Go Pigs!

We have been having some wonderful weather and last weekend, it was a perfect summer night for a ball game to watch our local minor league team, The IronPigs!

Plus, it was "super hero night"....so there were some extra fun treats!

The kids love going to these games, even though they don't really actually watch much of it. There's just so much to do (and eat there!)

 Attempting to do a family selfie...the boys look so annoyed.

 Avery was maxing relaxing...

 and soon got bored, so she started monkeying around. We only ever buy admission to the field, so that we don't have to try to contain the kids to a seat. We just bring a blanket and spread out!

 Most of the night was spent on the playground...

 where we had a Batman sighting!  Just one of the many people who came dressed up as super heroes. This Batman was a dad of a little boy playing on the playground. Unfortunately, Batman scared away one poor little girl away...she was terrified of him. My kids thought he was pretty cool though!

Getting an attitude 

Daddy decided to pick out the messiest snack possible....cinnamon sugar pretzel bites. Won't make that mistake again. Grains of sugar were everywhere!

 But, we still had room for ice cream...There was enough ice cream in this helmet to feed all four of us and now we finally have another helmet bowl to use at home. I was tired of the kids fighting over the one we have from last year!

The night would not be complete without "BrewWorks," I mean, fireworks! Grayson calls them BrewWorks, named after one of our favorite restaurants downtown. We don't always correct him because we think it's funny. But I think he really does think that they are called BrewWorks!

If you look closely, you can see one taking off into the sky...

 The kids were champs staying up until 10:30 pm! Grayson was exhausted and insisted on wearing Avery's shades for the ride home. 

Oh yeah, and I'm pretty sure we won! But like I said, we didn't really go for the game!

PSU Roommie Reunion...in State College!

We kind of still can't believe this really happened!  We have been hoping, planning, and talking about  doing this for years....two weekends ago, we were able to meet up with 4 out of the 5 guys from Graduate 111, along with their wives and respective children (8 kids to be exact, with one on the way- a girl, thank goodness!) It was an absolutely beautiful spring weekend too!

It was a much different PSU experience than we ever had before. We weren't really sure what to do with all these kids in a college town.  We did a lot of walking and a lot of hanging out on Old Main lawn. 

Wrestling...

Cheering....Go State!

Relaxing...

Playing football...

Playing duck, duck, goose! 

Meeting friends that we feel like we already knew, but never actually met before this day!

Climbing....

And Avery's favorite part....watching a bride and her wedding party get pictures taken in front of Old Main.... yup, the only girl amongst 7 boys gets excited about this kind of thing!

We met up with the Ross Family earlier in the day and did some extra exploring...

they loved the pig statue!

an outdoor lunch...

the aquarium in the HUB...

a little down time in HUB to watch a kids show on Mike's cell phone...he's also very sleepy in the background!

 Adam, for sure, got a good workout that day, carting around 3 kids in our double stroller!  Hi Peter!

 We took several visits to the Lion Shrine...

Levines + 2/3 of the Ross boys doing funny faces

Levines + Petajas + Polls

Our crazy family of four!

 Everyone except the Ross Family...

Right across from the Lion Shrine (and pretty much everywhere you turn on campus), there was construction aka a little boys heaven!  

We took our chances eating out as a party of 16! The Mad Mex margaritas kept the parents happy as the hostess went out to buy crayons for the kids to color with.

Avery enjoyed her first date...with this sweet boy, Jackson, the oldest kid in the group (just 4 months older than Avery but possibly a foot taller!)

 

They really hit it off and were pretty much hand in hand all weekend (sometimes with their fingers intertwined...Daddy wasn't a big fan of that, but Mommy thought it was adorable!)

Of course, no trip to PSU is complete without some Creamery Ice Cream! They only serve one size which was too big for ANY of us to finish, but we sure tried!

This was our kids first time staying overnight in a hotel, so it was VERY exciting!

So exciting...that they stayed up well past 10 pm (and this was without naps!) 

Mommy was ready for bed by 9 pm, meanwhile the Daddies went out to the Cafe for some drinks.

 Before we headed home the next day, we obviously had breakfast at the Waffle Shop. Avery needed some caffeine from her late night! (They served the kids milk in to-go coffee cups, but it made her feel like she was drinking a "latte.") 

 The kids and I split an order of the best chocolate chip pancakes on Earth! I can't believe I used to eat all four by myself. They were the perfect size to share with these two little hungry monsters.

It was a fun and exhausting weekend spend amongst wonderful company in the special place where we all met! Love our Penn State family!

The Big Chop!

On a Thursday night, out of nowhere, Avery told Adam and I that she wanted to get her hair cut. When we asked her how short, she pointed to her chin. I have been begging her to get a decent hair cut for a long time, but with dancing during the year it didn't make sense.  But recital was over now and this was the first time she showed interested in getting it cut since her 4th birthday. I didn't want to waste any time...I took her the next day to Sweet and Sassy!

 Avery told the hair dresser how short she wanted it. She measured it and showed us that if she just cut it a tiny bit shorter, she would meet the requirement of 8" to donate to the "Beautiful Lengths," a partnership between Pantene and the American Cancer Society that provides wigs for cancer patients undergoing treatment. Without hesitation, she agreed to go for it!

Wow...this hair was sooooo long!

 Getting ready for the cut.

 I couldn't believe how short it was!

 Getting the full blow dry (she never lets me do this at home!)

 The finished look!  The hairdresser did a great job of making a cute bob cut!

 Because she donated, she was allowed to pick out a special treat. She chose to make bubble gum flavored "perfume."

 I was a little worried that she would regret cutting it, but she LOVES it! And we are so proud of her for donating her beautiful hair to someone who needs it more than she does! If she only understood how significant this really is. Makes a momma proud!

Once her hair was dry, we were able to package it up and send it out in the mail. 

 People say she looks even more like me now, but she definitely has the better hair cut. It is SOOOO low maintenance and just falls perfectly in place each morning without doing a thing to it! I might be taking her picture into my salon to get the same cut! ; )