Lindsay's Smile

Our first child has lost her first tooth! This is big news for our simple life! Her sweet baby smile is in the process of growing up. Here's some pictures to document the big event!

Oh, that tooth was SO ready to go!!

Tim helped remove the tooth with no problem. Lindsay was so excited she danced around the house! She put the baby tooth in a box under her pillow.

The Tooth Fairy made a stop by our house that night. When Lindsay woke up, she found a dollar under her pillow with a bow on it. Now, she can't wait until the next tooth comes out!

Emma is also trying to make her teeth wiggle to see if she can earn cash for teeth, too!

Monday Mornings

Monday mornings are not usually my favorite part of the week. But for Emma, Monday mornings are the highlight of HER week. Everyday, she's asking if it's Monday. The reason is, she and I go to Baby Bear gymnastics every Monday morning together and have a ball! It's a "mommy & me" type class where the parents help the 2 year old's run around and participate in beginning gymnastic skills.

Fortunately for me, it's not first thing in the morning. I can get a good morning cup of coffee before we head out the door for "nastics."

Here are some highlights of our Monday mornings...

Emma on the balance beam

She loves to swing like a monkey (above) and jump on the trampoline (below)!

They have an inflatable castle the kids can jump in and slide down. She spends a good part of the class jumping around in it and going down the slide again and again. In this picture she's looking out one of the holes the kids can climb through to get in the castle.

The class is well worth the time and money to let her get her energy out and have fun together. I guess Monday mornings aren't so bad after all!

Apple Picking

Today was one of those gorgeous fall days that you wish could be year round, 75 degrees and lots of sunshine! We decided to visit a local apple orchard where we can pick our own. This was a great experience for the girls, something they've never done before.

We were told we could taste test the different types of apples to compare tartness and sweetness or juiciness, to help us decide what type we want to pick. Emma took that to mean she should taste test every apple she picked with one bite, then place it in the box.

We came away with lots of apples, more than we'll probably consume ourselves. I guess I'll be busy the next few weeks with making applesauce, apple crisp, apple cake, apple pie, apple muffins, apple.... if you have any new recipes that involve apples, feel free to forward them to my e-mail.

Oh, and we picked out a pumpkin to carve. They think I'm going to make pumpkin pie out of it. That will be a new experience for another time.

A Quiet Moment

The girls were downstairs playing, when suddenly I thought it was just too quiet down there. You know, the kind of quiet that makes you think the kiddos must be getting into something they shouldn't. When I got to the bottom of the steps to check on things....

I found them snuggled together in the recliner, with Lindsay reading to Emma. Lindsay's been doing a great job learning to read, and I was so proud of her reading Curious George to her little sister!!

Well, I guess we got a little head start on the Book-it reading assigment. Look out Pizza Hut, we'll be there soon!

Many Milestones

I've learned a new word over the past few months: back-blogged. That's me right now, very back-blogged. We've had many little life events that I'd like to share on my blog, but I'll stick to the highlights of the last six weeks.

Six weeks ago, it was still summer. We were hanging out by the pool, watching Lindsay take her first swim lessons. She was a little nervous, but really wanted to learn. I was proud of how brave she was getting in very cold water and giving it a try. She came a long way in learning to swim, but will need to take the class again before she moves up to the next level.

The last day of class, the kids were allowed to go down the sliding board into the deep end. Lindsay didn't want to go, so I pulled out the best bribe I could think of: lunch and a donut at the Fractured Prune. Sure enough, it worked! She went down the slide into the deep end, and we celebrated her accomplishment with a donut! (I do almost anything for warm donuts, too!)

Emma's big accomplishment this summer was learning to use the potty. I'm proud to say she's completely potty trained, all directions, all the time! We've been accident-free for a couple months, now! Yeah! Good-bye Pampers, hello Cottonelle!!!!

August 25, Lindsay started first grade. This is a big step for her, and our whole family. We were used to Lindsay being at school only a couple days per week. Now she's at school every day, all day. I miss her, and Emma misses her more.

Lindsay adjusted to the new school year schedule with no problems. I'm SO thankful for a fantastic Christian school for her to attend, a great teacher, and a group of girlfriends that she can't wait to see each day.

Another recent milestone for our family was getting Emma's "big girl bed!" The anticipation of this moment had been building over the summer while we shopped and price-checked. Finally, the day came and Emma couldn't wait to sleep in her brand-new bed, just like big sister!

Our most recent new experience was Lindsay's first cheerleading game. She joined our church group of cheerleaders and flag-football players. She's done great, learning new cheers and how to participate in a group sport. It was so much fun watching the 5 and 6 year olds cheer for the football game. I'm so thankful for all that God has blessed us with. We enjoy so many moments with our girls, our family and our friends. Hopefully, it won't be another six weeks before I sit down to record more of our little milestones.

The Rainforest

Last weekend, we woke up to a beautiful day outside and decided to take a short trip to The Rainforest. So, we jumped in the car....

....and drove an hour to The Rainforest. Even before we entered, we were met by a crocodile that was emerging from the swamp! Yikes!!

We were brave, and entered The Rainforest anyway. Suddenly, from up above, a large friendly snake appeared.

We continued our adventure and started to spot many, very wild, and somewhat familiar looking, animals.

Including "Dory!!"

We were really there to get some food. This particular Rainforest has plenty on the menu, and we've enjoyed dining there several times. Ok, it's probably our favorite restaurant right now, but a little out of the way. We took advantage of our opportunity to get up close to several more animals while we waited for our food.

Every few minutes, The Rainforest comes alive, with sounds of thunder and flashes of lightening, the animals start moving and you can hear elephants and gorillas. The dining experience is like none other, and a great place for the family to eat!

