Day Out With Thomas

This past weekend we headed to Strasburg, PA with Lenny to see Thomas the Tank Engine. My mom was kind enough to stay at our house with Brooke and Nathan. It was so nice because we made the entire weekend all about Lenny. He loved it. He wanted to go camping so that is what we did. We left on Friday and came back on Sunday.

Mom had a great time with Brooke and Nathan. She may be a little biased, but she said that they are really good kids. She was amazed at how well they know their routines. I told her before we left that if she forgot to do something that they are used to doing, they would remind her. She said that they did show her how they do things. I think she had a lot of fun with them. She even gave them a bath Saturday night and took them for some walks. They even slept in until 7:30 for her one day! Thanks Mom for taking such good care of them.

Gloria came down Sunday afternoon so that Mom could head on home a little earlier. We ended up getting home earlier than we expected. Thanks too, Gloria for your help.

Here are some pictures from the trip.

Dominic at our camp site. We also celebrated Dominic's birthday while we were there. It was Saturday.


While we were eating lunch at the Hershey Restaurant, we ran into our neighbors that live right down the street from us. We didn't know that they were going to be there that weekend. They were also going to see Thomas on Sunday. It's so funny that we drive three hours from home and our neighbors end up sitting at the table next to us for lunch.

Dominic and Lenny next to the big Amish man.


We visited the National Toy Train Museum while we were there. Lenny loved watching all of the trains "chugging" down the tracks.



We all really enjoyed the horse and buggy ride. Dominic and Lenny were able to sit up front with the driver. I had to laugh because the driver said that if they felt some wet drops, it was just the horses sneezing. Lenny and Dominic ended up with horse hair and sneezes all over them.


On our buggy ride tour, they took us to a working Amish farm. It was very interesting to learn more about how the Amish live. And we were surprised to discover that they like to wear Sketchers. They were showing us one of the buggies and they opened up the trunk. There must have been five boxes of Sketchers in there.

Lenny wanted to get a better view of the barn.


Lenny has been very interested in bugs. He's not afraid to pick them up now thanks to Meemaw. He took his bug box with him this weekend and found a few bugs. He didn't find any roly poly bugs which is what he was looking for. Here is his inch worm friend that he got off of the tent.


Lenny decided to name the inch worm "Friendly" because he said the worm was nice. He had a great time talking and playing with Friendly. They even played hide and seek together. That was very cute. Lenny covered his eyes, counted to ten, and said "ready or not, here I come". When he uncovered his eyes, he looked for Friendly. He said, "Friendly, you were hiding under your leaf."

As we were getting ready to leave Sunday, I told Lenny that he had to let Friendly go back to his family. As Lenny was letting him go, he said, "Mommy, Friendly just told me that's not his name." I asked him what it was. Lenny said, "Food". I'm guessing some other bug or bird called him that at some point but Lenny said it was because he liked food. Anyway, somehow Friendly's full name became "Friendly Stanley Food". Stanley is a new engine on Thomas.

After we packed up the camp site, we then headed out to see Thomas. We planned to meet the Jones family there and Lenny was so excited to see Mikie. They had a great time together.

Lenny and Mikie in front of "Toby".


Lenny and Mikie in front of "Salty". Lenny was having a rough time standing on the track.


Lenny and Mikie riding on Thomas' coaches.


Me, Dominic, and Lenny. I was having a frizzy bad hair day for sure.


Lenny was excited to see that they had a big puzzle to put together in the tent. He had fun with that.


We had a great weekend together and loved camping. We really needed it because we had a rough week last week before we left. I will post about that in a few days.

Lenny's Reading

I've been meaning to post about this for a while and keep forgetting. Lenny is still really enjoying reading. He loves it and wants to read everything. He has read, with little help, quite a few of his Thomas books. He has also read quite a few Dr. Suess books including Go Dog Go and Ten Apples Up on Top. I'm so impressed with him.

He loves to search for treasures in our house. He has me draw a map on his doodle pro, then he goes and finds the treasure that I hide where X marks the spot. Anyway, a few weeks ago we were playing it and I was tired of drawing pictures. I decided that I would write words instead. He would have to read the words and find the treasure that way. He LOVES it and it's a great way for him to learn to read new words. Plus, it's much easier for me to write a word than it is to draw a piece of furniture. :-)

This has nothing to do with his reading but I had to write this. His other favorite game is to draw a new map for Mario Kart on his doodle pro. He comes up with a new map, then names it, and then tells me all the "cool stuff" in the race. Sometimes you have to drive into a Shark's mouth. It's hilarious to hear him come up with the names and obstacles. I told him that we need to contact the makers of Mario Kart and give them some of his ideas.

