Our weekend

This was one of those weekends that we all enjoy. Nothing to do and plenty of time to do it!

Friday started with Halloween. We were without Emily because she had a sleepover planned with the junior high girls from church and went trick or treating beforehand with a friend also going to the sleepover. I found out the next day that the police arrived to the house that they were staying at while the girls were outside playing a game and questioned them! What a roudy bunch! I'm just kidding, the police were making their nightly rounds on the empty lot next to the house and the girls just happened to be outside at the same time. When one of the ladies came out and vouched for the girls the police left. It gave the girls quite a scare though!

Our two unicorns were joined by a flapper (Nataliya) and made their way around Mamaw and Papaw's neighborhood within 45 minutes. Ella broke tradition and decided that she wanted to continue onto ANOTHER STREET! Emily had never been interested in going past the first street and the other two had usually been worn out by that time BUT this year we went onto another street and collected candy. Jason and I were both proud thinking of how we would practically run from house to house with our siblings on Halloween as children to get as much candy as possible. It's funny though because Ella doesn't eat much candy, just plain M&M's and York patties! I wasn't about to rain on her parade though (more candy for Jason and I)!

Saturday brought a lot of nothing and then Finn in the afternoon. We had the privledge of watching him overnight while Jennifer and Joe went to Columbus for a small get away. Finn was perfectly behaved and was quiet. He did wake up in the middle of the night and I figured out that he was hungry when he tried to nurse from me! YIKES! I quickly heated up a bottle for him and that made both of us happy. He fell back asleep easily and then did well in the nursery at church. His mom and dad were waiting at our house when we got home from church and he seemed very happy to see them!

Jason has a very long day today. He's traveling to Phoenix, AZ and back to take a test for his supervior stamp for HVAC systems. He left at 3:30 this morning and won't land back in Dayton until after 11pm. Thankfully he just has one test to take (he passed the other 5 parts in the spring) and he's feeling pretty good about passing this one on this go around! Pray for him if you think of it, it's a big deal as far as his job is concerned.

That's it for now, I'll post again soon! Until then, enjoy the small "Indian summer" we have going on!

Ongoing October

I know I had promised a post last week and did not deliver, I apologize. So here is a post for the past two weeks!

We went to "The Land" in KY. Emily did not join us. Her social calender had her at a friends for the weekend because of a birthday sleepover. She had an excellent time and even got to ride horses! Jason went down early on Wednesday the 15th with some friends to relax and chop some wood for the campfire.

I KNEW that we had some excitement coming up and I was right. While at the land, Saturday morning to be exact, Ella woke up with poison ivy ALL over her face. Her left eye was swollen shut and the right side of her face was all puffy not to mention the itching she had going on. Soooo, Connie (Jason's mom) and I took her into the local hospital and got to try out their emergency room. They were very kind and thankfully not busy at all. Two hours, two shots, two pills, and two prescriptions later we were back at the land and we could see Ella's left eye. The medicine worked well and the only leftover from the poison ivy at this point.is some dried skin.

The weather was a little chilly, especially on the Sunday morning, but it just made the campfire even warmer. I enjoyed holding my little ones in front of that campfire, wrapped up in a fleece blankets, and have them fall asleep in my arms. Aaaahhh, motherhood.

The entertainment for some of the weekend was provided by Shane in the form of Rockband! I personally do not see the appeal but most everyone else loves it!

On Tuesday, Jason and I took Emily to the place where we got engaged 14 years ago and surprised her by presenting her with a purity ring. This is something we had been talking to her about for awhile and we felt this was the proper time to do it. She gladly accepted it and the challenge that it represents. The purity ring shows her promise to God, herself, and her future husband (if God blesses her with one) that she will keep herself sexually, mentally and spiritually pure until she is married. We acknowledge that this an extremely hard road to follow but we do believe that it is what God has called us to do. It's our responsibility as her parents to help guide her as she grows and in this very hard and confusing world.

Monday, I got to take some photos of Finn, my nephew, at a local farm. It was at the end of a long day but the results speak for themselves........ what an adorable guy!

