Simple Balance

a very ELMO Birthday!

buckeyenp — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 02:12:35 +0000

Cupcakes, ice cream, lots of small children, and a night swim. And Elmo. Lots & lots of Elmo. A good time was had by all, and my little Lion turned 2. Just for old times’ sake:

And now, the day in pictures…shall we?

A girl and her Pop

After she put the birthday candle out by grabbing the flame with her little fist. (no permanent injury!)

experimenting with white balance, and cool pool tricks

Tickle me Elmo extreme Edition - kept us all entertained all night long!

MORE PLAY!!

buckeyenp — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:42:09 +0000

Here’s one neat thing about a Midwestern summer: every once in a while, you get a break. Out of nowhere, a few days of 80 degrees and almost no humidity. It is like instantly going to another season or another place. For a few days last week, we had that. And we took advantage with some friends at a local park!

Love this picture!! This gal is one of my dearest friends – she is funny (more like hilarious) and summer is her favorite!

What a good boy, what a brave boy…

buckeyenp — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:17:34 +0000

This Sweet Baby James captivated my attention over the last 48 hours, since I saw a link via twitter. His story, though brief, is riveting. I do not personally know these people, but I’m sure they could benefit from your thoughts, prayers, or whatever else you might have at the ready.

Saturday, Sat-ur-day…

buckeyenp — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:17:52 +0000

…might’ve been one of the hottest days of the year. So, what better to do than spend the day outside, mostly in the sun, in a fairly small area, with a billion other people, and stand in a bunch of long lines. I know — ingenious! I took The C’s and a friend took her littles (3 and 5 months) to the Greene Kids fest. Jumpies, fountains, Build-a-bear, and more! My friend stood in a very long, sunny, hot line to get our Build-a-Bear bodies, but we were duped. After that long, sunny, hot line, guess what — there was another long, sunny, hot line to get the stuffing blown in! The girls loved their little creatures when all was said & done, though.

After Line #1 but before Line #3, we realized the face painting line didn’t look too bad. So we headed over. Not realizing the people in front of us brought like 9 kids. So…an hour later (I mentioned the heat and humidity, right?)…

By that time, we hit lunch at Noodles & Co. and decided our favorite thing about that place was the air conditioning. Big C actually asked, “Hey, can we eat outside?”. Resounding “no” from the moms. We did go back to the play area for a few runs down the jumpies and then headed home. Lil C slept on the way home, and another few hours once we arrived home (yeah, we paid for it later…like until 11:30pm).

Dance fever!

buckeyenp — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:29:59 +0000

For several days, Big C had been planning a dance party. In her room. With a concession stand. And a “mony” jar. (“If people like my dancing, they can give me money.” Um, where did she come up with that concept?) We eventually settled on a night when Mimi & Pop were available and the conditions were right. Multiple changes of clothes were prepared, the piggy bank was emptied, snacks were stocked.

And we danced…

And some of the patrons got very upset when they were removed from the theater.

Pelotonia, here we come!

buckeyenp — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 03:31:48 +0000

Big C recently let go of her training wheels and took quickly to riding her bicycle on 2 wheels. She initially learned to “ride”, and figured that later on she would do “starting” and “stopping”. She’s fairly proficient at stopping by doing something other than crashing into the neighbor’s yard. She’s just now getting coordinated enough to slow down, stop, and put her feet down. Starting still leaves something to be desired. She requires a full assist for that, for now.

That being said, she’s been daily begging us to go on a family bike ride. Lil C is old enough to ride in the baby seat on the back of Dad’s bike, and I am considering doing a sprint Triathlon in a few months, so needed to get back on the bike and see if I could hold my own for a few miles. So tonight at dinner, Dad hatched a plan for us to drive down to a staging area on the bike trail a little south of town, and ride to Young’s for some world famous ice cream. If we couldn’t make it back, we always had the back-up plan of 1 of us being able to ride back and retrieve the rest from Young’s in the car.
The trip was a total delight. We rode…wait for it…5.02 miles!! It was, #1, not nearly as strenuous as I thought (yes, we were traveling at the 6-year old’s pace, but still…), and #2, so much fun! I definitely can ride 13 miles. I’m thinking more seriously about the ~~diaper~~ padded shorts now, but, yes I think I can do 13 miles. For about 4.2 miles of the ride, we were on the bike trail, which is quite shady, and very well protected. And, obviously, free of motor vehicles. There is a short bit at the end of the trip where you have to ride on a couple 2-lane highways, which felt precarious, and I tried not to think about the safety of the entire situation. One of the highways does have a designated bike lane, but still…
By the time we rolled up to Young’s Jersey Dairy, I was ready to bust a button, I was so proud of Big C. See for yourself!

