Happy 4th of July!

We had a family get-together at our house today.  It was so much fun!  RB and Amy were up from North Carolina.  After dinner, we ate some yummy flag cake. Then we drove over to the Galleria Mall parking lot to watch a fireworks show.  We were having so much fun, I didn't get any pictures.

Easter 2011

Easter was great this year. I stayed up late finishing these matching neckties for the boys. The lack of sleep was totally worth it. They were a lot easier than I thought they would be, just a lot more ironing and hand sewing than I was planning on doing. HERE is the tutorial.

After they looked through their baskets, I made pancakes for breakfast while we watched an amazing video about Christ's life, the atonement, His death, and His resurrection.

If you want to watch the video, click HERE. It is called, "To This End Was I Born".
Next project: to make a matching necktie for Andy. Abric took this picture. It is a little blurry, but we felt it gave us a great perception of how a Daddy looks to a two-year old.
I finally got a new Easter dress. It feels like it has been years, but I always had a hard time finding something that I liked at the price I wanted to pay.
Ewan wanted to be the photographer this time. He kept telling us to put our cheeks closer together.

Self-photo opp with my two youngest.

I realized that I need to take more pictures of myself with my kids.

I'm usually the one behind the camera.

After church, we had the big family dinner here at our house. Cousins + Easter = massive egg hunt, sponsored by Grandma Coy who always puts lots of $$ in the eggs. Our kids are so lucky.

Harrison dashes for an egg.

Zane is on the hunt.

Ewan running from egg to egg.

Abric is getting the hang of it.

Pappy-great looks on at the egg-hunt chaos. Anya walked by just as I was taking the picture, but I thought it was a nostalgic photo. She is pregnant with great-grandchild number 10. He looks like he is very happy with what the future will bring.

Grandma-Great and Zane make a quick pose during the hunt.

Here are all the great-grandkids, easter candy included, with Keith and Cindy and Grandma and Pappy Great. I think Isabel made out like a bandit at the egg hunt. Besides her basket of candy, she also got nine dollars worth of money in her eggs. I'm telling you, these are lucky kids!

Valentine's Day

I love you t(o) Mom from Zane

I love you

more than

a cow loves

grass.

to Mom from Zane

Me too, Zane.

Me too….

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving Day was AWESOME!

I ran in the Turkey Trot. It was miserably cold with a freezing rain, but it was still fun. I got to cheer my 'student' runner. She finished her first 5k in under 35 minutes, which I thought was awesome.

We had a great dinner at Andy's parents house. Good food, good company, good kids (which makes for an enjoyable evening all around, right?), and good dessert. Only problem, no pictures. :( I guess we were having too much fun.

This picture basically sums up Thanksgiving weekend for us.

I was a genius and scheduled flu shots for all of us the day before Thanksgiving. We had only gotten the flu shot once 4 years ago and that happened to be the year that we all got the flu anyway. We haven't gotten them again. That is until this year, I had this nagging feeling that we needed to get a flu shot.

We all know, especially as a mother, that when you have a nagging feeling like that, you have to follow it. I guess we will never know what might have happened, but we have had the worst reactions ever. If it is on the sheet, we got it: aches, fever, sweats, chills, sore throat, no energy, not to mention all the bathroom problems, etc.

Zane has a huge, red welt where he got his shot. Harrison has a swollen lymph node in his arm pit that really hurts him. Abric hasn't been sleeping because he doesn't feel good, not to mention all the diapers he has gone through. It has been a great weekend. One thing we have learned: we are never getting the flu shot again! Its like Pandora's Box in a needle.

On a happy note:

We started getting the Christmas tree up, but that's about it.

We listened to tons of Christmas music.

Andy and I did 80% of our Christmas shopping on-line this year. That has been most effective.

The boys can't wait to finish decorating it and to pick out their new ornament for this year.

It has been nice to mostly lounge around all weekend. I finished reading my book, East of Eden. (I highly recommend it.) Harrison has started reading Harry Potter. (I think I'm more excited about it than he is!)

Today, I just need to clean up from the aftermath of a weekend of lounging around.

Halloween Parade

The city we live in has a huge parade on Halloween. It is tradition. Andy marched in it year after year when he was in the band. He was so excited to find out that Wells Fargo was going to be in it this year.

Don't you just want to break out in song when you see the Wells Fargo Wagon?
The boys duded up in their best cowboy attire and *gently tossed* candy to the spectators.
Abric and Ewan took turns walking the 3 mile length of the parade. But mostly they rode in the stroller. . .
. . . or rode on Daddy's shoulders. Abric had the parade wave down pat by the end.

