Joe and Becky's latest

The Great Geauga County Fair

2011-04-22T20:02:00.004-04:00

Our Labor Day weekend tradition of the past several years continued as we were able to go to the Great Geauga County Fair. Joe and Joseph weren't with us--they spent the weekend driving back to VA to get the rest of our stuff. It was actually pretty cold that day! Welcome back to Ohio.

Katie and Shae

Lots of Amish go to the fair

Jacob met up with his friend Nick

Emma and I rode the ferris wheel

Dx Day

2011-04-22T19:58:00.003-04:00

August 29 of every year is the anniversary of Katie's diabetes diagnosis. We celebrate the fact that she is still with us, and she decided she wanted us to go for ice cream each year. So we went to Coldstone Creamery. It makes it a fun day for us all.

Can't Stay Away from Ohio

2011-04-22T19:48:00.004-04:00

I guess we were meant to be back in Ohio, and on August 10, Joe started his new job with Medina Supply Company. The kids and I arrived on August 23rd, just in time to start school on August 25th.

August 2010

2011-04-21T21:47:00.003-04:00

So, all of a sudden, we found out we were about to move back to Ohio. We tried to squeeze in as much as we could in the time we had left. We had never been to Monticello, so we drove up there on a Saturday. I would have prefered to go when it wasn't so daggone hot, but we didn't have time to wait. I love Charlottesville!

Grammy took a day off of work, and the weather didn't cooperate for a beach day, but we still had fun--Cheese Shop for lunch and bowling. We went around town using up our free passes for things that the kids earned in the summer reading program.

Josh and Laura live on a beautiful farm with a magnolia tree that is great for climbing.

Lacey!

South Jersey

2011-04-21T21:31:00.005-04:00

After our visit with Dan, Tracy, and Bergen, we headed a little bit further south to visit Joe's family. It had been quite a while since we had all been there together. We went to the boardwalk and played games with Mom Mom Boyd.

Brent loves to sing along with the kids.

Brent, the pit bull lap dog.

We went to the Jersey Shore for the first time as a family. We were there with thousands of other people, and Joe came up to me and said that his old high school swim coach was lifeguarding. Sure enough, it was him. They chatted for a bit--it had been 21 years. What a coincidence!

Baby Bergen

2011-04-21T21:20:00.005-04:00

In July, we all drove up to New Jersey for a meet Baby Bergen party and his baptism. Bergen is our kids' first first cousin! It's a good thing he likes people, and doesn't mind strangers, because he was getting passed around all weekend. We tried to go to Carlo's Bakery, but decided it wasn't worth the three hour wait. Still, it was a fabulous time. Bergen was a great shopper with the girls.

Williamsburg

2011-04-21T21:10:00.003-04:00

So, the further behind I get, the less I feel like updating, but I am going to attempt to do a bit of catching up here. We spent last summer in Williamsburg. We made the move June 26 to stay with my mom until Joe found a job, expecting that we would find something in that area. About a week and a half later, a recruiter contacted us while Joe was actually back in Ohio at scout camp with the boys. He had a job in....Ohio! So, just before school started, we hauled everything back to Ohio just in time for the kids to start school. Thanks to the help of many amazing friends and family, we were able to make the two moves in one summer. Here are a few pictures from the summer. We didn't take that many pictures because we thought we were gong to be there for a while...

Katie's friends who are twin sisters came to see us while their family was visiting their uncle in Richmond.

New Clothes

2010-10-26T20:08:00.003-04:00

We have been volunteering at the local Republican Headquarters...everyone except Emma has been doing survey calls, while Emma creates elephant-themed artwork to decorate the walls there. Tonight, the director gave all the kids t shirts. The big debate is whether to wear them to school or not...I'm thinking not. But they sure are funny!

The B.O. Stinks shirt makes me laugh out loud!

Ho Mita Koda 2010

2010-10-01T20:28:00.004-04:00

Katie was able to go to Camp Ho Mita Koda before we moved to Virginia. It was another great week, just like last year!

With Kirsty, her counselor from England.

