On the hunt for eggs

An egg hunt is pretty much just a more elaborate game of hide-and-seek, one that eliminates the need for large people to squish themselves into small places and then stay there until small people find them. If, like me, you have a super small person, then the super small person has to hide with the large person and quickly gives away the hiding spot to the slightly larger small person. This is not a bad thing as it lessens the time spent crunched up uncomfortably. Still, I'd much rather hide eggs and follow the small person around the house as she locates them.

We went big this year with both an indoor and an outdoor egg hunt. I had bought an absurd amount of eggs and stuffed them with random items I picked up at the craft store like jewels that are flat on one end and can be glued down, jingle bells, small plastic animals, and coins from Eric's non-piggy bank. I put close to 30 eggs in a plastic bag to be hidden outside and hid at least 15 all around the house. Hannah knew about the outdoor hunt, but the indoor hunt was a surprise.

She ran around the house excitedly collecting eggs and even pointed out some to Jacob to help him grasp the concept.

When they were all collected, she got to work inspecting her booty and organizing it Montessori-style into separate bowls which Jacob continuously knocked over and then thrashed around to make sure that each little jingle bell and jewel scattered far and wide. He is an excellent destroyer.

My dad and Sondra showed up around 10 bearing Jacob's birthday gift, and after enjoying it for a bit, we all went around back to meet our friends and commence egg hunt number two. The park in the alley behind our house is where we sledded a lot this winter. We had never thought to use it for an egg hunt, but fortunately a neighbor without kids shared her genius idea, and those of us with kids were all over it. There's not much there other than some grass, but that's pretty much all that's needed for an egg hunt. We rallied together with three other families with homes backing to that alley, all of whom have daughters around Hannah's age. Parents from each family hid the eggs around 10, and then the kids went crazy at 10:30. They aren't terribly visible in this shot, but I wanted to share a group action shot of the four of them spreading out to cover more territory.

Jacob found a few too.

Running was the means of movement to each new egg as soon as it was spotted. I wish we were all like kids and just took off running at the drop of a hat. At what point do we stop running excitedly everywhere we go? 

I couldn't pick my favorite posed group shot, but it's one of these two.

More post-egg hunt booty inspecting commenced while the parents mingled and enjoyed the amazing weather and the awesomeness of our neighborhood, specifically because of the people who live here.

 Having so many people around meant extra hands to snap family photos.

After the egg hunt we went to the bookstore where the kids each picked a book that the grandparents bought them. They're wanting this to be their new Easter tradition in lieu of giving the kids an Easter basket full of stuff I don't approve of and end up sending to work with Eric, and it's an idea I couldn't be happier with! Hannah picked out this hysterical book called Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich. It's pretty rad. Jacob picked Goodnight Spot, a lift-the-flap book. Brandy bought him Where's Spot for Christmas, and he loves it, so that warrants starting a collection.

Later we walked down to The Charmery for ice cream, which pretty much iced the cake of an awesome spring day.

Everyone gets a weekend away

Eric and I took a whole weekend off, our first one since Hannah was born, and hid out in the mountains indulging ourselves. It was partially a belated celebration of our 4th anniversary (October 24) and partially just an overdue need to get some grown-up quality time. We don't date much--I'm too tired by the time I get her to bed and don't have a huge interest in doing traditional date activities like dinner, drinks, and movies--so quality time is scarce.

We are also figuring that since there's another bun in the oven, it will most likely be another 3 years before we can take our second weekend away. I'm not much of a pumper, and I nursed Hannah for 2 years and intend to the do the same with the second, so if you're nursing and not pumping, it means you're pretty much chained to the kid. It's fine though. I've come to trust Grammy with Hannah since I know she'll follow my rules, even if she doesn't agree with them, but I like to keep my babies close while they're babies so I imagine that like his sister, he'll be at least 2, if not older before I leave him overnight. We'll see though; maybe he'll take after his dad and be more laid back than his super high-maintenance sister, and who knows, maybe I'll be more laid back than I was with Hannah! Hah! Unlikely, but anything is possible.

