Well, Quinn, Sophie and I successfully made our trek North-frist stopping in Philly to spend the night with Auntie Brooke and then making our way to Boston with the Vest crew, finally arriving in Proctor 2 weeks ago at Grammie and Papa's!
Needless to say, we've been enjoying family and braving the freezing weather up here! It's nearly impossible to get out of the house without mittens flying off, arching of the back to zip up the big coat and hat over her eyes-thank goodness we don't do this everyday down South!
Quinn was happy to welcome Daddy 'home' on Sunday night, after he spent the weekend stuck in VA Beach due to all the snow in DC...after about 4 iterations of flights and a 13 hour day on Sunday-he finally arrived safely!
Now we are enjoying time with big cousin Connor, a wonderful babysitter-even helping Quinn on the ice for the first time at the Proctor rink!
Just eagerly awaiting Santa and hopefully some snow here for the big day!
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and happy and healthy 2010!
Quinn enjoyed her first 'real' taste of turkey this Thanksgiving in Michigan with family-we had a wonderful week and were spoiled with all the hospitality and home cooking! Needless to say, Quinn didn't go away hungry! She enjoyed all the Loch & Zizak favs including an overwhelming portion of sweedish meatballs one night, and, of course, the full Thanksgiving Day meal!
The twins kept her busy and she couldn't get enough of the stairs at Dani & Mike's - in fact, I think a house with stairs is all she'd really like for Christmas, but, sorry, that isn't happening this year, Quinn!
Of course, Nanny and Aunt Brooke spoiled her as usual and Mason, Chase and Spenc were all very sweet to her-sharing all their toys, her favorites seem to be the piano and ride-on zebra.
Here she is below playing one last concerto before we had to say good-bye.... Such a fabulous time with everyone-wish we were closer to get together more often! Thanks again so much Dani, Mike, Nanna and Poppy for such a great visit-looking forward to making our way back out in the summer at some point!
Next we're heading North....I'll brave the trek tomorrow breaking up the trip in Philly and Boston before arriving in VT next week. Brent is heading back to Key West and will meet us at home in time for Christmas. I hope we'll be seeing snow very soon, although the almost 70 degree weather yesterday is pretty hard to beat!
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! I'm almost certain I won't get it together until after the holidays to make a new post!
Fall has set in and we survived the big N'oreaster last week! After 4 days of non-stop rain and a full day without power, the weather is back to normal around here and we can get back outside! Quinn enjoys nature walks at one of our favorite parks-such a glamorous little movie star, hey?
Shoulder rides with Daddy are always fun too!
We had a great weekend with cousins in town over at Grammie Alford's-LOOK OUT Mom & Dad-Q and Lil will be a devilish duo over the holidays in VT! SO much fun to see them all together and watch Quinn try to keep up with it all-she does hold her own pretty well if I do say so myself! Can't wait for Connor to see her in action soon and HOLD ON Mason, Spencer and Chase-she'll give you guys a run for your money next week in Michigan-we cannot wait!!!
Everyone enjoyed wheel barrow rides around the wet backyard- Uncle John has his next riding buddy, Lucas loved the bikes! Grace was a sweet little 'mother' to all-I cannot believe how grown up you are, Miss Grace! Quinn certainly loves her older cousins!
Miss Q has certainly developed quite the personality-she has a mind of her own-defying us as she stands in her rocking chair and smiles back as we say 'no-no, sit down' and she only wants to feed herself with her own fork or spoon-we just love cleaning up the mess that 'independence' makes :)
Off to Muskegon this weekend-we are SO excited to see the Zizak crew and Gramma and Poppy-you guys are barely going to believe your eyes-quite a BIG change from last Christmas-can't wait!
Quinn had a great Halloween weekend! We kicked it off with the Rec center parade on Friday with her buddies Daniel and Tolin, followed by a party at Daniel's house on Saturday afternoon, then treat-or-treating festivities Halloween night with Mitch and Daniel-our little bee was 'buzzing' about-she had an absolute blast!
We also finished out our last swim lesson with pal, Gracie, last week. The girls had a great time with our instructor, Lee, although most of the time all they wanted to do was use the rings as teethers!
The big pumpkin next door has retired for the season, Quinn was sad to see it go... What a great 1st Halloween, we'll have to put on 'the bee' one more time for Brent when he gets back this week-Daddy was really sad to miss out :( but Quinn saved him some of her candy!
Quinn carved her first pumpkin in preparation for Halloween! She was really more interested in hoisting it up to throw like a ball, rather than dig her hands into the slimy stuff :) She loves seeing all the decorations around the neighborhood, especially our neighbor's pop-up ghost in the jack-o-lantern, she points to the door nearly every morning to see if he's out! I can't wait to see how she acts on Saturday for her first trick-or-treating adventure as a little bumble bee!
Yes, this one above is after she decided to toss the pumpkin across the kitchen with seeds flying everywhere! Not a bad idea to not have to touch the pulp, which she was very unsure of...
