Preston playing soccer and building a lego plane:

From Preston: Our weekends are FULL lately.  The highlight of last weekend was a trip to Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve.  This was a "Mommy-adventure" day, which doesn't always pan out the way we hope, but this one actually worked out ok!  We took a picnic lunch with us, and had a good time once we got there!  We found a little picnic table to eat,  there were some fun activities for kids inside the visitors center, and we went on a short walk with a naturalist who told us all about the native forests of Pennsylvania.  I took some awesome pictures while we were on the walk.  
We were there because Mommy wanted to check out the native plant nursery and buy a few things for our garden.  I picked out a beautiful tree, and I check on it almost everyday to make sure that it is doing ok in our yard!

 

From Luke:
I had a good time at the picnic in the woods.   I mostly got to sit in the stoller, but I also did some of the fun activities.  My favorite part of the day was my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I started my sandwich during the picnic, and took tiny little bites.  Mom and Dad and Preston were done with all of their lunches before I even made a small dent in my half-sandwich, so I got to take it with me in the stroller.  I savored that sandwich.  I took tiny bites and enjoyed every moment.  Nearly an hour later I finally finished my sandwich, but boy was it good.

From Preston:
This weekend has been busy, too.  Yesterday I had my first soccer practice.  It was so fun!  I was the fastest kid on the orange team, and I made sure that I always got to use the yellow ball.  We did some fun drills and switched around to different soccer practice stations before it was time to head home.  I really loved it, and I’m excited to go back next week!

From Luke:
While Preston and Daddy stayed at soccer, Mom and I went to Target to exchange some things.  I asked for Daddy the whole time, and when we got back to soccer practice Mom realized that she had lost my shoe somewhere along the way.  I got to stay with Daddy while she went back to Target to find my shoe (she did!), and then we headed off to Gavin’s Birthday Party.  Preston and I both had an  awesome time at Gavin’s Party.  Mom and Dad LOVE how independent I am, and I don’t mind doing things all by myself.  I even managed to insert myself into the big-kid activities at the party.  They were all doing an obstacle course to find some buried treasure, and I figured out the pattern of activities and did them all myself.  Nothing slows me down.
Preston’s favorite part of the party was digging for pirate treasure in the sandbox.  He got a ton of gold coins and jewels.  I just liked digging.  I didn’t know what I was looking for.

From Mommy:

Luke has been adding more words everyday lately.  We knew this time would finally come!  Some of the new additions include: choo-choo train, drink, juice, kitty, baby, and mine.  It’s very cute.  I LOVE how independent he is.  He still obviously needs help with some things, but he finds toys to play with and figures them out all by himself.  He’s persistent and analytical.  We recently discovered that he loves babies, too.  That’s a bonus.  He loves to visit the baby room at school and make them all laugh.  And at the party on Saturday there was a little baby.  She got sad when her Mommy put her in her car seat, but the second Luke heard her cry he ran over to see what the problem was.  She cheered up when she saw a little person paying attention to her.  It was a cute moment.

Today I finally finished the 4 curtains in the living room, a project that has been looming for months.  They were SO difficult, mostly because of my poor fabric choice, and broke my machine, numerous needles, and were all around a huge pain.  John finally incentivized me with the promise of Louboutins if I finished them before October.  I hunkered down this morning and got it done.  Louboutins are coming my way. 

From Preston:

We went to Dorney Park yesterday for Grandparent’s day with Gigi and Grandpa.  It was our first trip ALL season!  And we probably won’t be going back again until next year.  We have season passes for next summer, though, so we can go more often.  My FAVORITE ride of the day was the wild mouse.  I rode it will all the adults, except Mommy, because she is too pregnant.  Gigi didn’t like it because it whips you around too much.  We had a fun day, and I didn’t stop moving once. 

I also started Junior Choir at church last week.  Grandma picked me up early from school so that I could go to choir.  I was nervous about going at first, but when I got there I realized it was a KIDS choir, with other kids.  That made it more fun, and I got to be the line leader in the Marching parade, because I go there first!  I picked the triangle instrument to play.  I think I’ll try it again this week.  We get to sing in church a few times, too.

