PennHens

Music Taste

2011-05-21T11:29:00.003-04:00

Piper and I were watching a taped American Idol yesterday afternoon. There was a special performance by Il Volo - 3 tenors from Italy. They blend opera into a modern sound. Piper was a bit confused when they first started singing ( I guess it's not the typical sound she hears on American Idol). She looked at me and said, "Mom, I don't like his voice but I like his face." I guess even at 4 she's figured out what she finds handsome.

As each of the other guys began singing she had the same response - "He's a bad singer Mom". I tried to explain that the American Idol contestants could only dream of singing so well, of having a tone so pure and the perfect amount of strength and control. BUT - I believe all of that went over her head and we are left with this result - Piper does NOT like Opera!

New House

2010-09-01T17:34:00.002-04:00

Here it is. We are finally in, not unpacked, but in. It was a very very time consuming stressful process and I'm so glad it's over. We are extremely happy with the final outcome and feel very lucky to have a home such as this. One of the main reasons we wanted to move was to create a home/lot that allowed us to host many gatherings/events for family, friends and church members. We hope that you will come and enjoy this new house with us.

For Sale

2010-04-06T14:44:00.005-04:00

So our house went on the market Friday afternoon - April 2, 2010. We have really really loved this house but would like to have a bit more land and another garage. The land will give us opportunities that we don't have here. We love our level backyard that is perfect for football, baseball, soccer, sprinkler running. But if we wanted to add a swingset, or a big garden we would ruin the perfect sport backyard and there is no way we could have a pool because it would be impossible for the trucks to get to our back yard without destroying the neighbors yards. We would like another garage because we actually use our garage for cars and thus the bikes are outside rusting all winter. Also with parents that stay for long periods of time and soon to be teenage drivers another garage will come in handy, not to mention if a little bass boat would ever be in our future. We felt that with the market the way it is, now would be the best time to upgrade to a larger lot. And so it is with sadness in our hearts that we say goodbye to this fabulous home and hope that the next owners will love it as much as we have.

We had a showing yesterday, Monday April 5th - which was scheduled the exact time that piano lessons are normally taught in our home so I was grateful and relieved that my good friend Shannon who lives just 2 neighborhoods away let us use her living room for piano lessons. Plus I am sure the boys LOVED playing on a grand piano.

Got a call this morning, Tuesday April 6th. Another showing tonight at 6pm - ok I think - great - people are interested. Then the secretary says it is the same people who came last night and there is significant interest in the property. Now my stomach falls out and I feel sick. I mean, I shouldn't feel sick - this is what we wanted but oh gosh, it is happening so fast. If they make an offer, where will we live until August? Oh the stress!! But I am not counting my chickens before they hatch - perhaps they will not make an offer, or maybe it will be a bad offer. I guess we'll have to wait and see - and keep taking the Tums to offset the acid in my stomach.

If you are interested in seeing the listing for our house or taking the virtual tour ( now called featured tour) click on the following link.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/609-Rosewood-Circle_Lititz_PA_17543_1117537025

Camilla's Cozy Quilt

2010-03-19T20:47:00.006-04:00

Camilla is Brinn's youngest. She was born in December 2008. She received her quilt I made her in February 2010. These things take time - especially when you have 4 small children, you're primary president, your buying and selling a house etc... I wish there was more time to sew.

Anyhow. It is finally done and it is one of my favorites. Maybe that's why she didn't get it for so long. I needed several months to sit and stare at it - in all its beauty.

I can not take credit for the color selections because I did cheat a little and used 2 charm packs from Moda. They are a pack of 5x5 squares containing one square of each of the 40 fabrics in a specific collection. This collection screamed "BRINN" at me as I walked by so I had to go for it. I had actually already bought fabric for Camilla's quilt and it was going to be a completely different pattern but then I saw this and had to do it. I did however choose the white on white polka dot spacer fabric.

The back is "minky" and it's ultra soft. Lisa, the same long armer from New York that has done all my quilts, did this one as well. I chose a "butterfly loop" pattern.

Binding - I must say I rocked the corners this time - best ever!!

The BIg Snow

2010-03-17T10:31:00.004-04:00

February 10th, 2010

Instead of picking up my parents in the perfectly planned surprise for my kids - Instead of surprising my parents with the perfectly timed pick up of my sister - Planes were canceled, school was canceled, trains were canceled.

And here's the reason why:

4 days later we received ANOTHER 19 inches. 40 inches in a week. It took 3 and half weeks to melt. I think we're done - Spring is here on Saturday.

Rain Drops

2010-01-27T10:42:00.004-05:00

Piper has a friend over today. Her friend banged her head and was crying. She was sitting on my lap as I tried to comfort her. 2 tears rolled down her cheeks. Piper said, "Look Mommy - She has rain drops." I asked Olivia if she had rain drops coming out of her eyes. She started laughing and shaking her head no. I love that Piper expresses herself as she sees the world. I love that her comments made Olivia happy so she could forget her pain. I am trying to soak up these moments that I know she'll grow out of very soon.

Always Behind - Special Birthday

2010-01-03T17:43:00.006-05:00

I'm always behind these days - Christmas cards went out late, haven't blogged in ages. Not sure I'll ever catch up but thought I'd add these few things.

On November 23rd Piper turned 3 years old. I don't think I've ever seen someone so excited about their birthday. I soaked in every minute of her excitement. First, she received a box from her Grandma in Utah earlier in the week. She carried that box around for days. She'd show anyone who came to house, "See MY box?" she'd say. She also carried it around all day on her birthday wanting to know exactly when she could open it.

We started off the day with an emergency call from a friend who needed me to watch her 9 month old. Before I had gotten that call, I had called MacGregor's homeroom mom to see if they needed anything extra for their Thanksgiving feast they were having that day. She said yes - so a trip to the grocery was on the list.

So I took Piper and our little friend and we ran to the store picked up two big bag of grapes. Then we ran home and washed them all and cut them and put them in a big box with a lid. We then piled into the car again and ran to the school where we attended MacGregor's Thankgiving feast/skits. The little girl I was babysitting fell asleep in the car and then when I strapped her into the stroller she woke up and began screaming. She screamed for quite a while - as I signed us into the office, as I purchased the movie tickets for the evening, and as I walked down the hall to MacGregor's room. Meanwhile, Piper was standing on chairs in the office reaching into the fish tank. All of this chaos reminded me of why Piper is the baby and will remain so.

Chief Soaring Arrow

MacGregor's group did a very entertaining skit on Indians and their food. Hunting, fishing, gathering - you name it. Piper crashed the skit though because she saw a prop that they forgot to pick up and in the middle of the skit, ran to MacGregor and returned it. Since I was holding the baby we were watching, I didn't have as tight of a reign on Piper and she used that to her advantage.

We ran home after the feast and shortly thereafter got in the car and headed out again. We dropped off our little friend and headed to a different grocery where we had a coupon for a free birthday cake. Piper was ecstatic to choose a birthday cake with balloons on it. Incidently, there were two helium balloons floating in her room when she woke up in the morning, left for her by her father. Her father enjoyed this birthday too since this was only the second out 4 he has been here for.

The school had a special movie night on the 23rd and Piper said she'd love to see a movie, the last movie night they had sold out before we could buy our tickets much to our children's disappointment. We were supposed to see Planet 51, a funny little alien movie, but 2 of the 3 theaters were having technical difficulties so we got sent to see A Christmas Carol instead. I was secretly happy because I didn't think Planet 51 looked that good but later I felt bad for Piper because the Christmas Carol movie was REALLY scary for little ones. I thought Jim Carrey did an awsome job and for Chase and Gregor it was fantastic but there were some very frightening scenes for little ones.

So poor Piper had to wait until nearly 9 pm to eat her cake and open her presents. She loved everyone one of them and hugged each of them to her and said, "This is what I always wanted!!" It was an awesome birthday and I hope she will continue her enthusiasm for birthdays because it was a wonderful feeling.

First Loss

2009-12-08T09:36:00.004-05:00

We thought it would never happen. Everyone has lost a tooth in Ainsley's school class. Her cousin, Kamden, who is 6 months younger has lost 8 teeth already and even has 6 grown up teeth in. A few weeks ago Ainlsey's tooth went from rock solid to decidedly loose. This caused her much anxiety. She got up the next morning and began one of her panic attacks. She paced and said she felt sick and didn't want to go to school. Her face was pale and her expression stiff. This was the first time this school year that she has one of these episodes. I was trying to figure out what was different this morning than every other day. I realized that it was the loose tooth. So I calmly talked to her about some of the fears she might have associated with the tooth and determined that she was afraid to eat fearing that it would hurt or worse, come out while she was eating. I couldn't get her to eat much that morning but I did talk to her about what very soft things we could pack for lunch. I told her that she could NOT stay home because I had an extremely full schedule that day and I really needed her at school. She went. She did fine. No more episodes.

It took a few weeks of constant wiggling. She was very diligent. She pulled it out herself after being asked repeatedly by her parents if we could help. She was NOT interested in our help, even though that is what her Dad does for a living. She did however embrace the advice we gave on what directions to push and pull and twist.

We told her to put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy but she wanted to take it to school on sharing day. I said to put it on her dresser then. She was worried that the tooth fairy might come and take it off her dresser so she asked me to write a note. The note said, "Dear Tooth Fairy, Please do not take my tooth. I need it for sharing day at school on Thursday. Love, Ainsley". We laid the note on her dresser with the tooth on top. The TF did not take the tooth. Then next night Ainsley said, "I don't care about sharing it at school anymore, I'm putting it under my pillow" I guess the wait was unbearable. The TF brought her a dollar.

HALLOWEEN 2009

2009-11-25T14:04:00.006-05:00

Halloween was a long last afterthought this year. I didn't even realize it was the week of Halloween until Wednesday of that week. Ainsley and Chase both wore their costumes from last year so that made things easy. The afternoon of, I tried on a monster costume we have on Piper. Much to my dismay - it was way too big. Now we only had a few hours to figure something out. Luckily we have a Barbie, Island Princess dress-up dress and then I found a blue tiarra while running errands that day. MacGregor had still not decided an hour before we left for trick or treating. I told him he could be the storm trooper from last year or a mariachi band member. We have the mexican poncho, the sombrero, and a trumpet. But NO - that was not cool enough. He wanted to be James Bond so he wore church clothes (the blazer was way too small - no one has worn that in ages) with sunglasses and carried a pistol. He looked more like a Blues Brother but he was happy so who am I to complain?

We went trick or treating with friends this year - in their neighborhood. Their neighborhood is much more conducive to trick or treating as our neighborhood only has about 20 homes - 2/3rds of which are NOT home on Halloween. We were running a little late and by the time we got there the kids formed their groups and ran off before I could get the individual and group pictures I had hoped for. Ainsley got to go with a group that was delivered to each house via golf cart - not a bad ride!! So here is what I cropped out of the mixed matched pictures I got as they were running off to trick or treat.

MacGregor the kid at church in the summer - I mean James Bond, special agent.

Here's the princess before she got "beat up". She absolutely LOVED wearing make up and looking beautiful.

Ainsley is the ever Beautiful "Cleopatra"!

MacGregor with his buddy Nick E. and Chase.

The after-party. Do you think they got enough?

Hide and Seek in the Dark

2009-11-24T19:30:00.002-05:00

Hide and Seek in the dark is NOT a great game for Piper to play on Halloween night in our friends' basement. The Ping Pong table has 4 sharp corners. The corners are all eye level.

Ouch.

At least it was after trick-or-treating so she didn't have to be the princess that was also the domestic violence victim.

New Quilt

2009-10-29T15:06:00.005-04:00

Gave away another quilt today. It's always so bitter sweet. This one was for little Drake. Daniel's assistant, Amber, had a little boy about 2 weeks ago. This was their first so I made a quilt for him. I used 5 by 5 inch squares and picked a theme of Black, White, and Red. I used prints all over for to create a lot of visual interest and stimulation for the baby.

I used thin cotton for the front and binding and a thick flannel for the back. Used a light polyester bat and I quilted it myself on my machine.

Here are the pictures:

Center squares. Used some black fabric with army jeeps left over from Daniel's Iraq quilt.

Close up of the white prints which include music notes, penguins, flowers and ink spots. The red print has stars on it. You can also see the machine quilting in this photo.
The black prints include safety pins, dalmatians, circles made with dots and soccer balls.
Here a look at all three in verticle form.
Back and binding. The backing flannel has animal tracks on it. I used a grey thread for quilting. Wondering now though if I should have used a black bottom thread so you didn't see the quilting on the back. It's certainly NOT perfectly straight but from a distance it doesn't look too bad.

Whole thing - Front and back.

After seeing it lying around my house for nearly 2 months in different stages - it is now gone, and it took a little piece of my heart with it. On a good note though - I received a quilt in the mail today. It was one I made over the summer and dropped it off at the long arm machine lady I use in New York. She just now finished it - 2 and a half months later. with a beautiful butterfly and loop pattern. Yes, one day I'll own a long arm machine and won't have to wait so long to get my quilting done but for now I'm not sure if it was sitting in my house that I could have finished it any faster. Short on time is my motto these days. So I have a new quilt to look at for a while - just need to put the binding on and then I'll be shipping that one out to Brinn.

Baby Shower

2009-10-12T14:56:00.004-04:00

I know I have't blogged in forever and this one isn't going to be long. I wish I had more time to do ALL the things I want to do but my family does take priority and the kids need a lot of time and attention. By the time they are in bed and we've been non-stop working on homework, practicing, extra curricular events - I'm downright pooped and don't feel like organizing photos and editing text -

But here's a short update on one of the things that has kept me busy lately. I hosted a babyshower for a girl in our ward - Annie P. She was Chase's primary teacher. She had a little girl Meggie. I am not a great party planner and don't have a great eye for decoration but I did think the table looked pretty.

I served mini black bottom cupcakes, seven layer dip with tortilla chips and gazpacho dip/cheese blend served with baked pita chips. My friend made an awesome punch with lemonade, orange juice, vanilla, almond extract and 7-up. It was delicious. I also got to use one of my wooden African bowls for the first time (pita chips) and my new Wilton Armetale platter/salad bowl (tortilla chips) that we bought at the dental charity event we attended recently.

We had a great turn out - I think 17. It was perfect. We wouldn't have fit many more comfortably. It was fun to have a girl party and we should do it more often whether a new baby is involved or not.

Canning

2009-09-21T14:53:00.004-04:00

Yes - I turned this...

into THIS...

I've really gotten into canning this fall. I made strawberry jam in August. It was the first time I had canned anything without my mother. She helped me do peach and strawberry jam and also applesauce over the last 2 years. I didn't think I could do it without her - I just wasn't brave enough to do all that work on the chance that I'd do it wrong.

I missed strawberry picking season in June. June was a beast with non-stop baseball, end of year school activities and our trip to Africa. So when I saw strawberries on sale for $1.44/lb in August, I bought 12 pounds. I said, YES I CAN!! I did call a friend over and she helped me. We followed the directions and I called my mom to make sure I was doing it right. The jam came out just delicious.

Since then I have done Salsa - which is the only one I got pictures of so far, and peach jam, also delicious. The jam I did with another friend and I had some great helpers that helped in the cutting up of all the veggies for the salsa. Sure helps to have an extra set of hands in the kitchen and in the case of the peach jam, it sure helped to have a 5 burner stove so we could fit 2 big canner pots on the stove (not my house, I wish).

This Thursday my peach jam friend is coming over and we are going to bottle peaches - a first for both of us. And I bought more ingredients to make more salsa. The salsa goes quick because you eat at least 1/2 a pint in each sitting. I only have 6 more pints and that is certainly NOT going to last through winter. So I better make some more while I can still find big baskets of tomatoes. The first batch of salsa I made I used the tomatoes from our very own back yard. We planted 2 plants this year, another first for us, and did receive quite a bounty. However, we are nearing the end of the season on these little plants and I know I won't get enough off them for another batch of salsa.