5th Grade Graduation

2010-10-01T20:12:00.002-04:00

All I have to say about fifth grade graduation is why did it have to last 2 1/2 hours? I mean, it's fifth grade! The funniest part was watching 50 white kids swaying and singing, "We Shall Be Free."

Cleveland Art Museum

2010-10-01T19:56:00.002-04:00

Continuing our quest for free activities, we spent a Saturday afternoon in May at the Cleveland Art Museum. They have an amazing collection, and we had a great time!

The Thinker, damaged by anti-Vietnam war protesters. It inspired Emma to make her own version out of clay.

The Speller

2010-10-01T19:36:00.002-04:00

Jacob competed in the spelling bee at Hambden. He wore his pink shirt for good luck. It was exciting, with Jacob misspelling a word but then everyone else misspelled their words too. He was so happy when he won! One of the boys in Emma's class said he is going to wear a pink shirt if he makes it into the spelling bee when he is old enough.

Our Artists

2010-10-01T19:22:00.002-04:00

Katie had a piece of art chosen for the Geauga County art fair.

Both Katie and Emma had a piece of art chosen for the Hambden art show as well.

Katie wasn't there for the awards, but she won the school wide award. Emma went up to receive the award for her.

This was Katie's art piece at the Hambden event.

Track and Field

2010-10-01T19:15:00.002-04:00

Joseph ran track in the spring. His primary events were shot put and discus, but he also ran the 4x100 relay. He really worked hard and had a great time.

Maple Festival 2010

2010-10-01T18:59:00.002-04:00

A girl fell out of this ride on the Friday night of the fair. Apparently, the door wasn't latched properly. Luckily, she survived. My kids chose not to ride this ride.

Maple stir! Joe ate some of mine and some of Emma's and then all of Katie's (her blood sugar was really high, so she had to wait to eat hers).

2010-09-29T13:38:00.002-04:00

Springtime brought some warmer weather, just in time to release Emma's butterflies.

We held a funeral for the butterfly who didn't make it. Joe ended up with a nasty case of poison ivy from the woods behind our house.

Spring beauty

Niagara Falls, part 2

2010-09-29T11:54:00.005-04:00

The next morning, the weather was better, relatively speaking, so we went to the falls and walked all around. It was really neat to see. I am glad we caught it that morning, because it was the best weather of our trip.

We drove up to Fort Niagara for a picnic lunch before touring the fort. It was a huge park, along a large river, and had tons of picnic tables and pavilions. Amazingly enough, we were the only people having a picnic in the cold rain!

After lunch, we headed to the fort and toured it. I had no idea of its strategic importance during the days when river transport was dominant. The fort changed hands between the French, British, and Americans several times over the years.

We ate dinnter at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was over priced, and the food was just okay, but the memoribilia was neat, especially for the boys.

We went back to the falls after dark, when they light it up. The pictures were all blurry, but it was beautiful in person.

The next morning, with snow flying in the air, we headed back to Chardon. We need to make another trip back when the Maid of the Mist is open!

Niagara Falls, part 1

2010-09-29T11:34:00.004-04:00

So, for spring break, just after Katie broke her arm, we headed for Niagara Falls. We figured we needed to see it before potentially moving away from the area. Thank goodness we didn't camp like Joe was talking about at first! It was way too cold and wet for that! We used Mariott points and stayed at a great hotel in Rochester. I had heard that the Canadian side of things is nicer, but since I don't have a current passport, we couldn't cross the border. What people should have said is that the US side, other than the park itself, is a total dump. Quite shocking, really. We wouldn't have wanted to stay in any of the hotels right by the park. Anyway, the weather went from warm and sunny when we left home to cold, wet, and foggy within the 2 hours or so it took us to get there. We checked out the visitor's center, and what view of the falls we could see. It was pretty in its own way, but the fog really rolled in after this first picture, to where you couldn't see anything at all.

Joseph and Emma were not dressed for the weather, but had a cute moment together walking back towards the car for our picnic lunch.

After eating our lunch in the car, we looked at the area visitor's guide. It had a museum listed, which was free. Being on a limited budget, anything free was right up our alley. We set off to find it, and drove right past it without realizing what it was. If you click on the picture to zoom in on it, you will see way over on the right side, over the door, it says "Daredevil Museum." It was combined with a bus station and mini mart. Awesome. They actually did have a few cool things like some of the contraptions that people have used to go over the falls. It was good for a laugh anyway.

