Lil' Bowler

 

Last year, we introduced Luke to bowling through the Kids Bowl Free program, and he loved this summer adventure.  In July, we revisited this fun annual activity at Mimi's bowling alley in PA, and I think we have a future bowling pro in the making!  Luke and I went on a bowling date one morning while Leah stayed with Mimi, and it was a rare treat for me to be able to have some special 1:1 time with my little buddy.  Much like last year, Luke was thrilled to be bowling, and he beamed with pure joy as he bowled:

 

 

   

 

 

Luke also showed his serious, focused side as he concentrated on lining up the ball, and he demonstrated quite a sophisticated technique:

 

 

 

 

The "slides" that the bowling alley has (to help children guide the ball) are one of the best inventions ever, but Luke also bowled several frames without the help of the ramp:

 

 

Our lil' bowler got several spares during his first game, and was fascinated by the digital score keeping process.  He checked the monitor after each turn and was quite excited about his final score of 100. (Mommy was pretty impressed, too!)

 

 

 

Once again, I got a kick out of the jaunty bowling shoes on those adorable feet:

 

 

What a priceless memory of a fun morning together!

Happy Birthday, Weeeeee!

When Luke was a baby, his name for Winnie was "Ninnie", which I thought was the cutest thing I had ever heard.  A few years later, when Leah started talking, she called Winnie, "Weeeeee!".  It makes us giggle, and is another perfectly adorable nickname for our beloved furry girl.  Today, Winnie turned 8 years old, and we celebrated her special day with much doggie fanfare.

 There were party hats:

There were treats for tricks:

There were presents...

...complete with complimentary sibling gift-unwrapping service!

There was sharing, partying, and love:

There was even a special dessert for our apple-loving birthday girl:

Winnie is so sweet and loving with both Luke and Leah.  She has been incredibly tolerant of the continued changes in our family's routine over the past few years.  With a wagging tail and a gentle lick, she has welcomed her brother and sister from the day that they were newborns coming home from the hospital.  Winnie patiently waited for the payoff of dealing with crying infant siblings, which came as those same toddlers learned to dangle left-overs over the edge of their high chairs, throw balls, and leave a trail of cookie crumbs in their wake.  Winnie may not get as many walks as she did in her puppy days, but she unconditionally loves us anyway.   She starts each day with such enthusiasm and love of life (and breakfast!).  Winnie is our velvet-eared girl, and she makes our family whole and complete.

 

 

Happy 8th birthday, sweet Winnie.  You are the best dog in the world, and we love you so much!

Love,

Mommy, Daddy, Luke, and Leah

Wedding Bells

My conversation with Luke this morning:

"Buddy, today is a very special day.  It's the day each year that we celebrate Mommy and Daddy getting married."

Luke's eyes lit up and he excitedly asked: "Are you and Daddy going to get married again today?!"

Mommy:  "No sweetie, but we will look at pictures and remember our wedding day."

Luke reached for my hand and solemnly said, "Then I will marry you today, Mommy."


How blessed am I to have TWO such incredible Winterhoff guys to call my own! 

Happy 9th anniversary to the love of my life... What an amazing journey of love, laughter, and friendship it has been so far! 

Special Visitors

 

We had some very special visitors last week.  Our dear friends, Mark and Erin Svare (who went to high school with Mark), flew from Albany to spend a few days with us.  Both Mark W. and Mark S. work for the same small group within GE, which requires frequent travel to Greenville for Mr. Mark (Luke's name for Daddy's friend).  This time, Ms. Erin and their 3-year old daughter, Nuala, tagged along, and the moms and kids had lots of fun during the day while the guys worked hard at GE.  On Thursday, we took them to our zoo, where Luke used this opportunity to impress Nuala with his knowledge of all the animals (although I'm not sure she loved the reptile house as much as he does):

 

 

 

The cute pair held hands and even posed together for a "prom picture":

 

 

On Friday morning, we took our visitors to our Children's Museum, where race car driver Luke showed off his driving skills:

 

 

In an continued effort to woo his new girlfriend, Luke also showed Nuala his manly side as he tinkered with construction equipment:

 

 

 

 I'm pretty sure those snazzy safety goggles are what won the girl in the end!

