camp bound!

family vacation- here we come!  i will post pictures after we get back next week.  i will be back home in PA for a short time in between camp and a visit to grandma and papa's.

Dresses and Mud Pies

Dresses and mudpies.  Not a good combination but I guess that means I am a cool mom!

Amazing Weather

I know it is summer and I know we should be sweating, but I have enjoyed these last few days of low humidity and cooler temps. 

The girls snacked on a popsicle late afternoon yesterday.  It was almost too cold to be enjoying our treat! 

Sydney's almost 5!!

We had a family birthday party for Sydney on Sunday.  My family wanted to celebrate with her before the girls and move to camp for the remainder of the summer.  We had a great afternoon with the family and Sydney loved the attention and gifts that her family gave her. 

It is so nice being back with the family!  I see many years of birthday celebrations here at our house.

A very (almost) happy birthday to my sweet, caring, loving, cuddly, thoughtful (almost) 5 year old! 

Daddy, Mommy, Sydney and Sawyer will look forward to celebrating her actual birthday (July 6) at camp!  She is already talking about seeing the fireworks from the boat again this year.  I will make her a cake and we will have a good time having a much needed family (all of us together finally) vacation. 

The baby boy doll that she has wanted since she first saw it downtown months ago!  Nana and I took the girls downtown one afternoon shortly after I moved back and she saw this baby in the store.  She kept asking for it for her birthday!  As Sydney continued to open her packages up, Emma Grace grabbed baby boy and started walking off with him.  Sydney quickly caught up with her and said "no, no, I don't think sooooo" as she gently, but firmly took her baby back.  The entire family heard this and we were all in hysterics.  Syd was even kind enough to give Emma one of her "old" baby dolls to play with instead! 

 Jared hanging out with the littlest ones. 

 Princess Sawyer.

 Soybean the goofball.

 Trying on her new Snow White costume. 

I didn't get an iPhone until the middle of April.  16 year old Bethany already has one!  To be a teen in this day in age.

Creek Fun

We went to the creek tonight to enjoy the beautiful weather.  The girls and I have visited this park/creek often.  It is only 5 minutes up the road from us.  Such a great family place.

The girls enjoy every minute they spend in the freezing creek water!

Show Off!

Someone is really enjoying the camera these days.  I get tons of fun expressions.

Kindergarten

We finally made a decision about what to do for Sydney this coming school year.  We decided to do the private kindergarten route.  This is the same school my friend has sent all of her kids to and Sawyer will be going to preschool here too.  The kindergarten program we are putting Sydney into follows state curriculum and will prepare a child for 1st grade in the public school if they are ready to move on.  I felt reassured after speaking to the teacher.  She told me that by January she will know if a child is ready for 1st grade or if the child needs to repeat kindergarten in the public school.  She was also well aware of the hard decisions those of us who have young 5 year olds have to make about schooling.  She said that the majority of her students are in fact summer birthdays.  Two other key factors in our decision were small class size (max of 16 students) with one main teacher and a full time assistant teacher.  So the ratio is so much better than public school.  The other factor is that this program is a half day kindergarten class.  Our district has full day kindergarten and Sydney is still a napper.  I think it will be a benefit to her to start out at half day.  I know most people covet full day, but I don't if it means my kid will do better in school.

Sydney tested out of speech in February (thanks to her wonderful speech teacher!) and has made great strides.  She still lacks a little bit of confidence that plagued her because she was often not understood.  She was always social, but tended to have some performances issues at preschool.  She writes well, knows most of her letters and a few numbers (she still has an aversion to numbers!). 

We have a meeting with her soon to be new teacher next week.  I am very excited.  I love the fact that this teacher will tell us one way or the other whether she should start 1st grade or do kindergarten again in the public school system.  There are some downfalls to her starting 1st grade in public school.  The biggest concern is that the kindergartners in public school will have already been together for a year before starting 1st grade.  Friendships will have already been established.  Sydney will be "new" to the kids.  I am not going to stress out about it, I will just have to see where she is after the school year next year.  Paying tuition is going to be a pain, but it will be money well spent if she is better prepared to start her school career.

Making decisions for a child's education is tough.  Especially a summer birthday child!!!  Darn the super crazy benchmarks in public school these days! 

