Wiley's First Day of School

Wiley began his first day of preschool today!

(For those of you who don't know, we've found a wonderful Christian school here that offers preschool. Wiley will be attending school M, W, and F mornings from 8:10 - 11:30 am. We are very thankful to be able to send Wiley to this great school. He has 2 wonderful teachers and 11 friendly classmates, several of whom we've already gotten to meet and become friends with during the summer. It's a short 7 minute drive from our house, all on back roads, passing several Amish farms and houses and driving through a covered bridge - you can't find a prettier or cooler drive!)

He woke up this morning to proclaim he was ready to go to school. Shane told him he had to eat breakfast and get ready to go first. Wiley's response was, "I can't eat breakfast because I don't want to be late for school!" So after a nice big breakfast, he got ready and we had a brief photo shoot before heading out the door.
(Motty and Poppy: Not sure if you can tell in these photos, but Wiley is wearing the polo golf shirt you gave him - he picked it out last night all by himself!)

We got Wiley a cool Lego Batman bookbag that he is thrilled about! (Sorry some of our photos are so blurry - don't know what's going on with our camera!)

The whole family got up to take Wiley to school today. When we arrived, we walked him in to his class. He found his cubby with his name on it and left his bookbag there. When we went in, he was very brave and excited. He began playing right away and didn't look back!
When I came to pick him up, he was grinning from ear to ear and said he had a good time. His teachers said he did a very good job and was obedient and respectful! Praise God! We are looking forward to Wiley learning while at school, but our biggest prayer is for him to exhibit a loving, obedient, and respectful heart! He was very excited to tell me that he got to be the "Door Opener" today! There are several different jobs each day and he was thrilled to get this job today.

We are praying for a great year for Wiley of "growing in wisdom and stature". Thanks for all your prayers for today and please keep him and his teachers in your prayers throughout the school year!

Life With Wiley

Life has so many precious moments like this that are too fleeting. Thankfully the other morning, I had time to grab my camera and capture a few of these for memories! Enjoy!

Got to shave that hairy chest!!!

Words With Wiley:

Yesterday we had a pool playdate at our house. As Wiley's friends were leaving, he gave one of the boys a hug goodbye. Then he said, "That's called a man hug, my young friend!" Needless to say this drew many laughs from all us moms. I must say I believe this is one of my favorite Wiley sayings of all times!

Motty and Poppy Visit!

Shane's parents came for a visit just before Wiley's birthday and were here for his party. We had a great time with them while they were here.

They got to see Shane's office (and took some photos of the kids working at Daddy's desk). They also got to see Wiley's school. He'll be attending preschool this fall (beginning August 27). They took Wiley to Toys R Us and let him pick out a few birthday presents. Wiley and Evie had a blast playing with them while they were here and we enjoyed getting to spend time together. Motty gave Evie a pedicure and we all found out that Evie LOVES getting her toe nails painted! Can't wait for them to return this fall for another visit! Here's a few photos from their time here.

We got my nephew's old bike and fixed it up and put training wheels on it for Wiley as his birthday gift. He's been enjoying it!

Holy Cake and Ice Cream, Wiley Turned 4!

August 17th was Wiley's 4th birthday. We celebrated the weekend before with a Superhero themed party. Wiley has been into superheroes all year and so that's the theme we decided to go with. We started the party with the kids arriving and decorating their superhero masks. Then we all went outside for Superhero training.

The training stations were:

#1 - Spiderman's Web Training - Kids swung on a rope swing and then ran over and sprayed a photo of a villain with web spray (silly string).

#2 - Flash's Super Speed Training - Shane was our "Speeding Bullet" and kids took turns racing him. Big surprise, they were all faster than a speeding bullet!

#3 - Batman's Martial Arts Training - Kids took turns punching and kicking a boxing bag with boxing gloves on.

#4 - Hulk's Super Strength Training - Shane led the kids through different exercises to build up their muscles. Then they each had to try and lift up a planet (exercise ball).

#5 - Superman's X-ray Vision Training - Kid's took turns identifying an object only by feeling it with their hand and not looking.

