Trimmin' the Tree

I never took a finished picture of the tree, but I know what you'd rather see :) Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Our Gator Cheerleader...

Being groomed already. Paige had a playdate with Abigal and Madeline yesterday, and would wear nothing but her cheerleader outfit. Some fights you just don't pick :) Excuse the red-eye, I haven't had time to edit pictures. And who knew the sit-n-spin was still around!? Very cool - they had a great time.

She's having a Thanksgiving feast at school today - after her first SCHOOL PICTURE! She actually let me brush and "do" her hair this morning for about 5 minutes, so we'll see how it turns out. The only pictures I could snap this morning were of her watching the Berenstain Bears (I didn't know those were still on, either!) before and after the hair episode.

We're off to the beach tomorrow for Thanksgiving. Hope everyone has a great turkey day!

Happy Almost Turkey Day

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Here are a couple of new pictures of Paige. Hopefully some family pictures will be taken soon!

Happy Halloween!

This year was much more successful. Paige loved trick-or-treating and we had a great time. Not sure how we're going to make all the chocolate "disappear" by tomorrow, though...

She still refused to wear her beautiful princess outfit...so we had to settle for her "ballet" and "butterfly" costume. Holes and all :)

Yes, those are scratches on her nose. Yes, she's fine. She took a nose-dive at the farm this morning. In gravel. ouch.

The "Fahm"

Paige and I went to Cox Farm on Friday and had a blast. They have lots of slides built up, musicians, pigs (the BIG hit with her), cows, games, cow-milking, etc. She had a great time and I was worn out after 2 1/2 hours! Anyway, I couldn't take a lot of pictures b/c I was alone, but some of them turned out cute. We're going back on Monday so hopefully I'll get some more!

Preschool Halloween Party/Parade

Well, the parade part was not very successful (I only have video), but here are some pictures of the picnic and such. Paige was supposed to be a princess, but refused to put on her costume. So, she's the ballet fairy that she's been dressing up as at home for two weeks! Oh well :) The little fireman in almost every picture did not leave Paige's side all day. He kept calling her a beautiful butterfly. He also kept telling the other boys "let's go play with Paige". So cute.

No Mommy, I will do it!

The story of my life...

Just some new pictures...

I didn't think this happened until junior high...

I had to fight with Paige about what pants to wear, how to do her hair, and refusal to put on shoes. Good grief! Anyway, I finally got her in a matching outfit ... the first one consisted of a bright yellow shirt, purple pajama pants and aqua socks - with her purple sandals.

This is her first day with "real" (non-sandal) shoes and she was NOT happy about wearing them. She kept saying they were too tight.

The other picture is in her fairy costume that Meci sent. She took the wings off and on about 10 times in 30 minutes. It was pretty cute!

Second Day of Preschool :)

First "real" day of preschool...

Well, we dropped our baby off at school this morning. I think she handled it better than Mommy did :) She did scream and didn't want to let go of me when she saw the other kids crying. But then I pointed her to the baby dolls and she was fine. She didn't even look back...well, Doug dragged me out at that point, so maybe she did. I'll refrain from thinking about it! :) Doug was very supportive and I'm glad he was there this morning! I'll probably take some pictures when I pick her up this afternoon.

First Day of Preschool

It technically was an open house that we all went to...September 13th is her first day without Mommy and Daddy there. Frankly, I think I will have a harder time with it than she well!

We walked in and she immediately warmed up to the room. She sat down and colored with the only two other girls in her class. After a couple of minutes she started to talk to the other girls and offer them different colors. Such an organizer. There are 13 21/2 year olds in her class and 10 of them are boys. I'm sure she'll be just fine... I love her teacher.

More next week.

The Potty...

Obligatory bathtub picture with Paige's friend Connor Williamson at the beach!

