I LOVE

You know I am a new(ish) mom when educational toys excite me!

I thought our local library was really cool with its modern architecture and coffee shop, but when I saw these educational toys in the children's area, it suddenly got way cooler.

I guess children don't go to the library to just read books anymore. Now it's also a place to enhance your toddler's gross and fine motor skills. I'd love to have some of these toys for V at home. I also love how they are neatly organized in clear containers. Sorry for the poor pictures, but I was trying to snap photos quickly with my iPhone. I really loved the cloth shape sorting toys, and the lettered bean bags.  I'll have to do some googling to hopefully find some similar, inexpensive toys for home. 

Eight Things I Learned in July

I'm linking up with Emily Freeman of Chatting at the Sky to share the things I learned in July. Most of the things I learned are random and insignificant, but should give you a glimpse into my life last month. Please visit Emily's blog and check out the other hundreds of bloggers who shared what they learned. 

1. Having one of those Rachael Ray garbage bowls for kitchen scraps is really handy. My personal project this month was to try to do a better job keeping the kitchen clean. Now that I am cooking mostly paleo meals, I spend a lot of time prepping vegetables in the kitchen. It's so nice to be able to sweep my trash into a large bowl nearby, and have my area clean for the next task.

2. It is much easier to "clean as you go" in the kitchen when your kitchen sink is not already full of dirty dishes. I don't know why I didn't realize this before, but it makes a huge difference. If my sink is clear at the start of my day, then I only spend about 10 minutes three times a day at the sink instead of 30 minutes, three times a day.

3. Paleo meals are pretty.

4. Obtaining a mortgage makes you the instant recipient of junk mail. Thanks CB2 and Pottery Barn for your 10% coupons, but how did you get our address? We also just received a letter from The Guys in Purple Landscaping that stated, "Our records indicate you are a new homeowner." Um, really?! I'd like to go over and check out their records.

5. You can go on a short hike in red patent leather Steve Madden flats. We took an unexpected hike one weekend to Roaring Run, and of course, I didn't have any hiking shoes with me. It takes about an hour to hike it round trip, and there is very little incline. I looked like I was going shopping instead of hiking. This was also our daughter's first hike, and she was amazed by the sights and sounds.

6. Mr. Price and I are not big fans of the new Arrested Development Netflix series. After watching the original series a couple of years ago and loving it, we were excited to catch up with the Bluth gang. But the new Netflix series just has not impressed us. We have been getting many more laughs watching Parks and Recreation.

7. My daughter can take screenshot photos with my iPhone, but I have no idea how. 

8. I've learned to appreciate the bad days as well as the good days. The bad days make the good days even better.

Melody Makers

Melody Makers is a locally owned business that introduces music and art to infants and children. This year, at the recommendation of another mom, I enrolled my daughter in the Melody Makers' summer program, Gigi Jingle Class. This class introduces music to children ages one month - thirty-six months. It has been a real hit with V! The class is named for the soft-spoken Giraffe puppet, Gigi, who makes her appearance at the end of each class to sing a song with the children. Each child attending also takes a turn petting Gigi. 

Prior to Gigi's appearance, the class sings songs and plays different musical instruments with a few of Gigi's other puppet friends. Drums, clappers, castanets and jingle bells are a few fun instruments children get to play. The class also listens to a few minutes of one classical piece of music. So far V has been exposed to "Water Music" by George F. Handel and "Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Phillips Sousa. For an added sensory experience, both pieces were accompanied by bubbles from a bubble machine the instructor waved across the room. Last week we enjoyed "The Swan" by Saint-Saens, while we threw and blew white feathers across the room.

To encourage gross motor skills, we also sing songs while playing with streamers, bean bags or just moving your body as the music suggests.

As you can tell, each 30 minute class has new and fun ways to experience music. Classes are small in size with no more than 10 children and one accompanying parent. Although, some children bring one parent and two adoring grandparents, or both parents. The joy is contagious, and can be hard not to share with someone else.

The cost of the class is $100, and meets once a week for 10 weeks. I think on some days I have enjoyed the class more than V. On two occassions she seemed reserved, or just sleepy. Her favorite musical instrument to play with has been the drums. She was especially awestruck by the Swan puppet and the feathers last week.

I'm so thrilled that my friend recommended this class to us. I wouldn't have thought to look into something like this. Please check out Melody Makers online to learn about their other music, art and other learning enrichment workshops.

Monthly Review: April and May 2013

here are just a few events from the past two months...

we had one more freak snow the first week of april. the.first.week.of.april! i couldn't believe it. it was so weird - it was bright and sunny one a monday, snowy (four plus inches) on tuesday, and bright and sunny with no evidence of snow on wednesday. talk about crazy weather patterns.

but thankfully it has been slowly warming up, reaching our normal spring and summer temps. it's been nice seeing nature come to life again.

