Ice Skating Party

Family birthdays around here are always lots of fun! Granni chose for us all to go to a skating rink for hers-

Eric hasn't been in several years, but he picked it up again very easily.

Leah started out VERY timidly-she wouldn't let Dennis let go of her skating walker for a second. She eventually let mom do it with her, and before we knew it, she was flying around the rink in the security of her green walker.

Scowls turned to smiles

The rink was very crowded with kids (it was family skate), so when one of our little ones had to go to the bathroom, an adult was left in charge of guarding the walker. Dennis and Bay are having a race I think.

Uncle Andy started a game of ice rink tag...always fun to sneak up on the unsuspecting.

Afterward we gathered for a nice family dinner, presents, cake and all 3 kids (who are now all taking lessons) gave Granni her own private piano recital.

Flying Free

I've been considering lately how it is sometimes hard as parents to let our children fly on their own.

I personally struggle with control: wanting to protect them from the natural consequences of their mistakes and so I try to control their behavior.

I know that sometimes they must fail in order to learn-and sometimes those lessons are harder than others-but for me to step back and let those things go without the lecture-that, for me, is giving up some of my control.

What is even scarier is that I am sometimes afraid of myself...will I withhold my love to prove a point? Will I treat them with contempt when they mess up? It is so hard to love them unconditionally and watch them make mistakes, mistakes that even let me down.

But Jesus then reminds me of my sin, my failures, and reminds me that he loves me-accepts me-unconditionally. So I know it can be done.

I experience his grace when I take my eyes off others and examine myself and then turn to him.

And that brings me joy and freedom to do the same for my children.

So, as we went out to fly kites yesterday (a long awaited promise finally kept)

I forced myself to step back and let go

To let them take the line and run with it


And despite many steps and mis-steps, pretty soon they were flying free.
I am so thankful for the tangible lessons God gives me to remind me of his unfathomabe love.

Just a Peek...

just offering up a small peek of what we've been up to this beautiful Memorial Day Weekend so far

mechanic in training...he changed out the voltage regulator on Dennis' motorcycle, changed the oil in my van, and added air to the tires
pool is finally up and swimmable...lots of that 'been goin' on!

a homemade water slide cooled them off till the pool was ready...they're still loving it

seafood feast...frogmore stew, rolls, lemonade, and if you look closely enough, a dozen crabs-

Breakfast and dinner on the deck all weekend...you can tell summer is on its way!

Camping Season has started!

We enjoyed our first camping trip of the year this past weekend. We went up to Gifford Pinchot State Park in PA (actually made the same trip the exact same weekend last year!). Though the forecast was for rain the whole weekend, it actually rained very little.

We did lots of bike riding (lots of little trails around the lake) and Eric and Dennis did some actual mountain biking. Dennis taught Eric how to jump logs and go up steep hills-Eric worked on the same hill for about 12 tries!
We had a Friday morning adventure with this young man, but thankfully everything turned out alright.

Leah LOVES camping.

Other fun camping activities included: frisbee golf, roasting giant marshmallows, fishing, playgrounds, tossing the frisbee & football and otherwise relaxing.

This was our little bike ride to Boulder Point. Nice stop for a snack.

We also took a little drive to a nearby Amish furniture market. We enjoyed taking pictures of some upcoming projects that Dennis wants to take on-the main one being a chicken tractor. On the way there we stopped at a yard sale. It was mostly junk until I turned the corner at a long table, looked down and saw a crate full of large mason jars with zinc lids. Four of them were the 1/2 gallon size. I love these to store grains and other things in my pantry, and the zinc lids are usually pretty hard to find affordably. I got the jars/lids for $1 apiece...20 of them!

Christmas was...

...focusing
...baking

...resting

...gifting

...boarding

...crafting

...skiing

...driving

...knitting

...bundling

And so much more!