Also I used my new attachment for my kitchen-aid to slice some peaches and then I put them on the dehydrator. I got a sandwich baggie full of sliced dried peaches and I tell you - I could nibble on those all day!! I also cut some of the dried peaches and put them in my oatmeal yesterday and it was really delicious.

I hope to use the new attachment again when it's time to do applesauce. I have hope of canning up a few more things before the fall harvest is over!! Hooray for the Harvest!

Here's our very little garden plot. It was some unused area in our back yard landscaping. I planted 2 small 10 inch tall tomato plants and they turned into this giant bush bearing fruit galore.

This bunch of tomatoes took FOREVER to turn red. But they have been sweet and juicy. We eat sliced tomatoes with dinner at least every other day.

Here's Ainsley with some of the very first we picked. At first they came very slowly - one or two every few days, but by the end of August 3/4 of the plant turned red at once and that's when I made the salsa.

Can't wait for applesauce!!

"What is this Stuff?

2009-09-08T22:09:00.002-04:00

Our ward (congregation) uses clear plastic sacrament cups. But this past Sunday we were visiting a small branch near our cabin. They use the pleated paper cups. As I held the sacrament tray and took my water, Piper who was right next to me and who would receive hers momentarily, said (in a NOT very small voice) - and I quote

"What is this stuff?? Ketchup??"

The older ladies sitting behind us started cracking up. I guess she's been to Wendys and Micky Ds just a little too often lately. :)

Beach

2009-09-03T20:36:00.014-04:00

Brielle came for a whirlwind visit. We only had 5 full days to pack in a lot of activities and a lot of visits. One of our favorite, but also most exhausting, activity/visits was with our aunt Nantha and her friend Gloria at the beach. Gloria's sister has a house in Wildwood, NJ and we got to stay there for an overnight. Our food and fun was all provided by Nantha and Gloria and we all felt extra special.

Brielle arrived around 2:45 am on Wednesday morning. My grandfather heard I had to pick Brielle up at nearly 1 am and decided that he did NOT want me doing that in the middle of the night by myself, since Dan would not be coming because he had to work the next day and we didn't have room in the car for our whole family and hers. So my grandfather made and paid for Brielle to be brought to my house in an airport limo. I pictured a van, nope she and the kids were picked up at the Baltimore Airport and driven to my house in a stretch limo. (I'm so mad I didn't think to grab my camera and snap a picture with her sitting in it or standing next to it) I set my alarm for 2:30 am but woke up on my own at 2:20. I called her and we talked until she arrived. We got the kids settled and went back to bed.

The morning came early and Brian and Stacy and the kids came to visit about 10:30 AM. We spent the day with them and then packed up for the beach. (On a side note it was Daniel and my 14th wedding anniversary that day but it kind of got left in the wind - we will try to get out to dinner one night soon to celebrate. We did get each other cards and he got me flowers and I gave him chocolate. That was good enough with everything else that was happening) We left for the beach by 8:40 am on Thursday, Aug 20th. Dan had to stay and work so it was just Brielle and me and 7 children. What could be more fun than that, right?

It took nearly 4 hours to get there and we had to drive 2 cars which was a bummer but we made it. Aunt Nantha had called earlier and gotten everyone's order for sandwiches so they were ready when we arrived. We quickly changed everyone, ate lunches, put on sunscreen and headed out to the beach. We got there about 2:30 pm and spent almost 4 hours soaking up sun and salt and sand. Brielle had to leave earlier with her 2 youngest because they needed naps so badly. We had big plans for the boardwalk later that night so we wanted to make sure everyone was happy. Piper, amazingly was doing quite well so I didn't take her back for a nap. I figured since she doesn't eat much that she would probably nap while we all ate dinner.

It was sure hectic at the beach. The boys wanted to be out in the breaking waves. Because Hurricane Bill was moving up the coast the surf was quite rough and currents were strong. The lifeguards were on edge and constantly blowing their whistles to move this way or move that way or come in toward shore. The boys wanted to be in that mix. The big girls wanted to be out in waist deep. They would jump the waves often getting knocked down to their knees. This made me very nervous because I was afraid they would get tumbled and get sucked back with the strong current. The little 3 were eating sand, throwing sand, crying, hungry, in the water, out of the water. It was rough to keep eyes and hands on the shore, the surf and the breakers. Plus the beach was jammed packed and the jersey shore tidal discrepancies are incredibly large. We set up camp a few feet from the surf but an hour later you felt like you had to walk a mile to get from the water back up to the towels or the cooler. I had asked aunt Nantha a question up at the house about our plans for dinner. She said, Oh we'll talk about it at the beach. Then later at the beach I asked her again and she was laughing saying - yeah I thought we'd come to the beach to relax and it would be easier to talk now - NOT. It was so hectic and not very relaxing. Fun but NOT relaxing!

We went back to the house somewhere around 6:20 pm and did assembly line showers in the outside shower. I washed the girls while Brielle dried them and dressed them. We got everyone clean and ate the Dominos pizzas that Gloria and Nantha had ordered for us. By the time we finished eating and cleaned up it was nearly 9pm. (Piper never took that nap I was hoping for but again she wasn't really cranky, thankfully) We headed out to the boardwalk to ride rides. Again we were treated by Aunt Nantha and Gloria. We had to split up because the boys were interested in a whole different set of rides. Gloria took the boys to do big rides while Nantha Brielle and I stuck with the 5 little ones. The little ones had a great time and begged for more when we were all out of tickets. I'm glad we were all out because it was 11:30pm by that time. I got some video at the boardwalk but no stills. You just can't do it all!!

On a scary note, after we rode the carousel we exited together. Piper was not back in her stroller yet and in about 3 seconds time I looked around and didn't see her. I began to panic a little and then I saw Brielle had spotted her watching a neighboring ride. We both ran to her and in THAT quick second Kamden must have thought we walked away and she went to find us. We got back to the group and started counting heads and realized that now we were down Kamden. Again the group started to panic. I stayed with Ainsley, Piper and Aspen. Brielle ran off with Cash in the stroller and Aunt Nantha ran another way. It seemed like hours even though it was only about 5 mins til I saw Aunt Nantha coming back with Cash. I must have said a thousand silent prayers in those 5 mins. I was scared to even ask if they had found her yet but they had. She was walking away from the rides and toward the crowded boardwalk. Luckily there was a couple that saw her and recognized that she shouldn't be alone. They tried to coax her back toward the rides when Brielle found her. The man told Brielle that Kamden was taught well because she wouldn't talk to strangers even though they were trying to ask her if she was lost and if she needed help. (side note - he was heavily pierced and tatooed - I'm not sure I would have talked to him either) But I'm glad that there are more good people in this world than bad no matter what they look like.

Piper finally crashed in the stroller on the way back to the house. We got everyone into bed around midnight or so. I felt bad for Brielle because she was up all night because Aspen was coughing and they were sharing a room. Also Cash was up at like 5 or 6 am and she couldn't let him fuss back to sleep because the house is cooled with window unit airconditioners so no one was allowed to shut their doors. Poor Brielle, she was REALLY exhausted on this trip.

We spent some more time on the beach Friday. From about 11:30 to 2pm. This time the adults didn't use sunscreen. It was sunny but much cooler with a brisk breeze. Hurricane Bill was out to sea causing rough surf and cool breezes. I figured I would put some on after a little while. I wanted to tan a bit and the SPF 50 cream I used the day before had worked amazingly well. I sure didn't look like I had been to the beach. Well Brielle, Nantha and I were sorry later that we hadn't used any. We all had massive sunburn. For me it was my shoulders, Brielle her upper thighs and Nantha her neck and chest. Ouch - but at least I now looked like I had been to the beach. Also poor little Aspen fell asleep in a beach chair and her poor little thigh and part of her belly had been exposed too long and she also felt the effects of a beach sunburn.

We headed back to the house around 2 to shower and pack up. Piper did take a nap this time and after we had a late lunch/dinner (between 3-4 pm) we headed out to the boardwalk one more time for Wildwood T-shirts. Also a treat from Aunt Nantha. The kids had a great time picking out their own colors and pictures even if Brielle had to bite her tongue when Kamden picked out a "princess kitty" for her shirt and Aspen picked "Dora and Boots". When I think of Wildwood, NJ, nothing but Dora and Boots comes to mind... (hahaha) Ainsley got Spongebob - but hey if that's what makes them happy - they will always remember (plus it's written on the shirt) that they got the shirt at the beach. Luckily Piper, Cash and the big boys got shirts that were a bit more beachy.

We didn't end up heading out until about 8pm so we got home around 11:30 pm and were absolutely EXHAUSTED. What a great trip that we can't wait to do again - when the kids are all at least a year older!! :)

First Day of School 2009

2009-09-02T19:09:00.007-04:00

Our lives are so jammed packed with events and special moments and although I am getting them on film, I have not had time, or when I've had the time I've been suffering from "lackawana", to blog about them or catch up on anyone else's blog. So bits and pieces will come I as I can.

August 31st, 2009

The kids started school. Chase is now in 6th grade and has moved up to another school where they change classes every period and have lockers with combinations. He's "Big Time" now. But poor guy has a fever today so he missed his 3rd day of school and most likely will miss tomorrow too. Hope he is able to catch up quick and doesn't feel lost already.

I had to take this first picture showing the flower beds in front of the house. This was the first year we planted annuals in the front flower beds. It added so much color and I loved it yet, I didn't take any pictures all summer.

No more sleeping in til 7:30 or 7:45 as we have done for the last 4 years. Chase now has to catch the bus at 7:40 so he and I have to be up by 6:30 or so. The other kids don't catch the bus til 8:45 so our morning routine seems to go on and on and I'm tired by 9 when they are all finally out the door.

Ainsley started 1st grade with Mr. B. (Beaumont but EVERYONE calls him Mr. B). He's a year older than my Dad and still teaching first grade. I don't know how he does it but he is definitely the favorite. Ainsley wanted him SOO SOO bad and I didn't know what I was going to have to deal with if she didn't get who she hoped for. She had a lot of anxiety issues the end of last year and I was afraid they would start all over if she got someone she didn't know - not that she knew Mr. B all that well, but MacGregor had him for first grade and she thought that sounded good to her too. We have 5 first graders on our street. 4 of them got Mr. B, Ainsley and the 3 boys. The other little girl on the street got a different teacher. So with getting the teacher she wanted and going with so many neighbors, her first days have been fantastic.

Somebody else just HAD to be in the picture.

MacGregor started 4th grade with Ms. Philips. She is a new teacher at his school although she did quite a bit of subbing last year. So far he has been very excited about all the things she has planned and organized for the class. He especially likes the duck call she uses to get the children's attention.

And there they go.

I had great aspirations of all the things I was going to do while I had 3 away all day. I mean 7 hours - I was going to have a spotless house, run errands, sew to my heart's content. NOPE, 7 hours goes much too quickly and I still have a toddler so my schedule isn't quite as free as I was thinking it might be. The house is certainly not spotless, I've only gotten 2 loads of laundry done in 3 days, some errands have been run but I haven't touched my sewing machine yet. (I will say however that I have done my visiting teaching, a primary visit, and managed to go out to lunch with my hubby. Those things were much more difficult last year when Ainsley had half day Kindergarten.

And now they're home.

Didn't she have a great day? I'd love to be that bouncy!

My little slow poke. Last one by a mile off the bus.

Bye Bye Bus. only 179 more days to go.

Stuff

2009-08-10T10:42:00.004-04:00

Here are couple of pictures that we took after we unpacked our suitcases. These were the things on my parents shopping list. The things they needed from America.

Photo #1 shows - cinnamon gummy bears, non-perils, rootbeer barrels, zantac, motrin, tylenol, sweat proof sunscreen, crosheen, beads and socks for making cute little bead socks - you know - real important stuff.

Photo #2, 6 one and half pound bags of chocolate chips (a necessity in life), brown sugar, mapleine flavoring, hershey kisses, and the last 3 books in a series my mom was reading - hardback of course.
Photo #3 - A years supply of Avon creams and lots and lots of Leggs brand panty hose. Apparently South Africa does not make a decent pair of hose so import you must.
I was happy I was able to bring them things that brought comfort and familiarity. I was also happy I had all that extra room in my suitcase so I could bring home lots of cool souvenirs.

Day 1 Continues

2009-08-04T14:26:00.011-04:00

So back to June 23rd - after we left the church offices we headed up to Montecasino. The Casinos in Africa are more like flashy malls. There is tight security, lots of shops and restaurants and other added bonuses like amusement parks or aviaries. There is gaming going on but it's kind of hidden in an area all to itself- you almost have to go looking for it, NOT like here in Vegas where you walk one foot into the casino and there are 100 slot machines with 10 feet of you.

The Bird Gardens were very fun. It was a good activity to do since we were so tired. The price was extremely reasonable and since we were there in the middle of the day on a Tuesday, it wasn't crowded at all. Here is Chase with an uncaged African Gray Parrot. His feathers were amazing. We have a close up on video and he just has layer after layer of beautiful white tipped gray feathers.

One of the best parts was their lorakeet cage. When you purchase your tickets they hand you a little plastic dish of what looks like minced garlic floating in a watery solution. This is lorakeet food. You take this with you into the lorakeet cage where the lorakeets are free to fly around with you. They will land on you - on your hands, shoulders, heads. They will chirp VERY loudly in your ears and peck and pull at your hair, nibble on your sun glasses, hats or ears and poop when and where they need to. This experience was not for the faint of heart. Chase was a bit skittish at first and when he was swarmed by the first 3 or 4 he dropped his food dish and they had to eat it off the ground.

MacGregor was much more comfortable with the birds and had many eating right out of his hands. Their faces get very messy and sometimes they peck and push each other out of the way.
Daniel had one trying out his glasses and hat and ears.
The admission price (like $4) included a bird show. It took place in an outdoor amphitheatre. Again we got front row seats because there were few people there that day. We saw a wide array of birds that we have never seen. They did tricks and flew about with prompting from their trainers. There were a few that were misbehaving and not doing the planned performance but we enjoyed them too. We have the whole show on video and I will need to watch it again so I can hear what the names of each of these are because I can't remember. So just enjoy the picture of these unusual and (some of them) endangered birds.
Some sort of osprey or falcon.
This is the South African National Bird. I believe it is called the Blue Crane and I believe that is is endangered.
There were several hawks too. This is one of them.

I thought this picture was funny because the palm tree leaves look like feathers poking out all over. Like he is the indian chief or something.

Here's a little Barn Owl. We also saw a giant eagle owl that had a mind of her own that day and the poor trainers were running after her and climbing walls to get her down etc...
The boys got to have their pictures taken with the little barn owl.
After the show we walked around all the other exhibits and saw many new varieties of ducks and birds. We mostly got that on video. But we did get this saddlebilled something or other. He is very unusual.

We also got the Lilac Breasted Roller. One of my all time favorites over there. We saw many of them on the game reserve. These first 2 I believe are the females. Their colors a bit more muted.

I believe this is the male. His colors are much more pastel and bright. When they spread their wings in flight the colors are wild and amazing.
And here is the Glossy Starling. They were also all over the game reserve. Their colors are iridescent and unnatural. And their yellow eyes are creepy.
After the aviary closed at 5 pm. We headed inside and shopped a bit. Finding Ainsley the stuffed Hippo she had asked for. It was a "build a bear" type hippo and we found a T-shirt with the South African Flag that it could wear. I was a bit worried about buying her souvenir on the first day but later I was glad because we never saw another stuffed hippo the entire trip.

