On the Trail

We were back on the rails-to-trails this weekend. We managed to go 15.5 miles on Saturday afternoon. We took 4 breaks for drinks and snacks. The boys did great. Ryan sang Bah Bah Black Sheep for 3 miles in the trailer behind me. He was a happy guy enjoying the ride. David kept telling Paul to pass everyone while he was on the trail-a-bike with Paul. He really wanted to win. He thought we were racing.

Ryan enjoyed the nature - chickens on the trail!

Pretty Rooster.

After our ride we stopped at Main Street in Alexandria for cold beers and wings. Yum. David enjoyed the peanut butter and jelly and Ryan enjoyed the celery and blue cheese.

Graduation Day

Kelsey graduated from preschool on Thursday night. We had a fun day with Kelsey and Kaitlyn. We got to go to her preschool and pick her up on Thursday afternoon. David peeked in her classroom and Kelsey did a double-take when she saw him at the door. And then she came running over and gave him a hug. Too sweet.

The graduate was very proud of her diploma and her award for being the "Best Friend" to her classmates. She was described as kind and friendly to everyone by her teachers.

Bug Safari

We went on a bug safari at Millbrook Marsh Nature Center with our Moms & More group this afternoon. It was really hot and the bugs were everywhere. We got to see ladybug eggs, spiders, ants and a frog.

Ryan liked pulling the leaves and watching the bugs fly out. He stayed behind the group so he could keep doing it. There were bugs everywhere!

David liked the sticky plant. He could stick it to his shirt, Ryan's shirt, my shirt. . . just about everything.

Silly Snacker

Ryan has the most interesting taste preferences. He loves blue cheese dressing and celery. He would probably eat it all day if I let him. He requests this snack a lot, especially if we go out to eat and Paul gets wings. We have to get him extra celery and blue cheese. Such a funny kid.

Kelsey's Recital

Kelsey had her 1st recital this past weekend. She was in 2 performances - pre-ballet and tap (?). It was adorable. She was so happy to be up on the stage. She ran up for the last performance to dance to "Single Ladies" with all the performers. Paul, David and Ryan joined us for dinner after the show.

Kelsey's

Energized

I caught David mid jump this morning at the YMCA playground. David is constant energy lately. His new thing to delay bedtime is to tell us that he's still "energized". I think he could run and play all day. The only time I can get him to fall asleep is in the car!

SNAKE!

Paul caught a garter snake while cutting the grass tonight. He brought it into the house and into the bathroom where the boys were both in the bathtub to show it to us! Yikes! It got the boys out of the tub fast because I screamed and told Paul to take it back outside and we would be out as soon as the boys were dressed. Bathtime was immediately over and they were dressed in seconds. They were so excited and a little scared. Ryan kept saying "Baby Snake?" in a questioning voice. I think he wanted to make sure it was a little one.

We let the little guy go in the wood behind the house. I'm sure he will be the topic of conversation for quite a while. I know I'll be thinking about him while I'm out in the yard!

Rails to Trails

We took our bikes out for a ride this afternoon on the rails-to-trails in Williamsburg. Nana Sharon and Pappy Dave joined us for the ride. We were able to ride a little over 5 miles, take a rest and then ride 5 miles back to our starting point. It only got a little scary when David started to nod off a bit while riding on his trail-a-bike. We saw a giant black snake on the trail and he quickly woke up again for the rest of the trip!

Cousins

Saturday afternoon we visited the Penn State Altoona Campus for their Arts Fest Kid's Day activities. Lots of fun things for the kids. They all loved the drummers from the Hollidaysburg Junior High. We sat there for over 30 minutes listening to them drum their trash cans. It was a lot of fun. Ryan was dancing along to the beat.

Garage Sale Morning

We participated in the neighborhood garage sale this year. David was so excited to make some money and sell some of his baby toys. We had a successful sale that started bright and early at 7:00 a.m.! We were done by 11 a.m. and most of our items found a new home.

