Snow Day!

Today was a snow day for both Dave and Lauren. I was very glad that Lehigh University decided to shut down campus because Dave teaches 3 classes on Wed. and I was very nervous about him actually making it to campus and then home again at the end of the day (we live about 10 miles from campus). This was the second big storm in 4 days but we only got about 5 inches with the last storm so this one was a lot worse. Dave was at a conf. in DC last week and they got about 30 inches of snow while he was there. His flight was even cancelled but luckily they got him on one that left about 12 hours later and he made it home to teach on Mon. He just had to watch the Superbowl from the comfort of the airport terminal instead of at home with me and the girls.

Our snow total for today was 15 inches. Dave had to go out today twice to shovel that heavy, wet snow and I am so glad it was him and not me! He is looking forward to buying a snowblower for next years winter (we decided to wait and buy one after we buy a house so we know how good of a snow blower we need depending on how big of a driveway and walkway we have). We let Lauren go out and play in it this afternoon when we had a little lul in the snow fall and she had fun sledding and playing around for about an hour. I am sure we will be out a lot more tomorrow since the snow will have finally quit falling and it is another snow day tomorrow. But here are some of our pict. from today.

Both the girlies out in the snow.

Lydia isn't a huge fan of the snow but she likes to be where the party is so I bundled her up and out we went for a bit. She mostly just stood in that one spot and tried not to fall down or touch the snow at all. She loves to eat any snow we track into the house but doesn't like to touch it while outside!

Do you think she was excited about all the new snow?

That hat is a little bit but it gets the job done!

Lauren sledding with her Dad. We have a round disk sled with handles that Lauren really likes and so Dave will sit down first and then Lauren just lays across his chest and off they go. It is pretty funny to watch. Here they are at the top of the hill ready to go.

On their way down.

All the way at the bottom.

These next pict. show how the snow accumulated through out the day. This first one was taken around 11am.

This one was sometime in the afternoon, around 3pm.

This last one was taken about 5:30pm. It just kept on coming. I had a 12 inch ruler out on the table and in this pict. you can see the top of it just poking out.

Ultrasound

Yesterday we found out that we will be adding a little boy to the mix. We are very excited around here to be adding a little blue to our house of pink and purple! Lauren has been hoping for a boy since we told her we were having a new baby so she was especially excited when we told her the news yesterday. As for Lydia, she just has no clue that her little world will be changing come June. Dave is most excited about finally having a Folsom boy to carry on the family name (his only brother has 5 girls). So now it is time to start preparing for this little ones arrival. If Dave has his way we will have bought a new house by then and be moved in but we will have to see if that all comes together.

Our Christmas Card

Just incase you didn't get a card in the mail - here is our highlights of 2009!

Our family has experienced a lot of changes in 2009!

GOOD:
Lauren has grown into a great big sister! She and Liddy love playing together and Lauren is a good helper to her Mom. She started kindergarten and loves going each day. Lydia changed a lot in ‘09 - going from a snuggly little baby to a fun, sweet toddler. She loves to follow her big sister around, especially after learning to walk!


BETTER:
Dave graduated with his doctorate from the University of Iowa and is now a professor at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. (Tricia thinks this may be the best news of all from ‘09)


BEST:
We are looking forward to welcoming Folsom Baby #3 in June 2010.

Merry Christmas!
The Folsom's (Dave, Tricia, Lauren & Lydia)

One Lost Tooth!

Okay - so I haven't blogged in almost 2 months - pretty lame! We have visited some pretty fun places - NYC, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia to name a few. We had grandparents visit and even had our first snow of the season but I won't play catch up right now. Today was an exciting day for Lauren because she lost her first tooth. We noticed it was loose earlier this week when she was eating an apple. All week we have tried different ways to get it out but it wasn't coming. Then tonight - as we were eating rice for dinner - out it popped. She was so excited and couldn't wait to put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy! So here are a couple of cute pict. of Lauren with one less tooth in her mouth!

My baby is 1!

