It's A Wonderful Life

We had a wonderful Christmas. Here are some pictures from the past few days.

Our tree. No it is NOT on fire. One of my family's traditions growing up was to light a candle on the tree for every family member.

A christmas miracle....I got the boys to smile for a picture!!!

It didn't last long!

Eating a christmas caramel..I have no idea why he shoved it all in at once. (I think he learns that from Pops!)

Monkey see, monkey do! What a mess.

In the afternoon we headed to Brian's parents.

Melanie giving the boys a lesson on how to cook bratwurst in the fire!

Pops admiring his perfectly cooked dog. He's about to eat that thing in one bite!!

Melanie loving that dog!! Look at that professionally placed mustard!

Ethan contemplating about how great Christmas was!

Angelic Announcement

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping their watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Luke 2: 8-14

From our family to yours

We wish you a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of Christ!

A "Beep Beep" to You!

So this past weekend the family threw me a 'Surprise' 30th birthday. I emphasis surprise because I kind of had it figured out (that runs in my blood), but it was still really great! Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with me!

I especially want to thank Brian's Mom and Sister for the gift that will keep on giving for years to come!!! (as long as Crystal doesn't shoot it with a bee bee gun!)

I cannot say enough THANK YOU's!!!!!

So after the party with spent the night with Grama and Pops. The boys can't get enough of watching the train go around and toot it's horn. Thank you pops for all your patience!

On sunday morning we ended up going to church with Mom and Dad( ours was cancelled due to icy roads). Kaden was so excited to go to children's church and meet some new friends. Little did we know when we dropped him off that the class he joined would be singing some christmas songs in front of the church. So mid-service it was a surprise to see the gang of children lining up on stage to sing their song. ( they obviously had been practising for weeks, where as Kaden just showed up). Now I knew that there was going to be trouble for three reasons:

1)Kaden is loud

2)Kaden was in the front by the mike

3)Kaden is loud

So it begins. The teachers quiet the children down and then began to sing

"Away in the manger no crib BEEP for a bed, the BEEP little Lord Jesus BEEP lay down his BEEP sweet head."

Could this be? My child yelling BEEP into the microphone as the other children sing their precious song about Jesus' birth? Yes, indeed. It was he. And so it continued throughout the entire song. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. Their was nothing I could do from the back but let the tears of laughter roll from my eyes! What a kid.

Beginning of December Update

Finally we are back up and running. Here are some pictures from the beginning of the month.

Kaden helping decorate the tree.


Here was his masterpiece when he was finished.

Then Ethan woke up and decided to take them off of the tree.
My dad and grandparents paid a visit. Here are some pictures of them.

Ethan loved my grandma!
Kaden was my dad's little buddy!

After they left we made our yearly gingerbread house. I actually bought the house last year when it was on clearance.

The kids didn't care, they still sucked on the candy?!

Isn't it beautiful?

And then of course the kids love to watch the train under the tree after supper!

Here We Are

I know many of you are thinking that I am a very dilinquent blogger. We have had so many exciting things happening around here and of course our computer froze and is in need of more help than we are able to offer it. Therefore, it is at a specialist, in great hopes that it will be repaired soon! So I am wrinting this blog, with no pictures, from in the camp office!

These are things that have been going on for us over the past few weeks.

My grandparents and dad came and visited us over Kaden's birthday. Their stay was short, but we had a very wonderful time showing them Lancaster County. I think the highlight of their trip was seeing the boys. Kaden still talks about their time here.

Of course December has been filled with shopping, decorating and watching of the great Hallmark Movies that come on. I don't know how many times I have bawled over one of those cheesy, yet amazingly good shows!

December also marks a huge birthday month for family.

Happy birthday to Kaden whose in the previous blog.

Happy birthday to my mom on the 13th.

Happy Birthday to Sister-in-Law Melanie on the 17th, which also happens to be my birthday.

Anyone who has a birthday so close to Christmas and other family members has expereinced the 'joined celebration'. A lot of my birthdays growing up were shared with my mom or brother (his birthday is on the 27th). It wasn't a big deal but I did look forward to the day when I wouldn't have to celebrate with anyone else. Little did I know that I one day I would share the exact birthday with my sister-in-law! Oh well, it makes for good times. It's always fun to see who will wish the other happy birthday first. Come to think of it, I called Melanie first on our birthday, but before I had a chance to say anything she blurted out Happy Birthday. Technically I still win cause I made the call. Nice try Melanie!!!!

