A Mother's Day Project

5x7 Folded Card

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Firebird Festival

Tonight we attended the "Firebird Festival" for the first time ever in Phoenixville. It's an interesting event where essentially a giant Phoenix constructed of wood is lit on fire. We've heard about it for years but had never checked it out before. After dinner with our friends Josh and Allison (parents to Dyllan's friend Brady) we headed there to see what it was all about.

Dyllan and Brady hanging out in the strollers...






Starting to light the Phoenix

Big ball of fire....

Burning fast...the embers actually started to fall where we stood so we booked it out of there not long after this photo...
All in all another fun night and weekend!

Koziar's Christmas Village

A LOOK AT THE ENTIRE VILLAGE.....

Tonight we took Dyllan to Koziar's Christmas Village in Bernville. She was in awe of all the lights. Below she is saying "honk" and squeezing the snowman's nose...
"Oooooh" was Dyllan's favorite expression for the lights

Not totally sure about Rudolph

Mommy, Dyllan and Frosty (albeit, a somewhat freaky Frosty!)

Long Overdue

It has been so long since I posted anything that I'd be surprised if anyone is still following this blog. I'm so sorry to those of you who have been checking in with no updates. Life has been incredibly busy. I'm still getting a lot of freelance writing work. I have two great babysitters that come on a regular basis- one is a local college student and the other is a mom from my playgroup who brings her son with her which gives Dyllan a chance to play with someone her age for a while. My mom also continues to watch Dyllan at least one or two days a week. Joe is also keeping busy with work and also un-ending projects around the house. Our latest is updating the laundry room which Joe is doing an amazing job on. Dyllan is doing great and continues to amaze us every day. She's starting to talk up a storm and we love having funny little conversations with her now. Her vocabulary seems to expand daily. I keep her really busy with playgroups and local activities when I'm not working. We're in a gymnastics class at the Y and always going somewhere or doing something. She's an active kid and it's easier for both of us to keep her busy ;) I will try to be better at updating this as we move into a brand new year. Can't believe 2011 is almost over...

A Summer Update

It was brought to my attention this weekend that I'm quite behind on updating the blog. I definitely realized this...but as you'll see from the photos below it's been quite a busy summer! We've been keeping busy with weekend trips and other fun things. I'm including a random montage below but so far our summer has included four beach trips, two Please Touch Museum trips, and a lot of time spent with friends and family. We're very blessed! Each day we also continue to be amazed by how much Dyllan is learning. She's really starting to talk now. I was keeping track of all the words she said until recently when she now repeats almost anything. It's still not that clear, but she's really trying. She's still running everywhere and getting into everything- a very busy little girl. But she brings us joy each day and we're really loving it!

Beach Take 2

This weekend we headed down to Wildwood for the holiday. Dyllan did better all around with this second trip. She still didn't sleep great, but she enjoyed the rides and the ocean! It was a very busy holiday weekend. Before we left for the shore we did the Zoo and today we spent the day with Joe's family. I have more photos of those trips coming, but for now, here's the beach...

By far, this "Trucks" ride was Dyllan's favorite. She kept saying "truck...truck..."
Uncle Chris takes a turn on "Trucks" with Dyllan...

Aunt Kelly did the carousel with Dyllan

And back to the "Trucks" with Daddy

This parachute ride was a little scarier (higher and faster!) than we anticipated but Dyllan did great

Loving the sand!

Headed into the ocean

Daddy and Dyllan :)

Wildwood Days

Dyllan had her first trip to the beach for the 2011 summer season. It was a mini trip and just myself, Dyllan, and my parents headed down from Thurs morning through Friday night this past weekend. Still, we fit a ton in and Dyllan had a blast. I will admit she was a bit of a pain in the condo- it was like a crazy bird trying to get out of a cage!! I think she just didn't have enough space to run wild (and she is a wild girl these days...jumping on my furniture and getting into other trouble if I turn my head for just a few seconds). But at the beach she was in heaven-- miles of space for her to just RUN (and play in sand and water!). We missed having "Daddy" along but he was at the very special and important Relay for Life event supporting Heather.

I've included a few pics from our little trip...


Dyllan was pretty brave with the water, but the waves did make her uncertain at times

This shovel was her favorite beach toy

I was SO excited that Dyllan fell asleep during her normal "naptime" so I could read my Kindle for a while (I was worried with all the excitement we'd be skipping naptime!)

Filling a bucket was another favorite pasttime

My parents pushing Dyllan in the jogging stroller on the boardwalk. Not sure if you can tell from this photo but YES my dad does have a black eye...sorry, no juicy story there. It's a basketball injury!!

One thing about the trip that was revealing was that Dyllan was really scared of rides. With how crazy she is on the bouncy-bounces at Monkey Joe's and on my furniture, I thought she'd love rides. But they scared her a lot. Even this carousel ride with mommy was kinda scary for her...