Swimming when there is snow on the ground!?

My friend, Rabia, informed me of a free swim at our local recreation department today at 3:00. I asked the kids if they wanted to go swimming. Once they realized we were not going swimming at Grammy's house and understood that we were swimming inside--where there was heat--they were very excited! We met Rabia and her family there and swam with them for about an hour. (they arrived before us and left before us). After they left we swam for another hour and "closed the place down." The kids had so much fun!!

I stopped by my mother's house (where we keep the kids life jackets because of their pool) to pick up their life jackets. I got Ryan's belt too. None of the three of them use these when they can touch--and Ryan only uses his when he jumps off the diving board--but I did not know what to expect or know how many people would be there and I thought it would just be better to know the three of them were not drowning.

This pool has a dome over it. It is an outdoor pool, but they put this tent thing over it in the winter time.

I love the last picture . . . in the set up of the "Free Polar Bear Swim" they gave you tickets to redeem. These tickets got each person a hot coca and a snow cone. Lydia and Emily wanted a snow cone and hot coca and Ryan and I just had hot coca. Nothing like sitting at the pool, with your hair wet from swimming, and drinking hot coca. Too funny!! Great day!!

Carter Mountain Apple Orchard

Last year we went with the Settle's to the Carter Mountain Apple Orchard Festival in Charlottesville Virginia. (Click on Settle Family to see that post). We had such a great time that we planned to go with them again this year. Due to Becky's foot surgery they were unable to go. We asked my friend, Rabia and her family if they would like to come with us and they agreed to go. In addition, my brother Paul and his family came to meet up with us for a while.

What an amazing day! The weather could not have been more beautiful and everyone had such a great time! We picked 33 lbs. of apples and are hoping to make my Grandma Leftwich's famous applesauce recipe!

This is a picture of the kids overlooking the city of Charlottesville. L to R--Ryan, Frances, Emily, Henry and Lydia. Adella had already gone, but she is in the picture below with Paul. I think the kids ate about 5 apples a piece today :)
Ryan climbing trees to pick some apples--he was loving that!!

Lydia taking a break


Henry and Mike

At the festival there is bluegrass music playing. The kids got up on this "stage" and danced and danced.

Monster Truckin

Thanks to one of our great neighbors, we had free tickets to the Monster Truck Show in Fishersville Friday night. We are not big Monster Truck fans, but I thought Ryan would really enjoy going. Mike had to work so going as a family was not an option.

We were given 4 tickets, but felt Lydia and Emily would not enjoy it as a result of the noise. Once we arrived and heard that it was not as

noisy as I thought it would be. I think they would

have been fine. They ended up staying with my

parents and my friend Rabia and her daughter,

Frances (she is Ryan's age) went with us. Her little boy, Henry, tagged along too. He sat on Rabia's lap and hung with us (wanting to sleep towards the end) really well the entire time. Plus, his admission was free :). Ryan and Frances really enjoyed the trucks! They both knew who Gravedigger was and I really pushed him liking Virginia Giant. This same great neighbor gave us a poster of Virginia Giant that I gave him the next day. VERY EXCITED!

Henry's "ear plugs" :)

We found that these shows have a lot of down time. The trucks themselves do not run that much. There is a lot of "entertainment skits" that are done between heats. Megasaurus was part of the entertainment. It was a "transformer" that "ate" a car. Ryan LOVED it!!

We did not get back to my parents house until 11:30 and did not get home and in the bed until 12:30, but it was fun and Ryan was pretty excited to get his Gravedigger pennant.

Frances the Ballerina

Last night, my co-worker Rabia, invited us to attend her daughter Frances's ballet recital. Frances is 5 years old and goes to our center. Lydia and Emily see her there everyday and when Ryan went there he and Frances were in the same preschool class so all my kids know and love Frances. They were so excited about seeing Frances dance! Emily was soaked into the entire recital from the start! Lydia has informed us that she would like to dance and look beautiful too. In the picture, Frances is kind of in the center of the picture . . . third from the left. We had such a great time!! Thank you for the invite Rabia!

Three for tea

I am such a lucky person! Today was such a neat day! First of all, since I work 4, 10 hour days, today was my day off. I started my day by putting Ryan on the school bus. At 10:00 I reported to Ryan's classroom where I volunteered until 12:20 (I am able to volunteer every other Friday for approximately 2 hours each time--I would volunteer every Friday, but Mike works every other Friday and I can't take Lydia and Emily with me). I love volunteering there! The kids are great and I enjoy spending that time with Ryan. I also really enjoy helping Ms. Clark (Ryan's teacher)--she is really great and he really likes her!

After my volunteer work Lydia, Emily and I went to Ms. Hardesey's Tea Room to meet my friend Rabia and her daughter, Frances. Ms. Hardesey's Tea Room is an old house in downtown Harrisonburg that has been converted into a restaurant/tea room. We had an official tea party today. All three girls dressed in their best princess dresses and pretty shoes and sat at the table with their tea cups. They all laid their napkins on their laps and drank their Tutti Fruity flavored tea out of the kid sized tea cups and saucers. Rabia and I each had our own tea in adult sized tea cups and saucers. We ate lunch and finished up with apple spice and cinnamon scones. It was so much fun and such a neat Halloween tradition that hopefully Rabia is up for doing each Halloween with our girls.

