Happy {Belated} Birthday, Daddy!

In all the excitement of the last week, Daddy's birthday was overshadowed.  {If you've lost track of birthdays -- Isabella, June 28; Nana, June 29; Daddy, June 30.} 

We've celebrated his birthday a couple times over the last week -- recognition on Father's Day when my parents were in town, Red Robin for June birthday celebration (Zaya, Nana & Daddy) and dinner at my parent's house on his birthday.

A while back I found a deal on Groupon and contacted both Rick and my parents to see if they wanted to go in on a gift for Rick's birthday.  If you know Rick, you know he's a NASCAR fan.  He's always dreamed of driving a race car or pretty much driving anything FAST!  At the bigger tracks, it's very costly to drive laps.  There's a smaller track near Pittsburgh called Motodrome Speedway where driving experiences are available through Rusty Wallace Racing.  We were able to score a 15-lap driving experience for a decent price.  So August 18th, Rick will be able to fulfill one of his dreams -- even if it is in a Ford!

We presented him with the gift so both sets of parents could see him open it.  He is excited about going.  Hoping he decides to purchase pictures and the video of his driving experience!

We love you, Daddy!  Can't wait until you can enjoy your gift!

Happy {belated} Birthday!

The Difference Between A Man And A Woman

This is the kind of thing I'll look back on and laugh about.  Yesterday, I had a discussion with a man whether or not the car pictured below was drivable.  Most women would probably agree.  It is not.  Men, however, would probably say. It is.

Either way, we are thankful for the Lord's protection.  On the way home from work yesterday, Rick's car slid on the gravel that was in his lane pictured below and consequently, his car spun out of control and hit the guard rail shown on the left.

Part of his bumper was permanently attached to the guard rail, and the other half was thrown behind the guard rail.  (You can kinda see it lying on the ground.)

We're not sure what the insurance company will say since the car is older and has high miles.  We're just thankful no one else was involved, and Rick was not hurt in any way.  Thank you to those of you that pray for us!

Our New Favorite Place

We are still getting settled in our new house.  Some areas are already set up -- many more to go!

One area we have set up is in what we call the Music Loft.  The previous owner used this area as a formal diningroom, but we don't have any need for a formal diningroom.  We put the piano, my rocker and a small table and chairs there instead.  Our plan was to give the kids and us an area to play games and put together puzzles.

It has become just that.  I so enjoy watching the kids pull out games and play together.  We found an Angry Birds "board game".  The kids have had a blast playing with it. 

Zaya will sometimes play Angry Birds by himself.  Although he does require some help building.   We've helped him build a few "towers," but we obviously can't always sit there all the time.  A few days ago when I told him I had to work and couldn't help him, he promptly told me, "You supose to be ye kind one to another.  Dat means you haf to help me."  Some times that kid cracks me up!

Daddy has even be caught playin' at the table! 

And today, we had Nana & Pappy over to join in the fun!

Can't wait to see how many memories we make in our new favorite place!

What's New?

There's a variety of things to report on. 

Everyone is doing well.  Madi is getting over strep and making good progress although she's struggling with a dry cough.  So thankful the rest of us were able to escape it!

Yesterday, we looked at a couple houses.  (For you local folks, we are looking at a house in Harmony near I-79.  It will cut Rick's communte from 1 hour and 15 minutes to 30 minutes!)  We've looked off and on for probably a couple years now; however with the mortgage rates where they are and our level of frustration where it is with Rick not being home as much as we'd like, we are a little more serious about looking at our options.  So much so, that we have started the great purge on our house today in preparation for listing our current home!

Adding working on the house to homeschooling combined with the fact that I had to turn over my camera to the Geek Squad yesterday means my posts will be few and far (or fewer and farer) inbetween.  I've warned the children they are not allowed to do anything exciting in the next few weeks until I get my camera back!

I'll try to update on anything big . . . listing our house, offers on ours or a new house.  Oh, by the way, Madi lost a second tooth on October 4, Uncle Steve's birthday (HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY UNCLE STEVE!)  She has another pretty loose one on the bottom and a slightly loose one on top.  She's becoming self-conscious about it.  In turn, she is all but refusing to let them come out.  Unfortunately, they are loose because the new ones are coming in.

I started the great purge in Isaiah's room.  His closet still contained "baby stuff" -- diaper stacker, baby clippers, travel bottles of shampoo and baby lotion, hospital paraphernalia, towels and wash cloths.  As much as I DO NOT want another baby, it was difficult to toss those things.  In my mind, garbage is synonymous with things you don't want.  I would like to keep those things just for the memories.  I just keep telling myself I don't want to have to move or store all those thing and for what real purpose?  I ended up keeping very few things -- name tag from baby bed at hospital, hat, etc.  That still didn't make it any less emotional.  Daddy just laughs and tells the kids "Mommy doesn't want any more babies, but she cries because she doesn't have any more babies."  I told them just like you are emotional about leaving this house (the only one they really remember living in) that it's exciting to move on to something else.

Who would miss cuteness like this?!?

Cell phone pic of Isaiah's first Wendy's Frosty experience!

"Family" Update

I started this post a couple days ago.  Since then, a couple more things have happened.  Those things will be noted in italics.

In no particular order . . .

MAKENNA:

This past week, Makenna started taking riding lessons.  The first lesson is a trial to see if she likes it and if the instructors think she'll do well.  She practiced mounting and dismounting (almost flawlessly -- their words, not mine) and practiced commands such as Whoa and Walk.  We need to work a little on speaking up and speaking with authority, but I think she'll do well.

These are from her second lesson:

She also won the coloring contest at our Chiropractor's office.  She's on a roll winning prizes there!  This gift included 3 free movie rentals, popcorn and candy.

