New York!!

As one of my 30th birthday presents, my mom took me to NY a week ago. We left on a Thurs. and came back on Sunday. Jeremy and my dad stayed with the kids and they got along great. When I got home Jeremy said all went well but, "I could have my job back, he didn't want it." Ha! He did great with the kids and my mom and I had the best time.
It was so nice for just the 2 of us to get away and spend time together.
This was probably my 5th trip to NY and my mom has been more than that so, we are familiar with NY and how to get around

Here is a recap of what we did....

Thurs.
-Arrived in NY
-Took a carriage ride around Central park
-Watched the filming of an Old Navy commercial in Central Park
-Went for dessert at our favorite, "Ellen's Stardust Diner." It is so fun because the waiters are all trying to get on Broadway so all night they are serving and singing. It is a fun atmosphere and always one of our favorite stops.
-Walked around Time Square and shopped on 5th Ave.

Friday
- US Open!!!!
- Saw 3 matches at the Arthur Ash Stadium
- Had a dream come true of watching Serena Williams play
- Overall just a really neat experience

Saturday
- Got up early to head down to the taping of the Today show. They are not outside as much as they are during the week but we still got to see them. We were also on TV 2 times! :)
- Shopped most of the morning
- Went to see Mary Poppins on Broadway (very cute).
- We have now seen, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Greece, Mama Mia, and Mary Poppins in NY on Broadway.
- Walked around and ate outside on the top of Rockefeller Plaza where they ice skate in the winter.
- Went to get dessert at a place called, "Magnolia Bakery." It was crazy because they are open from 9AM-midnight and there is always a line outside. They said they are only in NY. They have great cupcakes and desserts.

It was a great trip and I thank my mom and dad for such a wonderful present! I will never forget how special it was.
Here are the pictures...

Show and Tell

Today was Kaylie's first Show and Tell day at Preschool. She was so excited and ready. The Show and Tell this week was "All about me." They were to fill their bag with 6 things that they could share that told something about them. Of course the teacher in me had her practice several times so she knew what she would say to her class. So here is the video... She woke up this morning with a big smile and said, "Mommy do I get bring my bag to school today?"

First Day of Preschool

Well we have entered the school world. Kaylie started preschool last week. She walked into school the first day and didn't look back. She loves it, which makes me so happy! I can't believe how much she has matured in the last 6 months. We took her for her open house back in March and she clung to us and was really shy and said she wanted to wait until she was older to go to school. Now it is Aug. and she walked into school the first day and went right in.

I can't believe my little girl is ready for school! I am glad she is having so much fun at school, but Landon and I miss her when she is gone. When I dropped Kaylie off the first day, Landon walked around the house and said, "sissy, sissy?" It was cute. So here are the pictures from her first day at school...
After we picked Kaylie up from school we all (Mommy, Daddy, Landon, and Mami) took Kaylie out to lunch so we could hear about her first day. After we ate we did one of Kaylie's favorite summer things which is to get ice cream and eat it at the fountain in town.

Here are some other pictures from the past week. I am recovering from gall gladder surgery so my mom spent the week here helping us out. It was so great to have her here and she was such a big help.

The kids love to go to Wendy's and sit at the little tables. They seemed so big to me sitting there all by themselves while my mom and I sat at the big tables next to them.

So this is Landon's black mail picture for later in life. Kaylie loves to dress up. I turn on her music and she dances around. Well, little Landon wants to do whatever his big sister is doing these days so here he is following along. Don't worry he loves his cars, trucks, and sports too. :)

Catching up....