Advent

I have seen many posts lately about Advent...my good friend Sarah has a link on her blog to some wonderful Advent ideas, many of which we will use this year. For our family, we have traditionally used Advent as a time to keep our focus on Christ during the Christmas season. It is so easy to get caught up in busyness and activities, so the daily Bible reading centered around the Christmas story, and some activity that encourages us to think beyond ourselves really helps us to celebrate Christmas in a meaningful way.

We started one new advent activity this year, and I wasn't really sure how it would go over with the kids. Though it has only been 2 days, I am quite impressed. The idea is called "Stocking Stuffers". The rules are this: Each person has to write one note each day, and you have to rotate to whom you write. Write a note that is encouraging to one of the members of our family, fold it and put it in their stocking. The note can be short or long, and can say anything you want, as long as it is encouraging. Christmas morning, when stockings are opened, each person will have a handful of notes to read from each other.

The reason we decided to do this activity this year was because our children struggle (and oftentimes we do as parents) with finding positive things about each other. It is so easy to focus on the negative. Instead, they will be looking for those little things about each other which they love and will be writing them down.

So, as I said, I wasn't sure how it would go over. This morning, without any prompting, after breakfast, each of the kids got out their little slip of paper from the basket and wrote their note, and slipped the notes into the stockings on the mantle.

Family Visit

My grandmother from Ohio came to visit this weekend (my uncle drove her). Although she is getting along in years, she still gets around. The boys played in an All-Boys Piano Recital. This was Bay's first recital. I played the duets with him. Afterwards he said, "That was really fun!" Eric also played two very exciting pieces. Great-Gram really enjoyed herself.

My two handsome boys :)

Leah and Great-Gram chatting before the recital.

My grandmother loves yard sales and always brings suitcases full of yard sale finds for the kids. She loves it because she gets more bang for her buck, and never feels badly if they don't particularly like something. The above yard sale find, however, didn't fit in her suitcase, but I think Leah really loves it!

Look at that girl, already driving and talking on her phone.

Lots of people always think that this grandmother is my mom's mom. If you know my mom, you would understand why. She has the same build and pretty much the same hair as my mom. And, they look strikingly alike; however, she is in fact my dad's mom. All of her kids had dark hair and dark complexions.

County Fair

We just got back from our county fair. Our little Leah came home with the big prize...Junior Champion on her painting of an alligator! I think it is totally cool that she won this prize...she just told me today, "Mom, you know what I really love? Doing drawing and coloring the best." Well, I guess it shows because she gets plenty of practice. If she is not doing her schoolwork, she is ALWAYS drawing or coloring something.
Look at those happy faces! Actually they really were very happy, I just told them they didn't have to smile for my picture if they didn't want to, so Eric took full advantage of the opportunity to give me a too cool for the camera look.

Eric won 1st on some beaded jewelry he made me for Christmas this year.

Dennis won 2nd on a pool que rack he made for my parents.

Eric entered lots of items...a total of 9 I think. Here is his 2nd place on his lion cubs.

Leah drew a picture of Luke, our cat and won 1st on that also. I'll have to scan it and load a better picture of it...it is actually quite impressive. She has butterflies and bees buzzing all around that you can't see from this angle.

One of Eric's watercolor birds.

One of Leah's potholders made on her Klutz potholder loom

A pajama set I made for Leah

And Bay's bathrobe...he actually only entered one item (a lego model he built). I felt badly that he did not have more things to enter (Bay is not a very crafty little boy in the way of scissors and paper and crayons, but actually very crafty when it comes to being clever :)) So he will get the prize I won for his robe...poor guy will wake up cold the next few mornings and will be missing it anyways!

As usual, the county fair is always so much fun...especially when we get to see on display the things that we have crafted with our own hands. I didn't show you everything we entered, but there was much more: canned goods, sunflower heads, more artwork, Lego models, stuffed animal collections, etc.

But even more than seeing all of our items is to see how valuable the craft of making things by hand is still alive and well...there were so many familiar names on those hang tags...things sewn by young people we know, and older people still practicing their craft and proud to show it. We love to walk around and say hello to the folks from the county we know from so many different venues all together at the one place.