Hittin' The Slopes

Our roomate from grad school, Laura, and her husband, Juan, decided they wanted to try out their hand at skiing. Laura had been once with us in grad school, but Juan had never been before. So they came up for the weekend, and we all went up to Bear Creek Ski Resort together. Marion and I hadn't been skiing in over a year either, so we were ready to hit the slopes!

After dropping Michael off at the daycare (no, he was not skiing with us!), we were off! Laura and Juan decided to start out with some lessons. We dropped them off on the bunny hill while we explored the other runs, but not before we got a few pics of the pros in the making!

After about 5 hours on the slopes, we all decided to call it a day. And it was a success...no bloodshed! Michael did well in daycare being that he had no nap all afternoon, so as soon as he hit his carseat on the way home he was out like a light. :)

Of course, skiing was not the only thing that we did all weekend. Michael made sure to get some quality snuggle time in with Auntie Laura! I think he's even winning Juan over!

Weekend Road Trip

Adam and Danielle have been sooo good about visiting us since we moved to NJ...well, let's be honest...they've been good about visiting Michael since we got here. :) They have endured the 6 hr. drive each way at least one weekend a month, and we are extremely grateful for the company!

So, needless to say, it was our turn to make the trip. This weekend, we were planning on meeting up with Mom and Dad in Pittsburgh as well, and they were going to bring our long lost dog back to us. She has been wearing out her welcome at their house since Thanksgiving!

It turned out to be a nice, relaxed weekend. We spent most of the weekend just hanging around the apartment catching up. One fun thing we did while we were there was take Michael to the local Children's Museum. He loved exploring all the different rooms and features. They even had an entire floor devoted to water play, complete with crocs and raincoats! Michael liked splashing in the water and fishing, but I think Marion and Adam were having more fun building boats to race across the mini pool. It's hard to tell who's the bigger kid in a place like this....

Over the weekend, Danielle captured some of the many faces of Michael. He is one entertaining boy, that's for sure!

Sledding

So after the weekend snowstorm, Mother Nature decided that she was not yet done wreaking havoc on the northeast. So, yet again, we get piled on with inches upon inches of snow just days later. After all the shoveling was done...again....we decided to try and take Michael sledding on a small hill. Of course, after a half hour of getting him and everyone else dressed and the car packed, he wanted nothing to do with going down that hill. Go figure. But I got a few pics anyway!

So Marion ended up pulling him around the park on his sled, which he liked much better! Marion definitely burned calories for the day!

What a Weekend!

Alright...this weekend has had enough drama to hold us over for months! The great news about last weekend....Marion was coming home Friday!!!! The bad news about last weekend....a snow storm was predicted to hit that night. So here's how it went down:

Marion had a flight home from Louisiana Friday with a connection in Memphis. He got to Memphis before they cancelled all remaining flights into Philly, DC, Baltimore, and Reagan. So, poor Marion was stuck in Memphis trying desperately to get a flight home somehow. We went back and forth on the phone for hours trying to get something set up so he wouldn't have to sleep in Memphis for the night. After much pain and suffering, Marion got a flight to NYC and got in about 10:30 at night. From there, he had to lug his hugemongous bags via a cab to the train station, then the train station to his car. I called in a few favors on my end and got a friend to watch Michael while another friend and I drove his car to the train station. Thank goodness for wonderful people!

Marion ended up having to drive through the blizzard an hour to get home from the train station, and he got in about 2 in the morning. We are just thankful he made it safely. Good thing he made the extra effort when he did, because the snow just got worse the next day! After we took care of the necessary shoveling, we spent some time outdoors with the little man. Poor guy didn't last too long though before he turned into an ice pop!

The next day, we had a special dinner planned to celebrate Valentine's Day early, and at least we were able to make it out for that. But the fun was short-lived when Michael woke up screaming for a good hour the next morning. Come to find out....yet another ear infection. Poor little guy. So he has not been a happy camper lately. But he is glad that his Daddy is home....they're definitely getting their playtime in!

Word Explosion!!!!

Michael is always surprising me with how smart he is. I am always amazed by how much he knows and understands. He has always been very good about following directions and labeling things.

Along with being very smart, he is also very stubborn. He has not really shown any interest in talking up to this point, aside from a few words here and there. And do I think it's because he can't? No. Just not interested.

But within the past week or so, he has been saying new word after new word! So exciting! Some he says on his own, and others he'll say if he can repeat after me. But he's finally taking an interest in talking...which makes me so happy! So I've decided to do a synopsis of his vocabulary, both for your benefit and mine. :)

There are some words he has been saying for awhile. These include: ball, mommy, daddy, mamaw, papaw, no, baby, duck, up ('da'), what's that, choo choo, beep beep, book, moo, baa, quack quack, roar, nana (banana), uh-oh. He also signs: please, more, milk, thank you, all done.

Starting around Christmas time, he has just been on a roll picking up new words! He now says moon, bye bye, cheese, juice, elbow, nose, rock, whoa, yay, boo-boo, more, ho ho ho, and elmo on his own. Words he's repeated after me include: potty, passy, pasta, button, turtle, monkey, kick, please, knee, and girl. I'm sure I'm forgetting some in here, but I had to write them all down somewhere before I forgot them...they're coming on so fast!

Way to go Michael!!! Keep 'em coming!!!

Christmas with the Powells

After we were done opening our stockings and eating breakfast at Grandma and Grandpa's, it was off to Mamaw and Papaw's to spend Christmas Day. As soon as we got there, it was time to bust open the presents!!! There were another set of stockings waiting for everyone there as well. Aunt Sara is helping Michael explore his.

Then Michael began the present passing once again. Way to go buddy! (Although, this time, he wanted to give most of the presents to Papaw regardless.)

We were able to rip Michael away from his new toys for a few seconds...long enough to make him eat some food and take a much needed nap. While he was down for the count, Marion's Uncle Mark came over and we indulged yet again in another delicious meal. Needless to say, the remainder of the evening was well spent exploring new toys!

Mamaw and Michael playing with the barn Santa gave him

Oooh look, I found a new toy! Daddy's sawhorses!

Spending some QT with Aunt Sara



MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

Santa Came!

It's Christmas morning and someone paid Michael (and others!) a visit! Everyone came downstairs, still in their jammies, to to discover all sorts of goodies in their stockings. Since Michael was very insistent on playing with his new shopping cart right off the bat, we loaded it up with stockings, and he delivered them. Santa's helper, once again!

Michael got to open even more presents, which included some new Baby Einstein videos!

Then came the big Santa present under the tree. Michael got a Fisher Price farm set from Santa.

I guess the kiddos need a break after all that present opening...