First Day of Preschool

Lenny's first day of preschool was today. We were both super excited. On Friday we went to the orientation and met his teachers. I really like them alot and so does Lenny. Lenny was excited because they have a Thomas table in their classroom and a computer. He also pointed out that they have a "Days of the Week", "Months of the Year", and "Weather" poster in their room similar to what we have in our playroom at home. He was proud because he knew what they were.

We were all getting loaded up in the van and Lenny jumped in and started to get in his seat. He couldn't understand why I made him get back out just to take his picture. I told him he better get used to it because I will always take a picture of him on his first day of school.



Lenny's preschool has a car line which is really awesome! It saves me an awful lot of work because I don't have to unload Brooke and Nathan and load them back up two times a day. If I could just walk them in it would be different but I have to put them in a stroller. Anyway, the car line is fast and very nice. Lenny has already memorized his car line number. It is 35. This will be really great for us on rainy or snowy days. Not so much for the people that work at the preschool though.

Saturday morning when Lenny woke up, he was very disappointed to find out that he was not going to preschool that day. It took him a little while to get over that. It was also a rainy yucky day and Dominic had to work. So I decided to do some fun things with the kids. We played hide and seek, painted, watched a movie, made a craft, made pepperoni rolls. I even let Lenny run around outside in the rain and through the rain puddles. He had a blast doing that! I would have loved it if I was a kid. Our power went out for about an hour too. We rarely lose power in our house. The last time was in 2003 when I was pregnant with Lenny and hurricane Isabel came through. We lost it for a lot longer than an hour that time.

Anyway, here are the art projects that we made that day. Lenny's monster truck tires are made out of two paper bowls so you can imagine how big it is. Also, those orange things on Lenny's truck are flames and NOT carrots like Dominic asked Lenny if they were. Yes, the flames are going in all different directions but they are still flames.


Here they are eating their popcorn and watching a movie. Okay, the movie watching lasted all of about 10 minutes but at least it was a start. As soon as the popcorn was gone--so were they.


The kids should really be tired and sleep real well tonight. After Lenny's preschool we came home for lunch and a short nap. We then headed out for a birthday party at the Playroom.

Nathan loved the ball pit. He is crazy about balls and has a million of them. Lenny came running over to me while I was watching Brooke and Nate in a moonbounce. He said that he found something that Nathan would love--a ball pit. So I took Nate over there and he did love it.


Here's a picture of Brookey in her very first nightgown that Nunny bought for her. She looks so sweet in it but we all know how ornery she is.


We got an email this evening from Lenny's preschool teacher letting all of the parents know that they had a great day today. She also mentioned all of the things that they did. I really love this preschool. The teacher is great about keeping us informed of things.

I did have to warn his teacher about Lenny and fire alarms. He is very afraid of them. When he was 2 years old and in daycare, the fire alarm went off one day while they were eating lunch and I guess Lenny was sitting next to it. It really scared him and he has been afraid of them ever since.

Last year I took him to a Halloween party and he did not want to go in the room. He cried and cried to where I thought we were going to have to leave. Finally he told me that there was a fire alarm in the room. Once I told him that it was not going to go off (and someone that worked there also told him) then he was okay and went in the room. He kept asking me if it was going to go off though.

Then a month or so ago, we were at the mall and the fire alarm went off. I didn't know what was going to happen with Lenny. I told him that's just the fire alarm and that it would go off in a minute. I then said that it wasn't that loud after all, was it. And he agreed. He was surprised that he wasn't afraid of it. I think that the daycare incident happened so long ago that he remembers it to be much louder than it is.

Anyway, while we were at orientation on Friday, they told the parents that there will be fire drills every week for the first month. I wondered how I was going to break the news to Lenny. When I first told him, he cried and said he didn't want to have a fire drill. Then I told him that it sounds just like the one at the mall. He said, "It does?" And I told him yes. So now he say's that he is okay about it. I warned his teacher though just in case.

From the Mouth of a Four Year Old

Today while we were sitting in the car line, Lenny was already out of his seat and standing next to me. I looked at him and said, "Lenny, you are so handsome." Because he just looked so darn cute and he was so excited. Then I touched his face and pushed his hair over to the side since it was a little messed up. He said, "Mommy, don't touch me or I won't be handsome anymore." Then he smiled real cute.

Just a Swingin'

One year ago this month, I started my blog. In that blog I had pictures of the kids on the swing in the backyard so I thought it would be fun to post a picture of them this summer on the swing. They all have changed so much. Can you tell that Nate does not like the camera and was trying not to smile for the picture. Silly boy.




