Here is a rundown of our life as it has been for us in the past week...
1. Jayda is loving preschool, and just life in general. She is so full of energy and enthusiasm. She is CONSTANTLY on the go, and could honestly go out and play with friends all day long. I've had to explain to her on a few occasions that somedays are quiet days at home to play with Mommy and Skyler. In reality, between preschool, playgroups, datenights, and church, she's out playing with friends almost everyday, but during the afternoons that I just want to stay in, she struggles a bit. But usually, she is able to find fun games to play with Skyler and enjoys coloring and reading her books. She is so eager to please and works so hard to be a big girl. She's incredibly independent, and I'm always amazed at how creative she can get when finding a solution to a problem.
2. Skyler is growing and developing at an almost scary pace. I'm just not sure if I'm ready for my baby to be big already! Although his words are still very vague and hard to understand, it's so fun to be able to communicate with him. He's a very content boy, and is happy to stay inside, wander around, sit in a stroller or a carseat (as long as we're moving), with little issue. On that same note though, he himself is also very independent and doesn't want to be helped, or to hold your hand, he can do it himself! He is also very busy at home, and is sort of my "walking tornado." I feel like I am constantly cleaning up after the knocked down books, unraveled toilet paper, clothes that have been thrown from drawers, you get where I'm going. But he also loves to help clean up, so I guess that balances it out!
3. Glenn is doing really well and is so happy to be in dental school. He is excited about his classes and as far as I can tell, seems to be doing really well. He stays pretty busy with his studying and reading, but still finds time to do fun things with his family. We miss him when he's gone, but we're so glad that he is enjoying school.
4. I have had a kind of a slower week. It seems like this month has been strangely busy, and I was looking forward to doing a bit of cave dwelling this week. We have been out a few times for some shopping and playing, but overall, I've been happy to just stay home. I decided this year that I would put a little more effort into Halloween and decorate my house. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, even the small bit that I did, and now I feel that much more festive. I've also gotten pretty serious about eating healthier (horrible timing, I know), but so far, so good, and I am seeing results, so hopefully I can survive the next two months of cultural gorging. I've also been reading a lot this week, and just finished reading Cold Sassy Tree, which was just wonderful. I would recommend it to anyone! I'm now finishing up Les Miserables, which is another powerful book, in a completely different way.
Right now I have to tell you how much I'm enjoying living back east. The fall here is just breathtaking, I can't get enough of it. The leaves are bright, the weather is awesome, I love it! I hear the winters are rough, but I'll take the fall as long as it lasts.
So anyway, I know it's nothing to exciting, but for journaling sake, I thought I'd at least give an update. Next week promises to be extremely busy, so I will have much more just around the corner. Cheers!
I love this picture, it is the essence of Skyler's life lately, anything he can do headfirst, he will, including the stairs sometimes! I love it, he's such a tough kid.
The last time we were at the park there were these green "apples", I don't even know what they are. Anyway, Jayda had fun lining and stacking them.
Skyler loves wearing sunglasses, he comes up to me about twenty times a day wanting me to put the glasses on his face. It's pretty cute.
Flexing her muscles!
The sad thing is that they actually balance each other out quite nicely!
Like so many other people, I LOVE the fall! I love the smells, the cooler weather, the colors of the leaves changing, the comfort foods (of course), and the preparation of winter hibernating. So I was pretty excited to be going to the pumpkin patch, which is basically the epitome of everything fall stands for! It was a field trip for Jayda's preschool class, and the tour for each person was really cheap. We had so much fun, and the weather was beautiful, dare I say a little too warm-at least for how we were dressed.
As crazy as it may sound, one of my favorite parts of the trip was the drive to and from the pumpkin patch. The kids were being so good in the car and since I took the back roads to avoid paying tolls, we had about 30 minutes of such beautiful Pennsylvania scenery. The leaves and the houses were so gorgeous, and it was so relaxing. I would go back just for the drive!
Jayda can't seem to take a picture right now without pulling her jaw off her face!
This is the hay-wagon we rode to get to the patch, I thought we would be sitting up on bales of hay, instead you just snuggle right down in the loose hay. It was great, and I didn't have to worry so much about the kids falling off or anything.
