Welcome Olivia!

Just wanted to introduce you to the newest member of our family! Charity has been campaigning hard for a year to get a dog. She really wanted a poodle but apparently the key for her was small and fluffy (the key for me was NO SHEDDING!!!) So today, Eric and I surprised her with this little fur-ball. Eric actually surprised me with it and then let me be in on the surprise to Cheech. She has been named "Olivia". Our previous dog was named "Oliver". Obviously creativity does not run deep in our family. She is a "morkie", aka maltese/yorkie mix. She is 18 wks old and weighs 2.9 lbs. They told us she will get to about 6-8 lbs. So she's basically a glorified cat. That's my kind of dog!! She will make her debut to the public tomorrow at the Pet Parade. I know I haven't posted much this month but we all know I won't be fixing that this week. We are definite fair rats (except for Eric who could care less about the fair - weirdo) so we will be away from the computer for a week. Enjoy these pics though. I'll have many more after the fair! Oh - Michael wasn't left out today - Eric decided to get him a go-kart!! That will make for some fun pics to show you too!

Fireworks anyone?

Riding bikes to the fireworks party
More of those cousins I keep mentioning - this time there were some of the boys around. Michael was very thankful.


We were able to join family and neighbors at my Aunt BarJane's house on Friday night for the annual 4th of July extravaganza! Basically it's too much good food, lots of great fellowship and the kids shooting off fireworks once it is FINALLY dark (which isn't until after 9:00 in these parts! Has anyone every told you guys you're in the wrong time zone?) They only live about a mile from us so the kids decided to ride their bikes over. Lucky mom got to follow on foot but I got the above cute picture so it was worth it. Michael is getting better and better at the two-wheeler thing. He gets started on his own now and rarely topples over anymore. I got quite a workout trying to keep up with them. We have to work on Charity since her favorite place to ride is right down the center of the road. With her training wheels rattling around she can't here cars approaching from behind so I need to break her of that "drifting" habit.
We spent yesterday hanging around at home. Eric studied at the library all day so the kids and I piddled around. They had their art kits out about 7 times during the day and probably went through a couple of trees-worth of paper. They picked up sticks in the yard and took good naps. They're hoping to go swimming at mom's after their naps today so I'll try to get some pics of that. I haven't been very good about taking my camera with me this summer. I need to get back in the habit. Well my plan is to break out the ol' sewing machine this afternoon and hem a pair of pants that Eric has been waiting on for about 3 months. I'm telling you - I lead such an exciting life. It is SO worth your time reading about it! :) (But I'm glad you do!)

I'm so glad they love each other! It makes the days when they don't like each other so much easier to bear!
Fun on the back deck before we moved- who said a sand box has to hold sand!
Picnic time and guess what was in there kids' meals - Hannah Montana guitars! Michael LOVES Hannah!
When we were at the local zoo before we moved (see below) they have this tunnel and the otters will swim right over you (in theory at least!)
Most playgrounds at home have mulch - sand is much more fun.



Well these are pictures of our last month before we moved. We tried to get in as many "last" visits to some of our favorite places as we could. (Mostly restaurants for me - I really miss everything being Greek owned!) We also took a day to go to the local zoo. That was actually the day BEFORE we moved! Aren't you proud of me! I had the whole house packed up a full day in advance so that we were able to have FUN on our last day. It meant staying up late for the whole week before but I had HGTV to keep me company and it was all worth it in the end. Plus I can tell you about the prices of real estate all across the nation since all that is on that late is "What you get for the money" and "House Hunters". I like both of them but it was almost more than I could take since we are still renting. Not that I would change our current housing situation too much. "Our" little house is pretty perfect for us right now. Being close to family is a major plus and having room for the kids to run around and explore outside has been great. My cheapskate husband (love you Eric!) enjoys the fact that we are on top of a hill with a nice breeze and 3 huge shade trees so I haven't really felt the need to turn on the AC yet. Just don't remind him about the day that I left the house with all the windows open and a storm blew in. He came home to a house that was completely soaked! He loves me - I know he does. I learned my lesson though. I close the windows (at least the ones on the west side of the house) when we leave now and there is a chance of rain. Speaking of leaving - I need to get moving. We have to leave the house in an hour and I still haven't done Charity's hair and we are all in "play clothes". More later.

Back home again...

