Big Girl on Christmas Night!

Although Quinn potty trained right on time, she never did quite get the overnight holding-it-in thing down. She's been in pull-ups ever since - until about a month ago when she just started either mostly holding it in or occasionally waking up to go potty overnight. She'd wake up in the middle of the night (which NEVER happens) and tell us her pull-up was wet or she'd wake up dry. This was huge!!!

This past week there has been no problem whatsoever - and I told her that I bet Santa would notice she was becoming such a big girl! Well Santa came through, and left her a brand new pack of underwear as a reward. We then opened all of our gifts, and headed to Bill & Suzie's for the evening. When we got home, she went potty one last time and went to bed with her new underwear on - and woke up dry this morning! Mom and Dad are very proud of their not-so-little girl!

I'm a proud girl, and I have my new underwear to show for it!

Big Sister Quinn!

We had the pleasure of telling Quinn is going to be a big sister next summer and she is very excited! Thanks, Pop, for filming while we shared our news with her!

Outdoor Fun

I swear, this video reminds me of something you'd see in a Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Just picture the Roadrunner hiding behind a bush and moving it at will when he needs to change positions... You'll understand after you watch this, I promise!

Seriously?

I swear, I don't know where she gets this from!

Gaver Tree Farm

I love, love, LOVE our new neighborhood! We literally live like a mile down the road from Gaver Tree Farm, where we spent our Saturday afternoon. This place is great! We took a hay ride and picked out pumpkins, jumped on this huge moonbounce "thingy," fed farm animals, ran through a corn maze, and munched on hot pretzels and cheese. It was one of those beautiful Indian Summer days and Quinn and I took full advantage of it.

Pumpkin Picker

The best we could do - not a bad picture!

All sass at the ripe old age of 4...

Check me out, with my new buddy!

We plan on heading back next Saturday evening with several families from our neighborhood. I've never had the pleasure of feeling a sense of community like this since I was 8 years old, living on Taft Road in Michigan. I realize how much "small town life" offers, and am thankful every day that we were able to find this wonderful house in this wonderful town so far away from the Rat Race that is Montgomery County!

YAY US!!!

So Busy

I'm sorry I've been MIA for basically the whole summer - the Kircher Family has been through a lot (all good, but just displaced) this year and we have FINALLY bought ourselves a house! So, with that, I haven't been posting because it seems every night after work I come home, make sure Quinn is fed, bathed and taken care of before we put her to bed, I have some project to take care of... painting a room, unpacking a box, fighting with Verizon to get my Internet up and running - you get the picture.We are in love with our new home and the neighborhood, but we have a LOT of work to do. So forgive me for being absent. I will try to get back to some normalcy before the year ends.


In short, Quinn is thriving and making us laugh every day. She also makes us want to pull our hair out sometimes, but what can you expect from a precocious 4 (and-a-half) year old?

A Family Day!

It's very rare when Kirch gets a Saturday off. Since it's July 4th weekend, he didn't have to work today so we took full advantage of it. After a yummy lunch at home of turkey sandwiches and fresh raspberries, we packed up and took Quinn to Rockville Town Square to play in the fountain. It was PERFECT outside today! About 85, sunny and a little breeze. I'm a whiner when it comes to warm, humid weather and today was nothing like the typical Maryland summer. I even played in the fountain with Quinn while Kirch sat back and took some pictures of us enjoying ourselves!

Today is a good day, Mommy!

Watch this trick...

Ta - da!

I am having a BLAST!!!

Don't scare my new friend!

I love family days!

When we got home, Kirch fired up the grill and cooked us some hot dogs and we had some spaghetti salad and Quinn and I topped our dinner off with a monster strawberry shortcake. Needless to say, our little water bug was beat-up tired by the time bedtime rolled around!

Camping, 2010

Last weekend we went on our annual camping trip with the Group. This year, along with the Scheleurs and the Mays (who make this trip possible every year), the Fernandezes, Barrons, Smiths, Mains, and one lone Buchoff also joined us. We headed to Happy Hills Campground in Hancock, MD and had a great time! We are not the true camping types anymore, so we were in a SWEET cabin! And I mean sweet - a fridge, A/C, TV, mattresses on the beds - it was awesome!!!

It was a fantastic time - the campground had a pool, a putt putt golf course, a pavilion for our Saturday night pot luck dinner, and a playground for the kids. Quinn had herself a blast in the pool - we are raising a fish! She's never been afraid of the water, but this summer she's taken it a step further - within an hour, she was diving to the bottom of the 3 foot side and picking up diving sticks off the pool floor. That pretty much solidified the fact that we need to give our water lover some swimming lessons!

