A friend of ours who is an excellet photographer recently took some family shots of us with the beautiful fall leaves as a backdrop. Here is one of the kids that we really like. Notice the lovely red welt across Bay's forehead? Yes, he did that immediately before we were ready to take the pictures :) Anyways, the kids did great and we got some good pictures of all of us as well.

I can't believe it has been so long since I have blogged about our family... it certainly is not for lack of things to write about, just lack of time! The boys finished up a wonderful fall soccer season, Eric has a new violin teacher who is a gift from God and his immaculate timing as far as what he needed, Eric played a two-piano ensemble with another boy at a recital recently, we have rearranged both Leah's and the boys' room (taking apart their bunkbeds), we enjoyed a great Thanksgiving with our family here, and are looking forward to the advent season!

Halloween Fun!

Leah the pink bunny rabbit

Bay as Anakin Skywalker

Eric as Darth Vader

Dennis as a Redskin and Heather as....does anyone recognize Pippi Longstocking???

Granni as "Granni from the Beverly Hillbillies"!

We had a great Halloween this year, as we invited the neighborhood over for the 3rd annual Hayride and Trick-or-Treat. We also had a short time of food and fun for everyone to hang out and visit before we left for the hayride. 15 kids showed up, which was a huge success for our rural corner of the world, and we all barely fit on the trailer! We had lots more stops at houses since more neighbors decided to join in on the fun (which is the whole point of our effort to get everyone in the neighborhood out for this!) I have only included here on the blog pics of us dressed up, but follow the link to our webshots to see all the other pictures from the evening!

Camping at Ohiopyle, PA

We just spent a week camping at Ohiopyle State Park in SouthWest Pennsylvania. We went there last year and loved it so much, we just had to go back and stay for a whole week! The kids were so excited to go camping...while we were filling up the hallway with things packed to go the 2 days before we left, every hour or so, Leah would ask..."Are we going camping?!" The time went by too fast, and before we knew it, it was time to come home, but the memories and experiences are still there and we want to share some of them with you!

The first fun thing we did was ride our bikes on the trail that runs along the Youghigheny River. Dennis rode with Bay in the bike seat, myself with Leah, and Eric pedaled himself the 10.8 miles upriver to the tiny town of Confluence, PA. We stopped at our 2nd annual visit to Sister's Cafe for a $1 scoop of ice cream (a great incentive for the long pedal) and then refueled with water and gatorade for the 10.8 mile pedal back to the car. The route is dotted with evidence of the pioneers and old railroad lifestyle as well as great views of some the rapids.

The next day we drove up to New Centerville, PA to a local festival called the Farmer's Jubilee! As you can probably tell from the name and the picture, it was exactly that...farmers! This was quite a "country bumpkin" festival, but it was really neat too. They had tons of steam engine tractors, races and games for the tractors, lots of other equipment run on steam engines like a cider press, saw mill, hay thresher and baler, etc.

On the way back to the campsite we decided to take some back roads, and they really turned out to be dirt roads. Anyways, we ended up atop Laurel Ridge where there are a bunch of windmills. We always see them when we are traveling to Seven Springs to go skiing, and wonder how you get to them...well, we found out! We kept getting closer and closer until we were right at the windmills. They really are huge when you get right up under them and quite impressive! It was a cool surprise!

The last day we spent hiking some of the trails in the state park. The trail we explored was the Meadow Run Trail...supposedly an easy hike. Dennis had Leah in the back-pack carrier, and Bay and Eric walked the whole way. It was not what we would consider "easy" hiking, for the kids anyways. There were many steep areas that were cut directly into the mountain littered with rocks, boulders, and trees you had to either climb under or over to stay on the path. Nevertheless, we all had a great time seeing many waterfalls, and even had a wet break on a really cool sliding rock. On the way back, we decided to take the plunge, clothes and all, sliding down the river on a really flat rock-the water was freezing and refreshing. The kids thought it was great, and besides the slime that clung to our clothes, we did too! This is a picture of Eric in front of the Cascades waterfalls that were at one end of our 3 mile hike.

Below is some video of a small segment of the bike ride as well as some of the sliding in the water on the rocks. You can also check the link to our webshots page for more pictures of the trip...there are some really great ones!

Leah is Potty-trained!!!

Leah has been working since the 3rd week in August on potty-training, and while she is now officially trained without any accidents, it has been quite an interesting journey to get to this point!

I started her once the busyness of swim team ended but hopefully in plenty of time before school started as well. It all started out very well...lots to drink, more to drink, lots of trips to the potty, once success, and then accident after accident after accident! Poor Leah, she tried so hard, but every time she would have an accident, she would burst into tears and be so devastated, that finally I asked her if she wanted to put her diaper back on and she readily consented :) I thought to myself, "Well, we'll wait a couple of months and try again, she just wasnt' ready."

