Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

Natalee was very excited to play against Will's team. The first inning, when Natalee made it to third base, they were very serious and concentrating. Natalee goofing around as she is playing first base. She would have quite an arm on her if she would remember to step with her left foot! Nice pose! This year, she is really swinging the bat hard.  When she connects, watch out! Second inning: focus has waned!

This afternoon, we had Natalee's birthday party.  A day before we left for Colorado she insisted we needed to have a birthday party with all of her friends (not just a small gathering of relatives). All of the kids eating pie and ice cream.  We were nontraditional and had pie instead of cake!  Lily Breon was sitting down, too, but she bolted as soon as we started singing happy birthday.  She said, "I'm outta here!" The best present:  The gift that came with bubble wrap! Will demonstrated the most effective way to pop the bubbles!  Of course, the kids really enjoyed the bouncy house!  My kids used this for most of the afternoon.  We haven't had it out as much since we have a trampoline next door.  After the party was over and all cleaned up, we came in the house a little before 6.  Brady was playing with his train in the dining room and laid down and went to sleep.  We at least moved him to a slightly softer spot-- Meg'...

This past Sunday, we had the pleasure of enjoying a PSU women's basketball game with the Buckles family.  I did not take any pictures, so these pictures are courtesy of the Buckles.  This was the PinkZone game, so there were quite a few people there and there was a lot of pink.  Natalee caught a t-shirt today!  She and Lilly both stood up and cheered.  I was hoping the cheerleader would give it to Lilly, but she actually gave it to Natalee.  She had been wanting the cheerleaders to give her one all year!  One of the folks around us had given one to her earlier in the year that they caught.  So, she nicely gave hers to Lilly. It appears like Lilly is choking Natalee, but they are actually tickling each other! Brady begged Lilly for some of her pretzels :) The girls got into the cheering.  Everyone at the game was given a pink pom-pom. After the game we went to Long John Silvers (yuck!).  We had won a free meal there through ...

Yesterday, the kids and I had the opportunity to be a part of the filming for a bike commercial. The commercial is advertising biking opportunities in Indiana County. It is going to air on Pittsburgh area TV stations. We were filmed at Eliza Furnace , which is one site on the Ghost Town Trail , a 33 mile rail-trail. I rode a bike and pulled Brady in the trailer while Natalee was in a seat on my bike. It was a fun experience. I can't wait to see the final product to see how they used the scenes I saw being taped. We'll see if we get on the commercial or not! I don't have any pictures of us actually doing the commercial. But afterward, we took the kids back over to the one area (by the "bumpy bridge") where we rode for part of the filming. The three older kids all had fun riding their trikes around. Xavier, Lilly, and Natalee Lilly: Xavier: Brady decided he was going to race Natalee. Of course, Natalee was too fast, but Brady did make a valiant ef...

This morning, we went on a short hike to the Peace Chapel with our little friend Will and his mom, Kelly. They all enjoyed traversing the granite rocks. Will really enjoyed hanging around Meg. It was a beautiful morning to be out in nature! The kids were all cute, but of course, they did not all look at me at the same time! Brady, Will, and Natalee

We visited the Buckles today. We had a fun time playing and making a craft. At one point, Lilly "stole" Natalee's hat and then started posing and being kind of silly. Brady just watched and took it all in. Then, Natalee found Lilly's had and they were silly together! The girls started playing the piano very nicely. Then, they gave us a grand finale!

We had a really nice visit from two of our dear friends today, Jen and Lilly. Even though it was short, it is so nice to get together with good friends to chat, play, create crafts, and laugh. What a wonderful thing! We cut out some salt dough Christmas ornaments with cookie cutters. After baking and cooling, the girls got to paint the ornaments. I found these washable paint pens to try. They are wonderful! Of course, the both wanted the blue paint!!! Meg thought they were real cookies -- she was sticking rather close!! It sure didn't take Natalee and Brady long to fall asleep after they left. Natalee loved wearing her dad's t-shirt (paint smock :) so much that she is still wearing it while napping! It was a really fun morning. Next, the kids have to rest up so that we can go see the Christmas lights at Lakemont Park. In case you want to know.... Salt Dough Ornaments 1 cup salt 2 cups flour 1 T. cream of tartar 1 T. cooking oil 1 cup water Mix the ingredients all to...

Brady, Natalee and I made a trip to Blairsville today to visit with Jen and Lilly. We had a great time playing and chatting. Both Natalee and Brady were so exhausted that they slept nearly the entire 1 hour and 40 minutes home. They only woke up briefly at the red lights in Hollidaysburg. We decided to do a craft today with some of the construction paper. Since it is nearly Thanksgiving, the girls colored "turkey" feathers and connected them to some nice hats for themselves to wear. Afterward, we thought it might be fun to trace both of the girls on the big paper while they were laying on the floor. We started to color in their clothing, but Natalee and Lilly decided to do something even more fun instead: I liked how they took turns running, for the most part!

Natalee was so excited about going to Idlewild Park with Jen and Lilly again. Unfortunately Jimmy's football has started again, so he couldn't go with us :(. Natalee talked about Idlewild, Jen, and Lilly the whole 1 1/2 hour trip to their house. While we all definitely had a great time at the park, I think the girls had a very fun time in the car together. This next video shows a little bit of the girls excitement when they realized that we had just pulled into the Idlewild parking lot. I missed the initial screams, but you still get the idea. "Idlewild! Idlewild!!!!!!!!" Natalee and Lilly on the motorcycles: Me and Natalee on "the balloons!" Jen and Lilly on "the balloons!" All of us on the train.

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...