a year ago today...

...I started this blog.

Happy blog anniversary to ME!


My, how things have changed since then. For the better of course!

A trip to Sesame Street. well, not really.

Kenley got to meet her great Grammy Menne this past week. I had not seen her since last year at Thanksgiving and it was nice to get up there and visit with everyone.

I regret that I didn't get to take more pictures of Kenley with others.

We had a nice visit in Pennsylvania, stayed at my Aunt Jean's house and overtook it with baby gear. Luckily, she didn't seem to mind. Mom and Aunt Jean took me to a new little coffee place in Jersey Shore called Jersey Shore Java. Saturday morning, we met Juli for breakfast and I enjoyed some sticky bun french toast. It was delicious! While we were enjoying our breakfast, the mailman came inside and in a super friendly voice said, "Hellooooo Java hut!" He went and delivered the mail to Ashley (my cute pregnant cousin) and left as happy as he arrived. I looked at my mom and asked, "where are we? Sesame Street?" She then started singing "these are the people in your neighborhood..." Awesome. I am not used to such a small town where everyone knows each other. It made me laugh.

On the way home, we planned on stopping at this yummy Amish produce market and bakery. They have all sorts of cookies, pies, breads, jams... you name it -- they make it!

To our delight, when we arrived at the bakery, a sign told us it was whoopie pie weekend! Yea!

Part of their apple selections... We bought some honeycrisp apples which I have to say were amazing.

As we got out of the car, an Amish horse and buggy was right behind us and my mom said "quick, get your camera!" I was able to get this really cute shot of the two adorable kids in the back. I felt kinda bad for taking their picture but after I took it my mom and I both waved at them and of course they waved back. I love how they both are smiling.

Kenley, being tired in the car.

Here are some of our purchases from Weaver's. We got some popcorn, candy onions, tomatoes, honeycrisp apples, small potatoes, Strawberry Peach marmalade, Pizza bread, dinner rolls, an Apple pie, chocolate chip cookies, molasses cookies, an oatmeal whoopie pie, a red velvet whoopie pie for Andrew and mom and I shared an amazing peanut butter (with peanut butter cream) whoopie pie. I wish I had bought 3 peanut butter whoopie pies.

While Kenley was asleep on the way home, I managed to get a couple pictures of the trees and their pretty leaves. The clouds were really low that day too and there were a couple shots I missed that I wish I could go back and take.

I just thought this picture was funny... I was taking a picture out the side window and happened to take it at the perfect time to get the Jumbo's sign dead center. I am awesome.

I love fall.

Grammy made Kenley a play room!

We went to Grammy's house this Wednesday night. We arrived a little after 8pm and Andrew and I were both exhausted. Kenley had not been a very good baby in the car that night. We played and she got to eat some cereal and have some milk while driving. She took a short nap, but there were a lot of tears again. Thursday morning Kenley, Grammy and I left for Pennsylvania to meet the Menne side of the family and so Kenley could meet her great Grammy Menne. I will post those pictures in a new post -- this post is dedicated to Kenley's new playroom at her Grammy Hawk's (Paradise).

Practicing her reading...

Investigating her new reading chair.

Where is the baby?

Kenley's new playroom is so cute. She will get to enjoy it again in a few weeks when we go back up to Fairfax for Christina's baby shower!

5 months old!

Can you believe that on Wednesday, Kenley will be 5 months old? This past month has really flown by...

(Gibbs thinks the camera is his laser so he whines and wants to eat the camera every time you turn it on. He is so neurotic.)

Tomorrow, we are all traveling to northern VA to her grandparents house. Thursday, Kenley, her grammy and myself will all travel to PA and meet the Menne side of the family and her GREAT grammy. They are very excited to meet little miss K. Hopefully there will be lots of fun pictures to post when we return.

Not much is new here... Kenley sits up, laughs, loves oatmeal and banana cereal and is becoming such a big kid.

For now, here are a few that we took recently.

No longer a newborn baby.

Kenley got to spend the weekend with Grammy who came down from Fairfax on Friday afternoon. The past few weeks Kenley has been learning so many new skills that it seems that overnight she has become a big kid and is no longer the tiny newborn she was a month or two ago.

She loves sweet potatoes and has been getting better and better eating solids. Every night we have a little bit of big kid food, last night she got to try pears for the first time. I have been making her food and I am finding it to be super quick and relatively easy. Maybe when she starts eating solids three times a day it won't be as easy to keep up making as much as she needs. Tonight, I made her a whole ice cube tray of pureed peas. We will try those this weekend.

The weather has been a bit chilly at night so we got bundled up when we went out for our evening walks.

I needed to take a trip to Target and while we were there we found these super cute vinyl wall decals (2009's version of Colorforms). Mom and I had a good time putting them up while Kenley watched.

Cute little hedgehog!

Kenley's room had to be rearranged so we could get a good open view of the new tree. Here, Kenley is trying out her "time-out" stool.

We tried to see if Kenley was ready for a big kid bath... she is just hanging out of her current whale tub. We gave it a shot but she took a few too many nose dives so we will have to try again later.

We played at Priority Toyota while her Grammy's car got the oil changed. Kenley even got to meet Hootie McBoob! (Don't ask.)

She loved the balloons in the showroom.

Kenley had fun in the big kid swing for the first time too! At first, she was a bit unsure but she was all smiles after the first couple pushes.

Kenley and her Grammy swinging.

Watching the water...

Being a goober.

Swinging, enjoying the weather.

Grammy is making Kenley a playroom at her house. We cannot wait to go and check it out!

See you next time!

A lovely way to start the fall.

Over night, her eyelashes have grown. Maybe not overnight but all of the sudden they just seem so long and pretty.

Last Saturday, we took Kenley to Hunt Club Farm in Virginia Beach. It was the second week of their Fall Festival. Mainly, I wanted to get some cute pictures of Kenley with pumpkins and gourds. It was a bit overcast when we got there but I decided to give it a go anyways. Here are some of the pictures...

Here is one especially for Aunt Lauren... notice she is holding some hay. Awesome.

Kenley is sitting up now. Well almost. She can sit for a few minutes before getting a bit wobbly and it's a good idea to remain close in case she decides to face plant. Soon she will be a professional sitter.

I took this picture on Tuesday, my work from home day. I just can't seem to take enough pictures of her. She is always doing something cute that needs to be captured through images.

This morning, while getting ready to take Andrew to the airport we were loading things into the car and saw this amazing sky. I went in and grabbed the camera to get a few pictures. When we left the house 5 minutes later, it was gone. Just a boring old blue early morning sky was left. I am so glad I got a couple pictures.

Until next time...