Eric originally suggested we go to a bed and breakfast in Hagerstown but I nixed this idea immediately. First of all, I don't like the idea of a bed and breakfast. I'll try one someday, but for now, I'd rather have the autonomy of a hotel. Second, just having breakfast means we have to eat the rest of our meals out, and I have yet to find a restaurant in Hagerstown that I like. Anyway, who wants to vacation in the town where they grew up?? Not me. So I suggested that hotel near Chesapeake Beach that has a spa because if we're going to do this, I want to do it right, and doing it right means I also get a massage. Then Eric reminded me of the Rocky Gap Resort and Lodge. Perfect! We booked a room and a massage before he left for Germany.

After picking up Hannah from school on Friday, we drove straight to Hagerstown. Grammy met us at the outlets because they're right off the highway, and because, as usual, she wanted to take Hannah shopping. Fortunately saying goodbye is harder for us than for Hannah who waved distractedly and then gave the obliging kiss when requested.

We hopped back in the car and drove a little farther west. At check-in, Eric asked if they happened to have any suites available (all were booked when we made the reservations and we weren't holding anything back on this weekend away--it's too rare a thing for us, and anyway, he had extra per diem money from his trip to Germany). They did have one open so we went and checked it out along with the room our reservations were for. The suite was an additional $80 a night, and the main reason I wanted it was for the garden tub with jets. I knew I wouldn't be taking advantage of the hot tub due to the baby in the belly, and I was craving being submerged in hot, bubbly water. We splurged and took the suite.

It had two rooms with a connecting balcony overlooking the lake. The first room had an electric fireplace that made a great backdrop for our Saturday evening Rummy game.

The other room had a king bed with these giant Roman-type pillar/posts. I love king beds. It's the only way you can sleep with another person and sleep like you're sleeping alone which is critical for a very light sleeper like myself. I hope to someday own a king-sized bed.

After we settled in to our room on Friday, we donned our hiking shoes and went exploring. We found this super cool, old graveyard.

We also found a lot of trees that had been gnawed on by beavers.

The white stripe around the bottom of these trees is the beaver damage. Every single tree in that section had been gnawed on. I don't know if takes beavers a few days to fell a tree or if they just got discouraged and gave up and moved to the next one over and over and over again.

Here's a view of the lake from this small corner.

 Then we abandoned that part of the lakeside trail and hiked out to this overlook to admire the view.

As the sun dropped lower in the sky, we made our way back to the lodge. This is a pic of the beach in the distance (on the other side of the lake from where we had been exploring).

That night we took advantage of the seafood buffet, gorging ourselves on way more food than we should have eaten, then we rolled our fat bellies back to our room and crashed.

We had wanted to hike the whole way around the lake the next morning, a nearly 6 mile hike, but it didn't work out. The guy at the adventure booth let us know that the junior hunters were on the other side of the lake today so we should wear bright colors. Eric wasn't thrilled with going anywhere near the junior hunters, and really, I couldn't blame him. It was a good deterrent. Anyway, my massage was at 1:00 that afternoon, and we couldn't move it and didn't think we had enough time for the full hike since we'd lollygagged around that morning. Instead we hiked partially around the lake, starting on the opposite side of the beaver-damaged area. We walked by the beach and made it all the way around to the campground.

After scoping out the campground, which we plan to take advantage of next summer (if this baby is easier than Hannah), we started our trek back. A mile marker let us know that the total hike would be more than 4 miles. Pre-pregnant Terri would not have been phased by this, but pregnant Terri had some super sore feet and legs before we'd even made it out of the campground and my hands were swelling and tingling. The massage was awesome. So was the garden tub, which I took full advantage of all weekend.

