September 15

This afternoon we headed out for a long weekend to visit Abe's family in Wisconsin. This is the weekend of the annual Wo-Zha-Wa Festival in his hometown. It wasn't raining right before we left so the boys got the chance to burn off some energy before our loooooong car ride!

September 14

Today at storytime Miss Erin gave us the books that were purchased from Aunt TT's gift in honor of Jonah's birthday! It's slightly more difficult to take pictures of an 18 month old with books, but I was excited he wanted to dig right in!

Thank you!!

September 13

Busy day for us today... Riley had school in the morning. While he was at school, Jonah had speech therapy and then we went to a meeting at church. Picked Riley up, lunch, naps for both boys (even Riley!), then we made a quick trip to the post office. Abe was out of town for the day, so after dinner Riley wanted to go to Starbucks for a treat. We shared a cookie and the boys shared a milk - cute date night for the three of us!

September 12

It's the first day of school! Riley and Jonah will be attending Asbury Preschool this year (Jonah for one morning a week and Riley for three). I think I was more nervous than they were... I knew Riley would be fine, but I was worried about leaving Jonah because I knew he would cry. He did, but when I went back to get him his teachers told me that he calmed down quickly and he played and laughed and had a great time! We had to take a few pictures on the front steps before we left... it will be so interesting to compare these to the ones I take on the last day of school in June to see how much they've grown!

September 11

This morning I got up extra early to cheer on two friends as they ran the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon! I met them at the starting line in downtown Bethlehem, and then saw them again at the 3 mile mark and then 9.5 mile mark. Although I was bummed I couldn't also be at the finish line, Jess and Kristi both set personal records with this race - great job girls!

GO!!

This is at 9.5 miles in... still smiling!!

After I left my cheering station, I headed to meet Abe & the boys at church because it was Rally Day! The boys got re-aquainted with their teachers and helped move all of the food that the students brought in to the church's food pantry. During the church service there was a Blessing of the Backpacks, so all of the kids went up front with their school backpacks on for a special prayer to start the school year. So sweet!

September 10

Today was a great spontaneous family fun day! When we were getting ready to go to breakfast this morning, Abe said to me, "Want to go to Strasburg today?" Sure!! We got there just before noon, so we decided to have lunch on the dining car of the train.

After our lunch and train ride, we walked across the street to the train museum, where a few of the trains were open to climb on and peek inside!

There was a little coal tender set up for the kids to fill the hopper with coal... so cute!

After our train fun was over, we headed to Cherry Crest Farms for a wagon ride and their HUGE corn maze. The boys also went through the hay bale maze which was a better fit for their size.

We headed in to see the animals and I was shocked when Riley said he wanted to feed the goats - he loved it!

September 9

One day a week all summer I've been sending Riley to a mother's day out program at Emmaus Moravian Church. I wanted to give a little thank you gift to Miss Bev and Miss Connie for taking such good care of him. I got two reusable drink cups, and put a few of those little individual drink mix packets in each with a cute tag that says, "Thanks for a refreshing summer!" Of course when I went to pick Riley up today and give them their gifts I forgot my camera, but this is what they looked like before they left the house!

September 8

This was a crazy, on-the-go day! We started off with preschool orientation for the boys at Asbury Preschool. Jonah will be going to PlayDays one morning a week, and Riley will be in a 3-year-old preschool class 3 mornings a week. We met both of their teachers and the other students and parents in their classes. Nanny and Aunt Kathleen came with us since Abe was out of town and each boy needed to be in their classroom at the same time (and I STILL haven't figured out how to split myself in two...).

After orientation we had a quick lunch at home and then Jonah's physical therapist came over before naptime. She's still working with him a lot on his balance and on stepping up and down. PT isn't going quite as smoothly as speech, but he's getting there!

After Jonah's nap we headed to my friend Marianne's house to play with her three year old, Ben. Ben also has a new baby sister named Caroline, but at 2 months old she's not quite ready for play with trucks and trains yet.

And if that weren't enough, after our playdate we headed to Starters Riverport for dinner! Our good friend Andrew hosted a fundraising event for Good Shepherd tonight and we went to fill our bellies and lend our support. The event continues through the month of September - 10% of your dinner tab will be donated to Good Shepherd when you present the coupon found here. Please support them if you can!

September 7

Riley's first 3-year-old storytime at the Lower Macungie Library was this afternoon, and when we got there we found a special surprise! Theresa had made a gift to the library earlier this summer in honor of both boys' birthdays, and the children's librarian, Miss Erin, picked out new books for the library with her gift. Today she had the books she bought from Riley's gift all ready for the shelves, and she gave them to us to check out first! Each book has a dedication plate in the front cover that says "Happy 3rd Birthday, Riley! Love, Aunt TT".

 

We can't wait to see what Miss Erin picks out with Jonah's gift!

September 5

This afternoon we went to Nanny & Poppop's house for dinner. Even though it was pouring down rain, Poppop had the grill set up in the garage to cook burgers, hotdogs and veggies. Yum! Riley and Jonah both housed their dinners tonight. I found it funny that Jonah sampled different things all throughout his meal (note the half-eaten cookie and bowl of corn on his tray!).

September 4

Today was our pastor's last day - this is going to be a big change for all of us. Pastor Mauthe was with our congregation for 16 years, married Abe and I and baptized both of our boys. We're going to miss seeing him every week, listening to his message and hearing his teachings.

On a happier note, our little friend Caroline is about to turn one and we were guests at her birthday party this afternoon!

Daddy gave Jonah his first juice box this afternoon... he was hooked!

September 3

After an early dinner tonight we popped over to Dorney Park for a few rides! We always ride the roller coaster first...

It's hard to see Riley's face in this one, but he's laughing hysterically!

I took Jonah on the little Snoopy train while Abe and Riley were riding something else, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

Time to ride the Zephyr!