Summer events

We have been so behind on blogging. Over the summer we did so much traveling that we couldn't seem to keep up with the res of life. Now I have been working like crazy and Andy is taking a couple classes this year to finish his administration specialty. So I'm going to make a couple of quick posts just to document some of the great travelign adventures we went on this summer and some of the family we were able to sspend time with.

These are pictures from our trip to Charlotte, North Carolina to visit my cousins, Daniel,  and his family, Lauren, Madison, and Tyler.

Madison, Charlotte, and Drea playing in the pool. We were down there in July when it was in the 100s so any chance to cool off was great for the kids (and adults!)...although the water was a gazzilion degrees too!

Lauren and Tyler

We took the kids to a discovery museum so they could play and get some energy out. I swear I love these places more than the kids! This is Andy and Daniel getting served a meal by the kids in the cafe. (Well, I guess our kids aren't actually in this picture but I think it's cute of the big boys.)

This was our trip to Kennywood.

My girls riding the whip! They love this ride. Barrett gets a kick out of it too but I didn't get his pic in it. I think he was on a different ride at this point.

Drea driving Briana on the old fashioned cars.

We let Drea get her face painted because she loves this kind of thing! I love it to...she looks like my beautiful little butterfly.

We took the kids paddle-boating in the little pond there too.

Mom and Bob on a romantic boat ride. :) It was so nice of them to take us to Kennywood and to watch the kids a bunch while us big kids rode rides. So we let them have a 30 minute boat ride to themselves. Actually we got on our boats shortly after. hehehehehe!

The Niessner's Summer Tour: Part 1 - Ocean City, MD

So like most people we like to travel in the summer.  This summer was no different.  However, we seemed to go more places and do more this summer then summers in the past.  The first of our travel desinations was Ocean City, MD.  We went there with Chad, Jody, and Barrett.  We had such a great time.  I seriously could live at the beach, other then family it is the thing I miss the most about New Jersey. 

The Niessners at the Beach

The girls playing skee ball

The kids favorite place at Ocean City

Drea really enjoying the ocean

Drea and Mommy playing in the ocean

Drea with her cousins, Bryann, Lydia, and Barrett

After this ride was over Charlotte refused to get out
 because she loved it so much

Having more fun on the rides

Drea and Charlotte



Nesting.

I've decided nesting isn't just for pregnant women because I'm nesting... and yes, I'm NOT pregnant.

Maybe it's because in 2 weeks my baby goes to kindergarten. I have closets to sort through. Clothes to weed out. Drawers that need organized and random organizational items that need a home in my home.

Maybe this is my way of avoiding the emotions surrounding this big event for two weeks.

I'm project-oriented. So if I have a project to do I am very focused on the project. This is often my downfall. I apologize if you have ever tried to have a conversation with me when I am in project mode. I am a woman on a mission and I lose a bit of social graces when I'm in this place.

All I know is...
I can't control the fact that my baby is growing up.
I can't control any of the things I've regretted doing or not doing with her over the past five years.
I can't control the spill of emotions that are going to be involved in the big first day of school (I am regularly fighting back tears about it.)
I can't control a lot of things in her life and I think kindergarten is a big wake-up call to that for me (and I'm sure many other parents.)
but I CAN CONTROL the organization of my little munchkins space (and some other areas of the house experiencing my project mode.)

Last thing...I apologize to all of those parents who I secretly thought were making a bigger deal about starting school than they needed to over the past few years. I love you all but yes, I did think you all were crazy to cry and sob and take all of the crazy pictures with your kid holding their backpack or standing in front of the school bus. So, on Monday August 22nd, I will proudly cry and embarrass myself with displays of love and silly candid and posed photo ops to let some other naive parent think I'm a fool before they truely know what it's like! It's okay with me. I can take it. My baby's going to kindergarten.