Much to my surprise, the next morning she wanted to put on her panties and try again first thing in the morning. I had given up, but evidently she hadn't!!! Only on her prompting, all day she went to the potty, but I kept a pull-up on her becasue she was so devastated the day before wtih her accidents. Anyways, all this is to say that she was persistent and it took her a couple of days to be accident free in her panties. Of course, going #2 took a little bit longer, but she is now a big girl all the way, and still loves to add stickers to her chart in her bathroom every time she goes. Needless to say, the chart is overflowing with stickers!

Cake Decorating Week

It has been a week of making and decorating cakes! Our swim team had an end of season banquet on Thursday, and I decorated a cake for the team, as seen below. That was lots of fun to do with the lane lines and wave-like border. Everything on this cake was done with decorater's icing, which is just Crisco, powdered sugar and almond extract. Easy to work with, requires no refrigeration, and firms up nicely to keep the cake sealed and fresh.

I was also commissioned to make a cake for a wedding shower my mom is throwing for a friend's daughter. The theme of the shower and the engagement has been much like a fairytale, so I went with a fairytale theme, indirectly. This cake, unlike the top one, used fondant for all of the decorations and covering the cake. Usually fondant tastes awful, and while it makes a smooth and beautiful cake, everyone takes it off because it doesn't taste good. I found a recipe online to make your own fondant using marshmallows and powdered sugar, and it tastes just like marshmallows....much better. Anyways, before you cover the cake with fondant, you first ice it smooth with the decorater's icing, and then roll out the fondant and put it over the cake. All of the decorations were made from fondant or gum paste, which is similar, but hardens like a rock. This was probably the most involved cake I have ever made, but I think it turned out almost exactly as I had planned, so I was happy with it!

One thing that did happen after making both of these cakes, is that my kitchen was COVERED in sugar and grease, so it gave me an excuse to give the kitchen a good scrubbing tonight after it was all done!

Twins turn 50!

Dennis, Mike, Kevin, Chris, Leah

Micael Joseph, Nicholas & Eric (Cousins)

Everyone waiting for dinner :)

Birthday Boy Kevin

Birthday Boy Mike

Dennis' twin brothers, Mike & Kevin just celebrated their 50th birthdays, and since Kevin happened to be in town, we invited them and some other family that live nearby for a little cookout. It turned out to be a beautiful day, after the heatwave last week, we enjoyed an afternoon in the mid-80's. Eric got to reunite and hang out with some of his cousins, and they had a great time swimming, kayaking, playing Star Wars, and swinging on the long swing! Everyone else enjoyed catching up with each other and just hanging out.

Summer Carnival

I think Eric is now officially too big for this ride :) He was being a good sport though to ride with his siblings!

Believe it or not, Bay and Leah loved the ferris wheel! They kept screaming, "Higher! Higher!" Crazy kids.

Well, it is that time of year again...time for the local volunteer fire department's carnival! The kids got a double dose of it this summer. Friday night their grandparents took them, and then Saturday night, Dennis & I and our family friend, Russ, took them as well! Needless to say, they had a great time. Eric's new favorite ride is the Tilt-a-whirl, and as long as an adult could go, it is also Bay's favorite ride!!! They still enjoyed some of the kiddie rides too, but mostly Leah had a blast ringing the bell on the train, riding the carousel, etc... They ended the night with a couple of pulls on the Lucky 7 (pull a string, get a prize). The thing that is so fun about this carnival is that we always see tons of people there that we know...families from Dennis' office, swim team, home school, church...everyone, it seems, makes a stop at the fireman's carnival!

Around the house we've been taking it easy the past couple of weeks...but not too easy! The garden is coming in in bushels (literally!)...we've frozen corn, canned green beans, frozen tomatoes, eaten tomatoes till they come out our ears, pickling cucumbers, and then getting ready to do it all again as the next round of veggies ripen. I have just about finished teaching swim lessons, but the weather is so hot and humid that it seems we have plenty of swimming left in us for the summer! I'll close with one more cute shot of Leah at the carnival. There are additional pictures on our webshots album.

Swim Meet & Friends

Leah playing with toys between events

Bay swimming his 25 Freestyle all by himself!

Bay & friend Nelle...very silly

Eric & friend Nathan visiting for the week

We had some friends visit from California this week, and the kids got to catch up with their good friends as well during the day. We had a cook-out for them one night with a bunch of families over for swimming and combined birthday party and visiting...it was lots of fun...the kids got to play all together, and the grown-ups got to catch up (now that i think of it, did we ever get to actually talk to each other???) I think we counted 18 children and 8 adults!

As for the rest of our summer, we have 1 more week of swim team, and then we will get a break from that before school starts. I am getting ready to teach some swim lessons in our pool, which is exciting...one of my favorite things to do.

