Disney Dreams come true!

Bologna Festival

2-hour delay, snow time, and date with a dear friend

I LOVE mornings like today! It's hard to get much better than this; I woke up for an early morning workout and as I was leaving the house at 5:15, Adam was getting ready to go outside and clear the 5 inches of fresh snow from the driveway. By the time I returned, the driveway was cleared, Matty was awake, and the three of us had a nice breakfast while Tyler was still sleeping. Ty finally woke up around 8:20, rushed downstairs to listen to Uncle Patrick on the radio for Bologna Fest and then had a quick breakfast because he and we wanted to go outside and play. We didn't have that much time outside but just enough to make tunnels, play with the dump truck, drive the go-cart around, and make snow angels. I dropped Tyler off at school for a 10:55 start and then met Meghann at the Market for a snack. And she shared the most wonderful news with me....a baby is on the way!!! I am so thrilled for the two of them and incredibly amazed at the progress she's made in the past few years. What a blessing. I just finished watching Rachael Ray and can hear Matty starting to talk. My time's up and I still have a huge smile on my face from the great news and the great morning with the family. I love these kind of days!

VIP Day

There was a surprising turn of events for today. I stayed home from church with Matty because we both weren't feeling very well. Tyler and Adam ran into Baca at church and invited Tyler over to their house for some lunch and a possible nap. Well the nap turned into staying over all night and then taking Tyler to speech class in the morning. Then speech turned into bringing him back to Grammy and Baca's house for a viewing of "Beauty and the Beast". By the time Matty and I picked him up around 11:00, he and Grammy were having the time of their lives singing "be our guest" for the movie. It was priceless! I'm still not sure of everything they did together, but that's what makes a VIP night so much fun. What I did get out of some of the stories was lots of tea parties, baking pretend cookies, playing with the train downstairs until the batteries ran out, playing with his new train Duke, and lots of stories. All I know is that by the time we came back home for lunch, he seemed pooped and was in bed and sleeping before 1:00 and is still sleeping as I right this entry at 3:30! Looks to me like Tyler had a great, busy, fun, loving time at his grandparents home! How lucky are we to be able to do spur-of-the-moments things like this??!!!

Club Kid (again!)

Today was another fantastic day at Club Kid. The Cassel, Reager, and Freer Families were able to meet us and have a fun time playing with each other. It especially worked out so well because we woke up to about 2 more inches of snow, Daddy had a two hour delay, and the weather might have kept some people at home because we had to whole place to ourselves. It was like our own private party and it really does make things easier because you know all the kids running around the place. Tyler did a great job playing with the other boys. It's really so much fun watching these interactions start developing with other children.
Ty and Owen spent at least a good 20 minutes playing fireman and policeman. They were getting really into it. They'd keep getting "phone calls" about different emergencies and the run off somewhere saving the world.

The boys were cooking for a few minutes in the kitchen. Hopefully they'll continue to do this as they grow!

Matty and Adam were enjoying the school bus.

We had a surprise visitor, Uncle Patrick. He took Bea into the ball pit and then all the boys followed. Ty is dressed up in the police costume (the bright green shirt and hat). Later, I had a good few rounds of hide-and-seek with the kids. A few of us would hide in the balls and the seeker would come find us and then we'd throw all the balls in the air. It was a lot of fun and completely silly.

They even did a craft together (although Ty lasted about 5 minutes and then just wanted to play). The kids created a polar bear from a Styrofoam cup and paper.

Tyler was really into wearing the police jacket and creating all sorts of emergencies. Brady, Tyler, Matty, and Adam all enjoyed the car table and had some fun zooming around everywhere. It was a perfect height for the little ones. Both Adam and Matty were making some funny car sounds. I got a good chuckle out of that. All in all, it was a really pleasant visit. Between playing, snack time, crafts, and all sorts of pretend play, it was definitely enough to tire the boys out. Matty feel asleep in the car on the way home even with Ty and I doing everything we could to avoid it. I hope it's something we can do again soon before Club Kid has to pack up and move to another location.

girlfriend

Daddy was "jamming" to some music this morning and Tyler ran into ask what he was jamming to and it was 'what's a guy gotta do to get a girl in this town'. Tyler ran back into his room where I was waiting for him and he repeated the words a few times. It got us to talking about girls and boys and liking each other and being girlfriend/boyfriend and how then Mommy and Daddy got married, etc. He was thinking for a second and then he ran into me, snuggled and said "Mommy you're my girlfriend because I love you so so so much!" Ahh, what a way to start the day! I will never ever get tired of hearing things like that.

