http://www9.toysrus.com/images/our/bru/prom/SuperFriday/SuperBnr.pdf

Linvilla Orchards

Saturday, August 9, 20089 am - 5 pm
(Rain Date August 10, 2008)
Bring your whole family for a fun-filled day!!
Continuous Music, Children’s Games & Contests
Special Guest appearances by:
11:30 Bob the Builder
1:00 Dora the Explorer & Diego
2:30 Spongebob Squarepants

Hayrides, pony rides, face painting, children's entertainment, costumed characters, games and contests, music, ice cream sundaes, Special Peaches n’ Cream Cake, Linvilla Grill, recipes, peach treats & Pick-Your-Own Peaches.

Kimberton Fair this week:
http://www.kimbertonfair.org/

The Goshen Country Fair is July 28 - Aug 2
http://www.goshencountryfair.org/

Today we went to the Railroad Museum , LOTS of fun stuff to play with, indoors, and kids under 6 are free. Once they get done racing through the large railroad car exhibit, there is a small room with movies, and another room with Lego train tables, wooden train tables, Geotrax train tables.. .you name it. We only left due to hunger!

Hands on House - we have visited twice since spring - and it is a great way to spend some hours with kids - indoor (AC) and outdoor activities abound.

Also, I recently learned that with a zoo membership to Elmwood or Philly, you can get into Wilmington's Brandywine Zoo for FREE.

West Chester Foodie Site

A movie... A romantic dinner...
Parents! Here's your opportunity to go out and leave your children with an experienced and caring staff in a fun and clean gym.
Children have a blast as they participate in tons of games and activities.
AND... don't worry about food;dinner is also provided.
Ages:
2 - 9 years
Date:
Saturday, July 19th, 2008
Time:
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Cost (per child):
$30 ($35 non-members)
Add'l Siblings (each):
$10 (2nd child), $5 (each add'l child)
*cash payment preferred* 24-hour cancellation policy
Space is limited... reserve your spot today!
My Gym Lionville
138 Eagleview Blvd.
Lionville, PA 19353
mygym@verizon.net
(610) 363-6090

Potty training is in session. My daughter says we are all "on board the potty train", and she is absolutely correct, for the most part. She still prefers a pull up for her daily constitutional in our playroom which can take 45 minutes and cannot be interupted or spied upon without indignant screams. But she can stay dry all day, and even all night on occasion. Today she told me she had to go to teh bathroom, in the middle of her first feature film in a theater (Clifford), so we all paraded to the ladies room and watched as she sat on the wobbly travel seat I had in my bag. She peed in the potty and I was so PROUD!!!
My son cheers her on, (oh those boys), but he refuses. Today I paid him an M&M to sit on the potty chair. Just to sit. His sticker chart has two gimmees on it - the last of a poop I caught him in the act of taht made it to the pot... while his sisters is running out of space. SO next week I am stepping us up to underpants - no more optional pull up to catch it all neatly and make it seem more my problem than theirs.

Here is a good site with some helpful tips for those of you in this position or approaching it. As a first timer at this, I put it off out of sheer intimidation and now I know why. It tests all of your powers of negotiation, rationalization and zen mastery.
http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/

We finally made the move to "big beds".
At the beach last month I had the twins in beds with guard rails and they loved it. They loved it so much that they didn't want to come home unless they could bring them along. I guess that is the bonus of waiting until well after three to make the transition. All of the advice I got was to keep them in cribs for as long as possible, just to make life easier. And we did.

We picked the beds up on Monday afternoon, from a friend who is seven months pregnant. They were hand made by her husband's father, and are sturdy and perfect for children. She asked if we were having any more babies, and we both shook our heads no. It is a question we get fairly often, but for now the decision is to make the next addition canine.

She complained about how big she was, but to me she looked beautiful. I loved being pregnant. For all of the nausea, bloating, heartburn, forgetfulness and general discomfort, I really enjoyed it, and perhaps that was with the knowledge that there probably would not be another experience like it.

Sweating, banking on the strength I'd built up keeping up with the kids, we moved the solid wood beds downstairs and out to the truck and then moved them again inside our own house. A total rearrangement of the room had to be rapidly accomplished, and the cribs dismantled and put into temporary storage. I ran rags over the dusty floors where furniture has been since before they were born. A hand made table with a fish pond painted on it didn't make the cut and was removed. But the hardest part was when we actually took the bedding out of the cribs, took the screws out of the sides, and brought the assembly downstairs.

Grandma brought the kids over just as we finished setting their stuffed animals on their beds and arranging the pillows. My daughter actually screamed with delight, and my son jumped onto his bed and rolled around like a puppy. They were thrilled.

After storytime, I looked at my husband, and he had a faraway gloom about him. He told me that just that morning he had held a 10 month old baby, and now our kids were in big beds, learning to use the potty and telling us about their imaginary friend, a tiny man they call their "sweetie".

And as I cleaned up the dishes, after the excitement of the first hour calmed and the kids fell finally to sleep, I wondered about that sadness, almost grief, of seeing them get older, and of it seeming to go so quickly. Is it the loss of having that to look forward to? Is it our own mortality setting in to stare us down for the last half of the game? Or it is just that holding a new baby, one that you will know from that point on, is possibly the greatest feeling a person can experience, and despite the work that comes with it, we still gleefully, almost blindly repeat it again and again.