Perry County Fair

I wanted to mention that over the weekend we attended the Perry County Fair, rain and all. The kids, of course, enjoyed it.. The food was so good and we took some time to talk to some old friends, which is always nice. We watched the tractor parade (hey thats what they do in the country) and Riley enjoyed that.
This weekend is the big Juniata County Fair and Labor Day Races at the Port Royal Speedway which is in the fairgrounds. This is a huge tradition for me and my family since I was raised in Port Royal. I am very excited to go and see everything and everyone. The kids are of course excited to ride rides and spend money LOL...

School..

Well, the girls finally started school yesterday. Olivia was so excited I only had to call her once and she practically jumped out of bed. She has been good so far with getting ready for school with no fits or objections though I assume that will wear off sooner then later. She loved school and said she made a ton of new friends. She seemed excited though I am concerned that she is really far ahead of the cirriculum. This weeks test is tying their shoes. she has been tying her shoes for two years, so hopefully she won't get bored.
Hailey also started preschool yesterday. She said she enjoyed the learning but was bored because she is the only kid in her class. I suppose I should be happy that she is getting one or one attention, but not so happy because the whole point of sending her was so that she could interact with kids other than her sister and brother. So we will see.
Riley, of course, stayed home and terroized D all day. Which I am sure was fun for both of them. Tonight, Alexander and a nice hot bath.

Motherhood

I was laying in bed last night watching TV and Riley was laying with me (the girls have been really getting into their new routines and have been in bed fairly early). We, of course, were watching Noggin.. I think the Fresh Prince or Bel Air was on.. I was trying not to pay attention, but waiting, like any good mother would, until he was asleep so I could change it to what I really wanted to watch, Taking Lives.. So I looked over and he was sleeping, eyes closed and everything.. So I changed it.
Well at the one part the guy jumps out.. and I jumped, he jumped then sat up and looked at me.. "Boy mom" he said.. "that was scary, change it" It was the funniest little thing coming from him. He never ceases to make me laugh, thats for sure.
Everything has been pretty calm around the pratt household.. no major melt downs, no blow ups, no emergency room trips.. that makes me happy. But I also know that everytime there is a lull in drama something major happens, so we will see. Perry County Fair this weekend..

Ready for school

Last night started our new 'getting ready to go back to school' ritual. At 8:00 I made the kids come inside, bathed them, gave them a snack and told them to sit quietly and watch TV until 9:30 when they would all have to go to bed. The request was met with some resistance but not near as much as I imagined it would. While I was attempting to get them all herded into bed Riley was in his room playing.. and was pulling on his blinds (after me telling him to not pull on the blinds a hundred times).. and it feel on his head. So he got a cut and was bleeding.. So that was something that hindered the whole bed process, but after a few kisses from mom I got them all herded to bed and quiet. Livi threw a little temper tantrum but after being in bed for 10 min.. was sound asleep. I then enjoyed the next hour I got of very quiet me time. It was nice.
So now I am completely getting them all to bed at 930 every night. I am actually looking forward to having the time after they go to sleep. It was great!

Riley's girlfriend

Saturday night/Sunday we had a picnic/party at our new house. It went well.. there was lots of friends, food and beer.. all the right ingredients. So Sunday our neighbor came over and brought her 18 month old daughter. Riley immediately took a liking to her. He kept following her around and make sure she had her sippy cup... helping her in and out of the wagon. It was the cutest thing ever. My kids are growing up so fast... LOL

Complete Melt Down..

