Fall Picnic

Saturday, Ben and I took the boys on a picnic. I made sandwiches and packed some chips and fruit snacks and we headed to Crooked Creek Lake for a few hours. The leaves are really starting to change on the trees and we saw some beautiful views. All Landon wanted to do was eat the leaves and grass. He was driving me crazy because I had to keep swiping out his mouth. Lukas and I came across a black & brown caterpillar and he entertained us for a while. It was very peaceful in the woods with just the four of us.

Our Anniversary

Today's our 2nd anniversary! We have plans to go out on a date tonight. This rarely happens for us with the way that Ben works. We are having Ben's mom watch the boys, and we're heading out for some seafood...Yum. Lukas really wants to go with us, but we told him this is our anniversary date and they were going to stay with Grandma for a couple hours. He said "OK" and asked if we'd bring him some shrimp home. I'm really looking forward to this evening, it's so special since we never get to do this anymore. Thanks to everyone for all the cards, calls and emails for wishing us a happy anniversary! 

Pittsburgh Zoo

Today we took the boys to the Zoo. Lukas hasn't been there in two years and of course this was Landon's first time. It was a great visit because they had a new baby cub (Billy Rae Cyrus-pictured above), this was my favorite part...I love tigers, and two baby elephants (Angelina and Zuri-not sure which one was in the picture). We also got to see the new Polar Bear home, which was awesome. The Aquarium was Lukas and Landon's favorite part. As you'll notice in the one picture, Landon is looking in the huge aquarium and was wailing his head and arms. That is why the picture is sort of out of focus. It was hard to get a good pic of him in the aquarium, he was going nuts. We all had fun!

Kiski Junction Railroad

As most of you know, Lukas is amazed with trains. Since Ben is on vacation, we finally had time to take Lukas to ride the Kiski Junction Railroad in Schenley, PA. It's only 5-10 minutes from our house, but we never can find time with Ben's schedule. Lukas was so excited when we told him last night that we were going to go ride the red train. We rode in the last enclosed passenger car. I took Lukas to the back of the train and went out the back door and he held onto the railing. What a rush and view. I was a little nervous at first, but he held on tight. He absolutely loved it and is still talking about it.

Pumpkin Patch

Ben started his vacation today...WoooHooo! We have 9 days with daddy. This morning we got up early and headed to the pumpkin patch. This year we decided to go back to Schram's Farm. We didn't get to spend too much time at the farm because we had plans to also take Lukas to ride the Kiski Junction Railroad. Lukas was so excited about the train that he didn't really mind getting the pumpkins and heading out without doing the tractor ride, hay bail maze and other stuff that the farm had set up. 

 

My little helper

This weekend was a bit stressful. Landon's getting some more teeth and has been super fussy. Ben worked 12 hours Friday and Saturday night and is going to work 10 hours tonight. I hate when he has to work all weekend and so do the boys, especially Lukas. When Ben left for work Saturday night, Lukas and I made halloween cupcakes. While I was beating the cake mix, Lukas pitched in and fed Landon. He really got into it and was even wiping his mouth. When Landon went down for a little nap, I worked with Lukas on his writing. We have been working hard to teach him how to hold his crayon/pencil and to write is name (Very Stressful!). When he finishes the work, I reward with him putting a sticker on his paper. Ben and I have really noticed a big change in Lukas. Right before our eyes, he's grown into a boy. He's learning how to write, read, brush his own teeth, shower by himself, and the list goes on. He has to do everything himself. He's a really great kid and big help.

Lukas' cabin

One day last week I came home to my living room ripped apart. Lukas had all the dining room chairs together with blankets draped over them to make a cabin. He took all the pillows from the couches and set them around his cabin. Landon even enjoyed crawling in and out.

Boys will be boys

Now that Landon's crawling everywhere, the boys are starting to act more like brothers with the sibling rivalry. Lukas sometimes can get a little rough with Landon and gets into some trouble. He tries to wrestle him and we have to remind him that he's still a baby. Landon sure is tough for 7 months. He can get really mad at Lukas when he's being blocked from toys that Lukas doesn't allow him to have (basically all his Thomas trains). Check out his face in the second pic. It's stressful at times, but it's fun to watch them and teach them about sharing.

Lukas on video

The other day, Lukas got out his "music" birthday card from Grandma and this annoying toy car that makes way too much noise then started dancing a jig to the beat(s). For once, he actually let me get him on video. Enjoy the show!

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear...

Lukas' first assignment was to take his favorite teddy bear to school. The teacher wanted to have the children take in their teddy bears and teach them this teddy bear rhyme:

Two tiny eyes

And a little, round tummy.

Two furry paws

For scooping up honey.

A soft, "snuggable" snout;

ears that listen and care;

When you put them all together,

You have a teddy bear.

He did bring a paper home with this rhyme and there are hand motions to go along with the rhyme. It is very cute. Lukas also colored a picture of a teddy bear. I wanted to post this to show everyone how much better he's getting at staying in the lines. Lukas also told me that he's learning how to cut with scissors as you can see he cut out his teddy bear and pasted it on red construction paper. He's also starting to use more than one color. Last year, he would bring home papers that he had colored and they would only be in one color. 

David & Christina's Wedding

This Sunday was my cousin Dave's wedding. The ceremony took place at Maple Springs Pond Gazebo, South Park, PA. It turned out to be a very hot, beautiful day for an outside wedding. I was so blessed to be part of the wedding party. We sure did have a wonderful time Saturday and Sunday. Congratulations David and Christina! I took 80 pictures with my camera, but I'm only going to post a few. I'll be emailing the entire album once I upload all of them.

BABYZILLA

Lukas has two new nicknames for Landon. #1 is babyzilla and once in awhile he'll call him droolmonster. Haha! Landon started (army) crawling a few weeks ago and now he's pretty much unstoppable. His main attraction is Lukas' toys. Lukas is constantly  getting mad at Landon. This is why he calls him "babyzilla" because he attacks his toys. He doesn't like when Landon "eats" his toys, so now he came up with "droolmonster". I just have to laugh:) At this point, I tell Lukas that it's only going to get worse...lol. Now that Landon's crawling, we really have to watch that Lukas keeps all his "small toys" up and away from Landon. Here a few pics of babyzilla!

1st Day of School

Today was Lukas' 1st day of pre-kindergarden. He is attending the same school as last year, Cardinal Madia Academy, and is back in class with most of the same children as last year. He was really excited about going back. He didn't even give me any trouble about going to bed. This year he starts earlier (8:30 – 11:00), Ben will drop him off and pick him up just like last year since I'll be at work. Ben said that since today was the first day, they let the parents walk the children into their class and Lukas didn't want him to. He wanted to wait like they always do for the teacher to take them in. He said "I'm a big boy"! Now if this was me, I would have probably been crying...haha. Here are a couple pictures Ben took for me since I was working.