Catching Up!

I have had some complaints that I have not been faithfully updating the last couple of months. I will do a not-so-quick catch up here and maybe you will understand why.

• October 22nd, my uncle died. After celebrating Kurt's birthday on the 25th I took off the next morning for Salt Lake and the funeral. After the funeral on the 29th I took a red eye to get home for Jacob's Birthday!
• October 30th, Happy birthday to my wonderful husband. I am sorry you were playing daddy and mommy on your week off, which included being my replacement at a preschool Halloween party. Thank you! I am also sorry that after having an allergy attack on our lunch date I then fell asleep for most of that day. I think both of us would like to forget our birthdays this year.
• October 31st, Happy Halloween. Here are a few Pictures of the kids.

At the Church's Trunk-or-Treat

Ready for Trick-or-Treating

The girls school had a Halloween parade.

Here is Elizabeth as a Steelers Cheerleeder. She loves this outfit!

Lexi as Elizabeth in "Pirates of the Carribean Dead Man's Chest"

Kurt in front of the "Biggest Pumpkin in Pittsburgh" winner. I wish I could remember how much it weighed.

• November rolled around and I can honestly say I don't remember the first two weeks other than I was doing some seriuosly deep cleaning in order to prepare for the company we were expecting. I also started making my girls Christmas dresses, not because I am awesome. I promised Jacob I would not buy dresses and I already had the fabric which worked out great.


• In a 6 weeks stretch we will have had company 6 times and have been company once. You do the math. I wish I had remebered to take pictures of each group but I failed, I can't imagine why. So here goes:
• My cousin Caroll came through twice with her 4 kids. We are about the halfway point between her home in Michigan and her parents in Maryland. We had not seen each other in about 6 years so we stayed up way too late playing catch up, but I wouldn't trade it. I hope she uses us as her resting place in the future.

• My brother Sean, his wife Kirsten, and their son Matthew came in between Carolls visits and were here for Thanksgiving. We had a blast and enjoyed lots of game playing, but failed to get a picture, how did that happen?



• We spent the first weekend in December attending the blessing of our niece Lucy Hannah in Philidelphia. We didn't tell the kids that Grandma and Grandpa would be there so they were shocked and thrilled when Grandma greeted them at the door. I did get pictures, here they are:

The boys love to hang with Grandpa, even if he is trying to sleep!

Playing games at the Franklin Institute.

Does this constitute cheating or is it simply team work?

Did you know that the first Museum of Natural History is in Philidelphia?

Baby Lucy's big day!

• Our friends the Runyans came to Pittsburgh for a residency interview and we had a wonderful time showing them the sights. Here are a few highlights:

The Rite Aid Celebration of Lights is a must see if you are in Pittsburgh at Christmas. This is an amazing drive through display. I have been through twice and I think it is amazing. It was rather magical to drive through while it was snowing.

The kids enjoyed the newly opened T-Rex vs. T-Rex exhibit at Carnegie Museum

The Chruch Christmas party included a little service, music, dancing, food, and a visit to Santa. Here is a tribute to service.

Meet Chief, the Runyans dog. This is a long story but I will try to sum it up quickly. Cheif ran away the week before the Runyans were to visit. They got him back but, not in time to take him to Deanna's mom before coming here. I suggested they bring him. He ran away here the night before the Runyans had to leave!! The Runyans went home minus Chief. Needless to say, everyone was traumatized by his disappearance. After hours of searching, praying, posting lost posters, talking with police departments and animal shelters, Chief was found.............

.........HERE. A picture speaks a thousand words.

It had been 4 full days of no Cheif and we celebrated despite a bad eye infection, dehydration, and malnutrition. Chris and Deanna returned the following weekend to pick him up and as much as we love Chief we were thrilled to see him back with his family.

We are grateful that the Runyans don't seem even slightly jaded towards Pittsburgh after the Chief incident. Thank goodness.

• Amongst all these visits we were able to squeeze in Christmas wich I will post seprately.
  
• After Christmas Jason, Cherie and kids came for a fun visit and once again we had a ball. I won't post a picture since we have one from Lucy's blessing. We also celebrated Elizabeth's 6th birthday, which I will also post seperately.


• We have one visit left and it has yet to happen. Our friends the Hagerdon's are coming on New Year's Day and we looking forward to that as well.