Lil C is clearly having the most fun here.

I know, right? She's pretty amazing.

After some frozen confections, us girls wandered around Young’s while Dad rode the 5 miles back to the staging area (about 3 times faster than we had ridden down!), and returned with the car to retrieve us and our bikes.

Some silliness while we waited:

He got me!

love this face. Her eyes really are that brown, and that sweet.

Where's waldo?

Baby you’re a fiiiiire-work!

buckeyenp — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 03:12:45 +0000

So, the holiday weekend. Lots of good fun. Fortunately the weather cooperated and served up a couple hot, sunny days that just screamed “POOOOOL!”. We were lucky to have Grammy & Mike up for a quick visit, just for the afternoon on the 3rd, then another family & friend picnic on the 4th. So, yes, you’ll have to endure MORE pictures.

"Let's do like when you jump off the kitchen counter." Wait, wha?!??

I took approximately 420,000 pictures of Mike & lil C. Couldn't stop myself.

she really is cute, isn't she?

This guy has a PhD. I'm not really sure what else I can tell you.

happy girl

This is what we affectionately refer to as the Nestea Plunge. One of lil C's favorite moves.

Everyone had a chance to try the swim cap this weekend!

4 months apart in age, and about 10 inches in height.

Dancing queen!!

buckeyenp — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:52:09 +0000

Tonight we stayed up laaaate (lil Lion included!) to take in the Abba show at the Summer Arts Festival. Somebody was a dancin’ fool and I don’t mean Dr Yontz! Both girls loved the show (me too), and Lion slept in until an unprecedented 9:30am this morning. Too bad I had to get up and go to work! Too bad she can’t do that on Saturdays!

Hard for me to believe this girl's gonna be 7 in a few months.

Testing, testing…is this thing on??!

buckeyenp — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:19:56 +0000

So i’m gonna give it another go. Gosh, a year went by??!? These kids have grown up (wait ’til you see). I feel like I’ve been oversharing on f@cebook (oh wait, we ALL do!), so I’m going to swing it back over here and see what happens. If you want to see countless (and I do mean overabundance) of pictures of mostly my children, well, you’re in the right place. If not, keep right on clicking. I have so many blogs I follow now, I think, how will I have time to post? So we’ll see.

Since I’ve been gone…
Lil C is approaching birthday #2, she’s sleeping in the bottom bunk now (bed-bed!), officially diagnosed as expressive speech delay, and starts early Intervention on Tuesday. Yay!! She is madly in love with Elmo (Mel-Mo! — one of her maybe 5 words), she is quite small, quite loveable and totally hysterical. Her newest funny is that she will ask a question (in her abbreviated Lion-speak) and you answer her, she says, “Oh.” Real short, real funny voice, and it is absolutely hysterical. Maybe I can get it on video and put here. “Da-da!” “Da-da’s at work.” “oh.” And the more you laugh, the more she does it, and the funnier it gets.

Big C finished kindergarten, a complete success. She is reading on about a 4th grade level at present, and loves school. Her teacher retired this year, so it was kind of special for C to be in her last class. B & I helped out with Field Day at year’s end, and it was a very fun (hot, sweaty) day! Maybe some pictures of that will make it here too. We’re ready for 1st grade and trying to fill the summer with some fun, especially with working parents. Tomorrow she has a picnic and water park play date, so we’re making it one day at a time.

We got back last week from our family vaca in Hilton Head, and, just for fun, maybe some pictures of that will be on the way too. For now, cheerio!

Smile and say “Cheese!”

buckeyenp — Mon, 17 May 2010 02:42:11 +0000

On Friday night, we experienced a loss in our household – the first of its kind! Big C’s first lost tooth! It’s been loose for several weeks, and I’ve been dreading it. For all the terrifically gross things I do on a day-to-day basis, there is no way I can pull teeth. I absolutely cannot. So I look to Brian, who has trouble maintaining consciousness at most any event with the potential for blood…but he came through with brilliance on Friday when Big C came to me and showed me that little pearl, sitting in its place, just ready to be set free.

I held her tightly and Brian did a little wiggling front to back, and out it came. She was thrilled, I don’t even think she felt any pain. The Tooth Fairy came and delivered $3 in exchange for this tiny little tooth!