Today we went to a pumpkin farm to pick out our pumpkin! We hadn't had a chance to do this and it was obvious when we got into the pumpkin field that it was the last weekend before Halloween, the pickings were slim. The part we all like the best is searching for neat looking gourds that we call "Nyrts" (what David is holding in the photo above). We did end up finding a pumpkin and did the carving this evening. I say "we" but Jason did all the carving, and did an excellent job! The results are below for your enjoyment.

I probably won't post again until after Halloween so have a Happy Halloween!

More Fall Festivities

Oh, where to begin. Not too much has happened but certainly enough for a blog post, so here it goes!

This past Saturday the 11th we hosted a surprise retirement party for Jason's father, Tom. He retired from Kroger after working there for about 38 or so years. He started working there when he was 16! Connie, Jason's mom, lured Tom out to our house saying that we were all going to the pumpkin farm for a hay ride and so Tom had no idea what was really in store! He truly was surprised and we all had a good time of hanging out and for some, playing Rock Band in the garage (courtesy of Shane Beverly).

Tom "surprised" by his cake.

Our first official use of the patio!

The next day we had a visit from my best friend Jennie and her family. This time we really did go to the pumpkin farm (without Tom) and did not end up taking the hay ride. When we arrived we discovered Carolyn and her family were already there! The three families went back to our house for dinner and another evening of fun!

Kids in a big vat of dried corn.

On Monday, Emily decided it was time to get her hair cut. She has been growing out her bangs for awhile now and wanted to even up her hair. I've posted the cute results for you!




This weekend is our annual fall party at the land and so early next week I'm sure I'll have a post with those photos and any stories that may emerge. Until then, enjoy the beauty of this season. I'm always amazed when I see a tree in it's full autumn color, what a majestic God we have!

We had some possible beginnings and/or endings this past week. Only time will tell which they were. I'm sure some have no idea of what I write so I'll unravel the mystery.

This past Friday Emily performed with the junior high band on the football field for the first time. It was homecoming at our school and the JH band was invited to join the high school band in playing the fight song on the field during the pre-game show. Emily has said that she does not want to continue on in band next year and so this may have been the only time Jason and I had to see her perform with a marching band. :( We tell ourselves that she is her own person and we can not live through her but we also don't want her missing out on an awesome opportunity. I'm posting a shortened video of her performance. It's shaky because I was videotaping with David and Ella hanging on me and bouncing around. Emily also ends up behind a cymbal player most of the time but I'll take what I can get.







The next morning Emily ran her final race of this cross country season. It was run on the hardest course but she did an excellent job and pushed herself very hard. Emily also does not plan on continuing on in cross country next fall but instead hopes to get onto a high school soccer team.

Jason had a hopeful beginning this past Saturday. For the past several years he has been running in various 5 or 10K runs but always made it a point to participate in one in particular (it has a great after party). This run is the Reggae Run, which is a 5K, held at Ault Park in the beginning of October. He had a goal for his recovery from his broken leg of running the Reggae Run this year and he accomplished his goal! It was almost 10 months to the day from his accident. His time was about 29 minutes, not bad, huh? His leg felt fine but the next day he was tired and ached all over, but who wouldn't?

Jason and I at the after party

That's about it for now. I hope everyone is enjoying the cool evenings of this fall. I'm still waiting for the leaves to change color but I'm also thinking that this fall won't be as pretty as it could be due to the lack of rain and Hurricane Ike blowing through. Until next time!

Falling back into step

It's been awhile since I've posted and as a result there is much to "report" I'll try and hit some of the highlights (or no lights as one of them is) and add some photos for your enjoyment.

* David started preschool on Monday Sept. 8th. He took right to the classroom and has been busy talking the teacher's ears off. The teacher asked Jason last Friday "Does he ever stop talking?".

* We had to give away one of our cats, Samba, because we were having issues with him using our entire house as a litter box (the smell and mess was too much for me). Here are the kids with Samba the night before he went to the SPCA.

* Emily is enjoying her cross country season and is seeing improvements in her times (always a big motivator to work harder).