Last night as I was helping Daddy blow the leaves off of the driveway I noticed a lot of worms on the driveway because of the rain!!  Since it’s really tough to find worms at Dyken Pond, I decided that I would collect as many worms as I could from the driveway and keep them safe until we could go to Dyken Pond again to go fishing.  Mommy gave me a container for them, and Daddy dug up some compost.  Later we decided that they probably wouldn’t live long enough in the container to make it to Dyken Pond again, so we are going to let them live in our compost heap until the spring.  Then we can dig them up again and take them with us to the lake. 

Preston Quotes:
(Talking about red Gatorade)
“Mommy, guess what this juice is made out of…. Strawberries and LIGHTENING”

From Luke:

I had a fun time at Dorney Park this year!  My favorite ride was the race car ride, because Preston could do it with me, but I loved some of the other rides, too.  I sometimes get a little scared when I am up high in a ride, but Mommy or Daddy are with me, so it's ok.

When I was reading an alphabet book with Daddy last night I was sitting nicely and listening to the words until Daddy got to Y for Yak.  And I said "Yak!" and laughed.  It's a silly word.  After that I excited to read the book again and try a lot more of the words!  But "Yak" is still pretty silly.

I love to help out around the house and do what Mommy does.  I'm really good at throwing things in the garbage, getting snacks out of the pantry and fridge, picking up toys, and wiping up messes with a towel.  I'm a good helper!

I love to dance and do silly walks like marching, penguin walking, and kicking my legs out in front of me.  One night when all the lights were out in my room and Mommy was trying to put me to bed, I climbed out of her lap, walked over to the baby bouncy seat in the corner of the room, turned on the music switch, and I a sweet dance party in the dark with Mom.  Who says the music on a baby seat is supposed to be sweet and soothing?  I can really get down to the tinny metallic nursery tunes.

On Tuesday night Mom was still out grocery shopping when it was my bedtime, so Dad had to do everything by himself.  He's pretty good at bedtime, but sometimes he forgets a step or two.  This time he did everything right up until he put me in my bed.  Mom usually puts the blanket on top of me and tucks it in around my tummy and puts the musical sea horse right next to me.  When Daddy did this step he only put the blanket on top of me.  I got offended and motioned with my arms to tuck the blanket in, and I told Daddy "Stuck!"  He eventually figured out that he needed to tuck me in, and all was well with bedtime again.

30 minutes later when Mom came in to check on me I was sound asleep, turned around, and the blanket was on the other side of the crib.  It's going through the motions that counts, Daddy.

From Lukey:

Last night, when we got home from the lake, Mom put me in my hand-me-down Thomas the Tank Engine pajamas.  They are SUPER fun, and I like to point to all the Thomases and say things like "Duh" and "dee" and "Uh?."  I really like the choo-choos.  I like them so much that I got REALLY upset with Mom when she took them off of me to change me into clothes for school.  Mom couldn't figure out what my tantrum was about at first.  I don't usually get upset about putting clothes on.  But when I threw myself on the floor crying and then stood up and ran over to the hamper where she threw my beloved Thomas jammies, she put two and two together that I wanted to wear my Thomas jammies forever.  Preston even explained to me that I can't wear jammies to school everyday, but that I can wear my Thomas jammies when it is pajama day.  I eventually got over it when Dad took me downstairs to eat breakfast, but I hope Mom starts to realize that I am a big boy with developing preferences.  These things are important!

I had a good time at the lake this weekend.  My word of the weekend was "stuck" and I use it quite a bit now.  It's a very useful word when I need help with a toy, or getting down.  I also use the word "Grammuh" for Grandma (and most other people.  Some of my favorite activities where climbing up and down any stairs I could find, clicking the belt on my booster seat, swimming with Tia Deb, MANY wheelbarrow rides - including the elongated naked ride when I was being grouchy about putting clothes on, multiple naps a day, waking up before 6am for the day, unloading ALL of the lawn toys out of the shed, climbing in and out of adirondak chairs, "fishing" for fishies in the bucket  (pulling them out of the water with my bare hands), following the big kids around, and snoozing in the hammock.