Wow - where has the last year gone? I can't believe that Lydia has already turned into a big 1 year old! It took us so long to get her and now I can't even remember life before she was in our family. She is such a HAPPY little thing. She has the best little laugh and she loves to be where the action is. She LOVES her big sister and loves to crawl all over her and be where she is. She is a bit of a Mama's girl (which I secretly love) but it can make it difficult to try to make dinner when she is crawling all around my legs and just wants me to play with her and hold her. Liddy had a fun birthday and got some fun new toys and really enjoyed eating her cake and ice cream!

Lydia checking out her new toys on her birthday!

Digging into the cake and ice cream. She was much messier by the time it was gone.

Things Liddy can do at 1!

• At one Lydia is starting to walk a little bit. She still definitely prefer's to crawl since she is so speedy at it but she is getting more balanced and taking a few more steps these days.



• She is a fantastic sleeper and I love that the girls share a room. Last night I could hear them jabbering away to each other for over an hour!



• She loves trying to feed herself. It is a VERY messy process (especially the morning cereal) and we have a lot of food under our table!



• She can say Mama, Dada, uh-oh, hi, and no. She can also wave if she feels like it.



• She loves to pretend that she is talking on the phone. She is very good at holding it up to her ear and then gets a big smile and says, hi.



• She loves playing peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake. If you start singing pat-a-cake she immediately starts clapping her hands.



• She LOVES dancing! She loves a good beat and can't sit still if music is playing (even church music). Her favorite music is the theme song to Phinius and Ferb. As soon as she hears it she immediately comes crawling to the TV and starts dancing!



• She LOVES the bath! She could splash and play in there for hours if I let her. She loves to try to pull the spout that changes the water to come out of the shower head and claps her hands when she is able to do that.

• At her one year check-up Lydia weighed 19lbs (20%) and was 29 inches long (50%) and her head was 18 in. (70%). At her 9 month check-up (which happened at 8 mos) she was closer to the 50% for weight and 30% for height so she is starting to lengthen out a little bit. But this was our first time at our Dr. office out here in PA and so the difference could also be due to different ways of measuring and different scales. (Oh how I miss the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics and our Pediatrician, Dr. Christensen!)
  
  
  Happy Birthday Sweet Lydia! We love you!

Lydia at 1 month - so sweet and innocent!

Lydia at 1 year of age - she has really grown into quite the character!
Can you tell what Lydia is going to be for Halloween? Hint: "May the force be with you."

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit!

My parents came to visit us at the end of September. It was fun to have family here, even if it was only for a few days! We were able to show them around the area a little bit (we are still figuring out the area ourselves) and we took them up to Lehigh to see Dave's school and office. We were able to do some shopping and my Dad helped me trim up our tree in the front yard (thanks Dad - I no longer hit my head on it when mowing the lawn). While my parents were here we decided to go down and explore some of Philadelphia. We did most of the historical stuff and it was really interesting and fun to do that together. We got to see the Liberty Bell and we got to take a tour of Independence Hall and see the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. We also go to see Benjamin Franklin Museum and eat a Philly Cheese Steak sandwhich while there! It was a lot of fun to do together. Before we knew it, it was time to take my parents back to the airport and we are on our own again out here in the East! Lucky for us though, my older sister and some of her family are here visiting this week and we saw them in NYC over the weekend (another post I need to do) and we are meeting them in Lancaster, PA tomorrow to see some Amish sites with them. So if anyone else wants a visit, come on out!

Lauren and Grandma Hobbs at Independence Square Visitor's Center.

Me and Lauren in front of the Liberty Bell.

Grandpa, Grandma, and Lauren at the Liberty Bell.

The front of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was written and signed.

Statue of George Washington in front of Independence Hall.

Lauren inside Independence Hall

The room inside Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed. This room was pretty neat to see and it has 13 small tables set up around the room where each of the 13 colonies sat. The table at chair at the top were where George Washington sat. The chair is the actual chair that was in the room at the time of the signing.

Independence Hall

We also visited Unknow Soilder Square (it is called something like that). This is a monument to honor the soilders who fought and died for independence.

First Day of School (2 weeks late)!!

