Grandy, Poppy, Aunt Jill, and Allie Visit the New House

Grandy and Poppy came out to help with the first days after the move and getting settled. Jill ended up having a last minute business trip scheduled out to the Philly area so she brought Allie with her to stay and hang out for a few days. It was a whirlwind of activity, but everyone had fun. It was a lot of fun seeing the cousins together again and seeing how everyone has been growing. It'll be neat to see their size difference next time the babies are together.

Moving Day

Emily playing while the movers move all of our stuff in to the house

Nick napping (right next to the front door) while the movers get our stuff inside.

We moved in to our new house on Friday, July 10. Almost 2 months ago. The move went amazingly smoothly and we had a great crew of guys doing our move. We are still working on finishing all of the unpacking, but in general we are settled. Unpacking is slow with 2 kids. We got their rooms unpacked first followed by the all important kitchen stuff, toys, and the rest of the house. My parents came out to give us a hand with the kids so that we could focus most of our attention on the boxes. These are pictures from moving day and immediately after.

4th of July

Super happy 4th of July boy

Emily made her sun visor and put it on upside down herself

Watching the fireworks

The 4th of July was the weekend before our move out to PA. Thanks to some great neighbors, we had a great BBQ/going away party. Funny that we never had a shin-dig like that without us moving, but everyone seemed to have a really good time together. And after the fun and food, we went over to the fireworks that we've been going to each year that we've lived in NJ. Most of the neighbors were able to find each other and so we all sat together enjoying each others company and kids until the fireworks started. As always, it was a great show and we'll miss the hometown celebration next year.

One of the cutest things of the day was towards the end. Emily was the only 3 year old. She thought it was pretty cool to hang out with big kids - the 2 girls that are almost in 7th grade as well as 2 almost 3rd grade girls. They all love Emily. After Emily had played for a bit they all did "ring around the rosy" with Emily over and over and over. As soon as Emily said "again" they all jumped up and did it again with her. Emily loved all the attention from them!

Hair Cut, Manicure, and Pony

I took Emily for a haircut before we moved. Her hair had finally just gotten long and scraggly and just did not look neat and pulled together anymore. Her hair cute came out so adorable! She did a great job sitting in the big girl chair and she watched "Cinderella" on the big tv. After she finished the hair dresser asked her if she'd like to have her fingernails painted! It was included in the price so there was no reason not to! Emily initially was unsure, but thought that it was pretty neat when it was getting done. She even asked the lady not to paint her thumb nail since she sucks her thumb. What a smart little girl! Note to self, maybe that can be motivation for stopping the sucking habit.

After we finished making Emily extra beautiful we met up with Greg and took the kids to the family fun day that our town was having. They had a petting zoo, pony rides, food, and some little activities for the kids in addition to music and a magician. Emily loved the pony ride!

Beach Day!

We took the kids to the beach for our 10th wedding anniversary for the day (this was back in June). We had a lot of fun there for the morning and then had lunch and drove the hour back home. Perfect!

Nick did great on his first beach outing. We had a little fold up "bassinet" that is meant to be used outside and he was perfectly content in there when he wasn't being held. Emily loved playing in the sand and loved that Greg would get her water from the ocean for her to pour over her sand piles.

Going Away Party

The monkey cupcakes that we made

A couple of Emily's friends even gave her little gifts (even though we specifically said no)

We gave Emily a little going away party with her nursery school and playgroup friends before we moved at one of the local kids gyms. Emily and I took some of their mommy and me classes over the last couple of years so it seemed like the perfect spot for her final NJ hurrah. All the kids had a lot of fun running around and playing on the equipment. Then they moved into the song room and sang some fun songs and played with the parachute. After that it was time for snacks and cupcakes.

I know Emily will miss her friends that she's made, especially the ones that she's gotten to know over the last year. Hopefully this will be something that she can remember while we work at making some new friends.

Sesame Place

We took the kids to Sesame Place in PA for the day a couple of weeks ago. It was a huge hit with Emily. We did rides and shows and then a little bit of the water park part of it. It wasn't a super warm day, but Emily loved it all. She especially loved the parade and meeting Zoe, but we didn't get a picture of that. Meeting each of the characters was like meeting her heroes, it was really cute.