Need a baby gift?

Click Here

www.merrybethtabs.etsy.com



And support my sister!

Moving on Up!

Mya has officially moved to the Toddler room at daycare. My little "Bright Balloon" is now a "Cute Comet"! This is a big change, especially for me! No more babies in cribs. All the kids are walking around, playing with new toys, sitting at tables for breakfast and lunch. The biggest difference is that they all sleep on cots for naptime. I'm a bit worried about this, but I'm sure Mya will do fine. It may take some time to train her to stay put though. We'll see how it goes. Mya did not do well when she started at this new daycare in April. It took her about two weeks to adjust. I wondered if it would be the same when she moved to the toddler room but then we found out that Miss Jami, her favorite teacher, was moving up as well! We love you miss Jami!

Some things they will be doing in her class this year include:

signing words

gross motor activies (tumbling, running)

fine motor activities (eating with a spoon)

building vocabulary through nursery rhymes and songs

Should be a fun year! I hope to be able to volunteer here and there...depending on my schedule.

I didn't get any pictures of her in class today, but here is one on our way in...

Yes she had an arsenal of stuffed animals with her. She needed all the comforts of home!

When we came home today, Matt had a surprise for Mya. A lady he works with made her an awesome blanket. It is so cute!


Thank you Cindy - that was so nice of you to do!! Of course Mya loved it. Blankies and babies, her favorite things!

Yeah, slumber party!

And the back...I took this to show Mary Beth. The whole back of the blanket is this material. Too cute!

Coming soon...back to school :(
'
'
'

Fred Fest

Well I survived Fred Camp Fest 2008. This year we went to Stonybrook State Park and it ended up being a really great time, tents and all. Everyone was able to come except for Carey who's in NYC. Maybe next year she'll make it. This was our 6th annual summer event. Kath, Maren, Candy and I got there Friday night and set up camp. Colleen and Meghann came Saturday morning. We had lots of laughs and lots of food! The only downfall was that this was a very family oriented campsite, with kids and noise, and something that smelled like the zoo. Not sure what that was though... Maren any thoughts on that?


Here are just a few of the many memories that were made. Remember girls, these are memories!

Our deluxe tent, courtesy of Kath

How many cookies can I fit in my mouth?

Get out of the box and play some tennis

Maren, Candy, and Meghann gearing up for our hike

Hi Carey!!

Temple Street girls (with Maren taking the picture...)

Chow Time

Aftermath of swimming in 66 degree water!

While I was off toasting marshmallows Matt took Mya down to Olean. They had a great time and Mya was excellent during the two hour plus car ride. She got to hang out with G-Ma, G-Pa, and Uncle Dave. On Sunday they hung out at the Lebanese festival for some good eats. Maren rushed home so she could love on Mya before they left, which gave me several hours home alone to relax!!

Thanks for rushing home Auntie!

Next year we are planning to rent a cottage at Letchworth. Tent camping was a bit much for us - give me a warm bed anyday over that! We are also planning something big for 2009 - the year we all turn 30. Where does the time go??

Randoms

We finally finished spreading mulch in the front of our house and it is looking much better. A lot of our plants are coming back to life and I've been pruning like a mad woman. Next year should go better but it's a learning process.
I need to get a few more pictures of the front but I'm waiting to see if more flowers bloom soon.


Mya is walking all over now. She still keeps her hands up in the air for balance but she's becoming a pro. I tried to get a little video so you can see her mad skills but it won't upload today. Maybe next week.


It's an exciting weekend for me! It's the 5th annual Fredonia Camp Fest. Six girls, no husbands, no kids. I can't wait. This year we're going to StonyBrook Park, instead of Letchworth. We have to sleep in tents so it will be interesting. I'd much prefer a nice log cabin, but I'm keeping my mouth zipped. This should be the last ever tent camping. I'll make the best of it. Matt is taking Mya down to Olean to see Great Grandma Joseph and go golfing with Uncle Larry. It's my second weekend away from my baby. In other news, Mya is getting two new teeth on the bottom! Making that a total of 4 teeth. She's a bit cranky today so I am guessing that is why. Bring on the tylenol!

