March 29

We headed to Parkettes this morning for Riley's gym class - his friend Sydney is in the class with him and they each have favorite things that they like to do. Sydney loves to use the bars, but Riley is more of a balance beam and jumping guy. I love his Parkettes class because every week there's either new equipment or a new activity for them to do. The staff definitely know how to keep the kids interested and engaged and it's so fun to watch them learn to do new things and develop and strengthen their skills.

Riley on the balance beam:

Riley loves to jump into these donut hole mats...

 Sydney working on her bars routine for the 2024 Olympics:

Riley trying the "bear walk" that Coach Sylvia taught him.

Riley in "the pit"

Sydney's mom, Keri, helping him with his handstand:

One of the new activities today was to use their bodies in different ways to pop bubbles - very popular with all the kids!

When we got home, Abe was doing some yard work - he's been spreading corn gluten meal over the grass (it's a natural weed suppressant), and Riley was pretty good at pushing the spreader!

March 28

This morning my friend Meg and I thought we'd take the kids for a walk in the Rose Garden in Allentown... silly us didn't really take into account the fact that it was only 30 degrees outside. It was a chilly walk! Meg's twins Gwen and Cole and Riley were good sports - the kids had a great time watching ducks swimming through the creek and quacking at them.

The only warm one...

This sculpture was actually on Ursinus' campus when I was a student there, and it's now fun to see it in a place that we pass through regularly. A large part of it is a set of train wheels, which Riley spotted from across the park.

 That afternoon we ran a few errands as a family an stopped at On the Border for dinner. They had these cute high chairs that just slid into the booth.

Seemed like a good idea when we got there, but we quickly realized that Jonah was able to reach the bowl of tortilla chips and slide it toward himself so he could reach a few. Abe took this picture with his phone - Jonah actually has two chips in his hand!

March 27

Today was Youth Sunday at our church - Riley & Jonah's preschool class were the greeters before the worship service. Silly me left my camera at home so I didn't get any pictures of their cuteness, but they did a great job welcoming everyone as they walked in the door! This day also happened to be Kathleen's birthday, so we joined  her at my parents' house for the meal of her choice - fondue! After the yummy melty cheese, bread, apples and cake and ice cream. we were all stuffed!

This is what I felt like after our big meal, too!

Happy Birthday, Kathleen!

March 26

This afternoon I was a guest at the wedding shower of my cousin, Johanna. She and her fiance, John will be getting married Memorial Day weekend this year. Johanna also shared with us that they had their offer on a house accepted this morning - congratulations! She sent me the link to the house listing and it's a gorgeous home on a 1 acre property in Chester County.

 There's always delicious cake at a shower...

But this one had 3 kinds of cupcakes also!

Pretty centerpieces (with a delicious component also)

Amidst the present opening, there was a funny non-traditional present...

And what's a shower without BINGO??

My three boys spent the afternoon together, and there were lots of smiles ready for me when I got home.

We've been working on potty training Riley since the middle of January - he took to peeing on the potty very quickly, but pooping has taken a little more work. I'm happy to report that over the weekend something clicked with Riley and he's now pooping on the potty like a champ! As a special incentive to get him started, Riley gets a matchbox car when he poops on the potty, and he's showing me his latest acquisition here (I promise he was a lot happier about it than he looks here!) 

March 25

This morning we were supposed to meet some friends at a park, but it was pretty chilly outside so we headed to our local McDonald's playland instead. The kids all had a great time and I love having the kids in a safe location so I can have some adult conversation also.

Riley with his buddies Gwen & Cole and their mom, Meg.

Gwen & Cole have the cutest "cheese" faces!

That evening we went to Riley's current favorite place to eat - Red Robin. He actually burst into tears when we walked in the door and he saw that they didn't have any balloons blown up, but our hostess hooked him up with one by the time our food came. YAY!

 Jonah's thinking, "Mom, you're taking my picture AGAIN?!"

Riley's showing us what he's going to eat (macaroni & cheese, side of oranges).

March 24

This morning Sears Repair was scheduled to come to our house to look at Abe's riding lawnmower anytime between 8 am and 12 noon. Thinking that we'd be stuck in the house all morning, we invited friends over to play. Thankfully the lawnmower was an easy fix and the repair guy was here and gone by 8:45 am! But a little after 9, Jess, Katherine and Daniel came over and spent the morning with us. Jess brought along an Auntie Anne's pretzel making kit - Riley and Katherine loved rolling out the dough, brushing them with butter, and adding salt and cinnamon sugar. All four of the kids loved eating them! (OK, Jess and I did too.) There was lots of playing that also went on while we waited for the dough to rise and after we ate. Thanks for a great morning, friends!

Jonah's love for food apparently extends to plastic potato chips also.

Snack time!

March 23

We started the day with breakfast at Nanny & Poppop's house... it was a pleasant surprise to see their good friends Ed and Carol there also! After loading up on pancakes and bacon, Jonah sat with Aunt Kathleen for a while and just smiled at everyone like he likes to do.

Nanny brought out this pink toilet that actually makes flushing noises, which Riley thought was so funny. We thought it was funny how fascinated he was looking in the bowl.

Riley loves to go down in their basement and play with all of the different toys. Today he brought up these games meant for much older kids, but he loved filling all of the holes with pegs.

After breakfast, Riley stayed with Nanny and Aunt Kathleen for the day, and my dad, my friend Mary and Jonah and I drove out to Mechanicsburg for our old camp friend's mother's funeral. It rained the whole way out and the whole way back, which made for a long drive, but I was happy that we could make the trip to support her when she needed it. Rest in peace, Mildred.

March 22

Today was just a very average day for us. This morning Riley went to his Parkettes class, then we ran to the grocery store and to the library to return a few books. The boys played in the family room before dinner tonight. Riley loves jumping around pretending he's a frog:

Riley stole the lids to two of the play pots right out of Jonah's hands and started banging them together...

Leaving cute Jonah with this expression on his face. "Hey, I was going to do that!"

This is what we had for dinner - pizza roll! I made this for Jonah's birthday party and it was a huge hit. Basically, you make a pizza and roll it up before baking it. I made this one half pepperoni (for me) and half just plain cheese.

Mmmmmm....