The garden is overflowing and ready to become a lot of work with harvesting and canning pretty soon, the tomatoes are loading down the cages and the corn has tassled. If we can just take care of that pesky groundhog who is taking bites out of everything!!!

Swim Meet News!


We had a swim meet this week and Bay has really been practicing hard to get ready to swim all by himself! All weekend at home and at practice this week he has really gotten the hang of swimming and doesn't need any sort of flotation to help him out at all anymore. He was chasing Eric around our pool this weekend, and at practice was jumping off the starting block and swimming the whole length of the pool, in addition to going off the diving board and swimming to the side! We are so proud of him and what a fish he has become, so we were excited when he told his coaches that he wanted to swim in the next meet all by himself.

Unfortunately, our next meet was not at our home pool, and the strange pool intimidated him a little, we think. Anyways, one of his coaches told him she'd get in with him, but wouldn't hold onto him, and he thought that would be just fine. As you can see in the video, after he dove in, he stopped on the lane line to make sure she was with him, and then swam the whole 25 meters, only stopping one time to rest! It is so amazing how much he has learned in swimming this summer!

Eric, also did a great job at the meet. He continues to take time off of his strokes, and although butterfly is certainly his best stroke (lots of 1st place ribbons in that), he is working to improve all of them. He was very excited that his freestyle relay won their race at this past meet...they've been very close many times, but hadn't yet won the realy until now.

Enjoy the video and pics!

Happy 4th of July!!!

We had a super fun July 4th celebration here! It all started in the morning with a bike parade at the end of our street. The kids (and me) had fun decorating the bikes and wagon the day before, and then several other kids age 15 months to 12 yrs joined us the last 2/10 of a mile of our street to show off their National Pride! A kind neighbor at the end of the street provided refreshments for everyone. When we got to the end and were having refreshements, Eric said to me, "Mommy, when are we going to have the parade?" I think he had something more in mind! This was just the first year we did anything like this, and we think that perhaps next year we'll let the bigger kids start much further down the street and meet up with the younger ones closer to the end.

Later in the day we relaxed in the pool, and then had some friends over at Heather's parents' house for a cookout. We all piled onto the sailboat and went out to watch the fireworks from the water. It was a first time seeing the fireworks from the water for our friends Grace & Elliott, and I think they had a great time!

Overnight Sailing Trip

We just enjoyed a great weekend sailing trip with Heather's parents. We took the sailboat out for the weekend...a first for the kids. The weather looked perfect...windy and sunny...so we seized the opportunity and went! We sailed a bit on Saturday afternoon before cruising into a quiet nook in Mill Creek off of Solomon's Island to anchor for the night. We cooked dinner on the boat, then hit the bunks for the night. We awoke to 10 knot winds and sailed all the way out of the creek to the Chesapeake Bay. The winds were excellent and we made it across the Bay to Hooper Island Lighthouse and back home before dinnertime! The kids had a great time...they settled in and adjusted to the relaxed atmosphere of the boat today and were actually all just sitting around for a large portion of the day, doing nothing...amazing!!!!

Enjoy the video of a bit of our sail and more pictures to follow at the bottom of the page!

Bay in the jumpseat

Eric and Bay with Hooper Island Light in the background

Silly shot of Dennis & Heather...I think the salt air has gotten to us :)

How Time Flies!!!

Wow! Has it really already been a month since I posted on here??? I guess once June got here, our family went into overdrive, and we have just now slowed down long enough to take a break! Several people have asked me if we ever finished our room, and I guess we did, so check out the webshots page for updated pictures in that "room remodel" album for the almost final product! We still have not put in actual carpet (it is just a remnant on top of old linoleum), but it works for now. There also isn't really much on the walls, but those things will get added as they come to us. But everything is painted and structual changes are all done. Next winter project, the bathroom, hopefully :)

Another big project around here was the addition of an above-ground pool to our backyard. We have wanted to put one in right off the deck for a while, but didn't think it was possible with the grade of the hill, and had resolved to putting it up in the field behind Heather's parents' barn (not the ideal location). When the excavator came to prepare the site, he convinced us that it really could go where we wanted, without costly retaining walls or drainage issues. He maneuvered that bobcat and sloped/graded our hill like a baker icing a cake! It was amazing! Now we have a pool right off the deck that the kids can enjoy and not have to hike across the field to get to it. Our weekends since the installation have been spent planting grass, landscaping with rock around the pool, and building a deck/bridge from our existing deck to get to the pool! Heather is planning on hopefully being able to teach some lessons later in July to some kids from our home school coop.

Eric and Bay have been busy with swim team this summer-practice every morning and swim meets (the whole family gets involved) twice a week in the evenings. Bay has been practicing hard, and is almost ready to swim in a meet. They love the time swimming every day and making new summer friends.