Yup, one last warm day on the beach here when it topped 80 degrees last week-the weather cannot make up it's mind! SO much fun to watch Quinn actually walk/run along in the sand this time all on her own-it was hard to keep her from heading straight for the waves!
A little drama this past Sunday while trying to capture a few festive Fall leaf pics... Soph darted out into the road barking at some walkers with their pack of dogs (6, I believe) and was maced! Yup-guess she intimidated these 'animal lovers' with her loud bark while wagging her tail and they gave her the pepper spray while my back was turned trying to capture these pics of Quinn on the steps!
I think this one is hilarious, as if she's yelling back at them, "HEY, Leave my Dog ALONE!"
Not quite Vermont foliage, but a few turning leaves down here none the less! Can't wait to post pics following Saturday's Halloween party with her playgroup buddies and our big night out!!!
Well, we had to fit in the Hunt Club 'Hoe-down' before Daddy left for Key West again, unfortunately, our camera was still on the fritz, but our little disposable wasn't so bad! Quinn loved chasing the goats and roosters around the petting zoo! Sadly she was ready to pass out after our hay ride so we never got the picture-perfect pumpkin patch pics-I'll have to sneak her back there this weekend for a few!
We've been really enjoying our swimming lessons and taking advantage of Rec Center Fun-last Friday was 'bounce and more'-Quinn would not leave the bounce house, in fact, she had to coax her older boyfriends in at the beginning because Tolin and Daniel were not so sure about it:) She is quite the little dare devil-no fear! Hmmmm-wonder where that comes from???
Couldn't resist capturing her in the bathroom-her new favorite trick-throwing anything and everything in the tub and trying to dive in after it! Fabulous!
Quinn is getting ready for trick-or-treating! Her new buddy Murphy got her this adorable pumpkin for her birthday, complete with her name-too cute! Now let's hope she doesn't get too carried away on Halloween night or Mommy will be eating WAY too many treats!
New froggy rain boots that I purchased-she loves to eat them and carry them around the house, but won't let me put them on her :( I think they are tough to walk in, but it seemed like the perfect purchase with our never-ending rain around here!
Check out the footage below-Quinn cannot get enough of the outdoors and had an absolute blast at our last visit to Grammie Alford and Uncle John's house-even between the raindrops she did not want to come in and quit the soccer efforts! She is one determined child :) and look how good she's gotten on her feet these days-I'm literally exhausted keeping up with her!
Quinn enjoyed her caterpillar bash-as you can see, she was thrilled with her cake, digging in for more below! Her playgroup pals and even her first Nanny, Sarah, joined us with her twins for the festivities! Bobby, Sarah, Kailee and Emma Hakon and Quinn enjoyed the packing peanuts in the pool, although we did catch most of the kids snacking on a few of the peanuts....probably not the best idea by me!
Lots of tunnel fun too.... Although princess for the day, she was NOT into her crown...but our other 'princess' didn't mind :) Happy Birthday, Bugaboo!!! Although not professionally decorated, the caterpillar cake turned out pretty yummy..... Saying good-bye to all her pals-we tried to get all of them together, but it just wasn't happening!
Next we packed it up and hit the road for Myrtle Beach for a fabulous time with the Lyons! Mitch and Quinn grew even closer, although I think most of the time she heard-"No, Quinnie" from her older buddy :) She's got her work cut out to keep up with Mitch-man who soon celebrates his 2nd birthday!
As usual it was tough to keep our little lady out of the water-she could not get enough of the water sprinklers in the kiddie pool, but unfortunately our camera bit the dust on the trip, so we couldn't capture video of her dragging us in for more fun while the water buckets dumped on our heads and Quinn cracked up with delight in the middle of it all! She has mastered her walking and only really needs a hand when we're at the playground. Still not so many words, but boy can she get her point across if she wants/needs something, don't you worry about that!
Daddy takes off again tomorrow for Key West and Quinn is really going to miss him LOTS! She gets SO excited to see him come thru the door every night and cracks up at him over breakfast when they pretend to 'bite' one another...she really has a thing for teeth these days and is finally getting two more on top!
Researching our next camera purchase so we don't miss anymore Kodak moments-pumpkin patch and petting farm over the weekend with a disposable just doesn't cut it!
Daily Life with Brent, Stacie, Soph & 'Baby J' on the way!!!
So... with this pregnancy in full swing (now 20 weeks!) I've been convinced to join the craze and begin a Jaquith blog to keep friends and family up-to-date on our 'growing' news and goings-on in VA Beach-hope you'll enjoy! We have passed the halfway point on Brent's deployment (yes, he's gone for 7 months for those who missed that piece of news) and in less than 2 weeks I'll travel to Dubai to finally meet up with him and show off my preggo bump! Our new addition will arrive about a month after his return on November 8th! Sorry, but we'll keep the sex a surprise-so take your best guess on what we're having. This will be the tie-breaker baby on the Z-side, already 2 boys and 2 girl grandkids... I hope this blog will keep us connected with friends and family that are spread across the map-we miss you all and hope this will help us remain in touch!