^^^we have wild strawberries growing in our yard^^^

and speaking of nature, we love that our new house provides the opportunity to see wildlife. we have a small herd of deer that frequently visit our neighborhood. and even though we've lived in this house for almost three months, seeing these animals never gets old. i always want to stop what i am doing to watch them.

in early may we took a trip down to georgia to attend our sister-in-law's med school graduation.

on the way to macon, ga we stopped near atlanta to spend a day with close friends we had not seen in several months. it was so fun to catch up on life and see our children play together. they took us to a great little place to experience frozen custard. frozen yogurt has always been a favorite treat of mine, and this custard did not disappoint.

another treat i helped myself to during a date night was this to.die.for krispy kreme donut bread pudding. i am cursed with a sweet tooth!

the year is trucking right along, and our little babe isn't slowing down either. she continues to grow and learn at an unbelievable rate. by the end of the summer, she'll be eighteen months, and that just doesn't seem possible.

i am so thankful that we are homeowners now. because this summer V is definitely more mobile, walking and running all by herself. each day we spend some time outside, and it has been nice to have our own little space to do so. she loves to splash in water.  i haven't broken down to buy a water table yet, so i just fill a couple of bowls and buckets up with water, and she seems to have fun.

here are few other cute things likes to do:
:: wave bye-bye when she closes a book
:: stop to smell flowers, outside, in the grocery store, and even pictures of flowers in books
:: one day she walked in a small circle until she got dizzy and fell down
:: although, not cute, she has walked down the stairs in our house from the living room to the foyer. yes, all by herself, while her mother was not looking.
:: she also likes to give hugs, which are so lovely to receive.

although it already feels like the middle of june, it is shaping up to be a busy month. hopefully i can be a little more prompt with my monthly review postings. but i'm not really counting on it. take care and thanks for checking in!

Scenes from our Weekend

We had an unusually eventful weekend. Most weekends we are very lazy and rarely go anywhere, other than the grocery store or to pick up take-out. But this weekend we ventured outside the house several times.

Friday was my sister's birthday, and we surprised her with Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast. Later that evening we celebrated with birthday burgers at Beamers 25.  The restaurant specializes in gourmet hamburgers. Susana, the birthday girl, and I had bacon cheeseburgers, and Mr. Price had a southwestern burger. And on the side we had tater tots and french fries. French fries are my favorite! Definitely a weakness for me. After we ate our delicious food, we headed home to continue the celebration with cake and ice cream.

On Saturday we headed to the 15th Annual Blue Ridge Kite Festival! It was a wonderful event! There was a little nip in the air, but the sun was shining and the breeze was blowing perfectly for the kites to soar high. I thought it was a beautiful sight. It was our first time attending the event. Now that I know what to expect, next year I will plan to take a picnic and spend more time out there. This year our daughter just wanted to run free, and usually not in the direction we wanted to go! It was definitely a work out just to keep up with her. We didn't take a kite, but V had the best time just looking at all the ones flying over her head.

On Sunday, my sister and husband traveled with the youth from our church to Peaks of Otter to hike Sharp Top mountain! This was her first major hike. Sharp Top is one of the more strenuous hikes in our area, and at times Susana had doubts about being able to make it. The hike is only about a mile and a half, but is fairly steep. Luckily she did make it to the summit at 3800 feet! Woo-hoo! If she can hike Sharp Top, she can hike most any other trail. She says she's ready for the next one.

While Susana and Mr. Price were hiking, V and I had some special mother-daughter time, just hanging out at home. She was in such a pleasant mood, and it was great to just be able to give her my full attention without worrying about chores.

Hope you experienced some adventures during your weekend!

Store Browsing: 2nd helpings

One of my favorite places to visit for an all around great day out is 2nd helpings. I love to first grab a delicious salad, wrap or sandwich in the cafe. Then I stroll through the art gallery, view beautiful art-from paintings and pottery to jewelry and woodwork. Then to make my trip complete, I  peruse through the upscale resale store to find gently used name brand clothing, Orvis goods and fine linens and furniture.

I've recently made a couple of visits to 2nd helpings, and wanted to share what caught my eye!

Never Say Never

After three and a half years of apartment living, Mr. Price and I have managed to become homeowners! We signed our life away and the keys were handed to us on the last day of February.  I didn't mind living in an apartment. The neighbors and the noise were just unfortunately becoming too much. But that's a story for another time...

We began our home search in November 2012. An excellent realtor was recommended to us by a family member, and she got right to work. We could not have been more pleased with her.

She sent us lots of houses to review by email, and then we spent several Saturday mornings touring homes in different areas of town.

I have never been really impressed with the homes here in Roanoke. They just don't seem to have that Southern charm I'm used to. Split-foyer homes are very popular here, and I don't think I've ever seen one in Georgia (where I grew up). Early in our marriage, I remember telling Mr. Price, that I would NEVER live in a split-foyer home. They were the ugliest things I had seen.

After touring one or two of these homes with our realtor, I finally asked her to stop sending them to us to review. I just didn't like them. Especially if it was in a split-foyer only neighborhood.

So we continued our home search for a few more months. We were disappointed to learn that home prices here are relatively high. You can't get as much house as you can in other parts of the Southeast. But since there's nothing we can do about that, except relocate, we just had to get over it.

