First Day of School

This morning was Joshua's first day of preschool. I had set my alarm for 5:30 this morning to get up and jog. While I hit snooze a few times, I did eventually get up to exercise and have been "running" ever since. So, I will post more about Joshua's first day of school (and mine!) tomorrow. For now, I'll post these two pictures from today. Enjoy!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

This morning, I went for a jog in the nice summer-quickly-turning-to-fall air - not too hot but not too cold. It was beautiful outside. Shawn & I tried to measure with our odometer on our car how far the jog is, but it's hard to do because it's literally a trail behind our house. So, we thought that taking one road would make up for taking another, etc. But, according to the odometer, the run I take is 3.5 miles if I don't take the loop around the park...I'm sure that's not accurate because I'm usually done within 30 minutes. So, I'm still not sure how far I'm going. But, I know my heart rate is up for 30 minutes and that's all that matters most mornings.

After having a bit of a lazy morning, we decided to take the kids out to lunch at Fiorentino's by the airport since they just opened outdoor dining called "the Flight Deck." They had amazingly cheap lunch specials (which surprised me!) and the seats couldn't have been more perfect for watching airplanes fly in and out, which there were a ton today! There was also a tractor there, and both boys were in heaven.

While the kids napped, Shawn mowed the lawn and I laid out on the lawn chair hoping to get a little sunshine - or really, hoping to get a little tan - since we've not seen much sun this summer. It seemed like all we had was rain, rain and more rain! I really should have been weeding, but relaxing for an hour felt wonderful before heading inside to finish up some last minute school items.

Then when the boys woke up, we took them to their first ever ball game (where all these photos are from). We headed to the Lancaster Barnstormers, where the kids were free and our lawn seats were only $6 and included a free t-shirt. They were also playing a double-header, which we only stayed for the first game. Joshua wasn't sure about all the noise at first, but once he saw the baseball players he was thrilled. First stop was ice cream for the boys so we could sit for a little and enjoy the game. Caleb, especially, loved the treat. After they were done, we watched a little longer before Joshua begged to go into the playground area. Unfortunately, there were a TON of kids there and Caleb wasn't able to climb like he would have liked.

So, we stayed for awhile there and then decided to try our luck on the lawn. Bummer - the grassy area was a steep straight up and down cliff. Now, I'm sure that's on purpose so that you can pack folks in there and everyone can see (like stadium seating). But, for our little one-year-old explorer, that just meant he wanted to roam and would fall and roll if we let him. We decided after trying to keep him entertained sitting for a little while that this was probably good enough for our first attempt at the ball game. Joshua was great at watching, and we even saw the mascot Cylo for a little bit. So, we may try again next year when Caleb's a little older. It was a fun night out as a family!

The Last Weekend of Summer Break

Yesterday, Shawn was still sick. He had stopped vomitting but he was completely weak and said he had a banging headache. Poor guy! Praise the Lord, though, the rest of us felt fine. Originally, we had talked about doing something this weekend as the last hurrah of the summer. But, with Shawn's sickness, that was off the table. It may have worked out okay, though, because it just poured and poured yesterday. So, it would have been sad for him to take a vacation day and not get to be in the sunshine. Last night he was feeling a little better, so we gave the boys a haircut, the outcome of which you'll see in the following pictures.This morning Grandma called to see if we'd want to go to the grand opening of the new kid's shoe store in town. They had advertised this extravaganza on WJTL all week, and the Kid's Cookie Break was live on location today. Shawn was feeling mostly better (although he asked me to drive since he's still a little woozy), so we decided to venture out. Along with the WJTL KCB, there was the Young Chef's Academy (something I'd like to try with the Bean once he's old enough) - pictured below - along with various other vendors with fun activities for kids.We met Grandma & Emma (who had spent the night at her house) there, and the first thing we got in line to do was the face painting. Only once we got to the gal, neither child was too sure they really wanted painted. Emma went first and the gal offered to paint her arm instead of her face, and she said she'd do flowers just like Emma's pretty skirt. Then when it was Joshua's turn, he said he wanted flowers like Emma's. Thus, here the woman is painting flowers on his arm.I love his face in the picture below... he held very still, but he wasn't so sure about it at first (although all day he's been asking us to look at the 'pretty flowers' on his arm...haaaa!!!).This was how his little tattoo turned out, glittery sparkles and all!!!The kids paused for a quick snapshot of their painted arms. I thought this photo was cute! Both these kiddos head to Calvary Preschool this Monday...where has the summer gone???Anyway, next we got in line for balloons. The balloon man was making someone a John Deer Tractor...talk about time consuming!!! It was really amazing, though, to see. (I should have taken a picture!). The kids loved watching. But, when it was finally our turn, both Grandma & I agreed that something "simple" was best. In the meantime, Daddy was letting Caleb run around and watching him.So, the gentleman started making Emma a butterfly that matched her outfit...In the picture below, I had asked her to smile, but you can't see her face as she's proudly holding her butterfly balloon sculpture.Next, Daddy suggested a dinosaur for Joshua (no more girly things...haaa!!!). Joshua is into dinosaurs lately, so that was perfect.Here was Joshua saying "fank you" for his new dinosaur. He's wanted to keep it in his hands all day.Next, we made a donation to the Alex's Lemonade Stand, 'fighting pediatric cancer.' Each child got a small muffin then, and little Caleb Luke was a mess!!! But he enjoyed it. Next we checked out the fire truck station.Caleb snuggled with his beloved Daddy, who he's missed not being able to climb on since Daddy was sick.At that table, the kids got a coloring book on fire safety tips, a bracelet, firehats, stickers, etc. Their hands were full!Next, after dropping some things off at the car, we went to the Gymboree stand. I saw one of the owners and chatted about Joshua's upcoming party. Her son got "Hello Kitty" painted on his face, so I didn't feel so bad about the flowers on my son's arm. Haaa!!! The kids chased the Gymboree bubbles......and then Emma & Joshua paused to make little Gymbo puppets. First they colored the picture of the clown, then they got to each pick out the color of the stick they wanted. The gal there put them together.Here Joshua is showing Grandma his puppet...

