Recounting Our Blessings

Abigail- 1 year Later!

2011-06-27T22:06:00.008-04:00

A little over a year ago, I met and photographed Abigail. I was struck by her beauty! Big brown eyes, pudgy cheeks and a pretty pink tutu that her Mommy had made.
Do you remember her?

Last week I got to meet her again. Not much has changed, yet so much has changed! She's still beautiful with big, dark eyes, but now she is very mobile! She is a serious little girl, and seriously adventurous too! She loves to climb, go up and down steps, and once she saw the pond, it was all over. She was sure she had come here just to go swimming!

Here is Abigail now at just over a year and a half!

There was a train going by. She loves trains and was walking over to take a look.
We could only see just a little bit of it through the trees, but she was excited to see it.

Tickles from Mom and Dad to elicit a few more smiles.

Still getting warmed up to the idea of some strange lady taking her picture.

Now the fun begins!
She found something she could climb up on.
Then down.
And then up.

Then, of course, back down.

Still wanting to climb, but she held on for one family photo on the bench.

Abigail was slowed down for a few poses on the rock. A little too much of a challenge
for even her climbing skills!

A bridge at the park proved to be another favorite for Abigail!
In the photo on the right, her mom was singing to her and she was trying hard not to join in.
Still trying not to sing, but the tune is rather catchy!
(If you're happy and you know it...)Finally, she just could not contain herself any longer.
She had to join in!

Yeah for Abigail! One final smile for the day.

Gen and Jeff, Thank you so much for the opportunity to photograph Abigail again. She is so precious! It was such fun to see you all again and to play with Abigail at the park. I loved watching her explore and seeing her personality emerging.

Sweet Rosie

2010-11-08T21:13:00.008-05:00

Yes this is my second post today but I've got to get this precious little girl up here for her Mommy to see!

When I first met little Rosie on Saturday she was all about her shoes! They were the first things she showed me when I said hello and she pointed them out often during our time together. As you can see, she is a doll! She was amazed by everything around her and would breath in in surprise with every flash of my camera or every new trick we tried or every new toy pulled out. It seemed to be her m o for the day! I did manage to capture a few smiles, but with her beautiful blue eyes, and her wonderful chubby cheeks, pretty much every expression she gave made my heart say "Aww".

1 ............................................... 2

Yeah we got a smile!
3 .............................4

With her friend Brobie.
5...............................6

More smiles!

7.......................................8

9......................................10

This is her "ready to dance" position,
and then of course, her shoes!
11.................................12

More with the shoes.
I know they are the same picture, but I wasn't sure which I liked better-with the shoes
highlighted or not.
13............................14

Another look of surprise!

A modern baby! She was waiting for her music to start so she could dance.
16........................................17

A new friend!

Martin Family

2010-11-08T14:34:00.011-05:00

I am a little behind in posting these. Almost 2 weeks ago now I met the Martin family at the park. We couldn't have asked for better weather! And the fall colors were at their peak and stunning!
The children's smiles were stunning too and they just kept coming from all 3 of the children.

These family pictures on the rock are my favorites of the family.

Such a sweet little guy and so happy to be on the move!

Kristin knew just how and when to turn on the beautiful smile of hers.
Hannah, looking grown up and beautiful.
Sisters!

A couple more of Hannah exploring the park.

Love how Kristin is folding her hands in this.

The close up has got to be my favorite of these 2.

Charlie & Lisa

2010-11-01T11:47:00.004-04:00

Thursday was a beautiful day to hang out and photograph this sweet family!

Jacob is a natural whether in front of the camera or not. I have rarely seen this boy without a smile on his face! His smile just lights up the room too!

1 & 2

And Maggie, well she has the biggest, most beautiful, dark brown eyes. Although we managed to coax a few smiles from her, I hear that her best smiles are reserved for her Uncle Matt. Smile or not, I think you will agree that she has one sweet little face.

3 & 4

Jacob looking like such a big boy!
5

6 & 7

8 & 9

10 & 11
12 & 13

14 & 15

Charlie and Lisa together. Love the smiles as they look at each other.

16 & 17

So happy together.
18

Lisa and Charlie, Thanks for the opportunity to take these photos. It was such fun and quite the work out chasing after your little ones. They are both so sweet!

The Schell Family

2010-10-25T11:14:00.008-04:00

I love photography and I love this family! What better way would there be to spend a warm Autumn day than taking pictures of these guys? Top it off with a gorgeous backdrop of color and this is what you get!

Everyone is still a little camera shy.

For one who initially didn't want me to take his picture, he sure warmed up to the camera!

So cute!

David was quite the model.

Andrew looking so grown up! How can this be?

Whole family in the Autumn splendor.

Holding down the fort.

Crossing bridges.

So casual and relaxed. He's a natural.

Easy to get a good shot of this guy!

He was telling me a "funny ghost story."

For George and Anna Lisa

2010-09-13T14:20:00.012-04:00

Meet the "S" family. I had a wonderful time with George, Anna Lisa and their 2 beautiful daughters the other day. Elaina is a fun and very verbal almost 2 year old. She loves to squish on her brand new baby sister Josie and to wrestle bears.

Josie is just 10 days old in these pictures. She was such a sweet and content newborn. Very alert and wide awake for almost the whole time she was here.

Here are the results of our time together.

1......................................... 2
34

5

6................................. 7

11

12 ............................ 13

15 .............................16

17 .................................. 18

20

21

22

23

26

27

Anna Lisa and George, Thank you for the opportunity to do this photo session. Your girls are both very sweet. It was such a pleasure to get to know you a little during our time together. You have a beautiful family!
~Bonnie

For Brian and Amy

2010-08-07T19:55:00.006-04:00

Here is beautiful baby Grace. Just 12 days old and a sound sleeper. I love her kissable cheeks.

A few moments while she was still awake. She loved looking at the window.

Off to dreamland

Such a pretty baby girl.

Here's the cheeks! Don't you just want to cuddle her?

An afternoon snooze.

Tender moment with Mama.

The happy family.

A Daddy's girl already.

Isn't the blanket beautiful? It was made with love by her Mommy!

A less traditional framing, but I liked this.

Congratulations Brian and Amy. She is a beautiful and precious gift from the Lord. I pray that your life together will be blessed!

For Danielle

2010-07-21T14:40:00.009-04:00

Meet baby Luke. He is 3 1/2 weeks old-well he was when I took these. He's already another week older now! Isn't he a cutie? Danielle, thanks for letting me take these. It may have been a challenge to keep him sleeping, but I sure enjoyed being able to hold him.

These 3 are similar, but I couldn't resist that sleeping face!

You would think that he was really comfortably asleep here, but his Mama and I know otherwise!

Just a few short moments later, he is wide awake!
I love the dark blue, baby eyes.

Off to dreamland again.

Papa bear.

Everybody say "Ahhhh!"

Again, similar photos, but I can't decide which I like better; black and white or skin tone on black.

And this just makes me laugh to think about the gymnastics we tried with him. What a patient little guy. It isn't the pose we were going for, but I love that you can see his tiny baby feet through the sling. His face is pretty adorable too!

I had to put this one in Danielle! He is a little unsure of taking part in this whole Jedi thing. But I have no doubt that given the training he will receive from his older siblings, he too will come to be a great Jedi knight! (Do you think he looks like Jerem in this picture?)

My Hardworking kiddos

2010-06-14T23:14:00.006-04:00

This has been a pretty busy season here at the Kundrat home. Here is one project that has consumed several days.

End of the First day of work

Beginning of the 2nd day of work.

Katie working hard and some of her castles in the forground

The boys having a fun break.

And you knew this was going to happen...

Can't believe he landed with a smile on his face.

Katie still working

A bit of fun for Danny

End of the 2nd day-if you can't tell we made it to the beginning of the bump out.

I just want to say how proud I am of how hard my kids have worked on this! They were such troopers out there in the heat of the day for 2 solid days and several evenings after school too! Kate was a work horse carrying brick by brick over to the work area. She made many castles and chairs and other sculptures too. She was also the official water bottle fetcher and filler. The boys were busy also shuffling blocks and handing them off to me to put down. We had to load and unload the block from pallets on our driveway into the truck and then back off again up at the house. Thank you kids for how well you have served your family! You are such a blessing to me and added much fun to the hours of work.
The patio is not quite finished yet. We have laid the block down all the way to the other section of the house, but now Rick gets to cut all of the edge pieces around the perimeter where whole blocks wouldn't fit-that might take some time.
Many other happenings in the last two weeks- field trips, a birthday, parties and such. When I get a chance again I will try to post more pictures. In the mean time I gotta get to weeding my gardens. Some of the weeds are as tall as trees!!

Tyler, Me and my Canon Fifty-D

2010-05-05T22:19:00.010-04:00

Tonight I had the opportunity to take a walk in our "neighborhood" with my oldest, Tyler. I love evening walks and what a bonus to have Ty with me! We walked along together. He talking about extraordinary things and me taking pictures of ordinary things along the way. He taught me all about robots! Did you know that my father in law is a "Cyborg"? Apparently it is true- because he wears a hearing aid. My husband plays with "Drones" when he flies his RC planes!
I love my son and his thirst for knowledge-praying that it will continue to carry through with his biblical knowledge and translate into godly wisdom!
Here are some pictures of the ordinary things.

The corn is starting to grow!

STOP! and look at the view at the end of our road.

Our house between the trees.

Some critter's home. I liked their landscaping!

Home of the annual corn maze.

How green is the valley!

Not sure what this is, but I saw it so I took a picture.

I love how the setting sun through the trees highlights small areas.

Had fun trying to capture it in these few pictures.

This is what I captured when I got back home. My other 2! And just where else would they be but in the water!

Baby Abigail

2010-04-25T22:15:00.003-04:00

On Saturday I had the privilege of meeting and photographing sweet little Abigail and her Mom and Dad. What a beauty she is and oh so friendly. It took no time at all for her to put on her smile. And have you ever seen such beautiful eyes?

A couple in the tutu that her mommy made for her.

Sweet smiles for her Daddy.

Don't you love her little foot?