After yesterday's nap, Tyler had a fever of 104 and was not a happy camper. He woke up this morning with only 100 and seemed much more comfortable and said he was "happy". Today was supposed to be the first day of the new Kindermusik session, but decided it wasn't worth getting him more sick, so we stayed home all morning. Ty kept his pj's on, I let him watch all of Sesame Street, we baked brownies, and spent a great deal of time being "Super Tyler" and "Super Mommy" saving people all over the world. I love that he always wants to go around helping people. Oh, and we also had about a 10 minute dance party singing a totally made up food allergy song. We were saying things like 'we don't need to eat that food because we can have fun anyway'. At one point he almost broke my heart in such a sweet way because he sang a part "we have food allergies and we're nice to everyone and we're nice to mean people and teach mean people how to be nice". I was literally shocked for a moment and casually asked him to repeat that part of the song a few times and it was my favorite. Oh that boy! Just having him be able to verbalize that was such an incredible moment for me and now I just pray that he takes that with him on his journey. Tyler will have many times where he's going to need to stick up for himself and I just prayer really hard that he has the strength and grace to be kind to everyone regardless of how they treat him.

And the other picture is of our adorable, mischievous Matty. Caught in action doing something he KNOWS he shouldn't be doing....he sure does keep me on my toes!

Song Story Teller

These pictures make me laugh so hard!!! Towards the end of the dinner, Tyler was asking for a story as he usually does. Daddy left the table for a minute and came back without a shirt holding some tools and singing the YMCA song. I couldn't stop laughing at the village person in my dining room. Then he started telling a story while he was singing and called himself the Song Story Teller. Wow! Not sure how he's going to top this stunt?!

Farm Show

It's that time of year again to visit the PA Farm Show. We got up right away and got ourselves together in hopes of beating some of the traffic. Tyler was pleasantly surprised that we were going. On the drive to the show, he was talking about all the things he was hoping to see. The one thing he was most excited about and was really hoping to see was the corn table. As soon as he spotted it, he yelled "Mommy, I see it. They have the corn table" and then we spent about 20 minutes playing with all the toys in the corn. Even Matty seemed psyched to play with the corn and didn't once try to eat it! Impressive.

We also came up with the idea to get our pictures taken with all different types of tractors and then to develop our own tractor book. Ty thought that was a great idea and actually "posed" for more pictures than he normally has patience for.

Tyler always seems to be amazed at the tractors who's wheels/tires are bigger than him.

This tractor was officially the biggest tractor at the show. This picture doesn't even do it justice. We have quite a few pics of the kids, but I especially like this one because in typical Adam fashion we were all done and then he put Matty in there on the tire and for some reason struck me as so funny.

We initially started the day with Tyler walking and Matty in the stroller. Not soon after we arrived did Matty already start fidgeting and trying to escape the stroller. We decided to let him wander around as much as was safe. And then Tyler soon got tired and wanted to ride in the stroller and Matty loved pushing him around the show. Something about that moment was quite symbolic to me. Adam and I got the biggest kick out of it and so did lots of passersby smiling and laughing as they passed us.

