Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

We only had one soccer game today.  So, we took off this afternoon for Raystown Lake with some borrowed kayaks.  The children have been asking to kayak for some time now.  A few weekends ago, Jesse and I went without them.  We could tell that they were really longing to go, too. First, Natalee, Amie and I went out in the kayaks.  Amie squeezed into the front of my kayak.  It really wasn't all that bad. While Jesse and Brady went out in the kayaks, the girls played in the water a bit.  But, it was really too chilly to be in water.  We advised them not to get completely wet.  So, they mostly played in the sand. We each took another turn in the kayaks. We went up the hill to the playground and pavilion to cook hot dogs and smores. Me and my girls

 Last week I was at the soccer field from 9-3 due to three children in three games plus team pictures.  Today we didn't spend all day at the soccer field.  Yay!  I do love watching, though. Unfortunately Natalee and Brady were playing at the same time today.  Luckily we could position ourselves between both fields and kind of watch both games at the same time. So far this year Brady is a different player.  He is all over the place and he pays attention.  He's become a much better dribbler and has become more confident in what he's doing. He was really close to scoring a goal a few times.  I think it would really boost his confidence if he could get it in the goal one time.  Unfortunately, the pictures I took of Natalee didn't turn out well.  I'll try next game again. Immediately following Natalee's game, Amie's team took the field. Go Amie, go!  Amie's very excited about soccer.  She wishes she could just ...

We have soccer practice or game for someone nearly every night.  Sometimes two children have soccer something going on.  Saturdays are filled with three soccer games.  This year I am helping coach Brady's team at practice only.  I'm the team mom for Natalee's team, too. Last week we had an evening where Natalee had practice but Amie and Brady did not. During the practice, we walked to the park.  When we first arrived at the creek, we saw a bald eagle and a crane. Everyone was wishing that we had brought our nets. Stone Creek that has crawdads everywhere.  Every time you step, crawdads scurry about. A crawdad peaked out of the rock. Brady said he saw minnows and a salamander, too.  He was very upset when we had to leave.  He accidentally dropped his treasure back into the water-- a shell of a crawdad.  We never did find it.  He could have explored for a very long time.

A few days before school started we went to Lake Tobias Wildlife Park with Gram and Pap. First we took the safari bus. The baby rheas were adorable!  In addition to rheas, we saw llama, ostrich, elk, deer, water buffalo, bison and watusi on the safari tour.  Unfortunately the company that normally makes the animals biscuits went out of business recently.  So, they had dog food pieces and carrots for you to feed the animals.  This meant that you had to get closer to the animals mouths to feed them, which was more intimidating. Amie wasn't sure about handing this elk her carrot. {Please give me more!} As soon as the elk had this carrot, Brady yanked his hand back as quickly as he could! And he thought it was quite funny that the elk wanted more! Natalee and Gram  After the safari, we walked over to the zoo pens and the petting zoo portions of Lake Tobias. Amie decided she'd rather eat her carrots!  A lot of the ...

Today was Amie's first day of preschool for this year.  She attends one morning per week. She was very excited to go to school. Amie strongly dislikes brushing her hair.  Last night, we had an interesting conversation. Me: "Amie, you are going to have to brush your hair before you go to preschool tomorrow." Amie: "No!" Me:  "You have to brush your hair before you go.  They don't let you go to preschool with unbrushed hair." Amie (with her nose wrinkled up):  What? Me: "Oh yes.  You ask them." Amie: "You are just kidding me, Mom." During her prayers, Amie said, "Thank you that we got to have it (meaning thank you for this day) and help me brush my hair tomorrow so that I can go to preschool.  Amen." She was out of bed at 6:45am.  When I walked out to the living room, Amie exclaimed, "I brushed my hair already so I can go to preschool!" I'd say she was excit...