The Magical Tooth Fairy

Well, the tooth fairy made her first stop to our house last night and left a trail of stars on her way out. Let me tell you, that tooth fairy really knew how to sprinkle her stars because it took me 20 minutes of vacuuming to get them all up and I'm sure I'll be finding stars for weeks. Anyway, Rylee loved it! Of course last night she went right to sleep like usual with her lost tooth placed safely under her pillow in a bag. I snuck up about an hour later to realize that Rylee had fallen asleep holding on to the bag! CRAP!!! I somehow managed to get the bag out of her hand, took the tooth out of the bag and used that bag for her money ($5) and then I sprinkled some stars in the bag as well before sealing it back up. Then came the fun part, I sprinkled stars from her bed to her window in her bathroom. Well, I woke up to her looking over me, she was soooo excited to show me the money and the trail. She's probably bragging to everyone at school right now, lol!

The Tooth Fairy trail

I wanted to do all gold/silver but Walmart only had multi colored stars.

So yesterday I decided that I really need to get back in shape. I guess most people would consider me in shape but I know what I am capable of doing and, well, let's just say my body doesn't look even close to what it used to look like! I know my body will never be the same after being pregnant twice but my goal is to get back into a bikini next summer and look good wearing it. Rylee has decided that she wants to work out with me and the elliptical is just happy that it will be used for something other than collecting dust, lol! I did 30 minutes on the elliptical yesterday while the girls danced around the living room to the 80's music channel and today we did a Pilate's workout. Did you know that Comcast has FREE Pilate's workouts in their On-Demand section? Let me tell you, that stuff works, my butt and abs. are still burning!

It's out!!

Notice anything different??

Looks like there's a tooth missing!!!!

Yes, the tooth has finally come out! After playing with it most of the morning and then going to school with it hanging sideways (!!!!) Rylee decided to pull it out. Now we're just waiting for her to go to sleep so the tooth fairy (aka. me) can come. I got confetti so I can make a tooth fairy trail from her window to her bed. Yeah, I'm a dork but I think it sounds kind of magical. I have talked to a few people, apparently the going rate for a first tooth is $5.00. Whatever happened to a quarter!?!?!?!?!

Loose tooth and a football game

Hey everyone, I hope you had a great weekend! Rylee FINALLY has a loose tooth. When she was at the dentist in June he told us that her two front teeth were "slightly loose". Well, I could only tell when I really pushed on them so I just kind of blew it off. Rylee woke up Saturday morning and came running into the room telling me to check her tooth. It's as loose as it can be without falling out! So, as I'm checking it I notice that her gums behind it are all white. I was just about to yell at her for poor brushing habits when I realized that the "white stuff" is actually the new tooth that's already through! She's been complaining about her teeth hurting lately and I figured that's what it was but I didn't think the teeth were that close to popping up. Soooooo, keep checking back because I have a feeling that the tooth will be gone by the end of the week. Luckily she had her school pictures taken last Friday so we won't have a "toothless picture".



Let's see..... Friday night we went to the football game (see pic below), Saturday we went mini golfing and then I worked that night. Today was my usual Sunday morning grocery shopping trip followed by a lazy day around the house. Rylee helped me make a pumpkin pie and we had that for dessert tonight. Not much going on this week, school for Rylee, play for Avery, work for Dale and laundry, cleaning, cooking, etc. for me! Hopefully I'll have a picture of Rylee missing her first tooth. What is the going rate for a first lost tooth these days anyway??

The girls right before we left for the game.

Brrrr

Okay, will someone PLEASE tell mother nature that it's not November yet! We woke up this morning to a very chilly house and Mr. Weather Man on T.V. is claiming that it's 49 degrees outside right now. It wouldn't be that bad but Dale likes to sleep with the windows open so I don't realize how cold it is until I jump out of my nice warm spot on the bed and get hit it a cold blast of air. Today is only going to be in the mid 60's and it's going to get down into the 40's tonight so I guess fall is officially rolling in.

Quick update on the girls. Nothing much to report, lol! With Rylee's school schedule we really don't have any time to do anything fun in the morning and by the time she gets home from school I am getting ready to start dinner. We're going to another football game tonight. The girls are very excited about going now that they know what to expect. There just better be hot chocolate there because it's going to be cold! Avery wants a "Wilson shirt" like Rylee's and of course they don't make them that little so I am going to try to be crafty today. I got a plain red shirt and I'm going to use iron on patches, wish me luck! I tried it the other day but I left the iron on too long and melted the patches, oops! Hey, I never claimed to be crafty, I just said that I would TRY!

Oh yeah, I'm going to see Elton John again!!!!!!!! I absolutely love him and he puts on a great show so I can't wait. This will be my second Elton concert, third if you count seeing him with Billy Joel. Yes, that concert was amazing too. I'm going with one of my good friends from work. Our birthdays are the following week so we are using this as a "birthday girls night out". We're going to have so much fun, I can't wait!

