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Lance is Four!

Lance decided this year that he wanted to join the droves of children that celebrate their birthdays with Chuck E. Cheese. So, on Saturday the 18th (the day before he was officially four), we hosted a party for him. He invited friends and family to join us, and honestly, I think some of the big kids enjoyed the games more than the little kids.

The only difficulty that we ran into was when Chuck E. came out "in person" to dance with Lance and present the birthday medal of honor to our special birthday boy. I don't know if it was the giant mouse mascot that threw him for a loop or the fact that everyone was watching him while he danced with the giant mouse, but he spent a few minutes in tears before he could pull it back together. Nevertheless, the party was a success and Lance is showing no signs of slowing down as he ages.

Lance's favorite things, at the ripe old age of our are: Spiderman, school (he REALLY does love it), gymnastics, puzzles, playing outside in his treehouse, playing with his friends, cousins, and his sister (most of the time), and playing his drums and guitar.

Lance's LEAST favorite things currently include: eating fish (in any form), being alone (he's constantly asking where Mike and I are going, even when we just leave the room), and Venom (the "bad guy" from Spiderman 3...we've had to remove any signs of him from Lance's room decor).

I just hope the we get to have as much fun in the next four years as we have thus far with our "little man."

For Starters...

This is just our "preliminary round" for blogging. I just wanted to let everyone know where we are in our lives at this time, as the status of that changes daily it seems.

Mike is still working hard each day at Marmon Keystone...12 years now...it's hard to believe. He enjoys his time at home and watching the Steelers play on Sundays. Fall is such fun around here! He loves hanging out with his little ones, who are quickly becoming not-so-little ones. He really enjoys taking Lance to gymnastics on Saturday mornings and practicing his "skills" with him between classes.

I have started working (about six weeks ago) for Lifesteps in Butler. I am the "Supervisor of Children's Services," which essentially means that I work to help oversee the daycare/preschool operations at our facility...(check it out at lifesteps.net)...more administrative than I am accustomed to, but so far it's been great.

Lance started out about six weeks ago as well at Lifesteps in preschool/daycare part time...two days a week, and fell in love with school (after a week or so of tears). Now he goes full time
and can't wait to go back each day and learn something new. He's also really enjoying gymnastics each weekend.

Olivia...well...she's our walk-to-a-different-beat child. She and Lance started out in part-time childcare together six weeks ago. She didn't quite make it a month. Her daycare room was right across the hall from my office, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that she spent more than a majority of her days crying and stressing everyone (mostly her mom) out. So, since it seemed that she was not hardly ready for the "leap" into child care, and Lance was more than ready, we removed her from the program and put Lance in full time. Since then, things have been going swimmingly. Lance is loving school, and Olivia is loving quality time with Grandma (and Uncle Matt and Ethan on Mondays).

We have big plans in the works for Lance's birthday, Halloween, Steelers games, etc. We'll keep you posted as our agenda unfolds!