Just kidding!

But, Baby loooves to eat!

Baylee is now a self-feeder... She eats 2-3 meals in this little chair now. A typical breakfast is... Oatmeal, apricots & bananas. Or an egg yolk scramble with pureed sweet potato, or squash. Other fruits she likes are pears, apples & peaches - cut in mini pieces. She snacks on watermelon, carrots, parsnips, beets, cantaloupe & baby puffs.

For dinner, Baylee will eat something like fish, mashed potatoes & broccoli. She will sit there happily & eat - sometimes for a good 30-40 minutes, which now allows me to eat my own meal in peace! :)

She is loving all of her independence these days!

Yummy!!! :)

 She's saying "whaat??"

 She really shoves her food in there!! :)

Here are some pictures of our shady backyard, from the kids bedrooms...

This was just after Garrick seeded the 'lawn'... it should take a couple of weeks for us to start seeing anything green.

That 1/2 sunny area in the top left is suppose to be where my garden goes... But, as you can see, the sunlight is pretty small. The plan is to border it with wood & then do a little rock decorative thing right outside of it to separate it from the grass. We'll probably work on it this weekend.

It's a pretty good sized yard!

~

Our basement... is another work-in-progress:

We got the "big kids" play area somewhat organized...

We split the area into two living spaces... 

The "even bigger kid area (Garrick's)" is still being perfected. Garrick wants two TV's hanging for College Saturday football & for NFL Sunday football. Most people are OK with just 1 TV, some people are fine with no TV's (ME!), but Garrick has a plan to sit in the middle of the couch & have two games playing simultaneously for his viewing delight... He hooked up two Direct TV 'Sunday football ticket' boxes... Now, if only we had some friends or family near-by!!! Hahaha! :)

The 46" inch TV still needs to be hung up... But the 55" is already up & running!

 We also got a new couch... The pieces come together, so that we can make a full-size bed with it... Just in case we get extra visitors that can't be accomodated in the main living area! :)

Here are a few pictures of the kids hanging out in the new house.

This area of the house is "Baylee's corner". A baby friendly area for her to roam around. It's in front of the big living room window, so it also gets some nice sunlight for Baylee's enjoyment! :) It's also in front of the desk, where I keep my laptop & sewing machine... So, I'm able to do some things while being right next to her! :)

Up the stairs are Aubree & Preston's bedrooms. The stairs are pretty steep, but the kids have been careful going up & down them. The rule has been to hold on to the railing & they've obeyed! Once Baylee discovers these stairs, we'll need to put up a gate.

(By the way, Baylee has been crawling since the beginning of May & she is now a super speedy crawler... She's loving being mobile... But, of course she had to figure it out just as we were moving, packing, etc. Which made moving a bit difficult.)

In the front yard....

Here's our little 4-bedroom, 2-bath house... When we first moved to North NJ, I don't know if I would have thought this neighborhood was all that great... Well, because it's so Northeastern & different from what we're used to. As we have had time to get to know the area, I'm like "wow! this is a pretty cute little neighborhood" - it's funny how things start to feel more familiar.

This is our street from right, and then to left.

The kids have been enjoying all the nature. Our neighborhood backs up to a forest, so deer, raccoons, possums, bears, chipmunks, squirrels, gofers & dozens of birds are not uncommon here. We've already encountered problems with a raccoon digging through our trash can (& making a huge mess!) & a family of possums who made their way onto our roof (and even lost a baby possum from a fall off our power line... so sad, RIP little baby possum... That was very interesting for the kids to see a possum up close - he was right on our driveway). With all the animals + the lush climate, there is also a plethora of bugs. The kids have been enjoying all the bugs, worms & critters. Personally, I'd say this world would be close to perfect without them... But, hey! It comes with the territory. We've been seeing all sorts of beetles & different types of ants, spiders & exotic looking creatures outside. Despite my fear of bugs... I've been trying to put on my 'brave face' for the kids - telling them that that hideous black & orange striped flying (beetle-looking) thing, is "cool".