So we will continue to chug along as we approach Christmas. Wishing you all a calm week before Christmas.

Birthday's are so fun it's true!

Happy 3rd Birthday Kaden!!!!!

We love you very much!!

This past thursday we celebrated Kaden's birthday! Where do three years go? We were very fortunate to have many family and friends celebrate with us, including my dad, grandma and grandpa from Canada! I will have more pictures to come!

How Lovely Are Your Branches

I have gone in search of the perfect Christmas tree in snow up to my knee's in 30 below weather, on four wheeler & by sled. I have also strolled through a Walmart parking lot by foot in search for a cheap tree.

Today was a new first...pouring down rain, pushing a stroller through a corn field through the mud and muck!


It definetly would have been better to have some snow to put us in the Christmas spirit, but we still had a great time on the 'search'.

Normally, it would take me a lot longer to find a perfectly uniformed tree, BUT when you have two young children in the pouring rain you learn to do it the fast way. So here it is, the tree that will adorn our living room over the next thirty days!

As you can see, Kaden is completly soaked. I think the people at the tree farm thought we were nuts to want to go and cut down our own tree.
At this point all Kaden wanted was some hot chocolate...so did we all!
It was a fun day. Home we go!

Another Thanksgiving Gone By

We had a wonderful thanksgiving over at Brian's mom and dad's house! Here is our place settings a few minutes before we sat down and devoured everything in sight! I always find it funny how it takes so long to prepare a meal and a fraction of that to eat it!!

Brian and Daryl carving the turkeys. One was cooked the traditional way in the oven; the other we tried in the deep fryer pot outside.

Here is the deep fried bird. Tasty, but not real good for you! (kind of like most things at thanksgiving!)

Among many other delicious desserts, here are some cupcake turkeys I made. ( I don't usually take pictures of food, but I thought I'd do it for my sister-in-laws sake!)

The boys having a pre-meal snack.

Kaden playing with cousin Olivia.
Ethan being thrown up in the air by Brad.

To top it all off...Kaden requested roasting marchmallow's in the fire. Thanks to Brad who went and bought some for us.

Fun times with Grama!

Clark Griswold & Chuck E Cheese

We have been keeping busy around here, trying to bear the colder weather. Brian got out his staple gun this past weekend and starting putting up our Christmas lights....Christmas Vacation style! The kids sat and watched in amazment!

We also headed off for the first time to Chuck E Cheese's. The kids loved it, and I had never been there before. What a great place to go and let the kids burn some energy. We got some pizza, played some games and watched the show. Fun.

Kaden got this salamander from his winnings. He made a bed for it that night to sleep in and then in the morning insisted that the salamander needed fruit loops too!
He has been carrying that thing around the house for days. Ethan also HAD one, but on our walk across the parking lot he lost it!??? We have no idea where it went. Good thing he didn't care!

7 Years of Wedded Bliss

This past monday was the celebration of 7 years to my best friend! We had a great time. The boys stayed with Grama and Pops while we headed off for a childless getaway. It was great.
We went to Scranton....visited some friends Pam, Jim, Micheal and Dwight. We toured the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, did some shopping, and then visited Shrute Beet Farms. Very Intriguing!
It was also very interesting to us that Scranton is called the "Electric City" and yet endless amounts of business signs had burnt out bulbs. I think a person could make a living replacing those bulbs!
It was a great getaway!

Fall Fun

Here is an update from the past few weeks.......

The boys with their pumpkins and the spiders that they made in the background.


Kaden climbing on a tree that fell in a windstorm. He enjoyed playing on that more than the treehouse we built him. If I would have known that, we would have dragged a dead tree into our yard instead!!

Ethan trying to be like his big brother.

Two not so happy ducks for Halloween. I can tell that their going to love this picture when they get older!
Melanie and Hannah came for a visit this past weekend...actually for a work weekend, but we still had a great time seeing them.

Here the kids are raking leaves....while I take pictures?!

~Fun times at Summit Grove~