Party Time

As if attending a huge parade on your birthday wasn't enough - we had a party to celebrate Cooper's birthday, too!
Our new bounce house was definitely a huge hit and got lots of use.

Cooper requested a Batman themed party and Nicole came through with an awesome cake and perhaps even cooler cupcakes!

Pick your poison - or in this case your power.

We managed to get at least one family picture.

Mmmm...these cupcakes are yummy.

McKenna, did you really lick all the icing off first?

Cooper was blessed with lots of great presents from family and friends.

I think it's safe to say that Cooper had a wonderful 4th birthday. We are so proud of him and so enjoy watching him grow and mature. Happy Birthday buddy!

Happy 4th Birthday Cooper

Dear Cooper,

Today you will be 4 years old, a fact that is somewhat hard to wrap my head around. In one respect I feel like you've been a part of our family forever. I hardly remember a time without you in our lives. But in another sense it feels like just yesterday that you made your entrance into this world.

You continue to be a light in our lives. Your funny personality comes out in just about everything you do. Everyone who meets you says, "He's so funny." But those of us who know you well also know the sweet side of you. The part of you who asks for hugs from Mommy and kisses my belly when you say goodnight to your little sister to be.

Speaking of sisters, you hit the jackpot having McKenna as a big sister. During the school year you look forward to picking her up at the end of the day and you're often sad when we drop her off in the morning. The two of you play so well together- a fact that honestly continues to amaze me most days. I know the time will come when the two of you will decide it's not so cool to play together any longer. But for now I'll enjoy the fact that the two of you are buddies.

This year you are in the Dragon Fly room at school. You absolutely love Ms. Celia and Ms. Bev although you torment them daily with who's boy you're going to be for the day. In August you will be moving to the pre-kindergarten room. I can hardly believe it. It seems to me it was yesterday when I dropped you off at Crossroads for the first time as a 12 week old baby.

At home you enjoy playing with your Cars toys, your trains, and most importantly your Gator. You follow Daddy around the yard with your push lawnmower and love to help me water the plants and get the mail.

You are a joy to have around. I have to admit that for the most part you are well behaved. I rarely have to put you in time out or punish you - although when I do it's usually because you've been especially bad.

In a few weeks you are going to become a big brother. You are excited and so am I. However, it's sad to me that you will no longer be the baby of the house. I know you are going to be a great brother to both McKenna and Kinley. And I hope you will always love and protect them.

Thank you for being my sweet boy. For making me laugh and brightening up my every day. I can't imagine not having you around. Happy 4th Birthday sweet boy. I love you.

Love,
Mommy

Camping at Twin Streams 2011

When we make our summer "to-do" list there is always one thing that is very near the top every time - camping with our cousins! Three summers ago we made our first trip to Twin Streams to spend the weekend with Carol, Frank, Steve, Krysta and the kids. And we've loved going back every summer since.

Twin Streams 2011
All the kids - Coy, Cale, Cody, (Mc)Kenna, Cooper. Next year we are looking forward to adding Kinley to that list! A special thanks to Steve and Krysta for allowing us to stay in their camper and saving us from a tent and an air mattress. This pregnant momma definitely appreciated it!

S'mores are always a must.

This year it was nice to have McKenna roast our marshmellows.

These two were best buds. (Even though you might not believe it from the look on Cooper's face.)

My best girl. I can call her that for a few more weeks, right?

I had to literally grab Cooper for this picture. The kids didn't stop running around from the time we got to the campground until we forced them into bed. They rode bikes, built forts, looked for sticks for the fire, played in the creek and rode the Gator.

Cooper loves to ride his bike at the campground. Please try not to pay attention to the pink helmet he's sporting.

Of course no camping trip would be complete without a little Steeler's/Brown's rivalry. When we were packing up McKenna took her pink sweatshirt out of the bag and replaced it with her Brown's sweatshirt, "Just for Steve". She's been trained well! Sort of.

The entire weekend was wonderful. It is always great to spend time with Aunt Carol, Uncle Frank, Steve and Krysta. We don't get to sit down and enjoy one another nearly enough. The kids played so well together and the adults had a few spirited battles of Scrabble that are still being discussed!