We then ate some average food at one of the restaurants and headed home to my parents one bedroom apartment to go to bed. The boys slept on a queen size air mattress in a small space right in front of the front door. You could not open the door when the mattress was on the floor because it filled the entire space from wall to wall and from the front door to the kitchen. Dan and I slept on the sofa bed that was about the size of a twin bed + maybe 3 inches. After no real sleep for about 31 hours, we went to bed at 8 pm and slept until 8 the next morning. AHHH.... needed that.

It's In The Mail

2009-08-03T14:09:00.011-04:00

CASH PETERSON JULY 2009

Ok - so it took me two weeks from the time this was completed until I actually sent it. It was very hard for me to give up. It's a creation that I made (not too unlike my own children) that I labored over for many months. When the creation is completed I like to see it often, constantly admiring it and showing it to anyone who comes to the door. So when it is sent away - I am left with a hole. I guess I will have to start another one to fill that hole.

So here's the story on this quilt that I made for Cash Peterson and completed July 2009. I first bought the 2 darkest blue fabrics independently at two shops just because I liked them. I then found this pattern that was put out by a fabric company to go with a new line they were selling. The fabric that they sold came with 4 strips of the same color fading from light to dark - all on the same bolt. The deal was that you use this pattern with this fabric just buying the 3 colors you wanted to use and you'd have the perfect gradual fade. I like the pattern but wasn't wild about their color options which were all solids. I wanted prints since it was for a baby. So I picked up the pattern, figured out the correct yardage for each fabric while I was shopping (not easy and a lot of math) then I hand picked the prints trying to get the same faded look. I was really happy with the end result although the yellow was REALLY hard to find in the faded tones and I don't love the middle square. I've found there is always one fabric in a quilt that I don't love.

Close up - Blue Square

Close up - Yellow Square

Close up - Brown Square

I then took it back to the shop where I had picked up the pattern and had her long arm it. This is only the third quilt I've had long armed but I absolutely love it. I now want them all to be long armed but the wait is so long and the expense is pretty high. My friend is thinking of buying a long arm machine and I really hope she does. I would love to learn how to do it and maybe she would rush my projects and I wouldn't have to wait so long to get them back.

Back and Binding - Quilting detail

The back is Ultra Soft Minky - Long Arm Detail

Detail - Yellow Fabrics

Detail - Brown Fabrics

Detail - Blue Fabrics

Here's one last look. I love the geometric look and how it appears to be layered one square atop the other. Hope Cash likes it.

Leave of Absence

2009-07-27T11:54:00.006-04:00

Sorry for taking such a long leave of absence. My time has really not been my own for quite a while. Baseball ate up our spring. Planning all that goes into an international trip (including the shopping lists of your parents who can't get their favorites over there) and the planning that goes into leaving half the family behind and all that they'll need while your gone, hosting visitors, refinancing the house and a fairly demanding calling has eaten up most of my time lately.

So I will try to post bits and pieces as I can squeeze it in. It's also a bit overwhelming to have hundreds of photos and have to try to narrow them down and figure out what you want to say in each post. I'll do my best. It's also hard because we took both video and still photos so some of the things we did or experienced are only on the videos and we are still working to learn how to up load those. Our videos are always too big to post.

These pictures are from our first day there. We actually left our home around 5 pm and drove to Queens, NY on Sunday June 20th. We got to our hotel around 9 pm after driving through lovely Staten Island traffic and quite a rain storm. We stayed at the DoubleTree which allowed us to keep our car there for 14 days with no parking fee. The cost of the room was cheaper than leaving it in long term parking at JFK for the 11 days we were gone and we didn't have to wake up at 3 am and drive 3-4 hours never knowing if you'd make it time with traffic on Monday.

Monday, June 21st, we got up early and took the shuttle to JFK. We were there by 8:15 am and checked in. Our plane left at 11:35am. We met the cutest "almost 3 yr old" twins while we waited for our plane. Inilay and Zinzilay from Botwana. We have very cute video of them. They were on our plane but not in our area so we didn't see them again once we got on.

15 hours and 15 minutes is a long time to spend on plane. We flew South African Airways which was a very nice airline. The best part was that each passenger had their own personal video screen in the seat in front of them. You also had your own remote so you could watch one of 25 movies, play games, watch TV shows, listen to an array of music or watch the flight plan with constant updates of where you were, how high you were, how fast you were going and what the temp was outside, etc... We gave the boys benadryl but Chase didn't sleep at all. I took a WHOLE sleeping pill, which I never do - I usually take 1/4 and still didn't really sleep - I would doze off for 20 mins here or there but nothing lasting. Didn't help that the last 4 hours or so we felt like we were on a boat. The turbulence was constant - not scary but very bouncy. Many people on the flight were getting sick. MacGregor was one of them, poor guy. Dan also assisted a mother traveling alone with 3 children all of whom were getting sick. I felt very nauseous but never threw up.

We landed at around 8 am local time ( about a half hour early) but our bodies only felt like it was TWO IN THE MORNING. Yep - great way to start the day - in the middle of the night. We got through customs, found our sweet missionary couple and got in the rented Mercedes Vito van. The most plain jane, most uncomfortable Mercedes you ever saw. We made a quick stop at the apartment to drop off the luggage and headed straight over to the Africa Southeast Area Office.

Here we are looking so alert. We are on the office grounds which overlooks a large portion of Johannesburg. Looking up from this point you can see the temple.

Here is the garden of Eden, that's what they call it there. If you look very close you can see a bee inside this perfectly formed, naturally growing calla lily.

This garden grows right on the grounds of the office. It was so lush and beautiful even in the middle of winter. Yes it is winter in South Africa right now - this was their December.

I love my little MacGregor even when he's beyond tired and sick from the airplane.

Here is the picture of the Area Presidency's offices and home. There are apartments for the couples on the second floor and their offices and meeting rooms are on the first floor. The other departments have their offices in a building adjacent to this one but I only got that building on video. That building includes Perpetual Education, Employment, Humanitarian, Medical, Public Affairs, Travel, Finance, etc...

Sorry so much detail but I need to try to remember everything for my own sake. Hopefully more to follow soon.

2009-06-21T14:29:00.001-04:00

And We're OFF on our big adventure! Will write in a few weeks!

Africa Here We Come!!

Snip Snip

2009-06-20T12:05:00.004-04:00

We were tired of tangles, tired of screaming and hurting heads and hurting ears every time we brushed hair. I was tired of hair in her eyes and always looking like a rag-a-muffin. I was tired of the fight! So we got a summer haircut!

Before

After

It is so much easier now, has more body and shape. The best part is - NO MORE TANGLES!

This one had to get in on the attention as well. I recently cut her hair and it was a challenge to get her to sit still. Even so - It's better than it was.

Bike and Helmet

2009-06-17T23:22:00.005-04:00

Ainsley recently learned to ride her two wheeler. Piper has wanted to ride a bike too....really bad. So I pulled out her "ride-on" toy that she got for her birthday last year from Aunt Nantha and Gloria. We started calling it her bike and she would ride it up and down the sidewalk. One day she grabbed this pink bucket out of the garage and said, "I want to ride my bike with my helmet." She put the bucket on her head and off she went. (She knows that Ainsley is NOT allowed to ride her bike without a helmet, even though she does all the time and we are constantly grounding her for it)

You gotta love this stringy stringy hair. My poor girls. Piper's hair has since been cut and has a little more body and shape but golly - we gave them bad hair genes.

Mrs. Przystup's Signature Quilt

2009-06-12T14:26:00.006-04:00

MacGregor had another great teacher this year who also happened to have a soft spot for him. Maybe he's just that kind of kid. Chase also had Mrs. Przystup and I loved her then too. She often told me how much she enjoyed teaching both my boys and how she thought they were well behaved and good friends to others.

MacGregor brought home all his papers in a manilla envelope each Monday. We had to sign that we received all the paper. There was also a box for comments, yet we never wrote anything in there. One day in April MacGregor said to me, "Do you think you could write a comment like Daddy did last week? Because Mrs. Przystup will write you back." Dan had written "Hi" and Mrs. Przystup has replied, "Hi". MacGregor is really cute. So I had been asking MacGregor to find out what Mrs. Przystup's favorite color(s) were so I could plan the quilt but he had forgotten time and time again. So I wrote in the comment section, "What is your favorite color?" She replied, "Blue....hmmm??" And so I was faced with what blue collection to work with. I was worried I wouldn't find a collection with a lot of blue. I went to my favorite fabric store - Sauder's. In reality there were WAY to many to choose from. I ended up going with an asian mix. It was in the blue family ranging from light gray to a dark greenish blue and all inbetween. These fabrics also incorprated metals - gold and silver. I found a white for the signatures that had a light print of flowers and butterflies. I thought it carried on with the asian theme.

I emailed Mrs. Przystup a few weeks ago and asked her if I could come in and work on a project with the kids. I told her she would need to leave the room for a few minutes because it was a surprise for her. She ended up having a special meeting the next day and said a sub would be there for an hour or so. I went in and had the sub help me hold the blocks down so each child could sign. Luckily the only child not in class that day lives directly across the street from me so I had all the signatures in no time. I told the kids to promise NOT to tell Mrs. Przystup what we did because it was going to be a surprise. Apparently, she asked the class what they had worked on (sneaky lady...maybe she just can't wait for surprises) and several of the kids raised their hands until the rest of the kids got mad and reminded them it was a secret.

I don't know if she ever found out what it was beforehand but I think she must have been excited about it because MacGregor told me recently that she asked when he would be bringing in the surprise. He brought it in on Wed. , the second to last day of school. He said she really liked it. She called me at lunch that day to say thank you and tell me how much she liked it. She also said that my card had made her cry. It just told her how dear to my heart she is and how lucky my boys were to get her.

And here's the back. I used a pale blue flannel middle layer and this yellow floral print flannel for the back. I thought the yellow complimented the gold on the front and the flowers were blue ( bonus.) The flannel gave it thickness. I still haven't figured out how to keep the class photo from fading slightly. I have to wash the quilt to get the rag look but it causes the picture to lose its crispness.

Dr. Fleming

2009-06-10T16:13:00.003-04:00

My dear sweet Dr. Fleming passed away two weeks ago today. I feel lost without him. I trusted him completely with the medical care of my children. I was in absolute shock when I got the call on Monday June 1st. I figured they were calling to remind me about Piper's appointment on Tuesday. I never thought it was to inform me that Dr. Fleming had passed away a few days before. This man was only 56 and was the epitome of health. He was a marathon runner and extremely lean. He had incredible healthy eating habits and I just don't understand how his heart could have failed him. Is it possible to be in too good of shape that you wear your heart out? His twin brother spoke at the funeral - it looked like Dr. Fleming in Hollywood makeup. Same face with big smooth cheeks and a few more chins. His brother was very over weight - how come his heart is still ticking? They had the same exact voice too which was very difficult to listen to - It was like Dr. Fleming was there, but he wasn't. I guess when it's your time to go, you'll go - no matter what shape you're in. I think Dr. Fleming must have been such a good man that he had accomplished all that the Lord needed him to do already.

When we moved here we asked around about a good pediatrician. We had one we really liked in Oklahoma. We were given a name of a woman and tried the office. I liked her quite a bit but she was in a practice with at least 6 other doctors. In Oklahoma our Dr. was in a group practice yet we always saw him. Here - we only saw this woman once in a year and half. Every other trip, and with 3 children we went multiple times in a year and a half, we saw someone different. We could only get our Dr if we were making a well check months in advance.

When I was nearly due with Piper I called my the pediatric office to let them know I needed them for a new born check at the hospital. They wouldn't go to the hospital I was delivering in even though they had a satellite office directly across the street. So I picked up a business card for Dr. Fleming that was in my OBGYN's office. He was in the same building - close to home and the hospital where I would deliver. He was also a solo practitioner so I knew we would only see him.

I figured I would use him for Piper since he was so close and we would have so many visits early on. In the end, I liked him so much that I transferred all my kids over within 2 months of her birth. And with 4 kids, including one like Piper that is proned to injury... burned hands, broken leg, pressure sores, croup, we saw Dr. Fleming a lot over the last 2 and a half years. I felt like he was an old friend. He would talk about his grandchildren that lived in Nova Scotia. He spoke of his wife and where he grew up - Norristown, PA. He actually had a niece who graduated from the same high school as Daniel around the same time. He spoke of his son with Downs Syndrome. He was a good Christian man who truly loved the children he cared for.

Ainsley experienced a severe panic attack in the middle of April. The next day she was better but still exhibiting some symptoms. I called him and he spent at least 15 or 20 minutes talking to me about her and what he could do and who he would recommend as a therapist etc...

The first weekend in May - Piper had the croup again. We had given her the nebulizer one night and used steam and motrin the day after that. I took her in to get checked because Daniel and I were supposed to go out of town - not to far - about 2 hours away. Em and J would be babysitting and I wasn't sure I should leave her. Dr. Fleming said he thought the worst was over. He said I should go on the trip and just give Em and J his number if they had any questions. He was THAT kind of Dr. Always available if you really needed him.

The day before he died I called him about a prescription for an antibiotic used for "travelers diarrhea". The Travel Health Office recommends you fill this prescription and take it with you on a "just in case" basis. Dr. Fleming was unfamiliar with this use and I told him all that the Travel Health Office had told me. He told me I should call back with the boys weights and that he would look into it. I could hear him looking it up while we were talking. I also asked him about what to give the boys on the airplane to help them sleep - he told me the right dosages of benedryl. As we were finishing the conversation he said, "Well I probably won't see you again so have a great trip." I was going to answer - " Oh I'll see you on Tuesday for Piper's appointment" but the conversation ended before I could get that out. I'm so sad I didn't get the chance to see him on Tuesday.

I already feel lost without you - I don't have that relationship with anyone else where I can just pick up the phone and have that trusted voice on the end of the line tell me exactly what to do. We will miss you so much Dr. Fleming. You made an incredible impact on our family.

Obituary of Kenneth D. Fleming, M.d.

Kenneth D. Fleming, M.D.

Dr. Kenneth D. Fleming, M.D. age 56, of Lancaster, PA, where he had resided for the past four years, formerly of Plymouth Meeting, PA, passed away suddenly Thursday, May 28, 2009.

Born in Norristown, PA, he was the son of the late Robert W. and Helen C. Mehler Fleming. He and his wife, Denise Linehan Fleming celebrated their twenty-seventh wedding anniversary last Nov. 28th.

Dr. Fleming was a graduate of Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, Millersville University with a Bachelor's of Arts degree in biology and a graduate of Temple University of Medicine.

He did his pediatric residency at the University of Pittsburgh Children's Hospital, with a Fellowship in Adolescent Medicine at the University of Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Dr. Fleming practiced medicine many years in King of Prussia, PA and the last four years in Lititz, PA as the sole practitioner for Pediatrics Partners PC.

Dr. Fleming was passionately committed to children and their families. He valued a strong partnership with parents through education and understanding.

Ken was an avid photographer who loved photographing Lancaster County. He was also a committed runner, having twice completed the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington, DC. He was a constant reader and his love of books was instilled by his mother at a young age.

He was a member of Calvary Church in Lancaster and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by three children: Sarah J. Fleming, Pittsburgh; two sons David C., husband of Lindsay A. Fleming, Halifax, Nova Scotia; Bryan H. Fleming, Lancaster; two grandchildren Eliot and Grace; his twin brother Lawrence; brother Robert Fleming, Jr.; Douglas and William; three sisters Barbara, Linda and Beth.

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend Kenneth's Life Celebration Funeral Service at Calvary Church, 1051 Landis Valley Rd., Lancaster, PA, on Tuesday at 11:00 AM with Rev. David D. Allen, Jr. and Rev. Todd N. Nathan officiating. Interment will be in Witness Park, Lititz, PA . Friends may call at the church on Tuesday from 9:00 AM until time of service. Please omit flowers. If desired, memorial contributions may be sent to the Dr. Kenneth D. Fleming Memorial Fund c/o Mennonite Foundation, Inc., 201 E. Oregon Rd. Suite 103, Lititz, PA 17543-7440 for the development of support services for families of children with developmental, behavioral, and medical needs. Please make checks payable to Mennonite Foundation, Inc. Fred F. Groff, Inc.

