Bounce U - 8/24/07

I'm really writing a bunch tonight. The house is quiet and I have some time before the craziness of the week starts. On Friday the kids and I along with one of Landon's friends went to "Bounce U". Bounce U is the place filled with inflatable structures that you can play and bounce on. The kids (and adults too) can run around like crazy people, get exercise and have fun. Well a couple of times a week they have preschool playdates. They finally opened one in Allentown and we got a chance to go. Landon was happy that they had some new structures compared to the one in Bethlehem and him and his friend Aidan had a blast. Lauren is really starting to love bouncing on things. She is a little small to climb on things with out help, but loves the slides if someone goes up with her. Her favorite response at the bottom of the slide is "Again". Enjoy the pictures! (That's Landon on the left.)

I just wanted to say Happy Anniversary to Kurt. On August 29th, we will have been married for 9 years already! It hardly seems possible. So those of you who celebrated with us please take a moment on Wednesday and smile! To celebrate, my parents have agreed to watch the kids and we are going away to Philly overnight Thursday into Friday to see the King Tut exhbit at the Franklin Institute. We are looking forward to having a nice meal in a restaurant and enjoying some quiet time.

Hugs to all!

Mary

Dinner with Cookie Monster, Part 2

Just wanted to put another picture with Lauren and I in it. (I'm still figuring out this blogging thing :) ) Someday I will get her looking at the camera. I'm really happy with this picture since Landon was the photographer.!

Hugs

Mary

Dinner with Cookie Monster

Yup, the tradition contiued. We had dinner with Cookie Monster. The local Pizza Hut has "kids night" on Tuesday nights and occasionally characters appear. Well, Landon has gotten really good at noticing when the big white sign appears and recognizing who is coming to Pizza Hut on Tuesday night. Last week it was Cookie Monster and since he is a fan of both kids, it was a no-brainer that that's where we would head for dinner on Tuesday. I am really lucky that we can go before the masses appear and it gets REALLY crowded. We usually can get in, get out, and get our pictures and usually before Daddy gets home, too. Over the past year, we've seen Bob the Builder, Bear in the BIg Blue House, Clifford, Diego, Boots and Shrek. (There are probably others that I'm forgetting at the moment.) It is a nice time and it's been fun seeing Lauren warm up to the characters as she's grown older. She won't go and give them hugs, (yet) but she will high five them and talk to them. WHen we saw Cookie Monster in the parking lot her first question was, was "Where's Elmo?" To which I quickly had to reply "On Sesame Street." (I'm getting quite good at translating for the character's. My favorite character was Bear in the Big Blue House because he could actually talk!).

Catching Up

Just a quick note - and a picture of Lauren with her new do from last week. This was her stylist Charissa who was great with her.

Well we surrived the marathon of events. The birthday celebration at Sweet Memories tea room. The work picnic at Musikfest - which we ended up spending the ENTIRE day there from 11:30 am until about 6:00 pm. Great music and great food and A LOT of walking. (Musikfest is an annual 10 day festival in Bethlehem with hundreds of musical acts and tons of food and artisans. Lots of fun if anyone wants to join us next year :))Plus the family gathering the next day to celebrate my mom's, brother's and Lauren's birthday's. Whew. All of the cousins had a blast playing together. Landon at 4 1/2 is the leader of the pack. Lauren, at almost 2 is the mother figure and Griffin and Cassidy and slightly over 9 months were just happy to be in a new environment with new toys and their cousins and to have free reign of the house. Life didn't get any better than that. The celebration was great because my grandparents at 86 and 84 years old were able to join us. The older I get, the more I appreciate times like this. Someday, I hope my kids will too. Lauren got some neat presents. Favorites were a Barnes and Noble gift card, Curious George books and the Dora Back Pack (that Landon picked out for her.)

This weekend my dad is hosting a reunion of his catholic elementary school classmates and Landon was invited back from last year. (He was supposed to go for just a few hours last year, ended up staying the entire night and won over EVERYONE in the class so they invited him for this year. We (Kurt and I) invited ourselves cause my dad throws a good party.) Our child has a busier social life than we do. Then on Sunday is Lauren's actual birthday. I can't believe that my baby is turning two already. Time is really flying. We are celebrating by going to the Philadelphia Zoo. They are having a "Member Morning Stroll" which means the zoo is opening early because they are letting the triplet tiger cubs out into their exhbit for the first time. Landon is dying to see the cubs and we thought going to the zoo would be a good way to celebrate Lauren's birthday since she loves the animals too. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post a few when we get back. Hope everything is going well for everyone.

Hugs

Mary

Lauren's First Haircut

Well, we bit the bullet and Lauren had her first haircut last weekend. She lasted a long time comapred to Landon. Many of you will remember that Landon has been getting haircuts since he's been 5 1/2 months old. I was kind of putting this off because haircuts with Landon haven't always been a pleasant experience. But, things had gotten bad with her. See exhibit A. I took her to a local Cost Cutters and she was a perfect angel! She was very quiet as she is in new situations and didn't hardly say a word. (I think it helped that they gave her this light up toy that fascinated her). So now we have Exhibit B.

Hot Summer Day

Ok. I'm going to try this blogging thing again. I know that we have friends and family near and far who we don't stay in touch with as much as we would like too! On Sunday we took the kids to the local community pool and had a blast. This was momentous for several reasons. One because Kurt actually went to the pool and Lauren went "swimming" in the baby pool by herself. She was really quite fearless. (The pool was only 12 inches deep) Landon had fun too. Emmaus Community pool has a large "regular" pool that starts at 3 feet and goes to 8 feet deep. Landon is now tall enough that he can stand in the three foot section! We spent several hours trying to beat the heat and having fun. This week is going to be a busy one. On Thursday, we are going to a luncheon with Grandma Rockwell, Gram (my mom), Aunt Susie, Aunt Libby, Aunt Mary, Carina and the twins to celebrate my mom's and grandma's birthday's. On Friday is my work picnic at Musikfest and Saturday is a combined birthday party for my brother, my mom and Lauren. Phew. On Sunday I think, I'll collapse! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and provided I figure out how to post them, I'll be sure to do that too.

Hugs

Mary