This was my second croquet tournament.  I enjoyed the first 15 minutes being sure to march all over the course, move a few balls around, terrorize the players with my sweet dinosaur, and then be handed over to Grandma for naptime.  It was memorable.  I wore a Santa hat for the silly hat picture, and then took it off.

This was also my first time participating in a Treasure hunt to Treasure Island.  I cooperated enough to wear a life jacket in the canoe so I was allowed to go along for the fun.  Preston didn't want to share any of the treasure with me, though.

From Preston:
I REALLY improved two lake powers this weekend: fishing and swimming.  I caught 3 fish in one morning!  I'm going to ask Santa to bring me a Golden Batman Fishing pole so I can be even better at fishing.  By the end of the weekend (and ironically the season) we discovered my swimming confidence with the yellow life jacket.  I had been using my floaty for most of the summer, but the life jacket REALLY makes me float in the water.  I swam with Debbie and Grandpa all the way across the lake to Blueberry Island, first stopping at pickerel Island.  And then we swam to Treasure Island just to say we made it to all 3, and then finally back to the beach.  Grandpa says that it was the longest swim ever made by a 4 and a half year old, and he would know!  It really made tired, though.

The pirates left us one treasure this time: candy bars.  They came while I was supposed to be snoozing.  I tried to look out the window to see them (because Daddy told me they wouldn't come if I was looking out the window), but I didn't see anything.  Behold, though, those sneaky, but not-so-savvy pirates left their treasure map in plain sight!  Lukey came along on the treasure hunt, but he didn't find the treasure, I did.

I had a fun time playing with Stella all weekend.  I gave her a tour of my house and the barn.  She really liked the loft; it's fun to climb the ladder to get there. 

My other favorite things at the lake this summer were: hide-and-seek on blueberry island, picking blueberries, shoveling rocks onto the road from the rock pile (I also plan to ask Santa to bring me my OWN rock pile), eating lunch by myself al-fresco, finding worms under rocks and logs, finding frogs and salamanders, building things with Daddy like a bird house and a tool box, toasting marshmallows, and reading "the three little pigs."  It was a fun season at the lake.  Maybe Grandpa will take me up one more time this fall, but we don't have any plans for that, yet.

Last week I started Pre-K at School!!  Jace and I made a dinosaur scene using some figurines and some sticks, grass and rocks that we found outside.  So far I like Pre-K.  
This week I also start Junior Choir rehearsals.  This is a new activity for me, so I'm a little nervous about going.  When Mom told me that I could go I said "no thank-you," but then I changed my mind and agreed to just watch.  Grandma has to pick me up early from school so that I can get there on-time, so that's an added bonus.  And Grandma can stay with me at choir if I want her to the first time, so that will be ok.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Next week we add in Gymnastics, and the following week I start soccer, so this is going to be a VERY busy fall.

Quotes:
Me reading: "This plane has lowered its landing gear"
Preston pointing to the words: It's like magic that all these words say - This plane already has it's landing gear down.
Me: Well, no, it's READING not magic, and it reads "This plane has lowered its landing gear"

Preston, too, will one day do the magic of reading.

From Mommy:
I'm craving gummy bears.  Or they just taste good.  Either way I eat way too many.
I'm 17 weeks pregnant on Thursday.  I'm looking round and wearing my belly band with my regular clothes.  I'm feeling 2nd trimester good, although the first trimester with this baby was my easiest of the 3.  If the old wives tales about girls "stealing your beauty" are true, then it's likely this one is a girl.  I felt beautiful and glowy with both boys.  I feel gross and dull and not beautiful with this one.  

This was a weekend of making stuff.  I started and finished knitting the sleeve to a sweater, and John made a tool box (with the help of Preston) AND a miniature Adirondak chair (from scratch!).  John also helped with some demolition which made my Mom super excited, and I made homemade bread.  

It definitely helps to have extra grown-ups to play with/supervise the kids.  Luke is getting much more independent and we all noticed how much he has improved with overall safety awareness.  He didn't try to hurt himself/fall into the lake every 5 minutes.  We are starting to getting some of our own independence back.... just in time to have another baby.  

Mini Adironak Chairs for sale!  Inquire within.

Link to full photo album