USHAKA

2009-06-01T22:11:00.003-04:00

I've had a really rough day. My eyes are swollen and puffy because we lost our dear sweet Pediatrician, Dr. Fleming. I'll write more about it later - the funeral is tomorrow. I found out totally unexpectedly today because Piper was supposed to have a check up tomorrow. I am glad that I found out in time to attend the funeral. I am so sad - I just spoke to him last Wednesday, to get some advice about what to give the boys to help them sleep on the plane- he died on Thursday.

Anyway - to keep my spirits up- I looked up a "Sea World" type place we will be to going in Durban, South Africa. It looks awesome. Check it out!

http://www.ushakamarineworld.co.za/home.html

I can't wait and I think it's going to be really hard to only spend one day there - too much to see and do. So I will keep thinking about this and not that we lost our beloved irreplaceable pediatrician, or that a jet went down last night flying over the Atlantic Ocean or that an apostle and mission president were attacked and robbed in Africa over the weekend - No - I'll think about having fun in USHAKA while I nurse my sore arm from my tetanus booster that I was required to get today so I can go on this trip!!!

Corny Family

2009-05-12T10:02:00.007-04:00

Ainsley had a Family Tree project due a couple of weeks ago. She brought home a manilla poster paper and had to create a family tree. The only rules were that it had to be a kind of tree and that you had to write at the bottom, "We are a _____ tree because we like/are_______. And all the members of the family needed to be named on the poster. You could use what ever you wanted to decorate or make the tree.

Ainsley originally wanted to be an apple tree but there were lots of apple trees so I tried to convince her that we should be a popcorn tree because #1, that would be a beautiful tree - look like spring blossoms and #2 our family LOVES popcorn, we probably eat it 6 days a week. So she went with it. We drew out our brown tree shape and began trying to glue on the popcorn. It didn't work at all. Popcorn doesn't have enough flat surfaces to adhere properly. I could have used hot glue but it still seemed like even with that it was going to be a long and complicated project with a lot of burned fingers. I was disappointed because we had already come up with our sentence - "We are a popcorn tree because we are corny."

Ainsley then said she wanted to draw a squirrel on at the base of the tree because she liked the hole in the tree and knew squirrels would live there. Well that squirrel idea - gave me an idea. We could be an acorn tree!! We could still be corny and we could use fabric - my favorite. So I cut out the pieces and Ainsley glued them on the tree with Elmer's glue - less messy and less burns. The tree came out very cute.

Then Ainsley decided she wanted each person in the family to be a squirrel instead of us gluing on pictures or putting our names on branches of the tree. So Chase drew our first squirrel and the I copied his design to draw the rest. Ainsley colored them in. It was a fun family project and I think the end result was fabulous.

Enjoying the Weather

2009-05-08T08:58:00.005-04:00

This week has been nothing but rain. Sunday - Thursday RAIN. Calling for more rain this afternoon. At least there is a little sun this morning. I can't say I have totally minded the rain. It did give us a 5 day break from baseball. I love baseball but it can just be all consuming and I don't do well with dinner scarfed down every night before 5pm so we can be out the door to a game or practice by 5:15. (The kids only get home from school at 4.) The break was nice and now I have the energy to continue on.Last week we had some beautiful days. We sat outside on the patio and enjoyed Italian Ice and our new favorite -"Totally Fruit" by Musselmans. We like the peach. It's peach flavored applesauce with no added sugar. I've had unsweetened applesauce and you are usually wishing that it had sugar and are usually wondering why you are eating it. This is very sweet and all natural and I use it as a replacement for dessert choosing it over ice cream or cake sometimes.

Getting all wet.

We pulled out the sprinkler and let the girls try out their new bathing suits. This was Piper's first time doing the sprinkler and she had a lot of fun figuring it out. Figuring how far she wanted to go....how wet she wanted to be and how to control it.

It was a beautiful night and I am looking forward to many more of them to come.

Recent Completions

2009-05-06T11:16:00.004-04:00

I finished a few projects last month. It's been quite a while since I've sewn anything. I don't know where the time goes. I did finish an awesome quilt top (if I do say so myself) back in February. It was for my nephew who was born last July. I sent it off to be quilted by a long arm machine. When I get it back I'll bind it and then get a picture. Maybe Cash will get it by his first birthday.

In April I finally got some sewing time. This is a rag quilt that I tried to embellish by sewing on flower looking shapes and adding a button to the middle. The flowers are also ragged. This is one I plan on giving away. I really do like it but if I were to do it again there are definitely things I would do differently. I learned a lot from this quilt and I think I could really improve on the next one. But there are quite a few patterns on the list ahead of making another one of these so we'll see - someday.

Here's one I did for the silent auction at the Spring Festival at the kids school. The fabric only cost me about $7.50. I wonder what it will sell for? I don't even know if people at school would be interested in something like this. Although it makes a great baby shower gift. I guess we'll see if it's worth making another one next year. ***The down side of this one was that one of the black fabrics bled in the wash. I think it was the argyle one because the above quilt didn't run and that used the same black flowered fabric. I never wash my fabric first and I don't usually have a problem with it but this time I did. It's not terribly noticeable so I hope the new owner doesn't notice. I am making a quilt for MacGregor's teachers that is navy and white. I decided to wash all the blue fabric first. I'm learning.

This is the one I made for the church auction. It was supposed to be an all camp auction (YW camp, Boy Scouts and Cubs). But the youth really didn't get behind it so the leadership canceled. That left scouts up the creek without a paddle. Primary and Scout leaders had signed up to bring/make quite a few things already so we decided to have a silent auction table (not as fun) at the Ward Memorial Picnic this month to raise money for Cub Scout Day Camp.

This quilt cost me nothing to make - only my time. I used old jeans and an old denim dress. (I got tons of squares from that dress) and scraps from my stash. I love the look and the price of a scrap quilt and I do promise not to buy this one back like I did with the one I made 2 years ago.

Here are some close ups of the fabrics used this time. Do any of you recognize fabric from quilts I've done for you??

What to do with her??

2009-05-04T13:07:00.005-04:00

I honestly don't know what to do with this child. If she is not being watched she will find a way to mess things up, create a disaster. I have 3 other children - I'm busy. I don't have time to watch her every second.... but then this is what I have to face.

I was on the phone with the Bishop taking care of some rather important stuff regarding Primary. I was in the basement. Ainsley comes running downstairs and says "Mommy, mommy come right now and see what Piper has done!" I run upstairs, still trying to concentrate on what the Bishop is saying and find this girl with my make-up bag sitting on the living room carpet. Very upsetting - the carpet had lipstick and mascara ground in - my makeup was in pretty bad shape and the child's face looked like this...

The sad thing is that she really thought she was beautiful. Just look at this smile. She was so pleased. She thought that she had done what mommy does - put on makeup to be beautiful. She had done it all without a mirror though and when I showed her what she looked like her face fell and the disappointment I saw in her face was heartbreaking. Ainsley on the other hand was very confused as well - she said, "Mommy - she's not even pretty!!" She said this with a face that was so perplexed - Ainsley knew that when you put on makeup you should be beautiful and somehow Piper had put in on and it hadn't worked. She ended her statement though with this... "Well maybe her lips are pretty, but that's all!"

Here's another of her "out of sight projects!"

And this is just one of many many creations she has made on the walls of our home. We really need to repaint the entire house but part of me wants to wait until she is really out of this phase before we go to all that work. This is in the dining room.
And I know you all have seen these photos before but they go so well with this post that I am posting them again.

What do I do with this baby??

Little Artists

2009-04-20T16:35:00.004-04:00

I know I haven't posted in forever!! Been a bit pre-occupied with so much other on goings. So this will be brief - just a few pictures of some of the little artists in this family. More to come on the littlest artist. Some of her artwork seems to end up in the most inopportune places.

She insisted on wearing this hat inside.

She is so serious when she is "creating".

I don't have nearly enough pictures of him lately and he's going to be out of the house before I know it. Isn't he handsome?

He is such a big helper.

Although he can get so frustrated, like when she insists on coloring over what he just drew. :( Notice the hand covering a certain portion of the paper.

Pretty Baby.

Christmas Time Family Pics

2009-04-07T00:06:00.006-04:00

Christmas was so big and so busy with Daniel coming home and family coming to visit that I never managed to post much about it. I think it was just too overwhelming and I didn't know how to go about it. But I decided I would just post a few pictures of the family.

Here are Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Nathan just before they left on Jan 5th. They decided to take an adventure and they took the train to the airport in Philadelphia. It sure was an easy trip for me as well. The girls and I had a 10 minute trip to the Lancaster Train Station and a 10 minute trip back home. AWESOME!!

Uncle Nathan with the boys before they left for their first day back to school from Christmas break. No one at school knew that their Dad had made it home yet. They had exciting news to tell.

The girls with Biscuit.

Ainsley sure loves that dog!!

I didn't send out Christmas cards this year. I was really sad not to but I had to simplify because I was doing Christmas alone - no husband, no parents to help. I had to do all the baking, shopping, wrapping, parties .... all by myself. So I cut out Christmas cards. I had the best of intentions to get a family picture when Dan returned and send them out in January. I even bought coordinating outfits for the kids. Well this was our attempt at family pictures. NOT GOOD.

Attempt #1 - Piper - NOT happy!!

Attempt #2 - Much better - but Ainsley's behind my hair and MacGregor is falling over.
Attempt #3 Piper won't let me hold her upright. She is fighting me and leaning out. MacGregor again with the leaning.

Attempt #4 - OK, Yep, All Done - Can't take it anymore! Let's Go!

I think there was actually one more that I didn't look good in so I didn't post that one. Too Bad. Hope you'll all get a Christmas card next year!

A Lesson in Faith

2009-04-03T15:49:00.002-04:00

Last Sunday Lancaster County had an F1 tornado hit near Ephrata. I guess it was on the news and my aunt who lives in Maine sent me this email:

On Mar 30, 2009, at 8:52 AM, Eileen Gale wrote:

Hi guys -
Heard on the national news of a tornado yesterday - hope you're all ok and your homes faired alright through it............Eileen

This was my response and I thought that I wanted to keep this story for future generations so I am posting it here.

Aunt Eileen

Our house did fine although we stayed at our church building for an extra 15 minutes. We were getting ready to leave about 4:45 (our congregation is meeting 1:30-4:30 PM right now) and we noticed the black sky. The clouds were low and you could see dangling fingers and swirly rotation within. We went back into the building after we had loaded the kids in the car. No sooner than we got back into the building - the Thunder cracked BIG TIME. We watched the black clouds and listened to the thunder for about 10 minutes then the rain came - buckets and buckets with pea sized hail. The hail only lasted about 5 minutes - we ran to the car in the rain, but not pouring buckets, and drove home. There was a lot of water on the road but the rain got less and less as we got closer to home. My brother in law said they got diverted because Newport Rd in Lititz was closed due to downed power lines. They live just off Oak Street.

So scary but no major damage. Thank Heavens. The cutest story - as we drove home MacGregor asked if we could say a prayer. We asked him to say it. Shortly there after Ainsley said - Can God make the bad weather stop? Then MacGregor piped up saying - "We just said a prayer Ainsley, so I'm sure He's already working on it." Now that's FAITH!

Hope you are well.

Brittney

Still in the Sink

2009-04-02T14:53:00.003-04:00

Piper may be 2, closer to 2 and half really, and yes - she still fits in the sink. We often bathe our babies in the sink when they are newborns - even in the little bathroom sinks. One morning I was in a big hurry so I put Ainsley in my shower and decided I'd try to put Piper in the sink and get the bathing thing done all at once. It was a pretty tight squeeze and the faucet made little red marks on her back when she moved around and rubbed against it but we got it done and she actually enjoyed it much more than she does a shower. She's just a little pip squeak.

*sorry about the blurry pics - this girl can't stay still.

COLD CABIN

2009-03-30T08:42:00.009-04:00

Once again, I am a month behind. Back on the last day of February we took the kids to the cabin. I have never been there in the middle of winter - Never in the 9 years our family has owned the property. I am a big chicken. I HATE driving in winter weather and I am usually afraid that it will snow up there and we'll be driving in the bad weather either on the way there or the way home. And the ice... As a mother there's really nothing I fear more in the winter than a child falling through the ice on the pond. I have been hesitant to take my children up there in the winter for fear of someone falling in. AND - anyone with children knows how awful the "clothes on - clothes off" scenario is.

Times have changed and now they wear the one piece snow pant/bib set. The 3 older ones can get their own pants, boots, hats, gloves and coats on and off. That's a huge help. Plus they don't get all wet through 3 layers like we did when we played in the snow. We would wear long johns, jeans and sweats to keep warm and dry - but you never stayed dry and there were always so many wet things.

We had THE PERFECT DAY. It was sunny and about 26 degrees. But it didn't even feel cold if you were in the sun. In fact during the afternoon many of us took off our winter coats and just wore sweatshirts. Dan used an auger to check the thickness of the ice and at about 10 inches he stopped. You could still see down that it was probably another 6 inches thick. That calmed my nerves - as long as they didn't get to close to either end of the pond where the water is moving.
We left in the morning around 9 am. We arrived at the cabin after a couple of quick stops around noon. We left the cabin around 7 pm and got home a little before 10. A super long day packed with lots and lots of fun. We really couldn't have had a better day. MacGregor brought along his friend Nick E.
Lucky for us we found a net, several hockey sticks and several pucks in the basement of the cabin. And believe me - you didn't need official ice skates. We all had trouble staying on our feet just in our boots. Apparently it had rained a lot the day before melting a ton of snow in the area then over night it refroze - so it was like we had our own smooth ice rink. The entire pond was frozen except for a small area on either end. The kids had fun walking all the way to the dock and to "Bone Island" from the picnic grove. There were some big cracks in the middle of the pond and tracks from what looked like a car, tractor or 4 wheeler. Obviously some other people had been on the ice as well.
Even the girls wanted to play hockey. It was a lot of fun but MacGregor had hurt his sternum at a gymnastics party the night before. He had a much harder time playing hockey and sledding with the rough movements.

The Whole Hockey Crew!

(I really was there too but I took all the pictures and didn't end up in even one)

Ainsley and Piper perched on a rock.

We saw lots and and lots of deer tracks and even more deer poop (which we opted not to take a picture of) but no actual deer.
This was the perfect sledding hill. The snow here had not melted because it was in the shade but it was slick and crusty from the rain. We sledded all the way down and sometimes if you had a good push you went onto the ice and out near the middle of the pond.
Ainsley in "triple tree". We use this tree for photo ops every year!

Lost in contemplation!

Dan fixing the rock wall. We do little repairs every time we're up there. It's always shifting and moving.
Here is a batch of ice crystals in my gloved hand. We would find these under rocks in the dirt. I guess the water would drip down under the rocks and get caught in dirt crevices and then freeze into these beautiful forms. MacGregor wanted to bring them home but I told him they would never survive the trip.

Here's a view from the forest floor. It thought it was so beautiful as I was looking up while stretched out on a bed of leaves.

Here is the semi frozen creek. My kids love to play here in the summer splashing and romping along the rocks, building swimming holes. I thought these ice formations were really cool.

This is the water running out of the above ice formation.

This is the dam that is at the end of the pond near the house. It also had some very large very beautiful ice formation.

And here's one of my favorites. Right before we left as the sun was setting I snapped this. It's the area right in front of the dam. The area where the kids were NOT allowed to get near. I love this place - I really do. And I think I actually look forward to going again next winter, as long as I can be guaranteed a perfect day.

