our week

Monday was great.  Reason #1: Carl was off.  Reason #2: We met Dave, Gina and the kids at the Pitman parade.  Reason #3: We had the traditional July 4th BBQ went to Friendly’s for dinner and ice cream.  Reason #4: We went back to Pitman for fireworks.  Connor and Emily kept telling me it was “the best day ever”.

I have to admit that the picture above is actually a “pretend you’re looking at fireworks” picture.  I wanted a picture of them watching fireworks but knew it would be hard to capture once the fireworks actually started if the kids reacted to the noise.  It was Carl’s brilliant idea. 

Tuesday, another fun day.  We went to our nephew Andrew’s 4th birthday party.  Despite the 102 degree weather, the kids had a great time outside with the petting zoo and pony rides.

Wednesday, Connor swam on his own for the first time.  This really deserves its own blog title so I won’t get blogger-mom-of-the-year for that.  It was his 4th lesson and at one point Skylar (his teacher) threw the kickboard across the lane and told him to swim to it…and he did!  Then she had him floating on his back and she let go and told him to kick his feet to the rope…and he did!  He was so excited and I was so proud of him (and secretly really glad that he wasn’t the boy in the next lane over crying and screaming when his teacher tried to get him to swim with a noodle). 

Thursday, we started our summer music class and were pleasantly surprised to see Nicole, Emma and Maddie in class with us.  They are cousins of my cousin Danielle’s husband Jeff (I know, confusing)…point being that we see them at all of Danielle and Jeff’s functions so the girls know them too and although they didn’t show their excitement during music class, it’s all Emily talked about on the way home.  She kept saying things like, “I can’t believe Emma is in my class” and “Mom, isn’t it funny that Emma is in my class”.  I kept reminding her that she has a little sister Maddie too…and that she was there and then Cam would chime in “yeah Maddie too”.  It was cute.  Emily wants to know where Cambelle and Chloe are though…but we’ll let Aunt D off the hook since Kenna is only one week old. ;)

welcome kenna

Welcome to the family Kenna Hope Botbyl! Danielle and Jeff had their third girl on July 2nd....healthy and beautiful. I was able to get up to the hospital to see them on Saturday, thus the pics below.

Welcome to the world little girl.

summer fun has begun

We hit the ground running our first two official days off from school for the summer.  The first day, I got out the new water ball and water slide that I picked up from Target and the kids had fun getting wet. 

The second day, we went to Storybook Land.  It was my first visit and a first for the kids.  Carl had been there as a kid.  I still can’t believe it was basically right in my own backyard and I had never been there.  It ended up being the perfect day…it was hot but low humidity and it was EMPTY. 

Last weekend ended with Carl, Connor and Pop Pop Heil going to the first Philadelphia Union game.  It was so hot but they had fun.  It’s awesome to have our very own MLS team now and especially right over the bridge and in Chester, PA…20 minutes away. 

Yeah Soccer…Go Union!

school's out...kind of

School (for Connor) and work (for me) was officially done on June 23rd. I, however, still have work to do. Paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork and unfinished case management responsibilities that has unfortunately meant that I have been back at work for a few hours per day. But, it's still summer and there is something to be said for not having to set an alarm for 5:30 a.m. and not having to be somewhere by a certain time. I have to admit though, my workload has been looming over me this past month because I knew that it was going to be an impossible task to get it done by the last day of school. I was hoping for July 2nd. That has passed. Now I'm hoping for July 5th to be my last day. We'll see.

I was going to post about the kids' outside water fun and trip to Storybook Land last week but I'm realizing that it's too late for me to do this and I should already be asleep. I'm actually only up because I have do-it-yourself, firework-shooting neighbors who keep waking up my kids. Thank a veteran, be grateful for your freedom but please, don't shoot off fireworks in your backyard. They're illegal, and they're annoying to all of the people who have animals and small children. July 4th...bah humbug.

Next post..."summer fun has begun".

fun-filled weekend

We had a busy, busy weekend.  We fit three events in this weekend…a visit to see Thomas the Tank Engine, Monster Jam and a Heil Family Baptism.  We were constantly on the go but it was so much fun!

This was our third visit to the Strasburg Railroad to see Thomas the Tank Engine.  Our first was when Connor was 2 and a half, our second visit was when he was almost 4 (and Emily was 6 months) and now the visit was for the girls.  He’s been over Thomas for a while now that he is 6 and a half but he didn’t mind going along for the ride.  A few weeks ago I dug his old train table out of the basement and set up the tracks and Thomas trains for Emily and Camryn.  They’ve been having a lot of fun with them so I thought they’d like to visit the real Thomas, just as Connor had.  They were so excited to see him and take a ride on the real Thomas.

 

Monster Jam came to “The City of Monsterly Love” so Carl, Connor and I got tickets with Paul, Sherry, Christian & Carter and Dave, Gina, Justin, Andrew & Landon.  It was awesome!

We arrived in time for the “Party in the Pits” where we got to get up close to several monster trucks.  The best part was Connor getting to meet and get the autograph of his favorite monster truck driver, Jim Koehler, who drives Avenger.  

Me and the hubby

Monster trucks in action

Heil family cousins after the show

And here’s how they finished up their weekend at the party celebrating their newest Heil cousin, Kenzie… 

excited

Excited is not a word I often, or really ever, use to describe myself.  If I’m happy about something that happened or looking forward to something and someone says to me, “Are you excited?”, it never really feels right to say “Yes!”  It’s just not me.  But I love to solve problems and get organized so when I do both at the same time, well let me tell you, that is about as close to excited as I can get.

So here was the problem…

  Specifically this area…

And here is the solution…

I love baskets but my baker’s rack was out of control and the baskets just weren’t cutting it.  Some were storing things I just didn’t need and others just weren’t big enough to store what I wanted.  So, I got rid of two of them, threw out some stuff that I didn’t need anymore, relocated some things and most importantly, found this AWESOME shoe storage bench online to solve the problem of the kids’ shoes.  That mess of shoes on the bottom shelf had been killing me for months.  As much as I tried, I could not keep it organized and I could never find the other shoe when looking for a pair.  This bench is the perfect solution because it’s practical, functional and it’s orderly…just like me! 

So after my purchase (props to my wonderful husband for putting it together for me) and some time spent reorganizing the area, here is what it looks like now…

I am pretty close to excited! ;)