Hodge Podge post

Our time in Richmond is coming to an end - I know Kemper doesn't realize what is going on (although I'm sure he'll know something weird is going on) but even though we've only been here 6 months, I'm sad to be leaving all of the wonderful people we've met and befriended!  We have such a great little playgroup and a great weekly routine going for us here.  I'm sure once we get settled in Tennessee we'll find plenty to do and even more great friends (yay for Ali & Michael who will be in Tennessee with us!) but for now, just another example of how the military moving you around so often really stinks. 

One think Kemper enjoys doing is walking between James and I (well, between any 2 people who will hold his hand) and having us swing him as we walk.  For the past week or so, we've been counting to 3 before swinging him and on a whim, I told him he needed to count for us.  He mumbled something, we swung him, and we all laughed.  Well, today on our way into Target, we said, "Kemper, can you count" and he said "one.....(long pause) two" and we were shocked!  We gave him a haircut tonight before his bath, so I pulled out the video camera and tried to capture him counting (and also capture his newfound cooperation while cutting his hair).

Haircut & Counting 

For some reason, Blogger won't let me add video but that link will take you directly to the YouTube page where I added the video.

Kemper eating breakfast one morning - successfully feeding himself applesauce with a spoon and no assistance.

Out to dinner - about to demolish the lemon.

Our little Picasso.  He loves to color, but sometimes gets excited and colors on walls or other things around the house.  Apparently, he has a secret stash of crayons because as soon as I'd take one away and turn my back, he would have another one and color on something else.  He decided his phone needed a little color. 

Snack break with friends.  Kemper, Chloe, Michael, Clayton and TJ

Starbucks Storytime

Today marked our very last storytime at the local Starbucks.  I'm not sure who is more sad about this - me or Kemper?!  We both enjoy this for so many reasons.  In addition to a story, Mrs. Taryn always has a fun activity planned for the kids.  Over the last few months, some of the activities she has planned for the kids include: coloring, playing with Play-Doh, decorating cookies or cupcakes, planting flowers & watering them weekly (when it was warmer), painting pumpkins, making Christmas hats, Christmas reindeer crafts and making homemade whipped cream and then finger painting with it.  What an awesome weekly activity for us to look forward to.  Us moms also enjoyed the time together as well. 

We made wonderful friends over the past few months, our kids became fast friends and we welcomed a new baby into the group (and who are we kidding, us moms enjoyed the cuddle time with snuggly Eleanor more than anything else probably!) but what I think I'll miss most of all is knowing that on Thursday mornings, no matter how trying of a week we've had has been thus far, there are 3 other people waiting at Starbucks who understand, are going through the same thing, and are willing to lend a sympathetic ear and offer advice.  Luckily, one of these amazing women will be at Fort Campbell with me and I'm sure we'll meet others and find new playgroups, but like I experienced when we left Germany, the "normal" Army routine can be a cruel one when it comes to moving and leaving behind friends.  The silver lining is that no matter where you move to, you can pretty much guarantee that you'll always have a friend somewhere in the country (or out of the country - hi Angie!) that will make for an excellent trip for a visit and sight seeing! 

So, here are some pictures from our last two storytimes at Starbucks. 

Mrs. Taryn with all of the "regulars"

Mrs. Taryn opening up her mini-baby shower gift

(clockwise from top) Michael, Ava, Clayton, Kemper and Chloe

Kemper enjoying his cupcake that he decided not to decorate

Clayton decided the icing looked more enticing than decorating too

CHEESE!

Decorating their cupcakes

Michael & Chloe playing with their Santa straws

Kemper plotting to steal Ali's keys

Will seriously miss these girls.

Jackie & Chloe, Ali & Michael, Danielle & Clayton, Kemper and me

Playroom fun!

Kemper and I meet up with some of our favorite kiddos and their moms every Tuesday at the Playroom where the kids can run, jump and play their little hearts out (hopefully play themselves out for a good afternoon nap!).  Kemper has a great time - he loves jumping in the big bouncy house and playing with the kitchens and climbing sets they have.  He also loves the little yellow roller coaster - so do the rest of the kids.  Us moms take turns supervising the roller coaster so that everyone gets a turn and nobody gets pushed off the "platform" - most of the time we just wish they'd get rid of that toy altogether.  Anyhow, this past week I snapped some pictures of the kids enjoying themselves.

Getting ready to go meet our friends

Looking for his buddies!

Mommy and Kemper hanging out

Chloe and Clayton playing on the slide

Chloe, Kemper and Michael

I love this kid - Mr. Clayton

Mommy and Kemper playing on the jumper

The roller coaster toy

Heading down the slide!  Wheeee!!

Home Sweet Home

We're Homeowners!!!!

James and I spent this past weekend in Tennessee making sure all the loose ends were tied up and closing on our house!  It was so wonderful to see the house finally completed!  It looks amazing and we're so excited to move in this January!!!

