The summer before I entered the fourth grade my family moved from the safety of our house on Edgewood place to Lewisburg. On Edgewood place I could simply walk outside and find any number of kids to play with. When we moved to Lewisburg, or more specifically, Winfield, my mother had to drive me four plus miles to where my friends lived. When I entered school that year the guidance counselor told my mom that it was difficult to make friends in Lewisburg. The truth was that lots of kids and their families moved in and out all the time. The kids who were born and bred here stuck together and it was tough to break into their circle.

I had plenty of friends in school, but I never really considered myself part of the "in" crowd. After high school I kept in touch with very few classmates from Lewisburg. And even though I chose to move back after college I didn't reconnect with anyone from my high school days or really make any new friends in town. Even now it sometimes feels hard to break into the "inner circle". Everyone here seems to know everyone else and to an outsider they seem like they've been the best of friends forever. I'll admit that at times it's been a bit intimidating. That is, until today.

We have been blessed with great neighbors that I've mentioned many times before. The girls get along great and I think their mom is awesome too. She's not from Lewisburg, but works here and knows LOTS of people. Today she called to see if we wanted to go to the pool. I don't think I've ever even been to the Lewisburg public pool...ever. McKenna was thrilled and Cooper loves the water. So we went. I can't say that I wasn't a little bit apprehensive. But I thought to myself, "Emily, get a grip - you're 31 years old." I guess in my mind it was a little like going to the first day of fourth grade and wondering if I would make friends.

As we pulled into the parking lot I scanned the rows searching for our neighbors. I didn't see their car, but I did spot half of my neighborhood parked near by. Once we were inside they seemed to be everywhere - people I have seen in our neighborhood from a distance but never talked to. Little did I know that I was in for a huge surprise. It wasn't fourth grade anymore. These people were so nice. They were friendly and real and welcoming and talked to me like they've known me forever. It was a great afternoon. And not only did I have a great time but the kids loved every minute. We learned a lot about kindergarten and the kids in our neighborhood. For instance, there are 8 different kindergarten classes! And, there are 10 sets of multiples starting kindergarten! I'm pretty sure at least half of them live in our neighborhood. Which, by the way is going to need it's own bus to pick up just the five year olds headed to those 8 classrooms. I stopped adding up the number of kids in Peachwood who are starting school once the numbers got to double digits! For one split second I actually became a little bit excited about the prospect of McKenna starting school. But don't worry...it was short lived. What I was truly excited about was the prospect of my kids walking out the door and having friends to play with. Friends who they will grow up with. That, is exciting.

Sometimes I think about how great my childhood on Edgewood Place was and how many of those people are still my friends. I think of us riding our big wheels and then our two wheel bikes; catching lightening bugs and swinging in the backyard; walking to school together and playing in the snow. And then I think about my kids growing up in this neighborhood with so many other kids around. I can only hope that they will have such wonderful memories some day.

I thought tonight I would sit down and write a post updating everyone on what we've been up to, include some pictures, the whole nine yards. Truth is though, that I'm tired and we've done a tone of stuff in the past week and a half. In my line of work at the hospital I'm responsible for getting TONS of new information out to the nurses on my units. And if anyone has been anywhere near a hospital in the past few years, or you happen to work in one, you know that nurses are busy. So when it comes to information they want the down and dirty, need to know stuff. I've gotten pretty good at the "need to know" recently. Here it is:

Over the past two weeks we have done the following:
Rounded out fun week with a trip to DelGrosso's amusement park and water park. It was extremely cold and rainy, but we still had a great time. Mental note to self though...when the lifeguards are wearing hooded sweatshirts and are draped with blankets, it's probably too cold to swim comfortably.

We continued our weekend with a trip to Sharon, PA to visit Grammy Musial and Aunt Loretta and many nieces and nephews. The highlight of the trip was meeting Grammy's new little puppy, Lily.