We looked at several homes, but nothing suited us. Either it was a great price, but needed too much work, or it was in great condition, but just more than we could or wanted to pay. We started to think we were just being too picky.

My husband wasn't a big fan of split-foyers either, but he finally convinced me that we owed it to ourselves to give them another chance. Our realtor told us that they were often the biggest bang for your buck. "But split-foyer homes have no charm. They all look exactly the same," I thought. Mr. Price is very much a function over form kind of guy. So I agreed to give them a second chance.

Shortly after making that decision, our realtor sent us an email about a split-foyer house that had just been reduced by $5,000. So we checked it out. It was a foreclosure that had been purchased by someone who flips houses. And guess what? We bought it!

I really still can't believe it. So what changed my mind? Here are a few reasons:

It has a two car garage. Many of the homes in our price range only had a one car garage, or no covered garage.

It has three bathrooms. Many of the others in our price range only had one or one-and-a-half.

Although small, it has an updated kitchen.

It is in an area of the county that we like and were already used to. The lot size was larger than most we had seen.

A major perk to us was the view of the mountains, which are pictured above.

Lastly, it is one of the nicest looking split foyers I have seen, and another plus for me is that the rest of the neighborhood is not full of houses that look the same.

I wanted to share pictures of the inside of the house with you, but I just can't bring myself to show you what it currently looks like. Everything is unpacked, but nothing has found a home. We are living in lots of clutter. It is driving me a little crazy, but chasing a one year old around all day, doesn't leave me much time to worry about it.

I hope to be sharing some home improvement and organizing projects with you as we are able to complete them. If you have any tips for us, please, please share them!

Monthly Review: March 2013

our babe:

her hair is getting longer and longer. i find myself trying to comb it over to one side so it's not always in her eyes. and she is getting cute little curls in the back, too!

since our move out of the apartment and into the house, i find it hard to keep up with her. i don't have a designated play area for her yet, and she seldom likes to play with her toys. she is much more into going through the house and making a mess. i really am dying to get an established routine, and maybe some baby friendly activities so she won't get so bored.

V loves to stomp her feet back and forth, kind of like doing the cha-cha-cha, when she is upset and when she is happy. it's kind of cute.

sleeping is still an issue. although we've made great strides, she will sleep for six to seven hours straight now. there's still a morning wake up call between 2 am and 4 am. this situation is really testing my faith and patience. satan would love for me to think my prayers about this challenge aren't being heard or attended to.

march - the month of illness:

march 2013 will be the month i remember that illness spread throughout our household. i refer to this illness as the plague, but we are pretty sure it was the norovirus, a highly contagious stomach virus. it all began on a wednesday when V and I were running errands. i was getting her out of her car seat when she vomited all over the back seat of my husbands car. and let me just say i am glad she was the culprit of this mess, because mr. price may be a little OCD. after cleaning up the mess and heading home, she began to vomit every 10-20 minutes for the next 5 or so hours. i was scared, because i had never experienced a stomach virus before, and didn't know if her symptoms were normal. luckily, that was the worst of it, but she still couldn't keep anything down for two more days. she was actually a couple of vomits away from needing IV fluids, but praise God, that it didn't come to that.

on friday afternoon, i came down with the illness for several hours, but felt better by the early morning hours. which was a good thing because that's when mr. price got sick. it took us a good week to recover. my parents arrived 48 hours after our symptoms disappeared, but that didn't seem to help, because they all became sick too.

whew! i am tired just reliving that. and to top it off, i now have some upper respiratory illness or severe cold. i've been battling a sore throat, cough and congestion for almost two weeks.

let's just say i am so ready for warmer weather and physical wellness.

snow in march:

so while my parents were visiting and my mom and sister were recovering with their bouts of the virus, it snowed about 4 1/2 inches. this is probably the most snow we received during this 2012/2013 winter season. i failed to document other snowfalls, mainly because it all melted the day after.  we have a gentle slope in our backyard, and the neighbors' kids were all having fun sledding down.

easter:

last easter i was very moved by the holiday. this year i just seemed to be so overwhelmed that i didn't reflect on it as much as i should have. since i got sick again with a cold, i didn't even make it to church. i did watch andy stanley like i do most every other sunday.

the saturday before easter we attended an easter eggstravagza at our church office. they had activities for the children and an easter egg hunt. for the infants they had an area with lots of plastic eggs. however, we learned that V was afraid of the grass. she was not sure about the texture under her feet, and wanted me to hold her while we were outside. she did complete one activity which is pictured just above. that's supposed to be her hand print, but it is hard to get an infant to keep their fingers spread.

last year, valrie was only a few months old when we celebrated easter. but that didn't stop me from going out and buying resurrection eggs. these eggs aren't filled with candy, but symbols of the easter story. a donkey, a chalice, a cross, leather whips, a spear, 3 coins, a die, a white cloth, a stone, and a crown. this is a useful activity to help tell the story of Jesus's death and ressurection to children. although V isn't comprehending the story, she has had a grand time playing with the eggs, as you can see in the pictures above.

that about wraps up our month. i really hope to be reporting that we are all back to good health and were able to enjoy the beginning of spring! see you in april!