* Emily's last mouse, Susan, died on the Sunday that "Ike" blew threw. As you might recall she got 3 mice 1 1/2 years ago. Lily died last month, and Mum mysteriously disappeared a few weeks ago and now Susan is gone. :(

* Ella also had a loss. She was required to give away some of her stuffed animals. As most know she is very attached to each one of them but we have an agreement with her that they must all fit in the drawers she has under her bunk bed. She got to the point where this just wasn't possible anymore and so a garbage bag full was given away to Goodwill.

* We celebrated, along with the family, the birthdays of Max and Gus (now 2) and also Finn (now 1).

* Jason continues to work hard and is now playing hard at soccer. He's now focusing on some VW events coming up in the fall.

* The other afternoon, I had all of my kids sitting at the kitchen table doing homework together, that's a milestone!

* David has found a chore he likes to do. He enjoys vacuuming up the cat litter that gets tracked outside the box!

* As far as I'm concerned I deciced to try out a new look. I got a new pair of glasses and decided (again) to go darker, or should I say more natural, with my hair. I don't think the hair will stay this dark, mostly because it doesn't appeal to my husband and now I'm not so sure I like it this dark!

* Most notably we were inconvenienced with the passing through of "Ike". We were out of power for a week. Despite the lack of power, God blessed us with the fact that my parents never lost power and so we were able to take warm showers and do laundry at their house. Also more blessings were evident in the fact that no one was hurt, our house was untouched, we already had a gas powered generator to help out with power when needed, the weather has been perfect since that Sunday, the kids all slept together in the living room without fighting (no one wanted to sleep upstairs without power), and we had a good sized bonfire with most of the downed branches. I'm sure there are countless points that I'm missing but these are just a few.

Here was the attitude of the neighborhood by day 6 without power!

* My personal favorite highlight happened just last night. I got home from getting the girls from church and we found Jason working on the brake lights of our 1950 VW bug. I wondered where David was and discovered him curled up in the foot well of the driver's side of the bug trying to help his daddy by pressing the brake pedal when asked by Jason. Despite his efforts he was not strong enough to push it down all the way and I had to take over. When finished, both boys came inside with greasy dirty hands and grins on their faces from working together on the car. Here is Jason helping David clean his hands with "special soap" for greasy hands.

That is all that I have to report for now. May you enjoy the wonderful autumn days ahead. It's my favorite season! I have so many fond memories of this time of year and the weather is just perfect! Enjoy!

Our busy weekend

I'm hoping that everyone enjoyed a labor-free Labor Day weekend. Here is a run down of our weekend.

David putting on a "gun show" with some of his beaded bracelets.

Ella and David joined Mamaw, Papaw, and Nataliya on Friday and went down to the Land. Jason, myself, Emily and Emma (Emily's friend) had to leave on Saturday because Emily had a cross country meet on Saturday morning at Hillsboro. Emily did well, 15:40, and after the race we left for the land.


The kids had a good time all weekend with all types of activities. Mamaw and Papaw brought a blow up pool that was enjoyed by all and helped alleviate some of the heat. The kids also enjoyed doing some crafts including beading and decorating sun visors. The rest of their time was devoted to enjoying a campfire Saturday night and just playing together and with the toys we keep down at the Land to keep them entertained.



At 2pm on Sunday Jason and I went back to Cincinnati to join a friend of ours who had tickets to a party on the roof of One Lytle Place. We had a spectacular view of the city, not to mention the fireworks that WEBN was so kind to put on for us. We headed back to the Land after watching all the traffic die down after the show and got their about 12:30am.






We got home on Monday about 4pm and tried our hardest to enjoy and relax the rest of the day. It's difficult to do this when you have so much to unload and even more laundry to wash. I am thankful that I didn't have to go back to work today. I needed this buffer day in order to clean the house and finish the laundry before heading back work.

First Day of School Photos

Here are the photos from Emily and Ella's first day of school. They've now been in for a week but I'm still waiting for things to fall into a routine again.

Also added is a picture of Jason on his way to his first official indoor soccer game. The game he played before "doesn't count", because he went not knowing if he would play or not. On this day though, he went with the intention of playing and did so and his team won!!!