A new post is coming! I promise!!

Last week was unbelievable and I can't wait to catch everyone up! I have a great post almost ready to go, with vacation pics. That will go up first. Then I will post about everyone's first week of classes - Anna and Kindergarten, Aiden and preschool, and me with Kindermusik! A VERY good, but BUSY BUSY BUSY week. It's the longest I've gone without posting, and I apologize. But I'm going to catch up on it all this week! :)

HAVE A GREAT MONDAY. Be back soon.

Love, Holly

My vacation!

Well, I meant to finish this off and post it about 3 weeks ago... but life sort of got in the way. It's has been a busy 3 weeks since we've been back. So, here is the completed post of our vacation - so that I can get on with it, and start posting about current stuff!!!!
************************************************************************************
Hi everyone!

Wow, an entire week has gone by, and this is the first opportunity to post my pictures from vacation. I obviously can't post everything, but I will try to summarize.

We had a GREAT time. We started with our flight, which could have gone either way with 2 children. The kids absolutely impressed us! Will brought along a portable DVD player, and that kept Aiden very happy. Anna was busy with her leapster, and activity books that we brought along. I was shocked to have actually had the TIME to read several chapters in my book. What great kiddies we have!!!

After a little rental car complication - we made our way to my Aunt Rhea and Uncle Steve's house. We stayed there for our first 3 nights. During that time, we went to sesame place, and visit with the Lesnick side of Will's family.

Also, as per my request, my Aunt and Uncle made sure I got a REAL Philly cheesesteak. OH MY GOODNESS... I forgot how good they are! On Sunday we met up with the Lesnick side of the family! It was nice to see everyone in Chestnut Hill... and also NY cousins Chuck and Beth. Anna loved her cousin June!!

On Monday we packed up the car and went into the mountains. Will's mother's family has property in the deep deep mountains of PA. When we go up there, we stay in a cabin that was built in the 1800's. Over the years family had modernized it a bit. It now has running water, a shower, stove and fridge. Much easier that hit had been in the past! What it doesn't have is a bathroom. Yes, we still have to treck it out to outhouse when nature calls. To me, not a big deal. I wasn't sure how Anna would feel about it... but she was FINE. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I would say she LIKED the outhouse!!!

During our stay at what the family calls Bellasylva, we visited with lots of family, went on hikes, fished, at smores over the campfire, picked blueberries and enjoyed a computer free 4 days! haha! There was one day where the kids stayed back with Will's parents, and Will and I took a nice long (and in my opinion vigorious) hike to Mahoopany Falls. We went with cousin's Penny and Becky, and Uncle Sam. It was a lovely hike and due to the strenous terrain energy I exuted... I didn't feel bad eating all the chicken wings and smores I wanted later on in the evening!! Bellasylva isn't that far from the small town of Dushore, PA. On Wednesday nights there is a town event called "wing night". So we all decided to go and check it out. All I can say is YUMM! :)

The kids just LOVED it up there. Will and I both love watching the kids enjoy nature, and spend time with all the family up there. It was so nice to just get away, and for a few days just leave it all behind and have fun. I can't wait to go back!!

Here are pictures from the Bellasylva portion of our trip:

On Friday after lunch we left to return to Philly for some more family events - this time my family! We arrived at Aunt Rhea's to find my sister and family there as well. They flew up for a big family reunion that was being held on Sunday. It was pretty funny... because my sister requested a cheesesteak as well, so yes, I had my SECOND cheesesteak of the vacation. Yikes!

On Saturday the four of us and my sisters clan went driving. Dori and I felt we wanted to see the house we grew up in. We moved away when I was 12, and wow, even though it's been soooo long, the house looks exactly the same to us, and I still remember every detail. It was a bit surreal to be honest.

Then went to a quaint place called Peddlers Village for a while. We ate lunch and strolled a bit. We returned to my Aunt's place in time for a family BBQ. My mom was there since she was in town for the reunion on Sunday also. My first cousins Barry and Susie came to see us. It was GREAT seeing them and spending some time together. These are family members from my Eskin side, so it's really comforting to see them. If they read this, HI!! It was great seeing you, love you!