Our daughter has taught us so much in 2 1/2 years... how to train herself to have an amazing sleep schedule, how to train herself healthy eating habits, and now...she has potty-trained herself :) OK, so we'll take some credit. I did buy her panties, and just put them on her to see what happened. After two accidents, she ran to the potty anytime she felt anything. After that we had one accident in 6 days. Such a smart kid. Of course Grammy and Poppie had a big part in the grown-up experience by helping with potty-time, etc. They were both a huge help in this exciting experience!

Morning rituals

Around 6:30am every morning we are woken up by Paige...and almost every morning it's the same routine, which I love. Doug gets up and gets her out of bed. She "sleeps" with us for approximately 45 seconds...and then wants to play. Hiding under the covers works for awhile, and she might be happy for another minute if we talk to her about her dreams. But then it starts "Daddy shave, Daddy shower?". Over and over and over again... and then Mommy gets to stay in bed while Daddy and Paige go into the bathroom.

After fighting over using Daddy's toothpaste, they proceed to brush teeth together, with P standing on a little stool in front of Daddy. Then, Daddy puts it 'tacts (contacts) on, as Paige calls them and then he shaves. The whole time Paige is standing there watching him in awe :) Then she sits on the stool talking to him while he takes a shower.

When they come out of the bathroom I usually have my eyes closed like I've been asleep. Doug probably thinks I like this diversion because I can sleep for an extra 15-20 minutes. But I don't think he knows that I can see them in the opposite mirror and watch them adoringly every second...

Heather's 30th Birthday

As many of you might know, my 30th birthday was yesterday, August 19th. No, I did not go through any mental anguish over it, and I still feel 21. My wonderful husband planned a very romantic weekend for us. We went to a French bed & breakfast about an hour out of town, in the Shenandoah. http://www.laubergeprovencale.com/ It was quiet, romantic, relaxing and YUMMY! The food was amazing. I mean, I can't even explain it. Dinner was 5 courses and you're waited on hand and foot. I went out on a limb and did NOT order everything I knew I would like. I will write out the menu below to try and give you a "taste" of how scrumptious it was!

First course:
Doug: Seared Kobe strip loin, charred eggplant, tomato dust and micro arugula
Heather: Caramelized vidalia onions and goat cheese tart with roasted beets and green grape vinaigrette

Second:
Doug: The Chef special soup which was a creamed cauliflower soup...not sure of the exact description. Very yummy.
Heather: Chilled saffron/coconut soup served with mango and papaya, vanilla oil essence and lump crab croquette

We then "cleansed our palette" with a Hyssop sorbet with champagne

Entree:
Doug: Crispy chapelure crusted braised lamb shoulder and lavender glazed grilled double lamb chops served with farro berries andn ratatouille
Heather: Pepper crusted rib eye steak with asparagus, creamed swiss chard and sauce "bordelaise"

Dessert I don't have a description of, but Doug got a cherry tart thing and I got hazelnut/chocolate torte that they served with a frangelica/raspberry mini-shake. It was so cute...a miniature old-fashioned shake glass with a tiny little straw. The guy sitting behind us was about 4 times my size and I about died laughing when he started sipping the mini-shake!

Inbetween each course they brought little tidbits like stuffed figs and little cups of soup that I thought was espresso :) The entire meal lasted 2 1/2 hours and we probably could've rolled out of there we were so stuffed. Topped off by a very nice bottle of wine, it was one of the most fulfilling meals I've ever had! Anyway...I won't even describe the 3 course breakfast we had to force down the next day :)

I'm typing this while transferring songs to iTunes for my new iPod! Obviously a birthday present from Doug...topped off by accessories from a parent and beautiful flowers and cookies from everyone else in the family! Thank you all so much...and thank you Grandma for watching little P while we escape for the weekend.

And thank you to my generous and loving husband for planning such a wonderful 30th birthday.

Our Model

This is Paige posing at the Smithsonian. Such a doll :)

We had a wonderful weekend with Grandpa Cowan and Adrian.