Gus Bus Birthday

I hate to admit that I am just now blogging about something that happened last Saturday! Last Saturday we were invited by Rabia and her two children to accompany them to The Gus Bus Birthday Party. There is a reading program here in Harrisonburg called The Reading Road Show. The Reading Road Show provides book bags to the area preschools and daycare facilities that are filled with books. These books are swapped out each week so the children are exposed to many different books over the course of the year. In addition to the book bag swapping, the Gus Bus is part of the Reading Road Show and comes to the preschools one day a month, inviting the children to climb aboard. The Gus Bus is a Bookmobile type vehicle that is designed for children. Mr. Mike drives the Gus Bus and reads books to the children while theyare on the bus and sings songs with them. They LOVE it!!! It is such a wonderful program that is now in it's fifth year. This non-profit program celebrated it's fifth birthday last Saturday by inviting all of the vehicular friends of Gus's. Gathered at the convocation center were buses, tractors, cranes, race cars and dump trucks that the kids were able to climb over and through and pretend to drive. All five kids had a wonderful time!! The highlight of the day was having fun with the James Madison University gymnasticteam. They brought mats out to let the kids flip and walk on a balance beam. I believe the kids flipped for 45 minutes anyway:). They also had a scavenger hunt for the kids. While climbing on the different vehicles you were to look for small stuffed bunnies. Each bunny was numbered--you were to identify where you found each bunny. After compiling all of the bunny locations, you took your paper up to collect you prize. Ryan picked a moose mask and Lydia and Emily picked Reading Rainbow shirts. We finished off the day with a $1.00 hot dog for everyone and some free ice cream--we then went home for naps. It was great!

Happy Birthday

Well, Ryan has now turned 5 and Lydia and Emily are 3. It is absolutely amazing to me how quickly time goes after you have children and how completely shocking it is when your son tells you “I am 5!” and your daughters, that you just brought home from the hospital, tell you “I am 3 now.” We had our annual backyard cookout for their group birthday party on August 31. Our close family and friends were there—it was a great time! Lydia and Emily dressed in princess dresses that we borrowed from our friend, Frances. They were so excited to wear these dresses and were quite sad to return them, but Uncle Paul, Aunt Allison and Adella gave them princess dresses of their own for their birthday. Ryan actually turned 5 on September 2 and Lydia and Emily while we were at the beach on September 9. Ryan’s teacher allowed Ryan to bring cupcakes to celebrate his birthday at school and his classmates all drew him birthday pictures and made a littlebook out of it. Very neat! Lydia and Emily took cupcakes to preschool on Thursday before we left for the beach on Friday. Was not quite as exciting as Ryan’s experience, but kids don’t really care when they get to eat cupcakes. It was a really great party and a great day! Thank you to everyone that came! You are all very special to our family and we love you very much!

Our County Fair

On Thursday, we took the kids at the Preschool to the county fair. We took 10 two year olds, 10 three year olds, and about 15 to 17 four year olds and school agers. It was great!! We saw cows, chickens, rabbits, sheep, goats, and turkeys. My two year olds were able to pet a cow, baby goat, and a sheep. They were so excited!! Mike was off work that day and was able to come along with Lydia and Emily and ride the bus with them and everything!! Ryan was along on the trip as well, but was with his class. They rode in a different vehicle and they did some other things that my guys and the three year olds did not do. After seeing all the animals, we went to the little circus that was inside the fairgrounds. The kids loved it!! Especially watching the motorcycles driving in the "globe of death." After this great fair time we all parked ourselves on some picnic tables, under a shelter, and ate our packed lunches. It was great!! As you can see, we made Mike our balloon transporter.That evening, we decided to go back as a family. One of the perks of being a police officer in Rockingham County, is that you and your family get into the fair free of charge. We decided we should not pass up this opportunity. Upon arriving we had dinner. Eating at the fair, quite a big deal!! In venturing over to the rides, we ran into my friend Rabia and her family. Her daughter, Frances, and Ryan rode the motorcycles together while Lydia and Emily hitched a ride on another one. After riding the motorcycles and the cars we were out of ride money:) (buying tickets for three kids to ride . . . takes a lot-we stop after two rides per child). Luckily, we still have children that enjoy the "free rides" as well. The kids love sitting on the tractors just as much as the rides that cost money! Frances and her little brother, Henry, joined us at the tractors as well. While hanging out on the tractors, we ran into my parents. They were walking around checking things out. After meeting up with them, Rabia and her family left to get some dinner and we visited the livestock animals as well as the petting zoo. After eating ice cream and stealing a peek at the tractor pull, we headed out of the fair. All three kids fell asleep before making it home. No one made it to bed before 10:00 pm. It was a great day and night!!!