Drea and Isak and house work

Kareen and I took Drea and Isak to see the Aristocats at Fairmont State University and our friend, Mackenzie who was Scat Cat in the show. Somehow they both got the idea that this was a date. Now, not that I encourage dating at age 4 and 5 but it was pretty cute. Isak said he needed to wear a shirt and tie and Drea insisted on a dress since this was a date. Jordan gave Isak money for snacks so he treated his date (and her mom and aunt) to a snack at intermission. He kept saying, "I have cash for snacks." It was hilarious. He even kept putting his arm around her during the show. A couple times I found myself becoming uncomfortable at their moments alone in the dark theater. :) (just teasing!) It may have been if Isak doesn't do this to his friend Drea on a regular basis. Anyway, they had a blast and I enjoyed getting to take them. Isak was like a super star there. Everyone knows Jordan and Sarah there and many of them can just immediately pick out the Hoffmaster's first born.

Isak, Drea and Mackenzie after the show.

Below are some pictures of the projects we started outside of our home. We didn't try to squeeze in a garden this year so this was a great year to try to work on our landscaping. Andy saw this as a great opportunity to use a chain saw to cut down the bushes out front and take apart the trellis we have had since our wedding but was falling apart. Then I had the bright idea to pull up the outdoor carpet on the porch that was ripped in places. We have had a problem with stray cats using our porch and thought this was a way we could discourage against it.

We did have cute little helpers that always make projects around the hosue better. :)

Randomness

Have I said before that Drea LOVES her hair curly? I mean loves. She asks me to put it up in curlers some nights before bed and I love her face in the morning when we take them out. She says she likes to look like me. I love that girl!

Charlotte is into rolling the car windows down with her foot right now. It's very cute and we love that she enjoys it. Drea used to hate the wind on her and would say "wind enough. wind enough."

Drea can swim now! She couldn't at the beginning of the summer. In fact, I called Ben to give her lessons because she gave me a couple scares when she slipped into the deep end and I had to rescue her but we hadn't worked out a time yet. Then we went to the pool a couple weeks ago she just started saying watch me and she was swimming by herself. Then the next time we went she was saying watch me jump into the pool and watch me do a cannon ball. She was even going under a little bit and she doesn't even like getting water in her face in the bathtub. Then the next time we went swimming she was swimming under water! ...like really swimming! I was in shock. I can't believe she is so big! It made me realize how funny it is the way our emotions work. I was so ready for her to be swimming on her so I knew she was safe. But now that she is I'm sad because it made me realize how grown up she is.

Charlotte says so many sentences now. She usually needs us to translate a good bit of them but you shuold hear her say "Sissy is going to kindergarten." It is the cutest thing ever! Except now she is adding that she is going to kindergarten too!

Drea knows all of the words to the Bruno mars song "Just the Way You Are." I love that she knows this song. It is a beautiful song and I hope she remembers that this is the way God looks at her and sees how beautiful she is. It makes me joyful when I hear her sing it so sweetly. By the way, I love the song because I think it is incredibly romantic.

Charlotte also is getting very animated! When she talks and explains things, she has her hands on her hips or a hand out moving it around like a little italian.

Quick Drea story:

We were in Wendy's one day and Drea seemed to be staring at a little girl with a prostetic leg. The little girl was the same age as Drea and her leg was decorated with a colorful flower and heart design. We kept telling Drea not to stare because it could hurt her feelings. Instead we told her to say hi or ask her and her sisters their names or ages or where they went to school. We explained that if she had questions she could ask us when we got in the car.
    So once in the car, we turned the music off and said, "Honey, did you have questions about that little girls leg?" Before letting her answer, I started my schpeel about how that is her leg and what it is called and how it helps her do everything  we can do. Then I added how everyone is different and....blah, blah, blah...you know all the normal stuff parents are supposed to say.
   Drea says, "I was just checking out the colorful, flower pattern on it. I wish I had that."
   I think I learned a bigger lesson than she did that evening. Kids minds amaze me.

...And the graduations begin.

Drea graduated preschool in the beginning of June. (I have been fighting with this post for a while because the videos wouldn't upload, so I gave up on them. I may post them to YouTube later because they are so cute to watch.)