What animals should we go see next?
Michael feeds the giraffe some yam.
Charity's giraffe was not quite at patient!
I'm just proud of this picture and wanted to share!
Here's some of those wonderful cousins I mention later on!


Well we're back "home"! I'm telling you, in some ways that 2 years feels like an eternity but in others it feels like we never left. We've had a pretty easy time getting settled back in. Thank goodness we have cousins though. It's just really hard for little kids to keep a strong long-distance friendship so it is taking Michael and Charity a little bit of time to find their niche again at church, which is where nearly all of their friends were from before we moved away. We were lucky that VBS was the week after we moved back so they were able to spend a lot of time with the kids their own age and plug right back in. For my part, I went right back to my favorite spot of all for VBS week - the snack kitchen! I love the people that work snacks and it is such a low stress job. We "prepare" snack for 1200 kids but with the lovely invention of pre-packaged single serve snack bags - it really isn't too big of a job! We get plenty of time to chit-chat and watch what all the kids are doing throughout the campus. It's so neat to see all those kids having a BLAST and doing it in a way that honors God and teaches them about Him. In between trips to church (that much hasn't changed in 2 years at least!) we've found time to do some fun stuff too. We've been swimming at mom's and our wonderful neighbor and friend Kristin's. We also got to go to a birthday party at the local pool that has 2 water slides - fun stuff!! The week we moved home, Aunt Teri took Michael and Charity on their annual trek to the zoo. Once again she chose one of the HOTTEST days of the year to go – but a fun time was had by all. I was allowed to tag along again this year. The deal is that I get to go but I have to be FUN! I guess as long as I’m acting like “Aunt Mommy” instead of that normal mean ‘ol ogre they have around every other day of the year then I’m allowed to go on “zoo day”. We had fun petting sharks, feeding giraffes, watching the dolphin show, seeing the elephant getting her bath and of course freaking Aunt Mommy out by spending an extraordinary amount of time in the snake house! (At least it seemed like FOREVER to me! Seriously - who cares if a python is non-venomous and a viper is venomous! They both could kill you! One bites the other squeezes but dead is dead!) We also got to get our favorite zoo time treat – Dip’n Dots! I love the “ice cream of the future”! We made a trek back to our former residence to grab the rest of our stuff (a U-haul, 2 cars and a minivan didn't provide enough room!) We were also supposed to go to Michael's last baseball game but it got rained out! BOO! I know, I know, we needed the rain, but that doesn't mean I like to see my poor boy heart broken! He perked up pretty quick when we offered to let him play video games for a couple hours on end though so all is good again!

What a year!

Charity and her two best friends from church!
Michael and one of his church buddies - who also happened to be in the same class at school and saved him from a fate worse than death - being the only boy at Charity's poodle themed birthday party!
Michael and more friends from church!
(I don't know why I never posted this one. I just realized I had it saved as a draft!)
The kids and I had our last Wednesday night church session last night. Charity has her end of the year program next week but all our other activities are done. I don't know if I've ever mentioned our Wednesday night activities or not. Our church offers all kinds of activities on Wednesday night. They have women's and men's Bible study, choir, the teens have activities and they have "clubs" for the younger kids. Michael and Charity love hanging out with their friends and doing fun stuff. The boys and girls each have their own clubs so they get to do stuff that they especially like. Charity's club has had a pajama party, painted nails, and had all kinds of fun. Mixed in with all this fun is teaching the girls how they are loved by Jesus and teaching them the value of serving. They made cookies for the workers in the nursery, cleaned baby toys and all kinds of other little projects. They had a cookout last night where they got to make smores - girls and chocolate go hand in hand you know! Michael has enjoyed playing all kinds of "boy" stuff with other kids his age and some long suffering dads. They have had paper airplane races, bike/scooter nights, and all kinds of other fun that generally has them coming home smelling like - well, boys! For my part I really enjoyed the Bible study I was in this session. I joined a bunch of wonderful ladies going through Beth Moore's study on the Patriarchs. If you've ever been through one of her studies then you know they are set up for a 10 week session with homework 5 days a week. Our church takes it at a slower pace which doesn't overwhelm me with homework and allows more time for discussion within our small groups. For each of Beth's "weeks" we take 3 weeks. We discuss days 1,2,&3 for week 1, days 4&5 for week 2, and the watch and discuss the video on week 3. I loved it and LOVED the study! If you've never gotten into a Beth Moore study - I HIGHLY recommend them! Thank you so much to the faithful family we found at LBC for all the love they have shown us while we were with you. We will miss you!