Love her little mouth in this one.

2 of my favorites.

With her favorite little toy.

Thank you Gen and Jeff for the opportunity to photograph your little family. It was a joy to meet you and your sweet little girl.

Dandy Lions

2010-04-19T21:36:00.008-04:00

Dandelions-weeds to most people, and even to me when I'm not in "photographer" mode! Today though, I saw this beautiful field of dandelions and I knew I had to take Kate there for some photos. She always so sweetly and willingly obliges me when I have these ideas! Thanks Katie!

"Okay honey. Take off your shoes and just run around for a while." Quietly I pray there are no bees around! And off she goes, pirouetting in the sunshine! I love my little girlie girl!

So here are some of the pics from today with some different processing experiments.

All I can say is that I am sure glad this is not my lawn! Because as pretty as they actually are, they would have to die!

Local Birds & a bug & a few wildflowers

2010-04-13T11:05:00.010-04:00

So here are some local birds from a week or so ago as Spring was just starting to spring. I was over at Middlecreek park.

male and female tree swallow

A budding tree

Last of the snow geese

some wild flowers

more wild flowers with bug

Another tree swallow (or it could be the same one. Who could tell)

Canada goose keeping an eye on me

Florida part 3

2010-04-11T22:23:00.009-04:00

In which I show you the strange birds and other creatures in Florida......

Blue Heron

Green Heron(Not sure why it is called that as it seems more purple and blue to me)

Don't know-hey what can I say, I am not an ornithologist.

Anhinga mama

Anhinga babe

Mr Aligator. (Okay so I don't really know if it is a Mr.)

I think the scientific name for these is: "Ducks"

Turns out there are some normal birds there too-a blue jay for instance

Mr. Aligator again, though he seems to be going undercover now. Glad I'm not one of those ducks!

The blue heron again

A Snowy Egret

See Mr. Principal, we really did do some educational things on this "Educational Family trip" I had to apply for! ;-)

Florida Surprise part 2

2010-04-06T14:18:00.016-04:00

In which I attempt for a 3rd time to upload more pictures from Florida. Here goes.....

Tyler's in the drivers seat!

Mickey 3-D

Can't see it in the small version, but if you click to enlarge you will see the water "jumping" through the air.

Magic Kingdom-Beats a day at school any day!

Tea cups.

Minnie Princess.

My sister in law Chris, and her 2 beautiful daughters who came to visit us in Hollywood studios.

Megan and my kids.

Kim and Kate

Kim and Kate, take 2.

Kate on the merry go round

Couldn't remove the sword.

The Surprise!

2010-03-30T17:38:00.007-04:00

So here's the surprise: My husband is so kind and generous! Oh. Wait. I didn't mean that. Wait. Yes I did. He is kind and generous, but that's not the surprise! It is however, what was responsible for the surprise. Which by now is no longer a surprise to anyone especially the kids, who were the target of the surprise.
Okay, I think I have been able to untwist my foot from my mouth now. Can I continue now? Good.

When Rick was scheduled for 2 business related appointments in sunny Florida; and when Pennsylvania was anything but sunny, Rick decided to "DRAG" his family along with him. He almost broke my arm when he twisted it to get me to say yes! We opted to keep it from the kids which was quite fun, but challenging! I had to make arrangements at school behind their backs and make sure none of the teachers or principals or any others let on to them that they were going away. I had to gather their homework, pack their clothes and stock up on entertaining things to do on an airplane. All without them knowing. The task was made a little easier by the fact that they are in school during the day. I packed the suitcases and put them back where we usually keep them until the day finally arrived.

We told the kids that we were driving Dad to the airport so we could take him out to dinner on his birthday-the day he, I mean WE were scheduled to come back home. The kids didn't suspect a thing until I passed the terminal and Danny asked why we were driving by it. I told him I missed Dad's airline so we were going to park and help Dad get his stuff to the airport. After we parked Rick pulled out the camera and taped their reaction to the news that they would be coming along. (I tired to upload it here but it wouldn't so you'll just have to trust me that they were surprised) (Although Tyler will now tell you that he knew all along!-yeah right! I got the video buddy!) The kids were very excited but didn't really believe us at first until I pulled out the bags of their things that I packed for the flight.

It was a good flight and the trip was lots of fun. We spent a morning on the beach;went to a wildlife sanctuary and saw lots of crazy birds and even a couple aligators! Rick's first appointment was cancelled so we were able to spend the day with him too which was a great surprise too!

The 2nd day there we headed to Orlando where Rick went to a convention. It was pouring rain that day so we spent it at the hotel. My brother and his family met us at the hotel and we hung out at the arcade and when Rick got back we were all able to go out for dinner. It was such fun to be able to see them and hang out for a while.

The next few days were spent in Disney. We had rain the first day but as you can see in the pictures, we just carried on through the day with ponchos on. We got to get to an English Pub for Fish and chips-something Tyler had wanted to do when we were down there before but we didn't get a chance too.

On Sunday, my sister in law and my 2 nieces were able to join us at Disney's Hollywood studios. We haven't seen them since Kate was a year old! It was such a treat to be able to see them! The kids loved "meeting" them again and hanging out with them. The only disappointment to that day (And I am thankful that the boys saw it as a disapointment) was that the Indianna Jones stunt show was cancelled due to a cheerleading competition. But they did get to ride the Star Wars ride repeatedly which I think, help to brighten their day!

One more day spent at Disney and then we were back to my mom's to sleep for a few hours before we had to wake up at 4am to catch the flight home.

All in all it was a wonderful time. I am so thankful to Rick for not only thinking about us but actually acting on that thought and having us tag along on his business trip! Yeah for business! :)

Here are some (Lots) of pictures from our time.

At the beach (Obviously)

The kids jumped right in the water. It was a little too cold for me.

Playing at the playground of our hotel. Danny on the hampster wheel.

The kids exploring the resort grounds.

The cousins arrive!

These 2 can't possibly be related! Kate and Rachael

Kate and Melissa

Did I tell you we had to rescue Kate from the jaws of a shark?

The English Pub.

Dan and Kate in a Japanese garden

Persevering in ponchos!

I apparently can't upload anymore pictures so I will have to post the rest at another time.
Tah-tah'Til then!

Winter Olympics

2010-03-04T20:56:00.009-05:00

The kids have really enjoyed watching the Winter Olympics this year. Danny is having a difficult time deciding which sport he wants to start training for for the 2018 olympics. So in the mean time we have had our own Olympic events. Some traditional, some not so.
No awards are handed out at these games, as we are waiting for other countries to sign up so that we have some real competition.

Here are some exciting highlights of the some of the action!

Okay, so she really wasn't participating. I just thought it was a funny picture and I forgot to
include it in the last post.

This is the ice-swimming competition. He has tied Michael Phelps for the number of medals won in a single Olympics.

Here is the Ice-dancing pair of Kundrat & Kundrat.
A brother/sister team who got their start in the basement of their home.

Speed skating is a volatile sport. Here is the Gold medal hopeful from the U.S. as he
fell after catching his blade on a marker.

We go outside the arena now to bring you an exhibition sport this year. Snow-tennis. The judges haven't quite come up with a fair way to track the score.

As you can see, her form is excellent and she gets a tremendous spatter from the snowball she chose.

2 great shots from Danny in the men's event.

Tyler competed in the "cross-country skiing without skis" event.

Here are the men's and women's combined snow mountain jumping contest.
The last event was the downhill snowboard contest. Lacking the proper gear, our skier improvised with Duct tape.

Look at the concentration and look of determination.

And it was a GREAT RUN for the rooky! Wow have you ever seen anything like it?

And so this concludes the 2010 Olympiad.

Coming up next...... Well, I can't tell you as it is a surprise!

Winter

2010-02-27T15:05:00.007-05:00

I have been very neglectful of this blog as of late. So many things have happened since the last post. Thanksgiving, Christmas a new Year, surgery with my Mom here to help out for the 6 week recovery time. In this time we have had so much snow and the kids have had a blast playing in it. Well, Kate and Dan love being in it. Tyler ends up with migraines if he stays out in brightness too much so he tends to stay inside.

Here are MANY photographs taken in the last month to make up for my bad blogginess.

The First wave of snow.

Ty ventured out for a short time.

Winter sunset.

Snow Cave that dad made after our driveway was plowed.

The next snow storm.

My blizzard expeditionists!

Striking out on her own.

Sharing provisions with his "best friend"

Does this remind anyone else of the Grinch cartoon?

Penguin style.

Love how blue the sky is in this.

A short.....

...rough, ride...

But apparently worth it!

Still to come......... the Olympics 2010. Held in Robesonia PA.

For Audrey

2009-11-08T20:40:00.007-05:00

What a joy it was to photograph your beautiful family with the new addition of baby brother! Your girls are so sweet and so welcoming and I loved all the questions little Faith asked. It is wonderful to see how much they love their little brother.

Audrey, I so admire the way you love and treasure your little ones. You have always been such an example of that to me. Thank you so much for the opportunity to come to your home to take theses pictures. Asside from a few glitches from little Eli-(sorry Damien!) your family was so co-operative and easy to photograph!

I know you have seen some of these, but there are a few more mixed in now too!

One of my favorites so I put it first!

Can you believe this 10 day old baby lifting his head like this?!

And not just for a second either!

He held it up for quite a while so that I could get his picture! Guess he wanted to be sure I got his good side.

"There ain't no way you're taking this from me again lady!"
He did NOT want to loose that binky.

Precious baby.

Big sister watching from the stairs!

And beautiful biggest sister to end the post.

(Audrey. I am wondering if it is possible to take a bad picture of any of your children?)

Congratulations again. It is wonderful to see how God is building your precious family.

For Jenn

2009-11-02T13:27:00.006-05:00

This little guy wanted nothing to do with playing-he just wanted to work! When we wanted him to play in the leaves, he wanted to rake them. When we tried to get him to have a ride in the wagon, he just wanted to pull it! I think 1 day he will be a dedicated, hard working man. Probably like his Daddy who is serving our country over in Iraq.
Thank you Jenn, for allowing me the opportunity to photograph and to play with your little boy, his friend, and big brother. Thank you also for your and your husband's sacrifice for our country. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

He has a cute smile. He looks a little shy in this, but he wasn't at all.

