We LOVE Summertime!!!

Schools Out for Summer!!! I don't know who was more excited me or the Kids!

Happy Fathers Day Daddy! You're the BEST!

We had a Really Great 4th of July with Awesome Friends!

Mothers Day

I love that my kids are older and acutely get the Mothers Day concept a little better meaning Mom does as little housework as possible on Mothers Day :-) It was such a nice relaxing day for me and as I say to my kids all the time .... "I am SO lucky to be their Mommy!" They made me gifts and pictures that I love and will hold onto forever! They are each so different and unique and I really am blessed to have great kids! Happy Mothers Day!
We went to go throw rocks on the beach that evening and I had to include the cute pictures of my cute kids :-)

Easter Again!!??

Easter is one of my favorite holidays, especially since we've moved east. I've never love spring more than I do living here, things really do "awake" and come to life after a long and cold, bitter winter. I am Grateful for the opportunity to reflect upon the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ during the Easter Holiday and I also enjoy the promise of spring here and it's symbols of rebirth!

Wow it seems like it was just yesterday that my parents were visiting for Easter and gave the kids those very popular Easter sombreros. (a dollar store find for Grandma) The kids have referenced them as such since then, thanks Grandma it's been fun :-)

This year the bunny had to hide stuff inside because of all the rain and soggy grass but the kids still had a great time and were overloaded with chocolate!

Happy Heart Day

Hope you all had a fun Valentines Day we Sure Did .... I LOVED the Heart Day weekend with the Kids, and of course Wes too! Cookie decorating with friends was full of sugar and fun. Jack's first cookie decoration was quite the masterpiece, he was making it for his Daddy. Me and the kids made some Valentine cards for each other, and we all swapped a few little gifts as a family. We didn't get anything mailed out to the cousins or grandparents this year, sorry.

Hope ya all know we love you!

January ... The Fun Stuff!

New Years Party!!

We had a little New Years Eve party here at our place. It was fun! The kids of course had a blast running around, dressing up, playing games and staying up way to late. We ate (obviously) and laughed and played a few games with our friends. Wes was talked in to games to begin with, but was excused when he started drifting off at the table with cards in his hands. The kids ran outside and yelled Happy New Year for a while and then came in and started wrestling Andy, guess who won that fight?

January Snow Days !!

I don't know if you are aware but Reagan and Jack LOVE the snow! Dylan likes to sled and make footprints in his snow boots, but in most cases would rather be playing the Wii. Wes had a little time over the holidays and took the kids sledding. Then while my Mom was here helping out she got to re-live her Canada childhood in the snow! Reagan really had a great time with her building snow people and a little throne for she and Wally. Jack just really likes to wear his mittens and eat snow, yuck, stay away from the yellow!

Grandma Bev Came !!

As I mentioned earlier we were so lucky to have help from our Mom's while I was recovering! Couldn't have done it without them that's for sure!
While my Mom was here Wes decided to get me out of the house and take us to breakfast. We went to this locally owned place called Dominic's, it was really yummy. They had a frog statue and a fish statue inside so the kids had to have a picture. (there are a lot of these frogs around town but most are outside) They also had a painted mural of Erie on the wall, we love these old places in town. It was dang cold during her visit, Grandma Bev hadn't been here in the winter before. (and may never come again!) We had to stop by the frozen bay to show my Mom the ice fishing huts, I think she thought it was kinda cool. And Wes and the older 2 kids took her to an old Church in town that has some really beautiful windows and features. We also had hot dogs and smo'res in the fireplace downstairs for F.H.E. with Grandma, the kids Loved that and can't wait to do it again. Hopefully she had a little fun and it wasn't just work, work, work while taking care of us. It was great having her here! Thanks Grandma Bev!

Grandma Ewing Came !!

The day my Mom left Wes's Mom came to help, we really are blessed. It was great to have her here with us. Unfortunately for her this was her second winter visit to Erie, we need to try for a spring or summer visit so she isn't to bias, and frozen! She and Wes got to go see Avatar one night, and the next week she watched the kids so me and Wes could go on a date. (to see Avatar, apparently Wes liked it) Wes also took Susan and Reagan to a Greek festival where Reagan ate some little hamburger and rice wrapped in a grape leaf thingy, I was impressed that she tried it. They also took a swing by the old Church with the cool windows in town, I really need to see inside this Church. And Grandma also bought the kids a fun new Wii game called Out Door Challenge. It's a really cool game where you have to jump, run, lean, slide, stomp etc. to win fun games. The kids LOVE it, and I love seeing them play, they even do the team setting once in a while and work together! WOW! It was great to have her here taking care of us, I hope it wasn't to exhausting, next time in the summer ..... hitting the beach! Thanks Grandma Ewing!