Homophones

2009-03-23T15:05:00.003-04:00

MacGregor had to do a project on homophones. I think his choices are so MacGregor and I love his drawings. Enjoy

Middle Aged

2009-03-17T19:02:00.004-04:00

I had a birthday about a month ago, back on February 19th.

TURNED 35!!!

I must admit that this one was a bit hard for me. Inside I still feel like the same 18 year old that just graduated from high school, although I've grown a lot and feel more confident in what I know I can do and accomplish. I'm more independent.

But outside - it's beginning to show. Although I still get the occasional - "I thought you were a teenager when I saw you walk into the school" from other mothers - I think that has more to do with my height. If you see me close up it's a little more obvious. The white hair around my cowlick that started growing in about 5 years ago, the fine lines around my eyes and mouth, the sagging eyelids and skin around my jaw, the spongy belly and rounded hips. How can this be? I don't feel old!!!!

I still feel like the same 23 year old that cuddled her first baby and wondered what in the world to do. Now if I had a baby - I'd be a candidate for genetic counseling since birth defects raise dramatically at the age of 35. Did this really happen? How did I get here? I was called to be Primary President last summer - Seriously? I'm not old enough to be President of anything - or so I thought.

Daniel took these pictures of me on my birthday. One day I'm going to look back and say - Look how young I look (at age 35)! Here are some of my emotions on the subject.

ANGER!! I DON'T WANT TO GET OLD!!

SURPRISE - HOW AND WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?

JOY -I wouldn't give any of the time back!

CONTENT - I wouldn't change a thing (OK maybe the spongy belly and rounded hips)

Sleeps in a Tent

2009-03-16T08:50:00.002-04:00

Piper sleeps in a tent every night now - and every afternoon. She thinks its really cool and I think it's a lot cheaper than a canopy bed. :)

It's always her Princess blanket that makes the tent and you have to know how to put it on exactly right or it won't stay. But hey - if throwing a blanket over the top of a crib helps your kid WANT to go to sleep - I'm all about that (not that Piper ever gives us trouble about going to bed - she is so easy that way!!)
She totally started to wake up with the camera flash going off in her pitch dark room. Oops.

Blue and Gold

2009-03-11T15:06:00.007-04:00

MacGregor had his Blue and Gold banquet a few weeks ago. We all attended and had a good time. Their theme was Patriotic/Presidential. It was the Red, White, Blue and Gold dinner.

One of the big activities was a father-son cake decorating contest. MacGregor had decided he wanted to do an American flag. That was a popular idea as it turned out, but each flag was unique. MacGregor received the award for the cake with the most "sparkle".

Notice that MacGregor's flag looks backwards, but Dan drew the outline of the flag. I think he has seen the flag patches on his military uniform one too many times. The flags on military uniforms are reversed, like you are looking at them from the back. I can't remember the purpose for this but I will look it up. If any one else knows, please feel free to enlighten us. This was another reason that MacGregor's flag was unique.

While the boys were doing the cake decorating they had the 11 year old scouts run some games for the siblings. Ainsley and Piper had fun doing the bean bag toss.

One of the feature presentations was spotlighting some of our former presidents of the United States. Each boy drew his president and read a few facts about him. MacGregor wrote his facts all by himself and memorized them for the big show. He chose George W. Bush.

You never know when a little painters tape will come in handy!

Sunday Hat

2009-03-08T19:07:00.002-04:00

Piper wore this dress/hat today for the first time. Ainsley had worn it when she was 2 but that was 4 years ago. Piper loved the hat and actually was happy to wear it to church. She had to hold it on with her hand because it really is way to big, but she looks darling all the same.

OVERGROWN

2009-02-27T15:26:00.005-05:00

Piper's hair was WAY overgrown. She was beginning to look like an orphan child. The cut had lost it's shape and her hair is so so so thin that it has NO body. I just couldn't stand it anymore.

Here are the before shots - taken at my birthday celebration. ( I really wished I had cut it BEFORE we took pictures at the party.... oh well)

Shapeless

Just plain scraggily

It got to the point that I couldn't stand it a minute longer. I sometimes have a friend of mine do it but this day - I took her into the bathroom, gave her a lollypop and continued to repeat the phrase "please sit still" and "just look at the door knob" about a thousand times. Not a professional job but not to bad either. At least now I can stand to look at her and NOT feel sorry for her.

AFTER:

These pictures were right after the cut and her hair had had not been washed yet. I need a few more pictures after it's been shaped up a bit. It really does look cuter and kinda chic and definitely has more body.

And The Winner Is...

2009-02-26T13:54:00.009-05:00

MACO

MacGregor won the Pinewood Derby. Last year (his first year) he got second place. This year he got first and the boy who beat him last year got 2nd. I guess those two just know how to make fast cars. He had a lot of fun building it but more fun racing it and seeing all of his friends cars too.

I think he named it "Firebird 2" or something similar. Chase had one a few years ago that used similar decals and I guess MacGregor assumed that Chase's was the first of the "Firebirds."

Watching with much anticipation.

Setting up. Making sure everything is just right!

The supportive family. (Dan almost looks like he's ready to conduct a baptism, hehe)

The WINNERS! #s 1, 2, and 3!

The whole gang.

After I finished putting this post together - I found this picture. This is "Firebird #1" AND "Firebird #2". Chase's is the gold car and the year he raced this car he won as well. Something LUCKY about those "Firebirds".

100 Days

2009-02-25T09:48:00.006-05:00

On February 11th Ainsley celebrated 100 days of school. Each person in her class had to come up with a "collection" of 100 things and display it on a poster board in a creative way. Ainsley chose candy hearts. We laid out the hearts on the poster board to make sure they fit and that we used 100 of them. Then we traced around our hearts in pencil. We then moved the hearts off the poster board and I put hot glue on our pencil line and Ainsley stuck all the hearts on. It worked perfectly except for the few that Piper pulled off and ate when no one was looking.

This picture was taken when the glue was still wet on the papers with the words. When it was dry there was no sign of the wet polka dots. Ainsley had a great time celebrating 100 days of school.

Here are a few more of her creations.

A bear necklace made at her Valentine's Party.

A couple more people wearing that "coat of many colors". That is a recurrent theme in her drawings.

When Piper Helps Make Cookies...

2009-02-17T14:32:00.005-05:00

It's always way more work than I want!

But as my mother always says "We made memories!!"

And those memories were worth it. I love you little flour!

Special Treasures

2009-02-15T18:48:00.009-05:00

You just can't save everything your child brings home or everything they draw especially if they are drawing 10-12 pictures a day (like Ainsley). I have a tough time getting things filed and half the time, even when they do get filed, they get folded or torn, start to yellow or the glue comes off etc... So I have begun taking lots of pictures. That way if I have to toss them (for my peace of mind) or if they get ruined in the process, we still have a record of these beautiful creations.

These are Ainsley's creations. I think this may be me with some sort of creature on my face. I think I am also borrowing "Joseph's" coat.

Here are some of MacGregor's school papers and a few drawings. I don't know how to load the pictures so that they can be enlarged when clicked. If anyone can help with that it would be very appreciated. I hope you can make out some of what he's written. I think he's so cute.
I think MacGregor is going to be a military strategist. He is constantly drawing battle scenes, whether they be Star Wars, or Navy Ships or Air Planes.
He's so insightful. And I'm going to constantly remind him of his #1 resolution!

I love him getting his picture with the park statue. I think it's so cute!!! ( I think we made them take to many pictures with statues on vacation last summer.)

Don't Want to Forget

2009-02-10T13:21:00.004-05:00

Lately the kids have said some cute things and I don't want to forget.... so I'm writing them down today.

Piper: climbing up in her chair at the kitchen table, picking up the lone paper plate on table "I wuv my plate, I wuv my plate, (as she hugs it to her face) I WUV MY PLATE!!

*******************************************************

Ainsley: (We were driving home in the car... ) "Mommy, why do people die?"

Me: Silence... I am now thinking which response to give, do I say old age, or accidents, or illness?

Ainsley: (noticing the silence - asks again in a new way) "Mommy, why do people die in a graveyard?"

Me: "OH - no they don't die IN the graveyards, they are buried in the graveyards after they die."

Ainsley: "Who puts them in there?"

Me: "The people who work at the cemetary."

Ainsley: with excitement "OH - Aunt Emily does!"

Me: thinking ... "what?"

Dan leans over and says "Seminary"

Me: "Oh" now I am thinking what is that poor girl imagining? ... that Aunt Emily and 14 teenagers from church are burying dead bodies at 6 o'clock every morning? The poor girl is going to be warped. She'll never want to go to Seminary.

**************************************************

Dan's cousin Michael spent a weekend with us. He was playing the game Guess Who. Piper was on his team and he was trying to teach her the concept of the game. He was trying to figure out if Piper knew the difference between a boy and a girl.

Michael: "Piper are you a boy or a girl?"

Piper: "A Dirl"

Michael: "Is your Mommy a boy or a girl?"

Piper: "A Dirl"

Michael: "Is your Daddy a boy or a girl?"

Piper: " My Daddy is CUTE!"

I am not sure where that came from, but we all laughed.

***************************************************

Tonight I was mixing some dried "chimichurri" spices with water, vinegar and olive oil. I was then going to pour it on the beef tips I was sauteeing.

Piper: "What doing Mommy?"

Me: "Making the sauce."

Piper: "The dirty sauce?"

I guess she thought the spices looked like dirt - comical!

*******************************************************

The other morning I opened Piper's door to get her up in the morning and she said, "Secret Password's Broccoli!" Ainsley will often require people to say a secret password in order to get into her room. The password has been broccoli before so I think Piper was trying to tell me that I needed to say the secret password in order to enter Piper's room. And the password was Broccoli. They learn too fast I'll tell ya!

Another new thing Piper is saying is - "Yes, I know." I said to her one day - "Piper, you look cool" and she responded - "Yes, I know." I was taken aback to say the least. How did she know how to use that phrase appropriately? Now she uses it all the time. I'll say, "Hey Piper, your show is on TV" and "She'll say, Yes, I know." or "Piper - the kids are downstairs playing" "Yes, I know". She's funny.

Some other funny things - her favorite show on TV is "Little Dinesteins" (Little Einsteins)

She says, Mommy - Fa Me. (Follow Me)

Nilk = Milk

She gets very excited about things and will say - WOW Chase or Yeah Dodo (MacGregor).

I know there are more things that I am not remembering at this moment but I am glad that I did take the time to post these so that we'll remember these when the kids are grown. I think that I'll never forget something so cute but alas our brains get so crammed that these cute moments get shoved aside and I do find myself forgetting these wonderful times.

Biscuit

2009-01-28T23:42:00.003-05:00

All Ainsley wanted for Christmas was Biscuit. She started asking for him back in October. Biscuit was a really big gift and I asked her if she would be happy if Santa ONLY brought Biscuit and no other toys. She originally told me she wanted Santa to bring other toys too. But as the weeks went on and she would see things she'd like - I would ask, "Do you want this more than Bicuit?" The answer was always NO. She really really wanted Biscuit!

(I love the innocence and literalness of children...on a side note... One day Ainsley came home saying she wanted a gameboy like her friend Courtney had. I asked her the standard question - saying that Biscuit and a gameboy were both big presents and Santa usually only brings one big present. She said, "No No Mommy - Gameboys are really little." AAHH - the innocence of youth!)

Back to Ainsley - She has always loved animals - all kinds - even bugs. She loves dogs and playing with other peoples dogs. Whenever asked if she has a pet - she always replies that her Dad and brother are allergic and we can't have pets. My mom told me that when they were living here for that month that Ainsley would crawl in bed with her in the morning. Then they would make up stories together each adding a little bit more one at a time. She told me every one of Ainsley's stories was about a little girl who couldn't have a dog because someone in her family was allergic. (So Sad!!) Biscuit is certainly a special gift for this little dog lover. And to tell you the truth - it's the best kind of dog there is. Very realistic, no need for vets, no food, no walking at night with a baggie. We are all loving this dog.

She even sleeps with this dog sometimes. It takes up more room in the bed than she does. This is how I found her the other night but I bet she couldn't be happier.
Sorry you'll never get the real thing Ainsley but it seems like Biscuit is a pretty good substitute.

She Was Supposed To Be Asleep!

2009-01-21T15:20:00.006-05:00

She's grown older and taller but she still has this need to line things up. It was at least an hour after she'd been put to bed and I had to go to the boys room for some reason. As I passed her door I heard some quite noises in her room so I peeked in. By the dim glow of her nightlight she had taken every plaything in her room and lined it up. That included a dried out wipe, a cardboard insert for a package of tights, paper with a list written on it, lots of play food, littlest pet shop animals, a baby doll and stuffed animals.

Oh Miss Ainsley.... I love you!

Snow

2009-01-19T22:32:00.007-05:00

We finally got our first real snow... the kind that actually covers all the grass and doesn't melt off the sidewalks and driveways right away. We didn't get much - two inches, three at most. It was so pretty watching it fall most of the day. Big fat fluffy flakes. My kids actually didn't beg to go out side and play in it, which I'm glad because they always make such a big wet mess in my laundry room and kitchen - and I mopped my kitchen floor and did many loads of laundry today. I know they will want to play out there tomorrow so I'll finish the laundry and make room for them. And I will try to keep towels down in my kitchen so I don't have black slush footprints all over my clean floor.

I'll enjoy the silence outside tonight too because it feels as if the whole world is muffled.

These trees belong to the house behind us. They grow on the diving line of our yards but I love them. I love them for their privacy and for their beauty and my most favorite is when they are covered with snow. I feel like I am in the Idaho forests when I'm only in my own back yard.

Band Concert

2009-01-17T16:49:00.005-05:00

On December 21st we went to Chase's first band concert. He's been playing the trombone for about a year and 3 months. The concert was much better than I thought it would be and you could really hear the trombone parts in the band. It was great!! I took a minute and half video with my still camera but apparently it's way to big to upload. Can anyone tell me how to compress the size of the video so I post it on here?

Chase had to get there a half hour early to warm up. I walked the halls of the school with Piper until the concert began so she would have to sit for the shortest amount of time possible. She liked sitting on this stuffed giraffe outside the school counselor's office.

I Spy

2009-01-15T08:46:00.004-05:00

I spy a cute little doll with a green barrette.

Piper and Ainsley are into making giant piles of stuff lately. Which is fine - if they would clean up after themselves and put it all away. I have found a pile of books which included all the new books anyone got for Christmas, plus all our magazines, catalogs and coffee table books. Another day I found lots of the clean laundry mixed with books, pillows and blankets piled high on the couch. Last night I found the trundle pulled out from under Ainsley's bed with every spare blanket from the closet piled high. AAAHHHH!!! I LOVE that they find things to keep themselves busy (something other than TV). But I HATE putting it all away. How do I deal with this?

This day they had collected EVERY stuffed animal in the whole house and made a giant pile of animals and babies.

Also - Piper has been so grouchy and defiant lately other times she can be so sweet and cuddly. I keep thinking she must be getting teeth or she's starting to get sick. Whatever it is...she's starting to earn a nick name around here - TWO FACE!!

Christmas Wreaths

2009-01-13T10:40:00.010-05:00

Yes it's January 13th and Yes, we made Christmas wreaths last night for FHE. Our sweet neighbor in Oklahoma used to make these for us every Christmas. This year I was really missing them so I called her and got the recipe. I had intended on making them the Sunday before Christmas but we made Peanut Blossoms instead. Then Dan came home early, Christmas and company and it just got away from me. We still had all the ingredients so we gave it a shot last night. We all loved them and I think it might be put on the annual "Christmas must have" list.

Marshmallow, butter, green food coloring and cornflakes

Piper liked eating red hots the most.

Lots of butter rubbed onto wax paper and fingers dipped into the butter.

Piper kept wanting to dip her fingers in the butter bowl. She would say, "Please pass the soup!"