Jayda with a bunch of her preschool friends.
Sitting in the hay wagon!
Look at Skyler ready to lick the heck out of his pumpkin! It makes me laugh, even though it should probably make me horrified.
It was pretty fun searching for pumpkins with the kids. The pumpkins were all really small and cute. The only hard part was trying to explain to Jayda that she could only pick one, she jumped from pumpkin to pumpkin pretty fast, but I think she was pretty happy with the one she chose. Skyler didn't care as long as he could put it in his mouth, yuck!
Afterward, we got dropped off at a corn maze for kids. At the end was a slide. The corn maze turned out to be kind of tough (especially for one as direction oriented as I am!). At the end was a big cool slide for the kids to go down.
The cherry on the cake was the ice cream at the end of the tour. The ice cream was SO THICK and creamy, mmmm. Jayda isn't supposed to have a lot of dairy, but I didn't have the heart to tell her no, so I let her have a cone. Fortunately they weren't too big and she ended up being okay, I think whatever ailments she would have suffered were slept off in the car! Thanks for the fun field trip Jamie and Annette!
For those not living close to us, I thought I would post a few more pics of my little boy who is finally walking. Since it took him so long to walk, he got good at it fast, and can keep up pretty well. I also wanted to showcase his first pair of real shoes. Isn't he the cutest thing ever!
Well, the Greenhouse blog has been pretty slow lately. Mostly because there is not a whole lot to report. Life is just flowing, in a good, but quiet way. Jayda is enjoying preschool, Glenn is enjoying dental school, Skyler likes to bang his head against the wall, and I've got my books! We're feeling more at home here in Philly everyday and we've been having a lot of fun getting to know the great people that live here. Our routine is pretty quiet, but it's nice to have a routine, and this kids are adjusting to it really well. Sometimes no news is good news!
However, since my blog has been slow, I was pleased to find that I had been tagged by my new friend, and VT companion extraordinnaire Natalie. At least I think it was me-Teresa she meant. If not it may be a little awkward, and kind of funny!
I hope I haven't done this tag already, but if so, perhaps I will make it just different enough to keep it entertaining! Thanks Natalie!
8 TV Shows I Love to Watch:
1. Scrubs
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. House
4. Chuck
5. Dirty Sexy Money
6. Arrested Development
7. The Soup
8. Family Guy
8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Qdoba
2. Fiesta
3. Cheesecake Factory
4. Grecian Key (in Pocatello)
5. Olive Garden
6. The Chinese restaurant right next to Superfresh
7. Honestly, it really just depends on the day and how hungry I am. I love it all!
8 Things That Happened Yesterday:
1. Discovered a great park at playgroup yesterday
2. Visited a friend
3. Cleaned the house
4. Took the most glorious nap in the history of naps ever. Right next to the open window while it was storming outside, best two hours of my life!
5. Made porkchops for dinner
6. Went shopping at Walmart
7. Realized later that we could have gone to a much closer Walmart!
8. Still managed to go to bed early even after a long nap!
8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:
1. Hosting this month's girl's night
2. General Conference (fall conference is the best!)
3. Glenn completing his first semester of school
4. Enjoying Halloween with my kids who are much more aware of Halloween this year!
5. Seeing my family in Jackson this Christmas!
6. Holiday cooking and baking
7. Getting a little more serious about working out (always!)
8. Date night tomorrow
8 Things On My Wish List:
1. To live just a LITTLE closer to family
2. Crazy huge and well stocked kitchen
3. The time and money to entertain with crazy huge and well stocked kitchen
4. Large yard and patio for backyard BBQ's and fun time with family
5. See my kids grow up happy and well adjusted, with the unwavering knowledge that their parents love them no matter what.
6. See the world with Glenn
7. Get my masters degree in something
8. To stay healthy and happy so I can live a long life as a wife, mother, daughter and sister to my family. (May sound cheesy, but seriously, what else could you ask for?)
Since I happen to really enjoy reading other people's tags, I tag all of you! Can't wait to learn more about ya'll (Glenn's from Texas, which makes me half Texan, so I can pull off ya'll)! Happy tagging!