Quick Update

Not much going on this week. We're slowly getting into the new school schedule. Rylee loves school so far and doesn't understand why she can't go on the weekends. She also started swimming lessons again. Obviously she knows how to swim but she's now in the advanced class that teaches stroke technique along with basic lifesaving skills. I've decided to not put her in age group swimming this winter. I don't want her getting frustrated (it's very competitive) and honestly I'm not ready to sit through four hour long swim meets yet! I remember those Saturday morning and they are sooooo long for the entire family. That's another reason why I put her back into lessons, it will keep her in the water until swim team starts next summer.

Miss Avery has been going great as usual. She's turned into quite the little fashion diva. I have her pile of winter clothing sitting next to her dresser waiting for the cooler weather to get here. She spends hours just sitting there trying everything on. She will now tell me that she wants a "pretty dress" on and if I pick an outfit out that she doesn't want to wear she gets mad.

We took the girls to their first Wilson football game last week and they loved it! We fully expected them to only last until half-time but they spent the entire game in the stands cheering.

We only took one break and that was for snacks and the potty, lol! Rylee is just getting into the whole school spirit thing so she thought it was pretty cool.

Here's a picture from the game, it was taken with a cell phone so the quality stinks but you get the idea!

Happy Labor Day!

The "unofficial" last day of summer is here and I'm already missing it. The pool closed today so we went for our last swim this afternoon. It was kind of neat, almost every member was there so it was like a big party, we all said our goodbyes and promised to come back next year. This morning we went peach picking with my mom. It started out good, we had planned on only picking enough to eat for the week but we got a little carried away and picked also 30 pounds. Hey, at least we got the discounted rate, lol! When we got home we added the peaches to the big pile of apples and pears that I picked from my parents tree last night. Now I just have to figure out what I want to do with it all. I made apple dumplings for dinner tonight (Yes, it's a Pa Dutch thing, where else can you eat apple dumplings for dinner and not get looked at funny?) and I have peach muffins cooling as we speak. The pears will last longer than the peaches so I think I may make some peach sauce tomorrow. Mmm, it's really good heated up and poured over vanilla ice cream in the middle of winter. I may have to actually buy apples this year. My parents have three trees and none of them look too good yet. I usually make a crock pot full of applesauce to freeze and I'm not sure I'll even get enough apples to do that. I checked the trees last night when I was picking for dumplings and it looks like the deer have been busy eating them already. Oh well, I'm sure the girls will be excited about going back to the orchard to pick apples.

Meet Wilson..

Meet the newest member of our family, lol! His name is Wilson, he loves pats on the head as you walk by him, hates rain (according to Rylee), and his favorite hobby is watching for Rylee's school bus in the afternoon. He did fairly well on the car ride home from Lowe's this morning, he sat in between the girls but he almost fell over because we forgot to buckle him in.


Okay, so it's not a real dog, but the girls think he's pretty cute and Rylee is so proud to display her school spirit! Now I just have to find on of those "Bulldog Country" flags that I see hanging everywhere and we'll be set for the school year!

First day of school...

Rylee had her first day of kindergarten today and LOVED it! We drove her to school but she
requested to ride the bus home and now wants to take the bus every day. Her bus stop is at the end of the block and Avery loves watching for the bus to come. The only bad part, Rylee gets home in the middle of Avery's nap and the district won't let kindergarteners off the bus without a parent/responsible adult there so I need to get Avery up early. I woke Avery up this afternoon by whispering "time to go to the bus stop". Boy, I never saw a child jump up so fast!! She was so excited! Here are a few pictures from the big day............

Getting ready to go in.....

In the lobby where they got lined up...

Coming off the bus and still smiling!

Oh yeah, want a good laugh. We started to potty train Avery last week and she has been doing wonderful with it so far, a few accidents but those are to be expected. This afternoon the girls were playing outside on the playset and all of the sudden Avery comes running up to me telling me that she pooped in her cotton training panties. Apparently she had decided to take one more quick ride down the slide before coming to me because when I looked up I saw an eight foot long smear of poop going down the slide!!!! EWWWWW!! I guess it came out of the sides of her panties when she sat down at the top of the slide. Dale came home just in time to see me getting the hose ready and when he found out what it was he nearly fell over laughing. Ugh, it was nasty!

Happy 50th birthday mom!!

My mom turned 50 this weekend and we had a surprise party last night for her (yes, my parents are very young!). Everyone had a great time and I think we really surprised her! Here are a few pictures from the big bash....

Ahh yes, a party isn't complete until it has an embarrassing cake

Surprise!!

Happy birthday to you!!

Mom and dad, still looking good!

You might be a swimmer...

I found this somewhere and sadly, I understand all of this and have actually done most of it.



You might be a swimmer...