Each evening was great - we roasted marshmallows and made S'mores, caught up with friends, and just generally enjoyed ourselves for the whole weekend!

Visiting Frederick

Last weekend Q and I spent the day at the Frederick Festival of Arts. We really enjoyed ourselves, although I didn't get to browse the actual "art" very much at all. Quinn was not into the shopping and browsing part of the festival! Needless to say, she's much more of an "On-the-Goer."

So to keep my girl busy, we stopped at the arts and crafts tent for young'uns. She LOVES getting her face painted, so she got a purple ladybug and then colored a sticker for herself (which promptly went onto her arm).

Is she doing a good job, Mommy?

Yep, acceptable art!

As we walked along Carroll Creek in and out of tents, Quinn kept noticing the paddle boaters and kayakers in the water. Naturally, she wanted to take a spin, so we got into a paddle boat of our own for a while and cruised to the end of the creek and back. She kept wanting to race all of the other people in the water. I, on the other hand, wished we could have had the creek to ourselves! But I digress...

The cutest First Mate I've ever seen

Carroll Creek

After we (she) tired of the art fair, we walked through Downtown Frederick and took in a couple of clothing shops along the way. We found a cool fountain that made for some cute pictures, the one of me she took with my Nikon D40X all by herself! Uncle Mike, maybe we have a photographer in the making!

Cute as a bug...

My budding artist took this!

Back and Raring To Go!

After a long hiatus, selling our condo, being homeless (thanks Mike and Rachel, for taking us in) while we look for a new house, I am back online and ready to BLOG!!!

So, the particular Sunday afternoon I'm writing about right now happened several weeks ago (May 23 to be exact), but these pictures are just too cute not to share. I think Quinn has found her future husband!

When we returned from our guided fishing trip in PA on Sunday, we had learned that Mike & Rachel (who graciously watched Quinn for us) had set up a play date with some friends of theirs who have a 4 year old son, Talon. Well it didn't take long for them to hit it off - they had a blast sliding down the hill, playing with the baseball tee, munching on watermelon and all around having a fantastic afternoon!

Even Uncle Mike gets in on the action!

BFF's - or is it TLA?

Mugging it up!

Hill roll!!!

Check me out - sledding in the spring!

Missing in Action

We are in the middle of a very long, drawn out move so the postings will be few and far between for a while. Bear with us as we hope to find us a house we can call our HOME!!!

Easter in PA

We had a very relaxing Easter up at Grandpa and Dorothy's last Saturday night/Sunday morning. The Easter Bunny was very good to our little girl! Aside from the massive egg hunt and 2 baskets loaded with toys, earrings, movies and a little candy, she also dyed eggs, spent countless hours outside exploring the mountain, picking daffodils and walking on the train tracks.

Lots of fun was had by all involved. Hey, maybe we can make this a tradition?

Leaf Pile

While over at Mike and Rachel's on a Saturday afternoon, Quinn and I took advantage of the fantastic turn the weather had taken and made a leaf pile for her to play in. It gives me such joy to see the sheer happiness in her face as she throws those leaves up in the air! That girl is so photogenic I can't even stand it.

Gotta make a big pile!

You better watch it, Mom!

I'm letting you off this time...

But now you're done for!!!

...and I am just so happy!

Good Times with Good Friends

A quick update on the happenings in the life of a Four Year Old...

After a rockin' birthday, several members of our gang met at the Friendly's in Edgewater (which actually fell on Kirch's birthday) so Quinn got to hang out with her 4 Foot Posse. We enjoyed dinner and dessert (how can you NOT have dessert when you go to Friendly's?) and some good company.

After fighting a wicked 24 hour stomach bug last week - which she was brilliant at, by the way, Quinn and I got invited to the circus in Downtown DC yesterday. It was a blast - and we hung out in a suite with the same group of friends (essentially) and enjoyed the tightrope walkers, the tiger tamer, clowns and acrobats from the comforts of our own private space!

This kid is going to become accustomed to the posh life!

Our Birthday Girl

I took the day off on Tuesday to spend it with my big 4-year-old! Kirch was able to meet us for several hours in between lessons, so Quinn was overjoyed.

She asked to get her ears pierced for her birthday. I was a little worried, but I had mine pierced when I was about 5, so what's one year earlier? And let me tell you, she handled it better than I did when I got mine done! And, better than I did, when I was watching her get hers done! She was so brave, not a tear. Now, from the look on her face in this video, I do believe that she wanted to cry at one point, but she wanted the earrings more, so she sucked it up and put on her bravest face! I, on the other hand, was shaking trying to hold the camera, while also trying to hold back tears!



