I ♥ Faces

This week's I ♥ Faces is a little different. Each entry is being submitted to possibly be in a blurb book. I am in the amateurs category. If you would like to participate, or would like to see other people's entries, please click either button to go to I ♥ Faces page.

This is Snug when he was almost 2 months old and weighed 8 lbs! It is so hard to look back and remember those days now that he is almost three.

"I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites."

Serious Life Magazine

There's a new issue out and Brent has made some changes so it is more readabloe...if you like to read Christian literature, inspiring stories, see funny pictures, or need to find some new blogs to read because this one is boring to you, click on over and read Serious.Life!

Virginia Beach, Day 2

Welcome I ♥ Faces participants! This week I am sending you to a recent post of mine (part of a series of 3 actually) to see our recent trip to VA Beach. Some of the pictures you'll find "hum drum" normal candid family shots without any pizazz...but I got some beach shots that I really loved. I would have set up a whole new post, but I had already JUST done this a couple of weeks ago...and reposted some favorites last Thursday...didn't want my readers to quit on me due to old material...again...and again! Besides, this post journals lots of fun details about our day. Enjoy!

Saturday morning we were up bright and early for #1's softball tournament. We were pleasantly surprised upon checking in to find that the hotel, where we have stayed before, now had continental breakfast! I had packed all our of breakfasts and lunches to save money, and never had to unpack our breakfast food!
The day dawned bright and sunny. The boys were both up WAY earlier than need be, but enjoyed some playtime before we had to set off. I hated having Baby J on the floor in the hotel, but he had to have some time on the floor because we didn't work on his therapy all weekend and he really did need some wiggle time. The ground at the ballpark was definitely out-I've seen what happens there and it isn't pretty!

Saturday may have dawned bright and sunny, but the weather was rather manic. We had rain, cold, sun, hot, and wind all within a few hours span, often changing with each game. I love how Snug is following in daddy's footsteps.

Some serious discussion before a game...

This is our "junk". We travel light as you can see. We had a wagon to haul everything, everyone had a chair (Baby J's was a stroller), our cooler for lunch/bottles, bag of ball field approved toys, and a pack N play that has a waterproof/UV protection cover on it. Baby J could play in there, sleep in there (although that was for like 40 minutes maybe) and it kept him from getting rained on.

Taking a moment off from doing the book to pose with the boys. I didn't get any action shots of the game, although I would have liked to. It takes all my attention to keep track of the stats and the boys...photography during games is simply not an option.

We also stuck our cameras and anything else we didn't want drenched into the pack N play with Baby J. We just made sure everything was all zipped up so he couldn't get into it. My sling doubled as a blanket for him as it got really cold for about an hour. We didn't see that coming because when we left the hotel in the morning it was almost 80 and sunny...at 8am! I believe it got down to about 65 with wind and rain. I felt terrible I didn't have their jackets along.

This is how Baby J finally got a nap. Thanks Amy!

#1's team played 6 games on Saturday, and then were out of the tournament. We were at the fields by 8:30 am and left about 7:00pm. They lost their first game of round robin, and then went on to win their next three. After being given a great seed for the tournament, they had to play 2 of the "big teams"** and were defeated soundly. Oh well. It was a good day anyway.

After the games we headed to the beach for a few minutes before dinner. The forecast for Sunday was severe thunderstorms and rain. We wanted to make sure that the boys at least got to see the water. They were still in their ball game clothes so we just took Baby J's shirt off and asked Snug to do the same. When we turned around he was absolutely naked standing on the beach. He figured it could all come off. We informed him it was not that kind of a beach and made him put his britches back on!

Snug loves the beach. He always has, ever since we brought him to this very one when he was 9 months old. He has probably sat in this exact spot as a matte of fact. (To all of you MckMama fans, I'd like to state for the record that Snug has his fauxhawk before I saw these pics of Nuggey I am so not a copy cat! Snug's gel didn't hold well in the humid weather we had.

So while this boy was loving the beach...

