1st day of kindergarten

This is after she got off the bus.

Greeting Mommy from the bus...


Alexis had a great first day of kindergarten!  It started off a bit rocky to say the least but she came home smiling and gave us 2 thumbs up!  She loved the bus ride and is excited to go back tomorrow!  Yeah!!

Matt turned 4!!

Well, it's official.  My baby is 4 and we celebrated at the Grange Fair.  We had so many friends and family show up come to help us celebrate and we are so thankful for that.  (Not to mention them paying admission to the fair to come to a birthday party:))  At one point we had to question whether it was a birthday party or Christmas with all of the gifts he received.  He was so excited the entire day.  Here are a few pictures of the day.  Enjoy!

End of Summer

Hi all

Another busy month has passed us by and I'm starting to dread the upcoming weeks.  I am having real difficulty with Alexis starting kindergarten!!  I know she'll be fine and by the end of September be well on her way but YIKES!!!   

Anyway, we're off to Grange Fair this week so I'll have lots of pics to post-I hope-from us camping and having fun over there.  Matthew will be turning 4 on Sunday so we'll be celebrating that and then he's off to preschool.  I start my Chemistry class tomorrow so in a few weeks all but Mike will be back in the classroom!  

I just got back from a girls trip to Washington DC.  We packed in as many museums as we could in 3 days and I think we still could've used 3 more.  We had a great time!

Happy last week of summer!! 

More summer fun

Hi all~

It is hard to believe that it is August already!  We've had a very busy summer and this last part doesn't seem to be slowing down much.  These are some pictures from our trip to TN and our camping trip to Knoebel's amusement park.  We had a blast.  We went with our camping buddies, the Moyer family and the Gordon family.  We had a great time riding the rides and camping.  It was a big week for us with Alexis in particular.  It started with her being big enough to ride the roller coaster's at the park-scared me to death!!  She loved every thrill ride we'd let her on!  Then, the next week she had "kindercamp."  Her school's kindergarten does a 3 day (1/2 days) mock run of kindergarten.  They got to meet their teachers and see the classroom and do some small activities.  She did pretty well overall, should be an interesting September.  Now we're getting ready to pack up the camper for the grange fair and to celebrate Matt's 4th birthday.  Football is right around the corner and I'm so excited.  (Mike and I are headed to Pittsburgh this week to watch a Steeler preseason game, can't wait!!  Hope all is well.

Trip to Tennessee

We've been having a great trip in Tennesee.  The kids did great on the airplane ride and had fun with it.  They've gone swimming with cousin Jack, 'playing' with Stephen, gone shopping, been riding their 'hot wheels' bikes.  Today we went to a place in Kentucky called Kentucky Down Under.  It is a small scale wildlife place with Australian animals such as kangaroo's, emu's, dingo's and lots of birds.  The kids had a great time feeding the birds, they got to milk a cow, pet an emu and a kangaroo.  Matthew was happy to see all the animals that he watches in the Wiggles movies!  They also have a huge cave that we got to go down into.  Alexis wasn't so sure about going down but when we came out she wanted to go back down again!  Tomorrow we're going to celebrate Betsy's birthday-should be a great day!   I'll post more pictures as they come:)  Hope this finds everyone well!! 

Pictures

Alexis as the fill in at the parade with friends.  She was such a natural!

Oh, Matt being so cool!

Summer

Not too sure where this summer has gone.  This is the busiest I can remember us being.  We got back from the beach and had about 4 days to unpack and unwind and then it was 4th of July!  In what seems to be a new (and funny) tradition, we pulled our camper to my sister's house and camped in her driveway for the second year.  They have a great 4th party with tons of family and friends.   Then last week the kids and I babysat my 3 month old nephew, Connor. He was such a great baby for us!  A friend and I took our combined 5 kids that week down to children's day at the arts festival last Wednesday.  After that we thought we had a free Saturday with the kids staying over for their usual Friday night sleepover at Nana and Pop's house.  A quick phone call and that all changed...we all got to be part of a parade with some good friends who are involved with a baton group.  Matt got to throw candy and Alexis held the banner for the group, complete with the cute little outfit (she was invited to be a twirler but was upset that she didn't know the routine).  The parade was then followed by a fun filled birthday party.   And now this week we've been to vacation bible school all week (it ends on Thursday) and then Friday we leave on a somewhat last minute trip to Tennessee.  We're looking forward to some warm weather-it's been very mild here this summer so far.  Combine this with my class and all the other 'normal' activities and I'm ready for some relaxing.  I can't complain though, we've had a great time and are loving life!!  I have tons of pictures and as soon as I find my camera cable I'll be sure to post them!!  Love to all-Megan