A Perfect Weekend.

I would declare this past weekend to have been just about perfect.  For starters, I was off with the kids on Friday.  And it was one of those days where the weather was perfect, the kids were in good spirits, I had plenty of patience to survive the day, and a healthy dose of motivation to go along with it.  After dropping Lauren off at school, I had some one on one time with Mara.  Which never happens.  I don't even think SHE knew what to do with herself.  Then we picked Lauren up and had some girl time together at home until it was time to get Joshua after school.

 

We spent a few hours at the park together after school and had a great time.  Joshua's new friend Brooklyn joined us and all of the kids played well together, and their giggles filled up the whole park.

 

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed for one of my favorite places on Earth......Beaver Stadium for the start of the home PSU season.  It was a picture perfect day for football, and a great day to have Joshua and Lauren with us for the game.  This was Joshua's second time to go to a game, but Lauren's first.  

 

They looked adorable in their PSU gear.  I had looked high and low for a little cheerleader dress for Lauren, but couldn't find one outside of the expensive ones, so we opted for a cute t-shirt and bow instead.

The kids got a kick out of trying on real jerseys and pads at one of the displays outside of the stadium.  I giggle every time I look at this because their little arms could barely reach around the pads to hold on to the ball. 

A rare family shot (minus Mara).

 

Lauren declared that watching the Blue Band marching down to the stadium was one of her favorite parts.  This confirmed that we share DNA because I definitely love this part too.

 During the 3rd quarter, the cheerleaders and the Lion make an appearance, and we were able to snap a few pictures.  I was disappointed to look at the pictures and find that I had the camera on the wrong setting, which made the pictures a little dark.  But I'll still love them.

 

Lauren got a little bored during the game and ended up resting in my lap for a portion of the second half.  Secretly I didn't mind snuggling up with her.

 Stephanie was tailgating right next to us this week, so we got to visit for a bit after the game.  The kids were enjoying playing games with Steph's boyfriend, Kevin.

And I can't leave out this little darling.  We opted not to take her to the game with us because...well, it really doesn't need an explanation.  She's just not ready.  So she and Grandma had a fun day together at home.  On one hand, it felt odd to have a family day without her.  But on the other hand, I know we saved ourselves quite a bit of stress by not having to manage the revolving moods and short attention span of our recently turned 20 month old.  She is edging closer and closer to being two--- and it shows in her attitude, temper and a whole bunch of other ways.  But that smile melts me.

Sunday was an at home day after we got back from church, which was much needed in terms of laundry and some cleaning that were needed.  Luckily I had worked ahead enough on Friday that it wasn't critical.  I ended up having quite a bit of time to throw football with Joshua, blow bubbles with Mara and help Lauren practice playing wiffle ball.  I'd say it was a day well spent to cap off a just about perfect weekend.

Labor Day Weekend!

I was beyond pleased to have finished with my sentence of cleaning up puke, chaging puked clothes and washing puked bedding by the time Friday rolled around.  If I'm being honest, I high tailed it to the office on Friday morning and left Joshua here with his Grandma.  And I believe she had a bit of throwing up to handle, but it had slowed considerably.  (I surely hope you aren't reading this over your morning coffee.)

Friday morning, I needed to go to Kiwanis, and also needed to get Lauren to school for 9:15.  So we combined the two and she came along with me to Kiwanis at the Country Cupboard at 7:15.  Although it wasn't the most kid friendly event (more meeting talk than usual), she still seemed to enjoy going to a restaurant and especially just being alone with me.  I have really been trying to work hard at carving out some individual time for Lauren.  I just feel like she gets lost in the shuffle sometimes, and because she is so capable and so much more mature than 3, I expect so much from her, especially as I care for Mara.  So a little trip to Target last weekend, just the two of us, and now our Friday morning breakfast dates before school may be just what we need to make sure she isn't feeling left out or underappreciated.