...and smiling over every minute of it...

...this boy had a completely different reaction!

After a few minutes of tears and tantrums, he settled down. I think the noise and smells and long day may have had something to do with his initial reaction.

But after he tasted the sand...man, he was hooked. I cannot tell you how much sand this boy ate. We carried him quite a bit, but that gets old. His therapists wanted him to get the sensation of the beach and the sand (he has some sensory things, surprise, surprise) and warned us he'd probably eat some. They said not to worry, but HUGE amounts were getting into this kid. The second day we put him on a blanket and tried a paci (which he never takes anymore) but even those didn't work. Well, what goes in, definitely comes out-yuck.

We only spent about 20 minutes at the beach, but don't worry, they got to go back out for a bit on Sunday morning before the monsoon hit.

I really wanted to get a picture of our family all dressed up for dinner on Saturday night. It is #1's team's tradition to go to this seafood buffet. They have crab legs that everyone raves about. I don't eat much seafood, but I enjoy the company and a chance to get dressed up myself once in awhile. They also have chicken and steak and things on the buffet. Anyway we didn't get a family picture because when we first got there Baby J was fast asleep in his baby carrier, and then when he woke up...

...we had lost snug. He literally took a bit of a roll, ate a dill pickle spear, and fell asleep. I'm glad he was free as this restaurant is a bit pricey and it would have been terrible to have paid for the amount of food he consumed.

I will post Day 3 and maybe Day 4 tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to look at all of this. If you want to see ALL the pictures I took, you can contact me and I will give you our Flickr page...it isn't private but I don't just post it for the world to see either. If you already know our Flickr account, be patient as it may be a few days before I upload them all!

**In Police League Softball are there like #1's team and are officers who like to play softball on the side. A few are officers who actually are hired by their departments to play. As in playing softball all summer is their job! They beat us every time, obviously. However, we often give some of those teams a good game! By "we" I mean they...hey, I'm the book girl, I get to say "we"!

Virginia Beach Day 1

I really didn't think I'd be blogging on vacation, but we brought the computer just in case, and we have internet here! Tomorrow night I have a good idea we will be too exhausted to move, let alone stay up and blog, but we'll see. To see our hotel, click on the link at the very bottom of the post.

We left X, OH at 6:36 last night and drove until Midnight. The boys slept about 20 minutes of that drive each. Joy. If my friend Mindy hadn't let us borrow her portable DVD player for Snug, we would have been...well people traveled for years without DVD players, but we would have been...stopping more often? It would not have been as convenient, lets put it that way. We were also stocked with books and toys. See the headphones? Those were #1's from jr. high. When we took them off of Snug they left black flecks of plastic all over his neck and ears that we had to scrub off of him...kinda painful. We may have to buy some new ones at Wal-Mart if there is any money left at the end of the trip.

The drive is absolutely beautiful. That was nice seems as we were exhausted. #1 was coming directly off of a 12 hour shift, and Baby J decided that he wouldn't sleep in the car OR in the pack N play at the hotel last night. Delightful. I am happy to say he is sawing logs as I type.

The aquarium wasn't the one we were supposed to be at today. There was a communication error between #1 and I about which museum we were visiting (the one I had picked out reciprocates with our children's museum and would have been FREE) but it was a nice place to visit. By the time we realized the mistake we would have had to drive more than an hour back where we had been, so we just paid the admission fee and went on with life. Both boys were thankfully free.

Ok Aunt B., you said you wanted to see some pictures with me in them, and you will get your wish. I handed the camera over (and dictated what I wanted photographed) several times today. I noted as I uploaded these photos that I wore that same shirt on the Friday of last year's Virginia Beach vacation. Only I was 8 months preggo. I am pleased to say it fits quite a bit differently this year...but I probably need to work on my wardrobe choices. Aunt B is to thank for Snug's wardrobe today. Doesn't he look handsome?

There was a place where you could pet the stingrays.