There is something about this one that just makes me smile!

He is having so much fun!

Jenn, this is one of my favorites! He looks so happy and completely trusting you.

What a cute face. And I love his short, little legs in the jeans!

I couldn't decide which I liked better, so here are both.

Playing with different effects on photoshop. I liked the way this one turned out.

Love his eyes!

Sweet!

Bye-Bye!

Abstract Autumn

2009-10-21T21:35:00.006-04:00

I am not necessarily a fan of modern art. I don't really understand it. Shapes, colors or nothing at all seemingly randomly thrown together and labeled "art". But I have to admit, I really like to take abstract photos sometimes. I did just that the other day while on an autumn walk. Actually I was scouting out a place to do some pictures for someone. I couldn't stop taking pictures of the patterns of color I found on the pond and stream there. These remind me a bit of what some might consider "modern art" but I really like the way they turned out! Well, if nothing else they are a new take on photos of autumn colors!

Okay, so this last one isn't so abstract, but I liked it anyway, so here it is.

For Sandi

2009-10-12T22:23:00.012-04:00

Last Monday I had the great honor to hold, play with and take some pictures of baby Theia! She is so precious and seemed to love the camera. I am posting some of my favorite pics from that day so Sandi can see them. Hope you enjoy them!

I love the tenderness between Mommy and baby.

I think she looks like her Daddy in this picture.

I like this one even though her hand partially covers her face, but I can just hear her little giggle when I look at this.She just loves her thumb!

Sweet little face.

This last one is one of my favorites. I love her little hands in this.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Autumn

2009-10-04T20:49:00.007-04:00

Everywhere you go....

Just some pics of the first Autumn colors. And a football picture because football is a part of fall too!Danny practicing before his game on Saturday.

We went to Middlecreek but didn't stay very long because both Danny and Kate sank into a mud puddle and wanted to go home and get changed!

Definately looks better if you can click on this and enlarge it. This is just before sunset and there are splashes of bright red leaves among the green.

More from Saturday's sunset.

I think this is poison ivy but it sure is pretty when it glows in the sun!

Just for Fun

2009-10-02T10:11:00.004-04:00

I took this through our front door this morning as Danny and Kate headed out to meet the bus. Just thought it was cute and different so I thought I'd share.

Vacation in a Vacation

2009-08-18T13:59:00.015-04:00

As some may know, the kids and I got back about a week ago from Colorado. We were out there visiting my sister and her family. We had the most wonderful time. God was so kind to bless us with so many sweet memories! There were many tears shed when it was time to leave. I thought I would share though, about our vacation within this vacation. My sister graciously drove us to all of the places we wanted to go visit, in a whirwind, 5 day jaunt around the Colorado Rockies! I don't know if you have ever seen the movie "Vacation", but this trip was somewhere along the lines of that movie. So as you read, just know that we were, and I continue to, laugh at all of the mis-adventures. (And as a side note, my kids were such troopers to endure 5 days and 1200 miles in the car with relatively few scuffles.)

First our trip was delayed as we waited for the FedEx delivery of a lens that I was renting while out there. We left as soon as the package arrived and we got to our first destination at dinner time. We went to Glenwood Springs, CO where they have a huge swimming pool that is all fed by a natural hot spring. Though it smells a bit like egg salad, it is a fun place to go visit. When we went to get changed into our suits to go swimming, I realized that I had forgotten to pack mine. No problem. I will just sit this one out and take pictures. When we went to pay, I asked if I had to pay even if I wasn't going to go swimming. THe answer was yes. I said that I had forgotten my suit, and the guy says to me, with a straight face no less, "That's okay. You can rent 1 in our store!" I was a bit taken back and not sure whether I should laugh or grab the kids and get out of there! Eww! I am sorry but that just sounds rather gross! Needless to say, Linda (My sister) had the fun with the kids in the pool while I stood on the side lines taking pictures!
Glenwood Springs pool
Kate at the historic Colorado Hotel in Glenwood Springs

The next day we left for Dinosaur CO. Danny had learned about this place in school and was really excited to go there. They have an observation building built right up against a long rock wall of the mountain that has thousands of dinosaur and other fossils exposed. Also there are archeologists there working to excavate more. This was to be the highlight of the day. We got there only to find out that the building had been declared unsafe and was now closed until they could build another. Needless to say, Danny was a little more than disappointed! We did get to hike along a trail and find some fossils- a leg bone and a back bone in the mountain side were the most exciting. Oh and the lizards were fun to try to spot.

Dinosaur National Park, Dinosaur CO

Kate and Danny convinced that they have found a fossil in the rock.

An actual fossil-a dinosaur vertebrae. Can you see it?The kids in Dinosaur

Back at the "open" visitor center, the man there told us of a museum that was 12 miles down the road in Utah where they have whole dinosaur skeletons to see. So of course we drove the 12 miles to find the museum. We had to stop once for re-directions but finally found the place only to see a big sign that said "CLOSED" on the front door! Our jaws dropped in disbelief. I decided to go up to the door anyway and saw that there was fine print on the sign. It said that the museum had moved 2 blocks east. Renewed hope! We piled back in the van and drove to the new and improved museum. We could see Dinosaur statues of all kinds from the road and the kids' excitement grew!

After parking we went in to the front desk where we were informed that the museum would be closing in 15 minutes!! I explained our tail of whoa and asked if we could still get in. "Yes but you will have to pay full price." Fortunately the price wasn't too high-$15 for my kids and I. So as we walked through the entrance I said "Kids. You go. Run everywhere you want to and see everything you want to see. We have 15 minutes and I am paying a dollar a minute to be here so go!" Good thing it was a small museum and we were able to easily locate the dinosaurs!
At the Museum-Our 15 dollars, I mean 15 minutes of fun!

From the museum we drove 3 hours to visit my Aunt and Uncle who live outside of Montrose, CO. It was so wonderful to see them. I hadn't seen them in probably 15 years. This was the 1 stop without a hitch! Well, actually they did have a hitch-a hitching post for their 2 horses! Kate was so thrilled! Uncle Bob was so kind to let her pat the horses and help him walk the horses and then, thrill of all thrills for Kate, she got to ride one!!! She was the happiest little girl up there in the saddle! This has been a dream of hers for a long time! Aunt Karen and Uncle Bob were so kind to us and the kids just fell in love with them. They were so much a part of my up-bringing and walking around there home brought back so many memories for me even though it was not the house that I knew as theirs when I was little.
A very Happy Kate up in the saddle with Uncle Bob leading the horse.

Danny's turn

Uncle Bob played tour guide and took us over to see the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. A spectacular sight! I had many attacks of mommy panic though as Danny rushed down the trail to see each over look! I could just picture him slipping on the gravel and going over! Thank you God, for holding him back-and for fences!
Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Danny at 1 overlookTyler in a rare photo of him

The next morning we shared a wonderful breakfast with Aunt Karen and Uncle Bob and then we were off again. We headed over to Alamosa and to the Great Sand Dunes National park. The sand dunes there are as high as the mountains. We had plans of climbing to the top and sliding down on sleds, but they were another thing we forgot to pack. So we would just have to try butt sliding! We started hiking out onto the dunes. We got as far as the first little mound of sand and all of the sudden a storm kicked up! No rain, but incredible wind! The kids started yelling "OWWW!!!" and we got sand blasted as we walked as fast as we could back to the shelter of trees! Great Sand Dunes National Park

The Wind kicks up-"Run from the hills!"

As we were driving away

We drove around a bit to see what we could see and then headed back to our hotel where we spent the next several hours palying in their pool-fully equipped with a 3 story water slide. Okay, well I was relegated to the side of the pool again, but it was fun watching Dan and Kate go up the stairs and down the slide, and up the stairs and down the slide so many times that I lost count. Tyler spent the time playing with Aunt Linda-who as some of you may know, is just a big kid herself!

The Water slide at the hotel

The next morning, after finding a Starbucks of course, we headed for home with a side track to the small ghost town of St. Elmo.

Along the road to St. Elmo

Another beautiful drive in the mountains,but it is hardly a ghost town any more! There were so many people there and now they have built a working bed and breakfast and much of the land around it has been sold off and people have been building homes there. In other words, it isn't as quaint as I remember it, and it has been tourist-ized! But never-the-less it was fun to see and we were able to feed a bunch of over fed, tame chipmunks!

The town of St. Elmo

Kate feeding one of the skinnier chipmunks

After we ran out of chipmunk food, we decided to brave a drive up an off-road trail which looked pretty smooth and do-able in our minivan. We got about 2 miles in and came to a split in the road.

The Off-Road

We decided then, that it was now looking like we wouldn't be able to clear some of the boulders on the way and we decided to turn around and head back. As we backed up, Linda and I looked at each other and both said "UhOH! Do you hear that?" It was the sound of flapping rubber!!! And yep, you guessed it. The tire was flat!!!

So there we were, 2 women and 3 kids on the side of a mountain with a flat tire. What were we to do? Well, we got out the car manual to find out where in the world the spare tire was located and then we proceeded to teach the kids how to change a tire! Several people did stop and offer to help, but it was a fun learning experience for the kids and we declined! After the donut tire was on we drove to the nearest town-45 minutes away where we found a tire store. What a nice bunch of people! You would have thought we were at a NASCAR pitstop with how fast they fixed the tire and got it back on for us! And all they charged for it was $12!!Jacking up the van

Loosening the lug nuts

Tightening the lug nuts on the donut tire. (Again he didn't want his picture taken)

So here we were. On the road again headed back to my sisters house! About 2 1/2 hours more of driving in the beautiful mountains before we would be home.