The rest of the weekend was pretty unscheduled, and it was amazing.  We all got to watch the PSU game together on Saturday afternoon, which only served to get us SUPER over-the-top excited about the first home game this Saturday.  We are planning to take Joshua and Lauren with us to this one, and I absolutely can't wait.  There is just not too much that makes me happier than being at Beaver Stadium.  And to be able to take the kids (minus Mara who we don't think will appreciate the experience quite yet) is a really special thing.  Joshua is really getting into football this year and sat intently watching the game on Saturday, asking questions the whole time.  I actually remember doing exactly the same thing with my Pappy Ray when I was a little girl, sitting beside him at Beaver Stadium while he was suited up in his radio headset to listen to the announcers while watching the game live.  I can distinctly remember loving the game at that point, and loving PSU.

Sunday was church morning, and the girls looked adorable.  Had to snap a picture, and they didn't disappoint in terms of posing for me.

After some much needed resting time in the afternoon, we headed to Lewisburg to help celebrate our favorite two year old's birthday!  I cannot even believe that that we are even discussing, much less celebrating, these sweet little girls' second birthdays.  Although it seems on one hand that they have always been a part of our families, I still feel like it was five minutes ago that Emily and I were dragging our pregnant selves around just waiting, often impatiently, for the day they would arrive.  But here they are, bouncing their little hearts out.

 

The party was adorable and the kids really had a great time.  I believe we'll be talking to Santa about a vanity for Lauren for Christmas, because she couldn't seem to step away from it the whole time.  That girl loves her some girly jewelry and accessories.

We did have a bit of excitement when Joshua wrecked a little scooter and boogered up his face.  It surely didn't stop him from running around like a maniac the rest of the time we were there.  Both nurses on site declared him fine, just with a nasty brush burn, and an admonishment to wear a blasted helmet the next time he gets the bright idea to careen down the steep hill on a scooter.  Point well taken.

Monday I had toyed with the idea of a flying trip to Lewistown, but found that everyone there was in need of a quiet end to their weekend.  So we busied ourselves here.  Always plenty of work to be done.  We cleaned out the play room ahead of the birthday and holiday season that is quickly upon us,  did a whole bunch of laundry and changed bed sheets, cleaned floors and played at the house.  We cooked a delicious rib, cheesy potato and corn on the cob feast for dinner that I am still dreaming about.  The more we experiment with Jason's new smoker/grill, the more we love it.

Off and running on a busy week this week...but what else is new.  I have a few more posts up my sleeve, and plenty of material, so don't go far.

Since July 25th?

I called home on Friday afternoon to say hello to my parents, at which point my Dad kindly reminded me that I hadn't blogged since July 25th.  Consider me shamed.

 

To say that the end of the summer flew past us is a huge understatement.  Somewhere between a whole lot of running around, there was more running around and not enough time to blog. But here I am, trying to dump the contents of at least one camera into some semblance of a blog post.

 

So.....August.  Let's see.

 

We have begun plans for a little project  here at the house that is turning into more of a big project slated to start in the next couple of weeks.  It was started by the fact that Lauren went out onto our current deck and grabbed hold of one of the side rails and pushed it right off.  We had known and dreamed of a deck renovation since we first looked at the house before we bought it, so it appears that now is the right time to make good use of that space.  The back of our house really is just like another front of the house since it is what you see when you first drive up, so I think our two-tiered  deck renovation will be a welcome change to the rickety deck that is there now.  I'll keep you posted on progress.  It is slated to be about a two week project set to begin at the end of the month.

 

 

That had absolutely nothing to do with August, except for the fact that this picture of Lauren was taken the morning that we met with the contractor to talk about the deck.  Oh dear...this post could be disjointed.  Better buckle up.

 

August involved a whole lot of chasing for this little one.  She has decided that she wanted to learn to conquer the stairs this month, and boy, has she ever.  She is up and down more times than I am in the course of a day (and that's a whole lot).  She is gaining in confidence in just about everything by the day it seems.  She is bold and fearless, sometimes a drain to every ounce of patience I possess, and the parenting challenge I had always hoped to avoid.  But I adore her.

The first weekend of August we had a special trip planned for the kids to Pittsburgh and to Nemacolin for a few relaxing days of swimming and just being together.  The pictures from that trip must be on my other camera, and I will search those out for a post this week.  What, you don't believe me?  Well just watch.