Brooke's Team Meeting

Last Thursday evening Brooke had an appointment to meet with her craniofacial team. We were able to speak to a speech pathologist, a pediatric dentist, a geneticist, and her surgeon. We had just met with her ENT on Tuesday so no need to see him that evening. It's great because we just sit in a room and all of the doctors come to us. She just needs to go to see the team once a year to check up on how things are going. Everything is going along just as expected for Brooke. She's doing great.

Brooke's surgeon, Dr. Stephen Baker is absolutely wonderful. Dominic and I will always be grateful to him for what he has done for our little girl. He truly is one of the best craniofacial surgeons. He has been filmed on TLC's Personal Story where he performed a cleft lip repair. I was so happy that he was at the meeting that evening. It has been a little over a year since we have seen him. He did her cleft lip repair when she was 3 months old and her palate repair (the most difficult for sure) when she was 6 months old.

Here is Brooke and her favorite surgeon, Dr. Baker.


I was also hoping that we would see Dr. Deirdre Maull, who did the work for the nasal alveolar molding or NAM for short. Unfortunately she was running late and there was no real reason that we needed to see her so we didn't stick around. I will definitely make a special trip to her office to see her sometime soon. She was absolutely wonderful through the process. Brooke had to wear the molding along with all of the tape that goes along with it for 3 months. I will be quite honest and say that taking care of the appliance (cleaning it and changing it) was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life. Brooke and I had to make weekly trips to see Dr. Maull for adjustments (an hour and half drive away one direction). But honestly, I looked forward to those trips because talking to Dr. Maull gave me what I needed to make it another week. She was always so supportive and encouraging. All of it was so worth it to make the surgery easier on Brooke.

Daddy's Little Helper

Dominic was building a floor for a small shed he was putting in the backyard. Lenny was in the back helping Dominic and then he ran to the door and asked if I would get his tools.



About the Twins

Brooke and Nathan love riding their four wheelers around the backyard. Unfortunately they never figured out how to steer them so I had to run all over the backyard getting them unstuck. Well not anymore for Brooke. She is hilarious. She drives it all over the backyard and does a really good job steering it. She goes from one side of the yard, then turns around and goes to the other side. It is very funny to watch our GIRL driving her four wheeler.

Nathan is my sweet little helper. Every time we leave the room or if I say that we are going to go somewhere, he goes over to the TV, turns it off, and then closes the doors to the entertainment center. It's very cute. Then when we get in the van, he reminds me to close the doors (I leave them open until I turn the car and air conditioner on). He starts pointing to the doors and then he points to the button in the van to close the garage door. Dominc saw him do it this weekend and got a kick out of it.

The other day Brooke and Nate were pushing some big soft trucks around the house. All of a sudden, Brooke's flipped up and hit her in the face. She immediately started crying so I went over, picked her up and started to comfort her. She was really making a bigger deal out of it than it was. She's very good at that. Anyway, Nate was standing there watching us. Then he turned around, bent over to the truck that Brooke was using, touched his head to the truck, and then turned to me with his arms up and pretended to cry. That silly boy pretended like he bumped his head. It was very cute! So of course I had to comfort him too.

From the Mouth of a Four Year Old

This evening Dominic took Lenny, Brooke, Nate and Daisy for a walk. Talk about brave. I never take Daisy along that is just too much. Anyway, every time Dominic takes Lenny out for a walk he gives him a lollipop. Today he got them each a very big blow pop. When they got back Lenny was still eating it. Lenny and I walked down to get the mail and he was telling me that it was called a blow pop. This is what he told me. "It's called a blow pop. On a rainy day, the wind blows the stick away and you still have this (pointing to the candy). That's why it's called a blow pop."

I bet you all didn't know the meaning behind blow pops. Now you do.

It's Working

Recently I decided that we needed to lay down some rules in this house. Lenny has always been pretty good about listening but lately he's been testing us a little bit. Lenny and I talked about what our house rules would be and then we put them down on a poster board to hang up in the house. We also made a chart for Lenny's chores and Lenny's good behavior chart. We decorated a box so that each time Lenny does something good, we will add a coin to his "Good Behavior Box". He gets to do special things for a certain amount of coins. They are included on his good behavior chart. Just as he gets coins for being good, he loses coins for not listening. It's just like a lot of charts I'm sure others have tried. It's actually working.

Dominic and I have always been very bad about making Lenny go to sleep in his own bed. As many of you may know, Lenny falls asleep on the couch watching a Thomas movie. We (usually Dominic) later take him up to his bed after he is asleep. We have done this for a very very long time. One of our house rules is to "go to sleep at bedtime in your bed". Lenny and I reviewed the house rules, chores, and chart. Then I asked him if he thought they were good rules. He said yes. And believe it or not, we started the chart 10 days ago and every night he has gone to sleep in his bed at bedtime with no arguments. It has been wonderful. I tell him every night and morning how proud I am of him for doing that.