We decided to call it a day and head to the hotel. The pool hotel was huge (for a hotel), and we spent quite a bit of time there over the several days we were there.

Katie and her "flipper." It worked amazingly well to keep her cast dry!

The Party

2010-09-22T20:10:00.003-04:00

Emma invited some friends from school, and they had pizza and watched Kit Kittredge: American Girl. They had a blast!

Emma's baptism

2010-09-22T19:53:00.003-04:00

Emma was baptized on March 7. I did a terrible job getting pictures...there aren't any of me with her, or any of lots of the people who came, or the cake in the shape of the number 8 that Mona Pascavage made for her...but here are the pictures I did get. We had a great turn out of members of our branch, and enjoyed celebrating with so many friends. Emma was so excited to reach this milestone!

Emma with her best friend from school, Caitlynn Goodrich

Emma and Daddy right before the baptism

With our wonderful sister missionaries, Sister Schumann and Sister Lee

with Aunt Tammy and her new webkinz!

The Christmas Story House

2010-05-18T15:52:00.003-04:00

One of the local landmarks that we have been wanting to see since we moved here is the house where "A Christmas Story" was filmed. We love that movie. We watch it every Christmas Eve. If you don't like the movie, you won't get most of the pictures in this post. We went on Emma's birthday with Silly Mom Mom and Aunt Allison. The neighborhood is totally ghetto, but the house, museum, and gift shop are awesome! A fan of the movie bought the house and restored it to its glory, leg lamp in the window and all.

A blue ball...

"Fra-gee-lay"

Under the sink like Randy

"He said what?!"

Mom Mom on the front porch

On the way home, we stopped near the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame/Science Center/Browns Stadium. It was a nice sunny day.

Emma's birthday

2010-05-17T16:21:00.007-04:00

Joe's mom (a.k.a. Silly Mom Mom) and sister Allison came to visit for Emma's eighth birthday. We played lots of games.

Emma went to breakfast with Daddy, a birthday tradition for us.

Presents!

"I know there is a gift in here somewhere!"

Emma took some pictures outside.

In the afternoon, we all piled in the minivan with Mom Mom sitting on the redneck style 8th seat (a small cooler placed between the middle seats), and we headed into Cleveland. More on our destination in the next post.

Lake Erie was still frozen.

After a birthday dinner of shrimp scampi, we had ice cream cake.

What's different about these two pictures?

2010-04-24T16:43:00.003-04:00

March 4 was a day that Joseph had been waiting for a long time. Goodbye braces! This orthodontist uses completely clear retainers. I am taking bets on the odds of us making it the full year of wearing the retainers full time without needing replacements...

Blizzard

2010-04-24T16:36:00.003-04:00

Catching up on posting here...back at the end of February, we had some good friends from Michigan come to visit. They got here Thursday night, and I was scheduled to work Friday, and our kids had school while they were planning on seeing some of the sites around here. Nature had other plans. Thursday night and all day Friday, we had the biggest snow storm I can remember since we have been living up north. I am not sure the pictures do it justice. We had 4-5 feet of snow in our driveway. Needless to say, nobody went anywhere on Friday. It took Joe and the boys all morning Saturday to clear the driveway, and that was thanks to our neighbor who came over and helped dig us out. The snow was too deep for the snowblower, so they were taking turns climbing up on top and knocking it off for the snowblower. Crazy stuff!

The Color Purple

2010-04-01T17:48:00.004-04:00

Last night, we were at a school skating party about half an hour away. It was the first one we had been able to go to, because they are usually held on Thursday nights when our kids have music lessons. So Jacob, Katie, and Emma were very excited to go. I had a friend who needed to talk and Katie had a friend who needed a ride, so we all headed over. Not too far into things, Katie's friend came skating over and said Katie was hurt. She never falls roller blading, but this time she did as she was trying to slow down on the carpet. She started to fall backwards and landed on her left arm. Our principal was very helpful finding staff at the skating place to help us and also rounding up a mom who is an ER nurse. We headed to the office where they used a round piece of cardboard like what comes on the bottom of a frozen pizza to splint her arm. She was calm but shaky and very clammy. The ER nurse advised calling an ambulance because they could splint it better to keep her more comfortable, and also because we would get seen more quickly. My friend sat with Katie and the other adults while I scrambled around making arrangements for Jacob, Emma, and Katie's friend to get home. The ambulance came quickly after that, and Katie was carried out on the gurney.