Hannah didn't seem to miss us at all though she did call to say good night on Friday night and tell us about her new pajamas (one pair pictured below). She also picked out a long-sleeve red shirt to complete her Ladybug Girl outfit, some new shoes (a $10 pair of bright blue Adidas), and her new boots which were not on sale and not cheap, but she insisted and Grammy seems to have a hard time telling her granddaughter no when it comes to shopping. She was wearing her new boots when we went to pick her up on Sunday and had apparently had not take them off much since getting them. She says they look like mine, and indeed, they do. She also picked out an Etch-a-Sketch and figurines of the family from the Olivia series.

(Grammy gets credit for the rest of the photos in the blog.)

On Saturday they went to play with Clay and spent much of the morning throwing leaves on each other in the backyard. I'm glad she got to participate in this classic fall activity because it's not something she can do at home in the city since we have no yard.

After hanging with Clay and Mason and Uncle Chip, Grammy and Hannah met Aunt Pam at the toy store. Pam had sent Hannah a gift card for her birthday, but there is no Toys R Us near us in Baltimore so we sent it back with Hannah and she picked out a present this weekend. Grammy convinced her to look at everything in the store before settling on something, but it was all over after Hannah found the FurReal toys. She picked up a puppy that barks and throws itself around obnoxiously and refused to put it down. Given her previous toy choices, this one did not surprise me.

They also went to the library for books and movies and to the grocery store to pick out meals. Throughout it all, Hannah was just eager to get back to Grammy's. She likes to hole up there, I guess.

Before Grammy went to bed on Saturday, she emailed me some Hannah-isms which had me and Eric cracking up:

• As she drops her pants while brushing her teeth this morning - "Sorry, I'm just a little naked." 
• "You're washing dishes, your hands will be soo smooth."
• From the bathtub -"Close your eyes so my robe can't see you."
• In the grocery store as we pass the donut case - "I think I'd really like a donut. Can you get me a healthy one?" (We got her favorite coconut 'ice cream' instead)
• While playing with little toys (and making them talk) - "Without wallpaper, we wouldn't have anywhere to sit!"
• "Your floor is a little cold" (me: "put your socks back on.") "No, I wore them all day and they make my feet tired." 

I really like the next to last one about wallpaper and would like to know the context of this sentence...I would also like to know why she was dropping her pants and brushing her teeth at the same time--Grammy?? Also, I should note that Eric and I high-fived at the thought of our daughter not knowing what a donut was. Grammy left that part out, but when she relayed the story to us, it began by walking by the donut case and Hannah asking what those were. I take great pride in the fact that she knows what kale is but not donuts. 

I wish I could say she was thrilled to see us when we showed up on Sunday, but she was actually a little bummed because we came when she was just about finished with lunch, and Grammy had promised her some of her coconut sorbet when lunch was over. I think she thought that since I was there, I'd put a halt to that, or maybe drag her out before she could eat her sorbet. Once I assured her that she could still eat her sorbet, she simmered down and gave us a big hug and a smile and started showing us all the loot she'd made out with.

Later when I asked what her favorite part of the weekend was she got a big grin on her face and said "eating ice cream!" What can I say, she may recognize kale over a donut, but she's still a typical kid who is easily won over by cold, sugary treats.

Fun days at Montessori: Grandfriend's Day and the Halloween party

Friday was Grandfriend's Day at Montessori. My mom drove down the day before and her and I went to see Wicked (awesome!), then she accompanied Hannah to school the next day and shared some photos and stories with me so I could share them here.

Hannah brings home at least one new painting every day, and during the parent/teacher conference, Hannah's teacher let me know that Hannah spends a lot of time at the easel each day. Apparently she has also mastered the art of double-handed painting, as captured by Grammy.

In lieu of this information, I picked up an easel for Hannah at IKEA on Friday afternoon. Since she decided to play in the kids room there for the first time ever and didn't see me pick it up, I decided to make it a Christmas present. That's right, I've started my Christmas shopping. Feeling good about that! I have no clue where we'll put the easel after giving it to her...the house is pretty full already.

The grandfriends spent a little over an hour in the classroom with the kids then they moved to the auditorium. The kids filed in shortly after and sang some songs they had rehearsed. My mom didn't tell me what songs they sang, but the night before when I asked Hannah what she was going to sing, she started singing "You Are My Sunshine." It was very cute. I wish I'd heard the performance!