Just after returning home from our journey westward, we got the devastating news that we had lost my Pap.  And that set the next week into a twirling spell of a gajillion trips to Lewistown, more babysitting juggling than I care to repeat, mental and emotional exhaustion, and a whole lot more craziness than I can explain.  We are so sad, still, at his loss.  And really, I could dedicate an entire post to him.  Whether I can do that, though, is doubtful.  Just suffice it so say that the Richards are desperately missing him.  And I doubt that's going to get any better anytime soon.

After that week was our scheduled trip to Women of Faith in Washington DC.  I had been so excited about this trip, and Emily and I had been looking forward to it for literally months.  No kids.  No responsibilities other than to have our hearts filled with blessings from a whole lot of Godly speakers.  Angie Smith was one of them, and we were beside ourselves with the chance to get to hear what she had to say.  However, on top of the week that we had had with Pap's death, I was feeling more than a little torn about whether or not to go.  It was involving a whole lot of babysitting help from Mom and Judy since Jason was on a business trip to Tampa, and I had already felt like I had been dumping the kids off  on anyone who could arrange their schedule to be here over the previous week.  In the end, I decided to go.  And I'm glad I did.  I don't have a lot of pictures from that trip, but it was a really good one.  I was most definitely ready to be back home when I returned, but it was a blessing to be able to be there.

The combination of my late nights back from Lewistown during the funeral week, as well as my first overnight away from Mara signaled the end of our nursing relationship.  I was more than ready to be done, and had a very difficult time getting her to agree to our mutual breakup.   I had been working my way out of that for months, but couldn't get her to let go of our night time before bed nursing.  Luckily for both of us, she has done fine. 

We had one week in between Women of Faith and the beginning of the school year, and I think I did nothing more productive than try to get organized and recover from the way August seemed to spiral out of control.  The kids were beside themselves excited about school starting.  Orientation on  Monday night, the 26th, went very well, if you don't count the fact that Mara was suffering from some kind of stomach bug during the day on Monday.  She had been fine all afternoon, eating and drinking with no throwing up, so I opted to take her with us to the school for orientation.  In case you didn't know, I have a thing with letting go, and I really didn't want to miss out on Joshua and Lauren's orientation.  Well.....apparently she was still dealing with some sickness, evidenced by the fact that she barfed all over herself, her carseat, and the inside of the van on the way to the school. Which meant I was outside  trying to clean her up, clean up the car as much as I could, and clean up the carseat at least a little bit, while Jason had the kids inside.  I did manage to get there for the tail end of Lauren's session and the meeting in Joshua's room, but it was pretty much a disaster all around.  Should have just stayed home with Mara.  And trust me, when I was out in the garage ripping her carseat apart, cleaning out the buckles with a toothpick and Q-tips, I learned that lesson the hard way.

But on Wednesday morning, I had two kiddos who were more than ready to start this school year.  It was a big one for both of them as Joshua would be staying the whole day this year.  This has created a whole new level of vigilance with his peanut allergy that has created some challenges, but we have managed to work through all of them so far.  The hard part now is that safety of our son is dependent upon the choices that other parents are making for their kids.  So it has definitely layered the complexity for us in terms of managing his situation.  There's a whole other post on that that I should do.  And yes, I'm making a list.  Not only do we have a first grader this year, but Miss Lauren started in Nursery School too!  She was so excited!  We are sincerely hoping that we made the right choice for her in starting her in the nursery school class instead of putting her right into K4. It is a three day per week program instead of 5, and there is a whole lot more play time and social development than in K4 where they are at desks doing a lot of heavy duty learning.  Lauren is definitely the oldest in her class, but we're waiting for the teacher's assessment of how she is doing. So far she absolutely loves is.  There was absolutely no hesitation for her about going into her classroom, and she has been all smiles when I pick her up.  We are so thankful for the kids' school for so many reasons!

The only bad news is that the stomach situation appeared to travel quickly, as Lauren was throwing up by Wednesday evening and Thursday, and Joshua came home from school on Thursday and started his spiral into it.  He ended up missing school on Friday because of it.  Thankfully everyone was fine by Saturday, but we could have certainly done without that on the first week of school!

And so, that puts us to today.  I have a whole bunch of pictures to share from this weekend, and I'll work on that for tomorrow.  In fact, I'll upload them right now while the camera is hooked to the computer.  Hope you have all had a great Labor Day weekend!