The EMT's actually left the makeshift splint alone because they said it was working well. We did get taken right back to a room, which was a huge bonus. The doctor didn't think at first that it was broken because Katie was so calm and because it wasn't "deformed." Her pain tolerance is amazing. She never shed a tear. As she sat there calmly, and they asked her to rate her pain on a scale of 1-10, she said "9 or 10."

I stood in the room with the x-ray tech looking at the computer screen when they took the x-ray. Immediately when the picture popped up on the screen, I could see a long line going about half the length of her forearm on the inside (thumb side ) bone of her forearm. I asked if that was a break and the tech said yes. No need to wait for radiology to read it. There is also a small crack in one of the wrist bones on the pinky side of her hand.

During our time waiting last night, Katie told me she still wanted to go bathing suit shopping today as we had planned. That's my Katie!

This morning I got on the phone as soon as the doctors' offices opened, and found an orthopedist here in town who could see her this afternoon. Katie and I went back to the hospital to get a copy of the x-rays, and then we went shopping. She powered through the pain and managed to find some cute suits and some much needed church clothing as well. She was one happy girl, broken arm and all!

The main break in her arm is a "buckle fracture," for those of you more familiar than I am with medical terminology. The big question at the ortho was what color of cast. She is in a "long arm cast" for three weeks, and then she will have a short arm cast for 3 more weeks. The thing goes all the way to her shoulder! I know it will be driving her crazy soon enough, but right now she is having fun decorating it.

Last night after the ER

Today, with the full cast

What a way to start Easter Break!

The Guitar

2010-03-14T19:40:00.003-04:00

For all those of you who contributed to Joseph's guitar fund for his birthday, I thought you might want to see what it looks like. He loves it.

Teenager

2010-03-14T18:53:00.004-04:00

Okay, I'm really behind here, but back on February 13, Joseph turned 13. We now have a teenager in the house. If any of you have a question about anything, feel free to call us, because Joseph is sure to know the answer! Due to a nasty stomach bug that was moving through our family that week, Joseph's party was delayed a week. So on his birthday, we opened gifts as a family. Then the next weekend, he went bowling with friends then brought them back here for pizza and "sting pong." (The losers have to take their shirts off and turn their backs and let the winners hit ping pong balls at them.) Then some friends called and we ended up going up to the church gym for basketball, following which we all came back home for cake. It was a great time!

Special Delivery

2010-03-14T18:49:00.003-04:00

Back in February, Emma walked through the house carrying a bag. She told me she had a special mail delivery for me. She handed me a folded piece of paper addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Semus. This is what it said on the inside:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Semus,

You have done a great job of taking care of you kids.

Ho Ho Ho and Happy Groundhog Day,

Santa

Who knew Santa celebrated Groundhog Day?

Winter Beauty

2010-01-07T19:27:00.002-05:00

Winter is a beautiful time...here are a few pictures from our yard today.

Check out this icicle! It reaches all the way from the roof the the deck!

This is one of the driveway markers. We had freezing rain last night, blowing from the west. It made a very interesting one-sided coating on everything.

The trees looked so pretty, layered in ice and snow.

Dumped On

2010-01-06T15:53:00.004-05:00

From the evening of December 31 through Tuesday evening, January 5, it snowed pretty much without stopping. The kids even had a snow day on January 4. It takes alot for that to happen around here. It was quite an event even for here in the "Snow Capital of Ohio." We enjoyed spending most of the time here at home, venturing out to play in the snow and clear the driveway.

For an idea of how hard the wind was blowing, check out our garage. We had not opened the door yet. Apparently, there are some tiny gaps between the door and the garage floor. The snow blew in about knee high!

