A Little Glimpse

This week as temperatures soared to near seventy degrees, I got what I think was my first taste of what summer has in store for me. In a word - exhaustion. Last year was my "first summer home with three kids" . I thought that since I survived that I was in good shape. Wrong. Last year was my "first summer home with three kids - but only two who were able to run". This summer promises to be all kinds of tiring.

This weekend Kinley tried to injure herself no less than four times in the span of an hour. She has no idea that the bikes and toys and swing sets in our neighborhood are not for the two and under crowd. She has no fear. None. And it seems she will try anything at least once. By 4pm each day I am beat. Trying to wrangle this girl is going to be a full time job.

But tonight as I sit holding her, I am reminded once again just how much I longed for her. How my soul used to ache for a baby to rock to sleep in this very room. How our family of four just seemed so incomplete.   She definitely adds excitement to our group.   That's the only way I can think to put it!

She really is growing up though.   She has initiated her own potty training and for being months shy of 2, she's doing really well.    She must be trying to make up for the sleep deprivation that she's put me through over the last 20 months!   I'll take it.

Love you, Kinley!  Try to take it easy on me !

Inner Harbor : Take 2

I've been noticably absent from blogging as of late.   Unfortunately all of my time has been devoted to teaching clinical and keeping everything running somewhat normally at home.  Every spare moment in between is spent grading papers or preparing for the next days of clinical. Sometimes I think it would be easier on everyone if I worked all year long and not just a few weeks every couple of months.   Then we would be in a continual routine and this six weeks would be pretty inconsequential.   But I digress.   At any rate, it's always a whirlwind six weeks that amazingly goes so, so quickly.   Having two semesters now under my belt, it's nice to know what to expect.   I have learned that our family needs a break and something to look forward to somewhere in the middle of the chaos.   Last year it was a trip to Disney to end the semester.  This year we planned a trip to Inner Harbor with our friends,  The Lehman's,  to break things up.

 

If you remember,  a couple of years back we made this same trip with Nicole and Jon.  If you do remember, that trip didn't turn out so well.  Earl and I ended up with the stomach flu and had to head home early.   It was very, ahem, memorable.   I'm happy to report that this trip went better!

We left Friday around 11am arrived in time to check into our hotel and make a stop at the Discovery Center near the Harbor.  It was wonderful.  The kids had an amazing time even though we were a little short on time.

 

 The Center had a special Wizard of Oz themed exhibit which is where we spent the majority of our time.

This picture is a bit embarrassing but it wouldn't be right to NOT include it.   A ride on the famed witches bike - complete with Toto in the basket!   "I'll get you my pretty - and your little dog, too!"

 

Our other favorite exhibit was the water room.  Who doesn't love to play in water.   My favorite part was that they provided rain coats for the water play! 

 

Towards evening we met up with the Lehman's and headed to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  Ummm...table for 10!  Yikes.  Tait, Amy, Earl and I have known one another since college.  I'm fairly certain that fifteen years ago we wouldn't have dreamed that we would have six children between our two families.  

After a big dinner and a walk around the Harbor there were lots of tired little ones.  We headed back to the Hyatt where the biggest attraction was riding the glass elevators to the 11th floor!   Amy and I left the guys to handle bed time while we girls headed out for some drinks and dessert.  That was probably the first time in ten years that Amy and I have had the chance to sit and catch up minus children.   I hope it's not that long before we get the chance to do it again.

Saturday morning we were up early for breakfast before heading to the Maryland Science Center.  McKenna was so excited!   

 Digging for fossils was amoung the top five favorite activities, as were the observatory, the bed of nails, the dinosaurs and a trip through the body.

 

 

 

Pictures from the exhibits are few and far between.   Earl and I had our first true taste of trying to manage three kids between the two of us.  I think this was the first real instance where they were all running in different directions and all needing our attention or assistance in some way.  Let's just say we were caught a little off guard and greatly unprepared.   Kinley had an especially hard time.  No longer content to sit and watch her older brother and sister, she wanted in on the action no matter if it was age appropriate for her or not.   She enjoyed all the activities, unfortunately so much so that she was not ready to move to the next activity when the other kids were.   This equated to quite a bit of crying and screaming on her part resulting in her early departure back to the hotel for a great big nap!

We powered through our sore legs and achy feet in order to spend Sunday at the National Aquarium.  This was, by far, the kids favorite experience.   Kinley loved seeing the fish and ran from tank to tank with a huge smile on her face.  This was at least something she could do with the other kids!  Shortly after noon we headed for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe before we settled into the car for the trip home.   Suffice to say that there was not much chatter heard from the back seat on our way back to Lewisburg.  

It was a whirlwind weekend and boy were we tired come Monday morning.  I'm glad we went though as the trip served the purpose of getting our minds off school and work and on to more important things like family!  

Kindergarten Registration Cooper Style

Yesterday I dressed this big guy and took him on an important date.  We had an appointment for kindergarten registration.   You can tell by the smile on his face that he was excited - though he admitted to being a little nervous, too.  His Mama, well there aren't any pictures of her smiling this big before we left.   She was a little sad.  Just a little.

 

 

Cooper ran/skipped his way to the building but was a little more reserved once we entered the building.  We signed in, grabbed our vistor badges and headed to the library to take our turn at the various stations.    He was very quiet while we waited on the tiny chairs lined up in the library.  When the guidance counselor came and asked his name he whispered it at first.  But all she had to say was, "Come with me" and off he went without a second glance in my direction.   It was probably a good thing that the woman next to me was talking my ear off about going to high school with me.  A good ten minutes went by before I finally placed her which kept my mind off of just about everything.

I confidently breezed through my required stations, handing in my paperwork and chatting with the staff of the school.   They were all excited to meet Cooper.  Meanwhile, Cooper was sailing through his stations, collecting colored bracelets along the way and smiling the entire time.   In 20 minutes he was done and we were heading for an ice cream treat. 

So, that's it.  He's all set.  He's ready (so he says) to ride the bus and play on the playground and meet new friends.    Now, if I can just get my heart ready for September we will all be good!

Happy Easter From the Mowry's

 

Easter was a whirlwind of activity at the Mowry's however, the meaning of the day was not lost on any of us.  Cooper melted my heart the most when he opened an empty plastic egg Easter morning and proclaimed that it was "a 'real' Easter egg - one that was empty just like the tomb".  Always good to know he's listening and learning at some point.

 

We enjoyed some of the secular parts of Easter on Saturday including the annual Winfield Fire Company Egg Hunt.   This was Kinley's first year and she did such a good job.  As we waited to pick up eggs she must have said, "My eggs" fifty thousand times.   Turns out she was more interested in opening each egg than picking them up.

 

 Easter morning we spent time looking for eggs hid by the bunny and finding our baskets.

 Thank goodness the Easter Bunny was able to find those Skylanders the kids have been wishing for!

 After church and Sunday school we headed home to unwind a bit,  give Kinley a nap and pack up our goodies for supper with Mimi, Pappy, Shane, Tighe, Kyle, Cady, Mom Mom and Pappy Landis.

 It was nice to see Mom Mom and Pappy again.  Between bad weather and illness we haven't been able to see them much since Christmas.

The kids had a nice time spending time with Tighe and playing.  Sports have kept the kids super busy this winter. 

Of course, I don't have pictures of the host and hostess, Mimi and Pappy.  They were busy running around cooking, hiding more eggs, and making sure we all had a good time.  I'd say by all the smiles you see in these pictures that their efforts paid off!