Playing with our new toy

Thanks to Woot.com, we are the proud owners of a Flip video camera. I had Flip envy when the Clarkes were here visiting for Tyler's birthday party, and when one was being sold on Woot for a discounted price, I jumped on it. Our digital camera has the capability to take videos too, but we've already found that the quality is 100 times better with the Flip. So, enjoy a few videos from the past week.

Ring Around the Rosie

Bedtime stories or be silly? Be silly.

Just some new stuff

We've been pretty busy here lately - another Home Depot kids' workshop (he made a racetrack this time, well, I did), testing out a new jogging stroller (I'm determined to get in shape this spring), a little bit of grilling outside (Tyler loves to help cook!), getting 2 year pictures taken (I am so glad that we don't have to do THAT for another year - whew!), and just enjoying the gradual change to spring (though we wish it would come on a bit faster). We have lots coming up too. A quick visit from our dear friends the Bowlers this weekend while they are in town from Florida, a visit to Lynchburg to see Grandpa, Uncle Eddie, & Miss Emily next weekend, then Easter the weekend after. Busy times ahead! Before we know it, the pool will be open, Aunt Jenn & Uncle Brian's little boy will be born, and we'll be heading to the beach (with Grandpa & Eddie, AND meeting up with the Bowlers there!.

Snow in March!

We got our first real snow of the year. On March 2nd. Crazy! We got about 8 inches, and I can honestly say that I don't think that I've seen that much snow in Richmond since I moved here in 2002! The news claimed that we did have this much snow a few years ago, but I certainly don't remember it. It started on Sunday night (thankfully our friends the Clarkes, left earlier in the day!) and continued along with some very high winds throughout the night. Our power flickered a few times, which made me nervous, but we never lost power. Whew!

We woke up to a winter wonderland! We found out that Tyler's daycare was closed for the day, and were shocked to find out that Travis had the day off as well! I had just a little bit of hope that we might be able to spend the snowy day together only to have that hope shot down. Yep, I had to be at work that day. But since the roads were horrible, we decided that we had time to dress Tyler up in his snow gear and take him out for a little bit. (And I'll admit - I was glad that I needed to go in late because I was not about to be robbed of being able to make a memory of Tyler's first snow with him by having to rush to work.) Several months ago, I bought some snow boots and snow bibs for Tyler, knowing that if I DIDN'T buy them we'd get 2 feet of snow.

So I got him all dressed up and ready to go! He was really good about putting on lots of layers, and did well with his boots and mittens too. The mittens were a little harder to get on, but once they were on, he was OK with it - he just couldn't pick anything up! He stepped outside, and walked fairly well. He seemed to really like it, and then he was nailed in the face with a snowball by one of the neighbors. Once we corrected that situation, he was better and played for a little while. He stayed outside until the winds were so bad that he was getting snow blown in his face, and was almost getting knocked over. Then he was most definitely ready to come in. But I'm sure it'll be another 4+ years before we ever get this amount of snow again so I'm glad we got to enjoy it now. (And also glad that it was gone before long, as we had temps in the upper 70s just days later!!!!! BRING ON SPRING!!!!)

2nd Birthday Fun (and more)

We celebrated Tyler's 2nd birthday yesterday. Where has the time gone???? We had a great time with his party. We had it at the Children's Museum of Richmond and I was so happy that we did it there. It was so nice to have someone else set up and clean up. That was worth its weight in gold. All of the kids got to play in the museum before the party started, and after it was over. It was really crowded though, since it was a rainy day. Everyone in Richmond was looking for an indoor activity, I guess. But the kids still had a great time. I decided to get ambitious and made a dinosaur cake for a dinosaur themed party, and I thought it looked great! I got lots of compliments on both look and taste, so that's good.

Tyler got a ton of great stuff. Lots of spring and summer clothes (since I overestimated and bought a bunch of 3T stuff last year for this year that won't fit til next year - whoops), trucks, lots of Play-Doh, puzzles, a Little People barn (I love that thing! It reminds me of the old barn when I was a kid!), and lots of other great toys. We're very fortunate to have such great friends and family.

We had lots of out-of-town guests for the day too. Of course, Grandpa & Cindy were there, along with Uncle Eddie & Emily. Our friends, the Clarkes, came all the way from South Carolina, and friends the Springsteens came from Northern VA. It was so great to have so many people travel for the big day!

Before Tyler's birthday though, we did have to make a quick trip back to Lynchburg. Sadly, my Nana Woody passed away on February 23. So we went to Lynchburg for the services and were there from Tuesday through Thursday of the week. Aunt Kay & Uncle Mike from Singapore were in town, as well as my 3 cousins - Gray, David, & Anne. As sad as the situation was, it was great to spend time with all of them. Rest in peace, Nana. We will miss you.