2.33 Lancaster, PA & Saba's visit

July 29, 2013
By Cyndi

What a weekend!  I’m exhausted and it will probably take all week to catch up, before we do it all again.  My dad arrived Friday evening.  Right after lunch on Saturday, we packed up and headed out for Lancaster, PA – about a 2.5 hour drive, of which the boys only napped for about 45 minutes.  Matt’s map function on his phone was acting up and since I was driving small country roads, we missed a few turns but finally arrived at The Rail Road Museum of PA (www.rrmuseumpa.org)

 They have a huge indoor facility of old train cars, engines, and cabooses and an outdoor yard you can walk around.  We missed hitting up the interactive area, since it closes a bit before the museum closes.  Both T&Z were quite scared that the trains were going to move and it took about 5 minutes for them to even cross over into the train “yard.”   Once they became more comfortable, the next 1.5 hours consisted of “Stop Running” … “Please stop jumping” … “Inside voices” … “Do not climb” …  I’m not too sure what they got out of it besides seeing trains, but they had fun.

We left there and headed out to pick up fresh beer - with our growler we brought along - from Lancaster Brewing Co & pizza before heading to the hotel, Best Western Eden Premier (www.edenresort.com).  We checked into our villa (yes, you read that right) and found our room.  It was a two bedroom studio king villa.  There was a small bedroom (with bunk beds) where we set up the kids' tents, king bed for Matt & I, along with a pull-out for Saba.  We ate pizza and quickly changed and headed for the hotel’s outdoor pool and splash pad.  We enjoyed the splash pad and then moved to the pool.  Zach did GREAT!!  He didn’t want me to help him at all … AHHH Finally, he got it, floating by himself!  Tyler was having a small meltdown and never came in.  So around 715p we headed back to our room and got the kids to bed.

On Sunday, the boys were still sound asleep at 815a, but we had to wake them to get moving for the day.  We packed up and had breakfast and headed to the Choo Choo Barn (www.choochoobarn.com). WOW, this was really cool.  It’s a huge model train setup with city scapes, and so much more!  They had stools for the boys, which they carried around themselves and they spent a full hour taking in all of the different moving pieces.  We bought them a toy in the gift shop, played outside on some trains around the building and headed to lunch nearby at Isaacs Deli (www.isaacsdeli.com)  It was good, and started off even better by giving the kids small bags of goldfish! 

We finished lunch and hit the road home with less wrong turns and 1.25+ hour nap for the guys.  We just hung out the rest of the evening.  There is so much more up to do between Lancaster & Strasburg PA that we will for sure head back.  It’s a very easy drive and doable for a morning up and evening back, though I may have to ditch Matt sometime and go up with a friend for some outlet shopping!!!

And huge thank you to my twin mom friend Keri at pipeandfletch.blogspot.com for her review of Lancaster that made planning this short getaway so easy!

I guess I need to get used to “busy” … August is filling up with local friends, Matt’s birthday – and I can’t wait to see the boys’ excitement when they realize its Daddy’s birthday, maybe a beach or aquarium daytrip, and hopefully some Gimpel family visits!

2.32 Firsts in painting!!

By Cyndi
July 22, 2013

We enjoyed a somewhat quiet week and weekend before another visitor arrives at the end of this week, Saba.  We have some fun stuff planned and hopefully it all goes smoothly.

Slinky Fun & Reading on the Steps

'On Friday evening, I went to an art class at a new studio near us.  I was really excited about the design and they walked us through each step of the way including blending the colors.  Here's my finished product .... 

And to show you how much better T&Z are at painting ... here is a collage of their first American Flags next to my Grandpa's!  I have always loved this print of my grandpa and framed it as soon as I graduated and moved out east.  Now my grandpa is the proud owner of T&Z's flags!

On Saturday, we attended our friend's baby naming.  While it was the first time we had been to a service with the boys, it was almost 1.75 hrs and I had only prepared ourselves for an hour service.  But ... even with having to take the boys out a few times, running Zach to the potty when he proclaimed mid-prayer and started running to the door "I WANT THE POTTY", where he took a poop, we wouldn't have missed it for anything. 

Oh, and might I add, we enjoyed bagels and lox too!!  Since we were a bit behind our typical schedule, this was the boys in the car on the way home

 .... Oops which then resulted in one of the worst nap times we have had in a LONG time.  After an hour of romping around in their tents, I took them out of tents and moved them to cribs.  And when Zach took his sleep sack off at the 2 hour mark, I got them up.  We survived the afternoon while Matt worked an evening shift. Zach announced he was ready to bed a bit after 7pm and I was ready for some time alone!

Bowling Pin earned himself a timeout and
Mr. Potato may need to see Auntie Dr. Jill for some medical advice

Here's a fun video from this past weekend, completely unprompted from me!

I have been working on our 2012 photobook and realized how much they have changed .... I guess they are really growing up!  This isn't even a year between pictures!!

2.31 Nana & engagements!

By Cyndi
July 15, 2013

It has been another week just rolling on by.  We prepped the house for visitors and Nana arrived on Sunday afternoon.  Uncle Daniel and (officially) Aunt Jill came over to play for a bit too.  Now both of Matt's brothers are engaged and likely getting married in 2014!!

Other than hanging out at the house since it has been so hot outside, we haven't done anything too exciting.  The boys' language skills are growing daily.  One day they came home saying "daddy trade in for a jeep!"  Oh really, Matt??!!  Well, if that's how he wants to "play," I told them I wanted to trade in for a convertible!  :D 

With all the weddings in our family's future, everyone is watching their calories a bit closer, except when I made a lemon cake with fresh buttercream frosting!  It turned out tasting great, though I need to learn to frost a cake a little better!!