Our realtor, Laurie, has been an absolute angel throughout this process.  She has made many trips to the house for us, taking pictures of the progress and working with the builder and subcontractors to help us "personalize" our house since we put a contract on it so early into the building.  We're so appreciative to her for her help and support! 

Dining room

Foyer from the upstairs

Guest bath (that window will haunt me for as long as we live in this house)

Guest bedroom

Guest bedroom

Kitchen

Living room

Vanity in the master bath

We did a little furniture shopping during some of our downtime but have not been able to find a dining room table and china hutch that will fit in the room or that is to our liking.  Any suggestions on where to look?  We hit up every furniture store in Clarksville with no luck!

"Opry music on a Saturday night....

Brings a smile to your face and a tear to your eye" - George Strait, Heartland

The Ryman Auditorium

The Ryman Auditorium

James and I were in Tennessee this weekend preparing to close on our house, but since we had to come down early for a final walkthrough, we decided to go to the Grand Ole Opry while we were child-free (thanks Aunt Neci!).  We were lucky enough to see the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium - what an amazing experience.  To experience the Opry in a place where so many country greats performed years ago was wonderful and something that I am so glad we splurged on and decided to do. 

Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood

We were lucky enough to get tickets for a show that was scheduled to feature Carrie Underwood and Jake Turner, however, when I checked the website for directions we found out that Martina McBride and Rodney Atkins would also be appearing that night!  How lucky were we??  Midway through the show, just after Carrie Underwood finished up, Jeanne Seely (the host for that segment) announced that a special guest just stopped in backstage and told us that we were in for a special treat!  Vince Gill stopped by and performed an impromptu song.  Wow! 

Vince Gill

Jake Owens

Martina McBride

Martina McBride

Rodney Atkins

I've been lucky enough to attend many concerts, but I honestly think that this trip to the Opry was the most special "concert" experience I've had thus far.  James laughed and said my womanly sentimental side was showing, but there was something special about seeing those performers on a stage where the greats of country music paved the road for those to come.  It was truly a special, awe inspiring experience. 

I didn't have my good camera with me, so all of the pictures I tried to take turned out pretty horrible, but even blurry they give you an idea of the intimate setting the Ryman provides for the Opry.  We were in the balcony and off to the side, but I can't imagine there is a bad seat in that auditorium.

Visiting Auntie Sarah and Uncle Jon in Baltimore

James had Tuesday and Wednesday of this week off for Veterans Day so we decided to head up to Baltimore for the night to see Sarah and Jon and to take Kemper to the Aquarium. We had a fabulous time with Sarah and Jon - Kemper loved playing with them and he thinks Jon is just the funniest thing. They met us at our hotel and we all went out for a DELICIOUS dinner at this great seafood joint (strangely enough, I was the only one who ordered seafood...hmmm) then we headed back to the hotel to put Kemper to bed.  We had an awesome hotel that had a seperate living room and bedroom so once we put Kemper down, Sarah and Jon hung around and we all had a great time catching up and watching the Biggest Loser (poor Sarah and Jon - we may have cramped their style with our old, married couple ways). 

Kemper was all about Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jon - he didn't want to hold Mommy's hand as we headed to the dolphin show!

Hanging out, waiting for the dolphin show to start.

Trying to be patient....

Looking at the fishies!

On Wednesday morning, we met up with them and headed to the Aquarium.  We were able to catch the dolphin show and then wandered around looking at all of the exhibits.  The aquarium in Baltimore is pretty amazing - one of the best I've every been to.  We all had a great time and it's definitely somewhere that I think we'll want to go back to with Kemper when he's older.  James seems to think that Kemper thought the tanks were televisions.  He wanted to touch them, but when he did and he realized they were flat, he lost interest.  The dolphin show and the sting ray tank he was more interested in because he could actually see the water/dolphins/rays without a glass between them. 

Dolphin Show

Family picture before the dolphin show

Daddy and Kemper getting ready to explore

After we finished up at the aquarium, we all headed over (in the pouring rain!) to The Cheesecake Factory for a yummy lunch and cheesecake.  We all left there way too stuffed but most definitely satisfied!  We had to get on the road, so we said goodbye to Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jon and hit the road.  As usual, Kemper is a great little traveler - we're so blessed!  He slept better in the hotel than he does at our house, had a blast in the hotel room (he thinks it's his personal playground) and was, for the most part, an awesome kid at all of the restaurants we visited.  Poor guy was pretty tuckered out and slept for almost 2 of the 3 hours on the ride home and hit the bed pretty soon after we got home too. 

We had a great trip!  Sarah and Jon - thanks for being our tour guides!  We can't wait to see you guys again (even if you are stealing her away from us for Thanksgiving Jon - hehe!)! 

