Playgroup @ our house 9/30/10

Easton & I hosted playgroup at our house today - "we" prepared sausage wontons, mini quiches, a fruit tray and monkey bread. We also set up a "ball pit" - aka a blow-up pool filled with 400 plastic balls. :-) It was quite a hit with the kids, they seemed to really enjoy it!

Here are a few photos of the babies that attended playgroup:

Sophie & Easton, w/ a cheesy grin!

Sophie, Easton & Canaan

Ryder joins the party!

Canaan, looking a bit worn out after all that playing! :-)

And here are a couple of pictures of Easton playing alone after all of his friends left ..... he really likes that ball pit!

Check out those teeth!

Such a happy boy!

Easton's week in review 9/20 through 9/26

To only be 8 months old, Easton sure has a busy schedule! :-) Here's a recap of some of the highlights last week:

On Tuesday, Easton, my friend Amy, her daughter Sophie, and I headed down to Harris Teeter for some Super Double Coupon shopping. On the way, we stopped at Sawmill Grill for some lunch, which made this Easton and Sophie's first official lunch date!

Wednesday, Amy, Sophie, our neighbors Natalie and her son Canaan, Easton and I all headed to story time at the library. We begin with welcoming the kids with a song, then a library employee and a volunteer read a book to everyone. Last week's book was called "The Green Sheep." Easton really seems to enjoy storytime and actually paid attention for a change! After story time, Amy, Sophie, Easton & I met our friends Chanda and Van at the Farmer's Market. We pulled the kids around in a wagon and they received TONS of compliments on how cute they were. :-) We checked out the produce and also went to take a peek at the chickens.

Sophie & Easton, staring intently at Sophie's sippy cup :-)

Cute babies in a wagon - they were a hit with all of the Farmer's Market folks!

Relaxing with a tasty beverage!

Van checking out the chickens

On Thursday, we had playgroup at Amy's house - we really enjoy getting the babies together each week, and it's also fun for the Mom's to spend some time chatting and "compare notes" on what's going on with our kids. It's our turn to host this week, so I'll be sure to take some photos of the event.

Easton has been taking swim classes on Wednesdays and Fridays from 5pm to 6pm. He loves to splash and is quite good at kicking his feet and paddling his arms. Below are a couple of pictures from our class on Friday, Sept 24th.

Working on floating...

Such a happy boy - Easton loves to splash and kick!

Saturday was packed full with running errands and doing a few projects around the house. On Sunday, I made plans to have lunch and go shopping with my friend, Sarah. Easton spent the day with Jason - when I returned home from my afternoon out, apparently Dad thought it would be fun to let Easton feed himself some sweet potato. Here's what I saw when I walked in the house:

Easton had sweet potatoes EVERYWHERE!!! Good thing it was almost bathtime :-)

What's been happening with Easton in September....

We've had a busy month, which might explain why it's been a while since my last post. :-) Here's a recap of some of the highlights:

Labor Day 2010 - Jason, Easton & I spent Labor Day in Danville. Unfortunately, I was pretty sick the majority of the time that we were in town. However, by Monday I was feeling much better, so my Mom, Dad, Popey & Aunt Lois & I all took Easton to the park. Easton experienced the swing for the first time and LOVED it!

1st time in a swing & all smiles!

Pappy does the release!

So sweet!

Uh-oh... looks like someone is losing steam....

Whew - swinging must make you tired! :-)

He also spent a lot of time with family - here are a few pics of him with his Great Grandma Francis, Gammy & Uncle Jake:

Hanging out with Great-Grandma

"Talking" up a storm! :-)

Easton & his Gammy

Driving with Uncle Jake - he had quite a grip on the steering wheel!

Playtime - Easton has made tons of friends .... we meet with the babies and Moms from our Yoga class every Thursday for a playgroup. We have some new neighbors that we often walk around the neighborhood & play with. We also make frequent trips to nearby parks - here are some pics of Easton and his "girlfriend" Sophie at the park on 9/18:

Easton & Sophie playing

Fighting over a toy :-)

Finally, both of them looking toward the camera!