View along the highway

Everything was going well and we were on the home stretch-just 1 hour more. Then Kate says from the back "Mom. I really need to go potty!" That starts the hunt for the next town-"How bad do you have to go honey?" "Really bad" "Okay. Well it looks like about 10 minutes to the next town and we will try to find a place to go there." So we're cruising along and all of the sudden the lights of a police car are flashing behind us! My sister finds a place and pulls the car over. By now Kate is crying "Mommy I really have to go!" "Okay honey. PLease try to hold on we're almost there." Meanwhile on Linda's side of the van "Maam you were speeding back there. I am not going to give you a citation, but I will need to see your license and registration." "Ok Sir" "Mommy please. I really need to go. I can't hold it any more!" So what could I do?!! I opened the door and took Kate out to "go" at the side of the road all the while the police man is writing up his paperwork in his car!

Well, fortunately for us, that was the last of the events and we made it back to my sisters in time for dinner-Pizza. What could possibly go wrong with that?

More from our vacation when I can finish processing pictures!

Plethera of Pictures from Bermuda Cruise

2009-07-24T14:54:00.015-04:00

My in-laws are so generous. It is THEIR 50th anniversary so they took Us on a cruise! Here are some pics from our time.

Here is Danny lounging in our window.

The kids had some of thier stuffed animals from home with them. Some have magnets in their hands and feet, so they hung them in the window so they could see out.

Kate dressed for formal night on the ship.
Dapper Dan

Tyler. Not happy about having his picture taken, but handsome just the same.

Ty at Horseshoe Bay beach.

Danny

Start humming the theme song from the Titanic movie now. That is, if you hadn't already!
Somewhere in Bermuda

Window of an old building in Bermuda
Same window, different kid.
This is what happens when you suck on your cheap tourist shirt! Heehee. Just kidding. He just finished a blue lolipop.

Kate at the beach

Horseshoe Bay beach.

12'-15' waves that we went through on our way home. A rockin' good time.

Other fun things to do on board the ship.

mini golf.
Tyler's favorite-all you can eat of what ever you could want.

Rock climbing on the 14th deck of the ship!
Ice skating. Danny and a new friend were helping Kate.
Roller-blade track

Grandma and Grandpa with the kids.

God was so kind to give us this time with Rick's parents. So many memories were made that I know the kids will cherish for the rest of their lives. What a gift to have such generous grandparents who desire to share their time of celebration with our family!

And the Rain, Rain, Rain came Down, Down, Down

2009-06-11T17:15:00.006-04:00

Last night during dinner we had some pretty heavy rain. After dinner, when the rain had stopped, and even a little before it stopped, Danny and Kate disappeared outside. A few minutes later I hear Rick call to me and say "Do you know what Kate and Dan are doing?" Uh oh! This can't be good! I grabbed my camera and went out to look for them. There they were. In the construction mud. Making "Swimming pools" for the little toad that was hopping by them. This is why we call them Water Bug 1 and 2! They just can't stay away!!! I give you exhibit A and B from 3 years ago. And exhibit C and D from last night!

Exhibit A:Exhibit B:
Exhibit C:

Exhibit D:
All I can say is, if it's God's will for Kate to marry one day, I pray that it won't RAIN!!

The Babies are Here!

2009-05-20T10:48:00.004-04:00

We have been going out every day to check on our bird and her eggs. Today we found little tiny birdies where there used to be eggs! The kids were thrilled to be ale to see them (and so was I if you want to know the truth) They are less than a day old in these pictures. You should hear their little peeps!! It is so cute-such a tiny little noise that you can barely hear. I hope to get more pictures as they grow.

Bird Watching

2009-05-07T10:25:00.003-04:00

I went into our barn the other day and discovered this little lady who is soon to be a mama. Her nest is wedged between old bottles of insecticides. Can you see her little face nestled in there? I thought it would be fun to photographically track the little ones after they hatch.

I looked on line to try to identify the type of bird and I believe it is a Carolina wren. The same type of bird built on this shelf last year. I'll try to get more pictures after they hatch-if the mama bird doesn't try to poke my eye out or something crazy like that.

Doing Hard Things

2009-04-30T13:32:00.004-04:00

To some these may all be pictures of some kids and Tyler playing baseball. No big deal. But to me, I get tears in my eyes looking at them. These are such a testimony to me of God's faithfulness! This was the very first real baseball game Tyler has ever played in. Some of you may know the struggle that lead up to this day, but for those who don't let me assure you, it was a struggle!! Tyler really wanted to sign up for baseball and was excited when we did. That all changed when it actually started and it was much harder than he expected it to be. That was it for him and he wanted out! I tried to encourage him that this was going to be a great opportunity for him to experience God's faithfulness to him to get him through this season. But let me tell you, I got to a point where I was doubting that and was ready to call the coach and pull him from the team. However, I continued to get the sense that God had Tyler exactly where he needed to be-in a challenging situation. Over and over again my thought was that Ty needed to learn to do hard things; to persevere and trust that God would see him through. This all sounds kind of strange when you consider that this is a game, but God is even in the games we play!

So the first game came and Tyler sat out due to his back being sore. But when the team won, he was a little disappointed that he hadn't been a part of it. This past Tuesday was the 2nd game and Ty announced that his back was indeed feeling better and that he thought he could play this time. So here he is, in his first Little League Baseball game. For the first time since this all began, I saw him engaging with the other kids, encouraging them, getting excited by the good plays that were made-in short, he had become a part of the team! I was teary eyed then watching him get more and more excited. And again when he got up to bat! This is such an accomplishment for him! He was obviously nervous, but he did it! He didn't back away from it! I was amazed in that moment at how faithful God had been through this time leading up to that moment! How all of the prayers I prayed from the bleachers while watching the practices had been answered in this 1 moment! Even though he was "walked" to first, he still got a pretty good hit in before that, it just went a little far off the field! But that walk eventually lead to him getting a run and scoring a point for the team.

So here are a few shots from the game. Can you see his smile as he waits on second to run to the next base? Yep. Our God is so good!

The Warm up before the game.Tyler got a hit!Running to second base.On 2nd base.Home Plate! He's Safe!

My angel in the outfield!Game over. Red Sox win it, 10-3!

Oh and a side benefit to this...I get to take pictures of Tyler and he isn't ducking and dodging my camera!

Next up, NASCAR

2009-04-06T15:51:00.004-04:00

This past Saturday was our cub scout den's Pine Wood Derby. It may not be NASCAR, but let me tell you, the competition is official and fierce!Here is Danny's car at the official weigh-in. All cars must be under a certain weight. The boys and their dad's are given a block of wood and some wheels and they get to design their own car. Here were this years entries.

Danny had in mind that he wanted to make his a Honda. Perhaps he will grow to be a more practical sort who chooses function over form. For now, it seems he made a wise decision. This is his car in the lead. (I wonder if we could get some royalties from Honda for this picture?)

This is how they start the race.

Here are the men awarding the ribbons to the winners.

Kate was the official car stopper!

Here is Danny with his 1st place ribbon! His car won all the races he was in! He was not so happy with me when I took this picture because I was singing the Speed Racer theme song.
"Here he comes. Here comes Speed Racer. He's a demon on wheels...."

God's Sovereignty

2009-03-30T16:33:00.003-04:00

Above even the darkest, most severe storms, there is blue sky.

We had wild weather yesterday. 70 degrees quickly dropped into the 50's while the storm clouds moved overhead. Thunder, lightning, even reports of a tornado in the area. Then came the rain which turned to hail. 10 minutes later, it was over.

I am not currently in the midst of a storm, but as I pondered this picture God reminded me of His ever present grip on my life. "Forever and always secure." Thank you Jesus!

Propeller Head

2009-03-25T17:10:00.003-04:00

Our creative boy is at it again. Danny is so funny with the things he dreams up. Today it is a propeller hat. It even works! He attached an erector set piece to a spinning device that is operated buy a simple circuit from their Snap Circuits kit. Flip the switch and -Wahlah! (Is there a correct spelling for that?)

Promise of New Life!!

2009-03-12T14:21:00.004-04:00

GREEN!!!!!

I don't want my excitement to take away from my kiddies accomplishments, so if you haven't already, scroll down to see my last post. Besides, you'll understand my excitement over this picture better if you do!

Recent Events

2009-03-11T14:25:00.004-04:00

I'm trying to come up with a clever opening but nothings happening. So I guess I will just dive right in to life-lately. Sunday was our Scout troops Blue and Gold Dinner. Danny has moved on from Wolf Cub to a Bear Cub. He is loving scouts and especially looking forward to earning his whittling badge next year. Tyler has now officially crossed over into Boy Scouts. He earned the "Arrow of Light" and crossed the bridge. He has decided, however to end his scouting career here. I am proud of both of them for their achievements. Danny for being consistent and enthusiastic even when few others were showing up. Tyler was not sure he wanted to be a scout this year, but since he had signed up we told him he had to follow through on his commitment. He really persevered and worked hard to complete what he had to to "graduate". I am proud of him for sticking it out and fighting past the desire to quit.

Tyler has decided that he would rather put his efforts into baseball. He is now registered for baseball and he will be going to tryouts on Saturday. He has never played before but is determined to do well. We have been out practicing during these warmer days. It has been rather comical as I have been using a kid-sized, made for a lefty glove. I have to give him credit though-he hits more than he misses and that is really saying something with me pitching left handed!!

Danny came home the other day with papers for football registration for the Fall. He is so excited! He has been wanting to play football for a while.

And if that wasn't enough, Kate came home all excited yesterday with papers of her own! "Mom guess what? I have papers for signing up for football too! Can you sign me up too?" "Honey, you're a girl and girls don't play football" "But Mom! They said that anyone could sign up." Ahh, yes. Raising girls in modern times! I mentioned to her that if she played football, she would have to give up dance class. "Hmm. Oh. Well, never mind." I'm half tempted to sign her up just to see if she could even walk with a football uniform on!!!

Monday Kate and I got to join Danny's class on a short field trip to MiddleCreek to see the Snow geese and Tundra swans. That was pretty amazing! There were thousands of them everywhere!

I know this looks like a swarm of bugs, but all of those tiny dots are snow geese!!! There were so many that I had to stitch 3 pictures together to make this picture, and it still doesn't show all of them!

Now I am just awaiting some signs of Spring that have a little more color in them. I know brown is the "in" color right now, but outside, I would love to see it fade into the back ground while some more vibrant colors take over!