I was first kind of annoyed about the whole graduation thing because I think there are too many graduations. your kids graduate from preschool, then from kindergarten, sometimes from 4th grade into middle school (depending on what school you go to), some graduate from 6th grade into junior high, 8th graduation and then high school graduation.  Oh, and I left out college...oh, do I hope we can include a college graduation. Anyway, so the cynic in me wasn't interested in giving a lot of preparation, time, or emotion to this event besides it's only preschool. I didn't even want to tell my parents about it because I didn't want to make a bigger deal out of it than it was...but I knew I would get in trouble if I didn't tell them.

Once we arrived, the emotions quickly started to change when one of the teachers handed me a little handmade book. The teachers had made a small scrapbook for each graduate detailing things they had made, pictures of them through the years since they began there as babies, things they have said, and how they are doing with certain skills at this stage in the game. I wasn't prepared for this at all. It completely caught me off guard. As I allowed myself to take in the emotion of it all, I realized that it was okay to celebrate these moments. Even if there are more than necessary, I can appreciate every one of them at that moment and realize it provides me a great opportunity to sit back and enjoy my children's milestones. This school/daycare has been a huge part of my child's life. She has been there for 4 years and these teachers have poured time into teaching her and prepping her for big school...and made this moment memorable for me with this wonderful little book about my Drea. I was able to sit there for the rest of the graduation and really enjoy it. I listened to the songs they prepared, watched them sign a song, and enjoyed Drea beaming through a rendition of Country Roads. Then I enjoyed watching her walk across the stage and get her diploma and knew that it meant so much to her and it means so much of a change for fall. I'm grateful that God gave me the opportunity to take that in and enjoy it.

Here she is performing a few songs they prepared for the graduation ceremony.

You can't see this...but that is her receiving her "diploma."

Proud Mommy and Daddy

Drea and Pappaw and Grandma

Drea and her teacher, Miss Camilla - she is an amazing teacher. Drea adores her.

Drea with Nunnie and Bob

Charlotte and Drea with Talia, Charlotte's daycare teacher and, fortunatelyfor us, our babysitter.

Drea with her friends, Molly and Abby.

Madison, Drea, Molly, Grace, and Abby - These girls have all gone to daycare together since they were babies. It was pretty sad because Drea won't be going to the same big school as any of them. Fortunately, we go to church with Grace and Molly dances at our studio but we will have to work in some playdates to continue seeing all of them because they love each other.

Spring to summer...catching up. (Part II)

Bilotta family visit

Unfortunately, my dad's brother and their quickly growing family came to WV to visit when my aunt's mother died. We were sad about their loss but took advantage of the time we could spend with them. There were three new babies in the mix since the last time we saw them, that equals lots of baby cuddle time!

This is my new cousin, Tyler. He was only 5 months old in this picture...yes, 5 months old. He is the cutest thing ever!

These are my new twin cousins! Avie and Elise. They were so adorable and it was wonderful getting to hold them get to know them. I appreciated that I only had one baby at a time. Two babies are a huge handful.

This is my cousin's wife, Lauren, and their beautiful daughter, Madison. My girls were so happy to get some playtime in with her, although her and Charlotte seemed like they could stir up some good trouble together.

My sister, Kareen, holding Tyler. Avie (crap, I think it's Avie) with her momma, my cousin's wife, Meg.

My cousins, Matthew and Jonathan...both in the Air Force.

My Uncle David and Aunt Terry (sorry Aunt Terry, I know I take random candid photos sometimes).

My cousin, Daniel and his wife, Lauren.

Drea and I getting some snuggle time with Elise (I think.) :)

Madison and Charlotte. They look like they are getting ready to do something rotten to Tyler.

Dancing with the girls in our living room.

Pittsburgh Children's Museum

I'm not going to add a lot of captions to these photos because I think they speak for themselves. Most of them were taken at incredible exhibits at the museum. The kids had so much fun and we can't wait to take them back.

Making a sprinkler system in the water room.

Look, we made it through the day without looking like the kids ran us over with a truck. Sometimes two little active girls leave us feeling like we ran a marathon at the end of the day.

Charlotte's favorite part... washing off rocks.

Mud volcano