A cute picture of the boys lounging around together on their Anywhere Chairs while watching a movie this morning soon after they got up. They both always pull their chairs up in front of the tv and just love sitting in their own little seats. These little chairs are one of my favorite things that we own and they are so stinkin' cute, too...
Last Friday night Andrew and I had a date night in Philadelphia. We went out to dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse with a gift card we had been given (yum!, this was wonderful!) and then we went to see Andrew's long-time friend Doug Brown in his band Safetysuit in concert. Doug is the lead singer and writes the lyrics for the band's songs and is quite talented! They recently have been #1 and #2 on VH1 with their latest single, Stay. Check them out!!
We had such a good time and the concert was great. Here are some photos of Doug that I was able to capture...
Last week I met up with a good friend Danielle who I had fallen out of touch with and have recently reunited with on Facebook! She and her husband have two little boys as well - Joshua will be 4 in December and Nicholas will be 1 in October. So they are very close in age to my boys.
We took the kids to the Giggleberry Fair at Peddler's Village in Lahaska, PA and had a fun time reuniting. The kids played very well together and had a good time exploring the fun and games at Giggleberry.
Here are the two older boys in the arcade with little Nicholas in his stroller in the background. This was Ben's first time in an arcade (apart from Chuck E. Cheese) and he really liked it. The basketball, skeeball, air hockey and another ball-throwing game were the biggest hit!
Playing basketball...
Nate decided he's also big and will join in the fun at the ball-throwing game. After all of our arcade adventures, the boys were able to take their tickets that they had won and redeem them for some lollipops. Now what's more fun than that?
Here are some photographs from the Discovery Zone area, which is similar to a hands-on children's museum.
Nate particularly enjoyed the over-sized ducks in the water area...he wouldn't put this one down!
Ben and Joshua loved the area with the enormous Legos. They built some towers together and had a lot of fun creating and then knocking down their works of art!
Yum, the boys have decided that they like watermelon. Well, for this week, that is. We'll see if they still like it as much next week :) This was Nate's first time having it on the rind; the chunks (apparently) are not as much fun since he refused to eat those.
My dad and his sister, my Aunt Catherine who is visiting from Florida, came for a daytrip today before she heads back south tomorrow morning. She had never been to our house to visit so we thought it would be a nice car ride for them to take before she leaves. It is a beautiful day today - warm but not too hot - and we were able to spend the entire visit outside on our shady patio, which was really nice. The boys love to play outside so they happily obliged!
Here are the boys getting dirty (as usual!) in the sandbox. Nate is obsessed with diggers and luckily Ben shares his CAT excavator with his brother without too much of a fuss. Note that Nate now wears sneakers regularly since he is a walker...such a little boy now!
OK, costume change (for Nate, that is). There was no salvaging those clothes after his romp in the sandbox so he's onto the second outfit of the day. No wonder I have so much laundry all the time with these two dirty guys!
Here they are together in the little adirondack chair that I painted for them. Nate loves the chair, but gets nervous when he's on Ben's lap so he doesn't appear too excited to pose for this shot! Hopefully soon we will have two chairs; I have another one on order since it's a seasonal item and was out of stock at our local craft store. They are sending one to my local store from another location and once it's in we will put it together and pick out another bright color for it. Then there will be chairs for all!
Nate is much relieved that Ben is off to bigger and better things and has left him alone in the chair!
Nate in the pickup truck. Mr. Smiley!
This past weekend my brother Mike and his fiancee Chang got married at the Grand Summit Hotel in Summit, NJ. It was a beautiful wedding and the weather was absolutely perfect, after much prayer since it has literally been raining almost every other day here. It was breezy and sunny, almost spring-like weather all weekend so we are so glad that it held up for them!