We have been very busy the last few weeks. We are trying to get everything in before summer is over and school starts. I can't believe Kaylie will start school in a few weeks. She is very excited, which makes it easier on me. I still an nervous about my "baby" leaving home to head to school but know she will love it! Here is some of what we have been doing... The kids are just getting older and older by the day. The fun part is they are really starting to play together a lot more. I can now leave them in the basement for a short time and they will keep each other entertained while I make dinner which is really nice. This is what happens when Landon is left with me, Kaylie, and my mom. For my 30th birthday Jeremy invited a few of my friends and neighbors and their families over for a cook-out to help celebrate. We had a great time. Jeremy rented a bounce house because there were 12 adults and 14 kids. It was great entertainment for the kids and allowed us adults to talk and catch up as well. Here is Kaylie and Landon bouncing before everyone arrived. Here are my friends who came (minus one who left before we took this picture). I have not been to Lafayette all summer with just the kids to spend a few days so we wanted to make sure we got that in as well. I packed them up and we headed North last week. We had a great time and it was jam packed with activities. My mom wanted to take the kids to Indiana Beach. The kids had a blast!! They both rode all the kid rides for almost 2 hours. They had so much fun and I couldn't get enough of the smiles on their faces. On our way home from Lafayette we stopped by the Indianapolis Zoo to visit with a friend of mine from where I taught and her daughter. It was great weather and there were not a lot of people so the kids had a great time. Other than that we have been playing outside a lot and enjoying each and every day. I have had a couple people ask for some videos so I decided to post some. Both kids love to make videos and even Landon now says, "video, video." Here is a video of Kaylie talking about school... Landon is talking a lot now and is saying 2-3 word sentences. He repeats everything and is now able to ask for things and tell us what he is thinking which is a lot of fun.

Chicago

Believe it or not this post is not about the kids but about Jeremy and I. We were blessed to get a weekend away just the two of us last weekend. My parents were wonderful enough to keep the kids for us and of course they had a great time as well. Those of you that are parents know that you don't get very much quality time with your husband once you have kids so it was really nice to have time with just Jeremy. Of course we missed the kids but enjoyed the time that we had together.

On Friday we headed North and stopped along the way to golf. When we got there on Fri. we just walked around and grabbed some dinner. On Saturday we got up and went to breakfast at Lou Mitchell's which is one of Jeremy's favorites. It has become one of my favorites as well because they give you donut holes while you wait, and ice cream when you are done. Does it get better than that? After that we headed to the Sears Tower to visit the new glass balconies. I was very nervous about going up 103 stories (which only took about 18 seconds) and then stepping out onto an inch and half piece of glass. It was very hesitant but once I got out there it was a great experience and I am glad I did it. The whole view from the building was amazing.

View from 103rd Floor


Glass Balcony




After walking about 10 miles up and down Michigan Ave. and to Navy Pier we got ready for dinner. Our hotel (Conrad) had a bar on top of the building that was open so we sat out there and had a drink. It worked out that on of my friends was having dinner with her husband to celebrate their 1 year Anniv. across the street so they came to join us for a drink before dinner.




After dinner at Lowery's Steakhouse we went on a night boat tour of the city. After a tour we sat out on the lake and watched the fire works from Navy Pier.


So now we are back to reality but enjoyed the weekend that we had.

Lots of Fun!

We have had a great end to June and start to July. We have been very busy but having lots of fun along the way. The last few weeks have been filled with activities.

We went to Cincinnati Zoo with some friends. It was in the 90's the day we went but we went in the morning and stopped for Frosty's on the way home so it was not too bad. The kids had fun any way.





Last weekend was the opening weekend for the blueberry farm that is down the street from us. Although I am not a blueberry fan, Kaylie likes them and loves to pick them. It's a great experience for the kids. This year Jeremy and Landon were able to go with us and they had a great time as well.




This weekend was the 4th of July. Luckily we had a cook-out with my family on July
3rd which ended up being a great day for a cook-out and fireworks. The kids had a great time. Kaylie loved the fireworks (except for the one that went crazy and hit her toy box and burnt most of the toys in it. oops!). Landon liked the sparklers and some of the fireworks, but he was not a big fan of the loud ones.






We were planning a cook-out with friends on July 4th but because of the rain we had to change our plans. We decided to take the kids to the Children's Museum instead. It was a lot of fun and both kids loved it! We got a membership because the kids enjoyed it so much. If anyone wants to go, let us know. :)



Hope everyone had a great Holiday weekend!