Before leaving for home on Sunday, we attended the Champ (Grandma Loretta's family) Reunion. It was great to see folks who we don't regularly see or keep in touch with.

Upon returning home on Sunday evening my parents came over to help us move all of our upstairs furniture to the middle of the room in preparation for the installation of new crown molding and painting. Fun times. Let me just say that we are all still sleeping in the master bedroom. I have new appreciation for my friends Dave and Kathy who have been enduring home renovations for several months now.

On Tuesday of this week we received the wonderful and very unexpected news that one of Earl's co-workers was willing to switch vacations with him. And so, on Friday we booked our trip to Disney World. We'll be leaving November 14th (my birthday) to spend a week at the Animal Kingdom and visiting Disney. I'm so excited (probably more so than anyone else) because I've always wanted to see Disney decorated for Christmas. Rumor has it that it snows every night despite the warm temperatures and there is no shortage of free hot cocoa and Christmas cookies. I can only hope my family can get me on a plane to come home! I do have to admit a slight tinge of fear since this is the first trip we've taken to Disney without an extra set of hands!

On Saturday we received another exciting piece of news via mail this time. A letter arrived at our house telling us that McKenna would be in Mrs. Jamieson's kindergarten class this coming year. How exciting...and scary all at once. The best news came today though when we found out that McKenna's friend (and our neighbor) will be in the same class. I'm not sure who was more excited, the girls or the mom's. The mom's are hoping that between two of us we might just remember when we need to send cupcakes or permission slips, etc. I'm also feeling very relieved to have finalized McKenna's before and after school care with our neighbor down the street. She's got a great in home daycare and I feel really comfortable about McKenna going to their house two days a week. Granted it will only be for an hour before and after school but I want her to be in a great place. I'm so thankful that things are coming together and I'm feeling a little more at ease with the school year quickly approaching.

And last, but probably not least....this is my last week of working full time. I can hardly believe it. It seems like forever ago that I began agonizing over my decision to go part time. I am so completely blessed that my boss has bent over backwards to make this work for me. I am also so grateful to have a wonderful new co-worker who I'm going to miss incredibly after this week. I've been orienting her since the end of May and we've had such an awesome time together. The best part is that I feel so good about leaving things in her hands for half the month.

So, there you have it, the down and dirty of what's been going on with the Mowry's. Oh, I guess I should mention poor Earl! His fun week of vacation ended and he was greeted back at the

Big G by nearly 18 hours of overtime this past week. No rest for the weary. This week is his birthday...the big 32! Glad he hits those birthday's before I do! So, if you see him around this week be sure to wish him a happy day!

Fun Week Continues

I feel a bit guilty for being so jealous last night of all the fun McKenna and Earl have been having this week. Maybe jealousy was a bad word choice. Envious would be better...well not really. No matter how I spin it, what I really feel like is I'm missing out on watching them have fun together.

McKenna has always been a bit of a Daddy's girl. At one point I worried that while he was in school their bond would suffer. It is true that McKenna and I were pretty tight through those two years. We did absolutely everything together. But when Daddy was home, he was the main attraction, like it or not. Earl had his study space set up in our partially finished basement. And even though he was out of McKenna's sight, he wasn't able to escape her little 2 year old mind. She would stand and pound at the basement door to get his attention. And when we were outside she would run to the window that looked into the basement beside his desk. It's easy to look back on how difficult that period of our life was but those wonderful memories quickly flood all of my thoughts.

Earl and McKenna studying anesthesia. She was a great study buddy!

Today, McKenna and Earl continued their "week of fun" with a quick trip to the dentist (which does not really constitute fun to me, or my wallet) but was fun for McKenna. She was thrilled when they let her pick out a prize even though she was just their as Daddy's moral support. Later today she was treated to a root beer float at the new A&W. Somehow that doesn't really go well in the same paragraph with the dentist but we'll let that one go today.