Andrew was the Best Man in the wedding, I was the Matron of Honor and Benjamin was the Ring Bearer. Nate also came to the wedding and because the rest of our family was involved, and because he is glued to my side when there are unfamiliar faces present, he became an honoray member of the wedding party as well. He got to wear a tuxedo, ride in the limo, and hang out in the bridal lounge for cocktails and appetizers. Not bad for a 16 month old's social life, huh? :)
Fortunately, both kids did fairly well all weekend. They napped for us at my parents' house, gave us no problems staying up incredibly late for two nights in a row and Ben didn't even balk for a minute about walking down the aisle as ring beaer. Nate has a lot of stranger anxiety but once he warmed up to the crowd he was fine. He also got upset during the ceremony when we all were up front but fortunately my 10-year-old cousin Margaret came to the rescue and took him out for us so his disruption was short-lived. Phew, thank you Margaret! Overall, we were really grateful that two little kids held up so well for all of the festivities and we were glad that Mike and Chang opted to have them be a part of their big day since it was such a special family event for all of us!
Here are Mike and Chang at the rehearsal dinner on Thursday night.
Chang and her mom Anna at the dinner...
And here are all of the kids at the rehearsal dinner. My dad's entire family was out-of-state so most of them were with us Thursday night for the dinner. These three children are my two cousins' children so they are my second cousins (I believe...). Margaret and William are brother and sister and little Kate is their cousin.
Wedding day! Here is Mike's childhood friend Andy with junior bridesmaid Veronica in the limo. Note that Nate also got to ride in the limo. Good thing he was dressed for the occasion - ha ha!
Mike and Chang on our way to get pictures taken. We did photos before the ceremony so they were not officially married yet in this photo...what a lovely couple they make! Chang looked stunning in her beautiful wedding gown...and she certainly put me to work getting it on her. The entire dress laced up corset-style in the back! I have a new appreciation for women in former eras who used to wear those daily!
Our family of four (and a half!) in the limo...
Me and Nate... 
The boys sharing a chair during the cocktail gathering in the bridal lounge before we were all introduced at the reception.
Mike and Chang dance together for the first time as man and wife at the reception. Per Chinese custom, Chang changed into a red dress for the reception. It was beautiful!
Ben getting down on the dance floor. I was actually shocked to see how excited he was to dance at the reception, he loved it! He kept telling us all weekend "I'm so excited for the party!" and when the time actually came, he lived up to his words.
Here he is dancing with 4-year-old cousin Kate who was visiting from California. What a smooth little ladies man in his tuxedo!
Meet Emily Robertson, my cousin Lauren's beautiful 8-week old. She's the first girl on my side of the family and the newest member. How adorable does she look in her little party dress for her first big night out?!?!
Here's Nate high on his second wind, cruising around the dance floor by himself in his fancy duds. He walked around for about 2 hours, and the entire time we were eating dinner, so he had the floor to himself for a long time. He kept going to visit my parents and other people he knew and would occasionally make his way to a table of people he did not know and "introduce" himself. So funny!
Mike and Chang at their sweetheart table during dinner.
And here is the beautiful cake!
Chang and Mike. Chang, here, is in her third change of clothes of the night - her going away outfit that we helped her put on just before the cutting of the cake. Lovely!
Nate's night is now coming to an end...at 11:30pm! We couldn't believe that he lasted so long without becoming cranky or anything. Here, he is getting that blank stare in Andrew's arms and will soon be fast asleep. We took him upstairs and put him down alone for a little while as we said goodbye to everyone. Hopefully child services won't come after us for leaving him alone in the hotel room for a half hour or so! :) Ben, on the other hand, was busy dancing until the end of the reception at 12:30am!!
What a beautiful wedding and I cannot wait to see the professional photos when they come back since (obviously) I missed photos of so many people on my camera since I was busy with my wedding duties and the kids. I know the photographers are great and will capture lots of great candid shots of everyone I missed.This weekend while at my parents' house for Mike and Chang's wedding, Nate developed a liking for the little antique rocking chair my parents had bought when Ben was little. He kept asking about his "chair" and just loved sitting in it and rocking.
Here he has spotted it and is on his way over. All of a sudden since he has started to walk, Nate has taken off and practically runs! It's so funny to see him on his two feet after so many months of him crawling every place :)
My little chair!
Peek-a-boo! 
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