Peaches!!

One of the best things about living in Pa. is the summer produce and we are taking full advantage of it this year! We headed out to the local orchard this past weekend to pick
peaches for the first time. The peaches are on top of this huge hill so we got a great
view of the entire peach orchard and the apple orchard as well. The girls loved being able to
eat the peaches right off the tree. That reminded me of when I used to have my own peach tree. I loved waking up in the morning, stepping outside and picking my breakfast right
from the trees. Sadly, the tree overproduced one year and the branches split so my dad had to cut the tree down. Anyway, after we were done in the orchard we stopped at the playground before heading home for lunch.


**Disclaimer** Not sure what's going in with this post and why it's putting so many spaces in.
I tried to fix it, I can't, oh well!!

Trying to pick a peach

Can't get any fresher than this!!

At the playground and still eating!

Look Ma, I can do it too!!

On the rock climbing wall.

We'll be heading out to Hersheypark for a mini vacation on Thursday so look for lots of fun pictures next week!!

Sick little girl...

Avery has been sick for the last few days. She started with a fever Wednesday night and continued it for most of Thursday. By Friday she had blisters in her mouth and around her ankles, official diagnosis, Hand Foot and Mouth. No big deal, Rylee had it a few times when she was little so we know what to expect. Here's a picture from the first day of the fever, she spent most of the day either laying on our bed or laying on the couch.

Swim meet pics....

Rylee did awesome once again!! We swam against Amity A.C. and only lost by 16 points, it was an exciting meet! She swam the 25 meter freestyle and the 25 meter backstroke this week. She's getting pretty good at backstroke now that she knows how to use the backstroke flags to avoid hitting her head at the end. Here's a few pictures from the meet. Mommy raced again as well but we won't scare you with those pictures, lol!!

Getting ready for her first race..

After the race and still smiling!

Backstroke start, she can barely reach the bar to start!

Goofing off between races...

Sign me up, I wanna be on the swim team too!!

Blueberrry picking!!

I decided to take Miss Avery blueberry picking this morning while Rylee was at school. This was something new to me so I had no idea what to expect. Thank God I had sneakers on both of us because we had to walk way out into the orchard and the grass was still wet from the storm last night. All the way out Avery kept saying "I don't likea blueberries". (Yes the "a" is there for a reason, she adds an "a" on the end of some words). Well, her opinion changed as soon as she had her first fresh picked blueberry. I think she ate more than what she put into the bucket and she's been eating them ever since we got home. I have a feeling that I'm going to have a massive diaper mess to clean up later. I also have a feeling that Rylee will want to go later this week once she gets home and gets a taste. That's okay though because we already ate most of the berries picked this morning.

See mom, this is how you do it!

Working hard

Who needs a bucket when you have an empty belly to fill!

Wow, this summer is just flying by so fast! Rylee had another swim meet this past Monday and she did awesome! She swam 25 freestyle, 25 backstroke, and the free relay. They didn't have a meet last week so she had two weeks of nothing but practice and WOW, what a difference that made! She looked so much better. The coach also asked me to come out of "retirement" and swim at the meet because they needed one more person for the relays so after 15 years of not competing or practicing I poured my body back into a competition suit and raced. It actually didn't feel as bad as I thought it would. I was nervous on the blocks but once I got into the water it all came back within seconds. I just felt a little strange racing against a bunch of 15 year olds who probably train year round! Anyway, one more meet to go and then the season will be done. Rylee has had so much fun so far, I really hope this is just the beginning for her.
We also have some really big Avery news to report.... She has officially given up her pacifier!!
Those who have ever dealt with a "paci baby' know how hard it is to get children to give them up but Avery did great and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. She still asks for her "buddy"once in a while but accepts that he is now gone. Now we just have to work on potty training. I think we're going to really work on that once Rylee starts school. It's just so hard to concentrate on it right now when we are constantly on the go. Well, that's the weekly update. Sorry, there's no new pictures this week, my camera has been collecting dust lately!

Mini Golfing!

We took both of the girls mini golfing together for the first time, what a blast! We didn't keep score but I think Avery won, she tends to cheat a bit, lol!!

Daddy helping Avery...

Who needs a club when hands work better, lol!!

