The Meyer Family Web Page

Hi All, 

 

It's been awhile since my last entry.  We had a LOVELY Thanksgiving with Paul's parents and Grandma at our house.  We got lots of play time with them and enjoyed a yummy meal.  We celebrated Matthew's FIRST birthday in Baltimore at the Children's Museum and a yummy lunch at Panera.  We followed his birthday celebration with 8 hours in the car on our way to IL for Christmas.  We stopped overnight in Columbus, OH, enjoyed some time in the hotel pool with the kids and then finished the drive and arrived safely in IL.   Our Christmas holiday was quite busy; we spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house with lots of fun new toys for the kids, Christmas Day at my Dad's with his extended family - lots of cousins and fun new toys for the kids, the 26th at Paul's parents' house with lots of fun new toys for the kids.  (Common theme, no?)  On the 27th we headed to Chicago and played at the Children's Museum with one of my dearest friends from college and her kids, and then enjoyed some time at Katie's place in the city where we hung out with some more friends from college, who we haven't seen in YEARS!  On the 28th we dropped the kids off at my mom's and Paul and I escaped to northern WI for two kid-free nights to celebrate our anniversary.  If anyone is looking for a great place up north, check out The Osthoff Resort!!!  Lovely.  On the 31st we headed back to MD, spending New Year's Eve outside of Columbus, OH.  Yes, we rang in the New Year by putting the kids to bed and laying in a dark hotel room at 9:30pm.  Wild and Crazy, we are.  Finally, we got back to MD and enjoyed a long weekend at home before Paul had to get back into the TPS mode. 

 

Paul is in full-swing with TPS, and the kids and I are in full-swing with being at home. 

 

Anyway, I found out that Shutterfly offers a site on which you can share your pictures and add updates.  This will eliminate the need for me to upload pictures on our web page AND Shutterfly, as well as offer the Grandparents to order pictures easily.... sooooo.... I will be moving our web page to their site.  Link to follow.....

 

Well well well.... Paul had his 30th birthday this month.  He's officially OLD (says his 28-year-old wife).  We had a fun birthday weekend for him... celebrating here and there for three days.  We were hoping to make a trip up to Baltimore, but the kids were still fighting a bit of a cold and the weather wasn't great, so we opted for a weekend at home.  We had cake on Sunday afternoon with all 30 candles, which was pretty fun.  Grace loves "Happy Cake" and enjoyed helping blow out the candles.  Grace and Matthew made Paul some finger-painting art pieces and left them on his desk at work for him.  I think it was a good birthday weekend for Paul.  I can't believe I met him when he was 14 and now he's 30!!!!! Whoah.

 

 

Happy Halloween!

 

Our family had a very fun halloween this year, except for Matthew who came down with a cold the night before.  Mommy dressed the kids up as a mouse (Grace) and a chicken (Matthew) and at the last minute decided to make herself a cat.  Daddy opted not to dress-up this year... oh just wait til next year!  We ventured out to our neighborhood park where the fifty-million children who reside in our neighborhood participated in a "parade."  Grace was very excited to "be mouse" but was not quite sure about mom's whiskers or everyone elses strange outfits.  We met our neighbors at the parade, and both Grace and Ethan hardly interacted due to the funny costumes.  Matthew, on the otherhand, seemed to enjoy sitting in the stroller, swinging his legs, and viewing the variety of costumes. 

 

We went to a few houses as a family, but Grace was pretty hesitant about saying "trick or treat." After a handful of houses and treats, Dad and Matthew went back to our house to hand out candy and get Matthew out of the cold.  Grace and I continued to collect candy through our neighborhood and she eventually got used to saying her "trick or treat" and "thank you" but her best speaking came when we were at the houses where they left the bowls of goodies on the front porch.  At those houses, she would include "hi house," "happy halloween," and "bye house."  :o)

 

  

Wow.. so it's been over two months since my last blog.  I guess we've been busy! 

 

Let's see, August was pretty uneventful and was occupied with getting settled in the house and getting used to Paul's work schedule.  The kids and I ventured out to several parks although that usually means Matthew is stuck in the stroller while Grace gets to run around.  Over Labor Day weekend, Uncle Russ and Aunt Katie came out to Maryland for a weekend-visit.  We had a GREAT time playing with them and celebrated Grace's birthday.  Aunt Kate and Uncle Russ were kind (and cool) to bring Grace her first real doll.  It has been a lot of fun watching Grace take care of her little baby.   We also spent a day up in DC with Aunt Katie and Uncle Russ.  We walked around the mall and saw all of the monuments.  We were blessed with really nice weather and we had a very nice day.  The visit was nearly perfect - the only complaint was that it went by too quickly.

 

September was a busy month with lots of playgroups and outings with the kids.  Paul has been busy non-stop with TPS.  He leaves the house by 6am every morning, gets to work and does some studying, followed by a morning of academic classes, lunch, and then he usually has a flight in the afternoon which includes a brief, the flight, and then a de-brief.  He is home between 5:30-6pm, and we get to have a little family time together and dinner.  We give the kids a bath and put them to bed, and then he heads to the basement for more studying from 8-11pm.  The next morning he's up at 5:30am and out the door at 6 to start all over again.  Luckily, we have been able to enjoy our weekend time and he pretty much doesn't do any "Work" from Friday 5pm until Sunday 5pm.  These are, of course, my favorite days of the week. 

