Grayson's 4th Birthday Party

Saturday was Grayson's 4th birthday party. He decided that he wanted to have his party at his house so his friends could come over and play with his toys. Let me tell you that they really did play with his toys all day. You should see the toy room! I can't wait to see the floor again!

The party was a success. We started at 2 and we had people here up until almost 8pm. My poor little house was a mess when it was all over. Looking at the smile on Grayson's face made it all worth while.

Grayson's Speed Racer Cake: He put his cars on it.

Don't worry we washed them first.

Chris lighting the candles.

Opening his Speed Racer Lego's. It took Chris hours to

put them together. And yes, he read the directions!

Charles talking to Chris and his brother, Ron, about the

X-box 360's that he bought them for their birthdays.

Ron, Heather, Amanda, and Lona

Note the Speed Racer poster that Chris customized

for Grayson's party.

It's amazing how exhausting birthday parties can be. The planning, the cleaning, the cleaning again, the sugar high kids! It's hard to believe that I have to start planning Jason's party already. His birthday isn't until May but he wants a bowling party again. It's crazy that you have to book a party this far in advance. But at least I won't have to clean the toy room after that party!

Finally Part 2 of 2008 Review

I know it has taken me a while to get to this but here it is. The conclusion to 2008!

The end of July brought on an addition to my family. My newest nephew Galen Alan was born on July 28, 2008.

Big brother Ethan holds his baby brother.

The end of August brought us to Jason's first day of Kindergarten. It was an exciting and emotional day for us.

Here he is holding a sign so I won't forget when his first day was.

September brought on the annual Bean Soup festival in my hometown.

Of course, let the holiday season begin with Halloween.

Grayson as Spiderman and Jason as Iron Man

Jason finished up his first season of soccer the first weekend of November.

Jason with his coach getting his soccer trophy.

I have no photos of Thanksgiving. We went to my mom's restaurant and cooked a huge dinner. It's probably the last holiday we will celebrate there so I really wish I had photos.

Gale, Ethan and Galen joined us for a train ride with Santa.

Jason and Grayson with Santa

I didn't post pics of Christmas because there are so many of them in a previous blog!

Hopefully 2009 will bring us many new adventures and lots of things to write about. Thanks to everyone who actually reads this blog. I hope you enjoy it.

2008 in Review - Part 1

Unfortunately 2008 began with the passing of Chris' mother on January 15th. She was one of the best mothers, mother-in-laws and grandmothers that anyone could ask for. She has been missed and will always be missed by anyone who even had the pleasure of meeting her. She had been battling lung cancer for over 4years. She had hope that she would overcome this disease and was strong the whole way to the end.

Charles, Lea and Grayson in 2005.

The year progressed and we celebrated Grayson's 3rd birthday! He wanted a Thomas themed party. I think I had to light his Thomas candle 4 times that day because he kept wanting us to sing to him so he could blow out the candle!

Grayson playing with his Thomas laptop.

Next brought on Easter. The kids put out their baskets and slept while the Easter Bunny filled them up.

The Easter baskets after the Bunny visited

In April we visited the Whitaker Center with friends.

Jason, his friend Matt and Grayson playing with the water.

We also visited Lake Tobias and rode the safari bus with some more friends.

Abigail, Jackson, Jason and Grayson

May brought on Jason's 5th birthday. He wanted his party at the bowling alley with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme.

Uncle Ed helping Jason blow out his candles with Grayson and Ethan trying to help.

June brought on a trip the Hershey's Chocolate World and a ride through the simulated factory tour. We also saw the Really Big 3D show, which was amusing.

Jason and Grayson on the factory tour.

In July, Jason started swimming lessons at Penn State Harrisburg. He proved to be quite the swimmer for his first time in swimming lessons.

Jason with his swimming instructor.

July also brought us back to Hershey for a fun day at Hershey Park.

Jason with the Reese Cup character.

And a trip to the PA State Museum for a Planetarium show and playing in the Curiosity Connection room.

Grayson picking apples from the apple tree.

We were way too busy last year to put it all in one blog. Look for part 2 coming soon!

Trains, trains, trains

On Saturday Chris and his dad took the boys to a train meet in King of Prussia. Traffic was apparently horrendous trying to get to the convention center. Since this train meet was very heavily advertised and more geared for kids than most train meets, it was somewhat busy. All of the boys had a good time though and the kids had a lot to talk about when they got home. I had a great day because I had worked overnight Friday night and I was able to sleep all day in a completely quiet house with no interruptions. It's a very rare thing!

Here are some pics from the day:

There was a room filled with track and trains

for the kids to play with.

The boys waiting for a train to come by on the track.

Three Christmases in 18hrs!

Christmas Eve morning Chris and I spent our anniversary driving to Virginia to visit his mom at Arlington National Cemetery. The weather was terrible when we left Harrisburg but as we drove south it got much dryer. We had been planning this trip for a while so I was really hoping that we didn't have to cancel the trip due to weather. It has been a rough year for him without his mom and I know that I meant a lot to him to be able to "see" her for Christmas.