Hannah is the one waving excitedly in the photo before.

That afternoon we headed to the mall. This is not something I do on my own, but it is a thing I have always done with my mom, though increasingly less frequently since becoming a parent. She wanted to go to IKEA, and she also wanted to get Hannah's picture taken since she had a coupon from when she took Clay and Mason to get their's taken. I'm not a big fan of those in-mall photo studios, in fact, I think they suck. But I wasn't paying so I humored my mom.

Before that we mosied into the Disney store and Hannah went straight for Merida's bow and arrow set. I cannot tell you how proud I was that in a store chock to the brim with princess crap, she picked up the bow and arrow. I happily bought it for her, and then Grammy bought her a Merida doll that she didn't ask for but that she is quite enamored with.

The bow and arrow and the doll sealed the deal on her Halloween costume for the Halloween party at her school the following day. I'd bought her the Merida dress a couple months ago, and since I had to go to Target for cat food that morning, I picked up the wig while there, and voila! A mini Merida (albeit with strange 80s bangs) is born.

Of course there were tons of Merida's there, after all, she is this year's Disney princess, and although I would have loved to have been more creative, I am just thrilled that the princess she loves is the ONLY one who isn't rescued by some prince and living married and happily ever after by movie end. Even Tiana, who is a pretty cool princess with great work ethic, still needs the prince to round her out and teach her how to have fun. Merida learns her lessons on her own, with a little help from her mother, and at the end, she climbs a giant rock and stands on top as if she's standing on top of the world. This is a princess I can get behind.

Our first Montessori Halloween party was a lot of fun. Hannah bounced in the bounce house, played on the playground, decorated a pumpkin, and hung out with her friends.

We volunteered for the clean up shift at the bean bag toss and while I was doing that, Hannah climbed her own rock and looked out across the land triumphantly.

 

I haven't yet decided on whether or not we'll be trick-or-treating in the neighborhood (regardless, of whether or not we collect the candy, we will definitely not be eating it), but either way, we'll definitely get dressed up and walk around to scope out the really cool and original costumes. Due to the insane weather, the Hampden trick-or-treating and costume contest has been pushed back to Saturday, which is great since it means Eric can come with us!  Hannah has a box full of costumes and dress-up material so whether or not she chooses to be Merida again remains to be seen....

P.S. I'm officially caught up on my blog posts. Woot woot!!

Hannah meets Aunt Sharon and Uncle Tom

The weekend that we were driving home from Michigan happened to be the same weekend that my dad was visitig his Aunt Sharon and Uncle Tom. They'd arranged a huge family gathering and BBQ with everyone who lives in the area, and since their house is barely off the path home, we joined in.

We woke up as early as possible on Saturday and managed to make it there in time for dinner. Hannah had just polished off a pint of raspberries in the car though so she was more interested in swimming.

She got cold and changed her mind pretty quickly. Cleaning the pool was a much warmer endeavor.

An even warmer endeavor was sitting by the fire with Pappy and helping him roast wienies on a stick.

On one of our many stops off the turn pike, Eric let Hannah pick out this little stuffed dog in a plastic crate. She was very enamored with and showed it off quite a bit, here to Pappy and Granmda Sondra.

The reason I was into the idea of stopping off at Uncle Tom's and Aunt Sharon's is because although I only remember meeting them once, I remembered them as being really awesome. They haven't changed a bit! Hannah hit it off with Uncle Tom, who is incredibly charismatic and silly, and spent a good portion of the visit hanging out with him.

Pappy made sure to get in on the tickle fest too.

After the wienies, they broke out the marshmallows. Real marshmallows, not the healthy alternative I provided when we went camping at Assateage earlier in the year. Hannah was smitten. We decided that marshmallow roasting was a good time to get some group photos.  Here's Hannah sitting between Uncle Tom and Aunt Sharon, waiting patiently for a marshmallow.