We stayed for about two and a half hours checking out all the tractors, playing with the corn table, and seeing the animals. We all were able to find some delicious treats to enjoy and finally felt like it was a good time to leave. We pulled over to a good spot to put our jackets on and Tyler was sitting in the stroller and he said "Mommy, I liked seeing all the tractors, tractors, tractors." He was saying it very slowly and deliberately and perfectly. I couldn't believe it so I had him repeat it a few times and with each time his smile got a little bit bigger. As I was pushing him I could him sort of whispering something and I think he was practicing that word and said it out loud to us. We clapped and cheered and hugging. I'm sure some of the people walking by were wondering what was happening to us, but it was a big moment. He's been trying to say it the right way for so long and all of a sudden he looked up at me and said it and I wasn't expected such a great surprise. Ty was really proud of it and kept saying it in sentences on the way home. So good "dador" and hello "tractor". What a memorable bonus to a great morning together!

club kid playdate

Club Kid has officially reopened under new management and Denise and I decided to check it out with the kiddos. What a welcome surprise! Things seem to be so much cleaner and there is organized craft time along with story time. It's a bit more expensive but worth it if it means good supervision and time spent cleaning the toys every day! The boys went to the ball pit first and were loving it and I actually remembered my camera and snapped a few pics of Matty and then my battery died! So, I don't have any more pics but we had a FANTASTIC time together. It was really one of the first visits with Brady and Gracie that the kids were really playing together and not just next to each other and some where else. It was really fun to witness. There were times when Brady and Tyler would do the slide together and play in the post office by themselves and Denise and I could actually talk a few minutes before being interrupted :) Matty seemed especially enthralled with Gracie and would walk up real close to her or bring her something. He'd follow her around the place and was curious about whatever she was doing. He was also just into the whole place. It's a perfect spot for him because it's hard for him to get into too much trouble because it's all so child friendly. He'd be walking by a group of people and smile and bring someone something. It seemed like he kept trying to make friends. It really cracked me up and it was such a different experience than I've had with Tyler. I'll have to say I was so incredibly proud at how well the two boys (and the Cassels) were playing and behaving. It was a joy to be with them and a joy to be able to share these kind of moments with my boys. The developmental jumps they make are such fun to witness and today was a big day for Tyler. AND they didn't even fuss when it was time to leave. So, on the way home I gave them both some oreos to snack on and said we'll definitely be returning since they both were so well behaved. Goodness, it was great morning (and a great bonus afternoon because they both took long, much needed naps AT THE SAME TIME!!!). Life is Good!

The pictures are out of order because the one at the top is of the two boys playing with this really cool tool bench given to them by the Allwein Family (so sweet). We had the Allweins to the house to hang out and have some dinner. It was a really nice, relaxing end to a great day.

Bunk Beds and Superman

We were celebrating the new year at the beach with Grammy and Baca. During one of our meals and out of no where, Tyler said "I have an idea. When I turn 4 I'm going to start sleeping in bunk beds and when I turn 6 I'm going to be superman." And ever since this proclamation he brings it up at least once during the day in some form or another and seems set on both. His idea for superman is to live in outer space so he can keep an eye on everyone in the entire world and when they need help then he'll fly in to save them. Oh, and he told me "Mommy, when you grow up you can be a rocket ship driver and we can be together in outer space." That cracked me up!!! Tyler's been asking me lately what I am going to be when I grow up and he doesn't seem convinced that I am "grown up and chose to stay with you and be your Mommy all the time." He just sort of looks at me with this funny face and says "no Mommy, when you grow up to be really big then you can be the rocket ship driver." And I just smile and go along with his imagination. I'm just proud he has such high expectations for himself by wanting to save and "protect the whole world"(!!!). I love it!

Bea turns 2!

I knew Bumble's birthday was approaching when I started hearing the ads for the Farm Show. It brought back memories of bringing a milkshake and doughnuts to the hospital for Pat and Willa. It's amazing to me that it's already been two years.

We were invited to Bea's house for a fun party. We played with the trains, ate delicious pasta, and had Oreo cupcakes. Glad Bumble recovered after a long weekend with the entire family being sick with some sort of stomach bug. She seemed happy to see all of us and I got a few smiles and kisses blown my way. What a sweetheart. It's been a joy having her so close and seeing how much she's developed over the past two years. According to Willa, she's into trains, umbrellas, The Bearenstein Bears, drawing, and still loves her food. This will be a big year for the Freer Family and I can't wait to come along for the ride.

first snow day of the year