I'm not sure what tomorrow holds for the two of them but I know it starts out with breakfast at Good Will's which is a little restaurant across from daycare. I've never been there, but the smell of bacon and fried potatoes every morning when I drop the kids off is to die for. Really it doesn't matter what they do as long as they're together. I'm so glad that they have this opportunity and that Earl is such a hands on dad. It was slightly sad tonight when we tucked her in tonight and he commented how big she looks. I think that sometimes those things just hit you. Sometimes we're so busy living life that we don't stop to realize how far we've come or how much our children have grown. I think I've been sort of dwelling on that for the past couple of months, with the realization that I'm about to be the mom of a "school age child". But I think that it's just beginning to hit Earl. So sad!

I happy to report that Cooper and I will be joining in the fun on Thursday. If I can get things wrapped up at work tomorrow afternoon I'll be able to be off the rest of the week. Thursday we're going to do some things around the house and get ready for our weekend trip to see Earl's mom. Friday we're hitting the road and heading to DelGrosso's Amusement and Water Park near Altoona for the day. Then Friday evening we'll head to Sharon. After making an appearance at the family reunion on Sunday we'll be back in Lewisburg just in time to get the kids' bedrooms ready for the crown molding that's being installed on Tuesday. What fun! How silly I was to think that we'd have a break from new home construction this summer. There's been something going on here all summer with no end in sight!

The clock reads 11:07 so I guess I better get to bed. I'll be regretting this when the alarm sounds in the morning. I'll admit that it's been wonderful to be able to sleep until 5am this week since I only have one child to get ready for school! Never in my life would I have thought that 5am was sleeping in. Oh, how children change you!

Inquiring Minds Might Want to Know

In case anyone read my last post had a burning desire to know just what Cooper was up to during those few moments of quiet that had me a little worried....

That pretty much says it all. He managed to open every single game McKenna had on her bookshelf and scatter the contents, piece by piece throughout her room. What you also cannot see, because it made me to ill to take pictures, is the magic marker on her pink and white bedspread. Looking at the picture a few days later, I just have to wonder, do you think he strategically place the Sorry box on top? Nah, I didn't think so either.

I have to admit that I'm feeling a little sorry for myself tonight. I know that's not really effective or productive, but I'm bummed. I'm bummed because Earl is on vacation this week. We were supposed to go on a family vacation this week. I was so looking forward to it. Geisinger had other plans though and decided that last week would be a great time to bring in 100 new nurses. Needless to say, vacation wasn't going to pan out for me. So, today while I was stuck at the big G, McKenna and Earl were living it up. They went to the mall and purchased (I shouldn't really admit this) a Michael Jackson CD. McKenna loves it. You'd swear it was the 80's around here. I'm going to worry if she asks for a white glove. They also went out for breakfast, went swimming, played 2 rounds of mini golf, went to the doctors (for Earl) and still made it to gymnastics for 5:30. Needless to say, he's the best guy in town tonight and I'm "chopped liver". Oh well. I still can't help but be a little jealous. That sure sounds like a fun day to me! Okay, minus the Michael Jackson music! Just a few minutes ago I found her sacked out at the foot of our bed.

I think she has the right idea. It's time for bed! But first, one quick Cooper story. I'm sure everyone reading this in some way experienced the strong thunderstorms that made their way through PA on Saturday evening. Before it began to really thunder and lightening at our house, the sky turned a few strange colors. Once the thunder began we had two very scared kids in our house. Cooper sat on the couch with me and did not move a muscle for nearly two hours. I have to admit that it surprised me that he was afraid. I was even more surprised when he came to me tonight, his arms outstretched telling me he was "fraid". When I questioned him he pointed out our front windows to the sunset just up over the hill. Still not sure what he was "fraid" of, I asked if he was afraid of the sky. This time he replied, "Yeah, boom." Then it hit me (sorry, I'm a little slow tonight) that he associated the colors in the sky with the storm on Saturday. How do they remember this stuff, honestly!. So that's Cooper story for tonight. It's fun to share, but mostly I just wanted to write it down for him to read someday and smile!