Sunday brought out the Pratt annual "girls day out" (ok so my brother went along too) school shopping event. This year I was on the lookout for great deals. Hey! even clothes for a 6 year old can be expensive. So we hit all the major discount stores. Marshalls, Gabriel Brothers. I was impressed I found some really good stuff for her. So then we hit the mall. I couldn't find shoes that she liked anywhere. The fact that she has HUGE feet (she is 6 and wears a size 1) doesn't make it any easier. So I hit Payless thinking maybe I could just find her a nice pair of white shoes or something. She found these awful ones that she liked and I refused to buy them. Well, needless to say she freaked out.. She screamed and kicked and stomped her feet (I might have to remind you that she is 6) I left the store.. she didn't follow me. So I went in after her.. she was running from me in the aisles screaming 'leave me alone leave me alone'.. I suppose if I was any other mother I would have been mordified and embarrassed, but not me I was just pissed.. and rightfully so. So I eventually drug her to out into the mall and was heading toward the van, all the while she was screaming and kicking.. it was echoing and everyone in the mall was looking at me. I even considered at this point (since she was at the point where I couldn't even talk to her) taking her to the cop's office in the mall and letting them put a good scare into her. She eventually calmed down and was fine the rest of the day. I don't understand the problem. I am not a bad mother but she makes me feel like one. She makes me feel like I cant control her.. D is no help, he just thinks she needs grounded. Unfortunately I think that it runs deeper then that.. I think that she doesn't know how to control her emotions when she gets upset or mad. We will see.. I have some tricks up my sleeve I am going to try.. but if that doesn't work she is going to a doctor..

This week

This week has been incredible crazy... with both D and I getting back to work, getting our new schedules down (it take 25 minutes longer for me to get to work from our new house). The kids have been going to and really enjoying their new sitters. Hailey is officially enrolled in preschool and Olivia starts school on the 29th.. so things are actually in order. Tomorrow night we are having a picnic/party.. or as D likes to say (since we are now officially rednecks) a Beer-B-Que. LOL.. Also his birthday was yesterday so I ordered a cake and everything for tomorrow night as well. I think that the party will go well.. we expect a huge turnout. There are a ton of guys coming up from D firehouse in DC, so that will be fun.

For D's birthday I bought him two tickets to the Chicago Bears Washington Redskins game in Washinton on September 11. D is a huge HUGE Bears fan! So this ought to be a ton of fun.. and although I am merely a Colts fan (go colts!) I have never been to an NFL football game.. so I am excited as well.

I also got a new cell phone yesterday and finally switched from Cingular to Nextel. I was impressed with not only the pricing of the nextel plans and phones, but the service that I received at the store on 32nd Street in Camp Hill. They were friendly, amswered my questions, weren't pushy.. it was a nice change of pace from your usual cell store salesman experience. I am also super happy with my cell phone (which is really cute and easy to use)

I think that is all for today.. we have this black snake that has been hanging around the house.. I attempted to run it over on Thursday but all that did was piss it off. Then it slithered away. I hate to kill snakes but if this one rears its ugly head again I am going to have too.
I love our little hidden paradise.. but I could handle it more with less spiders. Big spiders too.. grass spiders is what they are called.



This is pretty much what they look like except the ones that I have killed in our house now are larger.. I will also add that they do bite and do have venom although not enough to cause any damage, maybe just an itchy rash. Great.. so we have huge black snakes and biting spiders.. Which is all fine and dandy if they would just stay out of my house!




Riley has also since discovered the ice maker on the refrigerator.. So I am constantly cleaning up ice off the floor.. As long as her doesn't show the dog.. we should be in good shape.

Hope the rain stops so the party will be good!

Much Anticipated HOUSE PICTURES!

Ok.. I am only going to post a few teasers.. if you want to see them all check out my Flickr photos.. and you can see them all there!

Random Kid Pics

Everyone is always having a good time except Olivia who is 6 going on sixteen.. She is always having an issue with something.. LOL

Pics from the Schaefferstown Firemans Carnival

Below are pics from the Billy Currington Concert.. they would be better, except that after about two snaps the digital camera decided to take a crapper on me.. so heres what I got.

He's hard to see in both.. but the concert was good regardless..