Here is Miss. Lauren in all her Kindergarten glory! She was beyond excited for school to FINALLY start. We moved to PA the end of July and she was desperate to make some more friends and to have something to do everyday so we weren't sad at all for the school year to begin -for us it could not come soon enough. She picked out her outfit and told me she wanted her photo taken in front of the tree in the front yard. And she came up with all the fun/crazy poses herself (believe me, there are a lot more crazy poses but these are the lucky few that made it to the blog). And the wonder of Kindergarten has not worn off and for that I am very glad. She comes home everyday and tells me how much she LOVES Kindergarten. If I accidentally ask if she liked school that day she corrects me and tells me, "Mom, I don't like school, I love it!" And she really loves it when she has homework. We have already had math homework and some writing homework and she couldn't wait to do it. I hope this enthusiasm never leaves.

And this last picture here is of my cute girl in front of the D.C. Temple. We went down to D.C. for a temple trip a couple of weeks ago and it was a lot of fun to see this beautiful temple in person. The girls did great and loved staying in a hotel with a nice swimming pool inside. And Dave and I loved that the ward provided babysitting at a nearby stake center and we were able to enjoy a session together. It definitely made all the expense of the trip worth it! We are excited to see a lot more of this temple and to visit the D.C. area a lot more in the coming years!

Funny Conversation with Lauren

Sometimes I have the funniest conversations with Lauren and they make me laugh. A week ago we were driving back from visiting the Washington D.C. Temple and had just made a quick stop and while stopped Lauren grabbed a free real estate magazine. Once we were back on the road she asked me to hand her the magazine so she could read it (she is 5 and can't read). After I handed her the magazine the following conversation took place.

Me: Lauren, whatcha doing?
Lauren: Reading my magazine.
Me: Will you read it to me?
Lauren: No, I can't read Mom.

Dave and I smile and laugh a little at this point. So I ask again:

Me: Lauren, whatcha doing?
Lauren: Reading my magazine.
Me: Will you read it to me?
Lauren: No, I can't read Mom.

By this point Dave and I are really starting to laugh in the front seat of the car.

Me: Lauren, whatcha doing?
Lauren: Reading my magazine.
Me: Will you read some of it to me?
Lauren: No, I can't read Mom. I already told you I can't read! Why do you keep asking me to read to you?

Dave and I were laughing so hard. She really just didn't get what was so funny about the converstation.


A couple of weeks ago it was a beautiful day outside and I took the girls to a outdoor fountain to play. As we were walking up to the fountain Lauren said, "Mom, today is such a beautiful day I am going to say a poem." Here is her poem

The sky is blue
birds are blue
I love you
tweet, tweet, tweet!

I think the tweet, tweet, tweet part is my favorite!

Going, Going, Gone!

After 5 months of trying to sell our condo - we are glad that as of Friday we will no longer be home owners in Iowa! We got an offer last week (too low) but after some negotiations we were able to reach a selling price. The buyers are really getting a great deal but we are very glad to not be paying the mortgage on an empty condo anymore!

I am actually more sad than I thought I would be about finally selling our home. Besides all the wonderful friends we left behind in Iowa, this is our last big attachment to Iowa and now that it is sold it really feels like we have moved on. Even though I struggled with making our family of 4 fit into this 870 sq. foot 2 bedroom/1 bath home for the last 6 years we loved it there and are sad to say goodbye to our first home (first one we bought anyway). We have lots of good memories of our time in Iowa and in our little home but we are so glad to have finally sold it!

They like clean people in Connecticut?

I just had the following conversation with Lauren and thought it was pretty funny.

Me: Come on girls - it's time to take a bath!
Lauren: Ah Mom, I not want to take a bath!
Me: Do you know why we have to take a bath tonight (besides the fact that you played at the park today and got all sweaty and stinky)?
Lauren: No, why?
Me: Because we are going to Connecticut tomorrow so we need to get ready tonight!
Lauren: So why do we need a bath? Do they only like clean people in Connecticut or what?

Don't worry Tawnee - I am making them take a bath so we don't offend the people of Connecticut with our smelly selves!