Backyard Fun

If you read over to my other blog regularly, you likely read about this fun on a hot evening.  Here are the pictures!

 This little girl had no desire to remain in her pool.

 Daddy took his turn, too.  He actually went down the Slip 'n' Slide quite a few times until...

 POP!  The box clearly stated the weight limit of 110 pounds.  Now we understand why.  (If you know of one we can use for adults, too, let us know!)  At least our pool is plenty big and sturdy!

A New Blog

Did you know that I have been blogging for three years?  It all started with this blog, with the intention of keeping distant family updated about all of Meghan's speech progress and highlighting the little bits of our days.  After about six months, I realized I wanted to separate all the kids' milestones and family stuff from the "mom" stuff.  So I began a new blog at Live, Learn, Love.

Well, after blogging there for over two years, I decided I wanted a fresh start.  I will gradually phase out Live, Learn, Love because now my writing efforts will be focused at This Simple Home.  And it has a domain that is easy to remember (unlike LLL!)...it's www.thissimplehome.com.

My graphic designer friend, Danielle, made this header!  I adore it!

I never knew how much I enjoyed writing, but I do.  Now that This Simple Home is set up, I hope you will come see what we have been up to!  This Simple Home will share about the baby steps I take to make my house a home.  Primarily I will share recipes, organizing/cleaning ideas that work for me, my faith, adult and children's crafts, and my love of books...while trying to keep it simple.

This Simple Home

Feel free to subscribe to it through email or an rss feed, but I will keep a link on this site in the sidebar, too, so you can always click through that if you wish.

Friends Forever!

I have not gotten to post all of our Christmas pictures yet, but I wanted to send you over to Jenny's blog, Academy at Thousand Oaks to read her take on our visit when she and her family came to stay with us for a few days in November.  She had lots of photos that I didn't, like the one above.  Jenny did a terrific job articulating how strange and wonderful it was to meet a friend that she had never met.  Anyway, go check it out!  It was a fabulous visit, and she summed it up so well!

If you are interested in a rereading what I wrote, you can read about them at these links: First Thoughts, Lighthouse, Real Friends, and Hospitality.

Choo Choo Barn

Last December I got to meet Krista, my blogging friend, for the first time at the Choo Choo Barn in Strasburg, PA-a central location for us.  She is just as sweet as can be, and has become a true friend!

  We decided to take advantage of the canned food drive admission again this year, and got together again!

Meghan and Natalia too busy to look up!

Adam, Evan, Krista, and Natalia

(Yes, our coats were in the car.  Yes, it was cold.)

Once we were inside, we enjoyed the models.  It is really quite amazing what they have created!

Evan.  In Awe.

This is my favorite scene.  This house has a fire.  Suddenly you hear the alarm bells.  The firehouse's doors open, the fire trucks come out, and the men actually get out of the truck to spray the fire!  See the smoke??

We had a great time, though it was so, so short!  We went through the Choo-Choo Barn and then we went to the Creamery for lunch. We sincerely appreciate our time with these friends!  Adam and Evan are very close in age, as are Meghan and Natalia.

Check out our visit from last year here.  I was shocked to see how tiny Meghan looked last year!  Natalia is tall, and Meghan is short, but Meghan is catching up!

First Thoughts

I already shared how my blogging friend, Jenny, brought her family from Arkansas to Pennsylvania.  The family's end goal was NYC, but we were "along the way," so they were willing to come to our home.  They arrived after dinner on Sunday night.


Can I just tell you how much anticipation Meghan (and I!!) had to meet Sissy and her family?  Before we even knew that they would be coming Meghan informed us that Garmin (our GPS) could find the way to Sissy's house!  That is how much Meghan thought about her.  I guess she doesn't realize that it takes willing parents to make the trip, too, and Derek and I are just not willing to travel that far with our two children.


We knew they would arrive after dinner.  Then there was a knock on the door.  It was so neat to see five happy faces smiling back at us when the door was opened.


The children were immediately comfortable and playing in the toy room and upstairs (and getting along!) while the grown-ups got acquainted.   Jenny was very much what I expected her to be like, and of course her husband, Ryan, was quite nice, too.  (Oh, Jenny and I both had striped socks on when they arrived.  hehe)


Eventually it was time for bed.  Evan is still young enough to sleep in his pack and play, so we moved him to our room so Dash*, age 5, and Tornado, age 10 would have their own space and wouldn't be awakened during the night by Evan.

