Halloween preview

There was an early sale on costumes at Kmart and I had a Sears/Kmart gift card burning a hole in my pocket, so I let the boys pick their costumes out themselves for the first time this year. We looked online at all our options and they decided these were the ones they wanted.

I'm so very glad






because our home feels much safer with two superheroes living in it!

Home grown

This year, we tried our hand at growing a few new fruits and vegetables in a sunny bed beside the house. There was a strawberry patch and a raspberry bush here when we moved in, which yielded us oodles of berries at the beginning of summer, but we also tried a few cherry tomatoes (we got three total and they are still green), a watermelon, and an eggplant.

The eggplant is still growing nicely, but yesterday, we were able to harvest our watermelon after weeks and weeks of waiting patiently for it to be ready.

The boys were so proud and excited to cut it open and eat it. It was delicious, but more importantly, the experience gave us the chance to teach them what we hope will be a lifelong skill:

seed spitting!

Making Whoopie

Maybe it's the rolling hills. Maybe it's the acres of farm land. Maybe it's the romantic clip-clop of horse and buggies passing outside, but if there's one thing people in Lancaster County, Pa. know about, it's making whoopie pies.

And with three little boys

under four years of age,

Patrick and I know a little about making whoopie pies ourselves.

But this is something that even we don't know how to make!

Mystery trip

It's hard to believe that it was a whole year ago that we first took the boys to see Thomas the Tank Engine. Remember this photo? PJ was only about 17 months old. Too young to remember.

One of the benefits of having kids who wake at the butt crack of dawn is that we can frequently do early morning outings in the cool of the day and be back home in time for lunch and naps. We're out at parks or the mall well before the crowds arrive. With three boys, another favorite spot is the nearby Strasburg Railroad, where we'll walk around and watch the engineers get ready for a day on the rails. The most thrilling part is watching the steam engines fill with coal and water and pull into the station to couple up to the passenger cars. The engineers are so kind and friendly. It's free entertainment and the boys love pointing out the knuckle, dome, whistle, and coal tenders.

(We know all the terms already going in.)

Can you name that movie?

Anyway, I knew Thomas was coming to Strasburg soon, and when I looked it up online last night, I realized he was there NOW. So this morning, I told the boys we were taking a Mystery Trip right after breakfast and we went to see him.

As we got close (but not too close) Jack recognized the route as being the one we take to go to the railroad. So by the time we got there, they knew where we were headed, and were excited enough about watching the engines, but they still did not know that Thomas was going to be there.

I love surprising them like that. They were both so excited.

Totally made it worth the fact that I didn't have time to take a shower.

We were able to snap a few pictures with Thomas as they were cleaning him up before he pulled into the station. Only the two Thomases were looking at me, despite my twenty seven "Look at Mommy!" requests.

Finally, a kind father saw my plight and said, "Hey, boys - look over here!"

(Kids, are you noticing all this plight? **gun shots** Roll 'em up!)

Can you name that movie?






Would have been nice if he were standing near me, but ah, well. At least I can see their faces.
I can't tell you how much I love these ones of them posing by the train. PJ's "cheese" always has me in hysterics.

I love how all three of my boys have, as babies, just sort of put their feet up on the stroller and lounge. It cracks me up.

After getting a few small Thomas-related items in the shop (because we do not have enough of those already), it was time to see Sir Topham Hatt in all his splendor. PJ was so excited while we were waiting in line. "I'm going to give him a hug!" he kept saying.

Then he saw him.

He wasn't quite as normal-looking as PJ had imagined and he was more than a little uneasy, but he did give him a hug. We had the option of buying pictures from the station photographer or giving the aid our camera and having her snap a few pictures. I figured I'd take my chances with package B. Here's what we got, completely unedited.

I love how that realistic-looking tarp in the background makes it look like we're really on the island of Sodor. I think she realized that maybe the grommets across the top are not really supposed to be in the picture, and then came these two:

Jack is all business. He's not about to mess up his chances at being an actual conductor with the Sodor Railway. If he can just nail this encounter with the big guy, then he's a shoo-in.

I kept telling them that PJ's name was "PJ" (which, I believe I was actually in the process of saying when this picture was being taken). Still, they continued to call, "DJ? TJ? Look, TJ!"


So close.

Oh well, I edited it a little bit at home and here's our memento from our morning Mystery Trip to see Thomas.

And a good time was had by all!