Cute boy!!!

We couldn't keep them from playing with the grass! :-)

Library Story Time - The library hosts a story time for ages 6 months to 2 years on Wednesdays at 10:15am. Easton & I went last week, and he really enjoyed it! His favorite part was the "Welcome Song" where we passed a ball around the room and when each child held it, we sung "Welcome" to them using their name. Easton really seemed to like to hear the whole room sing his name :-) We'll definitely go back soon, it was a fun time!

Swim Class - Easton started swim classes at Camp Lejeune last week. His classes run for three weeks and are held on Wednesdays and Fridays from 5pm to 6pm. Easton really impressed us at his first class ... he hasn't been in water much at all (other than taking a bath and a few attempts at the ocean) but he really seemed to love the pool. He splashed, kicked and drank his fair share of pool water :-) We're hoping this class will make him comfortable in water - so far, so good! I'll get some pics soon to post!

Easton turned 8 months old yesterday (Sunday 9/19). Time truly is flying by - it is amazing to watch his developments. Easton is still doing his army crawl and has gotten quite fast. He "talks" all of the time and has begun to pull up to standing while holding my hands. He's still very laid back and mild-mannered, but can get quite a temper if we take too long to feed him - the boy LOVES to eat! Speaking of eating, he has mastered finger foods and can feed himself puffs, yogurt melts and pieces of banana. He eats 2nd and 3rd foods, yogurt and some table food pureed (such as carrots, lima beans, peas, fruit, etc).

We're still working on mastering the sippy cup - we've tried several different brands but we think the ones with harder spouts are irritating his 4 TEETH! (two on top, two on the bottom). We're so proud of Easton's progress and he makes us laugh each day with his babbling, bouncing in the jumperoo and giving us his big, toothy grin. We fall more in love with him each day!

Jason's couponing adventures at the Commissary :-)

I often read about great deals at the Commissary, but it's a long drive (which pretty much negates the savings) so I don't like to drive there just for a few items. Jason is already on base for work, so I sometimes send him with a list and a stack of coupons. Here's what he brought home today (thanks, sweetie!) :-)

The purchase included:
6 Ballpark bunlength franks (10ct) $1.25 each, total $7.50
6 Sara Lee hotdog buns (8ct) $1.59 each, total $9.54
6 Musselmans 4-pk applesauce 79cents each, total $4.74
2 Pompeian olive oil 16oz $2.49 each, total $4.98
1 Marcal Tissue 89cents

Total before coupons = $27.65

Coupons Used:
(6) $2 off Ballpark (from Facebook - no longer printing)
(6) Buy Ballpark, get $1 off Sara Lee buns (tearpad found at Food Lion)
(4) 40cents off Musselmans (printed from their website)
(2) $1 off Mussellmans (from Facebook - no longer printing)
(2) $1 off Pompeian (from coupon book found @ Commissary)
(1) $1 off Marcal (8/22 SS)

Total after coupons: $3.05 plus $1.38 surcharge = $4.43

One thing I love about the Commissary is that they allow overage for coupons, so that helps to bring our total out of pocket down even more!

Mayhan comes for a visit 8/27 to 8/29

Megan (or better known as "Mayhan") came down for a visit last weekend. She arrived on Friday night and we relaxed, caught up and watched some TV (while she watched Jason and I "bicker back and forth") :-) On Saturday Mayhan and I got a pedicure and then grabbed a margarita at a nearby Mexican restaurant. We headed back to the house, played with Easton, prepared Crab Alfredo for dinner and watched a few movies.

On Sunday Mayhan had to head back home, but before she left she spent some more time hanging out with Easton. Below are a few pictures from the weekend - Easton definitely loves his "Aunt Mayhan" and looks forward to her next visit!

I love this picture! :-)

What a little poser!

Mayhan is cracking up at "GQ Easton" :-)

So sweet!