Next up on our Summer 2011 "to-do" list is the beach!

Penns Cave

Fourteen years ago I knocked on my dorm room door (yes, I knocked on my own door - dumb I know) and this is who answered. Jen and I were assigned as roommates and stayed roommates our entire college career. We made it through nursing school together and not only did she put up with living with me all that time, but she put up with Earl a lot too! Now that is a true friend!

We don't get to see one another as much as we would like to but we try to make it a point to get together from time to time. Today we packed up our respective family's and headed to Penns Cave. When we planned this trip for the middle of June we never in a million years guessed we would be wearing jeans and sweatshirts and still be cold! But the cold did not stop us from having a great time.

The "little kids".

Our "Big Kids".

Cooper on the cave tour. He wasn't so sure he liked the boat at first.

After the tour of the cave we loaded our bellies up with lunch and headed out on the animal tour. We saw lots of white tailed deer and loved the chance to see this little fawn up close.

This picture is pretty blurry but I couldn't leave it out. Looks like these guys are destined to be good friends like their mommies.

Earl and the kids getting a look at the mountain lions. And yes, one is named Nittany.

The sleeping bobcat. Rumor has it she has an attitude problem so they let her do whatever she wants.

We headed home shortly after 2pm. I sent Jen a text declaring that Cooper had made it 11 minutes in the car before falling fast asleep. The text she sent back - "We've got you beat at 5 and 10 minutes."

I guess it's safe to say that we all had a great time.

Getting Ready

My sweet cousin who made all the sweet treats. You can check out her other work at http://www.cakesbynicoleonline.com/. You will not be disappointed!

McKenna was eager to help me open gifts.

We had a hard time getting this picture of all three of us. I can't imagine what it will be like to add one more little one to the bunch. We may never have any pictures of all of us!

The Richard side of the family

The Wagner/Landis Side

My future sister-in-law, Cady. She was so sweet to take most of these pictures.

"The Girls" soon to be plus 1 !

My Pappy Landis and I never miss an opportunity for a "navel battle". I'm winning!

Seeing all the gifts and the baby's name on everything made her arrival seem even more real to me. Thank you Gram and Pap for hosting the shower and everyone who helped out and took the time to come and celebrate with us. It means so much.

(I should point out that I do not yet have a good picture of my Gram and I. Not only did she host the shower, but she did so after having surgery the Tuesday before. Stay tuned for a picture!)

29 weeks!

For so long I've sort of felt like this pregnancy is moving along slowly. When I was first pregnant and very sick it seemed as if the weeks would never, ever pass. I remember thinking that if I could just make it to 12 weeks then maybe I would start to feel better. That was a great goal initially but it took a lot longer to feel better.

Then just as I was starting to feel a bit human I had to wrap things up with my job. That was a bit of a drain and it seemed again as if the weeks crawled along as the count down to my new stay at home mom gig would begin.

Now I find myself up to my chin in summer fun and finally, finally feeling good. I'm starting to, dare I say, enjoy this pregnancy just as I am entering into the final weeks. There are so many mixed emotions that go along with this time in all of our lives.

The kids and I are absolutely have a blast so far this summer. We are constantly on the go, attending play dates, swimming at Mimi and Pappy's, playing in our new bounce house. We have only just begun to skim the surface of a very busy two months. I knew when I decided to quit my job that I wanted to have the summer with them - just the three of us- and I'm so glad that I did. They are such awesome kids and I know none of us will ever forget this precious time together. So of course I get a little misty eyed thinking that everything around us is about to change. This is the last summer that Cooper will be my baby. Next summer things will be so different. I'm not a person who is opposed to change but I am a person who hates anticipating the change.

But, tomorrow my sweet Gram is hosting a baby shower for me and I have to admit that it makes all of us a bit excited about the new baby's impending arrival. It's definitely starting to seem more real to everyone in our house as we prepare "stuff" and space for her. It's just so hard to picture her actually being here with us and becoming a part of us. I know she is going to complete our family and bring us such joy - she already has.