The Dinosaur Sleepover

The boys like to type on our computer, and I'll often open a Word document for them to make letters and see what they're writing. Jack sees Patrick and I typing rather quickly (ahem) and so he is frequently pretending that he is typing quickly too and will start talking while he's typing.

One day, he said he was writing a story, so I asked him if he would like me to type it for him. He said he would, so this is his story - The Dinosaur Sleepover.

Once upon a time there was a baby dinosaur, a pteranodon named Rex.

His mommy thought she would keep him forever and ever, but she was wrong. (!?)

One day a big brachiosaurus came to visit and was nice. His name was Rex too.

They played a game of hide and seek together.

Then they had a snack. The pteranodon had fish and the brachiosaurus was an herbivore so he ate a leaf pizza.

The brachiosaurus came to visit for a sleepover. The sun went down quick like on Dinosaur Train and the two dinosaurs went to bed. The pteranodon slept in a nest and his mother made a special leaf bed for the brachiosaurus. It was big.

They had a good sleep and they just had good dreams, not bad dreams.

The next morning, they ate breakfast. Then they finished playing their game of hide and seek.

The brachiosaurus’s mother said it was okay for him to sleep overnight again!

The sun went down quick again and the dinosaurs went to sleep.

I loved hearing his thoughts and listening to him come up with the story with very few promptings of, "and then what happened?"

He and PJ have just started to become so imaginative in their play together. It's a joy to listen to!

Big baby, amusement park antics, and one precious preschooler

Thomas is growing so quickly, I can hardly keep up. He is 7 months old now, was 22.3 pounds at his physical two weeks ago, and is wearing 18-24 month clothes. Makes that whole clothes bin-rotation process almost ridiculous.

He quickly went from sitting up to crawling and is now pulling himself up on things regularly. I'm so not ready for him to walk, but I fear it's coming sooner than I would like.

He loves to eat. Loves loves loves it. No struggling, no grabbing the spoon, just mouth constantly open awaiting the next bite. He is great at picking up little puffs and putting them in his mouth...which means he's also great at picking up crumbs, dirt, sand, and paper off the floor and putting it in his mouth too.

Vacuum, Mommy. Vacuum!

He also loves taking a bath and has recently made the transition from the baby bath above to the big boy bathtub with his brothers.



He is rarely not grinning from ear to ear, even while cutting teeth.

He loves swinging at the playground - something both of his older brothers were a little scared of at this age. We are just having so much fun with our Big Baby.

This year, in lieu of a family vacation, we decided to buy season passes to a local children's amusement park, Dutch Wonderland.

The park is about 15 minutes away and the passes have paid for themselves several times over.
The boys absolutely love it, and PJ asks at least once a week if we can go to "Da Wundawand."

We recently took a trip to New Hampshire to visit family and friends. Because Patrick's mom was in the hospital, it wasn't an ideal situation, but the visit was still so nice.

One day, while Patrick was busy, I took the three boys into Boston for a Duck Tour. While on the Charles River, the boys got to drive the Duck boat, which they absolutely loved.

Aaargh! Jack's a pirate!

And PJ was having a blast - really turning the wheel every which way. I think the tour guide was not prepared for him to actually steer that much!

This year, Jack also started preschool at our church. While I think I might like to homeschool them one day, at this point, it's just too difficult to have one-on-one time with Jack while also caring for PJ and Thomas in our small house.

He absolutely loves school.

(Actually, I think it might be just the excuse to wear the backpack that he loves.)

He had his first week this past week, attending Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and when he gets there, he doesn't even look back.

Some kids are painfully shy.

Our kids are painfully outgoing.

They're all up in your grill asking questions and introducing themselves.

It's adorable.

So here are a few pictures of the boys on the first day of school.

PJ, of course, had to have a backpack too, so I got him a mini one (both are Toy Story themed) that's just big enough to hold his juice and a snack...and his favorite toy: Buzz Lightyear.

And here's my Jackie, looking like such a big boy.

I can hardly believe how quickly the time has gone.

That's how it is nowadays. We are so very busy, but so very blessed.

Has it really been that long?

May 4th was the last post?

Disgraceful.

I'll be updating soon with stories of summer fun and loads of new pictures, including one of our new little preschooler - Jack!

Thanks for checking in!

Three little boys + lots of fun + no sleep = not much time for blog posts

...but there are lots of tales to tell!