Katie loved trying to walk through the snow!

Look how deep it is! See that pole next to Jacob? That is the driveway marker pole.

Katie and Jacob in their tunnels

The kids had a blast digging through the snow!

Can you see the driveway?

Thank goodness for snowblowers!

The finished product

Gone Visiting

2010-01-06T15:47:00.003-05:00

On January 2, we traveled to Plymouth, MI, to visit with relatives. My cousin Marilyn graciously hosted a get together. We always enjoy spending time together, hearing great family stories. It made for a long day, with three hours driving each way, but it was worth it. The forecast for Chardon was heavy snow all day, but the whole way home it was clear until we got off the interstate about 5 miles from our house. We thought maybe the forecast had been wrong. The snow started falling almost immediately once we made it onto the back roads, and by the time we reached our house, the snow was flying. We have our own little micro-climate! More pictures on that coming up.

My uncle Nick, and his sister, Auntie Anne, who still lives on her own at the age of 95!

Emma with Aunt Muriel, and Katie with Marilyn and Ron

A dream fulfilled

2010-01-06T15:41:00.003-05:00

Joe has certain foods that he has ummm....a very strong aversion to because of childhood experiences. Two of those foods are chili and stuffed peppers. I joke that the smell of green peppers cooking makes him cry. But it's not far from the truth. Consequently, I have never cooked stuffed peppers in all the years we have been married. Katie brought this to my attention around Christmas time. She said she would like to try them. Well, as luck would have it, Joe was out of town the week after Christmas, so I did some looking around online and found a recipe that looked good. Joseph, Katie, and I loved them; Emma devoured the filling, and Jacob was happy to eat leftovers since the recipe only made four. I think I have a new dish to prepare for any time Joe isn't here!

Christmas and skating

2010-01-06T15:17:00.004-05:00

Christmas morning. Emma was delighted that Santa took the time to reply in detail to the letter she had left for him.

Other than the issues with diabetes which I already mentioned, it was a very relaxing and fun day.

Katie was happy with what Santa brought.

Joseph was still waking up.

Emma loved the American Girl clothes from Grammy.

Jacob in his Patriots bean bag chair

Christmas dinner--we love ham!

In the afternoon, Emma read one of her new books to her new Webkinz.

Jacob got a number of very complicated legos sets. He had them all completed within 2 days.

On the 26th, before taking Grammy to the airport, we went ice skating.

Christmas Eve gifts

2010-01-05T12:32:00.004-05:00

After watching "A Christmas Story" in the afternoon, we ate dinner, and then the kids gave the gifts that they had picked out. We like to do that on Christmas Eve so it doesnt' get lost in the shuffle of Christmas morning. The kids put alot of thought into the gifts, and enjoyed giving them out.

Daddy opens his window scraper with a mitten from Katie

Emma was thrilled to get a teddy bear from Jacob.

We left cookies, milk and a note from Emma for Santa. He wrote back.

Christmas Eve sledding

2010-01-05T12:26:00.002-05:00

Christmas Eve, we went sledding at the "chalet" in Chardon. The hill is alot steeper than our yard, so they were really flying. Grammy and I watched this time.

Grammy!

2010-01-05T12:20:00.003-05:00

Grammy arrived on December 22. That evening, she and Joe and the kids went sledding. I don't sled. My back can't take it. And it was too cold to just be standing around out there. So I took some pictures and ran back inside.

Joseph "surfing"

The next day, Emma taught Grammy how to play "Ticket to Ride." It ended badly. Emma's strategy consists of completing all of her routes. When she realized she wasn't going to be able to finish one, she was distraught.

Winter Solstice Walk

2010-01-05T12:06:00.003-05:00

Our county park district does a Winter Solstice Walk every year. We thought it looked fun, so we went. So did alot of other people. We had to park in the overflow parking and get shuttled over to the location. It was really cold, and my toes were numb by the end, but it was fun. There was a brass band playing Christmas songs in the lodge, and then we went to seven stations, each one acting out and explaining the traditions of a different culture regarding the winter solstice and Christmas. Will we go again next year? Not sure, but it was great to do at least once.