#6 - Superman's Flight Training - Kids took turns "flying" up and rescuing a stuffed racoon out of a tree. They flew up by lying on a towel and putting their arms out like they were flying. Two dads lifted them up and flew them over to the tree.

After the kids completed their superhero training, we had a graduation ceremony for them. Each kid was called up one by one and received his diploma, super power wrist bands, super cape, and web spray (silly string). Each child before the party had given me information about their own choice of superhero name, super power, and favorite color. I made capes for each kid in their favorite color with a logo on the back that represented their power. They looked so cute running around in their little capes and masks.

After the ceremony, the famous villain the "Birthday Basher" (Shane) ran in and threatened to ruin our party. Well what else was a bunch of new superheroes to do but capture the villain? So they all ran after him, spraying him with their web spray. It got a little crazy at this point as several of the kids had trouble getting their cans to spray. Some of the kids were even afraid of the "Birthday Basher". At this point, several of the kids began crying and it turned into chaos! Wiley was having a blast until his spray quick working on him. Then he began crying as he watched the other kids spraying his Daddy. I think he was afraid they were hurting him. This part of the party definitely didn't go the way I had hoped! Eventually the crying stopped and all the kids got the "Birthday Basher" and took him to a friend of ours who was dressed as a cop. He handcuffed the "Birthday Basher" and took him away but not before he could yell out that he had one last surprise for us inside.

When we got inside, there were bombs (chocolate donut holes with cake candles in them) all around the cake. After singing happy birthday to Wiley, he had to use his Super breath to blow out the bombs.

Then we all ate lunch which was a bunch of different superhero foods. After lunch and cake, the kids played for a bit. Then we opened presents by playing "Pass the Kryptonite" game (like Hot potato). As each kid got "out" they helped WIley open his gift from them. Everyone was able to stay after for quite awhile so they all got to play a bit while the parents visited.

Shane's parents came to town for a visit and were with us during the party. It was so nice to have them here to celebrate with us, plus they were such a huge help with the party and Evie! I'll post more about their visit in another post!

Expressions by Evie (At 16 Months)

In the past 2 weeks, Evie has really fallen in love with her "B's". This has led to her beginning to say many more words. This is her current vocabulary:

* "Bohhh" (Ball)

* "Buh-Bee" (Bunny)

* "Baby"

* "Buh-Buh" (What she calls Wiley)

* "Pass" (Paci)

* "Uh-oh"

* She still says "Mama" and "Da-da" all the time

* "Bye-Bye"

And my two favorites:

* "Peeeeeeeee" (Please - usually said tilting her head to the side and with the sweetest little smile when she wants something, primarily food.)

* "Hi-ya!" (Her greeting to everyone along with a sweet little wave - she meets no stranger! This is her greeting to everyone we pass in the grocery aisles and everywhere else we go! Definitely a little social butterfly)

Playdates in PA!

Some close friends of ours, Brian and Becky Pinzer, moved to Pennsylvania shortly after we did. Brian got a job at Lancaster Bible College and he and Shane are working together. They are living only about 5 minutes away from us. They have two kids who are very close in age to our kids. It is such a blessing to have these good friends living near us. Wiley loves playing with their son, Samuel, and it is nice for Evie to have a play mate too in their daughter, Claire. We are so thankful that God brought them here and that we can have this precious friendship! We try to have playdates every week. Here are a few photos from a "pool playdate" we had recently! We are enjoying every moment we get to spend with these precious friends!

(One other HUGE blessing is that Brian and Becky are sweet enough to offer to babysit for us from time to time so we can have date nights! We enjoyed a nice night out to celebrate our 11 year anniversary, our first date in 4 months! We are planning to swap off with them from time to time so we can all have some much needed time alone with our spouses. What a blessing!)

May was Wedding Month - Part 2

The second wedding in May we were blessed to be a part of was Lydia's younger sister's wedding. They were married on May 23. Shane officiated, Lydia was a Matron of Honor, Wiley was a Ring Bearer, and Evie was the Flower Girl. It was a wonderful day and we were so thankful to all be a part of it!

The 3rd picture from the end is of Wiley, he decided to give an impromptu speech during the reception! It was too funny!