Waiting for the Lamb

2009-03-02T15:05:00.003-05:00

At 6am this morning the word was "2 hour Delay" so we all went back to sleep. By 9am (yes we were awake by then) the updated word was "School will be closed" YIPPEE and YAHOO! It is always fun to have my kiddos home with me unexpectedly and though I would have preferred watching daffodils popping up, we instead were able to enjoy the lion's roar!

Tyler about to crash into me

Kate enjoying her ride

"Look Mom! It Works!"................. THUD!!!....... Giggle. Giggle........."Oh, until I try to turn." ;o)

The Reveal

2009-02-25T12:38:00.004-05:00

So nothing thrilling. We painted stripes on the wall. Nothing bold. Just stripes in the same color but using a different higher gloss paint. Not sure it was worth all of the work but it does look nicer than the white walls that were there. The kids were thrilled to get 2 volleyball sized tape balls out of it! And if nothing else, it was a good time of bonding with my Mom and then with my sister when she came to town just in time to help finish things up.

We were trying to find 'stuff' to hang on the walls in there and couldn't quite come up with anything. So I decided to create my own art. I took a few pictures and "painted" them in Photoshop. Now all I have to do is order them. Tell me what you think...
If you click on them to enlarge them you can see better the effect of the painting process.

What is Going on Here?

2009-02-22T19:20:00.003-05:00

My Mom came to town for most of this month. Can you guess what we were doing while she was here?

More Winter Pics

2009-02-03T10:13:00.003-05:00

They say that feeding time is the best time to see the animals at the zoo. It seems to be a good time to capture the elusive creature I spoke about in my last post. As you can see, he was so busy eating he never even tried to dodge my camera!
The best place to sled on our property is behind the house. It's a short but steep enough hill that starts by our oak tree and ends on our driveway. So unless Dad plows, it's a great ride. The only problem is, sometimes they go so fast I'm afraid they are going to go over the edge and into the woods on the other side of the driveway. I had to show them how to aim their sleds and to bail out if they are getting too close.

Sammy on the edge.

Catching snowflakes.

Danny really wanted to learn how to ice skate. When everything iced over he knew he would finally have a chance. Undaunted by my skepticism, he grabbed the 1 pair of skates that we have, (I'm not even sure where they came from) went out on the driveway and within minutes he was up and skating. He used the trash can for stability at first, but set that asside fairly quickly.
The best (and worst) part is that this part of the driveway is on the North side of the house and is always in the shade so it takes a lot longer to melt. Danny was excited to have his own private skating rink for 3 or more days. I am thankful for traction control on my van!

Winter Pictures

2009-01-30T15:43:00.005-05:00

If you know me, you know that I like to take pictures. I take lots of pictures! So even when I was too busy to blog, I still had my camera within reach to grab some pictures along the way. Just thought I'd share a "few" from the last month.
The picture above I call "Christmas Snow" If you can, click on it to enlarge it and you will see why. You really can't tell with it the standard size, but full size you can see rainbow sparkles in the snow.

This is Christmas day. Kate on her new bike.

(Above) Kate often finds herself in the position of having to model for me as I try out new lighting techniques.

Dan and Kate fogging up the windows and making drawings.

No mother of the year award here. I was so busy trying to get the settings right on my camera that I didn't even notice that she wasn't wearing gloves! Can you see how red her hands are?

Danny helping Dad bring in the firewood.

Yes, Tyler is still a part of our family, he just doesn't like to get his picture taken. Just wait though, I was able to get a few of this magnificently elusive creature.

A Week of Accomplishments!

2009-01-27T11:01:00.005-05:00

First the answer to the questions from last time: It is from Horton Here's a Who-the cartoon, not the movie which I have never seen. It is the cry of all the little Whos on the little dust speck. Not sure why it was rattling around in my brain that night-Danielle, it probably really is some deep spiritual issue, but more likely it is due to Kate's accomplishment this week. Read on....

This has been another busy week, but also a week where God has highlighted the gifts He has given to my children and to me through the blessings my children are to me. So it is Him I praise for their successes and accomplishments. Thank you Lord for these sweet encouragements to my dear ones.

Monday morning we took Tyler to the doctor to get his ear rechecked to be sure that the punctured ear drum had healed completely.(yes, it is healed!) While waiting for the Dr., Kate picked up a Dr. Seuss book, "Mr. Brown can Moo, Can you?" and she proceeded to read the whole book out loud to us-ALL BY HERSELF! Okay, so I helped her with a couple words, but for the most part it was all by herself! She is loving school and really wants to be able to read and she is doing so well!! She is figuring out pretty difficult words that don't quite sound like what they look like and she is remembering words that she has seen before in a book. She is starting to get excited when we are driving or at the store and she is able to read a sign along the way. I just find this time of learning so fun and exciting to watch!

One night this week while putting Danny to bed, we sat down to read from his Bible. He pulled it out and opened it to Numbers 22. I asked why there? And he told me because that is where he is. He has apparently been reading from the beginning of the Bible and that's how far he has read. I asked when he was doing this because I hadn't seen him reading it, and he confessed that sometimes he reads in bed with the flashlight on AND he takes it on the bus to school and reads it!! Way to go Danny! I was so encouraged that he is digging in like that into God's word.

Friday I received a letter from the middle school. Knowing that report cards are due soon, I assumed that's what it was, but it wasn't. It WAS a letter informing us that Tyler was chosen as the student of the month for December in his "Enrichment" (gifted) class. His teacher wrote "Tyler is doing a phenomenal job in 5th grade enrichment. He takes his assignments and projects very seriously. I was very impressed with his story telling presentation. He took a complicated story and retold it flawlessly." Tyler was so excited when I told him. It was very sweet. His face just lit up and he said "Wow. I didn't think I would ever get chosen for that!"

This past weekend the boys had the Father/son bake-off with the Scouts. They worked really hard coming up with their creative ideas for their goodies. Though the kitchen looked like a flour/cocoa bomb went off, they sure had fun! Their hard work paid off with a 2nd place ribbon for Danny for Presentation and a 2nd place for Tyler also for presentation as well as a 3rd place for Taste. This is Kate watching Danny's cake baking. I call her the Ballerina Baker.

Oh and 1 for Rick too-the Sunday paper had a little blurb about the preliminary approval for his plans to construct a new building for the business. That mess should all start, possibly and Lord willing in the Fall.

As you can see from the picture below, Kate has also discovered that she really IS Cinderella!

And my accomplishment? I think that I am finally through with the insurance mess! At least the meeting for the employees was held on Monday, all papers are signed and my days are no longer consumed with co-pays and deductibles and MERP this and savings that and to do the dental or not to do the dental etc. etc. etc. YEAH!

As you can see, God really has blessed us this week, as He does in every week. Thanks for reading through and sharing in our joy. I pray you are seeing His goodness in your week as well.

I am here. I am here. I am here. I am Heeeere!

2009-01-21T22:42:00.002-05:00

Does anyone understand my reference in the title of this post?
Just wondering.
Hopefully I will have time to actually post something soon.

Another game of Tag

2008-12-03T23:21:00.009-05:00

Kelly has tagged me in another Blog game. Here are the official rules: Go to the 5th folder of your photos and take the 5th picture and post it.

Okay, I don't know if you realize just how many areas of my computer are filled with photo folders. Bogged down in my dilemma of which section do I go to to get a 5th folder, I finally decided to go back to my archives where I store all of my photos. This is back 4 years ago now to when I first got a digital camera-a very generous Christmas gift from my husband I might add. So without further ado, I give you the 5th photo from the 5th folder of way back then.......

TADAH! Pretty boring isn't it? I told you it was a new camera. I was messing around trying to learn how to use all of the settings. It is quite different from my old film cameras.

And now, since I was disappointed with the results of that file I snooped around in neighboring folders and found this of Kate. She was sleeping in the car on Christmas day while we were driving to Rick's brother's house. She would have been just over 2 years old. This was the 5th photo in the first folder.

And another of Kate because I have always loved this picture. This was the 2nd (and last) picture in the 6th folder. Again just over 2 years old.

And now that I have stayed up way later then I anticipated (I got sidetracked down Photo Memory Lane) I tag Danielle, Stacey, Marie R., and Audrey

Stormy Weather

2008-12-02T12:34:00.006-05:00

Danny peering in through the kitchen window

Kate and her yellow duck umbrella

In just 1 hour yesterday we went from cloudy skies to rain, thunder, hail and finally the skies cleared and the sun was shining! These 2 fuss about going outside when it is nice out, but bring on any kind of wetness and they're out the door! They were so excited to see the hail they just HAD to go outside! About a half hour later they were in the kitchen, soggy and sipping hot chocolate

Tyler's project

2008-11-24T13:33:00.003-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This is a project Tyler did for school. I thought it turned out pretty cute so I thought I'd share. In the process of making this he learned a bit about Photoshop which is a photo editing program that I have. He also learned how to create a Power point presentation. Although this isn't the power point presentation he used (because I don't know how to post that to a blog) it is the same order of his show created in Smile box a place I found to make fun slide shows and scrapbooks and stuff.

Autumn Walk

2008-11-12T17:21:00.008-05:00

While Rick was away and my friend Catherine was here from Brooklyn, we had a picnic and went on a walk at Middle Creek nature preserve. It was a beautiful fall day. Here are some pictures from the day.

FALL

2008-11-10T17:40:00.003-05:00

One of the best things about Autumn?........The Winesap apple!!! YUM!

This is What I'm Talking About! (See my last post)

2008-11-06T16:25:00.001-05:00

These arrived this afternoon!

It's guys like you, Ricky!

