Opening Day

Jim and Lilly have been planning for Knoebel's opening day for sometime.  They plotted and planned to be the first riders on the brand new roller coaster.  Only to find out the roller coaster actually opened at the end of last season and they would not be the first riders.

They were disappointed to learn that information, but that did not crush their dreams, they just changed their goal. The new goal was to be the first riders on the Ferris wheel for the 2012 season.  After all their planning and work, their Knoebel's dreams came true.

We were in fact the first riders on the Ferris wheel..  Lilly got to pick which color car we sat in and we had the whole ride to ourselves.

The children loved the ride, Jack said "wheeeeee" for most of the ride.

It was a cold day for Knoebels.  The high was 50 degrees with a forecast for rain.  As a result the park was pretty sparse for the first hour.  We got to ride a lot of the rides with no lines at all.

The park took a beating with the 2011 flood, but it was all fixed up with the new flood lines marked.

Jack wasn't quite tall enough to ride the frog hopper. Maybe next year Jack.

The slide, with no lines.

Lilly is a good big sister and rode the kiddie rides with Jack.

Jack on the train.

Great first day at Knoebels!

Teeth

Lilly woke up screaming with excitement because her front tooth came out in the night.

We were concerned that she swallowed it, but then it fell out of her pajamas and the concern was over. Until we looked at her other front tooth. Somehow that first tooth pulled the second tooth in some crazy weird sideways tooth angle.  This tooth was also very loose so Jim told her he was going to pull it out before she went to school.  Understandably, this was her reaction:

Of course neither of us could actually pull a tooth because that would be horrifying for all parties involved.  We tried to convince her to bite into an apple but she wouldn't eat a thing.  We just sent her off to school with one crazy sideways tooth.

After school she came home with even more excitement because the second tooth came out at recess.  I still don't have any clear details as to how it happened, but it happened.

Life is strange, teeth falling out all over the place, children growing faster than you approve, just strange.

Weekend Update

The days are so long and busy, I am not taking many pictures.  Once summer arrives I plan to have more time for pictures.

This past Saturday I took Lilly for her girl scout trip to Hershey, PA.  The troop earned the trip with the cookies they sold.

We spent the morning at Zoo America, where Lilly found this zoo mascot. She saw a picture of him on the map and made it her life goal to find him in person at the zoo. It was her lucky day.

I didn't bring my camera so this was from my friends iPhone.  It was nice not to be tied down to a camera, but now I don't have any pictures.

We had a great day together and really lived it up at Chocolate World. We went to the zoo, rode the free ride, saw the 3-D movie, did the trolley tour of Hershey, and created our own chocolate bars in the factory.

After church play

As soon as we got home from church, Jack disappeared.  This is how we found him.

At that point I figured the Sunday clothes were a lost cause and I just grabbed the camera.

This is how I found Lilly after church.  She hasn't played with her dress-ups in over two years.  She pulled them out of the laundry room storage area this afternoon. Brought a tear to my eye. She loved those dress-ups as a toddler and now she is 6 and still has a little room in her life for dress up.

Trampoline Time and Lilly update

Jack loves to jump on the trampoline.  He says "jump?" and then demonstrates jumping so that we understand he would like to go out and jump on the trampoline.

It is very difficult to get Jack off of the trampoline. He runs to the middle and laughs at us, he knows he is just out of reach.

I usually have to get on the trampoline and drag him off.

Sometimes I can grab a foot and pull him to the edge, but usually I have to hoist myself onto the trampoline in a very unladylike manner.

I ordered a new net for the trampoline, I will feel a bit safer once that is up.

In Lilly news, her school had a tornado drill this morning.  A tornado drill???  If you are picturing the children cowering in fear with their hands over their head on the floor, then you are right.  I think I have had one tornado touch down in the central Pennsylvania area since I moved here 4 years ago.  They are very rare and it seems unnecessary to terrify the children with drills.  Although I may have just jinxed the entire central Pennsylvania area (I believe strongly in the jinx).

Yesterday morning Lilly asked to have carrots for breakfast.  I almost lost my mind with excitement and tore the fridge a part looking for baby carrots.  Alas, we were out of baby carrots.  I offered her regular carrots but she declined and then whined about not having carrots for breakfast.  I asked her why she wanted carrots so badly (this has never happened before) and she told me her eye was blurry and she needed carrots right away to fix her eye.  Apparently I had told her that carrots are good for eye sight!

Easter

(Post community egg hunt)

It seems that holiday celebrations are exponentially growing.  It also seems that it is probably my job as mother to stop the growth.  Easter became a 5 day candy extravaganza.  School, community, mall, friends, extended family, and immediate family all put on egg hunts.  We are all exhausted and have enough candy to last until next Easter.  By the time we got to our family egg hunt Sunday night, Jack lost all interest and begged to get on the trampoline.

(Getting ready for the local church egg hunt.  This is Jack listening to the pastor teach about Jesus.)

Friday morning I took the children to the Mall egg hunt with friends.  Saturday morning we went to a local church egg hunt, where poor Lilly was placed in the Kindergarten and first grade level and came home with 4 eggs.  Don't worry we made up for it with the 3 other egg hunts where she was very successful.

The rest of Saturday I spent baking and cleaning with minimal fits.  I made cinnamon rolls from the pioneer woman.  I am happy to report that everyone enjoyed them, no picky eating when it comes to homemade cinnamon rolls. Then Saturday evening we went to a friends house for a BBQ and egg hunt.

Sunday morning I played the organ at church, the Easter hymns are some of the hardest to play, so I practiced a lot this week.  Jack didn't let the fact that it was Easter Sunday stop him from hitting and harming other children during Sacrament meeting.

Then we went to the Pitcavage Easter lunch and got to visit with some of Jim's extended family and siblings. (I spent a lot of time teaching Lilly (and possibly Jack) about the resurrection and the reason we celebrate on Easter.  Easter is such a sacred day and I want my children to remember that.)

Jim's family put on a fun egg hunt that was color coordinated.  Everyone had a specific color egg to hunt for, which made it fair and there were no fits.

Then we came back home, ate more cinnamon rolls, and had a egg hunt in our own yard.  This is the point where I declared Easter over.

This morning we have spent the past hour in bed recovering from our holiday celebrations.  Lilly came up with an elaborate plan to go and celebrate more today, but I told her we are resting today and taking it easy. We will also be eating more cinnamon rolls.