Learning to Eat with Chopsticks

Last week Sarah started her chopsticks lessons. After watching Greg eat with them so many times, she really wanted to give it a try. His parents have showed us a way to make "training" chopsticks by using a rubber band, but we couldn't find one. Greg helped and she practiced picking up carrots, oranges, and toast. It made eating lunch interesting and entertaining for her, which is always a good thing.


Sarah practices picking up carrots

Hold on tight!

The weather in Richmond has been colder than normal. We even had a day where it didn't get above freezing. Unfortunately, we haven't had any snow yet. Sarah likes bundling up for the cold and wearing her hat and gloves. It's also led to more indoor activities and games like hide and seek, flashlight tag, and making music. Sometimes it involves mixing all these activities together, where Sarah hides with a head lamp on (yes, this really makes it easier to find her) and then dances with her maracas in between episodes. At least she's entertained.....

Flashlight/hide and seek/dancing tag!


I love to pose for pictures. Say Cheese!

Happy New Year

I've been pushing off writing because I have so much to put down since I seemed to have skipped the month of December. I went by so quickly but I'll try to give a quick summary.

The first weekend, Greg, Sarah and I went with friends of ours to the Richmond Grand Illumination. Each year the city lights up an area downtown with trees and reindeer (obviously fake). In addition, the companies in the area, outline their buildings in lights for the holiday season. They kick off the lighting ceremony with bands and activities. It was our first year attending and we've decided to go back again. The picture above is us at the event. Unfortunately, it does not do any justice to showing just how pretty it is.

The next week, I headed to western Virginia for our annual work conference. Greg was working, so his parents were nice enough to drive up and spend a few days watching Sarah. After they left, my parents arrived from Florida and stopped for the weekend. We went to my friend Violet's church on Saturday for a breakfast with Santa. If you've talked to me, you know my story about how I'll bring Sarah to see Santa when she asks me to do it. However, I figured this would be a way for her to watch what was going on and decide if she wanted to see him. While she did eventually sit on Santa's lap, she wasn't too thrilled and was more interested in making crafts after. My parents jumped in and helped her make a paper frame for her picture with Santa and ornaments.

Sarah making ornaments with my dad

My mom helps Sarah make a snowman

Sarah proud of her crafts!


As the weekend came to a close, Sarah and I got in the minivan with my parents and continued up the coast to MA. We stayed a week and had great visits with family and friends. We also got to see my brother's new house in Falmouth. Unfortunately, I was very negligent on that trip to take pictures.

Sarah and I flew back from MA a few days before Christmas to join back up with Greg and head to Northern Virginia to spend Christmas with his family. His sister and her family live up there now and his parents and brother drove up as well. It was a great day with kids and dogs everwhere!

Kelly and Lauren

Sarah singing and dancing (she does this a lot)

Dad tries to capture the moment of opening gifts

Sarah and mommy opening presents

Greg's mother and his brother's dog Maximus

All the kids together (Sarah, Noah, Alex, and Lauren) and Brody checking things out on the side

Thanksgiving

My parents came to town on Monday to spend Thanksgiving with us. I had scheduled to take the week off and work on miscellaneous projects around the house, so they had fun taking Sarah to various places (the zoo, the children's museum, and Maymont--a place with a small aquarium and animal area). Sarah had loads of fun and tired herself out each day with them.

On Thanksgiving day, we decided to decorate the tree. The next few weeks are going to be busy with work and an upcoming conference, so I thought it would be a great opportunity while my parents were in town. Sarah had fun decorating the tree and I am wondering if she'll understand what Christmas is this year.

Unfortunately, Greg was working, so he slept through most of the fun. Luckily they gave him Christmas off, so he'll be able to spend it with us. He looked at his schedule and for the next 3 years (he works every other week, so it is fairly easy to figure out is schedule), he is working Thanksgiving and Christmas. The fun of working retail. Sad for us :(

Mommy and Sarah decorate the tree.

Sarah helps Nanny

Sarah rests on Nanny's lap after a long day

A Weekend in the Mountains

This weekend we headed to the mountains near the Virginia/West Virginia boarder. We stayed at a cabin (this is a picture of it to the left) in one of the state parks known for good mountain biking. While my only mountain biking experience was while in Peace Corps, Greg still tries to ride and recently bought a new bike so we thought it would be fun to go out for the weekend.

We left on Friday and arrived in the afternoon. The weather was great and in the low 70's. Saturday, Greg headed out early for the trails while Sarah and I checked out the park. We headed for the lake which has swimming in the summer and apparently great fishing. We walked around until we found a big playground, but it was still wet from the morning dew, so we ended up playing in the leaves. After Greg returned from his trip, we headed to the Homestead for lunch. The Homestead is a five star resort about 40 minutes from the park. It is a beautiful place and each year, my work holds a conference there because one of the community colleges nearby provides a lot of their employee training. They give us a very reduced rate on the hotel. The conference is next month, the second week after Thanksgiving (a slow time for all hotels), which is nice because it is decorated for Christmas.

