Strasburg Railroad

This has to be Dylan's most favorite place in the world! What could be more exciting for a train lover than a railway ride AND a train museum right across the street where you can actually see and touch antique trains! Brynn followed her big brother around the museum which was so adorable. She was as enthused about being at the train museum checking out all of the locomotives as Dylan was. Em sat patiently in the stroller looking around, taking everything in. It's a very interesting place, even for parents--I'd go back there again.

Lancaster '09

Stephen and I have been together for almost 13 years now. I still find that incredibly hard to believe, but it has been that long. I remember years ago we talked about going to Lancaster eventually for a vacation. I took a quick trip (if you can say 4 hours one way is a quick trip), when Dylan was 2 years old to Lancaster for a Day out with Thomas with my very close friend and her little boys. Since we have had such an extremely busy Summer, Stephen wasn't able to take any time off from work but finally was able to sneak away from the office for a couple of days so we said why not go to Lancaster for another Day Out with Thomas. So that's exactly what we did-- it was such a great weekend and the kids are still talking about how much fun they had.

Fall evening....

While dinner was in the oven last night, the kids and I played outside. It's hard to believe that summer is over. I had to find jackets and put SOCKS (can you imagine) on the kids so they were warm enough. We signed our little boy up for soccar this fall and I was practicing with him while Brynnie ran around and Emme sat and played in her exercauser. My baby girl is getting so big that she has almost outgrown this baby item too. She looked way to cute not to take a pic....

House for Rent

Here is our playhouse that Uncle Bob built for the kiddies at the beginning of the summer. Dylan and his buddy played in this house for hours over the holiday weekend. We keep joking that it's big enough to rent out and I have a funny feeling that Dylan will want to rent this house when he's a teenagers so he has a place to hide from mommy and daddy. He already put his picnic table inside and had us hang a train picture. I hope my kids realize how lucky they are to have something so cool in their backyard. I always wanted one when I was a kid but had to settle on using my imagination and playing in the corn field across the street with the neighborhood kids....ahhh to be young again!

First Day of School '09

Today was the first day of school for Dylan this year. We had a bit of a difficult morning but once he realized that he was going to see his friends that he hasn't seen all summer, his attitude changed a bit. I took the girls to daycare and drove Dylan to school. I was very impressed with how well the drop off went this year. There were no tears, no screaming fits and he wasn't clinging to me like he did last year. He simply walked in, took his backpack off, put all his belongings in his cubby and played with his friends. My little boy is growing up so fast. Here's some pics from this morning. I wonder how well pick up is going to be????

Benji and Jakes...

Nina's, the restaurant that we were so fond of, unfortunatley closed at the beginning of the summer. I was honestly devistated when I heard the news since that was the closest restaurant for take out, and the easiest place to take our kids out to dinner, especially since they are so little and you never know how they are going to behave right around dinner time.

Stephen and I checked out Benji and Jakes a couple of weeks ago and were waiting for a nice, warm night to take the kids there for pizza when we would be able to sit on the deck and enjoy the view. I have to say the pizza at this restaurant is excellent. The fact that the pizza is called "the T-Rex" made Dylan's night. It was enjoyable taking all 3 kids out to dinner and not having to worry about noise or behavior issues. The gelato was fabulous and the breeze off of the lake was nice. The kids now have a new request one night a week..."Let's go for T-Rex pizza!"

Emily is 8 months old!

How could I possibly forget to post a Happy 8 month b-day to my baby girl? Bad mommy!!! I thought that once Em got a little bigger life would be easier...couldn't be further from the truth. Emily is now 8 months old. She's 19 pounds, has 6 teeth and is finally starting to grow some hair. The little booger is crawling, says "ma ma" (LOVE IT) and adores playing and chasing Dylan and Brynn around. The kids are enjoying the fact that Em can actually sit and play now. Dylan was waiting for Emme to interact more with him and I was surprised how sweet he was with her on Saturday when my little swiper grabbed one of the trains right off of his track and his response was "oh baby you can't play with that". There was no screaming fits or tattling. I was impressed. Brynn loves crawling around chasing Em and playing ponies. We are having a little sharing issue with the girls but eventually Brynn will get the fact that baby toys are for babies and she's a BIG GIRL now.... Anyway here's a pic of my little beauty.