I have been so, so delinquent on my blogging lately. Well, I should clarify that...I have been spending LOTS of time keeping up with other blogs while neglecting to write on my own. I know how frustrated I get when I'm checking in on blogs and there isn't anything new for awhile so I'm going to try to do a better job!
We have been enjoying our week. Well, let me clarify that also. This week was LONG. Monday brought the first day of employment for over 100 new nurses at Geisinger. That brings with it a lot of logistical issues and a lot of work for those of us in education. Thank goodness that only 4 of the newbies are mine for right now. I have 6 more coming in the next few weeks. I had to be at work at promptly at 6:30 more times than I care to think about this past week, which of course means that the kids had to be at daycare at 6am. I felt SO guilty when I pulled into school with them on Monday morning. But by the time I had them unpacked and I was heading back out to the car they were surrounded by 6 other kids, all from--you guessed it - "the Geisinger Crew". It must be something in the Danville air because I think we're all nuts!
Anyway, so the work week was a bit long for all of us. We were fortunate to break up the week with a visit from the Paul family. They are knee deep (maybe neck deep) in a home renovation project and have been living in 3 rooms for the past few months. We got together here at the house to spend some time outdoors with the kids and munch on some pizza and wings. The kids had a great time playing (as did the dads) and went to bed without a problem.

Last night we made a quick (and I mean quick) run to Sam's club after work. We recently became the proud new owners of an upright freezer, which we are loving. We have a small chest freezer in the basement but for some reason I don't use it much. It's hard to keep it organized enough to actually SEE what you have in there. After we came home and unloaded our goodies Earl and McKenna started setting up their tent for their second annual backyard camp out. Let's just say that they weren't exactly "roughing it" when they ran an extension cord to the tent and put on the portable DVD player! They had fun though. I tucked them in shortly after 10:30pm and exactly 6 minutes later they were carrying their blankets and pillows back in the house. I wanted to laugh...but I didn't. McKenna said it was too loud outside for her to sleep. We do have lots of crickets out in the wetlands behind the house but I'm pretty sure it was more than just the 'noise'. Turns out, it was a good thing they didn't spend the entire night in the tent. This morning Earl's allergies are just about to kill him. He's miserable, poor guy. As long as it's allergies and not swine flu!

So, that said, the kids and I are going out for the morning. We have big plans to feed ducks, check out any sidewalk sales they might be having downtown and then make a run to Target. McKenna is itching to buy a new notebook and a pencil sharpener. She's obviously inherited my absolute love of school and office supplies! Let's hope she inherits her father's love of math ('cause she's not getting that from me!).

Well, the kids have been playing together quietly the entire time I've been writing this. I'm almost afraid to go see what they're (Cooper's) doing. Cross your fingers and have a good weekend!

Better Late Than Never

Today we were finally able to get together with my family to celebrate Cooper's 2nd Birthday. I didn't plan very well when I scheduled a work trip over his actual birthday so the party had to wait until today. I will say that the July 4th weekend is a very popular weekend and so lots of Cooper's little friends were not able to make it. That is not to say that we didn't have a fantastic time with those family and close friends who were able to join us. We decided to have the party over at Mimi and Pappy Richard's this year. They have a great patio and of course, the pool! Great Mom-Mom and Pappy, Nicole and Jon and Mimi and Pappy were there. Shane, Kyle, Tighe, and the Paul Family were also there.

Cooper has turned into a pretty big Handy Manny fan. He doesn't really "sit still" for TV yet (and I'm starting to think he never will) but he will at least stop what he's doing momentarily to watch part of Handy Manny. So, when it came to what kind of cake we thought Cooper would like we decided on Manny. My cousin Nicole did a great job with the cake (as always!). We all devoured it like we hadn't had birthday cake in years. It was delicious.

