New Hair cuts!

We went today for long overdue haircuts. Katie got a trim but I was more radical with Sarah. I got fed up with her putting her food in her hair and not letting me comb it and all the knots. Plus its so thick and heavy. So we went for a bob. I think they both look adorable!!!

What A Week!!

We have had a crazy and busy week this past week. First and foremost the girls started swim lessons and its been rough to say the least. Sarah has done ok with it but Jim or I have been in the water with her. But she loves the water to begin with. Katie has a love/hate relationship with water and HATES to get her face wet. So there were many tears this week when it was time to go under water and blow bubbles... She gets in the water on her own with her class and instructers (no parents in the water) so its been rough for her..... We did have a decent lesson on Friday and she did pretty good... Now we are off for 2 days so I am not sure what Monday will bring.

On Tuesday I went with my next door neighbor to a garden party and a progressive dinner. We got to see some amazing gardens and enjoy some yummy food. The one garden we went to seriously reminded me of the secret garden...

Wednesday I ran to Dushore to meet Lisa and pick up Courtney and then we came back, had dinner and then went to see the new Harry potter movie. It was sooo good. We both loved it. I thought the director did a great job and brought a lot of humor to the movie which it needed as there are some really dark points to the movie.

Thursday we ran back to Dushore to hand Courtney back off to Lisa and then came home and after swim lessons came home and had Jims friends and their 5 kids over for dinner. All the kids had a blast playing together. And it was so nice to meet Jims friends and hang out with them.

Friday the girls and I just kinda hung out at home since we were all kind of tired from our week and the late nite we had on Thursday. After swim lessons we went to our good friends the Speichers for dinner. We had a wonderful meal and the girls had a great time playing together....

The girls were thrilled this week when Bear returned from conneticut and brought them their favorite character bubble bath. However Sarah I dont think understood what it was, because after spilling it on my carpet we heard her in the bathroom crying and saying This dont taste good. Here is princess bubble bath and its pink. The same color as her princess toothpaste! Yup she tried to brush her teeth with it! After rinsing her toothbrush for awhile and making her repeatedly rinser her mouth, we hid the bubble bath....

Tonite I went to get a cannolli out of the fridge and ended up dropping a plate on my foot. It landed vertically on my foot- down below my big toe. Its bruised really badly and swollen....

Well, all those who made fun of me with the van and the kid playing soccer- its gets worse! This week we got a e-mail from the guy who runs the league- they needed more coaches - wanna guess who volunteered??? NOT ME! Jim did!!! Guess its a good thing we have that van now huh???

On a very sad note,. I am sorry to say that we got a phone call from Jim's aunt in Conneticut letting us know that his grandmother had passed away. Funeral services will be later this week. Jim and I are so thankful that we took the girls up to see her about a month ago!

10 on Thursday

Another week of summer has passed and its hard to believe its still so comfortable. We have not had one day of 90 degrees this summer... So without further ado here is my 1o:

1. Because of all the cool and rainy weather, we were able to harvest our first crop from the garden. Yummy lettuce! The girls started out liking it- I had to keep an eagle eye on Sarah cause she kept sampling and then putting it back. But now they are saying they don't like it...

2. As much as Katie loves boy stuff - she is a squeamish girl when it comes to bug. She was all excited to pick lettuce till she saw a snail on the one leaf.... Then she would not set foot in the garden.

3. Jim thought Penn dot had been here because her and Sarah then sat in their lawn chairs while I picked lettuce.

4. We made brownies today and had them for snack this afternoon. Katie told me I was the best baker in the whole world and I made the best brownies... Ummmm no, that would be Duncan Hines.....

5. Both girls love to help in the kitchen and bring their stools out to help me. I try to find small jobs for them since they love to do so much but Sarah always has me laughing when she helps me cause she goes OK COOKER MOMMY. What next cooker mommy?

6. Next week the girls start their swim lessons. Hopefully the weather will warm up some.

7. Next week is such a busy week for us. I have a garden party to go to with my neighbor, a movie date with my niece and a cookout with friends and oh yeah- closing on our old house...

8. Our neighbors dog had puppies and I got to meet them today. she invited the girls down to see them but I am afraid they will cry if they cant have one and they puppies are all spoken for....

9. I was so excited yesterday in the supermarket- Cookie crisp brought back their vanilla cookie crisp (although it has sprinkles this time). Katie decided she had to have it so we bought it and I called my Sis when I got home to tell her (it use to be one of her favs but has not been around for sometime). Jenn- Katie pronounced it dewishous this morning.. It tastes like the old school one!

10. Car carts at the grocery store are the work of the devil! Seriously. I feel like my hair must stand on end by the time I get out of their when I take both kids. They either are fighting for dominance in the car part or they unbuckle the belt and are bolting out the sides as I try to look for stuff.....And then the best part is trying to steer the beast! Its no wonder I come home and am like oh darn I forgot--------.

Have a great weekend!

Painting fun!