 

Not to be outdone by her brother, Leah also took a turn with the big crane, and was a pretty cute lil' construction worker!

 

 

 

Leah decided that she and Nuala needed some girl time at the museum, and the gals had a great time splashing around in the water table:

Our domestic little girl also made sure that we had plenty of snacks for our guests, and loaded up her cart with "fresh" produce in the grocery store section of the museum:

Leah's food planning was well worth the effort, as the girls enjoyed a tasty treat at home later in the afternoon:

 

 

All 3 children had a great time together, and we loved having our special visitors last week!

 

 

Popsicle Days

August seems like it's been full of playdates and lazy popsicle days... In fact, the children and I have a new tradition of making a different flavored popsicle every week.  We eat these on our back porch in our pjs, and love our homemade, healthy treats.  With my 99 cent 6-pack of popsicle molds, we create delicious, colorful concoctions.  Last week was "pink" week, so we made strawberry-banana smoothie pops:

  

This week is "green" week, so we'll be making my infamous spinach popsicles.  Before you crinkle up your nose at this, let's remember that they have been Luke's favorite for several years, and are actually very tasty! 

I guess when you are 4, every summer day may seem like a Popsicle Day, especially when you have friends come play all the time.  Here are Luke and Brooke getting cozy on the couch.  These 2 cuties have been such an adorable pair ever since Luke was 9 months old:  

Luke has also been begging me all summer to have Caleb (his best friend from preschool) come over for a play date.  Last Friday, the boys played here and had a blast.  This picture just cracks me up b/c it shows again how much bigger Luke is than his average-sized peers: 

We've had so many playdates this month that Mark commented to me last week, "I feel like there have been gaggles of children at our house lately." 

I responded, "That's how we roll in the summer."  You stay-at-home moms can relate to the need to stay busy and social or else the days/weeks until preschool begins (after Labor Day) seem endless!

Luke has also had some fun little adventures lately that I haven't had a chance to post on our blog.  A few weeks ago, a friend in PA invited us for a private tour of his work at a fire station/rescue squad.  Here's Luke trying on the fire helmet: 

On our VIP tour, we were able to drive and explore fire trucks, a police car, ambulance, and check out all of the equipment:

By far, Luke's favorite part was wearing the "telephone heads" that the firemen use to communicate while driving:

Even Leah had her favorite vehicle.  She camped out on the EMT's bench in the back of the ambulance, grinning from ear to ear at her important status of Little Rescuer:

One last fun recent adventure of Luke's was his day gem mining and visiting the petting zoo at Indian Echo Caverns.  Mimi took him last month, and Luke now has a bag of "special rocks" and a field guide that he uses to identify all of the gemstones from his mining adventure:

Here's my sweet little guy feeding some corn to the baby goat at the adjoining petting zoo:

What fun to have a summer full of smiles, adventures, and popsicle days!

Happy Cows

We took a family excursion to Happy Cow Creamery on Saturday morning.  Happy Cow is an organic dairy farm nearby, and the last time that we visited, Luke was 2, and Leah wasn't born yet.  We toured the farm, took a tractor ride through the pastures, and learned about the milking process.  Luke was interested in many technical aspects of the farm, ranging from the mechanics of the farm equipment to rationalizing why the cows don't go the the bathroom on the potty: "They are too big to fit, Mommy!"

Leah was delighted to be in such close proximity to the cows, and repeatedly pointed and told us, "Moo!".  We tasted the fresh milk, bottled on site (chocolate was Mommy and Daddy's favorite!), and the children even had a chance to practice their milking skills with "Maggie":

Love this one of sweet Nutty Potato...

One of the neatest parts of the tour was seeing the cows on parade.  Our timing was just right so that we were able to watch them march in from the pasture in single file and line up right next to us at the water troughs: 

We had a fun, educational morning with these Happy Cows, and are thankful to have such a great organic farm close to us!