Lauren's first date

The other day my friend Emily invited Lauren and I over for a playdate (with her son Ethan). Emily set up a little table for the two of them to eat at for dinner. It was so adorable. We had a great time. We played ring around the rosie and did the Hokie Pokie with Elmo. Lauren loved it. When we went to leave Ethan gave Lauren a hug and as I turned my head I caught Ethan giving Lauren a kiss. So not only did she have her first dinner date she also had her first kiss. Thank you Emily for having us over.

One other story I wanted to share was from the other day. I was given some starter (for making bread) from a friend of mine. Now if anyone knows me they know I am not a baker. I had to hit the grocery store for most of the items we needed (not to mention I had no idea what baking soda was)and as the final day to make the bread came along and I had everything in the bowl I realized I didn't even have enough eggs. The kitchen was a distaster. I had Lauren help me add each ingredient and help with the stirring. At one point she accidently threw the spoon across the kitchen with batter flying everywhere. It just made me laught to think what people would think if they were flies on the wall watching Lauren and I make the bread. Luckily the receipe calls for so much sugar that no matter what you do it still tastes good in the end!

My family

I just thought this was a cute picture of Brian and Lauren. We took it before we were headed to chuch on Sunday.

Last couple of days

I wanted to capture what we have been up to these last couple of days. We went on Friday to my friend Chantal's house for a playdate. She has three little girls. Her middle daughter is close to Lauren's age (Lizzy) in the picture above. Chantal lives in Church Hill and is in the process of renovating one of the old historic houses. I took some pictures of her kitchen because I thought it was unbelievable! The whole house is actually beautiful. It was great catching up with her and having our kids play together. On Saturday we went to my friend Anh's house to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Anh's mother was in town visiting and cooked egg rolls and fried rice. Brian was in heaven with all that great food to try. Thanks Anh for having us over. In case you didn't know this is the year of the water buffalo. As for cute things Lauren is saying now...if something bad happens or something goes wrong she says "ahh that's to bad". It's sounds cuter if you hear her say it!

Library

So if you know my daughter if you do something one time one way, well you have to do it that way for ever more. One day when we were leaving the library she hopped up on a bench and she looked so cute that I took her picture. Well ever since that one day every time we leave she hops up on that bench and says take my picture. Nevermind if I have a huge diaper bag on my arm and 100 kid books in my hand. We still have to take a picture before we leave. Well the picture above is from today. The good thing to report today is as I was taking her picture she was at least singing the alphabet. I think that is libray appropriate!

PS- An update to the potty training. We wore diapers all day today. Yesterday thinking that my child had somehow potty trained in one day I took her to a friends house for a playdate. I let her wear her panties b/c I thought she did it yesterday what would be different from the next day....well it was. While I was a way from her for a minute she managed to pee all over her pants and worse all over the friends carpet. Luckly this friend has children and didn't seem to mind to much. We will try wearing panties again another day. I just thought I'd take a break for myself.

Big girl panties!!!

So today started off like any other day but ended like no other day. This morning Lauren took a trip to the bathroom and went on the big girl potty. I told her if she went to the bathroom all the time on the potty she could wear big girl panties. She asked to wear them right then. So I put them on her thinking I would probably have to change her soon to a diaper but I didn't. We even went to music class and as we walked out of class to go home I asked if she had to pee and she said yes and went on the potty at the music class. I couldn't believe it. The rest of the day (except naptime) she wore panties. We had no accidents. What a great great day!! Here is picture of her in her special panties! (Thanks G for providing the panties!)

We are RUNNERS!

So today was a crazy day for the Richmond Winterhoff's. This morning started with Brian heading off on a 14 mile run. This is his longest run to date. He said his 1/2 marathon pace was faster then when he ran the race. This is a guy that before May of this year had only run a few times in his life.

As for me, I ran 8 miles today. That is the longest I have run since running my last 1/2 marathon about 4 years ago. I had told myself after finishing that first race that I would never run that far again...I don't know what I am thinking. Well I'm doing it because I told my friend Paige that I would run the Shamrock 1/2 with her. But as tired as I am now I am definitely re-thinking that decision! Just kidding Paige. I'm grateful that you got me motivated (and living with Brian how can you not feel like you have to run even just a little)!

Elmo birthday party

Yesterday we were invited to one of Lauren's good friend's (Hayes) Elmo birthday party. We had such a good time. They have two dogs and three cats. Lauren at one point was reading books to the dogs.

Sales!

