May 3

Lower Macungie Community Center (where our library is located) was celebrating it's 10th Anniversary this week and had an open house this evening.  Daniel was pretty much scared of EVERYthing there, but Katherine had a blast!  She loved that she could climb up into the ambulance and take a look around.

 

 

 The fire truck was fun for one kid...

 And terrifying to the other one.

 Also terrifying to Daniel were these two guys.  Kat loved them!

 

 We had already had a lot of fun before we even entered the community center.  Inside there was lots more fun!

 

 Checking out the animal pelts at the Pool Wildlife Sanctuary table.

 Posing with the money from Embassy Bank.  They had a raffle for a $25 Visa gift card, and I got a call the next day that I won!  I've NEVER won a raffle, and I was even saying exactly that to Brendan as I filled out the slip for this won.  Gotta love free money!

After all the community center fun, we came home and had a little dessert before bedtime.  Katherine had some rainbow sherbet, but had a little problem while eating.

"The sherbet attacked my finger!" is what she said when it dripped on her, and we were cracking up when she showed us what finger got attacked.  *Sarah, I never got an infant picture of her flipping us off, so at last, here it is, we got one and it's a gem.  ;)

May 2

Today was a school day for Katherine in the morning, so it was just me and Daniel. We met up with some playgroup friends at East Texas Park.  Their playground structure is identical to the one in our neighborhood, so D was on familiar turf.  "Big" kids Bella and Riley climbed up the twisty slide, so he wanted to try too.

 He's great at going down the slides on his own now.  He walks up to them, gets down on his knees, turns over and zooms right down safely on his tummy.

 Going for a drive

 A new skill that amazes scares me.  He can now scale the climbing wall!

 Even with all the fun playground equipment to climb on, Daniel and his friend Will had the best time with sticks and mulch.  Boys!

 Silly D  :)

 It was such a nice day outside that I wanted Katherine to have some playground fun also.  We took a walk up to our neighborhood playground after naps.

 

 

 

 Once again, very exciting mulch.

 The climbing at East Texas this morning wasn't a fluke, he did it again!

 

 Brendan called me on his way home from work and we were still playing, so I asked him to drive there instead of going home.  The kids were super excited to see him pull up!

 The first Monday of the month is PJ bedtime storytime at the library.  Katherine loves to go and really enjoys one-on-one time with me or Brendan.  This time she got to see her friend Harper, so she LOVED that.  Some other kids from our playgroup came also, but she only sees and knows Harper, Gwen, and Cole.  Gwen and Cole are 2 year old twins.  When we were going home Katherine said, "That was really fun, Mom!  I got to see TWO friends there - Harper and GwenandCole!" ... Those are two separate people, silly girl.  ;)

 

May 1

I had been looking forward to May 1st for a looong time.  Many, many miles in freezing cold temperatures, snow and ice, geared up with layers, reflective gear and a headlamp during the pre-dawn hours were spent with my neighbor Clare getting ready for the St Luke's Lehigh Valley Half Marathon.  Last year I ran my first 5k in ten years on this date - a big change in one year!  Brendan brought the kids out to cheer for me toward the end of the race near Cedar Creek Park so I got to see them twice at around 11.5 miles and just before 13 miles.  Katherine's cheers of "Go Mommy Go!" were awesome.  I'm looking forward to doing another Half soon!  Here we are at around 4.5 miles(taken by my friend Kami, who's husband R is super fast and came in 10th overall!).

We got home from the race to find balloons on our mailbox and Clare's - and NO idea who left them!  Brendan said they were there well before he and the kids left the house to come watch me.  We later found out that it was Clare's sister Ellen (who we also run with sometimes) had left them.  So nice of her!  Bonus that the kids love playing with them.  :)

We celebrated with a pizza party at Clare's house after naps.  Our kids had a great time playing together and it was a lot of fun!

 

 

 

Whoever wants to run a half marathon in the fall, let me know!  ;)

April 30

Could we just relive this day every day like the movie Groundhogs Day?  We had several moments of the kids playing together nicely ...

 

This silly girl makes us laugh every day.  LOVE her.  :)

This afternoon Katherine and I had a very special time together.  There was a kids race associated with the St. Luke's Lehigh Valley Half Marathon, so I registered her for that when I signed up for my race.  Three- and four-year-olds run 1/8 mile, down Hamilton Street in Allentown.  She had been really excited for it, running laps around the house for weeks and telling everyone she was practicing for her "kids half marathon"!  Here she is in her race shirt and bib number.

We got to meet a few dogs while we waited for the race to start.  She always asks the owners so nicely if she can please pet their dog.

There were two clowns making balloon animals for the kids.  Katherine got a flower - yellow petals, of course.

All lined up and ready to run!  Her age group was allowed to have one parent with them, the older groups ran by themselves.  We ran hand-in-hand down the street together in her very first race, beautiful sunny afternoon, huge smile on her face ... wish I could have froze time.  It was definitely one of those moments I will never forget.

 Receiving her finisher's medal at the end of the race.

 A very proud Katherine wearing her medal.  We found a nice spot on the side of the road and watched the next two age groups (5&6 and 7&8) run their races.  She cheered for them all, yelling "Go 5's! Go 6's!" and "Go 7, Go 8!".

 Mmm... enjoying the chocolate covered Peep they gave her as we watched the other races.

We came home after the race and Brendan left for soccer.  The kids decided to provide me with some pictures to show their prom dates someday.

 

 A little time up at our neighborhood playground in the afternoon.  Katherine still wanted to wear her medal.

 

 

April 29

Katherine is hooked on nightgowns lately.  She LOVES to wear dresses and skirts (ball gowns), so to have a gown to sleep in is perfect for her!

I wish I knew what happened to my baby ... I feel like Daniel looks about three here.  Katherine thinks we need to go back to Disney because his outfit would be perfect at the Polynesian where we stayed last October.