You needed a little icing to make the red hots stick. The one thing I forgot was green icing in a tube, but don't worry - we had purple. We tried to hide it well. The icing was soooo hard to squeeze out of the tube. Maybe it had been in the cabinet too long.

Ainsley is saying - "Here Piper - I tried these red hots but they are WAY to hot for me - you can have mine"

See my red hots? I LOVE THEM!!

Pretty cute final result - huh?

**PS - notice the girls were wearing their Eagles outfits (so were Daniel and Chase who unfortunately didn't make it into any of our pictures) in honor of the BIG win on Sunday!!! "Fly Eagles Fly"

Seven Pounds

2009-01-09T22:24:00.002-05:00

Went on a HOT DATE with my hubby tonight, first one since he's been home. We went to Macaroni Grill for dinner and topped it off with this movie. Dan really wanted to see this movie. I hadn't heard of it but I like Will Smith. I didn't have even an inkling of what it was about.

Also, I think Will Smith is the best actor in the world. He is so versatile and it doesn't matter what kind of character he plays - he does it spot on. He is so good in this movie that you can see his feelings, his inner thoughts and turmoil. He is so believable! And from what I read and hear he is a super guy in real life too.

Back to the movie - it was really good if you don't mind needing a box of tissues. This movie makes you FEEL! You feel the gamut really - all that is happy and good and all that is tragic and sad. Everyone should see this... and you'll see the goodness of the human spirit. I love to see goodness in people and the love they have for each other. I want to be that way and in the midst of my busy schedule - I try. I know I could be doing more and I wish for the time and energy. I'll keep doing my best... by small and simple things - great things are brought to pass. So I'll keep making dinners, babysitting, making phone calls, writing letters, secret santa shopping, and donating to the causes. I believe in the goodness of people!

We're The Dancers!!

2009-01-08T23:45:00.002-05:00

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=99821905391&oid=36848793966&ref=nf

Dad Heard By Audience of Thousands

2009-01-06T20:31:00.003-05:00

For those of you who haven't seen it on Facebook or one of my family members sites, I really wanted you all to hear my father sing. He sung at one of the Sunday night devotionals at the Missionary Training Center while he was there. There were roughly 2300 people in the audience. He usually sings for Sacrament meeting (about 150 people). This was a whole new scale. He did such a wonderful job though - Here, listen for yourself.

http://www.divideasunder.org/africahelpers/comethoufount.html

He didn't sign up to sing at the MTC. He thought it was so lucky to be going to the MTC while his long ago friends were the President and the Mrs. of the place. Well I guess that worked against him a little because the Mrs. is responsible for musical numbers at the devotionals. She remembered all the songs she had accompanied him long ago when they were in the same ward. But just think how many people would have missed that wonderful Spirit if she hadn't of asked.

I did post it on Facebook and was able to have some great conversations with friends from high school about my church, what my parents are doing on their mission and some of my basic beliefs. Thanks Dad!

Oh And I asked my Dad if he thought the piano player would wait for Ainsley. I mean she will be 7 and a half when he returns from his mission!!

So Blessed

2009-01-03T14:05:00.005-05:00

For those of you who don't know .... Daniel surprised everyone and got home 2 weeks early. He had been telling me since the middle of November that he was going to see if they would let him come home in time for Christmas. I took his declaration with a grain of salt because he had made requests in the past, such as coming home for Piper's birth or being granted a week's leave for a board review course in the States, and the Army had never granted these requests.

As time moved on though he told me that Commander Shen was considering it. About 2 weeks prior to Christmas he told me that he would be coming home but we decided NOT to tell anyone. 6 days before Christmas he told me there had been some errors in paperwork and that it did not look like he would get out in time... I was very glad I hadn't told anyone or disappointed the children. It was Friday night or Saturday morning when he informed me that he had made it to Kuwait in time to get out on the last flight to the States before Christmas. I felt so lucky. I didn't know until Monday afternoon - (Dec 22) that he would be arriving at 6pm on Tues the 23rd.

The kids didn't know where we were going because we had been out running errands... by the time we got to the airport they were asking questions. I told them that someone had called the day before and asked if we could pick them up at the airport, that they were coming in for Christmas. So I told them that they should keep their eye out for someone familiar. They were happily surprised when they saw Daddy. In fact Piper did not want to be put down even for Daniel to grab his bags off the conveyor belt and she cried when we had to put her back in the stroller to go to the car.

We had an awful lot of fun surprising people. Daniel answered the door when Em and J arrived and when my aunt came Christmas morning. We had fun surprising people at his work and my family when we called my parents and sisters using the web cams Christmas morning. (I received a new camera for Christmas but can't seem to upload the pictures, so more pics coming later) Daniel's parents and brother arrived the day after Christmas so we've been busy visiting all week.

I am especially grateful that Daniel made it home safe. Two days after Christmas Daniel received an email from one of the doctors in his unit (the rest of his unit is due to be leaving Kuwait today). He informed us that a surgeon was killed on Christmas Day in a mortar attack at the base in Mosul, this was the base where Daniel served in 2006. It is in the middle of the city and receives mortar fire on a regular basis. I was grateful that Al Asad, where Daniel was stationed this tour was a much safer base. This surgeon was on his second tour as well, served his first in 2006 - just like Daniel. He was a top trauma surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital (so close to where we live). He had kids very close to the same ages we do 10, 8, and 4. My heart aches for this good man and his family. You can read more here:

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nysurg285979773dec28,0,2034058.story

http://www.army.mil/-news/2008/12/30/15474-tribute-army-surgeon-killed-in-mosul-christmas-day/

Also injured in the blast was Col. Shen (seen here at right) who was the commander instrumental in Daniel's early return. He was visiting the hospital in Mosul and received extensive shrapnel injuries to the lower legs. He is recuperating in Germany. I am reminded of how dangerous these tours can be and am so grateful that Daniel returned home safely.

Northwest Coastal Indians

2008-12-23T10:07:00.006-05:00

MacGregor had a project due last Thursday on the Northwest Coastal Indians, fishing and whaling. I think he did an outstanding job. He used a lot of things we had at home but we did buy a few things like green playdough and a "Toob" of indians. We had the whale and canoe at home but we had lost our indians from when Chase did a project like this. Gregor used toothpicks to make the spear and fish roasting rack. He used a mesh bag (that had play coins in it) to create the "weir" to stop the fish flowing down stream. We cut some pieces off of our real Christmas tree to create the forest. He cut out paper fish. He used clay to make the totem pole in which he incorporates a fish and an eagle. Chase helped on the eagle. In fact, Chase was helping a little too much and MacGregor was getting frustrated and saying..."This is MY project Chase." I told Chase he needed to be asked to help first. Incidentally, MacGregor said his was the "best" project (I'm sure there was no bias there) and that everyone in his class crowded around to see it. There certainly was a lot to see.

Front:

River:

Ocean - Whaling... whale pushing up through the waves and getting speared.

Back:

Here is his report:

Fishing and Whaling

By MacGregor Henrichsen

The Northwest Coastal Indians fished a lot. They used many tools like herring rakes, stone traps and dip nets. The hooks on their fishing poles were made of wood or bone. They would also use basket traps. Weirs are fences that go across the river so the fish can’t get by. The fish think they can jump it but before they do the Indians would spear them. They caught a lot of things like salmon, whales, seals, otters, clams, oysters, octopi, mussels, herring, codfish, halibut, shellfish, abalone, sea lions and limpets.

The Northwest Coastal Indians also went whaling. They went whaling because they needed oil from the whales’ brains. They used this oil to light their fires. Some Indians thought it was too hard to go whaling so they caught candle fish because they have oil too. They would use harpoons and spears to catch the whales. The spears were 18 feet long with sealskin floats. The blade was made out of mussel shell. That’s how the Northwest Coastal Indians went fishing and whaling.

Just A Little Bit Crazy

2008-12-16T23:19:00.003-05:00

Ainsley likes meat alot - especially "chicken bones" (this would be considered a turkey bone). But I think it's taking its toll - she looks a little CRAZED! More on thanksgiving in another post.

Cherry Crest Activities

2008-12-15T23:50:00.004-05:00

As I you can see, I haven't had time to post much these days, so this will be simple. These are pictures of some of the fun activities we did at Cedar Crest. Besides the animal area, the ducky races, and the bull riding, we also slid down the GIANT slide. There was a tube slide made of giant irrigation pipes and this open slide. The walk up the hill was grueling but the ride was worth it.

I thought I was going to pull Piper right over into my lane. We were going fast and I was sort of afraid for her life. But by the time we got to the bottom we were all smiles.

The Strasburg Railroad is only 3 miles up the road. It runs right thru Cherry Crest. We couldn't ride it from there but it sure was fun to watch it go by. We did get to take wagon rides pulled by a tractor. That was Pipers favorite part. We rode in little individual wagons all in a chain. When the ride came to an end, Piper did not want to get out of her wagon. She said, "Again Again".

We also got to use Giant slingshots to shoot mini pumpkins and tennis balls up a hill at hanging targets. We got to pan for gold in a makeshift river. The kids found arrowheads and fools gold and amethyst bits etc... There was a hay tunnel for the little ones that I had to crawl thru on my hands and knees following Piper (otherwise I was afraid she'd never come out) There were peddle carts on a track - like go carts but had peddles.

We loved riding the stick horses!!

There were also these GIANT jumping things. Like a trampoline but they come right out of the ground and slope around like half of a beach ball. They were so fun and much safer than a tramp that you can fall off of. They had a smaller firmer one for little ones but Piper didn't really want to stay on that one... it figures.

Then - The corn maze it self. It was very fun. Took us an hour but there were lots of stops inside with trivia and slides and rope obstacles. The theme this year was GO GREEN. All the trivia was related to alternative energy. It was great. There was an article in the paper shortly after we went. I'll try to to scan it in later.

Veteran's Day

2008-12-06T11:05:00.003-05:00

I've been meaning to post this. For Veterans' Day, Chase's class sent Daniel homemade cards. He hung many of them up on his wall along with artwork from our own kids. He literally has wall paper made from Ainsley's drawings and cards received. I imagine his room is among the most cheerful places on the base, which can be very monotone and drab.

He wrote a wonderful thank you letter to Chase's class and I wanted all of you to read it too.

Dear Class,

I want to thank all of you for making my day. All the cards and letters were very uplifting and helped me to have a great Veteran's Day. I want to let you know that the things that you write in your letters and cards really make a difference in the life and attitude of the soldiers that receive them. It certainly was a very pleasant surprise to receive such a large envelope full of well wishes. I have hung many of the cards on my wall along with some artwork from my children. These reminders help me to feel happy when I am so far from home and family. They really help me to remember that there are great people who love and support me in the great work I am doing. I will give an update on how everything is going over here in Iraq. I am located in the desert in the western portions of Iraq. Control of the area was recently given to the Iraqis and overall things are going very well. There really isn't much going on in the way of insurgency or warring. The hospital has not been seeing many war casualties at all (I am happy about that). Our mission is clear, but I feel that this war is really coming to an end (which I believe is good for everyone). Let me just say that I am proud to serve my country in the military. I am a better person for serving the country which has provided me with the greatest opportunities for success. The freedom that we enjoy today was paid for by brave, loyal, dedicated and committed young men and women in years past. Thank you again for thinking of me and providing me with moral support.

Take Care and Let Freedom Ring!

Cherry Crest Farm Animals

2008-12-05T08:40:00.007-05:00

Back on October 31st, the kids had off school. My parents were still here and we were looking for a corn maze to go through. We ended up finding this place online and it was only about 25mins away. They have a giant 5 acre corn maze but so much more as well. We only had a few hours but you could easily spend all day there. We decided we need to make it an annual event. For those who come visit us between July and October, lets add this to the itinerary!

We began in their animal section. I think we could have spent all day there but had to leave after an hour or so in order to have time to do all the other things. My favorite thing was the goats. I just love goats. They had teeny tiny baby ones, mid-sized ones and BIG ones. They also had goat food for sale at a quarter a pop. I think we must have spent $5.00 on goat food. It was so fun to feed them. Piper loved it too. They also had a big ramp the goats could walk up that led to a cat walk high above our heads. You could put the food in a little cup and spin the wheel which moved a little conveyor belt up to the cat walk. The goats would run up there and catch the spilling contents of the cup as it turned the corner and headed back down. The kids LOVED spinning the wheel - it was like driving a boat and the great thing about goats is that they eat EVERYTHING. Besides the goat food, the kids were putting potato chips, grass and fallen leaves in the cup. And the goats ate them all.

They also had sheep, pigs, bunnies and chickens. This little guy had found a hole in his fence and was letting us know that he could come out if he wanted to.

There was also a house of peeps. Just born peeps, some still in eggs under the warming lights. Piper and Ainsley could have stayed all day in there. I was a bit nervous letting these wildly excited girls hold a new born baby anything, let alone something as delicate as a chick, but for the most part they did very well.

Here's gentle Chase, cuddling it in the palms of his hands.

And here's Ainsley. While I am smiling at her and taking this picture I am thinking

- "Please don't kill that baby bird!"

Not all the animals we played with that day were alive. We also spent sometime on a bull. It was fun but hard to hang on, just ask my mom.

We also played with duckies - of the rubber persuasion. In this game each person had a water pump at the top of their track. The rubber ducky sat at the top in a dry track. Each person had to begin pumping their well to get water to wash their ducky down the track and across the finish line.

We really lucked out with the weather this day too. Very warm and sunny for Oct 31st. Because it was a Friday a lot of the other districts were NOT off school, so we lucked out that way as well. We didn't have to wait in line for anything. We only had about 4 hours to spend there but could have stayed much much longer. I'll post the other activities we did in another post.

Happy Birthday MOM!!

2008-12-03T09:02:00.009-05:00

I've been really bad at getting posts up lately. (I've been just a little busy.) But I must just post a little about my SUPER MOM!!

DECEMBER 2nd - HAPPY BIRTHDAY

MOM!!

Her birthday experience this year took place half way around the world only one day after arriving in South Africa. Luckily our friends in the church are like family and they had flowers, a cake and a "market" basket waiting (they don't do bags at the stores). She was also taken out for dinner to an Italian restaurant. (I guess some food is world wide).

We missed her here though. Mamaw is the BEST. She is sweet, loving, generous, and most of all - FUN. She genuinely loves people and does her best to show that love always. She gives of her time to anyone in need even when it's not convenient. I want to be like her and I often think of how she would handle a situation.

Brinn gave birth to a baby girl yesterday that will always share her Mamaw's birthday. Camilla Ann Rogers was born at 10:42am. 6 pounds 14 ounces. 19 inches long. Mommy and Baby are doing well.

I certainly wished I had taken more pictures when Mom and Dad were with us, but I just get caught up in living and forget to grab a camera and capture the moment. These were a few moments I did catch in the month before she left.

