Visiting Sean

I have a friend, Cori, who has a little boy who is from September to November younger than Lydia and Emily. We have been trying to get together for a play date since the kids were about 7 and 10 months old (the last time we were together). This past Friday was my day off so we made plans to get together Friday morning. After putting Ryan on the school bus, Lydia, Emily and I headed for Cori's house in Stanley. The drive is about 35 - 40 minutes from our house. Cori, her husband Jason and their kids, Sean and 11 month old Maryn live in a beautiful log cabin on top of a mountain surrounded by very tall trees. They had so many leaves in their yard and Lydia and Emily thought they were so great! While the kids had fun playing, Cori and I had so much fun catching up! The time flew by! Before we knew it, it was time for lunch. We had some soup and sandwiches, cleaned up and it was time to head home for naps. It was such a fun day! We definitely need to get together again--without so much time passing by--our house next time

Go Fly A Kite

Yesterday was such a beautiful 2nd day of Spring! Ryan's class has been talking about the wind in March. They have been trying to fly kites on windier days. I happened to find kites that were a $1.00! Of course, we were not expecting much, but we pulled them out yesterday. Ryan started off having a hard time getting his off the ground, but after a while he got the hang of it--if his kite was not too high in the air. :) Lydia and Emily each had their own kite and had a really great time seeing them fly through the air, but they dove down to the ground quite often. Mike's parents had given him an old kite he had many years ago and was still being stored at their house. He brought that out and flew it as well. The kids had such a great time with their kites! We are hoping the $1.00 kites last a little longer so we can fly them again on another windy day!

Snow Day! March 2, 2009

The schools were closed and my center was closed due to the snow we received last night. Mike was off work today so he was able to have fun with us today too.

Today we had the most snow we have had all winter! Of course, with the winter that we have had, it does not take much to make more snow than we've already had:). We took our sleds over to Mike's Grandparents (Nanny and Pap) house. They have a great hill and the kids loved sledding down it over and over again. They had such a great time!! The wind was crazy on "Pap's Mountain," so staying out for hours was not really in the cards. Continued to have to go inside to warm up. By the time Lydia decided to join in the fun and sled with Ryan and Emily, the battery on my camera died:). (Ryan was coughing in the last picture).

The Cat in the Hat

March 2 is Dr. Seuss's 105 Birthday. To celebrate this occasion, Ryan's school invited the children to dress as their favorite Dr. Seuss character. When Ryan was about 2 or 3 months old, my parents brought him a Cat in the Hat, hat/headband from Florida. We decided he should wear that today as The Cat in the Hat. We dressed him in black pants and a white and blue striped shirt with red sleeves. He was too cute!!!

The Circus came to Town!

This past weekend Mike and I took the kids to Richmond to go to the circus. I have a friend from High School who lives in Richmond and we stayed with her. She and her husband and two children went with us. This is the "Big One." The Ringling Brothers Circus that they always hold in some type of an arena. It was held at the Richmond Coliseum. Ryan had been once before, but he was only two at the time. Lydia and Emily had never gone before. It was quite exciting for all of them. Of course, Ryan does not recall going. They were all in awe of everything that was going on! The glitz and glamor, the animals, the clowns, all of it. Before the show, they have a "pre-show" thing on the floor that you can go down and have your picture taken with a clown or try to catch a glimpse of an animal through the mass of people that are in front of you. Since we are both short people, we ended up putting the kids all up on a wall so they could see the elephant over all of the people. They were not interested in having their picture taken with a clown (not a big surprise), but they were all about catching the little plastic noses that one of the performers was tossing out to all the children. It was pretty cool. They had such a good time, but were so very tired by the time all the festivities were over. Spending the night at my friends house was hard on them. Though the hospitality was amazing, none of them slept very well since you have a harder time sleeping at someone else's house than your own. No one had a nap, but they behaved quite well for being so tired . . . . . until . . . .:). Emily had a nervous breakdown in the bathroom upon our leaving the Coliseum. She and Lydia were washing their hands and I was trying to rush them along since we had waited for 20 minutes to get in there and a woman standing behind me in line had to tell me her twin story--like many people (I usually enjoy hearing twin stories, but hers seemed to have a "I have a harder life than you do" twist to it:).--and I knew Mike was waiting for us. I did not give them a papertowel, told them to dry their hands on their pants and come on. Emily stood their screaming "I need a papertowel!" I walked out of the bathroom with coats in my hand and Lydia following me, left my stuff on the floor in front of my friend, Becky, and went back in to drag Emily out of the bathroom. I know everyone thought "What an awful Mom, she can't even control her kids!" Funny thing is, if Lydia had done that, I never would have thought it weird, but Emily has such a level head. She was clearly tired. All three kids were asleep before we even made it to 64, which is about 4 miles from where we were parked. They slept all the way home. Turns out, Ryan had a fever the whole time. He was not feeling well, Becky was having stomach troubles while we were at the circus. Despite our bad luck on Saturday, it was a fun time!! I told Emily I was not taking her back to the circus as a result of her bathroom behavior, but I may give in one day--maybe in a year or so:).

