A Trip to the Museum

Between getting at least six new teeth and battling ear infections February was a little trying and we all were a little sleep deprived. However, March is off to a very strong start. We had the most fun yesterday. After a great night sleep, we had some relaxing morning time, followed by cleaning up the house. Quinten loves helping out when it comes to cleaning. He helped daddy with the wood floors and loves being chased by the vacuum. He is very funny he will point to certain objects around the house and say either "mommy" or "daddy." The vacuum always gets a mommy and the tv remote always gets a daddy...hmm.

We headed out and made it to the Children's Museum in Wilmington by 11:00. The museum is a great place where kids learn through playing. Quinten had so much fun with all of the hands on activities they had to offer. We played hard for about two hours and then enjoyed a great lunch on the riverfront! When we got home Q took a three hour nap and then was surprised with a visit from Rocky and Nina. He was completely smitten with Nina. He acted so shy but if she wasn't in site would quickly call for her. After about an hour visit we all headed out to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. We enjoyed two hours of bliss! Quinten did such a great job and the food was outstanding!!!

Here are some pictures from our afternoon.

Having fun with Big Foam Blocks!

 Q liked knocking over towers and climbing out of the pit.

One of Quinten's latest obsessions is "choo choo" or trains. He loves to play with them, here songs about them or watch videos about them. So the fact that they had big trains that he could go inside was thrilling!

Ringing the bell with Daddy!

The museum had a "wildlife" exhibit where kids could play with water, look for birds, and fish.

 My first catch!

Trying to take the fish off the "hook" to throw in the bucket. 

This was his favorite part.

 Checking out how things move.

Driving the boat for the first time...hmmm maybe Grandma Kathy and Mark need a skipper on board?!? 

The construction zone was definitely his favorite part. Once he saw all the other kids wearing hats, he quickly scoped out where they were kept, put his right on, and got to work.

Posing for a picture, making sure his hat didn't fall off.

Listening carefully to directions.

All in all is was such a wonderful day and we are already looking forward to our next visit!

Our creative little boy!

So far February has been a fun filled month. Although Quinten dislikes being dropped off at school very much, once he is there he has a blast and is learning so much!

Earlier this month he had pajama day.

He was head to toe Elmo!

His Elmo slippers were a huge hit with all of his friends and teachers.

We couldn't believe he left them on all day!

 We made Valentine cards for his classmates.

We decided mommy's bath tub would be the least messy place to paint. 

Such a fun and easy way to do it, we will be painting in there again.

 He is just noticing that he has paint on himself, really?!?

 Once he got over being "dirty" he decided it was way more fun to paint himself!

After rinsing the paint he wanted to play more in his tub.

 Saying cheese with a colander on his face:)

Such a silly boy!

 My Valentine!

Quinten will ask for "art" at least once a day.

This means time to color. He will sit in his high chair and color for at least a half hour, which is a wonderful time for us to get things done in the kitchen.

Q takes his coloring very seriously...definitely takes after daddy!

This morning we took a drive up to Lancaster to go to the Pottery Barn outlet.
While we were there we stopped at Dutch Haven for some ShooFly Pie and
even got to see a few horse and buggies!

 Q playing with on Callie:)

 Upon recommendation of our friends, Lisa and Finn, we decided to check out the Little Gym.

Although Q was apprehensive at first he was soon running around trying out all of their fun equipment.
Even walking on the balance beams!

It was a lot of fun, we will definitely have to go again!

Welcome 2013!

Between moving, holidays, battling colds, being pregnant, and oh yeah just the regular day to day things of being a full time mom and dad of a curious, intelligent, amazing 1 1/2 year old while also trying to be successful at work, we haven't felt up to blogging in awhile. Hence this blog = lots of pics!

The holidays were different than our usual but wonderful! We broke our tradition of driving north and stayed home for Christmas. GM & GP joined us and it was filled with delicious food, lots of love and tons of fun. Quinten really enjoyed opening presents and showed true excitement with each one. Some of his favorite things to play with now are his cars, blocks, and definitely his books. He will easily sit and look at books for over a 1/2 hour. And next to Mommy, Daddy and puppy it is always the next thing he asks for when he wakes up in the morning. "Mo boo peez" is a frequent phrase of Q's.

Can you believe this is our little monkey last year!

 

Q and I made some cookies the week before Christmas.

 

He really enjoyed mixing the batter. 