Summer is on its way!

Charity showing off her beautiful sunglasses - while eating chocolate of course!
He's so cool!
Hanging out at the Children's Museum with Grandma and Uncle Greg.

What a gorgeous day! Sunny and 80 degrees. I laid the kids down for an early nap so they will be able to get the most out of the afternoon. Plus I was really ready for some peace and quiet. Charity is not cooperating very well. She's exhausted but all wound up and isn't going to give in without fighting me for a half hour or so. I love my children but they can mentally exhaust me like no on else! There's nothing I can put my finger on today but they are just pressing my buttons. Another reason I'm so thankful for the beautiful weather. They will spend the majority of their time between nap and bed tonight playing outside - whether they want to or not! Eric finished another final today. 3 down, 3 to go. This one only took him about 1/2 an hour. They are scheduled for 3 hours and it seems like most of them take a majority of that time. His next exam is at 8:30 in the morning and I'm sure Eric is thankful for the extra study time that a short exam gives him. The kids and I spent the morning as we usually do - at school and at the Y. Charity had swim lessons so Michael spent the late morning hanging out with the other morning Kindergartners at the Y. I spent the lesson time reading a cooking magazine and wishing my pantry, fridge, and freezer would automatically stock themselves. I should go grocery shopping tonight but I think maybe I'll put it off for another day. The kids need the play time and I don't really want to go anyway.

The end is drawing near

Charity taking a break from dancing on the dug-out at Little League Opening Ceremonies
Michael's Team heading out to the field - he is #10 in the gray shirt.
All of the little leaguers on the field
Michael and his friend playing basketball on the back patio - a favorite past time.
Charity and a friend - all of them seem to be equally enthralled with princesses and dance clothes - maybe it's just the age!

We will be moving home one month from tomorrow! I can't believe how quickly the last 2 years have gone! Eric is in the middle of finals now. He has one every day this week and then he will be done for a few months. Luckily he'll only have one at the end of the summer. That will be a nice little break. And he just informed me that he will have only 2 finals at the most next winter! I can't believe it! 4 more finals this week and then 3 more EVER!! Of course he'll have the bar in February and that is probably worse than all his finals combined but we just won't go there yet.
We found a house to rent this weekend. It is a little 3 bedroom in the country - not far from several aunts, uncles, cousins, Mur-Mur, and OF COURSE - Mom. It has lots of room for the kids to run wild and is a stones throw away from one of my friends from high school. The situation is pretty close to ideal. The kids are excited to move home most of the time. We've had a few hard days lately when they really got sad about leaving their friends. Charity cried herself to sleep last week over it - that breaks my heart and makes me doubt our decision to leave. Not serious doubts of course, but it is SO hard to see them hurting. As long as I can keep them focused on getting back home to their grandparents and cousins then we will be okay. They had a blast this weekend with the family when my cousin Nathan got married so hopefully that will stay fresh in their minds. His wedding was wonderful, by the way. His wife is awesome and I'm so glad she has joined our family. They are in Hawaii for their honeymoon. Nathan managed to keep their destination a secret from Amanda until they were checking in at the airport. Good for him!
In other news, we are in the middle of baseball season for Michael. He has 2 games a week plus practice every Thursday. It's a bigger time commitment that we had anticipated but he's loving every minute of it. We had opening ceremonies at the local minor league stadium. The kids all got to go on the field and they announced their name and stuff. Michael loved it but Charity was bored out of her mind. Her favorite part was dancing on top of the dug-out (shocker)! She's filling her time by playing with friends and taking swimming lessons. She's moved up to the next level at the Y and is really starting to look like a little swimmer. She still loves her lessons so hopefully we'll be able to continue them this summer. There's no Y anywhere near home so we'll just have to see what we can figure out.