We have enjoyed some unusually cool summer weather so far up here, and have only just today turned on the a/c because of humidity. It has been nice to have the house open and airy for so long into the summer. Hopefully the a/c won't have to stay on for too long!

I am adding pictures to our webshots album, so explore some new photos when you get the chance.

Memorial Day Visits...

Heather's brother, Andy, from California

Heather's cousin, Laura and her husband, Kevin from Florida

We had a great Memorial Day weekend complete with visits from both Heather's brother, Andy and Heather's cousin Laura and her husband Kevin! We all had a great time catching up with each other, spent lots of time out on the grandparents' sailboat and power boat (tubing, swimming on the beach), cooking out, etc... There are tons of picutres from the weekend on our webshots page, and check out the video of the boys swimming off the sailboat! I will be adding a link in the sidebar of the blog so you can go directly to any other "youtube" videos I may have posted but not included in the blog, so check that out from time to time as well if you wish.

Grandma's 77th Birthday!!

Dennis' mom just celebrated her 77th birthday! She came over for a birthday lunch and cake. Her favorite present by far was the calendar with pictures of the kids on each month. We are so glad that she still has the energy to come over and spend time with her grandchildren on a pretty regular basis. It is so nice to have all of our family close by-we feel very thankful and blessed!

Celebrating 10 Wonderful Years!!!

Dennis and I just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary, and we were able to plan and go on a weekend trip (our first ever since kids) out to western Virginia along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had a great time and came home refreshed and renewed! We stayed at Peaks of the Otter Lodge along the parkway, and explored towns and attractions up and down the parkway from there. We hiked on one of the peaks near where we stayed (called Sharp Top peak) and even saw a black bear. The elevation was about 3900 feet. It was quite a hike! We also explored the city of Roanoke, Mabry's Mill in Meadows of Dan, and Waynesboro.

The kids had a great weekend having their Granni & Gramps all to themselves. Leah was so excited to see us leave, she said, "I want to say good-bye to you, mommy!" (meaning, I want you to leave) Of course, they were glad to have us back by the time we got home :)

Eric playing Boccherini Minuet, just practicing!

Strawberry Picking & More

Leah surrounded by strawberries...she hasn't yet figured out she is allowed to eat them!
The kids cooling off at the beach.

We have been continuing to enjoy the beautiful spring weather, and spent a morning this week at a local strawberry farm. The kids picked, played on the playground, on the tractors, and looked at the farm animals. When we came home, the boys helped me mash strawberries for strawberry jam and a strawberry pie...yummm!

Dennis has had a long stretch a work where he has been working 12+ hours a day, 7 days a week, but thankfully that is over now and we are looking forward to having him back around the house and enjoying the visits with family over Memorial Day Weekend!

Check out more pics from the Strawberry Farm by following our webshots link!

Spring Fun!

Here is something new for all you blog lovers out there! We have registered with YouTube and now have the capability to put short videos of the kids on our blog. With the warm weather, we have really enjoyed spending some time down at our beach before the jellyfish come. Leah is getting braver every time, and even after this video, Bay was swimming with his whole head under the water. Stay tuned for more action from our family this summer.

For those who don't know how to operate the video, here are your instructions.
1. Click on the large play button in the middle of the video to activate the controller.
2. Then click on the smaller play button on the lower left of the video screen to play the video.
3. Make sure your sound is turned on, the clip has sound as well!

Camping at Kerr Lake, NC

We just spent a great weekend camping down at Kerr Lake in North Carolina. The JC Cooper campground http://ils.unc.edu/parkproject/visit/kela/kela.pdf has become one of our favorite camping locations, and we like to get down there early enough before the weather warms up too much! Heather's parents joined us for this trip, and we also got to visit some old friends who camped nearby with their 3 kids. As you can see from the smiles on their faces, the boys had a blast and even found some frogs to torture! We dodged a few raindrops and the weather was unexpectedly cool (no shorts this weekend!), but were still able to fit in a few boat rides, many walks to the playground, and relaxation-true camping style! I have posted the rest of the pictures on our webshots link, so look there to see the rest of this trip.

Field Day!!!

Leah with her painted bunny on her hand
The kids enjoying Bay's birthday cupcakes after a rousing chorus of 63 kids singing Happy Birthday to him!

Eric at the tug-of-war contest

We had a great time with our Home School Coop at the end-of-year Field Day. The day coincided with Bay's actual birthday, so I made cupcakes to share with everyone and the whole group sang Happy Birthday to him. It was a beautiful spring day, and the kids enjoyed games such as water balloon toss, 3-legged race, obstacle course, and tug-of-war to name a few. It was a great highlight and end to a fun year. We look forward to joining with the coop again next year.