Summertime!

Ok- so I am behind again. After our Indiana vacation, the kids went to Vacation Bible School at a small local Lutheren church- they really seemed to love it and we loved it on two fronts: 1.) It was FREE! 2.)It got the kids out of the house for 3 hours a day for 5 days and gave Daddy a bit of a break. Below is a video of K singing at the end of the week. Hear the kid yelling the words to the song? That would be my girl!

We took the kids to dinner with Mimi and Papa on a Sunday evening and didn't realize that a show was included with dinner.

We also started soccer in a program at our church. Daddy is the Assistant Coach. Here are some photos for your view pleasure.

July Vacation In Indiana

I am a little late in posting details from our vacation in Indiana.

We spent 3 days with Grandma and Grandpa in Lafayette and then 3 days with Grammy and Grampy in Williamsport.

Here are some of the photos:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbsWTRo3ZM2yz

And here are some videos: B and K adopted a stray barn cat while at Grammy's house. Since our visit Grammy and Grampy have purchased food, bowls and worm medicine for "Oscar." The goat belongs to "Uncle Dave" and the kids had a lot of fun "shooing" him away. Luckily, cousins Keegan and Guthrie were able to trap the goat in the chicken yard to keep him from eating Grammy's flowers.

Tropical Storm Fay

As we are preparing for Tropical Storm Fay, Daddy has been in the position to explain Hurricanes and Tropical Storms to B and K.

B asked Daddy if the wind will blow our house away. Daddy said no, and if the storm gets too bad, we would leave and go somewhere safe. B's reply?

"Daddy, I think we should just go to Chucky Cheese, its the safest place for us!"

The Joys of Potty Training~

Before I became a parent, I could never understand the fascination and the incredible amount of talk about poo poo and pee pee. Ahhhhh- I now do! Our approach has been "hands off" on the potty training- we havent pushed the subject- only encouraged. I do still get a bit anxious when I hear about 2 year olds being potty trained- but I am doing my best to keep that to myself.

I can't believe that I actually jump up to see who did what in the potty. "Mommy! I did poo poo! Come See!" And I run to check out the masterpiece of my very talented children!

T minus 3 weeks and Brady and Katie are off to Preschool for 3 year olds- they must be potty training to go to the older 3's class versus the baby 3's.

Brady is really trying- especially when it comes to getting gummy bears or a sucker or ice cream. He went to Vacation Bible School in big boy pants.

Katie is on her 2nd day of wearing big girl panties to Vacation Bible School. She is doing great. Yesterday, after nap, she came into my office to tell me she wanted to her panties back on. She said "I keep my panties in my purse- to keep them safe!" Safe from what, I ask!

A Monday Funny

So Brady is beginning to show some interest in the potty and I am so sure that I will have many more of these stories to share, but here is the first.

We have found the perfect bribe to Brady to achieve our potty training goal before the glorious date of September 7th- the first day of PreK 3 for B and K- GUMMY BEARS!!

Anyway, Brady was talking about his gummy bears this morning before I went to work, so I asked him if he wanted to try to go before Mommy leave for work. He went to try and we had no luck. So I grabbed a handful of Cherrios to give that a try. He thought this was a very fun idea but still had no luck- he even grunted a couple of times.

Katie came into the bathroom and saw what fun Brady was trying to have. "I want to try it Mommy! I want to squirt the cherrios!" I had to explain to her that this was a fun game for boys and we would think of another game for her.

I walked out of the bathroom and this is the conversation I heard.

B: "Katie, you can't squirt cherrios because you don't have a tootie. You have a vagina."

K: "Oh maaannnn! Brady, can I borrow your tootie?"




P.S. I need to post about our Gatlinburg vacation. I promise to get to it this week.

The Big Boy Haircut

A few weeks ago, I took the kids for haircuts at the mall. After we were finished, I ran into my good friend Joanna. Joanna, also the mother of boy/girl twins, is one of those friends that you always know will tell you the truth even though it may not be what you want to hear. I love her for that and that is the reason I knew she would be honest with me about my recent haircut- that I am still not so sure about.

Anyway, this is about Brady's haircut- not mine. :) Back at the mall, she noticed Katie's haircut right away and thought it looked great. Brady's? Well, she was not too keen on it. I looked pretty much like Katie's with a lot more curl.

Then we started getting the comments- "how cute, two girls!" and "look at her curls!" So, before I left for my business trip on Monday, I mentioned to Rob that maybe we should get him a "Big Boy" haircut. So, Daddy to him to a barber shop and the two boys of our family got a "real" haircut.

What do you think?

I think he looks so much like his Daddy now. Daddy thinks he looks like his cousin Cody. Katie thinks he is handsome. Brady is happy he can see his ears.

I think they are growing too fast.

Sunday with Mimi & Papa

Happy Monday! We spent Sunday at Mimi and Papa's house . We started our day walking our 3 miles for our training* then headed north to Mass. Brady and Katie went to children's church. After church, we met with Miss Dottie and Mr Tony (Mimi and Papa's friends) for lunch. Brady took a nap back at Mimi and Papa's but Katie was too excited to sleep. She was looking forward to playing outside in the little pool, slip and slide and big pool. Check out these videos.

Anna and Harry came over for a visit too. It was great to see them and catch up. .After swimming, we sat down to hamburgers and steaks on the grill with corn on the cob and lots of other goodies.

While we were cleaning up, the kiddos wanted to go outside again. Papa and Harry took them out to the swings. I think Katie had enough excitement for one day.

*Rob and I have started training to walk in the Breast Cancer 3-Day. More information to come on that.