Dash (standing), Meghan, Tornado, and Sissy

Meghan had her first sleepover with a child with Sissy on her bedroom floor!  Sissy used the crib mattress that we don't use any more.

These girls were so ready for this! 

After the girls were all tucked in and the lights were out, there was suddenly crying...from both girls.  Jenny and I went upstairs to see what the problem might be.  Meghan was sobbing, so it was hard to understand, but she said, "We're going to be apart-FOREVER!"  Sissy was crying because Meghan was crying.  So cute, though it wasn't the last time that night that they cried.

After breakfast, the kids and dads went outside to play a bit.  Unfortunately, the grass was really wet, and it was misting a bit despite the lovely weather forecast.  Only Meghan and Dash lasted long enough for me to grab the camera.  I think everyone needed dry socks, shoes, and pants before we went to Elk Neck State Park in Maryland.

I'll save that for another post though!

Sissy, Dash, and Tornado are not their real names-just in case you were wondering!

Real Friends

Blogging friends have become real friends.

Meghan, Jenny, and Sissy*

Wow.  What fun we're having!

Jenny and her family arrived Sunday night from Arkansas.  Monday has been full of fun!  I'll share more later, but just had to share these sweet pictures of their bedtime book.

You can read more about Jenny and her family at their site Academy at Thousand Oaks or their Vegan food blog.
*Not her real name

Some Funny Thoughts

You might remember that we got to visit with Derek's cousins from California earlier this month.  While visiting, Mindy was inspired to feature us for Meet the Family Monday series.  Hehe!  Since I'm a blogging family member, she asked me to do a guest post.  Feel free to check it out and you'll understand about our wedding night hayride (and if you look earlier posts you'll see lots of October fun with us, too).

I think Derek and I were the only ones with mouthfuls of sunflower seeds.  Oops.

The Choo Choo Barn and New Friends

On a chilly Friday in December, I got to meet my blogging  friend, Krista, face to face.  She has a lovely blog at Corn Rows and Meadows.  I was really looking forward to meeting Krista, since she seems so sweet...and I was not surprised to find out that she is just as sweet in person.

We met at the Choo Choo Barn in Strasburg, PA.  They had a canned food drive, where admission price was covered by a canned good.  The Choo Choo Barn has hand built little towns with moving people, vehicles, and trains.  It's quite the display.  I'm sure as an adult I could have gone around a couple of times...but there were little ones to consider that day.

Here you see Natalia and Meghan.  They are just over a year apart in age.  Yes, I believe Natalia is a full head taller than Meghan!

They also have a little train outside that's great for a photo opportunity.  Evan stayed home with Derek that day.  See Adam, Krista's little boy who is just two months younger than Evan?  If you go over to Corn Rows and Meadows, you'll see a better picture of him and understand why Meghan thought he was Evan when she saw a picture of him!

Strasburg is known for its trains.  Thomas even visits there a couple times a year.  Here they rode on a little Thomas.

We also went to see the real trains.  Meghan and Natalia weren't so impressed that we didn't get to go for a ride.

Isn't this last picture cute?

It was a fun (and free) morning, but the best part was meeting a new friend, finally!  Krista and I may not live next door to one another, but we're really fairly close and we look forward to getting together again sometime.

Picnic!

Meghan has been enjoying pretend play, including picnics recently. Her first was with her SLP when they used a book and Meghan said, "Me more cake," her first three word sentence. (They only happen now with much prompting, and not often.)

We have enjoyed some picnics without her speech therapist, too. We used our play pots and pans, plastic cups, and real bowls or plates, depending on Meghan's mood, and our colored pasta.


Meghan actually let Evan touch "her" toys!

I want to tell you about another picnic that will be exciting. It's at a site I really appreciate called ABC and 123. It's a learning cooperative meaning the Katies do lots of work for the blog, but with readers help! They have all sorts of great ideas for preschoolers and school-aged children. At the Summer Picnic there will be weekly giveaways, and just lots of great stuff.


For those new visitors coming from ABC and 123, I'll share a bit about us.

We spend a lot of time with purposeful play to incorporate speech because Meghan has a speech disorder called apraxia. It's not outgrown, but she is certainly overcoming it. (The word list in the sidebar is frequently updated.)

I include some of our crafts and learning tools on our blog. Meghan loves to paint and glue. Since I am just starting to get into sewing a bit, I have posted a few projects including a purse, easy apron, and some finger puppets. I enjoy sharing about life in general, even if it isn't exciting. I've added "popular posts" to the sidebar if you are interested to see some good stuff in a glance.

Isn't he cute?