One of Cooper's other favorite things is swimming. He loves Mimi and Pappy's pool. Having our friends and family over for a swim seemed like a great idea and was something Cooper was sure to love. It probably wasn't as warm as I would have wished early in this afternoon but the sun was shining brightly by late afternoon. Besides, kids don't really care how cold the water is right? Let me just say that the adults DO care that it was freezing!

Shortly after the presents were opened Cooper began getting sleepy. Soon we found him sleeping soundly with Pappy Landis. What a big day!

I've had a week to let it sink in, but I still can't get over the fact that our little monkey is 2 years old! Hope you enjoyed your party little buddy!

Good As New

It feels like months since I've posted on the blog. It's really only been a week or so but it's been one busy week! I enjoyed my little retreat to Florida. Of course, it was still work so it wasn't as fun as going to Disney with your family. It was however, nice to get away, spend some time with a friend and have dinner at some great restaurants. Oh, and I did actually learn some things while I was there. Number one was that we have a pretty great children's hospital right in our back yard. In case you haven't tuned into any of the President's speeches about health care, Geisinger is not such a bad place! That being said, I was not in any huge hurry to get back to work!

I arrived home on Sunday morning around 2am. My family was gracious enough to let me sleep until 7:30! It's crazy when that's considered sleeping in! I needed to get up though because we had big plans that afternoon in Lewistown. Later that day we met up with some dear old friends and some young new friends! I'll have to post some pictures later...they tell the story the best! Needless to say, we had a great afternoon of catching up and also watching all the little ones play.

Monday I spent the day with the kids. After a quick trip for groceries we headed to Mimi and Pappy's for an afternoon at the pool. I was grateful that the kids took a nice long nap that afternoon and I could get my wits about me for my return to work the next day.
Today (Wednesday) was Cooper's big day! We've been waiting for what seems like an eternity (really just a few months) for him to get his ear tubes. I was little a wary when I found out that his case was third on the list and he wouldn't be able to drink anything after 6am. I'm sorry to say that they don't make french toast (his favorite breakfast food) in a clear liquid. So I let him sleep until just a few minutes before we had to leave for the hospital. He asked a couple of times for a banana but I was successful in distracting him by telling him that we were going to see daddy at work. It's sad when the only way you get to go see your dad at work is to have surgery, but I guess that's the brakes! We were extremely lucky in the fact that we really didn't have to wait at all for him to go in for his procedure. Everyone kept the ball rolling and before we knew it they were carrying Coop back to the OR. But that was not before they gave Cooper a little "happy juice" containing tylenol and versed. It definitely made him happy and we all got some laughs. Unfortunately, that is where the laughing ended. As happy as Cooper was going into the OR, he was equally as unhappy coming back out. The procedure was quick and they were bringing Cooper to the PACU just as his versed was peaking. If anyone has ever had versed then you know that it makes you feel like you're extremely drunk. Two year olds do not like to feel like they are extremely drunk. They feel funny and out of control and they are scared. And so, Cooper proceeded to cry (let me rephrase that) go absolutely crazy, for an hour and five minutes. It was kind of like wrestling an alligator....a very loud alligator. Luckily, I have seen and dealt with this type of thing many, many times in my career and so I'm quite good at wrestling alligators. Later, after a little nap, our little guy woke up with a smile on his face and was as good as new. I, on the other hand am utterly exhausted at this point in time. Wrestling alligators takes a lot out of you!

And so, with my little guy all fixed up and sound asleep for the night I think I'm going to head to bed myself. Oh, I should mention one more thing just for the record. After that long morning Cooper was happy to play outside late this afternoon. That is, until he was stung by a bee! Nothing like cramming everything into one day. I'm glad kids are more resilient that adults!
Thanks to everyone who called or messaged me today. Your thoughts were all greatly appreciated. It's nice to know that others are thinking of us.