Back to the Daily Grind

Well, the week is coming to a close and its back to work I go. Vacation has been really nice. I suppose that most people wouldn't call it vacation, but it was, alot of sleeping in (as much as Jr. will let me) and a lot of getting stuff done, which desperately needed to be done. So, I head back to work tomorrow feeling fantastic. Not like I have a million things to do at home. I always tell D that I can handle being behind at home and caught up at work, or behind at work and caught up at home.. but being behind both places is to much to handle. And although I would love to be caught up both places... that never ever happens. So I know that this week will be crazy at work.. home is completely done. I mean every last box unpacked and put away.. ALL the laundry done (yeah!).. pictures on the wall, the whole nine yards.. We are officially completely settled in our new house. Which makes me very happy.
Being that we are so settled we did take some time on Friday and headed to Little Buffalo State Park which is a very cool place about 4 miles from our house. We didn't hike or anything because of the heat, but we did check out there very very cool pool. It has a baby pool with water fountains and things. It also has a fountain park for kids to run and play in with water fountains and little cool things that squirt water. The kids had a blast.. But after a couple hours they were pooped and ready to head home to nap.. (that made me very very happy).
Then on Saturday night we headed down to the Schaefferstown Firemans Carnival. I wasn't very sure at all where Schaefferstown was exactly though I knew that it was a very small town in the middle of nowhere. The only reason we decided to go, since it isn't even an actual carnival is that D won (yes, won he's so so lucky with stuff like that! It irritates me! LOL) tickets to go see Billy Currington. For those of you who listen to country music you probably know who he is.. for those of you that don't .. he is the very hot guy who sings the very cool Party for Two song with Shania Twain. And if you are still completely clueless as to who he is.. check out the website, you won't be disappointed. So anyway we went to the carnival to see him. It was an intimate little show where most people just throw down blankets on the grass, we took the kids and they had a great time. They could listen and dance, yet run around without disturbing anyone. The show was good, he played all the songs we knew and liked so we weren't disappointed at all. (pictures will follow, hopefully they came out)
The best part of the night was that I won something.. finally.. I was just saying to D earlier in the afternoon that the last thing I can remember winning was a Boys II Men tape when I was 13 from a local radio station. ok, so my prize wasn't that great.. just a fruit basket! But I was very very excited none the less.
So hopefully that will catch this blog up, since I have been trying to take a break from blogging all week. I will also try to get pictures of the inside of the house posted for those of you who want to see them.
Hi Ho Hi Ho its back to work I go...

Moving Vacation

Just an update.. we are practically all moved.. the house is getting organized and I love it even more now then I did before.. Pictures will follow shortly..

House

So last night we went to the house and actaully got to see the inside again for the first time in about 6 weeks. It was way way nicer then I even remembered. So we are slowly trying to get things done and hopefully ready to move on Saturday. Hailey has been sick yesterday and today so we have been trying to baby her more then getting things done. (I am a sucker for a sick kid).. but otherwise things have been running fairly smoothly.. lets just hope it stays that way!

Music

So most people who know me know that I am kind of picky about the kind of music I listen too. I like original artists who sing soulful, meaningful music. So I was very happy when I came across a local artist, Jereme Stewart. I contacted him through his myspace profile and ask him to send me a CD. Which he did.. and I was very excited about.. This guy is amazing, his music is everything that I look for in an artist. He also turned me on, through his website to another great musician, Jack Zerby, who is soulful with a touch of swing. I enjoyed listening to his music on his website very much. Jereme Stewart is a local guy and is playing a couple local shows coming up.. I am very much hoping to attend one.

Down to the wire

Well things have been crazy at work, crazy at home, crazy with the kids.. We are at that point in the packing stage where everything is a nightmare, some stuff is packed and you can't find anything.. It makes for an interesting morning to say the least. We are all getting more and more excited as the days get closer so hopefully the next time I post it will be from the new house!

Packing and packing and packing

It seems that this moving thing has turned me into this little ball of self organization. We have been making almost daily for over a week now and have been making great progress, although now our house is this maze of boxes. I have been amazed at how organized I have been keeping and packing everything. Usually moving is a big mess.. but I think that for once I might possibly be on top of the game.