First Grade Comes to a Close

Just like that, the school year is over. As always, it seems impossible and yet at the same time it feels like it's been a long year. But such a good year. McKenna has grown so much in 1st grade. Not just in height but in her learning, her maturity and her personality. She had the most wonderful teacher this year and we could not be happier with the learning that occurred in Mrs. Matukaitis' classroom.

McKenna ends the year continuing to excel in reading. She LOVES to read and often times can be found in her room on a Saturday or Sunday morning curled up with a book long before the rest of the house even gets out of bed. Her favorite books are the Rainbow Fairy series. She can't get enough of them. The one thing she loves perhaps even more than reading is writing her own stories. Our schools begin doing "kid writing" in kindergarten. It quickly became something that McKenna enjoyed. But first grade elevated that to a whole new level. Her teacher has shared with me on more than one occasion that McKenna does not like the days where the schedule does not allow time for kid writing. She likes to keep the class on track so that there was always time to sit down and write.

At the beginning of the year McKenna struggled not with her math grades or understanding of math, but in her confidence related to math. I am happy to say that Mrs. Matukaitis did a fantastic job in boosting McKenna's confidence. And it shows. McKenna wrote her teacher a card for the end of the year and the very last sentence said, "Thank you for teaching me math." I have to imagine it's that sort of thing that makes teaching rewarding.

Today McKenna and I spent the afternoon getting ready to host a small bar-b-que tonight. Cooper is at school. He will continue to go two days a week throughout the summer. That means that McKenna and I will occasionally have days that it's just the two of us at home. I am so excited to have this time alone with her. She is my biggest helper and it's fun to hang out with her without the distraction of a nearly 4 year old. I realize this time will be coming to an end when the new baby arrives and I think that's what makes me cherish it even more. Cooper and I have shared a lot of alone time during the last year and especially over the last month. I am glad that McKenna now gets a little time too.

McKenna, we are so proud of you and all that you have learned in first grade. Your desire to learn is contagious and we hope that you will always love school and learning. Thank you for doing such a great job and for being a good friend to others in your class. ~ Love Mom and Dad

Gymnastics Show 2011

Our big event this weekend was the Annual LARA Gymnastics Showcase. Both McKenna and Cooper participated and we had a great time watching them. McKenna started out this year in level 1 and has since moved up to level 2. She has shown a lot of great improvements.

Cooper is finishing his first year in preschool gymnastics. He absolutely LOVES it. I can get him to do anything on Wednesday's just because he knows that we will be going to gymnastics.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for McKenna. We all are SO excited. We have so many fun things planned for this summer - and at the end we even get a new baby! How fun!

So, now we are off to get to sleep so that tomorrow comes as fast as possible.

I'm Not Very Good At This

I think it's safe to say that I've maybe overdone things a bit in the last week. Well, let's be honest, in the past 3 weeks. Since finishing up my responsibilities at work I've been enjoying my time at home and the fact that I'm feeling much better. But I think that I've taken advantage of my good spirits, the good weather and forced my body to do a little too much.



So, today I am trying to "take it easy". It's not working really well. I don't do "sitting down" very well although I do occassionally enjoy a good afternoon nap. But on days like today when there is laundry to fold and 4 days worth of errands to run and no kids at home - it's not going so well. I will say that the fact that it is only 1200 and already 85 degrees does help things a bit. Every time I walk outside I feel like the air is being sucked out of my lungs.



I guess, if anything, I continue to learn from this pregnancy. The most obvious lesson - patience. And also asking for help when you need it. Again, neither are my strong suits. There are two things that I think are cruel about pregnancy. The first being that you are so darn tired and yet cannot sleep more than 2 hours between trips to the bathroom or manage to find a comfortable position. The other has to do with nesting. Whoever thought that "nesting" was a good idea was crazy. I get so frustrated by the fact there is so much I feel the need to get done. And yet most of what I want to do involves heavy lifting, climbing on chairs, or general manual labor. And let's just point out that my husband does not share my "nesting" instincts.





So, I sit here today with my giant Dunkin Donuts Raspberry Coolatta trying to take it easy and rambling to whoever will listen. Meanwhile, there is a closet upstairs in the baby's room calling my name and some paint samples that need evaluated and oh, that laundry isn't going to fold itself and dinner won't jump on the grill later either. This is never going to work.