We rented Sound of Music, a couple horse movies and a few others. Makenna loved Sound of Music and wanted to know if there was a #2! The kids and I had fun watching the first half Thursday night -- popcorn, candy and all. Daddy joined us Friday evening to finish the second half of the movie.

MADISON:

We finally went back to the glass blowing place where we had a field trip a couple weeks ago to pick up Madi's souvenir choice.  She chose the tube necklace with green oil and chose to have her name and Mom written on a grain of rice inside.

She started with a fever Friday evening.  Long story short, she has strep.  Please pray for her AND US!  She does not like the medicine, and we have two doses daily for ten days!!

DADDY:

Well, Daddy started his week out a bit rough.  He tagged his first 6 point buck!  Praising the Lord he was fine.  Caused about $5,000 worth of damage to his company car.  Guess they won't have it done for a couple weeks!  You'll see him sporting around in a nice Buick Regal these days.  Thankful it is all covered under insurance.

CHIPY:

A while back we moved Chipy into a bigger box.  He really liked being able to move around.

This was his home [sides up and lid on] after I found him running around the house when we came back from riding lessons.

The latest update:  Daddy came home that night and took Chipy to a nice, "safe" place in the great outdoors.  Strange, but I feel more free with that thing out of the house.  I've had a couple heart attacks since we acquired that thing!!  Last week, a child of mine that will remain nameless, let Toothless [the cat] in and didn't remember to check to see if the bathroom door was closed.  I noticed Toothless scurrying around the potted plant.  Ya, you guessed it.  He had retrieved the chipmunk and was chasing it around the kitchen!  I quickly grabbed the cat, promptly hit him over the head a couple times and made him spit out the chipmunk! {sigh}

It was a sad parting (or so the kids thought).  We told them we helped nurse him to health, that they did a good thing, and that he was wild and needed to be let go.

ISAIAH:

Isaiah is making improvements in school.  He'll actually asks to do school about half the time now.  (The other half he still says school is boring, and he doesn't want to do it. But we're making progress.)

This morning he watched one video class with me (upon his request).  The teacher was discussing apples, orchards, blossoms, etc.  She mentioned that applesauce and apple juice came from apples.  Tonight at dinner I asked him where applesauce came from so he could share his new-found knowledge with his sisters.  His answer . . . Giant Eagle!

Happy Mother's Day!

I had the enjoyable pleasure of spending the weekend with both my "Mothers" and my girls.  We attended a Mother's Day Luncheon together.

Just had to add the rare photo of Daddy & I together!

The Newest Members Of Our Family

Long story, short.  I have a friend who said they had a lot of bunnies.  What possessed me to convice Rick to get THREE bunnies -- I don't know.  But they are here.  They are surviving.  We are surviving.  And the kids are enjoying them immensely.

Not sure if Makenna found her bunny or if it found her!?!

Madi checking out the bunnies before we told them they could take one home.

(This is us trying to convince Isaiah to get the brown one, so they each had a different bunny.  He wanted a white one like Madi.)

They really enjoyed going outside and eating fresh grass. 

 Meet Winter and her loving owner, Madison.

Meet Oreo and her excited owner, Makenna. 

Oreo 

Were not sure the official name of this little one -- Woody was the first choice (being brown and Zaya being very fond of Toy Story), but then he liked Buzz better.  Then the girls convinced him that he couldn't name a girl bunny a boy's name, so the name Jesse was tossed around.  Think Zaya has settled with Buzz but the rest of us call it Woody.

Papaw made us a cage.  It's not completely assembled but it serves it's purpose for now.  They bunnies seem to love it since their previous home was about the same size as the box shown above.

Madi had an emotional evening, but she was loving spending time with Winter and seeing her new home. 

Our Little Getaway

Rick & I were able to get away for a few days last week (thanks to Nana & Pappy)! I guess you could call it a tradition since we've done it for three years now. We get in on the special winter rates they run at Inn at Amish Door in Wilmot, Ohio.

(Photo from website as I didn't take one.) It's a gorgeous place even at the end of a barren winter.

They offer special deals on their "honeymoon suite". It has a kitchenette . . .

. . . livingroom with fireplace and breakfast nook . . .

. . . a king-sized bed and a huge bathroom with a hot tub! We always enjoy our stay.

This year we hung out quite a bit in Millersburg. Didn't pay too much attention to it before this year. We found the best place to eat -- Hotel Millersburg (next time we'll have to schedule time for a tour). And we found this quaint shop. Doesn't look like much from the outside.

But it also has a lot of history like the hotel. This is a built in safe. It used to be a pharmacy and a clothing store. Rick thoroughly enjoyed reading all about it's past.

I enjoyed looking at all the creative things they had for sale. An old shutter painted up cute with a chalkboard in the middle.

An old screen painted up for a wall hanging.

So many ideas! Wonder which one of my kids will be the first to "benefit" from my new found ideas! HA!

Found some other fun ideas in crafts stores. Don't know if you've ever heard of I Spy bottles. This shop had pouches. We've started to collect items to make a find it bottle of our own! The kids are so excited.

Rick found this and pointed it out to me. I kinda rather like it!! It's me! Maybe I should put one on my front door to scare away burglers!

Actually found quite a few cute signs!

This is an awful picture, but it's the only [fat-faced] one we took. We went bowling with some friends one night. We had a blast! Sadly, us old folks had aching arms the next day. We're SO out of shape!

One of our favorite finds was the table-top corn hole game! The kids love it. Isaiah is even pretty good with it. I look forward to many evenings enjoying this as a family! Course we had to get the black 'n gold version!