blog bomb

one of my new year's resolutions is to blog more frequently so that i don't end up spending two hours looking through photos and figuring out how to do an update. i'm still not there yet.
here are a few photos to recap our christmas/new year activities:

little elf in her jinglebell hat • results from the strudel run on christmas eve

lucy in her fancy christmas dress (courtesy of aunt angie) • sam at the christmas eve service

a new red light saber (from santa) • sam and his two light sabers

christmas breakfast at g + g's house • grandpa gets lucy down for a nap with his jedi whistling powers

opening presents • christmas dinner (worth the wait!)

sam and his new star wars ships (awesome!) • getting ready for bed in columbus

back to columbus after the ikea marathon • clean baby for the new year

sam in his jedi cloak (from aunt missy—super stoked!) • grandpa wearing lucy's princess leia hair hat

aunt angie putting the love smack-down on lucy • lucy modeling the hair hat (ultra cute!)

lucy with two of her buddies (edison and brewster) • who's that cute girl in the mirror?

the puzzler and his puzzle • sam's "parking lot and map" picture with signature

look out 2013, we're here and we're gonna make it great!

unpacking

we're home from oglebay with lots of unpacking to do. there are two very full laundry bags sitting downstairs waiting for my attention, and a sleepy girl is cooperating just enough to let me get this quick post up before i head down to take care of it.
lucy during a few of her (many) sleeping/feeding/burping episodes • sam goes mini-golfing with daddy and cousins • the good zoo train ride is a MUST • lucy and me on our final night in our cabin (fun fact: lucy has spent more nights in the cabin at oglebay than she has at home!)

oglebay 2011

seven weeks ago today we left for our annual trip to oglebay with mike's family. it was a great, busy week full of walking, mini-golfing, golfing (for the big kids), paddleboats, swimming, and all kinds of fun. sam was particularly interested in the miniature train display at the good zoo (which he still mentions regularly), and the model rocket launching (also mentioned regularly).

a few of my favorite quotes from sam from that week:

me (looking at sam's drawing): what are you drawing?

sam: mommy tell you.*

me: it looks like a dog.

sam: oh yeah!

sam's rocket countdown (overheard from across the room): one…two…three…four…five…three…two…one…blastoff!

* footnote: "mommy tell you" was sam's way of saying "i don't know", and came from my asking if he'd "like mommy to tell you?"

he has since dropped this phrase and now simply says "i don't know."

camping! — hocking hills

last weekend we went camping with my older brother and his family. they're experienced campers and were so organized (and also had great equipment), so it was really great for us (the semi-newbies) to tag along. angie organized the food and chris organized the hiking, and all we had to do was join in the fun. it was AWESEOME. plus, sam was overjoyed to get the chance to hang out with his cousin abby—as much as he enjoyed sleeping in the tent, eating marshmallows, throwing rocks in the water, and sitting in chris and angie's van, i think his favorite part was by FAR hanging out with cousins. (and by the way, i think he's adopted dylan, gavin's friend, as one of the cousins.)

we did get a bit of rain (basically anything that was in the tent was somewhere between damp and soaked), but i was feeling so relaxed and good when we got home that the fact that i had about four loads of laundry to do didn't bother me a smidge.

i definitely think that camping in a gang is absolutely the way to go, and now i can't wait to go camping again!

more reunion photos, and more fun with my new toy

am enjoying playing with my new toy, so i thought i'd play around with some of the reunion photos i've been meaning to post.

…and we're back!

it's always hard to leave the family and come home to reality again. we had such a good time visiting and playing and eating and cooking and swimming, i think i could've happily stayed another week or two.

i've still got lots of photos to go through, and am hoping to post a few more, but this was one of my favorites from the trip—sammy at the beach playing with the sand and rocks. i think he must've spent at least half an hour just sitting there putting handfuls of sand into the sifter and his bucket (and every once in a while, putting some in his mouth—yuck!)

here we go!

we're on our way to minnesota for a week of soaking in all the jerabek family goodness we possibly can. while we're gone, don't put any beans up your noses.

camping!

we started off friday around 11am and headed out to four mile creek state park in new york. it was a nice drive (not too long) and aftera few pit stops, we arrived sometime after 4pm. unfortunately, we didn't think to make a reservation, so we were only able to get a campsite for the one night (instead of the two we had originally intended to stay), but we decided to at least get what we could. we were set up and ready to explore around 6, and after dinner, we got sam ready for bed and took a walk to check out the lake. after sam went to sleep (and he really was in no hurry to do so), mike and i sat around the campfire for a good long time just visiting and looking at the stars.
the next morning sam was up shortly after 7 (i think. i had headed over to the bathrooms before he woke up), and we took down the tent, ate a little breakfast, played on the playground (sam loves to swing), and headed out to niagara falls.
we had a great time walking around the falls. though sam wasn't exactly as impressed as he might have been, he seemed to enjoy walking around and riding in the stroller. he had a great time watching all the people, but he wasn't fond of the misty spray coming from the falls. at one point he conked out, but he woke up in time for some lunch and a good bit of the ride home. when we arrived, sam did a few "victory laps" and made sure the house was still in order. he seemed glad to be home.

i think the trip, overall, was a great success and am excited about trying again soon (though we have several other trips planned in the meantime!)

missing mississippi

our trip to mississippi was definitely one to remember. seeing oscar, introducing sammy, talking and visiting until the wee hours...what a blast we had! not to mention the corn maze, the pig races, the hay ride, the pumpkin patch, the pecan walk...so much fun! it was hard to arrive home sunday night and be "just the two of us" again.

sammy and i are both looking forward to this christmas when we'll get to see the southern gang again. maybe next time sammy will be able to join in the running around, not just watching and smiling and squealing with delight as his cousin speeds by.

we miss you guys. thanks for having us, and we can't wait to return the favor!

road trippin'

and we're off today to visit this cuteness (well, this cuteness about 10 months later). i can't wait to see how oscar has changed since we last saw him. and so excited to introduce sammy to the fam down in mississippi. sam in his carseat for two days is a little scary though. wish us luck. i think we'll need it!

oglebay wrap-up

now that i've finally got the last load of laundry in the machine, and a good portion of the bags unpacked, i can do a better report on our vacation last week.
we had such a great time at oglebay. mike has figured out that he's been going to oglebay nearly every year since he was 9 or so, so it was a lot of fun for him to have sam there for his first oglebay experience. he used to go with his grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, and all his cousins on that side of the family, so it was fun for mike to be re-creating those vacations for sammy.
here's a photo of all the cousins in the cabin. it was a struggle to get them all in one spot - maybe it's because one place can't hold so many cute kids all together for very long.

we had lots of long walks up and down the hills. the mornings are my favorite time to walk at oglebay, and it was fun to bring along my sidekick this year.

we went to the zoo, saw some exhibits, and rode the train...

played on the playground...

went golfing and played putt-putt...

and, of course, went swimming nearly every day...

we were all pooped by the end of the day, and (almost) always ready to get going the next morning. the week went by so fast.

it was so much fun, we hated to leave. but we're glad to be home, too. going to work tomorrow, however, is not something we're looking forward to after so much time off.

and we're back... (sam's report)

here's sam's report on his first vacation at oglebay.

more to come after we get unpacked and settled.

back in a bit

we're leaving for west virginia tomorrow. i still have tons to do to get ready—clothes to wash and fold, plants to water, lists to make, and things to cross off.
it should be a fabulous week of family and visiting, swimming, golfing, bubbling, and general fun and silliness. i can't wait!