Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

I've heard two different theories to predict what a child's adult height will be. One theory says that at the child's second birthday, they have reached 1/2 of their adult height. At Natalee's appointment last week, she measured 35 inches. If she doubles her height, she will be 5'10" when she is an adult. Another theory I've heard is that you take the average of the mom and dad height. If it is a girl, subtract 2 from the average. If it is a boy, add 2 to the average. If that is the case, Natalee is destined to be 5' 6" and Brady will be 5'10". We'll see! Brady also had his 4 month appointment this week. He weight in at 14 lbs, 10 oz. (50th percentile) and measured in at 26 1/16" (90th percentile). So far it looks like I may be destined to remain the vertically challenged one in the family :)

Tuesday Natalee and I tried out Delgrosso's with Jimmy, Jen, and Lilly Buckles. The girls had a lot of fun and were very tired when we left the park! It is not a huge park, but it was a perfect park for kids their age. (Good value for your buck, too) They have a lot of little kid rides in the Kids Kingdom. The rides were close together and we did not have to wait in any lines. The girls did not have much down time between riding the cars, fish, boats, fire trucks, elephants, dizzy dragons, helicopters, turtles, and the carousels. I think Natalee's favorite was the turtles. Lilly's favorite ride may have been the fish because she announced mid-ride, "I like the fish!". That was a wild ride and looked fun to me, too! I only have pictures of the cars because my camera battery died. Oops. Next time I will not pack a lunch for this park. I want to try their food! It was reasonably priced, it looked good and they have been voted as having the best amusem...

Natalee has been singing the ABC song for quite a few weeks now. However, I have not had good success getting it on video. This is the best I got. She knows the whole song by herself, but she was really distracted by the camera. She wanted to see the picture on the camera, so I turned it toward her. Then, she did not know what to do when she could see herself! This morning, I caught Natalee playing with Brady while he was in his saucer. It was so cute that I had to sneak a video clip. She counted the beads on the saucer for him. You can hear her count, but the volume must be turned louder. I was far away from them so that she did not know I had the video camera on. Natalee's favorite thing to do right now is say the rhyme One, two, Buckle my shoe Three, four, Shut the door Five, Six, pick up sticks Seven, eight, set them straight Nine, Ten, lets do it again! Again, she can do it herself, but she likes to involve other people in it. She says this over and over all day long...

I did not take any pictures during the party -- that job was given to my sister-in-law, Kate. She's good at it and I knew I wouldn't have time! I got these pictures from Dad, though. Kate took a bunch of pictures for us over the weekend, so I'm sure it will take a bit for her to work on them and sort them. I think we all had a lot of fun at the birthday party. We had games of corn hole, Frisbee, football, and pool going on. Plus, we had bubbles, balls, a tricycle, and sidewalk chalk to play with. Natalee, Lilly, and Lily enjoyed the swing set, especially whizzing down the slide. Lilly Buckles came to the party first. We were out in the yard playing with her when Lily Breon arrived. Natalee looked at Lilly, looked at Lily and exclaimed, "TWO Lil(l)ys!!!" She was quite excited and awed by it. Derek and Jake tried out the disc golf. Natalee thinks the corn hole boards are just fun to play on! Kaylene with the sidewalk chalk. Todd and Kate tried to give Lilly a ride ...

I do not have any pictures from Natalee's party today. I will try to get some of those to post up here later. The only pictures I took were before everyone got here. These are the cupcakes I made this year. Mom helped me bake the cupcakes and my sister-in-law, Kate, helped me to put them all together. I think they turned out very cute with the "sand", "beach ball", "water", and umbrella! ...it makes me ready for our beach trip coming up soon!

Today, we celebrated Natalee's Happy Day (that's what she called it). This evening we had a dinner that she loves -- fish sticks and macaroni & cheese. She loves mac-n-cheese so much that she has been asking for it for breakfast lately. After dinner, we gave her a brownie with a candle on it. Since she has been blowing bubbles so much lately, she had blowing out a candle down pat! After dinner, she got to open a few presents. She got a beach towel with Mickey and the gang on it, colored pencils (she knew what it was before she unwrapped it), and two books from cousin Iona. She is not very good at unwrapping presents because she is too neat about it. Any piece of paper that falls on the floor must be picked up immediately! Although it was not a birthday present, she did have another surprise today. One of our neighbors with older kids gave us their swing set. What a great addition to our yard! Natalee enjoyed the slide and swings a lot. We also finally had a way t...

Tonight, Natalee had another humorous moment (we get a lot of these moments lately). I love how it makes me laugh! Natalee: "Diaper fall off" FYI-- her diaper tab broke off of the diaper again So, we went back to the "big girl bed" to change it. She ripped the broken tab off and put in on DOG (her stuffed animal companion). Natalee: "Band-Aid. Dog have boo-boo like Mom." Natalee (while laughing to herself): "Looks pretty funny!" I thought it was really funny that she came to the deduction that DOG having a diaper tab Band-Aid looked funny!

Yesterday, Natalee and I traveled to Idlewild with Jimmy, Jen, and Lilly Buckles for a very fun afternoon. This was Natalee's special day with "just Mom". We started off in Storybook Forest. Raggedy Ann & Andy: Natalee and Lilly on the big chair: Natalee and Lilly in the caboose of "the little engine that could" Then, we headed to the Jumpin' Jungle for some more fun. The "big slide" Natalee being impatient because she wants to slide again, but we had to wait in line for a sliding bag: We rode on the train and then went toward Mr. Rodgers Trolley. The trolley was closed, so we went over to Racoon Lagoon instead. We were wondering if the girls would want to try some of the little kid rides. Well, there is no need to wonder anymore!!! First, we went on the turtle ride that dips like a littler roller coaster. We chose this one because we could ride with them. After the ride we heard, "more, more, more!" So, we decided to let the...

I am constantly amazed as I experience the language development of a child. It is fascinating! This evening, this is how the conversation went: Natalee: "fnfffffff" Natalee: "fnfffffff" Us: "What?" Natalee: "fnfffffff" Me: "I'm sorry Natalee, we don't understand. You will have to show Dad." Natalee runs back to her room. Natalee: "fnffffff, fnffffff, fnfffff!" Jesse: Fan off! Oh! Natalee: "There you go Dad!" Another funny moment As a preface, Natalee is constantly pointing out peoples moles (especially mine). Two Fridays ago, Jesse and I went out to dinner to celebrate our 6 1/2 anniversary. Mom and Dad came up to eat dinner with Natalee and Brady. For dessert, Natalee ate a chocolate chip cookie. She put her finger in the chocolate and dabbed it onto her face. Then, she announced, "mole!"

On the way home from our 4th of July picnics, we saw a spectacular sunset just outside of McAlevy's Fort. It was a beautiful sight. And, I know if I'd learn how to use my camera or Photoshop program better, I could probably make these photos better. At least I have an instructional book now! Someday. We had a really fun 4th of July. We went to a breakfast picnic at Greenwood Furnace State Park with Dad's side of the family. I always love breakfast.....especially those stewed crackers! Yum! We played in the sand and went for a dip in the freezing cold water (well, Natalee did anyway) Unfortunately, I was so busy with other things that I did not take any pictures:( After an afternoon nap we had a picnic at Mom and Dad's house with Mom's side of the family. Again, more great food and fun. We had a nice yet very competitive game of corn hole. I guess I know where I get my competitiveness from!!! Mom and I made it to the championship game before being oust...