We had a great lunch at the golf club overlooking the course and the hotel. People were playing croquet on the lawn next to us (if this gives you an idea of how surreal it seems for us middle classers). I always wonder what the people eating and staying there do and I am fascinated by listening to the conversations at the other tables to get a glimpse at what 'high rollers' talk about.

After our lunch, we headed back to the cabin to settle in for the night and give Sarah her first s'mores experience. She really enjoyed them and so did we. Greg went for another quick ride in the morning and I fought with Sarah to put a jacket on since the weather had turned much colder. I finally gave up and she ran around in a long sleeve shirt and cold nose. She didn't seem to mind, which further indicates that this is yet another gene that she did not inherit from me (for those that know me, I am always cold).

All in all, it was a great trip and we've decided to either head back to this park or check out some of the other state parks across the state with cabins. We were very impressed that the states manages them. They are by no means rustic. There's air conditioning and heat, full kitchen and bathroom, fireplaces and beautiful porches. We stayed in an older cabin, but the newer ones have screened in porches. According to the signs, Virginia's parks have been rated "number one" (not sure by who), but we agree!

A picture of the lake at the park.

Sarah plays fetch with Brody.

Sarah helping Apa make s'mores

Sarah eating her s'more

Sarah poses in front of the Homestead. (Note: If you've been following our posts, you'll notice the small yellow duck in Sarah's hand. It seems to pop up in the strangest places. I am sure we'll do a story on it sometime when we have nothing to write about-so stay tuned...)

Woof Woof

This was Sarah's first Halloween. I had said I wouldn't dress her up in a costume until she said that she wanted to but it seemed that her interest hit a little earlier than expected as her daycare decided to have a costume parade with everyone in her class on Halloween. Although I wasn't too excited about the idea, I also did not want Sarah to be the only one without a costume for the parade.

In addition, I ran into a neighbor who has a five year old and she asked if we were taking Sarah trick or treating. I told her I wasn't, but during the course of the conversation she convinced me it would be a good way to meet some of the people in the neighborhood. She was nice enough to offer a dalmation suit for Sarah to wear. I don't think Sarah was too sure of it at first, but once she got it on, we couldn't get it off. Consequently, she loved the parade at daycare with the kids (and getting candy in the classrooms they visited), which meant she was ready to roll that evening. She did a fantastic job and held her new friend Kyrne's hand when she went to the doors. We probably went to 20 houses and she loved every minute of it. Her bag was so heavy she kept dropping it. Luckily I brought another bag, so I could take the weight off. All in all, it was a fun night and we had to fight Sarah out of her suit to go to bed.

Pumpkin Time

This weekend we went pumpkin picking. It's the first time we brought Sarah on this type of adventure. She has a plastic pumpkin in her room that she likes, so we thought she would enjoy this. We went to a place that is about 25 minutes north of the city. They do all you can carry for $20 (notice Greg practicing in the picture).

Sarah was a bit nervous when we climbed into the trailer of the tractor for the hayride out. We weren't sure if she was going to enjoy it. However, after a few minutes she started to enjoy the right (or at least stop saying "I want to get out"). We were a little worried when we arrived that there wouldn't be much to choose from considering this was the last weekend day before Halloween, but we were lucky and found a few good ones.

After the hayride back, Sarah went into the kids maze made out of hay bales and had activities along the way like a moonwalk, zip line, animals, wobbly bridge, etc. She enjoyed playing in the area and, by the end, didn't want to leave.

Sarah and mommy on the hayride out to the patch.

Sarah and Greg in the Pumpkin Patch (but where's the Great Pumpkin?)

Sarah plays on the moonwalk slide.

Down by the river....

This weekend we enjoyed the nice fall weather (in Richmond that means 70-80's). We brought Brody down to the river to have fun at his playground (versus Sarah's, which is across the street). There he gets to swim in the water, run off leash, and play with the other dogs. We enjoy the quiet walk through the trails.

Our other fun task was shopping for a new refrigerator. While our old one is not dead yet, we estimate (based on the copyright for the manual) that it is about 23 years old. It is the last remaining item that has not been replaced since the kitchen remodel about 4 years ago this month. We figured it was better to replace it while there are good sales going on versus buying one when it breaks down. We are excited to have a new refrigerator, but found it very challenging to find one that fit the space. If we had only known, we would have made the opening a bit wider during the remodel. We only needed about another inch more to allow us to expand our possibilities! It will be a nice welcome though.

Sarah walks with Greg on the rocks



Brody enjoys a dip in the water after running around