Where have we been? Well, here...

Sorry for not keeping in touch - don't know what happened to the last 6 weeks, besides the summer coming to a crashing end and Amber starting school : ) . But no excuses. Anyhow, just wanted to post some pics of the family from summer's end to recent. Things are going well here in Happy Valley - enjoying the beautiful fall weather that finally came, and excited for another PSU football season. As always, hope everyone is well!

Daddy had the itch to hit golf balls one Sunday afternoon, so we took Tanner for the first time to the range...


Eye on the ball - very nice...


The downswing...


Enjoying the shot. He's got better form than Chris!


In August, we went with our friends Bryan and Elaina and their kids Alyse and Grant to Delgrosso's amusement and water park. The kids had a blast...





Tanner was such a great "protector" when Carsyn (ever so cautious) rode with him...


Two long-time, great friends...


Amber and Tanner took to the go cart track right before leaving the park. So much fun whizzing around...


A couple weeks later, we met our friends Dan and Erinn and their kids Ellie and Jack at the Centre County Grange Fair. Despite the pungent odors of the stalls, the kids really enjoyed seeing all the animals on display...


Tanner and Ellie after conquering the big John Deere...



Ok, favorite pictures of the summer. Amber took Carsyn over to a couple tomato plants we have to pick some ripe ones. Carsyn totally got it and was just too cute picking away (OK, so we got a few green ones!)...






Lately, Carsyn has become more interested in the swingset and slide. This afternoon, the kids were having so much fun playing together on it...


Carsyn: "Come on Tanner, let's skip this picture and GO!!!"



Carsyn getting a kick out of peek-a-boo from the playhouse window...



Carsyn looking as if she is on top of the world...



And finally, Tanner taking a few swings before heading in for the night. On a side note, Tanner is playing soccer this fall for the first time. He has been doing great, and we'll be sure to post some pictures of him on the blog soon. Oh, and Chris got suckered into coaching as well! Overall, it's been a lot of fun with little regret, but those are two LONG hours with six 4-year olds to get through each week!

Gotta Love Toddlerhood

Some funny stories about little "Carsyrina." So this morning, Tanner was having an apple (whole, on the core) before heading to school, and of course, whatever Tanner has, Carsyn wants. So, Amber figured, what's the harm. Here's how that went:

She started slow, making some funny faces...


...so Tanner showed her how it's done...


A bit overwhelming?


Tanner had no problems with his...



Still slow goings...


...but making progress...


So Amber heads upstairs to finish getting ready to head out for the day thinking that Carsyn wouldn't finish that much more. Well, she came down to find the entire bottom half of the apple missing, core and all, and Carsyn with this smile on her face...



Another funny story. First off, note to parents, don't send your kid to day care on Tomato soup day with a white shirt. That's what Amber did this morning, and the result was what you see below. The cutoff jean shorts looked cute with the white shirt, but the first thing that came to Amber's head when she picked up Carsyn was "I'm a redneck woman..."


Yep, that's a boys faded, cutoff "Spidey Power" shirt...


Is that a bird by her mouth?



And of course, Tanner's response to all of this: "Mommy, what time can I get a Spiderman muscle shirt?"

Daddy Day Care

Amber had a training thing to go to today for school, so I spent the day at home with the kiddos. Not that this is such an abnormal thing for me to do, but I wanted to make the day fun for the kids before they start back up full time in day care. Well, the rainy weather was a challenge to make many outdoor plans, but we made due, and here's a run-down of our day:

After breakfast and during a break between rain showers, we went for a good neighborhood walk. We even visited the home lot that our friends Dan and Erinn (and Ellie and Jack) will be building on in the near future.


After Carsyn's nap, we headed to Chris's work to say a quick hello (and let another quick rain shower pass by). Then, we headed on a bus trip across campus. Here we are at our first bus stop...


And here we are on the bus. Tanner was totally excited...


We stopped at the Creamery and shared a bowl of delicious Keeny Beany Chocolate ice cream...


Carsyn may have had more on her shirt than in her mouth...


...but she LOVED it!!!


And of course, this is an easy way to please Tanner, whose favorite color is still brown because "it's like chocolate!"


Back to bus stop for a ride into town...




We finished our trip with a stop to the Growing Tree downtown toy store. I would have loved to get a picture there, but I got distracted by an urgent bathroom request and our necessary run to Panera Bread to handle that. Anyhow, the kids were great, we had lots of fun, and again I'm reminded how much I love them. Take care!