The next day we went to the big Lemanowitz reunion. This is my mom's side of the family. It was really need to see and in some cases MEET all of these relatives. I also got to see my cousin Jenn who I wish I could see more often. If we lived closer I know we would hang out, so it's always nice to see her. Hi Jenn, miss you, love you and hope next time you'll make it to Bellasylva!!! :)

After the reunion Will and I took the kids to Tanner's for ice cream. This was a place I have LOTS and LOTS of memories from. I remember going there as a kid, getting ice cream and looking at the cows. Well all of these years later, it's the SAME!!!! I mean even the cows are there! The kids loved their ice cream, as evidenced by the fact that it was all over their clothes and mouths. Then we went back to my Aunts place to regroup and pack up. We flew home the next day. Another GREAT flight with the kids (and Dori and crew were on our flight, so that was a nice added bonus).

It really was a wonderful vacation.

We returned on Monday, and Tuesday Will and I went to the John Mayer concert. It was absolutely AMAZING. HE is amazing and I will most definitely be going to his concert the next time he is anywhere near here. We were in the 15th row, so it was just soooooo cool being that close. I was in my glory. Will had a great time too!

So that is the summary on those 12 days or so...

The last week has been full of school shopping and Kindermusik prep. Anna had her "meet the teacher" on Thursday. I will post a separate blog entry about the kids and school, so stay tuned!

Love, Holly

Back from Vacation and John Mayer!

Hi all -
We had an AMAZING vacation, and I'm just now trying to catch up. We got back Monday, and Tuesday Will and I went to Tampa for the John Mayer Concert. It was INCREDIBLE!!! Then Wednesday I did an interview with a online parent website (which I will share soon), and did a Kindermusik Demo. Today I took Anna shopping for school stuff. She starts Kindergarten on Aug 20th. WOW!!! I'm in crunch time for kindermusik registration... so it's a crazy time. I am going to post vacation pics soon... so come back soon!

Love, Holly

A few pics before vacation...

Thought I would post a few pics to keep everyone going while I'm on vacation! Enjoy! See ya in 10 days!

Anna and Aiden climbed into the dress up trunk.














We had "beach day" at Kindermusik. I dressed for the occasion!


















Anna and Kayla at "beach day"


















Art project at home... how cute are they???













Have a great week!
Love, Holly

Long Time no Post

It's been SOOO long. We are crazy busy getting ready for vacation AND I have to teach tomorrow. We are leaving for PA on Friday morning so lots to do before we go. I'll be taking LOTS of pictures. Family visiting, the mountains....AHH!!! If I don't check in before we leave (which I hope to do), there will be an amazing blog posting when I return! So.. I'll be back tomorrow or in 10 days!! Oh, and when we return, it's JOHN MAYER. YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and I have 3 lbs left to get to my personal weight goal. yey!!! :)

Bye!
Holly

Under the weather, but gettin' better...

Hello everyone!
Hope you had a good weekend... I taught a great Saturday Kindermusik class, followed by free play and then went home and relaxed. I felt really tired though. Well, I fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up, I realized I was sick. OH NO!!! Will and I had plans to have my first indulgent meal in 5 months at Colorado Fondue - and NOTHING was going to stop me from that. So I got myself together and we went. It was SO goooooood! It was the first meal in so long that I just enjoyed without counting points. Okay, so I still got the dressing on the side.. haha! It was nice to be out with Will, just the 2 of us. Back to counting points the next day.

Sunday was hard. Will worked a wedding, so I was "on" all day with the kids. I didn't feel well at all, but sometimes it's harder to be at home then it is to just go somewhere. So I took the kids to the mall. My mom met us there, so that was VERY helpful. We took Anna in to play glow-in-the-dark Putt Putt. She did really well, and Aiden enjoyed getting in her way. :)

Today was just a sluggish day on the couch... hopefully with the R&R I had today.. I will be okay to play with Aiden at My Gym tomorrow.

Fall registrations are flowing in for Kindermusik, so it looks like it will be an active session. I need to get as much accomplished before we leave for our family vacation. I can't WAIT! We leave in less than 2 weeks. It's been a long time since we have been away on vacation as a family. I'm really looking forward to it. When we return, it will only be a couple weeks and Anna will start Kindergarten! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?????

Anyway, let's see I've got some pictures from the past 5 days or so...

This is Anna and Aiden at a My Gym Free Play!















We went for family haircuts, this is a before and after of Aiden. I think his favorite part is the lollipop!




















Here's Anna getting her hair cut.



















Apparently we wore out the kids. This was the drive home from the haircuts!















I took this picture today. Father and son reading books.















Anna drew a picture for a contest, and this is her posing with it!




















Have a great week everyone!

Love, Holly