Cool Cakes

Saturday morning pancakes are a tradition here in our home. We have a new assistant to the Daddy-chef. Emma is now in the "I wanna help" stage. She whips up the usual buttermilk, or for a special treat, banana or chocolate chip pancakes. You're welcome to stop by for some cakes, but you may find us still in our jammies with bed-head hair!

5 Day Club

This week we enjoyed having half the neighborhood over every day for one hour of fun songs, Bible stories, missionary stories, and free candy! We had a total of 16 kids come and go throughout the week, enthusiastically participating in all the club has to offer. The club was taught by trained teachers from Child Evangelism Fellowship.

I loved watching 3 and 4 year old's raise their hands and answer questions right along with the 8 and 9 year old's. We had a 15 year old who enjoyed acting out the Bible characters during the Bible stories. We had a broad range of kids come, but they all did so well with listening and participating!

Monday and Tuesday the weather was very warm but we met outside anyway on the deck under a tent. By Wednesday, I had to come up with another plan before all the kids melted from the humidity outside. So our Backyard Bible Club turned into Basement Bible Club.

The kids enjoyed acting out the characters from the Bible Story of the Good Samaritan. We had Jesus, the Lawyer, the robbers, the Priest, the Levite, the Samaritan, and several other characters.

The kids (and some adults) really got into the hand motions during the songs!

Thank you to all the kids who came, learned their Bible verses and participated so well! Thank you also to my friends and neighbors who helped me out watching Emma during club, loaned me the tent, and brought your kids over each day!

Camping Out

We did our first backyard camp out last night! We only have a little kiddy size tent that Tim set up outside. The plan was for Tim to camp out with the girls all night, but there wasn't room in the tent for me (oh, too bad!!)

We started with the traditional smores, but roasted the marshmallows the non-traditional way (microwave). They still taste great, even if we don't have a campfire to enjoy them by.

The girls got their jammies on and went out to the tent at about 8:30 pm. Tim brought lots of books out for them to read, and also lots of candy (that was not mom approved!), as well as his cell phone to call me when the girls got tired of camping out and I needed to rescue them!!

Well, the call came at about 9:45 to get Emma. She was too busy goofing around and wouldn't let anyone else sleep. (who? Emma??) So I brought her in the house and put her in her own bed.

At about 2:30 am, I woke up to hear Tim carrying Lindsay in to her own bed and him climbing into bed. He said she was really happy to be in her own bed! (that's my Lindsay girl!)

We didn't have super high expectations about camping out for the first time, but we all had fun! Maybe next time camping out will last more than 6 hours!

July 4th Weekend

Tim and I consider ourselves patriotic citizens. We're so thankful to live in the US!! We try not to take for granted all the freedom we enjoy. So many Americans have fought for our freedom and have died fighting for it. We really enjoyed celebrating the 232nd birthday of our country this past weekend. Of course, our celebrating involved lots of food, family, friends, and fireworks!!

On Friday the 4th, we went to Pappy & Grandma's house for a cook-out and to get wet in their creek. The girls love to feed the ducks that live in the creek and wander through their yard. Emma enjoys sitting with Grandma in the swing by the creek.

Tim took some time to relax in the quiet water and go fishing. It's so beautiful to hear just the sounds of the water, the birds and other little wildlife that live there.

Pappy took Lindsay and Emma for a ride in their rafts. The creek is only 12-18 inches deep right now, so the girls also enjoyed walking in the water and looking for shells.

Saturday we enjoyed another cook-out with several friends in the area, and also friends that are visiting from South Carolina. We all feasted on steak, chicken, and lots of sides, then finished off with delicious cake, ice cream, brownies, and cookies. We're still full two days later!! We sat and chatted around a camp fire set up on a ridge that overlooks miles of farmland. The view of the sunset was breathtaking! I'm sorry I didn't bring the camera! The kids ran around with sparklers having a great time. We're thankful for the time we could spend with wonderful friends!

Sunday evening, we couldn't miss out on the fireworks to end the long weekend. A group of church friends gathered in Lancaster to watch the fireworks over Long's Park.

Lindsay with her friends Gracie and Hannah, waiting for it to get dark and for the fireworks to start.

A very patient group of kiddos waiting for fireworks to begin. Thank you to those of you who brought extra snacks and shared with my girls!!

Heart shaped fireworks!! Is this new? I've never seen these before!

4 Days at the Beach

We took a mini vacation this past weekend and headed down to Ocean City, MD for a few days. The weather was perfect, the girls did well, and we had a great time with our friends, the Parmers.

We had saved up enough points from our credit card to get an ocean front room at no charge. We also had a view of the children's activity pool, where we spent much of our time hanging out with the girls. We had a great view of the beach and pools from our 11th floor room.

It was so relaxing to wake up to the sound of the ocean waves, then eat our Lucky Charms or donuts and drink our coffee while overlooking the beach.

Then we'd go down to the boardwalk to walk and ride bikes. Lindsay rode about 16 blocks on her bike along with her friend Morgan.

The girls loved playing in the sand on the beach! The water was fairly cold, but we got our feet wet.

Lindsay helped the Parmers dig a hole to play in. That was fun for awhile, but soon they wanted to go back to the kid's pool. That wasn't a problem, we just walked a few feet, sprayed off the sand, and jumped in the pool!
Look for the bright pink floaties in the pictures to find Emma.

Later, after we were tired out from the pools and beach, we'd clean up and go out to dinner. We'd spend time back at the boardwalk checking out the shops or go out for ice cream.

We all had such a great time!! We're so blessed to have a wonderful little family and great friends to make memories with!

Bums at the beach!