Times of Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T08:33:00.009-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I have been thinking about assembling a List of things that I am thankful for and publishing it for some time now, but I would like to make some qualifications prior to everyone reading and acknowledging it. It (the list), by no means, is a comprehensive, or an all-inclusive list. It's just a list of things that have crossed my mind this Thanksgiving.
I am grateful to be alive and well today. I am thankful for the knowledge and witness of an all powerful and merciful God who sent his Only Begotten Son to conquer death and sin and establish a way for the imperfect (including myself) to become perfected to a point where there can be a mutual dwelling. So grateful I am for prayer. I have felt the power that comes from prayers offered on my behalf which not only have uplifted and inspired me, but have kept me safe and protected in times of peril and danger. Thank you to all who have offered thoughts and words of prayer in my behalf. Probably one of the things for which I am most thankful, and which occupies my thoughts and prayers daily is my beautiful and loving wife, Brittney. Lady, you are (I know that I have said this in other places, but it is absolutely true) the best thing that has ever happened to me. I thank God for you everyday of my life. Thank you for the Love, which you so freely give me, for the support and direction, which you unselfishly offer me, and the purpose which you provide for my life. You are the Best! Gratitude fills my heart for my children and the happiness they make me feel. I am so blessed am grateful to have parents who loved and provided for me and tried to teach me the right way to live. Thank you for your counsel, support and love. I am thankful that my sister Emily and her husband J live near my family and me. They are a blessing to us. I'm grateful for family and friends who care for me and look after my family while I am away. I am thankful to live in a free country and to have the opportunity to be educated and fulfill my dreams. I'm so thankful for those who sacrificed what they had so that this country could be what it is today. I am grateful for my partners at Conestoga OMS and for the great individuals they are. I feel very lucky to have great staff and assistants to work with as well. Thank you for letting me be a part of your lives and for dealing with my quirks. I am grateful for hot pecan pie and pralines and cream ice-cream (yum). Chase, Maco, Ainsley and Piper thanks for making me smile and giving me happiness that lasts forever. I love and miss you so. I am thankful for a wonderful relationship with my wife's parents. They have affected our lives (Britt's and mine) for good and have always been of great support. I am thankful for the ability to fish and be surrounded by the beauty of this great Earth. I'm grateful for my home and for the fact that it won't be long until I return to its comforting confines. I am thankful for the scriptures, the priesthood, the Holy Spirit and the instruction, the stewardship and the answers that they bring. I feel a great deal of gratitude to the Lord for giving me the opportunity in the past of working with Young Men in the Lancaster 3rd Ward. Thank you for enriching my life with your greatness. I am grateful for those who take time to validate my posts by leaving messages. I am even grateful for those who do not as well. I am thankful for Thanksgiving. Again, let me remind you that this is not an all-inclusive list, because there truly would not be enough room to express my gratitude for all things. I am thankful for YOU. Take Care, and be good!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

2008-11-23T22:08:00.004-05:00

Can it be? Can she really be 2 already?

Her Daddy's post was so touching and I can't really compete with the sentiment of that, but I can show him some of the highlights of the day. I am so sad he is missing this time in which she changes so rapidly. But he is right when he says she brings a smile to everyone's face. She is the most pleasant baby, fun and happy, social and caring. She's certainly one of a kind and I am so glad to experience life with her.

Blowing out her two candles. She blew them out all by herself. I should have put three of them on because when you ask her how old she is she says - 3 old. They're always in a hurry to grow up, aren't they?

We had lots of fun with party hats.!

Sometimes 2... do I look like a medieval princess or a bull?

The whole gang!

Em and J hosted dinner at their house. It was great! I had had an extremely busy weekend with a Primary Activity Day which included practice for our program on Saturday. Saturday night I had shopping and a sharing time to prepare. Sunday we woke early to get to church near 8 am to get ready for our performance. It was AWESOME. All the kids did so well, except Ainsley who would not say her part. She and the Sunbeams. Oh Well maybe next year. She knew it by heart, said it everyday for me at home.

Anyway - after a busy weekend I was glad to go somewhere else for dinner. I think the kids were too.

She got a beautiful card from her Daddy. Chase read it to her and she listened to every word. It got me all choked up.

She got some new piggy jammies. I was surprised that she was so happy about them. She said, "Oh NightyNight. Pigs." She wanted them unwrapped and tags off immediately.
Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Roy sent her a cute picnic set with a little radio. She loved it!!
She also got a Mrs. Potato Head. She had lots of fun putting purses, high heels and "crazy eyes" on her potato.
She also got some helium balloons which included Elmo. I wished my video camera had been on when saw them. She started bouncing them around like they were punching balloons and her hair was completely full of static but she had the biggest smile.

Overall I think it was a super fun birthday. The only thing that would have been better was if her Daddy could have been here too.

Happy Birthday Little One

2008-11-23T17:08:00.004-05:00

Little One, it now has been two wonderful years since you officially came into my life. I am so sorry that life has now made it so that I have not physically been there for two of your three birthdays during that time. Every time I see you I have a special feeling in my heart and it always makes me smile. You have the talent of making me laugh and filling my life with happiness. As you eat cake and ice cream today I want you to know that your Daddy is thinking of you and hoping you feel great and that you feel all the love I have for you. I can't believe you are already two years old. Growing up to fast you are. I look forward to being reunited with you soon and having some special time together, reading books, playing with toys, running around the house and of course...fishing. I hope that our journey through this life never has us apart again for your birthday when you are a child. You are so precious and you really complete our family. I wish you the happiest Birthday! I love and miss you so much, Piper. You are such a fantastic baby (little girl)! See you soon, little one.
Daddy

Gobble Gobble

2008-11-16T23:40:00.002-05:00

Daniel received his Thanksgiving pillowcase. It took 2 weeks to get there which was the longest it has taken so far. (His quilt arrived in 4 days.) I think it's just nice to have a change of scenery and it shows him how time is passing. Pumpkins have turned to Turkeys.

"Ba'gobble gobble"

Sweetest Guy Ever!!

2008-11-13T21:29:00.006-05:00

My husband is so thoughtful and sweet. Monday morning I drove my parents to the airport so they could begin their 2 year mission in Africa. We left the house at 4:20 AM. The day before had been very emotional as we hosted a little goodbye dinner for family. As each person left and I watched the goodbye emotions, I also got choked up.

I am happy for my parents and know they will do a great job. If any of you want to follow their adventures over the next two years you can link to their blog from mine. They will be working under the Area Presidency (instead of a mission president) of the Africa Southeast Area. They will reside in Johannesburg, South Africa but will travel to the other countries in the area where the Perpetual Education Fund is currently opera

tional. The were called as PEF specialists.

Anway - back to my sweet husband. He knew Monday was going to be a tough and emotional day for me. Monday afternoon I was just about to lay down for a nap and a knock came to the door. I peeked around the corner but didn't answer it. I didn't feel up to company. I peeked around again trying to see who it was. I finally saw an outline of an older woman I didn't recognize. I thought it was the Jehovah's Witnesses because they like to stop by and give me literature. They know I am always nice to them. After the second knock I said, "What the heck?" and opened to the door and to my very pleasantly surprised face saw these beautiful flowers is this gorgeous blue vase from my dear husband with the sweetest card.

Thank you Daniel. I love you so much!!

HALLOWEEN 2008

2008-11-12T22:04:00.007-05:00

I have so many Halloween pictures that I have been dreading this post. But now that it's mid November already (unbelievable) I think Daniel has waited long enough to see the kids in their cute outfits.

Here's Chase as an authentic soldier. His helmet, goggles, and holster are all of Daniels gear from last tour that they have since upgraded and issued new. His uniform was a Christmas gift in 2006 complete with stitched name badges. We were lucky that still fit, probably the last year though.

MacGregor was a clone trooper. He got this voice changer helmet for his birthday last summer. Even though the costume came with a plastic mask, he insisted on wearing this oversized head. It was very hard for him to see as he was walking up and down peoples' porches. He kind of looks like a dwarf with this on but whatever makes him happy. He loves posing.

Everyone knows how I feel about Halloween costumes. (I really don't have the energy for them and I hate spending a lot money on something they will only wear once.) So Ainsley's costume this year was a total blessing. We found it in my sister Brinn's closet in my parents house when my mom was packing up before the move. Thanks Brinn, hope you don't mind. The costume was adult size so I had to hem the skirt. I just hand tacked the bottom of the skirt to the elastic waist band basically divided the skirt in half. Then we added the turtle neck and I think she turned out to be a Beautiful Cleopatra. And since it was adult size we can keep adjusting the dress to different sizes. Do you think Ainsley would be OK being Cleopatra for the next 7 years?

And here's our LITTLE LAMBY. She was Lamby last year but since I did buy her costume from a catalog, I made sure it was big enough for at least 2 years. (You have to get your money's worth.) I think she actually looked cuter this year in it than last.

They are all so cooperative. It was impossible to get a decent picture!

Halloween was a Friday this year and the kids actually had off school. We spent the day at Cherry Crest Adventure Farm. It was AWESOME - and it will be a post all on its own. Coming soon I hope. We plan on making Cherry Crest an annual event.

We got home from the farm around 6:15 pm, threw in some frozen pizzas, got everyone ready and walked our street (of which only about 1/3 of the people were home or had candy sitting on their porch). It was OK by me. Because we don't get many kids on the street, most people give out several candy bars or a full size one. The kids certainly got enough candy and I didn't have to walk all night long. It was perfect. We came back from trick-or-treating, ate dinner then took the boys to a Halloween party. We then settled in and watched our new favorite series, "Crusoe" the pirate show on NBC. It was a perfect Halloween...really.

We also had a "trunk-or-treat" at our ward building two days before Halloween. I honestly think the kids had more fun there. The youth did games in the gym. Here is Ainsley catching something great on her fish pole. They also had one of those hidden bowls full of eye balls (grapes), a brain (mold of elbow macaroni) and intestines (spaghetti noodles). Ainsley would NOT even go near it!! It was so funny.

Shaving a balloon. I was a little horrified that they were letting the kids play with razors with real blades. I mean they were holding very slippery balloons - Ainsley did not pop hers. I was making her be too careful.

The boys were in heaven hanging out with their friends. They have such good friends in this ward. Good Kids!!

With Aaron M.

With Taylor R. (as Legolas the Elf but he wouldn't wear his blond wig)

With Carter H., Nick E. and Brady B.

Ainsley even found a few friends - OK it was just Aunt Emmy and Uncle J. It's so fun to see them at ward activities.

With our good witch friend - Rachel P.

OK here's the funniest thing about that night - It was supposed to have been outside and people were supposed to have decorated their trunks. We had a real cold spell so it ended up being inside. I had not decorated our house this year because our boxes were still pretty mixed up since we finished the basement. I happened to find the Halloween box earlier in the day so I grabbed the whole box and brought it with us. Every classroom was already taken by the time we got there so we ended up in the big primary room. We just haphazardly put the decorations up on the podium - no rhyme or reason. Here's Dad pretending he was giving a primary talk amongst the all the decorations that remind us of the day of the dead. Nice Huh?

Dad stayed and passed out candy and I took the girls around to all the upstairs rooms and activities - (We have a weird building layout - the primary room and nurseries are downstairs, but all the other classrooms, the gym, RS room and chapel are upstairs.) When I came back at the end of the night my dad said someone had come down and given him this:

YEAH BABY!!! WE WON!

(I don't think anyone else had any decorations.)

Days in the Desert

2008-11-09T06:34:00.008-05:00

My wonderful wife instructed me to include more pictures and to show some of my friends in the pictures. My boys have petitioned for some pictures of some of the aircraft that I see, so as to make all happy I will include a few photos for everyone's personal enjoyment.
In this picture I am sitting next to Will Smith who is an ER doc and sitting next to him is Mark Passamonti who is an Internal Medicine doc. Mark and I met in September in Atlanta and have kept in touch since that time. He is somewhere near Baghdad now and we only communicate via email. He's a great guy and is a lot of fun to be around. Will works in Jackson Wyoming and is an outdoor enthusiast. He has heard of my friend and colleague Dr. Scott Larsen, of Larsen Family Dentistry, but does not know him personally. The next photo is of one of our biking adventures.
With me are a dentist, general surgeon and an ER doc. Our friend the internal medicine doc was taking the picture. We are standing in front of the wadi which is the source of much of the wildlife in the area (snakes, lizards, hyenas, jackals, rodents, birds, etc...).
You will notice a picture of camels as you scan this post. The camels are from Kuwait and the picture was taken through the window of a moving bus. So in all reality, it came out pretty well. We saw these fine specimens after we had fired our weapons and were on our way back to the base for breakfast.

The next few photos are of downed aircraft. The first is a Russian MIG and has my friends HP (General Surgeon) and DS (Internal Medicine) standing near the plane but not close enough to be in any danger.

The photo where you see Man, is a downed US jet. I was told that you can tell it is a US jet because the flags are cut out of the tails on US aircraft. I know its very difficult to see, but trust me that there are holes where the flags once were.

I want everyone who lives and breathes in the US to take three minutes and ponder on the fortunate circumstances in which you find yourself. You are able to choose much of your own destiny and have rights that hardly ever get infringed upon. The US is the best country in all the world, and even if your candidate did not win the election you still had the opportunity to have your voice heard. Do what you can to be a better citizen in your community and reach out to your neighbors and offer a helping hand. Do your part to continue this Country's great legacy. Choose the right and remember that in keeping the commandments there is safety and peace.

TROUBLE!!!!

2008-11-08T15:58:00.007-05:00

This girl is Trouble with a Capital T!!!!

Markers and Lipstick are her vice.

These pictures were taken this summer. My good friend lives across the street from her neighborhood playground. We were sitting in the grass in her yard. The girls were playing at the playground just across the street. Piper was sitting for the longest time on the sidewalk with her back to us playing with something. I thought she was digging in the mulch. Ainsley needed to go the bathroom and I didn't want to leave Piper outside by herself so I walked across the street and this is what I found:

Someone had left a little girl's purse (probably a 7 or 8 yr old's) on the sidewalk. Inside were little containers full of play makeup. The thick waxy kind that doesn't wash off easily with water.

This next picture was taken just after Dan left. Ainsley had been watching TV in my room. Piper went in to join her. I must have been doing something in the basement because Ainsley came running frantically to find me. She told me that Piper put lipstick on her face. It was all over her face, hands and my carpet. Luckily our can of 'SpotShot' got it out pretty well. The lipstick was trashed and Piper has been banned from my room and my bathroom except for certain punishment occasions - **see further down the post.
We do not allow markers down anymore. We keep them in containers that are immediately put up after use. This was a few weeks ago - before we had the marker rule. Ainsley is always drawing and therefore leaving her markers/crayons/colored pencils unattended. Piper is always borrowing them to draw on her self or the walls or the freshly painted french doors or her big brother's homework (that they should be putting away when they are finished but alas they often leave it on the kitchen table).

We were getting ready to go somewhere when I found her like this. She had been wearing a skirt or shorts. We quickly found pants to hide this mess. Didn't want the public to know what a bad mother I was. - (this has happened many times - I only managed to get it on film a few)

And here is our latest. I told Daniel that I will never exercise again. I hardly ever do - I don't really enjoy it but I had 30 mins before dinner the other night and of that 30 min., 15 of them had not been spoken for. So Ainsley was drawing with the strict instruction to clean up after herself, Piper had been whiny so I put her in front of Elmo in the living room, MacGregor was practicing the piano, and Chase doing homework. I ran down to the basement for 15 mins on the eliptical before I had to make a salad for dinner. A few mins later, MacGregor joined me. I told him that maybe he wanted to bring down the baby - he said no, she was watching Elmo. A few mins later after that Ainsley came down the stairs looking for someone to play candy land. MacGregor agreed to play. I never even thought of asking Ainlsey if she had cleaned up. I finished on the eliptical - my mom had just walked thru the door from being gone all day - she came down to the basement. My dad had been working on his computer, he walked down the basement steps with a smirk on his face. I thought he had overheard me telling a funny story about him to my mother but then he rounded the corner with THIS:
I was going to crop this picture but I think my face is important. I am so tired of this girl and her colored face/body. She is my extreme child. She is an extremely good sleeper. Goes down without a fight. Loves her bed - requires no complicated routine. Put her in bed, cover her up, turn off the light, shut the door. We never hear a peep. But when she's awake - watch out world. You need to have your eyes on her at all times.

My mom ended up making the salad and I took Piper to my bathroom and put her in the shower. She DOES NOT enjoy the shower. I scrubbed and scrubbed the washable (haha) marker from her face and hands. The face came off reasonably well - just left a pale shadow. The hands were still quite dark. It is fading but it still offers us a constant reminder to keep the markers high.

So Daniel - I think I'm done exercising - it just isn't worth it!

We've Been Crafty

2008-11-07T23:11:00.005-05:00

We've been pretty crafty lately.

