Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

On Monday, we took Natalee to Chocolate World and Candy Cane Lane at Hersheypark . We had some free tickets. It took us 30-45 minutes to figure out how to get into the parking lot. No kidding. They've changed it since the last time I've been there. Lesson #1= Do not drive the wrong way into a parking lot. Read the signs. We seriously kept driving around the parking lot wondering, "How do we get in there?" After we finally parked, we first went into Chocolate World to go on the free ride that shows the process of making chocolate. Here were the singing cows: Then, we had some time to burn before the park opened. We had some overpriced food in Chocolate world that was not good tasting. Lesson #2 = bring your own food and drink next time. It was nice that we had prepurchased tickets and a stroller because we got to go into a special line, which meant not waiting in the really long line to get into the park. We first stopped at the merry-go-round. Natalee w...

Jesse, Dad, Natalee, and I went to the Lady Lion basketball game on Sunday afternoon. During the second half, she was fighting sleep. The Nittany Lion came over to say hi to Natalee, which she loved. She gave him 5. But then, he bent over for her to ruff up his ears, and that was too much! She burrowed herself into my arm. Well, she accidentally stayed that way too long and fell asleep in that awkward position! Too bad that was at the end of the game. We had to wake her up to leave. It wasn't nearly enough sleep for her. Soon after we dropped Dad off in McAlevy's Fort, she fell into a deep sleep in the car. She did not even wake up when we got home, so we just kept checking on her!

We had a nice Christmas with lots of food and family. This was an exciting Christmas because Natalee was a lot more involved this year. She sat on her little bench to open her presents here at our house. Grandma and Grandpa Honn got her the Belly Button book, so, of course, she showed us her belly button! It took Natalee a long time to open her presents because she was very deliberate and precise. She gently tore the paper and made sure that each little piece of paper was picked up. I guess I should have guessed this since she is my little vacuum cleaner, picking up microscopic dirt from the carpet to throw out. After our presents were opened, Natalee helped Jesse play with his Christmas toy. After we were done opening presents and playing with the presents, we went to Pappy and Grammy Yoder's house for breakfast and more gift giving. Natalee helped me pass out the presents to everyone. Natalee loved the hat that Aunt Kate received so much that she had to wear it. And, she...

We had a white elephant gift exchange on Christmas Eve at the Sharp family dinner. Here are a few of the great gifts that were given. Aunt Lois received a lovely blond wig: Uncle Rick received some fancy undergarments. Dad got a decorative light-up flamingo. After the gift exchange, I walked into the TV room and found Natalee on Pap Sharp's rocking chair.

Natalee had a fun time hanging around Aunt Kate. Here, she's watching Corbin and Easton chase after a toy. However, she is about to break out her super ball , which is a lot cooler. The kiddos sat still for a few seconds. Easton , Kaitlyn, Corbin, and Natalee The guys checking in on the Steeler game. Natalee showed everyone else how to dance to the bluegrass music. At home, she asks for the bluegrass satellite radio station to be turned on all the time. Then, she has a hoedown.

They are in the National Championship game tonight vs. Stanford. We spotted us in some photos from last weekends regional games at PSU, in the PSU volleyball photo gallery. Natalee is pointing at the Nittany Lion in the first picture.

The Penn State women's volleyball team won the region this evening by beating Cal in three straight sets. Now, they are headed to the Final Four in Omaha. Penn State has not lost a set in a game this year. I think the last game they lost was one that I witnessed in the regional final two years ago at the U of Washington. They've been on quite a roll since. Dad, Natalee and I went to the game together since Mom is on her shopping trip weekend and Jesse made a last minute trip to Port Orchard. I got Natalee a PSU Creamery milkshake to take into the game (which she thoroughly enjoyed and was not about to share with anyone): "Go Penn State!" "The Nittany Lion!" The winning hit to end set #2: Natalee and I participating in a PSU cheer during a timeout:

Today, I had lots of help with the laundry.

The other evening, I gave Meg a bath. This started some mega shedding, which is normal for December. After she dried, I started to pet her and came away with a mega pile of hair: Putting the "vintage" Fisher Price Little People on her fingers is the thing to do again. All five fingers need a person on them, then she shakes them off and does it again. I sure wish that Fisher Price would make their Little People like this again since they are a lot more fun than the current version (she never plays with those ones). But, the vintage barn yard, animals, people, and school house are a lot of fun! Here are more pictures from Friday's Chuck E. Cheese's adventure. The girls had a great time (as did their parents :). Possibly the favorite game of the evening--the water gun target race. Natalee found a lot of fun in putting the tokens in the games for us. She did not want to play Skee-Ball, but she wanted to "help" us play. She became quite good at putting th...

Last night, we met Jen, Jimmy, and Lily Buckles in Altoona at the Chuck E. Cheese's. We had a lot of fun playing the games even though the food was not very good. Next time we know not to come hungry! Natalee loved putting the tokens in the games for us and running around looking at all of the games and lights. She also enjoyed the slide and riding on Clifford. We had a great time playing with Lily again! My pictures did not turn out very good, but here are a few of the bad, blurry ones. Natalee riding Clifford: Natalee and Dad playing a game. Lily and Jimmy playing a game.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch at my Mom and Dad's house today, so our bellies are quite full! I now have the pictures from this past Tuesday's haircut. Natalee was very busy before the haircut helping Pappy Yoder shovel a little snow from the driveway, and helping Grammy Yoder wash the dishes. Hair before the cut: Natalee sat very well for her haircut. We read her some books to pass the time. Gina even had a little extra time to be a little picky with the cut! Why can't she be this still when I cut her fingernails? This isn't the best picture because she wasn't wanting to pose. After the haircut: Now, her hair is cut nice and neat (instead of the old shag she did have).

Our house in Port Orchard now has an accepted sales agreement!!!!! Natalee got her first haircut yesterday, but I must have forgotten my camera at mom and dad's house. I'll have to post those pictures later. She looks so neat and trim now!

Last week, we found a nice Tonka dump truck at the consignment store for Natalee to play with out in the stones. She enjoys shoveling the rocks into it.... ....and then, dumping them out! Natalee loves wearing a hat and her puffy "marshmallow" coat. She begs to put it on! It just doesn't fit well when you want to put her in the car seat!! Yesterday, while we were playing, it started to snow quite heavily. While it did not stick to the ground during this snow squall, we did end up with a dusting later in the afternoon. I tried to show Natalee that she could "catch" the snow flakes. I explained that it was snow and stuff like that. When we went inside, she went and grabbed her book "The Snowy Day". That is a book that she never goes for, so I guess she understood what I was talking about!

I caught a video of Natalee running around the other evening. She does this quite often, except usually she just runs around the couch. Midway through, I realized that I should have turned the light on. She was making us laugh during her 20+ laps.

Today, we went to Strawberry Square in Harrisburg and the Harsco Science Center. They have a newer exhibit for kids age 0-5. Natalee enjoyed herself a lot. First, there were some tumbling mats. She didn't tumble so much, rather threw the balls around and climbed over the mats to go get them again. There was a "market" to put food in the shopping basket, weigh the food, and pay for the groceries. Natalee loved the bananas. She also drove the ambulance. A nice little boy came in and showed her how to do things: The Waterworks area had a few different activities. They had waterproof aprons for the kids to wear. There were a few exhibits in that area that she wasn't quite ready for. However, we went into the rest of the science museum to see the exhibits. Natalee naturally figured out how the circuit board worked. She made her daddy proud. It was really fun to have all of the balls roll around. We were constantly needing to replace the balls so that she coul...