Waiting for daddy to finish the hole.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Man, what a bust of a holiday weekend! It rained pretty much all weekend so we were stuck inside. We did go to the annual 4th of July parade Friday morning (in the rain,lol) but the pool was closed pretty much all weekend and the fireworks were cancelled for both nights. Finally by Sunday afternoon the sun came out so we went to the pool for a little bit and then went to see the fireworks that were cancelled the night before. Not much else to report. The swim team has a "bye" week so Rylee didn't have a meet on Monday but she's been practicing every day and I can already see a big improvement.

Here's a few pictures from Community Days last week....

Miss Avery riding the cars

Riding the Bee ride

The Train Ride

Doing the Free Fall Tower (yes, she really IS crazy)

First Swim Meet

Rylee had her first swim meet on Monday and did GREAT! She swam two events, 25 butterfly and 25 freestyle. The poor girl, she got so excited before her first race that she forgot to put her goggles down but she kept going and even ripped them off halfway through the race,lol. I really don't think she even knows that she's racing against other kids yet, she's just excited when she finishes because she likes to hear the parents clapping for her. Miss Avery LOVED cheering for her big sister, but i think she liked the snack area better, every time I looked over she had convinced someone else to buy her a piece of candy. Yes, mean mommy put a stop to that after a while. Swim team practice is going good so far. It's Monday through Friday for a half an hour. They usually do a warm up of three laps (with a break after each one), work on stroke technique for a while and then do a warm down of a few more laps. The Wilshire Relays is coming up so they have been working on relay starts lately as well. Here's a few pictures of Rylee at her first meet!

Starting her first race.

She doesn't quite have the dive down yet ;-)

Team Fees: $35.00

Team Suit: $43.25

Team Cap: $10.00

Goggles: $10.00

Seeing her complete her first race: Priceless!

Second race, the goggles are down this time!

Cheering her team on with her new best friend.

Even the smallest team shirt is way too big!

Swim team here we come!

It's official, Rylee is on the swim team! I took her to a swim meet tonight so she could see what it's like and she wants to try it so I signed her up while we were there. We went to Dick's and got her a racing suit, goggles and a cap so she's all set for her first practice tomorrow morning! I'm so excited for her but I'm not looking forward to sitting through those long age group meets again,lol. Stay tuned for pictures, she has her first meet next Monday and if you're not busy head over to our pool to cheer her on!! Our little girl is now a swimmer!!!

Yup, she's got the build of a butterflier, just look at those thighs!

Vacation 2008

Well we're back and we survived another vacation to Ocean City, New Jersey! The ride down was quite interesting. We got stuck in traffic on the Blue Route in Phila. because there was a Phillies game starting within the hour and Rylee got car sick. Yeah, it wasn't fun! Luckily I had a plastic tub full of toys in the front so I dumped that out and got it to Rylee just in time. Ugh, the car stank until we could pull over in New Jersey to clean it out. The poor girl, that was her first time and she was so scared. The vacation was great once we got there. The girls had so much fun and already miss being there. The weather was perfect all week. Sunny and warm during the day but cool at night for the boardwalk. It only rained once and we were already back home for the night so we were safe. Rylee made a friend within minutes of being on the beach the first day and ironically Kelsey was staying in the house next to ours so they got to be best buddies for the week. Avery loved playing in the sand and actually took a few steps into the ocean for the first time. Her new nickname is now "beach bunny" because she loved being on the beach. We went to Atlantic City on Wednesday to go to The Rainforest Cafe for dinner. If you have never been to one I highly suggest going even if you don't have any children. It's so cool and the kids loved it! A bit pricey but worth it once in a while! After dinner we walked the boardwalk for a while before heading back to OC. We spent our last day at the waterpark that's on the boardwalk. It's become somewhat of a tradition to do that and it works out great because we don't have to deal with sand all over the kids for the car ride home. I had to stand on the side and watch most of the action this year because I still wasn't cleared for swimming so most if not all of the pictures are of Dale and the girls. I have my six week check up this week and hopefully most of my restrictions will be lifted and I can go swimming! I REALLY miss being in the pool and it's hard watching the girls have so much fun while I stand on the side. So, that's pretty much the story. I took a ton of pictures (over 200) and I am having a hard time picking only a few to share so I made a slideshow of the best pictures. Enjoy!!

Our first baby....