• I nearly forgot we are not yet finished..... My sister, Steffani is arriving sunday to stay for an undetermined amount of time. I guess until she is no longer needed, or we get sick of one another, or something else. We'll see the current plan is several months so I guess I consider that more of a move in rather than a visit. Sounds fun.

I think maybe now you can see why I haven't been blogging. There are still many things missing from this very long post and I will do my best to give them justice in the next week or so. I am trying, just be patient.

Happy 4th Birthday Kurt

Kurt turned 4 on October 25th. Kurt holds the distinction of having a brithday in-between his parents our brithdays are October 20th, 25th, and 30th, weird. We had a couple of families from church over to help us celebrate and it turned out great.

Here is the big boy so pleased with his "Diego" cake.

Under the broom is a favorite at our house.

Blowing out his candles one at a time.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I'm 32, soooooo old as one friend so kindly pointed out! I am not one to get upset about my age, I have earned every one of those years and don't you forget it.

October 19th 11:43 pm, not quite my birthday, I wake up with a jolt to the wretched sound of retching. Poor Lexi once again had the flu (4th time in 4 weeks). At 12:05am on October 2oth I looked up from cleaning the trail between Lexi's bed and the bathroom and comment to Lexi that this is not my idea of a very nice birthday present. She cried, I felt guilty, then she lost it again, thankfully into the bowl I had given her. I spent another 45 minutes cleaning the floor. I sure miss hardwood floors.

The rest of the day was spent keeping Lexi comfortable, answering many Happy Birthday calls (thank you!), and baking bread (I never bake bread, we were out and I was desperate). It is normally a day I would have gone grocery shopping, but alas the stars were not aligned. I think Jacob may be secretly wishing our other kids will get sick on grocery day, he loves homemade bread, too bad I don't love making it. However, I did enjoy kneading, maybe I should say beating, the dough into submission. It wasn't necessary, my Bosch could have done the job, I just "kneaded" a little therapy.

My sweet friend Alisa was the last call of the day and asked if I had enjoyed my birthday and if Jacob and I were going to do something fun. Having the day end was my idea of fun. Do you ever wish you could be a kid just for your birthday, when the day was just about you? I do. Oh well.

Thank you Alisa for going shopping with me for fun, on the 21st! It made the 20th easier to laugh about, and I'm doing just that as I write this post!

Exercise

I have tried to find an affordable form of exercise that I actually enjoy with little success. I have instead turned to productive exercise so, here is my new exercise regimen:

1. Let Kurt ride on my shoulders up to the bus stop each day. We go up the hill four times each day so it's quite the butt burn, and Kurt loves it.

2. Run up and down steps no matter what your carrying, including laundry baskets full of laundry. A bit awkward, but effective non the less.

3. Rip out ugly railing along front walk. This includes the use of a sledge hammer......also great for venting frustration. I have included picture of the ugly railing.

4. Move retaining wall away from fence (about 4 feet). Whovever put in the retaining wall apparently had no intention of using the gate because the wall blocked the gate. I have been digging out the six bushes and dirt to then replace the wall in sections. What you can see of the wall on the right used to sit directly against the fence on the left. The bushes at the back of the picture still have to be removed.

I have decided this is the most rewarding exercise I have ever done. I highly recomend it! The down side is that the neighbors find it entertaining to come and watch.

My Least Favorite Things

1. Homework - 3 schoolage children + homework + papers to be signed and read = 1 cranky Mom (Homework often takes 2 hours of my time each night.)
2. Whining - Enough said!
3. Call nights - I still can't sleep well when Jacob is not home. You would think I would be used to it by now.
4. Deciding what to make for dinner. I don't mind cooking, it's the decision process that I hate.
5. Cleaning - I know someone who loves to clean, I wish!
6. Living on super tight budget. After 11 years, "someday" wont come soon enough.
7. The flu - 2 kids 2 weeks and 4 rounds later I am still waiting for the two other kids to get it. Lexi had it 3 times.

Kurt's 1st Day of Preschool

Kurt was so excited to start preschool. Too bad his mom left the camera at home because her morning was messed up by an unexpected trip to another school. Anyway, a classmates mother graciously took this picture for us and we just got the email.

