Visitors from Seattle

Andrew's sister Michelle and our 2-year-old niece Madelyn were in town visiting us from Seattle since early last week. They stayed with us at our house and we had such a great time seeing both of them. Our boys had so much fun playing with their only cousin and the three kids just seemed to have the greatest time laughing, running around and doing some fun activities together. Three little ones that are so close in age can certainly get silly together, that's for sure!! :)

We just brought them back to the airport this afternoon and were very sad to see them leave but how wonderful to have so many memories of our visit captured on camera!

Resting in my bed one morning while Michelle and I got ready to go out for the day. Apparently the show I had on for them was much more intriguing to the "over 2" crowd since Nate seemed disinterested in it and instead preferred to make silly faces at the camera :).

Cheese! Of course now that Nate is no longer looking, Maddie is and Ben's smiling...

Michelle and I took the kids to the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA one day and wow, was it a huge hit with everyone! My mom and I had taken the kids a few months ago so I knew my boys would enjoy going back, especially now that Nate would actually be able to participate in everything since he's walking, and we definitely learned that going mid-week while school is in session is a much better option than on the weekend. It wasn't crowded at all - as it was last time - so we were able to do more activities.

Nate greets the giant crayon on our way in...

Madelyn is SO excited for our outing!

Our first stop was the giant sidewalk chalk area, which basically is exactly as it sounds: a huge sidewalk area with lots of sidewalk chalk strewn around, which the kids can use to draw.

Madelyn has two buckets full of chalk and is gearing up to get artsy!

Nate loves drawing and getting incredibly dirty so what is more perfect than this activity? Cheeeese! "

Ben was in serious-mode the entire time and enjoyed drawing pictures and then erasing them again with the big erasers.

Our next stop was a glow-in-the-dark area, which basically consisted of white boards that glowed when a special pen was used to color on them. The camera picked up too much light so you can't really see the kids' creations too clearly but they all had fun and I even learned that you can get mini glow boards for at home. Hmmm, good Christmas ideas for Santa-mom :)

Next up: another huge hit. Finger painting! Ben looks like a deer caught in the headlights here but really was having a great time creating his orange picture.

This was Nate (and I believe Maddie's) first time finger painting. So exciting! They were tentative at first but then dug right in to the orange goo.

The coloring station was another very popular one for everyone (including Aunt Chel!)...

After we tore Aunt Chel away from the coloring station :), we visited the station that Nate enjoyed the most in the entire place. It was a huge glass walk-through tunnel with markers that you can use to color on the glass. He probably stayed here for close to 30 minutes, running through the tunnel, scribbling on the walls, putting his markers back into the bin and then starting all over again!

I literally had to tear him away from this one, kicking and screaming...and managed to pull a muscle in my stomach doing so :(. It is gone by now but hurt so much for about a day and a half afterwards!

Maddie behind the glass wall, working on her masterpiece...

I love this one of the two little ones on either side of the glass!

A few photos of Nate behind the glass in the rare moments that he actually stopped running!

Next, we went to the play area so the kids could work off some steam before lunch. Another fun area!

Nate and Maddie crawl through the entrance tunnel...

The big hit of this area was a ball obstacle course where the kids could drop balls into a slot and they could watch them go up and around the room until they came out at the end again. Even Nate had a great time participating!

It's getting close to naptime and we haven't even finished all of the activities or had lunch yet. So, Nate stops to take a little repose so he wouldn't have to cut the day short for dull things like napping :)

Hugging a tree...

Maddie is having so much fun!

I found these next few photos quite funny! Lesson 1: Hugs and Kisses.

(1) Awww...cousin love!

(2) No, I mean it, I really love you, Nate! (3) OK...Can't...breathe....

Finally, our last major station before we left and Ben's favorite from last time: Model Magic. Maddie and Nate seemed to have just as much fun as the 'ole 3-year-old pro, even though it was the first time for both of them.

A few more funny moments of the day: Lesson 2: Sharing.

(1) So happy creating! Note the tools everyone is using to mold their clay.

(2) Note who now has the fluted tool.

(3) After some cajoling with the equally fun rolling pin, we are back to being content :)

Lesson 3: Frustration.

The two brothers with their Andrew faces on. Creating a Model Magic masterpiece is serious business!