In the lodge listening to the band. Katie wasn't feeling great. Can you tell?

Santa and Buddy the Elf

Ancient Egypt

Vikings

The Workhorse

2010-01-01T17:02:00.003-05:00

This morning, as we were watching the snow flying outside, Jacob asked if I thought we needed to snow blow the driveway. I told him to go talk to his dad about it. He wandered back, and after he asked me again about snowblowing for about the fifth time, I finally told him he could go out and snow blow. This was him today.

He has always been a worker, that kid. Back when we lived in Texas, the pine trees dropped tons of needles in the heat of the summer. And since pine needles kill grass, we had to rake them up. We returned from vacation to find the yard blanketed in pine needles. Not fun to deal with in 100 plus degree heat, with what felt like 100 plus percent humidity. Joseph would come and go with the work, Katie I don't think picked up a single pine needle, but Jacob just kept going and going. He said over and over again how great it was to be working together. When it was time to go inside (we bagged a total of 16 black garbage bags, probably not all that night), he sobbed and sobbed because he wanted to keep going.

Just last night, I was looking through some albums from when the kids were little. I had come across these pictures. The situation changes, but some things never change. This is when we got our first riding mower. Jacob was not quite two years old here. He loved to just sit on the mower for hours on end.

Joe's dad has a back hoe. When we visited them that winter, all Jacob wanted to do was sit in the backhoe. Literally. All day. Pulling him out brought major tears.

And then, when Jacob was three, Joe took some time around Christmas and did something one on one with each of the kids. He took Jacob to a construction site. Jacob had never had more fun.

I'm pretty sure that within a few years Jacob will be rich because the other kids will pay him to do their chores.

Happy New Year from the Cat Lady

2010-01-01T16:56:00.003-05:00

I am still catching up on my December posts, but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year. We are getting tons of snow today. We had some friends over this afternoon, and I look forward to an evening of football and leftovers, wearing my pajamas and warm slippers...and these socks:

Back when we lived in Texas, Joe took the kids shopping for Mother's Day gifts. Katie was, I believe, three, when she picked out these socks for me. They make me laugh. And since I only wear them around the house, they have lasted me these many years.

Decorating

2009-12-30T15:40:00.005-05:00

Emma made really cute ornaments for each member of the family with their names. They were the first decorations we put up.

Katie was doing her angel wings imitation, but would only do it very quickly when I pulled out the camera. It was like a game to see if I could snap the picture quick enough. We had some good laughs over it.

The finished product

Emma was providing the holiday entertainment while wearing the Rudolph nose we picked up at the white elephant exchange over Thanksgiving. Which we had given Josh in the first place.

O Christmas Tree

2009-12-30T15:16:00.003-05:00

We went to the Christmas tree farm to cut down our tree. Amazingly, we made it out without injury. Have I mentioned our theory that puberty kills brain cells? Let's just say that the morning was one of narrowly averted disasters, and Joe and I both were counting silently under our breath before speaking several times. All in good fun, right?

"The Tree"

Marine Corps Museum

2009-12-30T14:59:00.002-05:00

Our final family activity took place on Saturday, Nov. 28 when we all visited the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico together. Our family and Dan and Tracy packed up and continued on home from there when we were done. Grammy, Josh, and Laura braved the I-95 traffic getting back to Williamsburg. The museum was far beyond what I had imagined. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it. I thought it would be a few guns and tanks that we would look at with my brother Dan the Marine explaining it to us. The exhibits were extensive and interactive, and really interesting even for non-military buffs. Exhibits covered each of the major wars and conflicts that the Marines have been involved in. The Korean War exhibit was in a room that was kept really cold. To enter the Vietnam exhibit, you walk through the body of an airplane and offload into the exhibit, which is kept very warm. We could have spent a lot more time than we did. The trick was finding eachother at the end of the day when it was time to leave.

Dan in the Korean War exhibit with the boys

We stationed Grammy in the lobby to catch people as they came out while others went back in to retrieve those who were still wandering around.