So the last few days have been ehhh weather wise, so mommy had to get creative. I knew I had to give the girls a bath yesterday, so plotted out a course of action and it worked pretty well if I say so myself. I fed the girls a messy lunch (meatballs and noodles), then got the fingerpaints out and the art pages and the paintbrushes in case they wanted them and the art smocks (aka old t-shirts) and let them go to town. Courtney and Christopher got in on the action as well and I think all 4 of them had a good time! And lets just say- thank god for magic eraser!

Turtles, Butterflies and Snakes OH MY!

We also visited Clyde Peelings Reptile Land recently. A place I swore I would NEVER EVER visit. Why would you who is deathly afraid of snakes and all things that are creepy ever go to such a place? Well, because they have a butterfly exhibit!

We had a rough start because we (the girls and Courtney and I) met up with our friends Miss Kim and Katie and went right for the live show. They do quite the graphic slide show then they bring out live animals that you can touch and ask questions of. Our Katie was freaking out. They brought out a baby alligator first and she was ok - she refused to touch it but was ok with being in the room.... Then they brought out the boa constrictor and our sweet little girl began to get hysterical. And when she gets upset, Sarah feeds off of it. So for every one's best interest, I took both girls out and told the others we would be by the turtles.... The turtles made them happy.... How could you not be happy with this little guy sunning himself?

Or this big guy eating his lunch?

The 2 Katies look at the big turtles.. Yeah I know I am not calling them the right thing... Forgive me!

Soon the live show ended and we took a walk over to the butterfly exhibit. This is just so neat and so much fun. Butterflies just fluttering all around you... Every where you look, they are there. I am really excited over some of the shots that I got!

The girls had so much fun looking at all the butterflies...

Then it was time to head indoors to look at all those animals... Um yeah I don't have a lot from indoors cause it is pretty much snakes and well, see above.... But here is a picture of the girls looking at a snapping alligator turtle.

This picture just cracks me up every time I look at it. Katie and the Gecko...

Overall I was impressed with how well the girls did and after we ate our lunch, the girls asked to go back to the butterfly house and see the indoor exhibits again as well! Somehow in a moment of weakness, I agreed to take our Katie and Courtney back for Bat weekend.. Gulp... well I have plenty of time to get brave - right? Right??

Cruising on the River!

Two weeks ago we were invited by our friends and neighbors the Connors to have a big family outing and go on the local paddle boat that goes up the Susquehanna River. They run a family cruise nite every Tuesday nite and its such a nice time for very little money. Plus they also have make your own sundae on there too! That was all the girls needed to hear to want to go! Lol. We have known the Connors awhile now through our daycare/preschool and then they moved into Bear's neighborhood shortly ahead of us so now we are neighbors too. Its so nice because their son Aidan is one month younger then Katie and their daughter Gabrielle is 1 month younger then Sarah. The kids are really good friends from having been together at daycare and in the same class. Its nice that they will now continue that on into public school.



So we set out for our cruise..... Here is a shot we did before we got on the boat- from Left to Right= Sarah, Gabrielle, Aidan and Katie. Seriously- don't you just want to eat up all that cuteness!




Here is Katie deep in concentration telling Denise something...



Gabrielle or as Sarah calls her MY Baby Elle, and Sarah holding hands. They do this every time they see each other. So sweet.



Sarah and Katie, dancing together on the cruise.


Such a fun nite with great friends all around! The biggest laugh of the nite was Katie telling us she wants to have her birthday party on the Hiawatha( that is the boat's name)... And she wants it to be a surprise. Lest you forget, Katie's birthday is in January! I think that would be quite the surprise!

Joe Pa town

Last week while Courtney was down, Jim decided to take a few days off and take us all down to Happy Valley for the day. For those of you not from the area- that's State College, PA home to PSU and Katie's most favorite person in the whole wide world- her beloved Joe Pa. First up was a trip to Beaver stadium which is so overwhelming in person and to the statue of her beloved Joe Pa. I would love to share pictures of that with you, but My camera's setting was accidentally knocked to the wrong position and my pictures that I took were all over exposed... BOO! But on the good side I told Jim we need to take another ride down there to get pictures with her and Joe Pa again :)

After a trip to Joe Pa we went to main campus and took a little walk till we found the lion shrine... Here are some pics from there:

The story of the Nittany Lion

The lion:

Cousin Courtney on the lion

Katie near the Lion

Katie, Mommy and Sarah - Sarah would not sit on it by herself...

We then went and got some lunch and shopped downtown before returning to campus to go to the creamery. This is one of my most favorite places now on the PSU campus! They make homemade ice cream and it is delish! Plus they make a whole slew of other products like cheese and such. You may or may not know that Ben and Jerry attended a workshop on how to make ice cream from Penn State. So that should tell you how yummy their stuff is. After that we headed back home. When I asked Katie if she had fun, she said yes dis is a fun town to visit but I think I would like even more to LIVE here. Lol. Maybe one day Katie bugs.... Then this past week as I was uploading pictures she came over and said hey are those the pictures form Joe Pa town?

Lol!

What we have been up to lately

Sorry its been awhile since I have posted. The girls and I have been on the run and have had their cousins with us for the last 2 weeks. So I have alot of posts and pictures coming your way. Sit back and enjoy!