We were back in the Harrisburg area by early afternoon and decided to go to lunch at Red Lobster to celebrate our 8 years of putting up with each other, I mean 8 years of wonderful, blissful marriage!

The boys had spent the night before at my mom's house so after lunch we went home, picked up some gifts and headed to her house to pick them up and take them to my sisters for the start of the Christmas madness! She always has a Christmas Eve dinner at her house and we exchange gifts with my family.

Here are some picks from Gale's House:

Jason and Grayson opening their Hulk punching hands.

Gale helping baby Galen open his gift from us:

A Leap Frog steering wheel.

The three older boys opening an art gift set from Aunt Britty.

Note the Nerf Tommy Guns in the background and my

brother - in- law drooling over one of them!

Then began Christmas at our house. The boys fell asleep on the way home Christmas Eve, so no fighting about staying up to see Santa! This was the first year that we had all of the gifts wrapped before Christmas Eve. Every year now since Jason's first Christmas we have been up all night wrapping gifts and then setting them up under the tree. It was so nice this year to be asleep by midnight!

Our tree Christmas Eve

We hung their stockings next to their beds this year, so when they woke up that was the first thing they saw. It was nice because it gave me time to wake up and get ready to go downstairs.

Jason dumping his stocking out on his bed

Grayson with his stocking


Jason with his Sonic shirt.

Grayson with his cars Lego's.

Jason opening his Nintendo DS and games.

Then it was off to Chris' brother's house to spend the remainder of Christmas Day with his family. I had to leave early to go to work. :(

I love this pic of Grayson trying to explain something to Chris.

Three of my nieces and Jason playing with Sarah's

paper princess dolls.

My father-in-law handing out the presents

Overall, Christmas was exhausting this year but worth it all. The boys had a great time and loved all the presents they got. Now I just have to figure out where to put it all!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and that the New Year brings you all hope and peace.

Paradise Express

On Sunday Chris and I took the boys to the Strasburg Railroad for a train ride with Santa. My sister, Gale, and her two sons tagged along. We bought tickets for the 1pm train and we were on our way from Harrisburg to Strasburg by 11:15am. It is normally just over an hour drive from our house. About 10 minutes from our house we hit stop and go traffic. I thought we were going to be late! Fortunately there was a small fender bender holding up traffic and then a little further up the road was closed and we had to take a small detour. We made it to the railroad by 12:30. Just enough time to visit the potty, ride the little hand crank trains and get ready for our ride on the big train. The following pictures are in opposite order of when they happened because blogger uploads my pics in the wrong order and I don't have time to fix it right now!

This is the last thing we did. I took the 3 oldest boys for a train ride on the Cagney Train. Its basically a miniature steam engine. It takes you up and then it uncouples from one end, reattaches to the other end and pulls you back to the station. Its probably only about a 10 min ride. The kids loved every minute of it though.

I love this picture. It has to be one of the best pictures I have ever taken. It's a picture of my sister Gale and her 5month old son, Galen on the train.

The sun was in their eyes!

Jason and Grayson looking out of the train window while the big train uncoupled and reattached to the other end to pull us back. This is also in Paradise PA. The train takes you from Strasburg to Paradise. The total train ride is about 45 min.

The 3 older boys at the beginning of the ride with the little safes that Santa gave them. Each safe contained a railroad coin. Unfortunately every ride or activity costs at least 2 coins. They each kept their coins as keepsakes. They were shiny and new!

The three boys standing in front of the engine just before we left the station. We were in the first coach on the way there and the last coach on the way back.

Jason and Grayson with Santa on the train.

After our train rides we headed back to Harrisburg. We decided to take all the boys to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner and some more play time. I think the boys all had a fun, exhausting day.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!

Yesterday we took the boys to a Christmas Lights Walk. I am not sure what it is really called, but you walk around and look at Christmas lights. Its very nice and the kids loved it.

One of the buildings had a "Plinko" game the kids played for free

Jason and Grayson with their friends Austin and Echo

All 4 in Santa's Sleigh



Now Jason visiting Santa

Grayson with Santa

First Snow!

We had our first snow just before Thanksgiving. Jason had fun playing in it. He made me go out to the shed and get his little shovel. He was shoveling the snow in the back yard because I told him there was no snow on the sidewalk to shovel.

He can't wait for the next snowstorm, but then again he doesn't have to drive in it either!

Santa is coming to town

He actually came early this year. The boys got to see Santa before Thanksgiving. Bass Pro Shops have a Santa and North Pole set up by the boat section at the Harrisburg Mall. They give you a free photo and then if you want more you can go online and order more. Its actually very cute and they have a nice set up. There are also activities for the kids. You can take your own pictures as well. Here are two pictures that I took.

This is my favorite of the two.

"Smile and look like good little boys"

I recommend checking it out. We also walked down to look at the sand castle in the center of the mall this year. It's very intricate but not as monstrous as previous years. I would have like to see it a little bigger.