Ducks, Geese & VA Beach

We spent the past weekend in VA Beach and had a wonderful time visiting with Grandma & Grandpa Buescher and catching up with old friends. We left for VA Beach shortly after Isabel woke up on Friday, and soon realized that traveling during the longest awake period she has each day was a bad idea. Thank goodness it was just a 3 hour trip and not the longer trips we have planned for later this summer. We'll definitely be modifying our travel times to better align with Isabel's sleeping schedule.

After a failed attempt at an afternoon nap, due to falling asleep for 30 minutes in the car, Isabel was back in action. She was just delighted when 2 ducks appeared in the backyard. I wish I could have been on the otherside of the window. There is a bay window in the kitchen which was perfect for a little Isabel to sit and watch the ducks from.

The window seat also worked well for a post duck-watching tickle.

After his cousin Ben's valedictorian speech, I had asked Geoffrey if he still had has valedictorian speech. He muttered something about if he found it he'd give it to me but wasn't going to make any great attempts to locate it. While we were home he went through a drawer of HS stuff and not only found his speech (which I did get to read), but a whole lot of awards (Isabel - your dad was/is a big dork). Isabel had fun displaying the various medals Michael Phelps style.

Saturday morning we went to a local pond to feed the geese. I always loved feeding ducks/geese as a child and still do as an adult, so I was especially excited to get to share this activity with Isabel.

Heading out with our stale bread.

Feeding the geese. Grandma B got some great shots and I'll definitely be getting some of them printed...the ones below are my personal favorites.

Fun times swinging with dad!

Our exciting morning continued at Uncle Peter's house, where we got to check out his amazing garden. Isabel wasn't so impressed by the garden, but loved getting to see Stella dog again. Its a good thing the pugs weren't around, as they might have been jealous. Isabel definitely loves her pugs but she loves LOVES Stella.

Isabel also enjoyed checking out Stellas bedroom aka Stella's crate.

It was especially fun to get to play with Uncle Peter from inside the crate.

We spent the rest of Saturday relaxing and I actually started reading a book during Isabel's naptime, while Geoffrey took a nap. It was so nice to have Isabel down for a nap with nothing to accomplish. Saturday night we helped celebrate Elliott's 30th birthday with a bunch of other friends from VT. It was great getting to see so many people and to not have to worry about rushing home since Grandma Buescher was watching Isabel.

We left Sunday morning but I was able to catch this picture of Grandma B and Isabel reading. We had such a great time and I'm looking forward to more relaxing later this summer on our various out of town trips.

Pugs Love Hats (according to Isabel)

2 posts in one day, another record I know. I just couldn't wait to get these pictures loaded as they crack me up. After Isabel's nap we came downstairs to get ready to head to the grocery store. General was sleeping on the couch next to a hat of Isabel's she had left there. The hat is actually an Easter bonnet that Grandma Schaeffer had gotten her, but she wasn't a fan of it at Easter time...but boy what a difference a couple months make. She loves that hat, wears it around the house and especially loves having Mommy and Dad wear it. It seems that she also decided the pugs would like to wear it, as she made a mad dash to General the minute she saw him laying there next to her hat, when the following took place.


Oh General, you look so beautiful in this hat.


See, you can even sleep with it.

Yaaaaay! Such a pretty hat!

See Mommy, he looks so nice!

Perhaps a slight tilt would suit you better.

Hmm, or maybe not.

Are you dreaming about your hat?

Here, this will block the light out while you sleep.

Or you can just stick with the more casual, back of the head look.

You like that style? Yaaaaay!

(Grabs hat, and bolts to the dining room towards her next victim).

Oh gizMOOOO! I have a surprise for yoUUUU!

Not so fast mister. You might not listen to me but my Mommy knows how to make you sit and stay.

Now stay right there while I put this on your head...