Emma never, ever runs out of energy. Ever. As we were leaving the museum she was doing so bouncing in circles on one foot gradually moving forward each time. She kept shouting, "Bounce with me, Aunt Laura!" Laura declined.

the farm

2009-12-27T23:02:00.003-05:00

The day after Thanksgiving, we went out to visit the farm where Josh and Laura live. It was really cold, and a little wet, but we still had fun exploring.

Playing in the massive magnolia tree

White Elephant

2009-12-27T22:31:00.003-05:00

Laura has very kindly been helping Josh sort through his collection of "memorobilia" that he has collected over the years. He is ready to part with some of it. They divided up the treasures and wrapped them beautifully in Christmas paper, and we had a Chinese Auction style white elephant gift exchange. It provided the biggest laughs of the weekend. Thanks Josh and Laura!

Thanksgiving 2009 part 1

2009-12-27T21:23:00.004-05:00

We traveled to Becky's mom's house in Virgina for Thanksgiving. All of us siblings and our families were there together. Dan and Tracy brought their chocolate lab puppy, Barley. Guess which of these two dogs (the other one is Grammy's dog Lacey) got the family mobbed while out for a walk on Duke of Gloucester St, with strangers taking her picture and even video? Hmmm...scroll down for the answer.

Sorry Lacey! But it is hard to compete with a puppy!

Emma's going to be as tall as Mimi before long.

There never was any doubt on who would win the game of Risk. (Dan)

Mimi's friend Bob joined us for dinner.

Wally and Carol with Grammy and Lacey

Lacey liked hanging out wherever the kids were.

Merry Chrsitmas and I Hate Diabetes

2009-12-25T19:20:00.002-05:00

I am so behind on updating...I still need to post about Thanksgiving, for crying out loud! I will upload todays photos and catch up on old posts here in the next day or two. We have had my mom here since Tuesday, and have been enjoying lots of sledding...until the rain today :(. But the snow should resume tomorrow. It has been nice staying home all day. Times like Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are days that I wish diabetes would blend into the background as it does most days....it never goes away, but it is not usually front and center. Then yesterday and today happened. We changed Katie's pump site yesterday morning on schedule. The pump is what delivers her insulin, replacing the injections...one poke every three days, and then we just hit some buttons and she gets her insulin. It doesn't replace the finger pokes, though (8-10 per day)....anyway, every so often, a pump site is "bad"--it hits muscle or a blood vessel, or the little tube that goes into her gets kinked, and for any of these reasons, she won't absorb the insulin. We discover this b/c her blood sugar shoots high and won't come down. She feels lousy. Well, yesterday, we went through FOUR pump sites....finally in the evening, it seemed good. Whew! We still had a little wrapping left to do (actually, it was alot), and Joe gave the kids strict instructions not to get out of bed and come to our room. They were not to come past the stairs. Katie is sleeping in the basement at the moment because her room is the guestroom. This morning, she had a low blood sugar, but being the obedient daughter she is, she sat on the stairs calling for us. Oops! Well, we gave her a little sugar and got on with the gift opening. A few hours later, she was quite high...hmmm...what's up with that? No worries, though, b/c we know she is getting her insulin b/c she was low just an hour before. So we give her some more insulin and wait. Just before breakfast, with our decidedly not-low-carb Christmas morning cinnamond rolls, I checked her again, sure that her blood sugar had come down. Nope. She was now dangerously high (470), and I have no idea at all why this pump site failed. GRRRHHH! The poor kid. She said she would just rather just go back on shots for the day. She hates shots compared to the pump, and it totally bugs me that yesterday and today were the days that things went all wacky on her. She has been unbelievably good-natured through it all, though. I hate diabetes. In spite of all of that, we have had a very nice day at home with my mom and all six of us. Thanks to our wonderfully generous family, it was a great Christmas for the kids, and we are truly grateful. The quote of the day from Katie (being 11, her Christmas list has changed dramatically from just a few years ago...it included clothing, jewelry, accessories, room decorations, art supplies)...she said, "I didn't get any toys this year." I said, "Ummmm, that is because you didn't ask for any." She said, "Oh, yeah ."

Merry Christmas!