So today I headed to Target to get a present for a friend of Lauren's who is having a birthday party and couldn't understand why all these Mom's had shopping carts overloaded with toys. Then I realized it was a huge sale day. Apparently they were re-stocking everything. I found a whole barbie princess collection that was orginally 60$ and I got it for 15 dollars!! I even called my friend and picked one up for her to give to her daughter. I found a few other great deals too. What an awesome day to hit the Target store! Lauren also got a horse that trots when you hit it with a magic wand. She deserved it after I made her go up and down each aisle a hundred times to make sure I got all the deals.

No snow in Richmond...or is there??

So in Richmond we do not get very much snow...which is fine by me. But to make Richmonder's feel like it is winter they make fake snow at the malls for people to enjoy. Here are some pictures of us pretending!

Time with cousins

Lauren and I headed to Charolettsville today to meet Anika, Maya, and Alexis at their Children's museum. It was so much fun. When we got home Lauren and I were talking about best friends and I asked her who her best friend was and she said Maya. So cute. There is also a picture from when they came to Richmond to visit us at our Children's museum. I'm so glad we live so close.

New place to sit

Lauren has a new favorite spot to sit..."the hole". She discoved this fun place to sit one night and now it has become the place to sit. At least it means that I get to sit too.

What they do while I'm out

Our new roof

Here are some pictures of our beautiful new roof. I love it. Or at least I have to love it b/c it is my new year's present, easter present, memorial day present, labor day present, thanksgiving day present, and christmas present for the rest of the year! Yeah for me!!

The roof is finished!

So the workers packed up and left today. I have to admit having the roof fixed and reshingled was not so much fun. Not only are we paying for something that you hate to spend money on...it creates the biggest mess. If you know me at all I have a problem with messes. The whole week that it took to complete the roof I had to keep telling myself that after it was done I could clean it all up and it would be ok. So today when I pulled in and the workers were heading on their way I was anxious to see how much of a mess was left for me to clean up. But believe it or not they did an EXCELLENT job cleaning up. It was like they were never even here. Hip Hip Horray for a company doing what they say they are going to do!! Now I can sleep again! I'll take a picture of the new roof and post it tomorrow for all to see. After all I got to show it off b/c in a few days I'll probably never think of my roof again.

Family outing

Here is a picture from our mall where they have a little train that you can ride on. This day we met our friends Ryan and Molly and their two kids Harrison and Audrey. It was fun catching up with them. Lauren loved the train ride!

Graduation...well sort of

So today was the second semester of CBS Bible studay and normally Lauren attends the younger toddler class. Well as we know Lauren is definitely advanced at least as her Mom I think so...but believe it or not other people notice to. Her teacher suggested she be moved up to the next class with older kids. I was so proud of her. So Brian said it was like she had her first graduation today. The new class is great. They do a lesson for the kids each week. I am so happy she has moved up! As for other news...they are still working on our roof!

Not much today

Well Lauren and I did not do very much today. We went to the gym and then out to the mall to play in their play area. As I was sitting there in my gym clothes hair somewhat pulled back in something that looked like a ponytail I noticed the two other moms in their cute outfits and perfectly done hair. Isn't it a rule that they need to look a little disheveled. In my defense it was raining today! The good news from today is Lauren took a three hour nap. I love it when that happens.

Potty Training

So we have started to think more and more about potty training. I have the books and have read most of them. All the strategies are floating around in my head but actually putting all together hasn't quite happened yet. We did however have two successul trips to the potty. We did all the praising we could. We even had stickers and m-n-m's. The next day she acted like the whole experience never even happened. I guess it isn't just going to happen magically as I had hoped! Tomorrow we are getting a new roof on our house so Lauren and I are headed out to Harrisonburg to avoid two days of all day hammering. We are excited about the new roof but I just hate the thought of spending money on something that you really never look at!

Christmas 2008

This year we had a wonderful Christmas...well 4 wonderful Christmas's. We had our first Christmas in Williamsburg with the Winterhoff's. It was a lot of fun. Our second Christmas was at our house with just the three of us. Next we headed to Harrisonburg for Christmas with my family. Our last Christmas was back in Williamsburg where we do a large Winterhoff/Offutt Christmas. We were able to spend this day with Brian's grandparent's and his aunts, uncles, and cousins. As you may have guessed she keeps asking for more presents every day. Not sure how you explain that Christmas isn't everyday when the little girl had 4 different ones! Please see our photo link for even more great picturs.