Happy HOT July & thanks for visiting, Nana!!

Thirty-One Gifts & Bags and a Relay Foods House Party

July 9, 2013
By Cyndi

Last night, I hosted some friends over for a House Party and Thirty One bags party.  If you don't know what house party is, it is a free website where you apply to host free parties to publicize companies. 

This one was for Relay Foods, a local company similar to Peapod groceries but they source their produce from all local farms!!!  I shopped on their website for $100 of free groceries & invited friends over.

I also hosted a Thirty One party .... I love their bags!!!  They are sturdy, have fun patterns, and so functional!  I use the Super Organizing Tote for my everyday bag to/from work to hold my purse, lunch, and other random stuff.  It was also great when traveling to Dallas because it zips and fit under the seat!

If you're interested in trying their stuff, here's the link to my online party also.  Their current monthly special is Get 31% off any item when you spend $31 in July.    If you need help getting the item discount in your cart, let me know.

www.mythirtyone.com/nicolekressley

Go to the top right, My Parties and I am the only one listed!

Happy Shopping & check out houseparty.com if you want to host something!

2.30 Summer fun!

July 8, 2013
By Cyndi

Not too much going on here besides trying to keep the boys entertained and not cooped up inside during the heat of the summer.

We've visited the pool with the Isaacs, where somehow our kids were more than willing to swim with Uncle Todd (Thanks, guys, for making your parents feel worthless!).

We went to a local parade for 4th of July.  It was HOT and long ... I think we'll try to hit up the small evening one we did last year, since its more kid friendly while they are still younger.

We had some inside fun since it was just too darn hot and sunny to be outside!

After dinner, we have been able to let them play outside a few times too.

We have also started thinking about potty training.  Before bathtime, Tyler has been quite successful and Zach has had a single success.  I mentioned this to Ms. M at school that they seem to do better when they are alone and not distracted by the other guy.  The next day T had three successful trips and Z had one!  Now, we aren't jumping off the diaper ship just yet .... Maybe in a few months!

2.29 2.5 year review

By Cyndi
July 1, 2013

Beverages: Milk three times per day and watered down juice once per day.  We have had to add in Miralax after the passover matzah got the best of them in April.  But so far, it has helped and they are fairly regular!! I need to start making smoothies to get them more fiber and then hopefully, we can start to back off the Miralax.

Schedule: Wake around 7a for some singing but we don't get them up until 8a.  Nap early afternoon for around two hours and bedtime at 730p.  When they get a short nap at daycare, they are a mess with awful behavior and you can just tell.  They need their sleep like their mama!!

Food: Zero.  ZERO improvement here while at home.  They have even rejected chicken nuggets and boxed mac and cheese.  Who does that?!?!!! At school, however, they are much more adventurous, with pastas and some meats

Clothes: 3T tops (a few of their older 2T tops that haven't been dried still fit) & 2T pants (except swim trunks which seem to run gigantic!).

Diapers/Potty Training: Size 6 diapers.  Daycare has them sitting on the potty three times per day with only one or two successes in months.  Tyler has peed at home after bath twice.  Current plan is to start offering it more frequently and let them take the lead.  Maybe Matt needs to teach them how to pee outside! (Oh wait, I shouldn't suggest that should I?)

Fine Motor skills: They are coloring and using spoons / forks frequently.  We have yet to figure out if they are right or left handed.

Gross Motor skills: They love to run & jump everywhere!  On a few occasions, they have walked up the stairs without holding onto any railings.  We are starting to practice jumping on one foot and any balance-type opportunities we come across.

Language: We were released from Speech in late August when the guys started showing signs of two word phrases.  Since then, they repeat and pick up on anything & everything.

Teeth: A lot.  You can see how their front teeth are slightly pushed out from thumb sucking, but that's what braces are for!

Interaction: They are not having full on conversations yet, but they are telling each other to do or not to do something.  They like to demand to do certain activities around the house, so we have had to come up with schedules to share those responsibilities, such as closing the garage door when we get home from daycare.  Tyler gets to help on T/Th/Weekend and Zach gets to help on M/W/F.  The kid that doesn't "HIT THE BUTTON" gets to pick his plate color first.  Somehow it has helped to have one less thing to complain about, though the purple plate in our house is always first picked by both kids!

ABC's and 123's:  They can say their ABC's and L-M-N-O-P is becoming much clearer instead of a lump of sounds.  They count easily up to 13 and with some assistance make it to 20. We are also working on them counting objects and items in books and they are making progress with that. 

Song and Dance:  Gosh, they love to sing.  In the car, in their cribs, at the table  ..... in the produce section of Wegmans.  They start belting it out and on occasion, make me join in (even in public).  Their latest songs are Take Me Out To The Ball Game and Farmer in the Dell.

Mommy: Enjoying the less stressful job and trying to get up a few days a week to workout before I go into work. 

Daddy: Daddy is also running a few times per week and just loves when mommy gives him honey do lists for his days off!

Travel: We survived a great trip to visit friends in Dallas and had a great experience with them sleeping in tents.  We are considering an overnight this summer sometime and maybe a day trip to the beach, though we will only do that if the boys start to enjoy the pool.  The hardest challenge with traveling is food, since they won't eat too much food out and packing food for multiple days is quite hard.  Hopefully soon, they start trying more foods and realizing there's good stuff out there!