 

The kids are doing a great job keeping me busy - especially Matthew.  He is somewhat of a maniac and I say that with a great deal of love and adoration. :o)  He is "cruising" (walking while holding on to furniture) like an ol' pro and loves to get into things he shouldn't get into.... he's shut himself in a kitch cabinet, stands on chairs, climbs up steps, pulls on table cloths, makes a b-line for hot cups of coffee, etc. etc.  For example, I can NOT get on the laptop while he is awake because he does everything possible to get ahold of the cords and pull them out of the computer!  He's a little curious to say the least.  Despite of the fact that he keeps me so busy, he is so much fun to be around.  He loves to laugh and has a great smile.  He babbles a lot and has started saying "ball," "up," and (my favorite) "ma ma."  

 

Grace is keeping me busy too, but in a much different way... she talks a lot now and likes to repeat whatever she is saying until I respond to her - "Meeno (her name for Matthew) poop. Meeno poop. Meeno poop. Meeno POOP.  MEENO POOP. Mom, MEENO POOP!"  Finally I need to respond - either "Yes, Grace, Meeno did poop." or "No, Grace, Meeno didn't poop."  We also spend a lot of time reading books over and over again or playing tea party and I drink LOTS of pretend cups of coffee.  Apparently she is very much in the stage of repitition.  But she is definitely growing up quickly and is such a little girl.  She plays with her dolls, crayons, and everything with such purpose now.  It's fun to watch and see what she comes up with.  Of course, we also now have a bona-fide TWO YEAR OLD on our hands, so we definitely have had an increase of sass and fits and lots more tears.  I guess that's just part of growing up though.

 

At the end of September, my mom flew out to MD to celebrate Grace's birthday.  I decorated Grace's bedroom door with a big poster and balloons as a surprise on her birthday morning.  We had a yummy breakfast of Dunkin' Donuts and birthday presents.  Grace got a pet fish named "FiFi" from Mom and Dad and a whole birthday ensemble from Grandma ("GaGa") Chris.... the ensemble included a dress, birthday hat and purse for Grace, PLUS a dress, hat, purse, and shoes for her doll from Uncle Russ and Aunt Katie!  It was hilarious to see Grace all dressed up and matching her baby doll.  Quite fun.  We then spent the afternoon at the St. Mary's County Fair and Grace got to ride some little rides, watch some piggies race each other (very funny) and even rode on a real pony!! It was a lovely day and I really enjoyed spending the time together as a family. 

 

After Grace's birthday, Grace, Matthew, my mom, and I drove from MD to IL (straight through, nonetheless!) for a week-long visit.  Paul was unable to come with us due to his work schedule. The kids and I were able to get a lot of time with both Paul's and my family.  It was a busy week including an Eagles concert with my mom, a surprise 30th birthday party for my sister, playing with cousins, a trip to the zoo and a trip to the pumpkin farm with Big Al.  Unfortunately at the beginning of our visit we received news that Paul's grandmother (his dad's mom) passed away after a long battle with alzheimer's.  It was very sad news for the family, but also a blessing to know that now Grandma is with the Lord in all her good health.  Paul was able to get a day off of work and fly to MN for the viewing and funeral.  I decided it was best to not put the kids through another 12 hours of driving and stayed in IL.  It was a hard decision to make and I am sorry that we were not able to be with the family during the difficult days.   At the end of the trip, GaGa Chris drove back with us (this time we stopped overnight just outside of Pittsburgh) and we dropped her off at Reagan International Airport in DC and she flew back home to IL.  Grandma gets a big gold star for offering to drive back and forth with us!

 

Another special time for our family was just last week.  Big Al came out to spend a long weekend with the kids allowing Paul and I to make a get-away to New York City.  Paul's TPS schedule included a four-da weekend mini-break and they were encouraged to get away from work as much as possible.  I had never been to NYC before and it seemed like it was great timing.  So... Big Al came out and took care of the kids for us!   Paul and I had such a great time!!!   We saw.... pretty much everything.  We took a Circle-Line cruise around Manhattan, saw the Lion King on Broadway, ate at Morton's Steakhouse, saw the Today Show filming, went to the World Trade Center memorial, wandered around Wall St., walked through China-town, SoHo, and Little Italy (including a DELICIOUS dinner at Angelo's in Little Italy), spent some time at the South Street Seaport, ventured on the subway, rode bikes through Central Park (also took a nap on the Great Lawn after eating hot dogs), window-shopped at Tiffany's, saw sunset on top of the Empire State building, got our pictures up in the middle of Time Square, people-watched at Grand Central Station, and just thoroughly ENJOYED the city.  I cannot wait to go back again!   And during it all, Big Al, successfully took care of the two kids on his own and all were alive and well when we got back. :o)

 

I guess that pretty much catches us up to today.  We're looking forward to going to a couple Navy games and hosting Paul's parents for Thanksgiving.  I can't believe how quickly time flies!  Before you know it, we'll be singing Christmas carols!!!

 

Anyway, new pictures will be posted soon.