Rylee is now officially a pre-school graduate!!! She had her graduation ceremony last Friday night followed by a visit to Rita's for ice cream. Here's a picture from the big night....

Other than that nothing much is happening this week. We're trying to stay cool during this heatwave so we've been spending most of our time at the pool, which stinks for me because I can't actually get in the pool until I'm fully recovered. I have my final post-op visit in two weeks and I hope she tells me that I'm healed enough to swim!! I was told at my two week post -op visit that I could do "10 second dips" but I miss being able to be in the water with the girls. Good news though, the pathology report came back great. Everything was taken out and there's no need for further treatments or surgery. WAHOO!!! I can finally breath a sigh of relief after five years of dealing with this!

We've got quite a busy schedule for the next week. We have a wedding in Altoona (3 hour drive) on Saturday, staying there that night and then coming home on Sunday. The girls are staying with Dale's parents while we're gone. I'll spend the rest of Sunday unpacking from the wedding and then repacking for vacation. We leave for Ocean City on Monday as soon as Dale gets home from work and we'll be there for the rest of the week. Ugh, hopefully I'll find time to sleep!

Sisterly Love...

Rylee has been begging to sleep in Avery's room for a few nights now so we finally let her do it the other night. On the nights that I tell her "no" she waits until Avery is asleep and then sneaks into her room without us knowing!! It's actually kind of cute, she brings her pillows and blankets down and sets up a little bed on the floor next to Avery's bed. Here's a picture from the other night, I snuck in after they fell asleep. On the nights when Rylee is allowed to sleep in Avery's room they squeeze into Avery's twin bed together.

We also joined a pool for the summer, YAY!! I'm sure we'll have lots of pool shots soon since I plan on spending most of the summer there. We've already gone a few times and the girls love it. I'm thinking of signing Rylee up for the swim team too. I'm kind of worried because Rylee is very young to be on a team but I know the coach there and she wants Rylee on the team and is very willing to work with her. We'll see, the meeting is Monday night and then we'll go from there.

Wow!!!

Holy crap,it's been almost two months since I updated the page, sorry about that!! For those of you that know the story, my surgery was May 21st and recovery is going pretty good so far. I'll know more once the pathology report comes back next week but my doctor is very optimistic about everything. Anyway, the girls are doing great. They have been spending most of their time with Dale since I can't move around too fast yet. This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend and the weather was PERFECT!!!! We went to the local parade on Saturday morning, followed by a walk to the playground. I overdid it a bit that morning so the rest of the day was spent at home with me laying down. Sunday was a nice relaxing day. We went to Dale's parents for dinner, it was nice to get out but I was in bed by 8:30 that night. Monday it was pretty hot so we went to the local pool and the girls LOVED it. The water was only 68 degrees but they both went in and had a blast. We may join that pool but if not we are joining aonther one so most of the summer will be spent in water!! Yay!!! Tuesday was really hot and humid so the girls got to run around in the sprinkler. Avery was scared of it last year but not this year!! She took off and ran right into it as soon as I turned it on. Well, that's all for now, we'll be heading to Ocean City, NJ for our annual visit in a few weeks so look for loads of pictures then. For now here's a few pictures taken over the last month.....

A few pictures of the girls at the local playground....

Sprinkler pictures....

Please forgive me....

Sheesh, I guess I've slacking lately on the blog, huh!! It's been over a month now so I have to think about what's been going on. Let's see, Rylee started spring swimming lessons a few weeks ago and is doing great as usual. The coach for Wyo. Hills pool is trying to talk me into getting Rylee on the team this summer but I think we're going to hold off for one more year. I don't want her to start too young and get frustrated. Rylee also had a VERY big day last week, kindergarten sign-ups were Monday morning. She was tested and is ready to go so now we just have to see if she gets into the full day class or if she'll be going half days like most of the kids. Her school only has enough room for one full-day class so it's a lottery to see who gets in. We went to Chuck E Cheese after sign up with a few of the other kids so that Rylee would know them when the big day gets here. Avery has turned into a little chatterbox lately, lol! Her speech is great and very clear for her age as well. She's definitely turning into a little princess though and is more "girly" than Rylee but she'll still hold her own when we have our wrestling matches at night.
Easter was a ton of fun this year. The girls got WAY too much candy but hey, that's part of it, right? We had our egg hunt in the house this year, it was just too cold to be outside at 6:30am in the middle of March! Well, the girls are starting to yell for lunch so I better go feed them before they turn into wild animals. Here's a few Easter pictures for y'all to enjoy.
I'm sure you can figure them out on your own, I'm too lazy to label them today!!