Next Grandma bought each one of them a beanie baby animal. Joshua's was a lion - the Bean roared, Caleb's was a lamb (he says 'aaaa-b'...it's too cute!), and Emma's was something rainbow colored (I'm forgetting what now). Thanks, Grandma!Finally, we checked out the shoe store that was holding this event. The gentleman measured both kids feet and we entered a raffle drawing. By that point, both my kids had darted out the door, so we didn't try anything on or buy anything (they were pretty pricey, too, I must admit). It was a fun morning out, though!Shawn & I left there and went to the store to run a quick errand before coming home for lunch, naps and a workout. Shawn had left his cell phone at Uncle Brian's when he went, so he ran over there quick to get it while the kiddos slept. After they woke up, we quickly got ready and went to church, followed by dinner, some outside playtime before the heavens let lose and now some indoor play fun before turning in for the night. Only one day left of summer!!!

A Day Out with Grandpa Georgia

This morning long before the crack of dawn, I woke up to the sound of vomitting. It was my poor husband Shawn. He is sicker than a dog. Please pray for him!!! I was awake then and couldn't get back to sleep for the next couple hours til I got out of bed. I didn't get up to exercise like I had planned - instead, I hurried and got everything I needed ready for the day and left a little early that morning to give Daddy time to rest. You know he's sick when he called off work...ugh!!!Our first stop was picking up Grandpa at Becky's house and heading to Shady Maple for breakfast. Joshua was thrilled! He ate and ate and ate (which is the exact opposite of last week). He had half a pancake with syrup, bacon, toast with jelly, an entire bowl of fruit loops with milk, some fruit and a chocolate donut since he had done so well. In the picture above, he's wearing the chocolate donut (they were really messy...the chocolate was sort of a powder/sticky substance on top, so even the adults were a little messy with them). I thought he looked too cute, though, like 5 o'clock shadow. Below are the two cousins who sat next to each other...Daniel was like 'no pictures please!'Next, just the boys & I headed to the petting zoo in Leola. Grandpa & Aunt Jen went to Shady Maple to grocery shop, which isn't my idea of "fun." So, I took the boys on an adventure by ourselves, and we saw the goats, donkeys, parrot, birds, pigs, llamas, turkeys, chickens, fish and ducks. One very nice gal gave Joshua a piece of her bread to feed the ducks. He was in heaven! Caleb quacked away, and he's added to that "woof" and "moo" and a form of "ribbit."After feeding the ducks (see Joshua's big cheese below!), we headed to Jen's house to change the kids into their swimsuits and head to Binn's Park in Lancaster City.Binn's Park is on Queen Street near Chesnut Street. Grandpa Georgia came along with me yesterday to scope it out and check out where to park, so we knew right where to go today. The best way for me to describe it is with the picture below. There are holes in the ground in the middle of this park, and water shoots up in various patterns that keep the kids guessing.
Funny enough, when we started walking up, I said 'uh-oh...sounds like they're having a function there.' As we arrived, I see Pastor Mark from LHOP who married us and dedicated Joshua preaching to the public sitting around. A few were in tears as they heard the Word being preached. Another pastor prayed, someone had special music, etc. But, there were lots of people just eating and playing, too. After the event was over, Pastor Mark came right down to say hi to us (and tell me how much my boys have grown - oh, how I know! They are getting too big!!!). He said that a group of churches from the city have united to pray over the area and the fourth Thursday of every month from May to September, they have one of them come and preach to the crowds. Their goal is to offer a free lunch to whoever comes out, along with some good ol' gospel. In the meantime, our group, as well as many other kiddos, enjoyed the water. Faith had absolutely no fear and dove right in, as you can see in the picture above. She loved getting wet! Joshua wasn't sure at all at first. The water scared him and he didn't know that he wanted to get wet with his shoes on, etc.Hearing from a friend how wet you get, I had changed into my suit, too, and I tried to get Caleb interested in the water. He also wasn't too sure at first...So Grandpa offered to hold him for a little while...
