Monday, September 28, 2009

Dentist

Ryan's first dentist appointment! I had been prepping him for weeks. Counting his teeth, flossing, telling him about the dentist and everything that the Dr. would do. Ryan was actually excited and did exceptionally well. He chose chocolate flavored flouride for his cleaning and he even let the dentist floss his little teeth. I'm so proud of my little man! :)




Monday, September 14, 2009

Celebrating 5 years

Kale and I decided to celebrate our 5th anniversary with a weekend getaway. We had his parents come down for the weekend to babysit, and we booked a local B&B. It was a Wine and Roses package, including 2 nights, chocolates, massages and dinner for two. Sounds nice right? We were in the heart of Lancaster county, in an old Farm House. It was a really neat place with lots of history.

Here's where I'm still a little confused. It was our first B&B experience. I guess I had expectations about what I thought it would be like. Our first impression was just weird. It was so strange to be staying in a stranger's home. They were a really nice family, young couple with children. The biggest problem I had was that I felt like I needed to whisper the whole time. If I was quiet, I could hear their conversations. So, I'm sure they could hear us also. The second biggie was the food. I guess what I had expected was a fresh buffet of foods in the morning. When we arrived,the Innkeeper said that our breakfast was already in the room! What? How can that be? Well, apparently, a nice Amish neighbor makes baked goods and these cute little egg casseroles. All we had to do was heat and eat!

Now, I looked at this food in shock. You mean I have to microwave my breakfast?!?! I did take pictures of these surprisingly tasty treats and casseroles. The baked goods were so yummy, we couldn't wait to finish them off in the afternoon. However, when we returned to our tidy room, the treats were gone! Seriously? We did get a replacement later in the evening for our next days breakfast though.

Ok, one more thing. The main reason we chose this particular B&B was because it had an outdoor hot tub. Nice. The weather didn't cooperate for most of the weekend. So, Saturday night after our romantic dinner for two, we were ready to soak! Only to find out that it was cold! Apparently, something happened to the heater and it wouldn't be hot until the next day. As we were checking out!

Now, the good part was the romantic package. The wine, chocolate covered strawberries, dinner reservations (later than we would have like, but delicious), and the massages (oddly scheduled during checkout time, but amazing). We also toured the Julius Sturgis Pretzel factory and Wilbur's Chocolate factory on Saturday afternoon.

It was really nice to get away and spend alone and undistracted time with my husband. I did miss my babies terribly though! I also loved waking up on Sunday morning to the clip-ity-clop of the Amish buggies going to church :) They rode right passed our room. The weather was perfect on Sunday, so lots of Amish and Mennonites were out riding their bikes and walking to church also. My favorite buggy was the one with a little boy looking out the back window of the buggy. He was so cute.

Overall, it was strange, but good. Definitely an adventure and I love a good adventure. I'm already planning my next one. Might even try another B&B, who knows!

Oh yeah, one more thing. While we were at dinner, they snuck in and sprinkled rose petals on our bed and place a hershey's kiss on each pillow. Romantic? However, they stole one of my dozen roses to do that. Weird? or is it just me? All I could think was great, they killed my rose and now i have to clean up the mess! LOL! Maybe I'm just not a B&B kinda girl.

Click on the link to see the pictures :)
http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1991696008/a=39577534_39577534/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

First Day of Preschool 9/10/09

My big boy eating his breakfast on the big day!

Dressed and still eating.




Waiting patiently for mommy and Julia.



The classic ready for my first day of school picture.


One last goofy smile before the teacher takes me out of the car :)


Not surprisingly, Ryan couldn't wait for his first day of preschool. Julia and I were looking forward to it as well. Not that we wouldn't miss Ryan, but we were looking forward to some girl time. Ryan went happily and returned even happier. He loved his first day. His favorite part was playing outside and his favorite friend was, "Noah, because he shared with me". How sweet is that?

I was so excited for Ryan, but as soon as we pulled away, I looked back at the empty seat. For a moment I had that panicked feeling, "what have I done? I just left my son with strangers!" Tears welled up, but I didn't cry. I missed him already......

Well, the time went fast. Julia and I went food shopping and then hung out until she got tired. I had to wake her up to go and get Ryan. He was so excited to see us and tell us all about school. He came home with a sticker that said, "Ryan had a great first day at preschool." And he did.















Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Past 6 months.

Wow! Let's see if I can remember some of the Stone family highlights from the last six months:

Ryan~has turned 3! He was so happy to be three and celebrate with a family birthday party. We also took him to Strasburg to ride on the steam train and visit the train museum. He absolutely loved it. Ryan is also fully potty trained. We celebrated after no diapers for one month with a trip to Sesame Place. (that's how I bribed him to take care of business only on the potty ;) Tomorrow is the first day of preschool for my little man. He truly is excited for school, and I'm excited for him. I'm also pretty happy about spending a few hours of quality time with Julia.

Julia~has been growing and blossoming. Now, at 18 months my little darling is in the 50th %tile for height and weight! Perfectly average young lady. I love her sweet, but stubborn spirit. That girl knows what she wants. Julia's vocabulary seems to be exploding lately. She loves to shout MAMA and RYAN. But everyday she seems to surprise me with the little things she says. The doctor asked if Julia says a handful of words, I laughed. She says so many, I lost count. Julia loves shoes and to play in the dirt with Ryan, and she still can't live w/o her little ducky.

Kale is still working on the basement. The biggest "project" ever. So, 2 and 1/2 years later and I think it's almost done! I must say, it is amazing what he has done down there and I am sooooo excited to finally be ordering some carpet and "moving in".

We've had the opportunity to go on a few little family vacations. We took our annual trip to Bethany Beach. We also went to a Yogi Bear campground and visited Knoebel's Grove. Oh, and in April, we were able to visit Long Island where I was blessed to celebrate a nearly 16 year High School Reunion!

Well, that's it, I think. I'm sure I left out tons, and I know that doesn't do it justice.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

July 09 (42 photos), by Robyn Stone


I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.


Oh wow! I just figured out how to post my snapfish pictures quickly and easily. Thank God!

Who has time to blog?

Well, I realize that it has been like FOREVER since my last post. Ok, well actually it was like six months ago, but still....too long. Anyway, my excuse lies in the fact that I just don't seem to have the time or patience to post and add my beloved pictures. Well, mostly it's just patience. It seems like everything I try to do on this computer takes FOREVER! Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little.....again......but it drives me nuts!

I have recently made a career change. I no longer work at HACC teaching nursing clinicals to the students. Basically, in order to keep my job, I was told that I needed to pursue a Master's Degree in Nursing. After much thought, prayer, consideration, stress and research........I decided that was not for me. I mean seriously, I didn't even have time to blog...........where would I find the time for grad school, or the money for that matter?

Right now, my children are my world. I work just enough to pay the bills and have some fun. Is it a sacrifice? Financially yes, but I wouldn't trade my time with my kids for anything. So, in the meantime, I am still a L&D nurse in the evenings/weekends and stay at home mom during the day. I also plan to start blogging a little. Just to keep my 2 followers happy :)

I know I'm rambling now, but it's been a while........give me chance to get back in the swing of things!

p.s. have i ever mentioned how satisfying it is when the spellcheck comes back with no errors? delightful!