Monday, July 23, 2012

CornBelters

Recently, we went out as a family to a local minor league baseball team known as the Normal CornBelters.  We had free tickets for two consecutive nights - the first for a home run derby and the second for an All Star game.  Overall, we had a great time and I think it will be even more fun as Meredith gets older and has a longer attention span :)  We realized that there is SO much to do in the Bloomington-Normal community, that we should try to do as much here as possible before taking long, expensive vacations!

This is Corny, the CornBelters Mascot.  What an original name!
This was one of the other team's mascot, Reggy.  Meredith really enjoyed watching him/her....not sure which!
Such good posture!

Very good view!  We only stayed for the opening events and the first three batters, before a little girl had to get to bed.

Daddy and Meredith in the Outfield section.

We had our 3rd wedding anniversary the following evening, but didn't make it out to the All Star game.  We instead ordered in pizza and watched our wedding video with Meredith.  This was the first year we did that, since she was only 2-months this time last year.  She was pretty bored with it, but liked the dancing part at the reception and all three of us danced in our living room.  It was a very surreal experience to watch your wedding video with your child in the same room!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Busy Summer Days

It seems there has been so much going on here recently, from play-dates to Fourth of July festivities, that this post has become a hodge podge of our busy summer days.  In no particular order, here are some of our recent happenings:

Play-Dates
As alluded to in a previous post (see "Play-Dates" from June), we have a great time when Meredith can get together with friends.  Her best friend is Lauren.  He is just a month younger and they really seem to enjoy each others company.  He likes to give kisses and she likes to give hugs.  A perfect combination!

I was too slow to get the hugs and kisses, but you can see the aftermath here.
Meredith was too scared to sit in the pool.  She preferred to stand or splash water while standing outside the pool on the grass.

She learned this trick from Lauren.  She now likes to drink pool water!
I finally got her to sit down.  Okay, I sat her down myself and she was only calm for this picture.

Recently, we went on a bike ride on the trail.  I guessed that this was the first time I had ridden a bike in probably a decade.  I definitely felt it.  I was sore for a few days after and Meredith was cranky most of the ride.  It was a very hot day, though, and she was cutting a molar around that time. 

Bumbo Seat
The bumbo seat, as it's called, is one of the greatest inventions ever.  I'm only sad that I didn't invent it first and makes millions off of it :(  Anyways, I resurrected it several weeks ago from storage in the basement, in hopes that Meredith would use it as a seat when she watches her daily video.  Instead of using it as a seat, per se, she instead now likes to get in and out of it as if it's a game.  She is actually pretty quick with the game and we love to clap for her (she also claps for herself) when she gets in.

This is her after getting in it unassisted!

Hair
Let me first say, that I'm so thankful Meredith has a head full of hair.  Many kids that are her age are just starting to get hair, so we are the "lucky" ones.  Now for my rant....HER HAIR IS OUT OF CONTROL!  She won't let me keep bows or bands in for very long without pulling them out.  I can't wait until she is a little older and I can style it with mousse or hair spray.  She definitely gets her thick, curly hair from me.  Poor kid!  She will probably have frizzies like I do when the humidity strikes.  Chad always thinks it's funny to look at her hair when I take her pigtails out for a nap or when she takes them out on her own.  This is Chad's fancy camera work for this picture:



Visit
Meredith's grandparents were in town for the weekend and she pulled out an old trick from her early days.  Very early on, she learned how to tilt her head when she saw Grandpa Prentice (she also does this for Grandpa Perry, too and most anyone else if she has a mind to), as if to say "hello".  Well, when they arrived on Friday night, Meredith was ready for bed and stayed up to say hello to them.  She became very hyper and at one point, tried to tilt her head while running.  Since the running is a new endeavor for her, she wasn't used to being off balance by her tilted head and fell.  She is such a silly girl.  

Our little head-tilter!
I've mentioned before that Meredith LOVES her books.  She loves to have people read to her, especially Mommy :)
...and Grandpa!

Fourth of July
We were invited to a friend's house for the Fourth of July and had a great time.  Meredith loved to play (and hug!) their twin boys and generally just loves going to a new house to check out all the toys she doesn't have.

By the way, I just have to mention how well I do at my job.  You know, being a stay-at-home mom.  I think I passed my "performance appraisal" with flying colors.  The twins had a book that we didn't have, but I noticed the kid on the outside (and some of the pictures on the inside) were very familiar.  I remembered that they were in Meredith's "First 100 Words" book.  Sure enough, they had that book and we compared the two and it's the same kids in both books, sometimes even wearing the same outfits.  I'm good!  Now where is my bonus??

Checking out a new toy!
Chad reading to Drew and Meredith. 

Meredith loved this little rocking cow.  She also liked Kessa who was playing with her :)


With record-setting high temperatures, we opted to stay at home for the fireworks.  Plus, we tried to keep Meredith up later (she normally goes to bed around 7:30), but there is no way she could have made it until 9:00 for the fireworks show.  It wasn't a bad choice, though.  We were able to see eight different shows from our upstairs bedroom window, which overlooks the airport and a cornfield.  Not to shabby if you ask me (plus, the air conditioning helped!).