Halloween!

In Pennsylvania, we are privileged to not only be governed by the city and state, but also by township. This works best around Halloween because each township usually trick-or-treats on nights other than the actual holiday. This year, the kids could have gone out from Thursday to Sunday, but who wants that much candy?

On Saturday night, we went over to our friends' house for a little get-together. Here is the gaggle of our kids all decked out for Halloween. Harrison and Zane were marines in camo. Ewan was GI Joe, and Abric was Sully from Monsters, Inc.

Candy, Candy, Candy!

Do I need to mention that Abric LOVED Halloween? After getting candy at the first house, he was unstoppable.

Happy Halloween!

ca. 1986

Labor Day @ Grandma Great's

For Labor Day we had a big picnic at Andy's grandma's house.

We had some great food….

great family….

and a great big-extended water slide!

Could Labor Day get any better? I think not.

Easter Sunday

Early Easter Sunday morning, after the candy-fest, we decided to go on a family bike ride on the local rail trail. The weather was amazing, we felt this would be a great way to have quality family time, and get out their wiggles before we settled down to watch General Conference. (This is a broadcast that happens twice a year where we listen to spiritual talks from our prophet and apostles.) It love having my spiritual bucket filled with good talks and great music from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

The boys had a ton of fun goofing around with the fuzzy bunny ears.

Where did my baby-face go? Every time I look at Abric I see less and less of a baby and more and more of a little boy.

Along the trail I saw these flowers poking through last year's dead, brown grass. The rebirth of Spring gives such beautiful reminder of Christ's resurrection. Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

St. Patty's Day and the driveway

I made the kids a dessert of green rice krispie treats and a fruit rainbow as a side dish. Ang brought some amazing Irish Soda bread and corned beef and cabbage. For the adult dessert, I made a 'Meringue Treasure Chest', courtesy of Martha. It was divine. We gobbled it up before we even thought about taking a picture. What a fun night with friends. We barely even heard the kids as they all played to their little heart's content.

Doesn't this look magically delicious?

And the most awesome news of all. . . . we have a driveway! But we can't officially drive on it for 7 days. That is perfectly OK with me. I keep imagining sidewalk chalk masterpieces, baby bicycles, and a basketball hoop.
My boys' hands are now immortalized in our driveway. My heart couldn't be happier.
Along with their hands is Ewan's sneaky footprint. He ran across the driveway just as the concrete workers had pulled away. D'oh!

Four-Square anyone?

My Valentines

I'm so lucky to have five very special Valentines in my life. Here are four of them eating their Valentine's breakfast of waffles, raspberry syrup, and heart sprinkles. Feel the love.
This is the best waffle recipe ever. So healthy and nutritious that I can completely justify a healthy dollop of cream, one of my weaknesses in life.
As a backdrop to the rest of this story, we had a big breakfast at our church yesterday. While the parents were busy with the auction, a fundraiser for the Young Women's program, the children were able to make Valentine's for their parents.

Abric, my 18 month old, was given a factory-made card that he scribbled some of his sweet markings on the back. My heart melted.
Ewan made a red heart with a stenciled-kitty cat nestled inside a purple heart. It was so sweet that I didn't even mind the fact that cats are pure evil. My heart fluttered.
Zane spruced his Valentine with a ginormous doily and his own artwork. My heart skipped a beat.
Harrison composed his own very special message, complete with smiley faces to soften the blow. At least he has alliteration going for him on this one. My heart did a double-take.

(In case you can't read it, it says, "Boogers are blessings.")

And here is my favorite Valentine of them all: my sweetheart, Andy.

I love you, honey!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just have to give a little plug for my blogger friend, Alissa. Last year, she created the cutest Valentine's Card idea ever. This year, it has taken the blogcrafting world by storm. Isn't it darling?

Pay no attention to the real lollipop in his hand.

I couldn't get him to pose without actually holding something.

2010- A Snowtube Odyssey

Here is the gang, all bundled up and ready for our traditional day of tubing at Ski Roundtop. (Thanks, Grandma and Pappy for the awesome Christmas gift of taking us all!)
Ewan and Abric hung out at the kiddie hill. They really had a blast, but by the time this picture was taken, they were both cold and wet.
Brie (in light blue), Harrison (in camo), and Zane (in black w/ the aqua tube) after a 3-man train ride down the slope.

The slopes.

After a day in the cold, we all headed to Aunt Brenda's house for the New Year's pork and sauerkraut. (I'm thinking it has to be a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition???) It sounds weird, but it is actually really good!

Happy New Year everyone!