Kurt begged all last year to go to school, but didn't want to be left at friends houses and cried during Primary at church if there was a sub or he got a new teacher. I always worried that on Kurt's first day of school he would be that kid clinging to Mommy's leg and screaming while all the other kids and moms stared; which in turn would trigger tears from the other kids cascading into a regular cry fest. It is what he did for the first 3+ years of his life, why expect anything more.

Several months ago He started giving himself pep talks eg. " I am a big boy. I will have fun." any time he was going to be left somewhere. Well they payed off , and on his first day he couldn't get away from me fast enough. He has been in school for about a week now and is loving it. I love picking him up and hearing him tell me "I am a big boy, I go to school. I am not sad at school, I am happy the whoooole time!" Yesterday, I asked him what part of the day was his favorite, his reply; "All the parts are my favorite."

Life is good and now I have time to run errands and tend to other motherly duties child free!! Yeah, it is the first time in 9 1/2 years, I'm still getting used to it!

First Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school and I think I became more aware of some of my childrens differences when I had to pick them up early for orthodontist appointments. In our district the 4-6 graders all attend one school, and the k-3 graders are divided among several other schools. So, Reid is at one school and the girls another.

I arrived at Reid's school with time to spare and ended up waiting nearly ten minutes for him to come to the office after they had called for him. When I asked what took so long he said they were doing social studies in the dark and he didn't want to leave so he "went real slow". Aaahh, so much for being ahead of schedule.

When I arrived at the girls Lexi came into the office, quickly dashed to me, threw her arms around me, sighed, and said "hi mom" as if she hadn't seen me in a week. It was so dramatic I had a hard time not laughing. It took at least ten minutes to locate Elizabeth who's teacher had forgotten I was coming and had sent her out for recess. When her class started marching in she was the last in line and as her teacher pulled her to the front and told her she could go with me she burst into tears and said "But we aren't done yet!". I had to drag her out of the building sobbing and then make a mad dash to the orthodontist. She made me promise this morning that I wouldn't pick her up early today.

Reid and Lexi are in pain today as a result of their ortho treatment and Lexi was trying to figure a way to convince me she shouldn't go to school today. She claims it hurt to much to eat pancakes and she didn't think the Motrin would kick in fast enough. She cried though breakfast I'm sure hoping that tears would change my mind. Instead I resorted to asking Reid how he was doing and he said "fine". I then asked him if he needed something for pain before he left for school he said "sure". (He is so much like Jacob, straight to the point.) Lexi wasn't too thrilled that I let Reid be the determining factor as to whether she had to go to school or not. They did have the same treatment, so I beleieve her dramatics were just that, dramatic!

I have included pictures of the girls. I didn't get one of Reid because I ended up on a hunting expedition for his misplaced shoes and ran out of time. Why is it the oldest who's shoes are MIA?

Last Hoorah at Ohiopyle

Summer ended a little later for us than most here in the Burgh. Our schools got a late start since our district and several buildings have been undergoing a redo. We finally started on the 8th, but not before enjoying a last minute weekend trip to Ohiopyle.

Ohiopyle is located just a little south of where we live. We went with the Witzels from church and had a great time. It rained during the night, but let up just in time to provide a beautiful day. We were disappointed we couldn't stay several days. So much to do, so little time. Enjoy the pics.

Lexi and Maddie are demonstrating how to ride the natural water slides. We had the slides almost to ourselves for about an hour. I think the rain detered a lot of people, but as the day warmed the crowds grew.
Reid and Jonathan swimming in one of the many pools that sit at the bottom of the slides.


Kurt and Micah really hated the water and were more than content to sit on the sidelines and watch. Micah's little sister Alex showed those boys up and played happily in the chilly water. We decided maybe it is and age thing with the boys, hopefully they will get over it.

Rain or not the kids are dying to go again. I told Jacob at some point I would like to go and tour some of the famous Frank Lloyd Wright Homes that are in the area. I understand that Falling Waters is considered the most famous of those homes and it just a couple miles up the road from Ohiopyle. I can't believe how lucky we are to live near so many fun and historical places.

Philedelphia

There is nothing quite like an impromptu vacation weekend, especially one that includes family and a piece of American History. Jason and his family recently moved to Philedelphia and so we decided to invade them for a quick visit. They were wondful hosts and we joyfully experienced a bit of our country's history as we toured Independence Hall and surrounding sights.

