You are my Sunshine... in your second November

Some fun November memories:

November 3rd

With Mama on the towpath after a run

 November 6th

Voting!

 Jovie LOVES playing in the leaves in our backyard.  She "runs" back and forth shuffling through them to hear the noise.

November 7th

 November 9th

November 12th 

Picnic at Hains Point with Tyrese

November 15th

I love my Daddy!

 November 18th

Bundled for a bike ride

 November 19th

Playing at the park

Thanksgiving Weekend Fun

We love Thanksgiving weekends around here!  They are low-key, lots of rest, fun with friends and good food.  Here's a glimpse at what we did this year to celebrate how grateful we are for everything.

We started on November 22, Thursday morning, Thanksgiving Day, by running the Alexandria Turkey Trot in Del Ray.  Five miles of running fun, and my first race since being pregnant with Jovie.  It was a great day for a race!  And Mike was a trooper, pushing Jovie all 5 miles.

Pre-race photo - all the racers

Post-race family shot

 Yay, Jovie!  We did it!

 Partners for five miles

 Triumphant

After the race, we went home, cleaned up, then went to Georgetown for dinner at Farmers, Fishers and Bakers with the McGinnis family.  It was such a beautiful day that we went for a walk along the river after dinner.  Here are some pics from our fun.

 Struttin' in G-town

 Playing in the fountains

The next day, we did a lot of cleaning and stuff around the house.  In the evening, we decided it was time to get out of the house, so we went to the playground and met the McGinnis' there too!

 Cuties playing in the park

 Owen coming down the slide is hilarious!

On Saturday morning, we went to Bellehaven park and bundled up, cuz it got chilly!

 Jovie threw a massive fit every time we tried to put her in the backpack.  We hope this isn't a pattern...

So we let her walk

Dyke Marsh

After that, Tyrese and I spent some time together and went to Ted's Bulletin, Eastern Market and the Postal Museum.

 Then, we put up our Christmas tree that night!

 Partaking in the traditional pizza while decorating the tree- Jovie's first time with pizza!

Such a fun weekend!

Fifteen Months Old

Our little toddler is so fun and learning all the time!
Height: 31 inches
Weight: 25 lbs 2 oz

Jove is so much fun, and we love to watch her change all the time.  Her personality develops more all the time.  She definitely has a sense of humor.  She gets a glint in her eye and a smirk on her face and you can just tell she has a joke in there somewhere.  :)

It's been awhile since I've posted about her development, so settle in!  Here are some cute and big girl things she does:

• At night after her bottle, we tell her to bring us a book, and she toddles over to her bookshelf, picks a book and brings it back to Daddy in the rocker to read.  Sometimes she says "Read, read!" which comes out more like "wre-wre".  Her current night-time favorites are her big crayon books and the Jesus Loves Me book.
• She can point to all kinds of things now when you say the word - her language skills are really expanding.  She also understands the full sentences I say when I ask her to do something. This includes vocabulary expansion. We've stopped counting how many words she says because there seem to be more all the time. She'll try to repeat almost any word, and her favorite go-to's are "Doggy", "Baby", "Howie", "Hi", "Anana" (for banana) and "Ummmmy", said with feeling when she likes food or sees something she wants to eat- even on TV.
• Her communication is also getting much more sophisticated.  When Howie barks she says "Shhh".  She voluntarily tells us when she's all done by signing it instead of us having to ask.  She'll walk over to her high chair and make the sign for "eat".  When we say we're leaving or going outside, she gets very excited.  And when I tell her that we're going to Ms Jessica's house, she flaps her arms and kicks her legs in excitement.  Also, when I ask her if she's sleepy, she says "Ni-Ni" (for night-night) if she's tired.  The whinier it is, the tireder she is.  Now she'll even go stand at the baby gate by the stairs if she wants to play, or if she's pooped and I ask her if she needs a diaper change. Waving and saying "Hi" is her favorite!
• The other day, for the first time, she went up to the table and grabbed her sippy cup, walked around with it for a couple minutes and took several drinks, then walked back and put it back where it was before.  It seemed so grown up and Mike and I were quite impressed.
• She can point to parts on her (and your!) face: Eyes, nose, hair.  Tongue and teeth are really cute - she sticks out her tongue and chomps her teeth.
• She tries to do all the motions to "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" as soon as she hears the music.
• For some reason, she LOVES license plates on cars.  Perhaps because they are her height and she likes letters so much?  When we walk down the sidewalk by our house she stops to point them out and wants to touch all of them.
• Her new favorite thing to do is open and close cabinets, pull stuff out of them and put it back in, and put stuff in and out of boxes or other containers.  She must see me do that a lot.  :)
• She still loves animals - especially dogs and squirrels.  Anytime she sees them on a walk she stops and points.  Still points for helicopters and airplanes, too!
• Her playing is more "big girl" too.  She puts her dolly in and out of the play stroller, babbles while she reads her books sometimes (although she still really studies them quietly at times), likes to play games with us like "hiding" behind things and peeking out, and plays at playgrounds more like a big girl by "running" and climbing around as much as she can.
• She still loves Howie!!  She chases him around, hugs him, kisses him, pulls his tail, fights over his toys with him, says "Howie, Howie, Howie."  My favorite is that when he barks she says "Shhh".
• When she's trying to be loving, she hugs or kisses something, pats it and says "Awww".  She'll do this to Howie, Mommy or Daddy, her stuffed "Doggie" or Bear.
• The "uh-oh" game is a big thing these days - especially in her high chair.  She'll sit in her high chair, drop the cup over the side (and flinch waiting for the sound of it hitting the floor) and say "uh-oh!"  And then again.  And again.

It's hard to believe we're at the 15 month mark.  Love to watch this little one grow up!

Shenandoah in the snow

On Friday, November 2nd we packed up to go to Shenandoah for the day.  We were hoping for the remnants of fall color, and a great day with our little family, hiking in the mountains.  As has become tradition in our family, on at least one fall trip to Shenandoah, we stop at Lee's, the apple orchard on the way to Skyline Drive.  We got some apples, and the man there gave Jovie one to hold onto in the car.  It didn't take her long to decide to go ahead and eat it.  She loved it!

Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy had dumped some snow in the mountains around, but we didn't realize how much.  When we got closer, we could see - there was snow in the higher elevations!  We were pumped.  We hadn't seen Shenandoah snow since Mike and I went to Shenandoah on vacation before we moved here.

We weren't totally prepared for the snow, so we had to do some improvising, but we managed, and it was so great!  We've always been hoping to get back when there was snow.  And with some bits of color left in the lower elevations, it was gorgeous.

At the Pinnacles overlook

 

 Jovie fell asleep in the car when we got there, so Mike and I ate lunch in the car, then drove to Big Meadows.  She woke up, so we took her for a little walk at Big Meadows.

 Big Meadows is opened and exposed to wind, and we weren't ideally dressed, so we kept it short, then went to the little cafe there to grab a snack and let Jovie eat.  Then we drove back to Stony Man so we could take a hike in the snow!

Here we are, starting up Stony Man.  Jovie had a lot of fun!

 Beauty along the trail

 Coming up to the Summit

 Views from the summit

 The summit was colder than the trail since we were so exposed to the wind, but we stopped to take some cute pictures.

 It's tricky to walk in the snow, so Daddy helped.

 Jovie hitched a ride with Daddy on the way back down.

Once we got back to the car, we sat inside to warm up Jovie's hands and give her a snack.

 Then we drove back out with some stops for lovely views along the way.  Here's a picture of Old Rag from an overlook.

Pictures of Mike while he's taking pictures from the overlook

It was a great gift to get to be there in the snow, and we had so much fun!  Shenandoah is a great place, and provides a different experience and memories every time we go.  I hope Jovie eventually remembers these adventures as warmly as we do!