Nate loved this station so much that he finished with various dots all over his visible skin :)

Time to go home. "Come on, Maddie, I'll hold your hand as we cross the street since I'm your big cousin."

Our view of the giant box of crayons as we were in the elevator on our way to the car. Bye-bye Crayola Factory. What a fun day!

One of our at-home activities while Maddie visited was again something artsy: painting. Yes, I am a brave, brave soul letting three little ones paint in my house together :). Thank God for washable paints and old Daddy tee-shirts for smocks!

Again, this was Nate and (I believe) Maddie's first time painting with poster paints and a brush.

The three kids in the most frequently used room in our house lately: the craft room.

Nate was the only one who would (sort of) let us take a picture of him in his huge smock with dirty, paint-covered fingers.

And the oldest finishes last for a reason: he knows he can get all three cups of paint at once while the others are being cleaned up!

Oh no! Did I mention thank God for washable paint?

Kim and Taylor's Wedding

Yesterday we went to Andrew's cousin Kim's wedding. Kim is the daughter of our Aunt Cinty who lives nearby to us in PA and so we are occasionally able to spend some time with Kim and her (now) husband Taylor when they are in town visiting as well. It was a beautiful wedding and Kim looked radiant! What a great time we had celebrating with Andrew's mom's side of the family and seeing some of the aunts, uncles and cousins who we do not get the chance to see too often.

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Taylor Peterson!

Four of the lady cousins - Kelsey, Kim, Michelle and Janine.

And here they are again with me this time, honorary cousin by marriage :)

All of the Gaczewski clan who were present at the wedding with their spouses.

The four Gaczewski sisters who were at the wedding (center) and sister-in-law Darlene on one end and Kim on the other.

All of the Gaczewski girls at the wedding, myself included!

What a great photo of Kim and her mom both looking beautiful for the big day!

Afternoon at the Park

In my realization that I have been slacking off on updating my blog lately, I specifically noticed that I have really been lazy about taking some candid shots of the kids just doing ordinary things throughout the day. This afternoon they both woke up from their naps at a reasonable time and I knew Andrew would be late from work tonight. We hadn't been to a park in a while so I took them to their favorite one - Plains Park in Hatfield.

Here are some candid shots of the kids playing. We were the only ones on the playground so they had the place to themselves.


Nate loves the swings, especially the ones at this park since they have really long chains and can go very high! All smiles (and of course, the silly scrunchy-nose face that he makes). :)

Serious for a few minutes, just enjoying the ride.

Ben also loves this big blue swing in particular. It reminds me of a roller coaster seat; I seriously think it needs to do more than just go back and forth with a harness like that :). Anyway, he kept telling me to push it higher and higher and then was telling me how his stomach dropped when he went up really high (without any complaint at all). I think Ben is now ready for his first free-fall ride at the next amusement park we go to!

Just hopping along...

Nate now says "cheeese" when I get my camera out, as seen below. Phew! And here I thought the poor second child would never know the feeling of having too many photos taken of him. I guess I'm doing my mom-duty after all, even if I haven't been updating my blog as often as I usually do :).

The reason Ben loves this park is because they have several large trucks strewn around and the entire park is covered in woodchips. Fun! Trucks and woodchips are like heaven to a three-year-old boy...

Nate climbed to the top of the tower and stood up there and danced for about a minute (i.e. bobbed up and down). I wish I had thought to take some video of his "victory dance."

My favorite picture taken all day....

Ben being goofy on the twisty slide...

Nate is trying to follow his big brother and heads up to the twisty slide as well....

Finally, here is Nate walking up the stairs on two feet while holding the banister. I had heard this from many people and it is certainly the case with Nate: he walked very late but all of a sudden, within a few weeks, he is running to keep up with his brother and has decided that he will walk up the stairs in an upright position (and try to go down the same way sometimes). Once he unleashed his fear, there is no stopping him!

Ben's First Day of Preschool

This morning Ben had his orientation for school. His first official day is on Tuesday but today the parents had orientation in one room while all of the kids went to their classes and got to meet their classmates and get accustomed to the environment. So, we are calling it his first day of school :)

Nana and I took Ben school shopping a few weeks ago and he picked out some new clothes (fall clothes so he didn't wear those today), new sneakers and most importantly, a firetruck backpack. What three year old boy can go to pre-K without a truck backpack?!?! (at least according to Ben!)