Easter

I've attached some pics of the kids hunting for Easter eggs at our house. It took much longer for 4 of us to hide them this year than it took Michael and Charity to find them. They had a good ol' time and we came away with a fresh stash of chocolate. Eric and I are conscientious parents and would never allow them to eat that much candy so we have sacrificed over the last week and eaten some of it ourselves. Feel free to nominate us as parents of the year. Eric claims we use a Communist form of parenting but I just think we are just doing our duty and teaching them how important healthy eating is! "Do as I say, not as I do!" Besides, I LOVE CHOCOLATE!
In other news, I just finished reading a book by Paul Maier called A Skeleton in God's Closet. The basic premise is that the hero is on an archaeological dig and discovers what appear to be the bones of Jesus. The book brings up a lot of scenarios about how this would affect not only believers but also the rest of the world. Reading as we came away from the Easter season gave the book a lot of significance as I thought about not only what the Resurrection means but also the significance and implications of it. I highly recommend it!

Whew!!!

What a rough couple of weeks!! It wasn't that we were doing any grueling activities or anything - it was just one thing after another. Hopefully we are settling back into our routines and schedules now and life can start to look a little bit normal - for us anyway. (It's all relative!!) Eric has 3 more weeks of classes and then 6 finals in 7 days -yikes!! So he is already gearing up for that. He has stacks of notecards sitting around and it's not uncommon for my printer to be tied up while he prints out more. He's so dedicated and so stinking smart but it is still a lot of work and wears on all of us. I think it helps to know that he is in the homestretch! He scheduled his classes for his last semester!! I'm not sure who's more excited me or Eric! We'll be moving home in about 7 weeks. This town has been wonderful to us. We've made great friends, found a wonderful church, enjoy easy access to all the fun stuff to do in The City, wonderful summers full of easy water access, and LOVE the food here :) but it will be good to get back home. I'll miss being able to go to the grocery store in my pjs - since we know so few people - but even that is changing. Last week I was at Wal-Mart at 8:45 on a Thursday morning and ran into 3 people that I knew. Charity commented on it as we were leaving. She said, "We knew lots of people today!" My response - "Yep, that must mean it's time to move!" Bittersweet since we DO like it here. Why can't everybody we love just come up here to stay?!! Of course we would need to find a new place to live because I NEED a washer and dryer!! More later!

We are alive...

We're just in the middle of a few VERY busy weeks. I'll write more later but here are some pics of the kids and what they've been up to lately.

They turn the river what color?!!

While I was off learning to be a better wife and mother, Eric and the kids were gallivanting around the region and eating junk. Now we joke about what husbands are like when they have the kids to themselves but normally Eric doesn't fit this stereotype. It is a rare occasion for me to come home and the house isn't as clean (normally CLEANER) than when I left it. He makes the kids stick to their routines and feeds them the same stuff we normally would. Apparently this was NOT the case this weekend. They ate frozen pizza for lunch and dinner on Friday. On Saturday morning they got up at 6am, hit 2 doughnut shops, and made it downtown in time to see them turn the river green. They ate McDonald's for lunch and who knows what other kind of junk! But they had an awesome time and somehow managed to fill up a sink of dishes. The dishes are still sitting in the sink - a silent battle of wills between Eric and I is raging as to who is going to do them. Between you and I - I'll probably lose. I normally do. Anyway, here's some pics he took of the kids pretending that they are Irish!

Mommy Guilt - bye bye!!

I am at the Hearts-at-Home conference this weekend. This is the conference I attend every year that we commonly refer to as "mommy school"! It is a time of laughter and refreshment for moms of all types. Granted, most are stay at homes and that's how I was introduced to it, but the applications are relevant to any and all moms (there is even at least one stay-at-home dad here - poor guy, he is SO outnumbered and they've changed all but one of the men's bathrooms into women's - complete with "dismantling" the urinals by putting potted plants in them! Don't you LOVE women!) I can't even articulate how important this time away is for me. I spent yesterday learning and growing not only in my mommyhood but also in my walk with God. How in the world do people get by without Him?! I am far from where I would like to be spiritually but yesterday I was touched by the One who loves me. The One who knows me inside and out and yet still love ME! The one who knows how I fail on an hourly basis to be the woman that I should be - yet he still LOVES ME! He loves me in a way that is beyond comprehension but that love is not beyond being known and better yet - felt. How do I go back to normal life after an experience like that? And yet, I know I will. I will go home on this spiritual high and probably within days I will catch myself falling back into my old habits and patterns of thought. Within weeks I will have forgotten some of the things I am feeling right now. With months I may start doubting that what happens at this conference is real. BUT IT IS REAL! It is the very hand of God that has worked on my heart and will continue to do so as I seek him. Yes, I will fail and yes, the feelings will fade with time but His loving kindness to me never will. Plus - I have the promise that Hearts-at-Home will have another session of "Mommy School" lined up to refresh me one year from today!!