I have worked on a quilt for my sweetie for the last month. He is only issued a sleeping bag and sleeps on a 2 inch foam mattress. That does not sound homey or comfy or snugly at all. So I made him a quilt so he can wrap up and snuggle and feel warm and cozy and loved. Feel like home. I made it in army colors so it still feels like issue and doesn't stand out too much. I used cotton on the front but flannel on the back. I tied it because I was very short on time. I sent it last Saturday morning. He had it by Wednesday morning. Now that's service!!

Front -

The pattern is an original design by on of my favorite quilt shops in Tunkannock called Endless Mountain Quiltworks. The pattern is called Pennsylvania Polka.

Back

Close up of fabric. Army jeeps in black and tan. Brown camo for the binding.

Up close - showing back and binding.

Ainsley has also been crafty. She brought home a large piece of card stock with a turkey drawn in pencil. Her assignment was to decorate it any way using any thing she likes. We chose what? Fabric - of course. I love scraps. She picked each fabric she wanted to use. We had traced the turkey on parchment paper and cut out each piece. She then taped the pattern on to the scrap of fabric and my mom or I cut it out for her. She then took a paint brush and some watered down Elmers glue and brushed each piece with glue. We helped her find the right spot to glue it down. Fun project! Cute Turkey!

Cute Girl!

Chase also has been crafty. He made a little book type thing in art class. Each class was given a quote. The kids then had to decide how to depict the quote. The out side was a thick heavy cover.

It was then folded into three sections. The back cover was thick and heavy again.

The quote that Chase's class used was,

"May the sun in his course visit no land more free more happy more lovely than this our own country."

Chase chose to use the letters - U S A. Each letter had a picture within it. He also added a peace sign. I think he did an awesome job. I love his soldier. It reminds me of someone very special. The following shows a close up of each of his letters.

Update from the Field (Desert)

2008-11-06T09:47:00.016-05:00

Hello to everyone. Life in the desert is cruising along as the summer heat bids us goodbye and the rainy season commences. I am not sure how much rain is expected in the rainy season in Iraq, but it seems to me to be less than what a normal Pennsylvanian would expect during March and April. It has rained hard here and for a good bit of time, but still never for days straight or consistent downpours or steady rain. This area had its greatest amount of rain right in the middle of the Marine Corp Marathon...so much that they had to cancel the race in the middle. My CHU (containerized housing unit) is located in the middle of a stretch of CHU's that happens to be situated at the lowest portion of a field and there is an embankment that is directly behind it. So, you have already guessed what happens when it rains here.......the area surrounding my CHU gets flooded.

As you can plainly see in the pictures, when this flood occurs there is no place to go. All the drains in the area were clogged and the water did not go away for most of the day so in order to get to lunch or dinner I had to put on my chemical suit water proof boots and walk really slowly until I was out of the lake. I received many strange looks as I arrived at the cafeteria (DFAC), and it was obvious to me that the majority of soldiers were not stranded in a lake in the middle of the desert. I carried on, because, I rarely am swayed by peolples' looks or thoughts about what I look like or what I am doing. Lunch was a success and I returned to my CHU without incident. I found out that many of my stranded colleagues had rolled up their pants and waded through the cesspool in their bare feet..Yuck! It was pretty nasty and I was glad that I had my boots. Now, what I did not tell you was that at about 5am in the morning I was awakened to the sound of Drip, Drip, Drip. My room was dark but I could tell that the dripping was coming from somewhere very close to my bed. I dashed to the light switch and sure enough there was a leak in the ceiling dripping down right on my sleeping bag and bed. Great! I exclaimed and hurried to move my bedding and bed out of the way. I then had to run down the CHUway to get a bucket to catch the water that was beginning to flow into my CHU. After I got the bucket down I had to completely rearrange my room and essentially clear out the back half of it because of all the water that was in the area. I had some worries because the water was coming in through an electrical box of all things...yeah an electrical box. It ended up that I had no issues and thank heaven that nothing shorted out and no one was shocked or electrocuted. I can just imagine the headline..."Military Doctor Electrocuted in Living Space...First Death at Al Asad in Months".

Here are a few shots of the leak and the bucket on the floor. Eventually the rain and the leak stopped and I was able to get everything cleaned up. I then spoke with the assistant Mayor (the person who is in charge of the CHU area and any issues therein) and he basically informed me that no one was going to do anything about the leak and that I would have to keep a bucket under the area if it rains again. I guess I was not to excited about that but I couldn't do anything else so that's what I did.
A couple of days later I saw some workmen walking through the paths in front of the CHUway that had caulking in their bucket. I stopped them and asked if they were sealing CHUs with the caulk and they indicated in the affirmative so I informed them of my CHU and they let me know that my CHU was their first stop and it had already been sealed. They also said that there was a large crack in the seal that was up there and everything should be dry from here on out. I was pleased and went to my CHU to find that the box had commenced leaking again. Now it has since stopped and I have had no other leaks and thoroughly expect none from now on.

I have had the opportunity to ride a mountain bike a lot here at AL Asad as a way of Physical Training. There are some really great views here as well. I'll include a few pictures of the rides and some others (like my Halloween Costume....Thanks Shana) for your personal enjoyment.

The scorpion is one that stung a worker here and was then captured and brought to the EMT (ER). It was given the name "Kitty" and identified to be an arachnid that is not too dangerous. The reason that it looks so cool is that it is being held next to a black light and it is fluorescing. The other picture of the palm trees and the sun is near an area called Abraham's Well. Just plain beautiful.
Send me an email, or if you're feeling adventurous, send me a package of goodies and say hello. I hope all Y'all are doing well and have enjoyed a little info about Al Asad. The war is going very well, so well in fact that there is hardly any surgery to be done. I am grateful for that fact. It appears that one third of the deployment is already accomplished, just two thirds to go (probably 2 months). I hope to hear from you soon. Take great care and choose the right.

Rockets

2008-11-04T11:23:00.011-05:00

A couple Sundays ago, we had a family dinner at our house. My brother, Brian, and his family came down. He has recently gotten into the rocket hobby. He takes his boys out once a week and they shoot off rockets. Brian brought along his collection and we went down to the end of our street to an empty lot and set them off. It was REALLY fun. The kids loved it and it also kept the adults plenty entertained.

The set up.

The kids were more than happy to run and retrieve the rocket parts that fell within two hundred yards all around us. The parachutes did not work for the rockets so the pieces fell rapidly in all directions. Brian jokingly asked if anyone wanted to go skydiving with him. My Dad said not if Brian was packing the shoots. Funny.

The crowds that gathered to watch.

AND AWAY!!

Happy kids with Rockets.

Our dear friend Luis Cuevas was on a business trip to Fredrick, MD and made the drive up for dinner with us. He moved to our neighborhood in Oklahoma from Chile in 2002. His wife and elementary/middle school aged children did not speak any English. Dan and I really got to use our Spanish often. Our families became very close. The boys loved going to their house for noodle soup and banana milk. Ximena, Luis's wife, would watch MacGregor for me twice a week so I could go into the schools and tutor the native Spanish speakers. There were quite a few migrant worker's children at the school as well. We loved this family. They moved to Washington State about a year and a half later. Ainsley was only 5 months old and I was so sad that she wouldn't grow up with a memory of the Cuevas family. Ximena LOVED baby Ainsley.

They have lived in WA for the last 5 years and this is the first time we have seen any of them in that time. Their middle schooler leaves on his mission tomorrow. Their elementary students are now 14 and 17. Wow how time flies. It was so fun to see Luis and I hope we can see them all again soon.

Can't Wait for My Turn!

2008-11-02T23:14:00.003-05:00

Our little Piper loves to wear back packs like the big kids. She loves to "GO". And will ask you, Go? Go? if she know you are leaving and she doesn't want to be left behind. She will go get her shoes and socks and start putting them on all by herself. It is the sweetest thing.

She waits for the kids and watches out the windows for them to come home. She loves to walk down to the bus stop and greet them from the "coolbus". She gets so excited and yells their names and runs to them for a hug.

She's ready to go.

Watch out world. She's reaching for the door.

My Family

2008-10-31T03:39:00.004-04:00

As a soldier in Iraq, I find that each day hinges on when I can communicate with my family. I have to say that I am very fortunate because of modern technology. I can speak with my family on the phone, via computer, iChat, Skype, and via IM. I can only imagine what happened decades ago as servicemembers wrote and waited for mail. There certainly wasn't opportunity as there is today.

My family means so much to me (as does everyone else's) and I just want to express that in a few brief words. You (my family) bring me peace, joy, happines, excitement and promise. You are my accomplisment of which I am most proud. I find it very hard to have to wait another 2+ months to be able to hold you again, but I take courage in the fact that we are already 1/3 done :) I made a collage of our pictures and wanted you to see how awesome it is. I Love you so much!
Daddy/Daniel

Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-31T01:29:00.007-04:00

I think my kids favorite family tradition of the year is pumpkin carving. (A close second is probably making sand tart cut-out Christmas cookies.) They love the designing involved. They loves knives and they love fire. So it's pretty much the greatest.

You'll have to bear with me because there are ALOT of photos. I just couldn't bear to leave any out especially since Daniel wasn't here to see all the fun.

We started out with the scooping.

Piper was sure to point out which pumpkin was hers.

After the scooping came everyone's favorite part: Barfing up the guts. Why is this so fun? I'm not sure but it is. Try it!

Ainsley says she was barfing but it looks more like eating to me. Maybe she's a puppy. They do both.

And if you think this game is just for kids? You're wrong. My Dad couldn't wait to get in on this game. He told the kids, "Look at the Master, watch and learn."

Piper did NOT like Papaw's new look. She stood there very concerned and said, "Papaw chin, Papaw, chin"

After all the barfing - we laughed and laughed.

Then we actually got around to some cutting.

We admired our works of art, each behind their own design.

A close up.

Then we used fire - and we watched them glow. We put them on the porch and let them burn all night til their candles went out.

Happy Halloween!!

Applesauce

2008-10-30T17:15:00.007-04:00

We made homemade applesauce 2 weeks ago. We went to a big farmers market and found a half bushel of apples for under $9. We used a mix of jonagolds (sweet) and stamen winesap (tart) apples. The best part was that my mom had had dinner with a friend the night before and when she found out we were making applesauce the next day she let us borrow her "Victorio Grinder". We didn't have to peel or core the apples. We just cut them in quarters and started cooking them in a little water. We added a bit of sugar and let everything cook down.

When it was cooked to mush, we poured the whole pot full of mush, peels, seeds etc in the funnel of the grinder. We took turns turning the crank.

It was kinda rough in spots. I think I better start working out!

As the mush runs through the grinder, the peels and seeds go one way and the sauce squeezes thru the holes and drips down the ramp into the pan.

Then we ladled the sauce into our jars and put them in a water bath.

Oh the smell was heavenly. I couldn't get enough!!

Aren't they beautiful? And sooo tasty! It really wasn't so hard. We made 19 pints. Couldn't buy 19 jars of applesauce at the store for $10. And oh the taste is unbeatable! I need to have the confidence to do this when my mom isn't here. And I think I definitely need a Victorio Grinder.

3 Sundays Down - 11 More to Go

2008-10-29T22:30:00.003-04:00

Dan has actually been gone 4 Sundays but I won't count General Conference Sunday because I didn't have to get the kids ready and out the door early.

This was the first Sunday. My parents were out of town and I had to get everyone up and ready all by myself. We made it. MacGregor looks like he just woke up. Ainsley's hair is hurtin a little, but we were seated before the meeting started (at 8:30 AM).

M and J take one child each Saturday night to their house to spend the night and have some one on one attention. What a blessing they are! This was Chase's night and that's why he is not in the picture. I forgot to take pictures the other two weeks but we are making it. It is hard!! But we make our best effort.

Big Kiss Little Hug

2008-10-29T13:35:00.004-04:00

Everyone in our family is a huge "Nacho Libre" fan. There is a part in the movie where Nacho writes a letter to the nun that he likes. At the end of the letter he puts a series of big and little Xs and Os. As the narrator reads the letter he says, "Big kiss, little kiss, little hug, Big hug, according to the size of the X or O."

MacGregor wrote this at the bottom of the last letter he sent Daniel.

Good thing he included a key.

CUTENESS

2008-10-26T14:45:00.002-04:00

Mom used the curling iron on Piper. She wasn't thrilled when she touched her warm hair. "HOT" she said.

She got new jammies. Cow jammies. She likes to moo when she puts these on.

BAM

2008-10-25T11:21:00.003-04:00

Two weeks ago I took all the kids to our local theatre. The same one we had taken the boys to see Oklahoma. They feature family shows 3 or 4 times a year. They usually just pop in for a weekend. So on Friday Oct. 10th the kids and I ate an early dinner, ran over to the school where they were having a fall festival, stayed there 25 minutes - enough time to try all the yummy food, then raced downtown to the theatre.

This show was called BAM Percussion - The Blue Barrel Show. It is a comedy/percussion show. They guys don't use any real words - only funny noises and facial expressions but yet their points are crystal clear. Sitting next to Chase and hearing him giggle out loud was the best part for me. I love percussion. I love hearing it in a parade or half time show. The drumming was awesome.!! I was a little nervous to bring Piper but didn't feel like paying another babysitter so we brought her. She did fantastic. She LOVED it!!

After the show we saw some friends in the lobby. One of the daughters took Ainsley to meet the actors and get them to autograph her card. She walked back over to me shaking her head. The friends daughter was excited and said - We got an autograph from ALL of them. Ainsley looked up at me with her eyebrows down and said quite sternly, "Why did he scribble on it?" He scribbled on my card!" I had to laugh. One of the autographs did look an awful lot like scribble. When you are in Kindergarten you know what it looks like to write a name and that didn't resemble anything she was learning.

You can check out this short U-Tube video to see a little bit of the show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfxbJMy4qIk&feature=related I you don't have time to watch the hole 5 mins. Fast forward to about the 4 min mark. It was sooo fun!

Fossil Hunting

2008-10-24T10:14:00.006-04:00

I know I am way behind in posts and I finally downloaded the newest pictures on my camera so maybe I'll have some time this weekend to get caught up.

I'll start with our Cub Scout field trip to a fossil pit. Our stake organized a stake wide field trip to Swatara State Park on Saturday, October 11th. Typically this geologist does this presentation for Cub Scouts on Sundays. Our stake wanted a really good turn out since he was making an exception and doing it on a Saturday for us. We had a good turn out - our ward had 4 carloads. It was for families which was a good thing because I had to take my girls. I also took two other scouts whose families couldn't make it, so I had a full car for an hour ride each way.

We listened to the presentation while we sat on this big mountain of sliding stones. The geologists told us what to look for and how to break open the rocks to find fossils. He told us about the different kinds of rocks, how fossils were formed, and what a geologist does.

Much to the parents chagrin the boys were climbing to the top of this hill. The problem was that when they came sliding down it and were scraped and cut by all the falling rocks - they seemed surprised and angry that they were hurt. Do they not realize that parents know what they're talking about?

Ainsley thought it was so fun. She had a great time brushing her rocks clean with an old tooth brush.

Piper got in on it too. She vacillated between brushing her rocks, trying to walk half way up the hill of sliding rocks and finding mud puddles. She enjoyed it though.

Mostly she just looked cute!

We found some great fossils. Here's one I found for Ainsley. She cleaned it up for me. You can see the worm thing on the left and a shell in the middle.

I had a good time too. It was a long day but I enjoyed being outside in the countryside. I look happy - right?

The weather was perfect - low 70s and sunny. In the beautiful rolling (mini) mountains with all the changing colors of the leaves. It was gorgeous. I feel so lucky to be so close to such beautiful places. Chase and I tried to get a few pictures of the changing colors from the car on our drive home. The pictures really don't do it justice.

MacGregor received his Geology belt loop at pack meeting last night. Yay!