After we finished and she showed us all her beautiful new earrings, we headed to Dave and Buster's for some midway fun. We had a great time playing ski ball, air hockey and a hundred other games, trying to win tickets so Quinn could turn them in and shop at the end of the excursion. We had lunch there, and she opened her gifts. The girl always makes out! She's developing a very stylish spring wardrobe!

Once we left Dave and Buster's, Kirch headed back to work and Quinn and I headed to Target for just one more small gift (I can't resist!). We headed home after that and she just couldn't wait to put on the new little tutu that Poppy and Manka sent her! Never mind that it was beautiful out and I offered to take her to the park, NO NO! She was ALL about that tutu!

For dinner, I made us a salad that we shared. Now I love to put grapes in my salad, along with your typical cheeses, croutons, turkey or chicken, etc. Well, all she noticed were those grapes! "Mommy, I LOVE this grape salad!" Need I say that I was so proud of her all over again for "loving" salad? I must say, I attribute her love of fruits and veggies to the fact that I made all of her baby food from fresh and frozen fruits and veggies when she was an infant! Boy, a little extra work in the beginning does pay off in the long run!

After we finished our salad and watched a couple of song numbers from the movie "Chicago," I put my sleepy daughter to bed, new earrings and all!

A Touch of Spring Fever

The weather broke last weekend just enough for Quinn and I to get to the park for a bit. She was definitely the smart one, putting on her snow boots, while i wore old leather mules that took a beating in the snow and water. Although the cold didn't seem to affect her, I was freezing!

Anyway, she enjoyed herself until she fell off a balance beam into a huge puddle, soaking her hands and her leg. All this JUST after she proclaimed, "I didn't even fall at all, Mommy!" Well, I know it's horrible, but i was cracking up (under my breath as best I could) while she stood up, embarrassed and sniffing from the cold water. I asked her if she wanted to head home and she sternly told me NO. We lasted another 15 minutes or so before it started RAINING! Oh, did I mention we walked about a 1/2 mile to the park? We boogied our bottoms toward home, all the while, me feeling like World's Worst Mom for not putting a hat on my kid's head, and her exclaiming, "Wow, this wind is really cold!"

When we got into the house, we had some hot chocolate to warm us up, and talked about the great adventure we had squeezed in before Mother Nature took over!

Suck it up, Mom - I'm having a blast!

My beautiful little model

I'm balancing really well!

Ugh, I can't get over holding my breath while she climbs the monkey bars!

A Quinn-ism

Last night, while I was getting Quinn ready for bed, she asked to do a "fruit hunt," which basically means to take turns listing all the fruits we can think of. So we're going about our business:

Me: "Apple"
Quinn: "Orange"
Me: "Blueberry"
Quinn: "Strawberry"
Me: "Boysenberry"
Quinn: "Ha Ha, Boysenberry... Girlsenberry!"

She was SO proud of herself when I busted out laughing! She thought she was just the funniest thing out there, and of course to me, she is! That girl always keeps us on our toes!

The Meaning Behind the Words

Our un-affectionately nick-named neighbors are dubbed the Thundering Herd. I've never heard people so loud in my entire life, and I've lived in condo/apartment settings in the past. On top of their running and thumping throughout their condo above us, they are also making home improvements on their floors (maybe their soundproofing? One can only hope...)

Anyway, on Saturday, Quinn and I were sitting at the dining room table eating lunch and forgive me for starting this inappropriate conversation, but it is just too funny not to post. The neighbors were doing some serious drilling and there was one particularly loud noise of something being screwed securely into place. The following short, but hilarious, conversation ensued...

Loud Noise
Me: "Quinn, did you just foof? (our word for passing gas)"
Quinn (and I kid you not, with her finger point toward our ceiling: "No Mommy, the neighbors are screwing upstairs!"

Need I even say more?

Neverending Snow

We've spent considerable time out in the "Snowstorm of 2010." We introduced Quinn to sledding this winter, which has been a blast with all this snow. We created a "luge" in our backyard - this video was taken after our first dump, when the weather was actually calm. Just SO funny!



We are now into our third day of being off work. It's snowing like crazy outside! This snow is breaking records all over the place. Quinn doesn't care anything about that, she's just enjoying being out in this Winter Wonderland!

Shame on Me

So much for trying to blog MORE this year...

I do have pictures from Christmas and New Year's Eve, though!

If I ever slow down enough, I will actually do a real post soon. All I can say is that we had a great time in Michigan over the holiday and Quinn yet again cleaned up on presents from Mommy and Daddy, Santa Clause, "Santa Gail", Poppy & Manka, Grandma Kircher, and all of our other family members and friends!