>If whenever you hear an electronic beep, and you instinctively jump, you might be a swimmer.
>If you have rings around your eyes unrelated to the amount of sleep you got, you might be a swimmer.
>If waking up before dawn to exercise seems normal, you might be a swimmer. (You might also be crazy)
>If jamming a piece of Styrofoam between your legs is not a kinky sexual activity, you might be a swimmer.
>If bugs die of chlorine poisoning when they land on your skin, you might be a swimmer.
>If you sport long, curling hair with split ends on your legs, you might be a swimmer.
>If the phrase "This set with fins" is better than hearing "You just won $1000," you might be a swimmer.
>If you answer, "I don't need to" when someone asks when you showered last, you might be a swimmer.
>If you love a good lightning storm when you have outdoor practice, you might be a swimmer. [hahahaha so so so true]
>When you learn how to squirt water 15 different ways, you might be a swimmer.
>When your long term goal is to slap your bicep on your lat, you might be a swimmer.
> When you wake up before six for the free doughnuts, you might be a swimmer.
>When you go through so much latex in one season you could wallpaper your room, you might be a swimmer.
>If a friend asks how a certain guy dresses and you reply, "I only see him without his clothes on" you might be a swimmer. [SPEEDOS!!!]
>If your friends have stopped asking you about your plans for the evenings, you might be a swimmer.
>If you go from store to store desperately trying to find your favorite sports drink, you might be a swimmer.
>If the first place you go when you're stressed out is a swimming pool, you might be a swimmer.
>If among your heroes are Janet, Jenny, or Amanda, or you know who I'm talking about, you might be a swimmer.
>If your daily apparel is held together by knots or is torn and see through, you might be a swimmer.
>If you have an inhaler in every color of the rainbow, you might be a swimmer.
>If the phrase, "50 double armed backstroke with a breast stroke kick¡± makes you happier than anything, you might be a swimmer.
>If being fish-like is a compliment, you might be a swimmer.
>If your friends don't even call you anymore because they know that you have no time to do anything, you might be a swimmer.
>If your nightmares consist of a series of numbers ending in 0 or 5, you might be a swimmer.
>If you have hickeys on your neck, you might be a swimmer or you might be lucky.
>If you sweat chlorine even after showering, you might be a swimmer.
>If you just don't understand the charm of the swim suit edition, you might be a swimmer.
>If getting smacked on the butt doesn't bother you at all, you might be a swimmer.
>If someone asks if you have any siblings and you start listing teammates, you might be a swimmer.
>If you cut yourself every time you shave, because you only do it 3 or 4 times a year and are out of practice, you might be a female swimmer.
> If you are determined, strong, smart and tough, you might be a swimmer.

And to add one last one... if your fingers are stained red from eating powdered Jello
every Saturday morning at the meets you might be an age-group swimmer.

Hersheypark Pics.

A word to the wise.... When staying overnight near Hersheypark DO NOT stay at the Red Carpet Inn and Suites in Palmyra. Ugh, it was nasty, the room stank like an old cabin, there was dirt under the beds and the air conditioner was leaking so bad that the carpet was wet under it. We made the mistake of booking online without really researching it much and we have learned our lesson! I didn't expect it to be anything like the Hershey Hotel but come on, I expected them to at least clean the popcorn up from under the beds! As promised, here are a few pictures from our mini vacation!

At Chocolate World...

Meet Mr. Hershey Bar!

On the Fun Slide with Avery...

All aboard!

My tiny little girl, what a princess!

On her first "big girl" coaster, Trailblazer

Before the ride started, Avery didn't look so good after it was over!

Yeah, she looks "Hersheypark happy"!!

Another sick child...

When it rains it pours in this house and today we have another sick child to deal with. Rylee started to complain of a headache last night but I thought it was just from the paint fumes that got into the house (Dale was spray painting right outside the door). Well, this morning she woke up with her head still hurting, her belly upset and a fever of 102. She's such an active child so when she gets sick she really feels it. She camped out on the couch this morning watching The Bee Movie and now she's taking a bath to "wash the germs away".

Hersheypark was so much fun! The weather was perfect and the lines were not bad at all! It was a little chilly for the waterpark but that didn't stop Rylee from splashing around for a while. Avery went on her first "big girl" rollercoaster and liked it. I'll post the pictures later this week.

Another little swimmer in the family....

Miss Avery has a new talent, swimming! The summer started off with her being very clingy in the water and now she's a little fish! Her new thing, diving off the bottom step of the pool and swimming underwater to me a few feet away. She's so cute, she keeps her eyes open and kicks her little feet until she reaches me. I took her into the deep end yesterday to see how she would do and she dove right off the wall into 6 feet of water and swam to me, I was about five feet away. I didn't expect this to happen so of course the camera was at home, hopefully I'll get some good pictures of her soon.

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)