While Susan was here the kids had their first basket ball games, it was SO fun to see them play. Wes snapped a few shots, and I am now wishing I had the camera and video camera at ever practice and game since then. Last practice Dylan made a basket (you should have heard the cheers!) and during his last game he dribbled the ball all the way down the court twice. Reagan was on FIRE her last game, she got 3 rebounds and made 4 of the 8 points to help her team win the game! The only girl to score all game! The love playing basket ball :-) January was a great month that's for sure.

This Box ROCKS

The kids wanted me to post pictures of this fun gift they got in the mail from their Mona cousins! There was a TON of jumping and screaming when this box showed up just after Christmas, I heard things like ..... "look at that it's so cool ...... it has my name on it, and yours and yours and yours and Daddy's ..... how are we going to open it? ..... who's it from ..... I can't take it, what's inside" You get the idea, Christmas all over again :-) Thanks Stacy and kids for sending us such a fun box with cute monogrammed blankets for the kids inside!

Love you guys!

Christmas 2009 ... Small and Quiet ..... Just Right!

It has been a Year now that we've been here in PA! I can't believe how fast the time has gone since we left our little Oasis in the desert! This is our second Christmas in our "little white house in Pennsylvania" and it has been great. We had a crazy couple of weeks before Christmas with Wes finishing finals, and me trying to get some shopping done without the kids! Once things settled down a little we got to wrapping, singing and enjoying the Christmas Season.

The Kids got WAY to much stuff thanks to their Grandparents who mailed packages that filled up all our tree space! Santa was also good to them and they had a fun day playing with their new games and toys. It was a nice and quiet Christmas just with our little family. I am grateful for the long list of gifts and blessings we receive from the Lord everyday! Christmas is my favorite!

Hope you all had a very Happy Christmas.

What Shall We Give?

What a wonderful Message for us all this Christmas and all year through! We are wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas! We are so very blessed and Thankful for our Family and Friends!

Please click the link below to view this inspiring message of love and service this season!
What-Shall-We-Give?

Kindergarten Thanksgiving

At the kids school the 2 kindergarten classes did a Thanksgiving program this year, it was really cute. They made their own costumes and sang a few traditional Thanksgiving songs and a few fun creative compositions of the teachers. Dylan's class was dresses as the Pilgrims and the other class were dresses as the Indians. They got to sing for their parents and have a little Thanksgiving snack after the concert. It was a fun to watch and was so great to see Dylan participating in the program and having a good time.

Zoo Boo, Trunk or Treat, Piano Recital and Halloween ..... Oh My!

This was a SUPER busy Halloween!! The kids dressed up 5 out of 7 days the week of Halloween, and I was sick of it ..... ok looking back it was pretty fun. We went to the Erie Zoo Boo for F.H.E. to start off the week. The Ewell's came with us and of course Wes and Andrew talked a little school/O.R. but once that was out of their systems they loosened up and had a good time! Our kids loved the Zoo Boo. Dylan was a little nervous with a few of the costumes, especially the man dressed as a gorilla, but he stayed close and was ok. Wes got to see how much Jack loves the carousel and the ducks. Reagan came straight from Takekwondo so she was dressed as a yellow belt, (real life costume) yes she is moving up fast! She had to break a board with her hand to move up a belt and did it not problem, pretty cool! She's good at it and she loves it. We also hit the Ward Trunk or Treat held in the church gym. Both me and Wes had to help with a booth, and after that the kids did more candy grabbing, trick or treating around the halls.

The next day the older 2 took their costumes to school for the parade. And then came the big Oct. 31 .... We went and picked up a couple of girls in the Ward, Kate and Hannah, their little sister was sick and their Mom couldn't take them out. We trick or treated in their fantastic neighborhood, sidewalks, street lights, and happy neighbors! Jack had all his gear, flash light, umbrella, pumpkin, hat, glow necklace and he wasn't letting go of anything! He zonked in the stroller part way through, made it nice for the big kids. Dylan did really well this year, he was excited for Halloween and spent a lot of the night laughing and telling Kate "it's not real the scary costumes and stuff, only pretend." The school helped talk a lot about that with him for the parade and so did we for the BIG 31 night. Halloween night was when Reagan's foot got so bad that she ended up getting piggy back rides to finish out the trick or treating and to get to the car. She's pulled some tendons and bruised a few bones! Yeikes :-(

Oh I forgot, another night this wonderful costume filled week we got to go to Reagan's Halloween Piano Recital. She did SO great, as usual. She is very talented and Wes was more than impressed as was I. She is really enjoying piano and she has a Fantastic teacher who get's her! All in all we are sugar loaded and I am wiped out, fun stuff!