Fun with Friends

We had our friends kids over on Thursday night for some fun. The kids helped me make rice krispie treats. Yum!

The boys put on their "sonar glasses" (David came up with that . . . from where? . . . I will never know.) and they went hunting for pirate treasure all over the house. Paul drew them maps and hid candy in the upstairs bedrooms. They were all so excited. We had to keep finding things to turn into treasure once we ran out of candy!

Ella wasn't so interested in the pirate treasure with the boys. She wanted to figure out how to pick up her bag with Henry inside so she could take him home. She's so sweet!

Mother's Day Breakfast with David

David's preschool held a Mother's Day pancake breakfast on Saturday. David was so excited to take me out to breakfast. Everyday last week he asked me "Is tomorrow Saturday?" After we got our pancakes he looked at me very seriously and said "Mommy, you can have anything you want to drink. They have orange juice, milk or apple juice." He was really excited to go pick up our drinks all by himself.

David told Ryan that he'll be allowed to come to breakfast next year when he's in preschool too.

Good Morning Ryan

This is how I find Ryan almost every morning. I'm not a mom who wakes up before everyone in the house. I'm a mom who is awaken by everyone in the house. Ryan is usually the 1st person in the house to wake up. He comes out of his room with his Boone Dog and Bubbles and sits at the top of the stairs. He just sits there and waits. Sometimes he makes noises and sometimes he sits out there quietly just waiting for me to wake up.

Seriously?!!!

Seriously?! Seriously?!! It's snowing today! Last week at this time it was climbing to 80 degrees. I was getting the blow up pool ready for some fun. This week David played soccer outside this morning in his winter coat, hat and gloves! Seriously?!!

Squirrels in My Pants

It felt like summer a little bit this week. We pulled out the ball sprinkler and Ryan's baby pool to enjoy the weather. We have been listening to "Squirrels in My Pants" (thank you disney) all week, so we tried to dance like we had squirrels in our pants while splashing.

The boys helped me make cookies that morning, so David had a cookie and Ryan ate a drumstick cone while they relaxed in the sun. Makes me look forward to the lazy days of summer ahead of us!

Digging for Dinosaurs

We cleared out a flat patch behind the swingset to put some mulch, but the boys have been having so much fun playing in the dirt we decided to leave it just dirt. They love digging in the dirt. They dug holes for their dinosaurs.

Here's Ryan pretending the dinosaur is eating a zebra. I wish I could have put the sound effects in the blog. The dinosaur was making very loud munching noises. Poor little zebra never had a chance.

Trail-a-Bike

We decided to get back on our bikes this summer. Paul and I got both of our bikes tuned up and bought this trail-a-bike for David to ride with Paul. (We ordered a trailor for Ryan to ride with me, but it hasn't arrived yet.) David has been loving our decision to start riding again. Paul takes him out as soon as he gets home from work for a short ride. After the 1st ride David told me he was a little scared. I was really concerned and asked if Daddy was going too fast, he said "No, but we were riding by the woods and there could have been a bear in there."

Soccer Shots

We've been lucky to have warm and sunny Tuesday mornings for David's Soccer Shots class to be held outside at the Y. This week I put Ryan in the stroller so I could watch David. It's a small class of 4 boys and 1 girl. It's a group of friends David has had for a while, so they're all really comfortable with each other. Today that meant they were really comfortable wrestling each other down to the ground!

David and Cara made up the yellow team and both of them wanted to hang out at the net. I think they're pointing out the other team to each other.

The chased the ball a lot and then piled on top of each other. It was new to see David get aggressive about getting the ball. He didn't do that during the inside class this winter.

This was how happy Ryan was to sit and watch. Doesn't he look thrilled?! If I had let him out of the stroller he would have ran for the playset on the other side of the field. Don't worry too much about Ryan's happiness, we went to play after the class was over. He was very happy.