2008-11-04T21:34:00.007-05:00

"Oh Ricky you're so fine. You're so fine you blow my mind. Hey Ricky. Hey Ricky. Oh Ricky you don't really seem to understand, you take me by the heart when you take me by the hand." Okay, so the song (If you're old enough to know it) really says Mickey, but that never stops me from singing it anyway. So what's with the flashback to the 80's here? Well, I was "tagged" a while ago to write 5 things I love about my husband and as I sat here to write, that just came out! I like to tease him with it sometimes-and watch out if we are ever somewhere and the song actually comes on the radio! If the tables were turned however, I seriously doubt this is one of those things that he would say he loves about me! ;-D

From the Father-son Bake Off at Scouts

Okay so here goes. I guess I'll start at the very beginning (a very good place to start). We met over the phone (Long story) and I really liked his voice. I think I was mesmerized by it because we would stay on the phone until 4 am. All I knew of him for a week or so was his voice. It remains a favorite-especially when he is away!

As anyone who knows anything about Rick knows, he is a hard working man. Not just in his job, but at home as well. God has given him the ability to fix just about anything from cars to plumbing to appliances etc. He is never afraid to take on a task and not only will it get done, but it will get done well! I love that our boys are growing up seeing there dad do these hard things!

Rick is also an excellent teacher. He continually shows the kids how to do things around the house. But he doesn't just stop at showing them. He has a great ability to tell them the hows and whys of what he is doing so that they can understand. I too have often been the beneficiary of his instruction from cooking and gardening to being wise with our finances as well as questions the kids have asked that I don't have answers to.

They Love their Dad!

He is smart too. I tell you the guy is a walking factoid. I'd hate to play Jeapardy against him and let me tell you, I learned long ago not to make bets with him about who is right about something. He remembers EVERYTHING he has ever read!

Many probably don't see this side of Rick, but he is a funny man! He has the silliest nicknames that no one can quite tell where they came from. I think it took our children extra long to learn what their REAL names were when they were babies cause they were, and continue to be called anything but. He plays silly games with the kids. Sometimes he is just down right goofy!

This is the arctic ocean behind us. We are in Barrow Alaska-known as "The Top of the World" (Or at least that's what everything is called there)

Rick is a generous man. When he sees a need, he is quick to want to help. He has always been so generous with me. He has blessed me with many thoughtful surprises. Everything from bringing home some of my favorite ice cream when he's had the kids out on an adventure to braving the cold and Polar bears to take me to the top of the world in Alaska when he would have much preferred Hawaii! I especially love that he is so willing to serve others by sharing what we have when there is a need.

And finally (but not really all there is), Rick is a gift to me from God. I thank God for him as he is exactly who God knew I should be with! He so balances me out! Where I am up and down/off and on he is consistent and steady. He is often a voice of reason when I am emotionally caught up in a situation or circumstance. He has been a great help to me in my spiritual growth. He helps me to think about what I believe so that I am not just repeating what I hear but understanding it as well. He has often, with just one comment, stopped the flow of sin from my heart which helps me to then think about what I'm saying/doing, recognize my sin and ultimately take it to the cross where I can confess and be forgiven.

So there you have it. Actually I wasn't counting as I wrote and I now realize that I did more than 5 things. Well, that's just too bad 'cause I wouldn't want to change a thing!

Now seeing as everyone I know in blog world has already been tagged, I tag YOU, whoever you are. If you are married and haven't already done this, YOU'RE IT! Even if you don't have a blog it's a helpful and fun exercise in reminding ourselves of what we have been given by such a gracious and kind God.

Happy Birthday Kate!

2008-10-13T14:03:00.005-04:00

My dear sweet Katerina. I thank God for the gift you are to me and our family! You brighten every day with your beautiful smile, your many hugs and encouraging words. I so enjoy watching you grow. You have such a heart for praising God which bursts forth in song. I love the many conversations we have during the day about how awesome God is. I love how you offer to help me. I love how you sing so often. I love how you care and have such compassion for others. I love how you rejoice over going to school and learning. I love how you want to show kindness to others so often by giving gifts to them. I love how inviting you are to any who come to our home. I love that I have the privilege of being your mom. I will treasure up these nights when we go through our litany of goodnight kisses after prayers 'cause I know one day soon you will be too old for them. Are you sure you wont stay little for me just a little but longer?

What was I thinking?

2008-10-10T13:52:00.003-04:00

Today is picture day at school. So what did I decided yesterday? Well, that the kids needed haircuts before their mops became a part of a permanent record! That's not too much of a gamble the night before pictures is it? Well maybe not, unless you consider where they go to get haircuts-namely my kitchen. And the hairdresser? None other than me! A risky proposition for sure! So with clippers in hand I went to work on Danny. I couldn't remember which size I used on him before so I guessed. It came out quite a bit shorter than I thought! OOPs! Oh well, he liked it, especially when I put gel in it and made it spikey! So then came Kate. I WAS just going to cut her bangs. Well once I got started I thought perhaps I would just trim the back. I trimmed. I looked. Crooked! So I trimmed again. Big chunks and still not straight! I was sweating at that point! So anyway, long story a little less long, her hair is much shorter than I had anticipated and it is still crooked, but I was afraid that if I continued she would end up with the same hair style as Dan! All in all though, I guess they turned out OK! Kate's is actually curling under beautifully! Isn't it wonderful how God can bring beauty from our botched efforts?

So today is Kate's 6th birthday(More on that later). We met Rick at McDonalds for lunch before I dropped her off at school. Another pre-picture blunder! I was wiping dried ketchup from her little cheeks as we were walking into the school! When I was a kid, in every single 1 of my school pictures I had some kind of bump or bruise on my face. My kids will just have ketchup! Today, for a fee, they can "remove facial blemishes". Maybe I should have checked that box on the order form and written "Please remove ketchup stains from cheecks." :D

Happy Birthday Danny!

2008-09-17T14:39:00.005-04:00

This picture wasn't supposed to come first, but I can never tell in what order to upload them in!

I am a little late in this post. Danny's Birthday was 11 days ago. I suppose I am still in denial that he is 8!!! Denial or not, heIS 8 and a very big 8 at that. He is getting so tall.

Danny, I am so happy that you are my son. I love your belly laughs that so freely flow. I love your care and compassion for others. I love your tough boy ways-even if I do have to keep buying you new shoes and jeans! I love that you just enjoy trying new things, especially when it involves guy stuff like hammers, and log splitters and stuff like that. I love that little twinkle in your eye and the dimple in your cheek. I love how you care for your sister and how the 2 of you have such a nice relationship. I especially love watching how God is changing you as you grow and how you desire to know more about God. I love how excited you were to receive your own Bible and how you immediately started reading it-(on the bus on the way to school). It is such a privilege to be your Mom and have a front row seat to your life. I am so excited to see what God has planned for you in the coming years! I love you D!

Tyler riding the waves in O.C. NJ

Danny's turn on the board

Kate reflecting

We were at the beach for Danny's Birthday as well as for tropical storm Hanna. It was such a wonderful time! We had 2 beautiful days on the beach and some time playing games in the hotel room while the rains blew through. We rode bikes on the boardwalk, played mini golf at "Gorilla Golf", and had DQ Blizzards for lunch before driving home that Sunday! The kids loved playing in the water and it was pleasantly warm! All 3 were boogy boarding and Ty and Dan started to body surf as well. It was such a joy to see them spending so many hours together enjoying each other in the surf.

Asside from trying to adjust to new school schedules, that's about it here.

My Day Today

2008-08-26T12:39:00.005-04:00

Tyler-7:30 this morning

Danny-8:30 this morning

Almost here....

Kate-12:30 this afternoon.

:0(
Me- now.

Airshow

2008-08-22T14:02:00.002-04:00

A "Golden Eagle" floating to the ground. Picture taken by Danny.

One of the bi-planes as it "fell" to the ground. Also taken by Danny

Dan & Dad at dinner. We missed lunch due to traffic.

The Thunderbirds- 4 of them anyway. 2 others were setting up for their next stunt.

Wednesday was a busy day! First we took Kate to her new school to meet her teacher. We also got to take a ride around the town on the school bus. It was cute to hear Danny coaching her on what will happen on the bus and what the rules are etc. This year will bring with it plenty of opportunities for Kate to make new friends at school as she doesn't know any of the other kids who will be in her class. All of her friends from preschool are in other classes. She tells me she is a little nervous, so if you think of her, would you please pray for her as she starts her "real school" career! Kindergarten! I can't believe it!

After we were finished with the bus ride, we picked up Daddy and then dropped off Ty and Kate at my friend Kathy's house. Kathy was so kind to watch Ty and Kate for a long day (and into the night) so that Rick and I could take Danny to the Air show. Danny, like his dad, loves airplanes. He has decided that he wants a career in the military. When I saw that there was an airshow in Atlantic City I thought it would be a great thing to take Danny to as a Birthday surprise. He is going to be 8 in just a couple of weeks! Can you believe it?

The day was absolutely perfect-bright blue skies with cool, comfortable temps. It was right on the beach too so Dan got to play a little in the surf. So actually it was 3 of Danny's favorite things all in one-planes, military and WATER!

We got there just in time to see the Army guys-the "Golden Eagles" parachute out of a plane! They all had colored smoke that trailed them as they drifted down which made really neat patterns against the blue sky! Then some different types of planes flew by. After that 2 bi planes put on a show doing all kinds of passes and acrobatics. I let Dan use my camera to take some pictures. Well for a while anyway, until he got too covered in sand. The 2 top pics were taken by him.

The highlight came at the end when the Thunderbirds came roaring on the scene!! They were spectacular-even if they did make all of my insides rattle!!! It was amazing how close they flew by and just over the water! I enjoyed seeing how excited Rick was to watch these planes too!

It was such a blessing to be able to spend this exciting time with Danny. Thank you to Kathy for watching Ty and Kate so that we could have this time with him. He was so excited about it and was talking a mile a minute when we get home, telling Ty and Kate all about after burners and how the planes went so fast they tore the air apart!

"Oh Sweet Melissa"

2008-08-18T09:30:00.005-04:00

I want to take this time to honor my niece Melissa. She came to stay with us for a couple weeks last summer. We had so much fun with her that at the beginning of this summer my kids were asking when Melissa was going to come back and stay with us. Well we had the joy of welcoming her back this month.