We have snow!!

After a cold but not very snowy winter we finally got enough snow for the girls to go sledding. Rylee was scared at first because she didn't remember doing it last year but once I grabbed her on my way down the hill (mean I know!) she LOVED it. Avery watched for a while but Dale grabbed her too and once the shock of looking down the hill wore off she had fun too.

And a picture of mommy and the girls with the "Kurt Shirts" on before our Daytona 500 party. We had so much fun, TONS of food and of course daddy was drinking Miller Lite for good luck. It must have worked!

And one more picture of daddy and the girls in their "Kurt Shirts". Way to go team Penske!!!

Oh Crud!

Sorry, I know I promised to get the birthday pictures up a few weeks ago but it's been a little crazy around here lately. Both of the girls are sick and it seems like they just keep passing the germs back and forth. Ugh, I hate this time of year for that reason! Anyway, on to the update. Both of the girls had their yearly check-ups a few weeks ago and everything looks great! Avery is right on track with her development and growth and Rylee is now ready for kindergarten next year. The poor girl had to get four shots and hated every minute of it! I took her to ToysRus afterwards to get her the new Hannah Montana CD so she forgave me for the shots. Their party went great, everyone had so much fun and it was nice not having to clean up like we have to when we have the party at our house. The girls got a TON of stuff as usual. Here's a few pictures from the party, enjoy them!

For those that know me best...

This movie is a must see for any woman that is or is about to become a mother. Those that know me best know that my views on birth have changed since becoming a mother, if I could do it all over again I would give birth naturally at a birthing center in the water.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Well, I'm not sure what month we really are in anymore! It's been very warm this week, in the 50's-60's during the day and in the 30's at night. We took advantage of it and went to the museum yesterday. The were only three ducks there but it was still nice to get out of the house for a while. The girls are so excited about their upcoming birthday party. We're having it this weekend at The Work's (of course!). I still can't believe that Rylee will be five next week, wow how time flies! I took her ice skating for the first time last weekend. She had so much fun and only fell a few hundred times, lol! They have big traffic cones there for the smaller kids to push around until they feel confident on their own. Rylee made it around three times at the end without falling and wants to go back soon. Here's a picture, it was taken with a cell phone so it's not the greatest but you get the point.Avery has been chatting up a storm lately. She knows that her birthday is coming and keeps singing "Happy to you", her version of Happy Birthday! The party theme this year is Tinkerbell. Rylee wanted Cinderella but agreed on Tinkerbell since it fits both ages better, Avery really doesn't know Cinderella yet but I'm sure that will change soon. Well, that's the update for now. Check back next week, I'll have some birthday party pictures up. Have a great week!

HO, HO, HO!!!

Wow, where should I even start? The girls had a great Christmas once again. Rylee was SO into it, Avery was in the beginning but got bored with opening presents quickly. Christmas Eve was quite a night. My family came over for dinner and we had a great time. After they left we headed over to a friends house for a Christmas Eve party. While we were there Avery bumped her head so Dale took her upstairs to get her away from everyone. I didn't think anything of it but went up to check on her anyway because she was crying pretty good. Well, she turned around and had blood streaming down her face, she had split her head open along her hairline. I took one look at it and decided that a trip to the ER would be a good idea. We quickly left for the house (we were only 5 minutes away) and as soon as we got home I loaded Avery into my car and took her to the ER while Dale got Rylee into bed so Santa could come. We were home within an hour (record time for our ER!) and Avery is now sporting a lovely super-glued head! Anyway, after that thrill was over everyone went to bed and Santa made it to our house on time. Let's see, Rylee's favorite gifts are her camera and V-Smile game, Avery loves her doll house and Old McDonald puzzle (she's playing with it right now). We got a ball pit for the girls and they absolutely love it. Avery spends most of her day just sitting in it. Now that Christmas is over we have to start planning birthdays! Sheesh, it never seems to end!

Here's a picture of the girls in their ball pit, we have another 100 balls to add it it yet.......