Some pic from the week -

I bad

Mya's new snack table

Bye Mommy! I'll miss you!

Oh, and 6 months from today I'll be the big 3-0. I'll drink to that.

Fiasco

Poor Mya, it's always something. We decided to try out a new restaurant today cause I didn't feel like cooking. When we moved here we got a welcome letter from Prioretti's, an Italian place. It came with a gift certificate for a free pizza, and two free entree's for dine-in. We thought it would be good to go out since we'll all be split up this weekend.

Having never been there before, we go dressed very casually (thinking it's a pizza joint) and lugging a one year old with all her goods. Turns out we stuck out like a sore thumb. It was not exactly baby-friendly. But whatever, we were hungry and didn't feel like leaving.

Mya got settled in, we ordered our food, things were fine. Then the waitress sets down a dish of pasta and Mya's hand flies into - kinda like when she squishes all the noodles in her bowl of mac and cheese...only this was hot pasta sauce!

If you know Mya you know that she can scream louder than Macauley Caulkin in Home Alone. It was quite the scene. I got her out of the chair and walked to the front of the restaurant, where I thought the bathrooms were, but no, they were in the back, so we scream our way back to the bathroom. After she calmed down and we went back to the table I see that her eye and cheek are red and puffy - she had put her hot hand on her face! Oy. So Matt had to take Mya out of the place while I asked the waitress to pack up our uneaten meals to go.

The things you go through for a free meal.

And no, no pictures. I felt too bad to be grabbing the camera. The redness went away after a bit and she was fine. I swear it's always something with us!!

Home Improvement Weekend

Grandpa and Grandma Joseph made the trek to Webster this weekend to help us out with some projects around the house. This was a voluntary visit but we sure put them to work! Matt and Grandpa Emil painted the office, painted the wall leading upstairs, hung my mirror, fixed the bathroom door, bought a load of mulch, and did various other fix-ups. Matt made multiple trips to Lowe's, ate lots of cookies, and chased squirrels around the yard. He may have rabies, but that's for another post. Here's some pics of what we did:

Now Matt, watch and learn...

Keep watching Matt...

This is never coming down!

Fresh mulch for the front (more pics to come...)

Wow can I play in that?!

While the guys did the dirty work, the ladies did a LOT of shopping. Mya was a trooper - I think we have a future mall rat on our hands. We hit up the Eastview Mall, Bed Bath and Beyond, Kohl's and Target. As well as a pit stop at Starbucks and Auntie Annie's pretzels of course. Just a couple things here..

New pillows for my couch and chair

New rug for entryway

It was a very productive weekend for us. We got so much accomplished in a very short time. Big thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Joe. Not only did they come out to visit, but they brought lots of goods too - cookies, wine, Rum (yummm!), cheese, a step stool so this shorty can reach the top shelves of the cupboards, and an outfit for Mya! We are spoiled. Thank you so much!! We appreciate all of the help.

See you next weekend!

Time for me to nap so mom and dad can draft their football teams

One down...

...one to go. Fantasy season is under way in our house. My first draft of two went well, with only a few snide comments from Matt. Team "She's All Joseph" is pretty solid, but not championship level by any means. Starting lineup will be

Tony Romo
Joseph Addai
Thomas Jones
TJ Housh
Greg Jennings
Lee Evans
Vernon Davis
Mason Crosby


Having 5th pick out of 10 teams was not a good spot to be in. That plus the fact that my internet kept disconnecting led to some tense moments. I am predicting a 5th place win for my team.

Oh....and to that girl that called me a cheater. Watch yourself. Team JOSEPH has it in the bag.

B(.)(.)Bs. Out.