BEAUTIFUL WEATHER!!! I could get used to this!

Well Charity had quite the weekend. Grandma and Papa spoiled her rotten and she loved every minute of it. They went shopping for a gift for Amanda. While they were out Charity got new shoes, a new purse and some jewelry. They also went out to lunch with Papa and generally had a good time. On Saturday after a morning of playing with her cousins she and Papa made a trip to the maple syrup farm. And what's a trip with Papa (either Papa for that matter) without a stop for ice cream! Roger took a nap that day - Charity did not. On Sunday after church she drew her version of a hopscotch board on the sidewalk, helped pick up rocks out of the yard and climbed on top of my car to dance along to a song from High School Musical. How will we ever get her adjusted to REAL life again!
Luckily the "deprogramming" is going well and she is getting back into the swing of things. She and Michael have been fighting like cats and dogs trying to one-up each other with all the fun they had without the other. I'm so thankful for another beautiful afternoon because they are going outside to duke it out as soon as they wake up from their naps. Or maybe they'll end up playing nicely on their scooters and we can have some fun TOGETHER for a change. We're breaking out the grill tonight - YES!! That will make a Monday night feel like a Friday.

So this is what it's like to be an only child

Charity and I made a quick trip home yesterday so that I could attend the viewing for the father/father-in-law of some friends of mine. It's so hard to see my friends grieving and I just pray that God would provide peace to them in this horrible time. My prayers are with you guys!
It would have been wonderful to stay through the weekend but there was no way I could make it work with my school, Michael's school and Eric's study schedule. Instead Charity stayed with Grandma and I'll go home sometime tomorrow (again) so that I can be home for my cousin's fiancee's bridal shower. Michael's last basketball game is on Saturday morning so he won't be going with me. I know the boy is going to miss playing ball but I think Eric will be glad to be done coaching. He loves Michael but dealing with eight 4/5/6 year olds is about to drive him to drinkin'. So in the meantime, Michael is getting a chance to see what life would be without Charity around. Frankly I don't think he's minding it too much. He gets all the attention and doesn't have to fight over which books to listen too. Eric set up the tent in the middle of Michael's bedroom so it looks like it will be high times for Michael tonight. I've put some final pictures of Michael socializing at basketball since I'll be missing the last game and won't have any to show off. Don't worry though - baseball starts in about three weeks!!

We are returning to normal!

Well we've had quite a week! I told you all that Michael stayed home from school on Tuesday because he had a fever. Well he also stayed home on Wednesday and again on Thursday. We wasn't exhibiting any other symptoms besides the fever and he kept telling me that nothing hurt but Thursday morning I called the doctor. We were seen on Thursday afternoon and the doctor said his throat looked a little red so he did a strep test. (Any of you who know Michael and his gag reflex and tendency to overreact can bet how pleasant that was! Luckily there was no "clean up on aisle 5" needed!) Sure enough it came back positive. So, no school on Friday either! He didn't want to go to school more than 10 days in the month of February anyway. (Actually I think he went 11 days this month but who's counting!) Poor little guy still isn't back to 100% but he's slowly getting there. His appetite is still missing and he tires easily but at least he is doing more than lying on the couch. He got to play basketball today. He was alright the first two periods he played but during the third one he was obviously dragging. Even the coach for the other team noticed it. (His daughter played on the kids' soccer team in the fall so he has seen Michael in "action" on numerous occasions.) Thankfully we have a very easy weekend and he can rest up. Eric even broke down and let him play Madden on his computer. Michael (the Bears) lost to the 49ers 0-41. Not to be outdone, Charity played Duck Hunt on the good ol' Nintendo. (pictures above) We are HIGH TECH in our household. No fancy game systems for us, we rely on the original Nintendo for our gaming pleasure. Eric's dad is also up for the weekend so the kids are having fun climbing all over "big" Papa. They are taking naps now so Eric and I are watching the Purdue game while his dad is visiting a family friend here in town. I'm LOVING this game!! Purdue is on a 16-3 run and beating Northwestern 57-39. I always liked going to basketball games when I was at school (not as much as football games though!) and watching them on TV brings back all kinds of memories! It's so fun when they win and it just doesn't happen as much as I would like it too. It wears me out watching them though. I think I'll take a nap when its over.