(something distracts Isabel, and she is off again, leaving 2 confused pugs and a hat behind)

When Dad's away, the girls shall play :)

Geoffrey was out of town last week, so there wasn't much extra time for blogging etc, since by the end of the day I was usually pretty beat. Isabel and I had a great week, but were also ready to have Geoffrey back. Not that I don't usually miss Geoffrey, but this is the first trip post Isabel that I think I really missed him. (if that makes any sense). Now that Isabel's personality is really coming out and she does so much, I really missed getting to share with Geoffrey all that Isabel had done during the day or at school. And I think he missed Isabel the most of any trip, as he know that she was doing such fun stuff and was always on the go.

One day last week I was trying to send a quick email on the computer while Isabel was also in the office. She decided that she wanted a better view and cleared off the box and papers that were on top of our filing tote and climbed on up.

She then got bored and decided it was time to get down. Now that she has discovered this great spot, she makes a beeline for it everytime we go into the office. Which means I really don't have time for quick emails anymore, as I can't keep my eyes on the monitor and on her well enough to do either.

We had A LOT of rain last week. Friday it once again was raining and I had the great idea to make Geoffrey's (belated) birthday cake while Isabel was awake. I prepped most of the ingredients the night before but failed to look at the second column of ingredients where sour cream was listed. So we had to make a quick trip out in the pouring down rain to get sour cream, as I had already started mixing things and couldn't let all the chocolate I had melted go to waste :). So I put Isabel in her raincoat, which definitely runs BIG and we headed out.

Poor girl. She doesn't realize that she is dressed like the Gorton's Fisherman.

Friday just happened to be National Donut Day, and Dunkin Donuts was offering a free donut with the purchase of a drink. I hadn't planned on participating with all the rain, but hey, we were already out so it would have been communist not to go, right?

Isabel even got to celebrate with a taste of the donut. She wasn't a fan of the cake part and pretty much played in the chocolate frosting.

Geoffrey got back just a little bit later than scheduled on Friday and was very excited to see his belated cake in the fridge. We have been enjoying it (a triple layer devil's food cake with dark chocolate frosting) ever since :).

Sunday afternoon we headed to Baltimore for Geoffrey's cousin, Ben's, high school graduation from Gilman. It was a beautiful day for the outdoor ceremony. Ben is the one in the middle. I'm not sure if its a private school thing, but the boys (its an all male school) wore matching khakis, blazers and ties instead of caps/gowns.

Isabel and I spent most of graduation on the side lawn walking back and forth. The ceremony was only an hour and she wore herself out. She was very happy to be reuinited with her duck at the end.

And finally, a few random shots from this morning. I LOVE this picture. People are always telling me how much Isabel looks like me, but I think she looks like Geoffrey. I need to get ahold of a picture of Geoffrey has a child, because she looks so much like him as a child in this picture. Or maybe its just that she is being a big goofball, which she definitely gets from dad.

Our garden enjoyed all of last week's rain and is thriving. Although the tomatoes are still quite short, many of them are covered in flowers. We have about 10 green beans that are almost ready to be picked and snap peas that should be forming from their flowers shortly. Our squash were doing well until somethign came along and ate the flowers...

And a few shots of Isabel on her "new to us" (gotta love freecycle) little tykes slide/playground. It is the perfect size for her and she just loves climbing up the slide (with a spotter of course) and standing on the platform. She also enjoys going down the slide but needs some support still.

Have a great week everyone! Time for me to run and get some stuff done around the house before Isabel gets up from her nap.

Just give me the WHOLE ear of corn

Tonight for dinner I did the usual take whatever we were having for dinner, cut it up into small, non-choking size pieces and place onto Isabel's tray. Let's just say that worked for a little bit. She ate her peas, her chicken sausage and bread no problem, but was not at all impressed with the small kernels of corn on her tray. I was able to distract her for a while but she kept pointing to the ear on my plate. So I figured what the heck, I'll let her try, but certainly didn't think she'd actually get any corn off of the cob. If anyone should have known the power of her sharp little chompers it should ahve been me. I'm not sure what was more fun, actually seeing her get corn off the cob, or just trying to the different methods until she found one that worked. The uncles were over for dinner as well and really had a good laugh. I think I'm onto something here though. If ever we need to keep Isabel occupied (and quiet), give her an ear of corn. Unfortunately I don't think that method will help us out in church at all...