Thankful Thursdays

Many serious bloggers, blog according to themes, ideas, days, whatever strikes them. Thankful Thursdays is one I have seen and wanted to do, but never seem to remember to make an entry on a Thursday when I am thankful (which is every thursday). I am thankful for so many things in my life! So many things and so many people that I take for granted! I love my husband, my children, my parents, my brother, my grandparents (those still alive and the ones that have passed), my nieces, my nephews, my sisters in law, my brothers in law, and my friends! My life is amazing and so often I forget just how amazing it is!!

Today I had a parent make me realize just one small area of my life that I am so thankful. She dropped off her son at my classroom this morning. She explained that his grandmother would be picking him up this evening. She said this grandmother had picked him up once or twice, but she was not sure if I knew her. I told her that I knew her mom and I would recognize her. She explained that it was not her mother, but her son's father's mother. She said her son's father may and may not come with his mother. I know I had a pretty surprised look on my face because I have never heard her speak of this child's father. I assumed he was not in the picture. This child has a great support system though! He has a wonderful mother who has a nice boyfriend who is active in this child's life and her parents are very present in his life. She had just never mentioned a father. She explained to me that this was new. The father had been "gone" for two years and is interested in seeing his son. In her explanation of her concern for how it was going to go, she began to cry. And, of course, I had to cry with her--I tend to make it a policy--no one can cry by themselves with me in the room:).

After she left I realized how completely blessed I am that I do not have to part with my children periodically as a result of a broken home situation! I can't imagine sending my children off somewhere for any length of time and not know what they are doing, if they are scared, if they are ok. I have known many divorced mothers, step mothers, and single mothers in my lifetime. They all hold a very special place in my heart. Can't be easy to trust someone else to raise your child as well as it can't be easy to be the person that is helping to raise someone else's child.

My family is my life! I can't imagine not having all four of them with me all the time. Mike, I love you so much and I love what we have together! I am so thankful that you love me too! Happy Valentine's Day!!

Ryan goes Purple and Gold!

Ryan was part of the Duke Dog reading program that JMU does for the area schools. You are to read a certain amount of books over your winter break. You record what you read and the amount of pages, etc., turn it in and you receive a ticket to a JMU basketball game for the student and two adults to go with the student. This covered Ryan, Mike and myself. Lydia and Emily are young enough not to have to pay anyway. We went to the game yesterday afternoon. Each student that came to the game received a coupon for a free ice cream cone from Brewsters and a raffle ticket to potentially win a door prize. Also, they were giving out pom poms to the kids. Ryan's school, McGaheysville Elementary School, was one of the top three area schools to have the most participation. For coming in 3rd, Ryan's principal, Ms. Roadcap, was presented a plaque on the court at halftime. Ryan was pretty excited to see someone he knew walking out onto the court. The kids kept their eyes peeled for the Duke Dog mascot throughout the entire game. When he actually came up to our section, they did not want to go up to talk to him:). They had a neat halftime show with kids doing various basketball things and then there were two men who came out and had a remote control vehicle race around obstacles on the court. They announced the names of these racers and we looked down on the court to see our next door neighbor, Jerry--funny. Lydia spent a large part of the game cheering with her pom pom and Ryan's pom pom. Then each time the cheerleaders or the Dukettes came onto the floor she was completely focused on the performances. I took a movie of her cheering, but of course she did not do as much while the camera was on. Ryan saw several kids that go to his school. It was really neat and we had a great time! Neatest part of the whole game though was at the beginning--one of the players of the JMU basketball team, in uniform, sang the National Anthem. An amazing singer! Multi-talented!!