Quinten is definitely becoming more and more independent and likes to try to do

whatever we are and most times we let him try.

 

 While our cookies baked, we decorated our tree.

Where did Q go?!?!

Finished product...

melting snowmen sugar cookies, not only cute but also very yummy!

 

Reading on Xmas Eve!

It started snowing on Xmas Eve, so Jason quickly got the kids bundled up and heading outside!

First time sledding!

Our backyard has the perfect little spot for Q to go down.

First Christmas tree in new house. 

We went to a tree farm a few minutes away to pick the perfect tree.

Q is turning into a mac genius at a very young age. He already can navigate and play a few favorite games on his own.

Playing with "Boba" aka Grandpa on the new Pirate ship!

I love where he has his feet resting:)

Helping "Mama" aka Grandma open her presents.

We jammed lots of fun into our 11 day vacation.

Playdates with school friends, party at Steph and Chris's and lots of family fun time!

All the kids and adults loved Q's playroom!

Callie didn't want to miss out on any fun so she plopped herself right in the middle of everyone.

Kissing "Yayee" on the cheek, after partying at their house!

Lunch at Lucky's after his haircut.

The lighting in this picture is not good. 

If you look close you can see Q is sitting on his best bud!

 

Showing off his new haircut!

One of our favorite times of the day, BATHTIME!!!
Quinten will sign and say "all done" when he is ready to get out of the tub. J and I tell him he has to clean up first and he will put all of his toys in the green bag before he stands up to get out.
He is turning into such a good helper!

Best buds napping at the beach house.

Back in late October we went to the beach for the Seawitch festival and I never posted these pics...

The festival was filled with fun events, a parade and a very big dog that Q wanted to pet!

Looks like a GIANT Callie the way her front paws were crossed.

The festival was awesome and tired our little Charlie Brown out so much he fell asleep in his stroller,
which is rare occurrence.

We were also in the poconos over Thanksgiving I came across these family pictures we had taken.

Gramps and Great Grandma Mel joined us for Turkey day in the Poconos!

Tired after a long day and LOTS of delicious food.

Q has an appetite of a growing boy and had no problem putting down lots of turkey, stuffing and potatoes. YUM! Thanks Boba and Mama for a wonderful holiday dinner!

Quinten's favorite word is "op po pus" (octopus)

I guess his pirate themed bedroom...

And fishy bathroom are two reasons why he likes to say that word so much.

Captain Quinten towel

All dressed up and no where to go!

 Now that we are caught up and starting to feel better, I will get better at posting.

Busy 2012!

Well the last two weeks have been quite busy, but also fabulous!

We are finally in our new home and Quinten is going to be a big brother!

Check out my shirt!

"Only Child...Expires June 2013"

Although the pregnancy started off a little shaky, I feel good most days and time seems to be flying by this time around.

Q shared the news with my students last week with this video.

Most days have been filled with organizing, unpacking, getting used to where everything is, and just relaxing in our new home.

Quinten and Callie have adjusted quite well to their new home. They enjoy chasing each other around all of the space they now have to play. We know they will love the woods in the backyard as time goes on.

Here they are chilling on the new couch!

(Notice Q's shirt...he already is the king of this castle!)

Most of our rooms are pretty set, although we still have many bare walls.

We are waiting on new furniture for the morning room. And haven't found a dining room set they we love yet, so that remains the only empty room at this point.

I will post more picks of the house over the weekend. But for now here is a picture of Quinten putting together a puzzle in his playroom.

His playroom has a bit fo a Dr. Suess theme.
It's awesome and so great to have a place for him to keep all of his toys right off of the family room.
Some other recent photos of our silly little boy!

 Saying cheese as he snacks on cheese and blueberries!

 He was yelling at me, because he wanted to put on all of his bibs and I limited him to two!
Q gets about an hour of Daddy time every morning after I leave for work and before he goes to school. It is very often that he learns a something new during this time.
This is the latest thing they have been working on.
Notice how Q repeats some of the words "kitty cat" and "hat" but mostly how he likes to toot his own horn!

Although some mornings they spend time being silly and seeing how many objects Q will out on his head!

"What?!?! Is something on my head?"

One of Q's favorite words is "hattie" or hat, he has been signing this word for quite awhile and recently, I guess with the influx of colder weather has been using it quite often.

Two mornings in a row now he has totally on his own put a piece of banana on his head and called it a hattie:)