Haircut

Haircuts had become a torture session for everyone involved, so James and I decided (well, mostly James, I had to be convinced and still almost cried as we were cutting it) to buzz Kemper's hair. We were hoping that if we cut it at home, he'd be more calm and open to having his hair cut. No such luck, he freaked out like he did in the salon last time.

It looks so different to me, but I'm not sure that it looks that different in the pictures. At first I thought he looked like he was 6 months old again, but now, I think he looks older. More little boyish rather than babyish!

He's also talking more and more - I just love hearing his interpretation of words right now. My current favorite is "bowl". It cracks me up everytime he says it because he's got a southern drawl that makes it come out "bowel". Unfortunately, my past favorite - "mumma" has officially turned into "mama". There was something about hearing his little voice saying "mumma, mumma" that just melted my heart, but, the big boy now correctly says "mama". And believe me, I hear that word about 50 times an hour it seems!

All of October wrapped up into one post!

Well, it's pretty obvious that I'm not the greatest blogger in the world, so, to make up for the month long lag in posts, here is a post full of pictures!

(Sorry they're not in order, but Blogger won't let me move them around for some reason.)

On Halloween morning, Mom and I took Kemper back to the Jeter Farm Pumpkin Patch for a little petting zoo, corn maze and pumpkin patch fun before time to Trick or Treat.

Sat down to get a better view of the baby calf.

Taking it all in.

Lots of pumpkins!

YAY Pumpkins!

Such a sweet boy.

A moment of stillness!

Hey, it's piggies!

Somewhat terrified of them when they were "fighting" but still fascinated.

Hm, wonder what's in there?

Cheesin' with Momma in the corn maze.

No worries, Kemper took over the hay rides when the tractor driver got a phone call.

He loved the baby calf.

Follow me!

In front of the barn.

Telling me he's "all done" in front of the barn.

Wow - remember last years picture in front of the barn?! Such a change!

The Starbucks that has a weekly storytime threw a big Halloween party so we headed over to see how Kemper would do in his costume and around other kids in costume. His buddy Clayton was there, and aside from a few boo-boos, they had a great time!

My little dragon!

Playing the rubber ducky game for a prize.

Cutest dragon I've ever seen!

They had cupcakes that the kids could decorate...Kemper just liked dipping his candy corn into the icing.

Yum, candy corn!

Kemper and Clayton playing with the cones.

Clayton the Cow!

Listening to Mrs. Taryn during storytime.

Working on his Halloween project during storytime.

Kemper the Dragon and Chloe the Hula Girl at Storytime.

Ha - my little plumber boy! ;)

Kisses from Daddy.

Kemper and Clayton.

Pouting.

There's a smile!

Showing off his "cheese!" face.

Cheesin' again.

One Saturday, we went with our friends, the Milloy's, to the pumpkin patch in Chesterfield. Rich, Jess and Aiden were in Germany with us and we're so happy to have them around Chester with us for awhile! Kemper and Aiden play really well together, and even though Aiden is about 8 months older than Kemper, he's great with him. We see Kemper trying to do and say much more after spending time around Aiden.

Kemper with his "Kemper-sized" pumpkin.

Momma and Kemper riding the wagons.

Ready for his wagon ride.

Aiden and Kemper in the bouncy house.

I love this face - he looks like he was just busted for doing something he shouldn't have.

Holding hands with his buddy Aiden.

Feeding the bunnies.

He only wanted to feed the bunnies and used all of his animal food for them.

Hayride to the pumpkin patch.

Heading into the kiddie corn maze.

Cheese!

We thought he'd love this barrel train ride, and when I strapped him in, he was smiling and driving his cart. Even as they pulled off he was smiling and driving. Then....

This is the face we saw as the train pulled back up. Apparently, he didn't enjoy it quite as much as we had thought/hoped.

Each week, Kemper and I meet up with some friends for a storytime held at the local Starbucks. This storytime is absolutely wonderful and we all have a great time. The lovely lady who does the storytime is just wonderful and loves the kiddos and really outdoes herself weekly on the activities that she has planned. For Halloween, she planned a pumpkin painting party that Kemper and his buddy Clayton LOVED. They had a blast, even though they were more interested in the snacks than the painting for a bit.

Clayton modeling his green moustache.

Dazed and confused?

Clayton painting his pumpkin with a little help from Mom.

Kemper trying to figure out the paint marker.

So, there's the October recap. Hopefully I'll do a better job of keeping you all updated this November. We've got lots of exciting things going on, most importantly, James and I will be traveling to Clarksville on the 13th to close on our house! We're so excited to finally see the finished house in person. Our amazing realtor, Laurie, has been emailing us pictures as they've completed certain things and it looks great! We're also gearing up for the holiday season and will be welcoming our friends, the Bowmans, to Chester in a few days as well!