The kids had so much fun having her here. She made the time with them such a time of blessing. She was so quick to play with them what they wanted to play, and this without tiring or melting in the hot sun! She even watched the kids one evening so that Rick and I could go out to dinner together-something we haven't had a chance to do for a while. She patiently put up with McDonald's for lunch, little fingers wanting to strum her guitar and playing mini golf with munchkins! Of course she blew us all off the course with her stunning performance on the putting greens of Pagoda golf!

What a joy it was, Melissa to have you here! It is so refreshing to see a teen who is so eager to put asside her desires (including sleep) in order to be a blessing to all of us- you really were/are a blessing to us! Kate just adores you and I know that the time you spent with her will be a fond memory for her. Thank you for really making her feel special.

Mel, or Missa (pronounced Meesa) has grown so much in the Lord since last year. She was baptised just a week before coming here. I can see in her a greater joy, and a growing desire to honor God with her life. She has humbly shared her heart many times seeking to grow in her walk with God and she thoughtfully considers God's word when it is brought to her.

Miss, it is always a joy to talk with you about God. He is so good and He will complete this good work that He has begun in you to conform you to the image of His son! You can trust that all you experience will be worked together for good. Be encouraged in the struggles that this is God's spirit at work in you! I'll be praying for you for courage and strength as you walk out this last year of high school. God knows the plans He has for you... wait on him.

ILY, WLY. GOD loves you even more!
Aunt Bonnie

Day of Amusement

2008-07-25T14:48:00.004-04:00

Thursday Rick was able to take a day off so we could all go to Knoebels! It's our favorite summer park. I was watching the sky the whole way up there. There was a 20% chance of rain, but looking at the sky I was sure it was more likely than that. Sure enough as we walked into the park, the clouds opened and it poured! We were able to get under a shelter just in time to escape getting drenched! My concern grew for the days outlook, but little Kate had prayed the whole way up that the sky would clear. God was so kind to hear and answer her prayer! The clouds were gone within minutes and we had blue sky (and a cooler day) for the rest of the day! Oh to have the faith of a child!

Knoebels has not only become an annual trip for us in the summer, but it also serves as a gage of sorts in our kids growth. It is really neat to see how God has helped Tyler to overcome some of his fears as we watch him get on more and more rides each year. Not only on more rides, but he wanted to ride on some of them in his own car! Danny and Kate also added more rides to their lists of favorites this year.

The kids also did a wonderful job of being grateful for this time. With so much to choose from to do, it turned into a good opportunity to help them make choices and be thankful for what they could do and not whine or pout when they couldn't get or do everything that they wanted. As we all wearily climbed back into the van for the ride home, it was such a blessing to hear them say 'Thank you' to Daddy completely unprompted!

Sunday Driver (okay so it was really a Thursday)

Dad and Dan on the Sail plane

Kate on the "Horsey Up/Down" as she always called it. Now it's a Merry go Round:-(

Dad and Dan on the roller coaster-Danny's first time!

The "Airplanes with the teeth."

Dan on the Balloon Race ride.

Ty-the first ride he ever went on at Knoebles was this train!

Ty riding alone on the Whip

Kate's new favorite-the go carts! She was actually a pretty good driver!

Dan and I on the Paratrooper ride-Danny's new favorite!

The end of the day indulgence!

Engineering Prodigies?

2008-07-09T14:24:00.008-04:00

The other day we were coming home from the library. The farmer down the street was cutting down the wheat in his field. "Look guys. Mr Duncan is cutting down his wheat." "Oh yea," they replied. "Do you think he'll be cutting the wheat in our field today?'' "I don't know what his schedule is. Why? Did you want to watch?" I asked wondering. "No we just have some things in the field." A little more than curious, I asked "What things?" "Oh nothing. Could you just let us out here Mom?" they asked as I got to the edge of our field. I stopped and opened the door and waited as they collected their 'stuff.' 2 shovels, AA batteries in a plastic bag, a tape measure and a headlight flashlight in another plastic bag. I had to laugh, even as I thought of the accident that could have occurred when the unsuspecting farmer ploughed over the shovels.
Why is this funny? Well you had to be with us the week before as we were pulling weeds out of the garden. All 3 were discussing plans for building a tunnel to the Schell's and Madison's homes because then 'they could go there whenever they wanted.' Not to put a damper on things, but I reminded them that it would still be quite a walk, even in a tunnel. So they decided they were going to build a train. We discussed how they were going to finance this. Well, the plan is for Tyler to design it, Danny to build it and all 3 of them to dig it. Sometimes they'll even have the other boys over to help-or maybe they could start building from their homes and they could all meet up. "How are you going to pay for the gas to run this train?" "Oh. Well it will have to be electric." "What about the electric bill? Who's going to pay that?" "Oh. Well we'll design it to work on AA batteries." As this conversation went on, I had NO idea that they were actually making REAL plans to do this!! Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between what is real and fantasy around here!
I am just thankful for the friends that God has given us, that my children are willing to move mountains (well maybe not quite mountains) to be with them.

An update on Danny. I took him back to the doctor on Monday and thankfully his arm is healing well. It hasn't slowed him down much-except it seems, when it is something he doesn't want to do! We go back again next Thurs. to evaluate whether they will put a different cast on or not.

Be looking for the new suburban subway system soon! I can just imagine how fast it will go on AA batteries! Hope they put in seat belts!

Summer

2008-06-27T15:25:00.009-04:00

It's been a busy summer. I can't believe it is almost July already! Here are some random pictures of some of the summer time fun.

A walk by the river at Grings mill

The kids with Grammie-my mom.

A dancer among the daylillies.

A summertime favorite!

Picking mulberries.

1 day we went to a furniture store and they had a petting zoo in the parking lot. As you can see they also had pony rides! Kate was so excited! She loves horses and this was her first ride on anything other than a merry go round horse!
Have you ever tried to photograph a Firefly (lightening bug as we call them)? Last night there were thousands of them over the wheat field. It was almost like watching fireworks without the noise! Don't know if you can see all of them or not. They show up better on a larger picture.

This is Danny painting with a flashlight. Perhaps his imitation of a firefly?

Happy Birthday Tyler!

2008-05-28T14:01:00.003-04:00

Tyler at 3 months old. August 1998 Tyler at 10 years old. May 2008.

My Dear Tyler,

“Can I tell you sumpin? Well…” (I say with 1 finger pointed in the air), 10 years ago today the doctor announced, “It’s a boy!” As tears flowed down my cheeks, I looked upon that beautiful baby boy and marveled at this precious gift that God had given me. (Sorry but I have to use the word beautiful-handsome just doesn’t fit a baby!) My life had changed forever, and I am so glad it has! You are such a blessing to me. I am so thankful that God would entrust you to my care.

I cherish the memories I have of when you were little; building ‘sunset tunnels’ for Thomas the Train, reading Dr. Seuss together, rocking with you in my arms as we sang “Little Chucky Rabbit”, watching ‘tractors’ over and over and anticipating the day when “baby Danny” could watch too.

It has been a joy to watch you grow in this past decade and I am so excited to see the person whom God has created you to be.

You have always loved books. Even as an infant we would look at books for long periods of time. You giggled and giggled at “Funny Farm” and by 18 months you had several of the Dr. Seuss books memorized. I remember listening from the other room as you sat with your books in your crib and ‘read’ them. I could always tell which book you were reading and what page you were on because you knew them so well.

It is neat to see that you still have that love for reading. You can still read a book and remember every detail! I love that you enjoy reading God’s word. I know that as you read it and memorize the “details” of scripture, it will serve you, and others well to spur you on in your walk with the Lord. God’s word is living, active and powerful! It will encourage and strengthen you as you face the challenges of your next decade.

Ty, I love your unique sense of humor, especially when you’re not really sure why something you have said is funny.

I love when you hug me and tell me you love me.

I love how you have persevered even when things can get hard on you.

I love how you desire to do what is right.

I love the questions you ask-well, maybe not the ones I can’t answer, but that’s what we have Daddy for. It is encouraging to see how you want to know more-especially about God.

I love the conversations that these questions stir up. I love how you can bring a new perspective to our reading in the Bible.

I love that you care for your family, in particular for the safety of your brother and sister.

Ty, you are a precious gift, a treasure. I thank God always for you. I am looking forward to seeing you grow in this next decade- though I must admit I don’t look forward to the food that I will have to buy to fill your bottomless belly!

My prayer for you, son is that you will grow deeper in your relationship with the Lord. That you will know the joy and peace that is found only through the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ.

I love you,

Mom

Graduation and a Surprise!

2008-05-25T21:50:00.004-04:00

Friday was Katie's graduation from preschool. I can't believe my baby is going to be in Kindergarten! How can this be? It was a tearful goodbye on my part! I have known her teachers for 7 years-longer than Kate has been alive! I have so appreciated how they have so tenderly cared for my children and always with such joy in their hearts! Kate cried at bedtime that night because she "will never see my teachers again!" Tyler is going to be 10 (yes that's right, TEN) on Wednesday! Today we had a surprise party for him after church at Chuck E Cheeses. While Dad and the kids started their walk part way home from church, I rounded up Nate and Andrew-Tyler's 2 favorite buddies, and we headed out. We picked up Ty and the rest of the family about a mile from the church. Ty got in the van and just said "Huh? What are you guys doing here?" It was such fun. We had a great time at the Cheeses'!

A second surprise-Danny bit into his pizza and FINALLY lost his front tooth! It has been sticking out and snaggly for several weeks now! It was a little bloody-Poor Nate who was sitting next to him; I'm not sure he really wanted to finish his pizza after that!

The lone girl amidst all the boys-she looks so forlorn in this picture.
After the pizza we came back to our house for ice cream cake. All in all it was a very fun day and I think that Ty was quite surprised and very blessed to have his best friends share in the celebration of his first decade.

Morning Glory

2008-05-12T10:51:00.005-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we got the boys on the bus, put on some Mozart outside and Katie danced in the morning sunshine. I love her little heart that loves to sing and dance with joy!

Spring growth

2008-04-29T21:40:00.002-04:00

Gee, do you think it's time to get the lawn mower out?

