should be more interesting at her 18 month check up with her weight and height noted.)
* Gets comments all the time from complete strangers on how pretty and blue her eyes are
* Came down with her first ear infection and after pinning her down for 20 doses of nasty medication for 10 days, was cleared with a good bill of health
After some family chores and errands were completed, we took our first historical trip this afternoon to Stonewall Jackson, which is about 10-15 miles south of our home. Since moving here a little over a year ago, we haven't ventured out as much as we would like or hope to. The weather was also cooperating with us (62 and sunny---in February) so it was perfect for a family trip. We have all concluded (okay, Jocelyn has no choice in the matter LOL) that we want to see as much as we can while we live in Virginia. There is SOOO much history and great things to do and see around here. I don't recall a lot of what I learned in high school history class so really I came to this memorial site not knowing or remembering anything about Stonewall Jackson. So Aubrey definitely wasn't the only one to learn something new! :) For those of you that also need a refreshers course as I did, Stonewall Jackson was one of the Generals to the Confederate Army during the Civil War. You can go HERE to learn more about Stonewall Jackson. We were able to go into the Chandlers Plantation, the only building at the plantation still left standing and this is also where Stonewall Jackson died. The house had gone through a period of some 60 years not being taken care of so most of the wooden floors had to be replaced from another building in that same time era but the room in which Stonewall Jackson stayed in, the wooden floors were from the original house. It was a neat experience to be there and see where some of it took place in those days of battle.
I of course had fun with the camera - taking some shots of the site as well as the girls. A lot of the pictures turned out really well so I've enclosed a few with this post for you to see. I've been itching to get outside to take some pictures but with it being so cold out, I've had to settle with indoor photos most of the time. The memorial wasn't a "jump up and down" experience but it turned out to be a really fun day anyways. :)
Aubrey & Jocelyn with Dad in front of Chandlers Plantation
I managed to capture a sweet moment of the girls playing outside the plantation
John shot a photo of the girls playing with their Mommy
Randi is hosting a swap recipe exchange. For all those that are interested in finding some new recipe ideas, visit her blog this Thursday (2/7) at: http://ihavetosay.typepad.com/randi/.
Here are a few of my favorite recipes to share with you that are easy and fast to make:
*Tater Tot Casserole* (crock pot recipe)
1 32 oz. bag of frozen tater tots
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 12 oz. canned chicken breast, drained (you can use fresh if you want)
1 can green beans, drained
1 TBS. dried minced onion
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Place frozen tater tots at the bottom of greased crock pot. In separate bowl, mix soup, chicken, beans, milk, onion, salt and pepper. Pour mixture over tater tots. Bake on high heat for 3 hours, or low heat for 4.5 - 5 hours. During last 30 minutes of cooking, add cheese on top to melt.
(Our family found this recipe recently and have just loved it without any complaints - and we even have picky eaters! I wish I could credit to where I found this recipe but I don't have the person's name. Whoever it originally came from gets two thumbs up!)
*Hungry Boy Specials* (cookies)
1 pkg (14 oz.) gingerbread mix
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chunk-style or regular peanut butter
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Blend the gingerbread mix with the water and peanut butter. Add chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 7-8 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes (can easily crumble if you don't wait) and then transfer to a cooling rack.
Saturday I went and had my hair cut & colored. I decided enough with the highlights! It was time to go back to my original color. I can't tell you how happy I am with the results. I feel like a whole new ME. (I decided to do this post mainly for family and friends I don't see regularly so here are some pictures for you to see what I had done.)