He will be attending the Indian Valley Nursery School at the Grace Bible Church in Souderton, PA on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The school is about 5 minutes from our house and has come highly recommended to us. He will have art, music, gym, library, religion, show and tell, projects, writing, among other activities to fill his days. We are very happy with our choice after seeing all of the ammenities that the school has to offer him today during orientation.

Here is the big preschool boy. I cannot believe my little guy is going to school already. At least he doesn't take the bus - I may not have made it through the morning if I had to watch him get onto an actual schoolbus this morning! :)

Posing with his new backpack...

Nate decided that he wanted to be in the photos too so Ben shows off his backpack to his little bro (i.e. reminds Nate that he is too little to have a big boy firetruck backpack!)

Cheeeeeeese!

Getting all set to go to school....

And here he is after we got home again, ready to go inside and have some lunch! Surprisingly, he did talk about what they did in school that morning and told me about the kids he had met. I expected him to not really have too many details so it was fun to hear about his day. Back again on Tuesday morning for the first official day of school. I don't know what Nate and I will do that morning alone without "The Boss" there :)

Labor Day at the NJ Shore

Well, I cannot believe that the end of the summer is quickly approaching. I know the official "last day" is in a few weeks, but in my mind, Labor Day always signifies the end of the summer. This year, since we have had such miserable rainy weather for the majority of the summer months, I feel as if we went by without much of a summer at all. Of course this is probably every pregnant woman's dream since being devoid of excessive humidity these past three months has actually enabled me to go outside on those days when it was not raining, without too much complaining :).

But there still is a bittersweetness in my mind now that we are past Labor Day and into September. Oh, I love fall and am looking forward to all that it entails, but I'm sad to see the carefree days of summer gone so quickly.

This year, we spent the Labor Day holiday weekend at the NJ shore with Grandpa G and CC, Maggie and Billy and Michelle and Madelyn, who are visiting from Seattle. Michelle and Maddie are also spending the last few days of their trip out east at our house in PA with us, so I am sure I will have lots of other fun pictures to post in a few days, but I wanted to get these ones up on the blog since updating it has not been my strong point lately :).

Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day at the shore - hot, humid, perfect outside weather. We all took a ride on the boat. The kids love it and it was Nate's first boat ride ever (I remember taking turns staying back at the house last year with Cheri when Nate was too little to go boating at all!).

Nate really enjoyed it and was Mr. Mellow the entire time.


2-year-old Maddie in her movie star sunglasses!



Benjamin loves boat rides and even more so, loved looking for buoys and going underneath the bridges!

Both Maddie and Nate took their morning naps on the boat. Here's a sleeping Maddie with Michelle. Aww....

Maggie and Billy...

Andrew and both of the boys in the wind as we were moving along...

What is cuter than three little blonde cousins in the tub together? Nothing! :)

On Sunday Grandpa G took us to the boardwalk. The kids loved the rides and of course, the cotton candy! Once Maddie warmed up to the stickiness of it, she seemed to enjoy eating it just as much as the boys :). Here are all three of them enjoying their blue treat.

Ben and Maddie eagerly await their turn on the big rig Super Truck ride...

And they're off! Aunt Chel had to accompany them on this one since Maddie wasn't quite up to the height requirement to ride some of the rides alone. Of course she got the back seat while Ben and Maddie took the wheel(s). :)

Here they come, all smiles!

Andrew and Grandpa G took Maddie and Nate on the carousel. Ben didn't want to go. We're not too sure what the two kids thought about the ride (even though Daddy and G seem to be enjoying it!). Nate was serious and mellow the entire time and Maddie gripped onto her horse for dear life the whole ride!

And the reason that Ben skipped the merry-go-round was that he wanted to scope out the other rides for something more exciting. And he found it...the helicopters. Now, Nate LOVES helicopters and noticed this ride immediately but much to his disappointment, adults couldn't go on this ride and you had to be a certain height to go on alone. Maddie and Nate weren't tall enough, but Ben was so he braved the air all by himself and smiled the entire time!

We all kept telling him to pull the lever to make the helicopter go up into the air and FINALLY he caught on! So proud of himself....