Off the face of this earth

No, we have not fallen off the face of the earth.  We've been too busy enjoying every moment we spend on it.  It was a fun filled, action packed summer....jammed with the kind of memories that will replay in my mind for a long time to come.
When I get a chance I hope to re-count many of those moments.  For now, I want to jot down a few things that are in the recent past.

Jackson and Connor started school on August 29th.  Connor was psyched to go to second grade as an old-time in Mrs. DeForge's classroom.  Jackson started full day kindergarten.  He did great.  The first day of school he hopped on the bus, turned around long enough to give me a kiss, then sat down without ever looking back.  He's done great.  At the end of the day, I meet the boys at the end of the lane and Jackson fills our walk back to the house with the precious details of his day.  We sent him to school with money to buy chocolate milk only to find him coming home with the coins at the end of the day.  He told us he was too excited to spend time with his friends...and didn't want to waste time waiting in line for milk.  So sweet.  I couldn't be prouder of my school age boys.  The have both jumped into this year with enthusiasm and a great attitude.

Mitchell and Sawyer are home with our sitter until lunchtime....then it's all me.  I savor these moments with my little ones.  Mitchell is so beyond his years in many ways....he talks and figures things out that flabbergast me.   He really is a delight to be around and always wants to try new things.  While he naps, Sawyer and I get to hang out.  I enjoy this time more than I thought possible.  Sawyer is such a sweet, kind, loving little man.  He is full of vinegar too, but it is the perfect mix.  I asked him if he'd rather go to pre-school...and told me no, that he likes staying home with just mommy.  Music to my ears.

I sat on our porch the other evening soaking in the last of the summer sunsets.  I watched the four boys play in the lane.  Riding bikes back and forth...racing...playing street hockey...helping one another....and I thought to myself....I am certainly the luckiest Mommy on the face of this earth.  I cannot thank my Heavenly Father enough for giving me these four little gifts.  I am blessed beyond anything I could ever deserve.

Best Picture Ever

Check out my new super cool pic of the boys.  I love it so much I put it in the header so I can always look at it.  I owe a big thank you to my niece Gabby for it.  I think it may be my all time favorite photo of all four boys.  It was taken March 13th during Mitchell's Second Birthday party.  We had a blast.  I just can't understandy why my boys keep wanting to grow up?  It truly baffles me that Mitchell is already 2.  I can still feel the heartburn and the swollen ankles.  Okay, I know, not the picture I should be painting...but really, how is it possible that two years have gone by since he was joyfully welcomed into this world?

Yes, he was...and still is...joyfully welcomed into this world.  I cannot imagine life without Mitchell.  Neither can his brothers.  They all love him so much.  He fits into our crazy, loud family so well.  He is so full of smiles and laughs.  He's quite a talker...already babbling away in sentences.  My favorite is when he prays at meals.  He simply says...Thank You.  Amen.  That's it.  Really, do you need any more?

Our family is such a blessing to me.  There is simply no way I deserve to be the mom to these boys.  My hearst is overwhelmed with love for them. 

Too important to forget

I want to make sure I write down a few really special things so that I don't ever forget them.

First of all, on Wednesday night (March 2) we were all sitting in the rec room after dinner. I was telling Craig about my day and how I had a conversation with one of my co-workers about the end times.  My co-worker asked if I believed in the people who were saying May 21 is it.  I told him...I don't really believe it, but I'm ready none the less.  It led to a good conversation about heaven with this co-worker.  Well, as Craig and I were talking my conversation at work...and about heaven and several books about heaven...Connor was sitting next to me.  As of a sudden he says quietly..."I talk to Jesus about that in my brain."  I asked him to repeat himself...he did and added  that he believed in Jesus and wanted to be with Him in heaven.  :)  My heart swelled.  He went on to say that when he gets to heaven he wants to see Sam our dog.  We talked a little more abut what he believed and how happy we were that he wanted to follow Jesus.  At bedtime I kneeled next to his bed and prayed with him. 

On Fridyay night, (March 4) Craig went to Philly to pick up his mom at the airport.  I was alone with the boys and decided we should do a few special things.  So, we made soft pretzels.  It was fun...a little messy...but fun.  The boys rolled their own and made special shapes.  When I got the finished pretzels out of the oven I put cinnamon and sugar on them and passed them to the boys.  I broke Mitchell's into smaller pieces so it would be easier for him.  Well, Mitchell sobbed!!!!  I couldn't stop him from crying..and was at the same time trying to monitor the next batch.  Bless Connor's heart...he walked over and started feeding Mitchell his own pretzel.  (a heart shape he worked really hard on making)  Mitchell calmed down and thoroughly enjoyed the special treatment from Connor.