More Spring

2008-04-28T13:22:00.002-04:00

About a week ago, Kate and I went out to take some pictures. I let her use my smaller, point and shoot camera. After a few glitches in the works, here are 3 of her pictures. I love this first one with her toes in it. I think it's kind of neat how it is only exposed properly in her shadow. I guess it's kind of a self portrait!
This rock is our "thinking spot." Tyler named it that when he was little and into Winnie the Pooh. It has kept the name, even though it has been moved and Winnie the Pooh has been trumped by Star Wars.
Kate took quite a few of this bunny.

Forsythia and apple blossoms

Forsythia

These geese were honking mad at us even though we really weren't close to them at all. They ended up jumping in the water.

2008-04-14T11:16:00.004-04:00

Here's something you probably didn't know about me-I like clouds. Or maybe it is really the sky. I am not quite sure as I really just became aware of this myself. It dawned on me the other day that I often am compelled to grab my camera because of some cloud formation in the sky. Then as I looked through some of my pictures, I saw how many times I actually have grabbed my camera just to take pictures of the sky.
So I began to ponder the reason why, and immediately I knew. It is God who draws my eyes heavenward; to fix my gaze on the heavens; to look past the circumstances of this world and look to my true home.

Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God,and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."

SPRING!

2008-04-09T11:19:00.003-04:00

Though it isn't exactly warm yet, the first signs of Spring are showing. Every year I am newly inspired to take my camera out and photograph Spring. Usually I end up taking the same pictures year after year. I attempted to at least try to capture the same things in different ways this year. Here are a few of the resulting images.

We passed these sheep on the way to BB's grocery store. I had to stop to take pictures when I saw this little lamb standing on still wobbly legs.

Kate was so excited that OUR daffodils were starting to bloom. I guess we must be just high enough on the hill that usually all of our plants are a few days to a week behind even our neighbors in blooming! I like it though because I can enjoy the blooms for that much longer!

Star Wars and Princesses

2008-04-01T11:22:00.005-04:00

Tyler at breakfast, looking over the map of that days destination.

The boys riding the whatever it is from Star Wars.

Danny and Ty about to be squished by a Star Wars walker.

There was a lot of rain this day, though we got wet, it didn't dampen our enthusiasm. The boys rode the Star Wars ride at least 5 times! Kate and I got to see several shows starring the princesses.

A little out of order. This was the end of the day, somewhere around 9:30 or so.

These 2 are from the Beauty and the Beast show which Kate and I went to.

And the highlight for Kate..... We had dinner with the princesses that night. She met Belle at the entrance, and then all of the other princesses came over to our table as we ate dinner. Kate was beaming with excitement! She just kept hugging them and chattering away to them.

Vacation Part 3 Epcot

2008-03-31T10:12:00.005-04:00

Danny in space

Kids catching the jumping streams of water.

Danny, Tyler, Richard, Michelle & Kate outside the Finding Nemo ride. I love Danny's expression.

Tyler took this picture as we entered the park.

Carrot-nose-Katie

Saying goodbye to our friends.

A reminder of who is most important.

A different perspective of the Epcot ball.

This was another fun day. The highlights were the ride Soarin where you fly in a hang glider over the ocean and pine forests etc. and you can actually smell them as you fly over. The fireworks over the water at the end of the day were pretty neat as well. The kids got to build there own toy robot, and push lots of buttons that simulated extreme testing they do on products such as tv screens and vacuum cleaners. The Finding Nemo ride was pretty neat. You ride in clam shell cars and can see the Nemo characters "swimming" around in a large aquarium which is filled with real fish. They somehow project the images so the characters look like they are in with the real fish.

Disney Magic Kingdom

2008-03-27T10:07:00.004-04:00

Yesterday Kate and Danny drew this on the driveway. It's hard to make out but it says "our Vacation" Then there are several pictures of the things we saw and did.
This is the crowd of people watching the fireworks over the Cinderella castle.
We didn't have dinner until almost 9:00 this night. This is the sundae that Tyler ordered for dessert. He has polished off some of it at this point. It was surrounded by cotton candy and had M&m's and a chocolate Mickey Mouse on top! I couldn't resist my inner Mickey and I have to admit that I ordered one too!
This is Kate on Rick's shoulders enthralled by the fireworks over the castle. They even had some desperate college student dressed as Tinkerbell "fly" from the top of the castle with lights flashing.
We waited in line for 45 minutes to get on the Dumbo ride. The plan was for Danny to ride with our new friend Richard and Kate, Michelle and I would ride together. It didn't work out that way. You can see Danny's reaction at having to ride with a girl!
Of course we had to get a picture of our little princess in front of the castle.
Here are all of the kids. The 2 who aren't ours, are Richard and Michelle. Their father, Richard works for Carnival and stayed with us for a couple months 1 summer. He brought his family up to share 2 days of our vacation with us. The kids were fast friends and had a great time together.
More in another day or so.

Florida Vacation Part 1

2008-03-25T10:58:00.005-04:00

I guess it is about time that I post something about our vacation seeing as it was a month and a half ago! There are just too many pictures to choose from so I will just have to post a few every couple of days or so.
As you can see from the first 2 pics we were up at 2:30 AM to get to the airport in time. The kids were real troopers! They were awake from 2:30 am until about 2 in the afternoon when we finally got settled in our rental van. We went from the Tampa airport to our first hotel in Orlando, checked in and then went over to Downtown Disney which is where the other pictures are taken. Yes, Tyler did make it to Florida too, he just didn't want to be in many of the pictures.
Kate saw her first, although not real glimpse of the princesses. She was so excited even if it was just a statue.
Danny is standing beside a dog made completely of Legos! They had a whole "family" with the dogs as well as a large sea serpent (probably about 30 feet tall) in the water in front of the store. The kids were thrilled with the Lego store and probably could have stayed there all night long.

The last couple of pictures are of them playing in the water. Where else would Danny be? We do call him the WB for water bug. They have the water timed to music so it sprays up in preplanned intervals. I don't think the kids realized that though-to them it was completely random and they (well Dan and Kate anyway) had fun trying to dodge the water jets. I think they had more fun when they misjudged!
Our next day was at the Magic Kingdom-more on that later.

We had such a wonderful time on this vacation. What a blessing it was to be together for such an extended time. I am so thankful for the opportunity that we had to do this. Thank you Rick for your hard work which made it possible to have this time together. It is fun to see the kids already reminiscing about the fun that we had.

Father-Son bake off part 2- the competition!

2008-01-28T15:21:00.001-05:00

TheBake off was Sunday night. Our boys hard work paid off with 3 ribbons! Ty received a 1st for presentation and 2nd for taste. Danny received 2nd for taste in his category. Tyler made the "fire Log" You can see the 1 picture of Danny holding a marshmallow over the "fire". Rick was able to hot glue a stick that he positioned just right on the plate so that the marshmallow could be "roasting" over the log during the competition. Danny made a "no-bake cheese cake" They tried to make it look like a cheese wheel and then put the 2 mice in feasting on the cheese. The little hedge hog wasn't ours but I thought he was cute so I included him. Hedgie won 1st place for presentation in his category.

Father-Son Bake Off part 1 baking day

2008-01-28T14:53:00.000-05:00

This weekend marked the annual Cub Scout Father-son bake off. My boys worked very hard all afternoon on Saturday to make their delicious creations! They had a wonderful time with their Dad. How fun it was to watch Dad make not only 1 dessert but 2 so that they each had an entry in the contest. They even cleaned up the mess-most of it anyway!
Thanks Rick for taking the time to do this with the boys.

Sweet moments with Danny

2008-01-16T20:42:00.000-05:00

One night last week before bed, Danny came to me with a handful of change. "Mom, how much money is this?" I counted, "$1.05" "Okay." he said and then asked if he could put it in an envelope and take it in to school "for a boy in my class who is very poor." I asked why he thought he was poor and he relayed a story another boy had told him. I praised him for his desire to help another and for the evidence of God's grace in his heart that lead him to be so generous. The boys had deduced that this other boy was poor because he would never buy lunch at school-"he always packs his lunch." So I gave him permission to offer to buy this boy some ice cream at lunch time.
The next morning, Danny emptied out all of the change in his piggy bank and asked if I would put it in an envelope so he could give it to this boy to take home to his parents. Then he said he was going to tell all the other kids in the class that they had to bring in $0.86 each to give to this boy. This was getting a little out of hand rather quickly so I suggested that we pray first about what we should do then we will wait to see what God leads us to do. After he headed off to school, I put in a call to his teacher to let her know that the children were talking in this way and also asked if she would arrange for Danny to be able buy ice cream for this boy.
When Danny came home from school that day, the first thing he asked was "Did you get an answer from God yet?" I explained to him that Yes, I do believe God was faithful to give me direction and we proceeded to discuss how this all came about and as I encouraged him for his generosity I was also able to talk to him and warn him about gossip as this story about this boy was not true at all. I love Danny's heart in this to help these people and his desire to rally others to help as well. I pray for the wisdom to help guide him in these things in a God honoring way, and that one day he will be rallying others to help those in need.

This next story somewhat flows out of the first in that when I told Danny we would wait until we heard from God, that brought up many questions about how do you hear from God etc.
Today when Danny came home from school he didn't come right inside. Instead, after taking the trash cans in from the road, he went to his favorite climbing tree. Nothing out of the ordinary. Tonight, however when I was putting him to bed he said to me "Mom, while I was outside today taking the trash cans in and sitting in my tree, I was counting God's blessings. How he has given me food and clothes and things and it was fun." "Well Guess what Dan?" I said, "All of those thoughts came to you from God. God was out there with you and He wanted to spend time with you today out in your tree!" He was so excited and then he was going on about how he could picture Jesus sitting next to him on the branch and talking to him. And then as he started to say his prayers he stopped and said "It's like being with God when we say our prayers too because we are talking to him." Amen, Danny and shouldn't that motivate us all to be more often on our knees! Thank you Jesus for the sweet time with Danny today. I pray that there will be many more!!!
Oh and guess what story we came to in our Bible reading tonight? It is actually a combined story which contains Matthew 18:1-4 and Matthew 19:13-15.

Matthew 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew19:13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.