That would have been nice to know LAST week!

My in laws visit every Wednesday. They come over after dinner and spend an hour or so playing with the kids. Last Wednesday we had them babysit so Ryan and I could go out. We can home and chit chatted for a bit about nothing and then they left. This past Wednesday they came over and said "oh by the way when we sat on the couch in basement last week we noticed that the dog has FLEAS"!!! Are you effing kidding me??!! You are telling me this now?! They said that they FORGOT! How the heck do you forget something like that! So today I went out and bought flea bombs for the house. We set them off before we left the house and we took the kids out to dinner and for ice cream. We only had to be out of the house for 2 hours so it wasn't too bad. I also picked up flea shampoo for the dog and he got rubbed down as well. I hope we got them all! It's just nasty nasty nasty!

Happy Birthday Cooper!

Cooper turned 2 on Friday. I can't believe that my baby is two already! He is growing up way too fast. Part of me is sad to see him growing up so fast and not have him be my little baby anymore. He is such a little chatterbox! He is constantly talking and talk in sentences as well! He is going to be the class clown some day. If he gets a laugh out of you he will just keep doing it over and over, he loves the attention! He is so loving also. He loves to give "big hugs" and he will smack his lips at me for a kiss! He is still in his crib. More because I'm not ready to move him out of it than anything else. He is almost ready to start potty training. He knows when he has to go to the bathroom and tells me also. And his biggest change is no more binky!!

Madison had her binkys taken away when she turned 2. It was because her teething were shifting from the pacifier so the doctor said we really shouldn't give them to her anymore. We went cold turkey with them and she was perfectly fine. Since Madison's were taken away at 2 I knew that we would take Cooper's away at 2 also plus I could tell that his teeth were shifting from them also. But I'M NOT READY! When he wakes up he lays quietly in his bed with his pacifiers until I go get him. I didn't want to lose that! But it was going to have to be done! He was very excited for his Elmo cake for his party and I told him that after he had Elmo cake there would be no more binkys. I kept reminding him all week about the cake and binky. Saturday morning came and he stuck both pacifiers in his mouth (he would sleep with one in his mouth and one in each hand!!) and then he took all 3 into the bathroom and threw them in the garbage!! My heart was broken =) Naptime came and he was FINE! Not a peep out of him and the same at bedtime. He was such a big boy about it!!

He was very excited for his party! We had it at a local YMCA. They set up a bounce house and got out scooters and balls and the kids had a great time!! After they played for an hour we had pizza and then the big Elmo cake! Cooper would not even look at his presents until he had his Elmo cake, he was so excited for it! He was grinning from ear to ear when everyone sang to him. It was adorable! Present time was CHAOS!! Cooper was not interested in opening his presents at all! So Madison and some of the older kids were opening them. I had to put the brakes on that though when presents were being opened and the kids were walking away with the stuff and I didn't know who gave what! It was a great party though and all the kids had a great time!

Our PA trip

We had a GREAT time last month in PA. Here is how it went.

The kids did OK in the car. They were not interested in the DVD player AT ALL. They love play McDonald's so I did the trip locator for one. So we kept assuring them that we were stopping at one and they were very excited! So after 3 hours of driving we pulled into the play McDonald's. And surprise it was a regular old McDonald's! Well that didn't go over well at all! But they survived!

After we checked in to the hotel we went to Sesame Place. Cooper really enjoyed the rides! He was having a great time and did really well on them as well. Much better than I expected since he doesn't really sit still yet!






















Madison had fun but she has been to two local amusement parks near our house that has a lot of big kid rides which she loves! She prefers the roller coasters to the kiddie rides. The faster the better! So there were only two rides there that she really enjoyed. They had a roller coaster and another drop down ride that she loved!

We also had breakfast with Elmo. It was very pricey for the type of food that was served. Madison hated the characters!! She wanted nothing to do with them. She stood outside of the restaurant with Ryan while Cooper and I were inside. He did well with the characters. He would get his picture taken with the characters if I held him but wouldn't let me put him down!

All in all the park was really nice and really clean. I'm glad that we went.

We also went to the Philly Zoo. That was great! It is a really nice zoo. We got to see Giraffes and zebras and lots of things that we can't see at our zoo. Kids did really well again. We were there about 4 hours and then Cooper had had his fill and was done. So we headed back to the hotel and played in the pool and on the playground for the rest of the day.

We also went to Adventure Aquarium. We didn't get there till 11am since we went to Breakfast with Elmo first. And it was BUSY!! Busy is an understatement. There were so many people there that it was hard to get close to the exhibits and I wasn't comfortable with Cooper being out of the stroller. But Ryan and Cooper managed to get their hands in to the string ray tank and the shark tank! Madison and I didn't want any part of that =) We didn't stay at the aquarium long because there were so many people there. Had we gotten there earlier I'm sure it would have been fine.

Our last stop was the crayola factory. It cost $30 to get in (Cooper was free). I thought this was a bit pricey since it is basically a big store and then you get to paint, color, paste, etc... But the kids had a good time doing the crafts.

Overall the trip was really great and I am so glad that we went. Kids did great! There was pretty much no nap for Cooper the entire time we were gone (he still naps 3 hours a day). And they sat up giggling and talking at night also. It was really cute to listen to it!

The drive home was LONG! We were all tired and the kids were arguing and there was lots of yelling!

Next weekend we are off to Buffalo for a long weekend. We have a family reunion and then Madison and I have a bridal shower and then we are going to take the kids to another aquarium and to Niagara Falls!!