The kids in front of Independence Hall.
Kurt in front of the Liberty Bell. Reid was more excited about seeing the bell than any other thing. They had studied this piece of American History in school last year.
This is the original house of the Senate and Lexi had the great pleasure here of being sworn in as "Madame President".
Kurt, Luke, and Will, happy just to be together!

Lexi, Elizabeth, Reid, and Abby in front of the Tomb of the unknown Soldier of the Revolutionary War in Washington Square Park.

As we were eating lunch outside and enjoying a beautiful day we were interupted by what we thought was a parade. The curiosity of the children and their dads was only to be dispelled by a thorough investigation. As they ran off to watch the parade Cherie and I decided we would stay behind for a bit a peace and quiet. It took about fifteen minutes before we realized our families were detained by something other than a parade. As I investigated, I discovered that our children had joined the local militia. What a great adventure!

After being completely grilled by Park Rangers during our tours we were impressed to discover that our children had a much broader knowledge of U.S. History than any of us were aware. As we completed our tours the kids were rewarded by being sworn in as Park Rangers.

The kids cried as we left Philedelphia, they wanted to stay and enjoy their cousins just a little longer. We had to promise a return visit just to quiet them down. It is wonderful to know that they enjoy spending time together.

New York

During July we made a quick visit up to Rochester, New York where my brother Sean, and his family live. We had an awesome time and were thrilled to be joined by Jacob's twin bro Jason and his family. It was a whirlwind weekend, but a total blast.

We made it to the Hill Cumorah Pagaent and managed a quick photo op with wicked King Noah. The kids were thrilled and a bit confused that Sean and his wife Kirsten knew so many of the actors in the pagaent. Many of the participants are from Rochester since Palmyra borders their stake.

We also made a quick visit to Niagra Falls. Here is a pic of the kids as we prepared ourselves for a journey on the Maid of the Mist.
Here we all are in front of the falls, too bad Will didn't scoot a bit more to his left.It was a great weekend and we had the pleasure of having Jason's family follow us back to Pittsburgh for a few more days of fun.

Gavin's Makeover

My friend Dee, from Cincinnati, came for a visit along with her Daughter and 2 grandsons. Gavin and Elizabeth became good friends while we lived in Cincinnati and have missed each other since we moved away. I had forgotten how willing Gavin is to please Elizabeth, including participating in very girly things. So although these are the only pictures I took from their visit, these are priceless. Enjoy Gavin's makeover!

Lexi's Baptism

Lexi turned 8 while we were on vacation. She very much wanted to be baptized at my parents cabin just outside of Yellowstone Park. My youngest sister was baptized here and so I thought this really wouldn't be very complicated.

We started making preparations and hit a wall when it came to getting official church permission. Apparently church policy has changed on lake and river baptisms where fonts are available. who knew?! After several phone calls and some reviewing of official policies we got the okay. I have fully accepted that Lexi will be our only child that gets this unique opportunity to be baptized at the cabin. It was a wonderful day, one I think everyone there will not forget.

Enjoy the photos!

In attendance, my side: Darryl & Vicki, Bryce, Alex & Michelle, Brett, Marc & Kelsey, Vanessa, Steffani.

In attendance, Jacob's side: Grandma & Grandpa Gee, Steve & Carolyn, Monica & Danny w/ Brock & Hallie, Emily w/ Aiden & Amy, Brinton

Of course the Hagerdon's were there, but they dont belong on a side, they have been adopted in.

Could you pick a more ideal place to be baptized? I think this is beautiful. Please make a note of Lexi's dress. My mom made this dress for my cousin Debby Kaye. Each of my sisters and I also wore this dress.

To prevent the dress from getting dirty we resorted to carrying Lexi between the cabin and the Lake. My brother Brett took the honors. Lexi was thrilled!

I don't think I have seen Lexi happier than she was on this day!

Ready to be Confirmed!

Lexi with Omi & Papa

Lexi with Grandma & Grandpa

Time for the party!! After the baptism everyone stayed to play on the Lake. We had a dutch oven cook out, swimming, tubing, wake boarding, and just playing in the sand. Such fun!!!

Eat up! Thanks Dad for manning the fire on such a hot day!

Lexi, Hannah, & Elizabeth waiting for thier tube ride!

At the end of the day it was just Kurt and Hallie that fell asleep from all the excitement. I never knew that riding in the boat is as lulling as a ride in the car!