Colonial Market and Fair at Mount Vernon

Our weekend started out with a bang! We went to Mount Vernon with my best friend Becky Jex. We only live 10 minutes away, and we bought an annual pass, so we'll be coming to visit quite often. This weekend was the Colonial Market and Fair at Mount Vernon. There was a historic 18th century market with artisans and demonstrations.

Penelope didn't like the reenactment of the loading and firing of the regiment's weapons--she burst into tears, but it was fun to see a historical representation.

Dave and Penelope thought it was fun to walk around the grounds. The whole estate was originally 80 acres, and is still a historical working farm. But you do have to work in historical clothing, so that might deter some farmers these days.

See, proof Becky came with us. I love having good friends around!

I imagine this was an 18th century version of a show choir...they just kept singing about grogg and tobacco. I wonder if Glee will do a mash-up with that song; somehow I doubt it. :(

We didn't see most of Mount Vernon, in fact we didn't go on a mansion tour. But, this weekend only the boat tours of the Potomac were free--our main reason for going. Here we are on the boat tour. Penelope seemed to enjoy herself, and I sufficiently dosed up on dramamine so I enjoyed myself, too. I was a little loopy on the way home and for the rest of the day, but you do what you've got to do! Dave is used to my dramamine-induced delirium at this point in our marriage. He just laughs when I start slurring my words and stop to stare at nothing. Thanks, Dave!

Dave and I were excited to visit Mount Vernon. Penelope was excited to try and eat my jacket. Typical.

Boat tour. This is Penelope's "you pulled out the camera so I'm not going to smile" face.

I made sure to do my Saturday work. Mom and Dad taught me well!

In front of a typical home for the slaves.

When Hairbows Attack

This is one of Dave's favorite pictures of Penelope. But not two minutes later her hairbow attacked. Too bad without the bow she looks like a boy.

When hairbows attack Penelope just lies there and doesn't know what to do with herself:

Labor Day

Labor Day wiped out Penelope. Well, actually, no more than usual. On Labor Day we took the metro into DC and went to the National Zoo. Anything that is run by the Smithsonian is free, and so the zoo was free!

Penelope was really good the whole day. When it was nap time she quietly fell asleep in her stroller. Otherwise, she just hung out with us and enjoyed the zoo. My friend Amanda (from grad school in IL) teaches in DC so we met her at the zoo and spent time with her. Super fun!

Dave with the kimodo dragon (not sure how to spell that).

Penelope saying hi from the Panda habitat.

Chillin'

I think there might be a tiger in the background, but either way, Amanda was kind enough to take a shot of me and Dave. We never get those any more!

More Games

It appears from the previous video that Penelope has a hard time getting the burp cloth off of her face. Most of the time that is not the case. This time she happened to take a while to get the cloth off. She seems to know when she's being filmed and alters her behavior.

Peek-a-boo is a game she plays with mom. With Dad, she plays "if I kick my legs Dad will sing a silly song until I stop kicking." She immediately starts kicking when she sits on Dave's lap. We have successfully conditioned our baby to play games with us. :-) Here is a video of that:

Why is Penelope grunting and panting?

When you leave Penelope to play on the floor by herself, she tends to do just fine. She simply hangs out and plays with the toys around her. Sometimes, if you're not looking you start to hear panting and grunting coming from her direction. That can only mean one thing...Penelope has taken either her burp cloth or her tag blankie and covered her face. She wants to play peek-a-boo. Penelope will lay there with the burp cloth on her face until she hears me say "Where's Penelope?" a few times, and then she'll pull it from her face and smile from ear to ear when I say "Peek-a-boo!!" It's quite cute.

Oh, and Penelope got a tooth yesterday. That explains her fussiness over the past few weeks. It has just barely popped through, so there are no pictures to be had of it yet.

Our Apartment: the Teaser

This is Penelope's "what are you lookin' at?" face. Really, it shows the position she spends most of the day in. She does sit ups all day long. My baby has abs of steel. And, she's on the bed as a teaser...you're going to get to see some pictures of our bedroom, which is still a work in progress.

People keep asking to see pictures of our new apartment. Well, this is not that post. There is still way too much to do before the house looks presentable. So to tide you over until the whole house is presentable, you get to see our bed.

Penelope has been kind of enough to behave while I worked on a little project today: wall art for the bedroom. I've been trying to think of something to do for a while. Our bedding is very geometric and square, so I added some circular art for contrast.

Would you like a tutorial for my little project? Go to a craft store and buy embroidery hoops in various sizes. These are the super-cheap wood ones. Then add fabric, cut the excess fabric from the back and arrange in whatever composition you would like. Here is what I've got so far. I might paint the frames or add more hoops to make it larger. I'm also not so sure they'll stay on the wall very well. I just used nails and am balancing the hoops on them. What do you think?

Thanks for the fabric, Shelby! I'm still debating whether or not I want to add a few yellow pillows to the bed to tie it together with the bedding. I think it works even without pillows on the bed. I don't want it to be too matchy-matchy, and I haven't found any other yellow fabric I like.

So, there you have it. The only thing that is completed in our apartment is some wall art above our bed. I'm slowly working on other projects, and will post pictures as I go. Maybe I'll finish putting the house together before we've lived here 6 mos...or, maybe not.

4 & 5 Months

This will probably sound like a stupid realization, but Penelope is really starting to look like a little person! It makes me sad and happy at the same time. It's so much fun to see Penelope learn new things and develop more and more each day. But, I also miss my newborn baby who used to just cuddle with me and sleep on me all day. I guess that's what more children or other people's children are for; they will feed my baby cravings.

Penelope is always ready to give you a little smile. She is also really good at grabbing things and getting them to her mouth now. She sometimes can't figure out how to turn the object to get it into her mouth appropriately, but she'll get it. For example, she's really good at taking the binky out of her mouth, but can't exactly get it back in. She usually ends up sucking on the hard plastic parts. Her favorite toy at this point is still her tag blankie because that always fits into her mouth.

Here is Penelope at 4 months old (yes, she always likes to grab the numbers).

And, here she is at 5 months in our new house in VA. Once I finally get the house put together with all the pictures on the walls and find places for all the stuff that has no storage space in the apartment, I'll take pictures and post them.