The sea turtles were my favorite. Baby J loved them too. This one would just swim up and stare at him. He is standing...he isn't supposed to be...but he wouldn't bend his little legs and I wanted the picture. Don't tell.

Snug also liked the turtles. The shark exhibit was similar, but my photos didn't turn out as well.

There was a children's room that had different toys. This was the seafood cafe or something. It was supposed to be a restaurant, but I didn't see any seafood being served...just pizza and burgers.

Baby J liked the playroom too. After 10 hours in the car the boys were ready for action. Snug was actually pretty wild at the aquarium, and I was a bit embarrassed, but really he had sat for a L O N G time so I can't blame him.

As I type this picture has some regrets. Snug is always talking about snakes getting him, or that there are snakes in his bed. Today he actually got to touch one. We really encouraged him to do it thinking that maybe he wouldn't have this weird fear of them...we thought if he actually saw/touched one it would be ok (seems how he has never seen one except through glass). Ha. He is currently sleeping beside me as I type because he was crying very hard and super upset when we put him to bed. Apparently the snake followed us from the aquarium, to the hotel, and got in his bed couch. In leiu of a cranky boy tomorrow I bit my self pride and let him in bed with me. He usually (last year and supposed to be this) sleeps on the small couch with some chairs put next to it so he doesn't fall out. Aunt B. did you tell him about snakes????

This is how Baby J took a nap today. It wasn't long-lived, but it was hilarious.

Despite meeting Snug's deepest fear, Baby J going on 24 hours with 3 hours of sleep, and being at the wrong museum, it turned out pretty good!

And we made it to the beach! We haven't been down to the water yet. I'm just waiting for Pop Pop to come warm it up for me. I better explain that.

We've been prepping Snug for this vacation for a few days, but we warned him that the water will be cold and not to get his hopes up about swimming. So in the van on the way for pre-school drop offs, he announces "It's ok Blue Bear. Mama call Pop Pop. He'll fick it. We have warm water".
You can tell what happens when something breaks or isn't right around our house. Our hotel has a pool, but there is no water in it...so that won't be an option either.

As a treat we stopped tonight and got ice cream on the "boardwalk" across from our hotel.

Baby J got his first taste...

...and he didn't like it. At all.

Snug did. In fact when his was gone he ate about 1/2 of mine. Next time we will order one child one adult small. I will eat the child's, he will get the adult small.

See Aunt B? Here I am again!

To end the day we went swimming in the hotel bathtub where the water is always warm, and available...except for that one time last year where even the tub didn't have water. Not this hotel, I assure you. If you click on that link above you can see a picture of us last year at this time.

Wish #1 luck tomorrow as they will be playing 3-5 games...and up to 9 games on Sunday.

http://www.comfortinn.com/hotel-virginia_beach-virginia-VA563

Alphabitty Moments

Yeah! It is Thursday! I know I am #13 (twelve people, thirteen actually including Carrie) posted Alphabittys before me, but we are going on vacation! To VA BEACH! TONIGHT! I had to do the normal preschool runs/library/lunch/naps today, then we (#1 on his lunch break) packed the van and believe it or not I have about 30 minutes to blog. I love Alphabitty Moments! (Still don't have Storybook installed...working on it...)

L is for Library

L is for Library, we like it a lot.
While Miss Elizabeth reads, we all sit in our spot.

There are stories and songs, fingerplays and rhymes,
And when she is done, then its playtime!

They have lots of great toys, balls, puzzles, and books,

Baby J hopes nobody notices the ball that he took*.

All the toys are top quality and at the end of the day,

The librarians was them and put them away.

(which is why it is ok for Baby J to mouth them)

Snug's favorite part is playtime its true,

but he's also made lots of new friends who are two.

If you'd ever like to join us for library time,

It's every Thursday at 10, step up! Get in line!

*Baby J didn't steal the ball from the library...just from my Draycare kids. Also, see his red shirt? Some people I used to babysit for when I was a teenager mailed it to me when I had Snug...I always think of them when Baby J wears it.