lost in the shuffle

A few weeks ago we had a visit from some Dayton friends. You'll recognize these faces, they have shown up on the blog dozens of times over the past few years. I miss my playgroup friends every day and I know Brady does too.

(Little D is wearing an outfit that once belonged to Brady...makes my heart melt)

Thanks for visiting H family. We miss you so much. See you at Christmas time!  Jen Z, we missed you, geez, having a baby is not really a good excuse for missing this. 

Down on the farm

We went to a birthday party this week on a farm.  The kids had a great time - animals, dirt, a maze, more dirt, hayride, pizza, cake, ice cream - good times.  I'm glad my little Brady has made some friends here and the birthday party invitations and play date opportunities are rolling in.

Lucy went for a ride on a horse.  Of course she did.  She has to do all the things the big kids do.  Of course she was obsessed with it, loved it and was grumpy that Mike was trying to "hold" her.  Do you see the smile on her face?

Wonder what they both were thinking?

Ok, back to horse pictures....

Yes, that girl is talking on her cell phone, while guiding my 18-month old on a 1100 lb animal.  It's cool.

I love the catchlight in her eyes!

Monday again...where do the weeks go?  Hope it's a good one in your corner of the world.

The best laid plans

go awry.....

I set out to take a pretty picture of Lucy in this dress that I adore but she found a ball and she wouldn't put it down.

Hence, awry.
Plus it was 102 degrees. For real, no exaggerating. So I guess my timing just wasn't right.

Oh and then Dada came home and all hope was lost.

*************************************************************************

And on a random note, if you have a child that loves to ride their bike *OR* you have a child that won't ride their bike and you want them too, may I suggest this, the Gazillion Bubble Bike Exhaust. Best $7.98 I've spent in awhile. Run to Toys R Us to get it! *Toys R Us seems to be out of it online, I couldn't link to it there but the stores still had it as of a few days ago, I would not spend $28 on this which is what amazon has it listed for*

Brady falls into the "loves his bike" category and this makes him love his bike even more.  The one thing that this has made him do is ride faster (which is better I think for exercise/wearing out purposes).  By the way, these pictures don't show the awesomeness of the bubbles, I apparently don't know how to take pictures of bubbles in the high noon 102 degree sun. I promise you, there are lots and lots of bubbles coming out of this little number.

 
Happy almost weekend.

Summer Solstice

We did our best to celebrate the first official day of summer....

We went to the library and signed up for the summer reading program

We made a list of some special summer activities we want to do

We stopped at a local farm stand and found some delicious corn, peaches and cucumbers.

We had a summer dinner on the porch: bbq chicken, pasta salad, corn and rolls.  Of which my children ate none of.

We stayed up late and ate apples and peaches on the porch in mismatched outfits picked out by Dada :)

Throw in some swimming in the plastic pool and a nice long afternoon nap for all of us and it was the perfect start to summer.

Happy Summer Friends.

Day trip to the beach

On Father's Day we jumped in the car and drove to the beach! It was a very spontaneous trip, at 8:30am we were in PJ's and by 9:15am we were already on the road. I'm glad my kiddos can go with the flow!

Anyways, it took us about 1 hour and 45 mins. to get to the Rehoboth/Dewey/Bethany beaches which we learned is certainly very easy to do a day trip for. I adore the beach, I belong at the beach, so to know that we can go there just for the day makes my heart happy. Lucy had never been to the beach so this was a first for her. Although we arrived on the shore almost at her nap time, she did great and had a grand ol' time.  We all did.

So in no particular order, 3000 pictures of our trip to the beach.

 Hope you are staying cool and enjoying all that summer has to offer wherever you are.

Hello Monday

We had a great weekend, how 'bout you?

More to come!

Strawberry Fields Forever

I have a strong memory of going berry picking at Reilly's Summer Seat Farm perhaps it was the summer after 3rd grade.  I was with my friend Kelly and our Mom's and sisters.   I remember that strawberry season was very short and that in western Pennsylvania, June was the time that the berries would ripen and be at their best.

When Brady was just shy of 2 1/2 years old, my Mom and I took him to another farm in Pittsburgh to pick summer's favorite fruit.  At 2 1/2 he definitely ate more than he put in his container. 

Last year, despite our best efforts, we could not go berry picking because the crop was bad in Ohio and Pittsburgh. A late frost, rain and hail had ruined the crop and the fields were not open for U-Pick.

This year, though, despite lots of rain in Western PA, the berries came alive for little hands to pick (and taste) and thus another memory was made of picking berries in June with my littles and this time, my sister came along. 

Caught in the act!

My sister is such a huge help to me when I visit home, she's always up for whatever crazy adventure that I *think* will be fun for the kids.  They love their Laura.

I hope that every year we'll mark off a day on the calendar in June to stop and slow down for a bit and enjoy a morning in a strawberry field....the warm sun on our back, the blue sky above and the sweet smelling, delicious fruit at our feet.

Strawberry season is fleeting, if you are too busy with other things, you'll miss it.  Kind of a metaphor for a lot of things in life...childhood is the one that comes to mind.  I hope my littles will remember going to pick berries with their siblings or family members or friends every year and will look back on it with fond memories.