If you're looking for a little family background (I always am since I find that I rarely know who anyone is), Aunt Sharon is my dad's mom's sister. (I didn't know this on the way there--that's how disconnected we are from family. I got the low down while we were there though. Let's see if I can remember it all...) Aunt Joyce (bottom left) is another sister (and that's her husband behind her). I feel like there's one more sister but maybe I'm just confused??? I'm sure Aunt Sharon will confirm/correct after she reads this. 

I let Hannah have a partial s'mores leaving out the chocolate. After streaking the marshmallow through her hair, Hannah let Grandma Sondra pull it back into a ponytail.

Clean up time! It was just one marshmallow, but it ended up everywhere!

If I'm remembering right, and there's a good chance I'm not, Aunt Sharon has four daughters, one of whom, Tammy, is having a seriously intellectual conversation with Hannah in the pic below.

Kim is another of Aunt Sharon's daughters. I tried desperately to get a picture of her and Hannah laughing together but Hannah refused to remove the puppy's crate from in front of her face.

 

Debbie is another sister, but I didn't manage to get any pics of her. We did, however, pause to get a pic our little sect of the family. 

We took Hannah in to bed when the sun started to set, and although a ton more family members showed up shortly after, we were beat and didn't make it much past hello before excusing ourselves to go to bed. We were given the whole basement which was super comfortable and awesome and much better than being in a hotel. Since Hannah had requested pancakes for breakfast, we woke up to pancakes and chowed down. After breakfast we packed up the car and did some last minute outdoor exploring in anticipation of being car bound for a few more hours. Uncle Tom took us on a tour of his garden and sent us home with corn, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes--all of which were amazing and devoured pretty quickly. 

It was awesome to be able to see everyone and introduce them to Hannah and Eric, and it was also awesome to watch Hannah run around their giant yard the way a dog does when it's been cooped up in a row home for a while. She ran and climbed trees and picked flowers and seemed to really love the open space. I hope that we can provide her with a little open space one of these days....

That's it for July now. Let's see if I can get some August posts up before the month is over, starting with her birthday post...

Our annual voyage to Michigan

This year we went to Michigan a little earlier than usual (in July) and drove instead of flying. I was worried about restraining Hannah in her car seat for that long--after all, this is the kid who screams on the hour drive back to Hagerstown--but the portable DVD player made it all possible. I wish our kid weren't such a TV addict, but in this case, it worked to our advantage. We stopped off at the library first to rent some new flicks and then we hit the road. We drove halfway there on Friday (about 6 hours with all our stops) and then stayed in a hotel. After an early morning swim in the hotel pool, we drove the other 6 hours and arrived at Grannah and Granpah's Saturday afternoon.

Joel's presence was the highlight this time around since he's been sailing around the world and living in New Zealand for the past couple years and has missed the last few family get togethers. Hannah and him settled in on the floor with the toys immediately upon arriving.

The next day we woke up early and got pumped for the Fine Lake biathalon. This is an event that Eric created many moons ago. He runs the 5 or so miles around the lake and then swims the 1 mile across the lake and back. I did it with him the first year I went and participated in just the swim the second year. This year I hopped on a bike and we buckled Hannah into a trailer that we attached to the back.  (Photo credits for the next two go to Grannah.)

On the home stretch of the ride/run, I got attacked by a swarm of horseflies who bit the crap out of my back. It was terrible. Trying to swat them and hold the bike steady was impossible, and then trying to scratch the itches while steering was equally insane. I made Eric take a pic when we got back to the house so I could see if it looked as bad as it felt.

The welts went down after jumping in the lake and were pretty much gone when we had finished our swim. Joel and Granpah took out the boats (one in the fishing boat with Hannah and one in the sailboat) to keep me and Eric on track and protect us from other boats. Sadly, I have no pics of this second part of the biathalon.

Justin showed up shortly after we finished our swim. Yay All the Kellogg's together for the first time in eons!