Meanwhile, Grace saw Faith having a blast and decided to join right in!
Joshua & Daniel loved watching the older girls having fun, but they still weren't sure about going in themselves. The water makes patterns so sometimes it's on full blast with water shooting from all the various holes. Other times it just spurts out here or there, etc.Emma, surprisingly, also joined her sisters in getting in the water. There were other older kiddos there, too, and everyone was having a ball!I held Joshua at his request and we tried catching the water as it shot up.I love his expressions...he wasn't always so sure!He really enjoyed watching, though, and was waiting for the right moment to jump in...So, since the Bean was happy, I grabbed Caleb again for another try. This time, he loved it!!!And since Jen's other kiddos were happy, she got little John out of his stroller to watch.Then, it happened. The water had "shut off" for a minute (which is part of the rotation) and Joshua got right in the circle to see where it went. SUDDENLY the water SPRANG UP! And it drenched him! He cried out "oh, no!!!" and he ran to Grandpa for reassurance that being wet was okay. Grandpa Georgia let out a belly laugh and said, "that's funny Joshua! You're okay!"Dad couldn't have said anything better. Joshua LOVES to make people laugh and when something is funny, he'll repeat it and repeat it. He joyfully ran back to the water and started having as much fun as the other kiddos! Caleb, in the meantime, kept running toward the stage where the pastors were sitting. He loved the freedom to run in the water and out and all around the park. The day was gorgeous - sunny and not too hot but not too cold. As Joshua was finally getting into it and Caleb was starting to really enjoy himself, Jen's kids were getting cold and had had enough for the day. We paused for a quick picture with the whole group before heading to our cars.The meter only had 10 minutes left from the money we put in, so it was pretty good timing. We had a blast!
After naptime, we headed back over to Aunt Jen's house for a cookout with my Uncle Jim & Aunt Karen.Poor Gracie got stung by a bee twice while sitting next to the playhouse in their yard. She told my sister that something fell on her as she was bawling, but Jen noticed the two areas that were bleeding and humped up. Then Joshua went into the playhouse and screamed. He ran to me crying and told me "the bugs flew in my hair and bit me!" It was a pretty accurate description, I thought. Alas, he had been stung, too, right on his forehead where his hair starts. So, Jen scoped out the playhouse and there was a big bee's nest with lots of them swarming around it. Uncle Jim sprayed it good and killed them all. But, the kiddos were still sore. Poor guys! Please pray that neither of them are allergic and that they don't hur throughout the night. Joshua told me during his bath that I needed to be careful around his "ouchy head." :(At supper, we dined on cheeseburgers (& hotdogs for those who eat them...silly!), macaroni salad, baked beans, sun chips, watermelon, homemade apple pie and ice cream. Joshua didn't eat much, but Caleb ate almost half a watermelon and lots of macaroni salad, which normally he doesn't care for pasta. Soon it was dark and time to go home and check on Daddy. Uncle Jim asked for a snapshot with all the kids, but they were pretty well spent. Daniel refused to get in the picture and Caleb & John are both crying. So, we called it a night, giving hugs, bidding farewell, and wishing Dad a safe journey home.When we got home, I gave both boys a bath by myself, got them changed into jammies and tucked them in. Joshua wanted to give Daddy bear hugs and snuggle him and sing to him to try and make him feel better, which was sweet but not what Daddy needs. Daddy blew him a kiss as he rolled over. Please pray my hubby feels better tomorrow and pray that none of the rest of us get what he has!!!