Tickles and Giggles

I love her giggles.  She has the sweetest smile and the most infectious laugh.

Worms and kisses

Yesterday was one of the first couple of really hot days we are having here in PA.  The girls and I were outside while I was grilling dinner.  They found a random worm crawling on the ground and quickly scooped it up.  They sat on the garage step and pet their new creature friend.  Yuck. 

Sawyer was so sweaty and toasty warm.  I forgot to pin her hair up before we went outside. 

Speaking of worms, Sydney is a huge fan of fishing.  Daddy will take the girls out on occasion and both girls love to pick the worms up and cuddle them before they become fish food!  Soybean will fish for a few minutes and then lose interest.  Syd will fish and fish and fish.  She has all the luck too!  We went on a picnic for Father's Day and daddy and the girls had fun fishing.  I will take pictures next time.

 Kisses for her worm friend.

 Sawyer thinks kissing worms is yucky!

 

Sweet 16 Downtown Photos

Bethany and I finally made it downtown to take photos for her 16th birthday.  She and her friend were the best models.  I can't wait to get more downtown shots with Jared and my girls.  So many photo backgrounds. 

A few of Bethany.  I will have to get permission from her friends' parents to post hers.

Happy Father's Day and Happy Anniversary

Celebrating 12 years of marriage (17 years together) today and close to 5 years of fatherhood.  We love you Jimmy/Daddy!

We spent the afternoon picnicing, swimming and fishing.  Perfect day. 

Soybean

I took this instagram picture downtown one evening right after we moved into our home.  I wish I had taken it with the good camera because it is my newest favorite photo of Soybean.  Priceless expression and gesture. 

I have finally started buying new frames for the house.  I just ordered this photo in an 8x8 and can't wait to get the cute frame to hang it.

Wish it had been the good camera, but I will take the crappy iPhone picture over not having it.

Playroom Tornado

This is what a rainy day looks like in their playroom!

Takes forever to clean and only moments to destroy!  Thank goodness the playroom is in the basement.  I don't have to pick up every time they mess it up!  I just close the door instead!

Finally!  I am starting to get some decor on the wall.  I found these pottery barn kid shelves that make for great bookshelves.  The girls and I enjoy having their favorite books right at our fingertips while playing in the playroom. 

Nice weather finally...

I swear, as soon as I moved here to PA, the weather turned to crap.  We spent the first few weeks enjoying wonderful evening walks to the neighborhood park.  Then all of the sudden it got cloudy and dreary and hasn't improved much since.  Today was finally nice after a week of chilly and rainy weather.  We enjoyed some much needed outdoor fun.  After dinner the girls enjoyed a very rare treat of popsicles.  They love them!

Jim is getting home from Germany tomorrow.  This is his second trip there since early March!  Tired of being alone, but work is work.  The girls and I have kept ourselves busy since he left.  We finally got back into the swimming routine.  They love their new YMCA and so do I.  They missed swimming in the pool. 

Sawyer had her first dentist appointment today.  She isn't as brave as Sydney, but she still rocked it!  I sat in the chair with her and she asked lots of questions when her teeth were cleaned.  Sydney raced right into her own room and had her teeth cleaned.  I didn't even hear from her until she was done!  My good girls.  We went to the practice that Nana works at and they were excited to see her!!  Sydney has an underbite that will require she wear a headpiece of some sort when she is a bit older (age 6 or so).  The dentist will determine if it is upper jaw or lower jaw that is the issue.  Luckily she won't have to wear the headpiece in public!  Only when she as at home or sleeping. 

Soybean doing sticker projects.

Yummy treat.  Leftover messy food face.

The cousins

We had a fun day with the cousins yesterday.  We watched Emma during the day and then the big kid cousins came over to spend t evening with us.  Syd and Soybean loved every minute of it.

They love helping to take care of Emma!  They let her play with all of their toys, they took her for walks around the house holding her hand (even though she walks by herself like a champ), they ate their lunches together....and best of all, I had all three of them napping at the same time!!!!! 

After Emma left we went to pick up Bethany, Jared and one of Bethany's friends.  They had dinner with us and entertained the girls all evening. 

Needless to say, I had two tired girls last night.  Love it!