On another note, Garrick & I have gone "green" & have been embracing a more eco-friendly lifestyle in the last year, or so - so instead of using chemicals to ward of the bugs, we're embracing some of them to help out with our organic garden - so, I have now been studying the bugs... But, I have to admit, they mostly all look the same to me. I guess I'm ok with them as long as they stay where they belong... outside. I'll respect them, if they respect me! :) 

This weekend we've been doing lots of work in the backyard! The backyard needed some TLC ("tender loving care" - American translation for my Aunt Ann) - seriously! Trees were overgrown & weeds had taken over. So, my handsome husband turned gardener this weekend & cleaned off low hanging tree limbs, he pulled weeds, plowed dirt, fertilized & laid grass seed. He did a good job! Now we just need to wait to see some grass action! He also designated a small area (5x10 feet) for me to start my organic vegetable garden. I'm not sure how it'll do though, our backyard is very shady & my garden needs at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. I told Garrick I'd start out slow, just in case it doesn't work. If it does work, I'll be growing tomatoes, cucumbers (to make pickles!), peppers, zucchini, squash & herbs.

Garrick hard at work...

So, we're all moved into our new home now.

We just have a couple more boxes to unpack, mostly clothes & toys. But, we have been so busy getting it all in perfect, livable condition. It's so crazy how every home needs different things. This house happened to need 5 window Air Conditioner units (no central A/C), and 300 gallons of oil to heat our water (the tank is actually 550 gallons... but, for $3.59/gallon, we decided to fill it up 5/8th to see how much we use). This oil in a house thing, in soooo foreign to me! Who would have thought! Anyway - still more things to do, and then, finally we can take a deep breath! :) I will post pictures of our new place soon....

But first!!! I wanted to get things updated. The weekend before our move, we took a 4.5-day trip to North Carolina - Bringing Baylee's new state count to 7!! :) We all have already been to Maryland, Virgina & North Carolina. But, that's pretty good for B! Baylee just turned 8 months on Monday & she's now been to 7 states plus the District of Columbia!

So, we stayed in a 3-bedroom apartment with Natalie, Eric & Marian. We had the best time! I'm so glad we were all there to celebrate Timmy's MBA graduation from Duke! I'll write more about our trip later this week... But, here are some family pictures after Tim's graduation on Saturday 5/12.

Uncle Timmy with all his nieces & his nephew...
(Aubree & Preston showed their Duke "Blue Devil" spirit)
Aunt Darlene, Nana, Timmy, Papa, LoVida, Uncle Bobby
LoVida, Timmy & Aunt Darlene
Proud parents LoVida & Said (all 3 of their boys have their MBA's now!)
The whole Durham, NC gang, minus me & Natalie... I'm not sure why Natalie isn't in this picture(?).
Big Brother Eric, Natalie & Marian
Brothers... Garrick, Timmy & Eric
The whole Family
Kids with Great Grandparents; Papa & Nana (LoVida's Father & Mother)
My Fam & Tim
Uncle Timmy with Marian, the second picture reflects their true relationship! :)
Papa with Great Granddaughter, Baylee.
Sisters... Natalie & me
Mother & son
Uncle Tim with my kids...
Aubree
Preston
Baylee
Timmy & me
Timmy & Natalie
Timmy & Aunt Darlene
Uncle Bobby & Aunt Betty
And, I'll end the pictures with Timmy & Nana - because I'm sure she'd want it no other way! :)

While LoVida was in town, we took a little day trip to Philadelphia, PA & had dinner in the beautiful town of Princeton, NJ.

Some more spring blossoms...

These are some pictures of our drive from North NJ to Philadelphia. It's a really beautiful drive... We hardly ever get on a highway to get down there, we take all local roads & go right through Princeton. We LOVE Princeton!! It's gorgeous!!

In a park, after our picnic in Philadelphia.

Baylee's first swing ride... :)

This is a really old graveyard, where Benjamin Franklin & some of our founding fathers, great war hero's & some of the great American Revolutionaries from long, long ago lay in rest....

Independence Hall

I love tulips! :)

Everyone is front of the liberty bell...

This is the original staircase...

Princeton University!!!

Downtown Princeton...

A pretty photo-op...