THEN...Jackson got upset because his pretzel was to crispy and I wouldn't let him just eat dough.  He started sobbing.  Again, nothing I did worked....but Connor put his hand on Jackson's shoulder and spoke quietly and sweetly to him until he stobbed crying.

THEN...I got out a Scooby-Doo video that Craig had bought that afternoon for the boys to enjoy.  They got soooo excited.  Connor immediately said...let's thank the Lord!  I was taken aback.  He went on to bow his head...encouraging his brothers to do the same....and said a prayer of thanks.  He thanked Jesus that Daddy would be so nice as to get a special video..and that Daddy would get home safe. Wow.   Then he said...God please send this message to Daddy so he knows how happy we are that he got this video.  :)

I started the video...then called Craig to tell him.  I was so pleased.  Craig's reaction...We must be doing something right!

We are so blessed.

Valentine Wrap-up

We ended up having Valentines all week long at our house.

These are our finished treats for friends at school.  We wrapped smooshed lots of frosting between two  mini-chocolate cakes then rolled them into some Valentine sprinkles.  Next we wrapped them in individual bags with a pink ribbon on top.  I stapled the boys card to each treat so they knew who it came from.

I think it turned out pretty good.  :)

We also gave goodie boxes to our family...we filled them with the mini-whoopie pie/cakes...and some chocolate pretzel treats.  the boys also made homemade Valentine cards for them.  So cute.

The other day, I had to vacate the house for a few hours while we got some work done to our kitchen.  Jackson and Connor were at school so I took Mitchell and Sawyer to the mall.  We had a blast.

Say cheese!

The boys road on the rides at the mall for about 20 minutes.  Best part, I didn't put a dime in...they had fun anyway!

Take a look at these....

Craig's sister Lori dropped these off.  Individual heart-shaped cakes for each of the boys...and one for us!  They looked just like conversation hearts...and tasted even better.  Yum.

Basketball Video

here's my little super star.  first game.  loved every minute.

Sweets for the Sweet

After church we got to work...

I baked 55 mini-whoopies pies...

They smelled sooooo good, but I felt so bad....I wouldn't let the boys snack on them.  I needed to make sure we had enough to give to our valentines.

After they cooled, I made buttercream frosting and rolled them in pink and red heart sprinkles.  Too bad I didn't think to take a picture of the finished product.

While I baked and decorated, Craig kept the boys occuppied.

They played board games...and had so much fun.  I see a future filled with fun times playing games.

Busy Saturday

The boys have been loving their Upward Basketball games.  Jackson has improved so much, but best of all he is having a great time.  I tried to grab a few shots of his latest game.

He is in the thick of the action here...which is saying a lot...though it would be nice if you could actually see him in my picture.

Here he is...blurry, yes...but he's out there.

Wanted to share this one too.

This little guy loves this chair in the play room.  He could seat there all afternoon and watch his very favority movie of all.

Toy Story 2

Heart Day Preps

We've been having a lot of fun getting ready for Valentine's Day.  While Connor was at school, Jackson went to town perfecting his hearts.  He did such a great job.  So cute. 

Jackson is also working on his writing.  I am amazed at how good he is getting.  The best part....he loves it!

After he finished his hearts...he wanted to write all of our names down.  He put his version of a smiley face next to everyone's name.

Next, he added a 100 for each of us.  I guess that means he likes us?

He was so proud he wanted me to take a picture of him when he finished.

After he looked at the first pictures, he made me take another.  He wanted to be able to see the entire board...and his smiling face.  :)

I LOVE this kid so much.  He is such a sweetheart.  I'm overjoyed that he is showing so much interest in writing and reading.  He loves to snuggle and is quick to ask for a hug or tell me he loves me.  He is also a nice kid.  Everyday at the end of pre-school he wants to say good bye to all of his friends.  It is precious.  He does get a little sad if he misses someone.  I pray that he never loses the sweet innocent and wonderful gentle heart.

This weekend we also worked on making valentines for school parties.

Jackson wrote out the name of every child in his class.  It took a little while, but he did a great job and enjoyed the finished product sooooo much.

Connor also made hand made Valentines for all his friends.

He addressed them too...though I wish he'd work a little on his hand writing.

Next up....Valentine treats.....

Making Progress

After what seems like forever, we're making some progress in the kitchen.  We hired a carpenter to come in and finish off the window opening that leads into the rec. room.

These are pictures from Day 1.

This is a view from the kitchen into the rec. room.  He framed it out and will put skill out the rest of the walls and replace a cabinet.

