4th of July

We love the 4th of July in the Traylor family!

First, the Fairlington 4th of July parade

 The little kids in the neighborhood (and parents, of course) all get together, ride bikes and walk, from the firehouse to the top of the hill.  It's cute.

 Friends in the parade

 Popsicles after

 Swimming is essential to the 4th of July festivities

 Jovie and her little friend Andrew

Waiting for the Metro to go to the fireworks

 Waiting for fireworks- near the Arlington Cemetary Metro stop

 Yay for fireworks!

My little Reminder

In my less-than-exemplary moments, Jovie has been encouraging me to employ the same tactics I have been trying to teach her to process and manage her emotions.  Often these are short little questions she asks, like "Are you frustrated, Mommy?"  But sometimes she practices more sophisticated interventions.  Some examples:

One day I was working from home and was very intent on figuring something out, but was getting more and more exasperated by the issue.  At the same time, Jovie was watching a movie (yes, I am that mom who uses TV to occupy my child while I'm trying to get something done), clinging to my leg, begging me to dance with her.  I refused, telling her how much I needed to get done, and she just kept repeating "Dance with me, Mommy!" Each time I would give her a reason why I didn't have time.  We went back and forth like this for a few minutes (with both of us shedding a few tears at some point), until finally we both stopped our protests.  She sat quietly next to me on the couch, while every now and then I would mutter something about how frustrated I was with the issue at work.  A couple minutes later, she patted my arm and said "Slow down, Mommy.  Just take your time."

Another evening this week when Jovie, Mike and I were all in the living room, I was pretty frustrated about something else.  I made a face and an audible "Arg!" noise.  Suddenly, a little voice started singing the same song to me that I sing to her from the "Daniel Tiger" television show (Mr. Rogers just keeps giving!).  "When you feel so mad that you want to roar, take a deep breath... and count to four."

Both of these times, her tactics worked pretty well to diffuse the situation.  They gave me enough pause to see the humor (and even the little wisdom) in the moment and transported me away from my own little world for a short time.  I have a little better perspective when I re-enter the situation, after I've stopped to dance with Jovie for a minute or two.

Summer Sun Dresses

Summer is a great time for sun dresses- which means I get some super cute pictures of my little girl!

Berry Picking!!!

2014 was a summer of berry picking, jam making, pie baking, and enjoying farms.  :)  So, here are some of my favorite pictures from lots of those adventures.

June 1, 2014

Hartland Farm - strawberry picking

 And strawberry eating :)

We often followed our berry picking with a picnic at Sky Meadows State park with a bit of a hike. 

  Jovie loved hiking through the cows up the hill

 It was a decently steep hill

The view from the top was lovely

Flying kits at Sky Meadows

 

June 7th

Hartland Farms with G&G- strawberry picking again!

 Sky Meadows State Park again

 Some of the bounty of strawberry picking

  June 14th

Cherry picking at Hartland farms

 

 Pretty sure a popsicle on the hill is Jovie's favorite part

 June 20th

Arcadia farms with the IJM HR team- such a great place - a social justice farm

 Jovie really loved gardening there

June 28th

Larriland farm - blueberry and raspberry picking with friends

 The McShanes, Mongellis and Traylors

The cutest little berry pickers you ever saw

 Feeding the goats at the end of our picking was super fun for the girls

 My little helper, crushing the raspberries for jam

August 30th - back at Hartland for peaches, vegetables, and a few stray blackberries

We fell in love with this past-time this summer.