If he starts to do something that he's not supposed to and I have already warned him once, I tell him that I will take a coin away. He doesn't like to lose a coin so he usually listens right away. Sometimes he even reminds me that I need to take a coin away from him because he didn't listen. He has also been very good about completing his chores.



I love this new plan! Now, if I could just get Brooke and Nathan to follow the rules too. Hmm.



Here are some pictures from the last week or so.

The Bug Box

We visited The Bug Box in Fredericksburg one day last week. The kids had fun looking at all of the bugs through the magnifying glasses.

Lenny and Mikie putting together a puzzle.





Here is Nathan, Zachary, and Brooke.


My friend Tracy took this great picture of Nathan. I love it! Thanks Tracy.


Here's one of Brooke too.


Curtis Lake Park

We love this park. They have a great playground and really cool trails. Lenny and his friend Pearson were rolling a log along the trail.


Odds and Ends

Remember me mentioning our little Linus in the past with his blankie? Nathan takes it everywhere. Even in the sandbox. And yes, the binky is back. :-(


Nathan decided that he was ready to clean up his toys but Brookie was in the box. It didn't stop Nathan from cleaning up anyway.


One last ball and he is finally finished.

And then of course, he wanted to get covered up. So Lenny, Brooke and I covered up Nathan.

Cool Weather is Cool

We love the nice weather that we've had the last few weeks. We have definitely taken advantage of it too. Dominic and I took the kids to lots of parks and on a few trails. We actually turned our air conditioner in our house off Friday before last and had it off until Wednesday. It was so nice to have fresh air in the house. I think we all slept better at night. The kids slept in a little longer in the mornings which was really nice. By Wednesday, it was getting hotter and time to turn it back on.

Lenny has loved the drink called Bug Juice since he was real little. It looks like we have two other ones who also love it. We had a snack and a drink before we hit the trails.




They were leading the way.


Why do all kids love sticks?


Lenny had to point us in the right direction on the way back.


Grandma Viola

Recently my grandma who is 95 years old had to move into a nursing home. She has been living by herself up until now in the same home she has lived in since before she and my grandad were married. She's my dad's mom. We wanted to go visit her this weekend so the kids and I headed to my mom's house on Friday so that we could all go to see Grandma on Saturday. My van had other plans for us. It decided to break down on me as soon as we got to mom's house. Luckily, it didn't happen before or after. There was all kinds of smoke coming out of the front of it and water was pouring out of the bottom of it. Needless to say, I couldn't even drive it to the garage, it had to be towed. Remember, we were planning to visit Grandma 2 hours away the next day. The garage had already closed on Friday so Saturday morning we called them and they said that they wouldn't be able to work on it until Monday. We were really bummed and we couldn't go anywhere because all the car seats wouldn't fit in my mom's car. To make a long story short, around noon on Saturday they called and said they were able to fix the car and it was done. We went to see my Grandma on Sunday instead.

It was hard to visit her somewhere other than her house that I have been going to my entire life and the place where my dad (who passed away when I was a baby) grew up and lived. But it was so nice to see her and to see that she was adjusting well to the nursing home. Here we are with Grandma.


My mom and my grandma have remained very close all these years. Grandma Viola is just like a mother to my mom too.


The sun is in our eyes, mom. Of course, I still wanted to get a picture of them.


Lenny was making Brooke laugh while we were outside with Grandma.


Meemaw is Not Afraid of Bugs

Friday was a nice day too so while we were at mom's house, Lenny asked her to help him find some bugs for his bug box. He knew that Meemaw wouldn't be afraid to catch bugs. She was excited and happy to do that with the kids.

They caught a grandaddy long leg and Lenny asked him, "Grandaddy long leg, which way's the cows" and I think that he pointed Lenny to the right direction. Did anyone else do that when you were kids? I always asked the grandaddy long legs that question. :-)

They also caught some crickets and a huge grasshopper.


This was the big one--the grasshopper.

Nathan enjoyed the bug catching but he really liked the baseball bat and ball that Meemaw got for them.


School Bus Tour

Last week Lenny got to go on a tour of a school bus and watch a video on school bus safety. We had a driver come to our MOMS club meeting last week along with someone for the county school to talk to us about preparing our kids for kindergarten.

Lenny getting on the bus. That's him in the white shirt with the caboose on the back.


I think the school bus driver had them a little nervous to move on the bus. She told them that it is very important that they stay seated on the school bus and when it is moving.


One more picture.

The kids were enjoying watching the Olympics together one night before bedtime so I had to take their picture. They really were sitting there together watching it.