Below is the view from the rec room/laundry room.  You can see where we took out another row of bricks on each side to open up the space a little more.

Day 2

You can see he dry walled the opening and finished it off with a nice edge on the kitchen side.

Here's the rec room side.  He build in a little counter area at the base of the window so it matches up with the existing counter top.

I'm loving it.

In Door Camp Out

Connor came home from school one day and asked if we could have a camp out.  Not sure where he got the idea...but what the heck.  So what does an indoor camp out consists of?  For Connor...a roaring fire, Smores, sleeping bags, and playing the limbo.  Yeah, I'm not sure where that one came from either. :)

Craig got the fire roaring.  I got out the fondue sticks....much too short mind you...and some marshmallows.  I even made a trip to the grocery store to get Hershey bars and graham crackers. 

Craig was the designated marshmallow roaster.

The boys were super excited.  Mitchell opted to just eat the marshmallow, graham cracker and chocolate separately.  The entire time Craig was asking me if I was sure I knew what I was getting into to.  The answer...of course, not.

The boys were really good...they stayed back from the fire and listened to our warnings about how hot the fire and the marshmallows were.

I did not get any pictures of the limbo.  It was cute...I was holding the pole so I didn't have my camera.  We had a great time though.  Great idea, Connor.  We wrapped up the night with a Scooby-Doo Thrillogy. 

Jamaica-n Me Crazy!!

Right around Christmas my dear husband surprised me with a wonderful trip.  (I knew about it for awhile...but couldn't tell anyone until the other people involved were informed.)

Craig...and the husbands of my three good friends...planned a trip for us. 

So, the first week of January...we headed out.

Mel, Steph and I spent the night at a hotel near the airport...Chris met us there.

It was really, really early.  We had to be at the airport around 6 to get checked in.

I barely slept the night before...either it was because I was totally excited or because the hotel room got up to 800 degrees!

We had to wait way to long in the airport....as you can see, Mel was trying to catch some extra zzzz.

It had snowed the night before we left...so we watched the crew as they de-iced the airplane.

Next up...we headed for Jamaica!

Here are Chrissy and I on the plane.

We actually took about a dozen versions of this picture...so I wouldn't see my double chin.

HA!

Not a good one in the bunch.

It didn't take too long until we saw this.   The crystal blue water of the Caribbean Sea!

We're here!

This is us standing in line at customs...or immigration...I'm not sure which one.  It went pretty quick though.

(By the way, Steph has much better pictures of all of this...)

Our first day was spent getting situated and sitting on the beach.

That night was awesome...Beach  BBQ!

I know, this is an awful picture, but I was trying to capture what the resort looked like at night.  It was totally gorgeous.

The beach bbq was so fun.  Lots of food, drinks, entertainment.

No makeup for me!

Ignore the dead looking plants in the foreground.  Not sure what that's all about...but you can see the tiki torcehs and the tables set up on the beach.  It was so nice to.  Day time highs in the 80's...night time in the 70's.  Perfection.

This is a small outdoor bar that we enjoyed.  It look out over the ocean.  Every night they had entertainment up here...I think it was a jazzy, Jamaican band.  Very good.

There was also a show every night.  Crazy energy.  My camera couldn't capture it too well.  This was the steel drum show.

Here are a few pictues of the resort.  The Grand Palladium - Lady Hamilton.

Better than my greatest expectation.

Look what we found in Jamaica....imported from Lancaster County!

One of the beaches....

Outdoor massages overlooking the ocean.

The main pool

The pool at night....Gorgeous.

We enjoyed phenomenal food... 

There were so many good restaurants....3 or 4 buffets...6 a la carte restaurants.  We had seafood, Mexican, Jamaica jerk...Yum.

Lots of great entertainment....

Our i-phones did not work...which is probably a good thing!

Though we did miss our families and think of them often.

We chilled in the fabulous outdoor bar....

Steph was excited about something....

My best look...

mel writing a very important note....

We had such a great time.  So many wonderful memories.  The snorkeling, the swimming, the paddle boats, the food, the beaches, the laughs.

The inside jokes....like the guy on the shuttle bus (legs or no legs), We Are Penn State,  this is a great book!...and so many others.

Checking out.....

Our final meal....

I am so thankful for these friends...and for the husbands that thought we deserved this!

Our super-cool driver dude.

So nice.

Leaving 81 degrees and sunny....to head home to cold and snow. :(

Back in the USA.

Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times...

It was tough to head home after such an amazing time away.  When we landed it was about 15 degrees with snow on the ground.  Rough.  I called home and the boys were getting ready to head to bed.   They had a great time with Daddy.

Somebody is happy to see mommy....