Group snuggles are one of Hannah's favorite activities; we do it all the time. In this instance, she pulled in the brothers for a family hug.

Later that afternoon we headed over to Eric's closest friends' house for a birthday pool party for their oldest son. I snapped a pic of Hannah jumping off the diving board since it was her first time, but then I didn't pick up the camera again.

At some point (maybe the next night??), we walked the bike trailer back to the owners (Grannah's friends) and found a pond full of frogs and this sprinkler.

I think this was also the night that Eric and I headed over to St. Mary's lake to hang out with his bestest friends again (this time adults only) on their pontoon boat. Somehow I neglected to get any pics of this too...Not sure what I was thinking (or not thinking), but I'm going to blame it on being pregnant, even if I didn't know at this point.

We spent all day, every day putzing around the lake this year. It was very relaxing, especially after the long drive there. On Tuesday Hannah spent the morning catching blue gills. I think she caught 5 total. I took way too many pictures of this...

Here she is reeling the first one out of the water.

Tada!!

Casting out again.

Caught another!

She took a break then to swim a little and then hopped out to warm up on the dock with Uncle Justin. In the midst of all this is when I looked at the period tracker on my phone and realized that I had mixed up my days and that I was actually at day 29 of my cycle (I thought it was day 26). Since my cycle is usually 25 days, I knew what this meant, but I peed on the stick anyway. Yep. Preggo!

Back to the fishing!

Caught another one! It took us a while, but we finally managed to talk her into holding up the fish by its lip.

Granpah is quite inventive! To water the grass in the dry area, he poked holes in the bottom of a bucket and hooked the bucket handle around a hoe. He dips the bucket into the lake to fill it up and then dangles it across the patch where he's trying to grow grass. Hannah liked helping.

Hannah also really liked having a bunch of new toys to pull out and spread all over the floor.

And she loved having her uncles around to play with! (This photo is courtesy of Uncle Justin.)

 We took out the kayaks later that day. Hannah started off in Eric's and then after a little swim, ended up perched on the back of mine.

That evening (Tuesday), Grannah and Granpah had an early birthday party celebration for Hannah. Hannah helped decorate.

After some pizza and broccoli, Hannah opened presents. This first one is from Uncle Joel.

He brought back the Buzzy Bee from New Zealand where it is a very popular toy. Hannah liked it too. She pushed it around the table, pulled it around the house, and then rolled around with it and put it on the bottoms of her feet while she held them in the air so that it could "fly".

Next up was a set of magnetic dolls from Uncle Justin. 

Then came the bike from Grannah and Granpah. Her legs are still a little too short to pedal this, but she likes trying.

After dinner we headed down to the lake for a boat ride. Granpah found a turtle trying to cross the street and let the kiddos say hello before dropping it into the water.

Hannah boycotted the family photo. After a while we gave up trying to get her to take the towel off her head and just took it without her.

Granpah borrowed a pontoon boat from his neighbors so he could take everyone out onto the lake. 

Grannah had invited over her friends, the kids she babysits, for the birthday party. Hannah enjoyed having other children to play with.

We got up the next morning and drove to Uncle Justin's in Grand Haven. Ahhh, beach days! On the first day, they dug a hole to China and then a river to connect it to Lake Michigan.

Joel and Hannah spent most of the day there.

Justin has one of the awesomest playgrounds close to his house. We went there first thing the next morning, but had to hightail it to the car when the rain came down.

We came across this headless mermaid sand sculpture during a walk on the beach one afternoon. Hannah is a little small to pose behind it, and the angle I have on it is all wrong, but it's still pretty funny, huh? Sand sculpting is so amazing it me. 

Another of Justin's presents to Hannah is a round rainbow kite that spins in circles.  Hannah liked flying it and spent a lot of the afternoon doing so.

We hit the road pretty early on Saturday morning and drove more than halfway to my great aunt and uncle's house in Pennsylvania where we met my dad and a bunch of other relatives for dinner. That'll be my last July post, then I can move on to August....Maybe I will eventually be caught up!