So, before I ramble on any longer, here is Isabel and her first corn on the cob.


Going for it...



Perhaps the underhand grip would work a bit better...
(FYI, the "flat" looking portion is where I had cut some corn off for Isabel)

What, you've never seen a baby eating an ear of corn?

Perhaps Mommy was onto something and I should remove the kernels before eat them...

Nope, she was wrong. Eating it straight from the source is waaay better.

See all the progress I made! Mmm, corn.

A Pea, her pugs and a spatula

Most of you probably know by now that Isabel has the nickname of "Pea" which came about after I calling her sweet pea a while, which then got shortened to Pea. Lucky girl, we know :). Anyways, I got a call at work yesterday from Geoffrey who said "your little girl is chasing the pugs around with a spatula." Unfortunately he was unable to get a video as the camera was upstairs, but this morning during breakfast on the sun porch, she once again grabbed her spatula and went to town. As you'll see in the first video, General was not so enthused by this new game...but that didn't stop Isabel!

Random May Photos

Not a whole lot going on at the Buescher household, just the usual chasing after Isabel :). She has really perfected her walking and cannot be stopped. She loves to walk in the house and in the backyard and of course to chase after the pugs.

I've been itching to put Isabel in this dress since she got it for her birthday and a couple Fridays ago the weather warranted a sundress...though I should have thought twice before taking her outside to play in the dress. Things were fine while she spun the blocks on her miniature playground...

But then she decided to make a beeline to the teeter totter. Which would have been fine except we'd had a bunch of rain earlier in the week and I didn't think that there might be water in the foot wells. Oops. Isabel was certainly pleased to find the puddles to play in.

Just another day of Isabel head butting the pugs. She finds it really funny to ram her head into the pugs and thankfully they don't seem to mind.

My new favorite shirt. A co-worker of mine brought Isabel this shirt back from Wallops Flight Facility...check out what it says :).

Isabel is really into doors and the baby gates, of which we have 4 of. 2 at the playroom entrances, one at the top of the stairs and one at the bottom. She loves to go through the gate and then shut it. If she gets too far from the gate and realizes it is not shut, she immediately heads back to the gate to shut it before continuing on her next adventure.

A bowl of lettuce. How's that for random? Well, this is pretty special lettuce, as it is the first from our garden. The spinach isn't so happy and is already going to seed, but our romaine and butter lettuce is doing GREAT. I was thrilled when I could harvest enough leaves last week for a side salad. It will be even better later this season when we can have big salads where all the veggies come from the garden.

On Friday I snagged a sweet deal on this like new Burley D'Lite bicycle trailer from Craigslist. I took it for a short spin on Saturday to make sure I could handle it (let me tell you, hills are quite the workout with this thing). Isabel wasn't too sure to make of it at first, but seemed to enjoy it.

Monday we went to the W&OD trail and took an 8 mile ride to Anne & Jon's and back. It was so nice to be out as a family on our bikes. Eric took this picture for us upon our return. We then rewarded our cycling efforts with a yummy Memorial Day BBQ.

In other non-photo news, Isabel has been talking/verbalizing herself a lot more. Some of her words are more clear than others, but it is obvious that she recognizes many different things around her and is picking up words quickly. A prime example was yesterday while I was getting things ready for the BBQ and Uncle Eric was sitting with Isabel while she ate her lunch. He had brought a bag of goldfish over and kept pointing the the fish on the bag saying "fish." All of a sudden I heard a cute little "fish" come from Isabel. It was fun because tonight she could then say "fish" after I showed her one of her bath toys, also a fish.

And finally, a video from Saturday. Apparently Isabel had been going non stop (I was at a class) and was so tired that she started falling asleep during lunch. Geoffrey couldn't help himself and took this short video. Reminds me of being in college when you'd see students trying to stay awake during long boring lectures...

We hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend! I can't believe that summer is almost here.