It's Hard Being Seven

2009-12-15T17:20:00.003-05:00

Emma is the youngest member of our family, and has a delightful, energetic personality....most of the time. The flip side is that she also has the hardest time with her temper, earning her the most time in the "reflection room" (a room downstairs with nothing but empty boxes and packing paper). This afternoon, she was having a hard time after school, but didn't actually get sent to the reflection room. I did tell her to quit causing problems, though. She ran to her room and cried very loudly for effect for a bit, and then she came and found me and said that she knows why she spends so much time in the reflection room. I asked why that is, and she handed me this piece of paper.

In case you can't quite make it out, the label is "Mommy and Daddy's Hreht's" (i.e. "hearts)
As you can see, Joseph, Jacob and Katie each claim a pretty equal portion. Emma, however, just has a little piece carved out of the far left side. Well, there you have it.

What a difference a year makes!

2009-11-14T13:56:00.002-05:00

Last November 21, this was the scene:

The past couple of weekends, including this one, the high's have been in the upper 60's. Unbelievable!

Bird Watching

2009-11-14T13:48:00.003-05:00

We are on the lookout for free things to do as a family these days, so last Saturday, we went on a bird watching hike with the county park district. This was one of those FFO's...Fun Family Outing, or as we used to call them when I was a kid, a Forced Family Outing. Luckily, we were enjoying unseasonably warm weather, which made it quite pleasant. Jacob and Katie spotted some bald eagles. All in all, I would dare to say the kids enjoyed it more than they thought they would. It was a morning well spent.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-14T12:40:00.005-05:00

Halloween this year started with the trunk-or-treat at church. Katie was a cat. Emma brought a friend. Then Donna and Allison arrived on Thursday and stayed for the weekend. That made it lots of fun. I did a terrible job taking pictures during their visit, so I don't have a lot of pictures. But here are a few.

It was warm enough to carve the pumpkins in the garage.

Trick-or-treating in Burton with friends

Running

2009-11-14T12:35:00.002-05:00

Joseph ran Cross Country this fall. He really enjoyed it.

Fall Festival

2009-11-09T09:59:00.003-05:00

Also on Jacob and Katie's birthday weekend, we went to the fall festival at a local park for a cub scout family activity. The weather was super cold and rainy, but we had fun anyway. They had the most amazing balloon art set up, filling an entire large room. The kids got to see them make pumpkin ice cream, and of course sample some. We went through a corn maze, and ate lunch with the civil war reenactors. The pavilion was being used by a large group, so the reenactors let us grill our hot dogs over their fire. I wish I had taken some pictures of that.

Katie's party

2009-11-09T09:50:00.002-05:00

Katie had her party the next night. She invited a bunch of friends for a movie night. They watched "Confessions of a Shopaholic." It was a cute movie, and perfect for this hard-to-pick-a-movie-for age group.

Katie wanted to write her name on the cake herself, so she did.

Jacob's party

2009-11-09T09:43:00.001-05:00

Jacob chose to have a nerf gun war. We held it in the gym at church. The kids all had a great time. We didn't even have any major injuries.

Eleven!

2009-11-09T09:30:00.002-05:00

Jacob and Katie turned 11 on September 24. Like I said, I am way behind here on posting. But we all woke up early so they could open some presents before Joseph left for school at 7. They were so excited the night before, I'm not sure they got much sleep.

After music lessons in the evening, we had cake and ice cream.

County Fair

2009-11-09T09:08:00.005-05:00

I am way behind on posting here...Labor Day weekend was the Great Geauga County Fair. We had great weather to enjoy our time. We watched the races for a bit...we were sitting right behind a group of Amish teenagers.

This cow had just had her baby overnight.

I'm not sure the pictures do these rabbits justice. They were HUGE.

Jacob, Katie, and Emma wanted to ride some rides, so I took them while Joe and Joseph watched the animal auction. Jacob and Katie rode one of those rides where you go around and around, and up and down while it plays music.

They LOVED it.

Emma and I rode the ferris wheel. Likely the longest wait of any ride...only one car could load and unload at a time, so it took forever. But we enjoyed the views from the top while we waited for people to get on.

This picture is lousy, but the Demolition Derby was a great way to end the night. Redneck ballet, as my friend calls it. The cars go in the concrete enclosure and smash eachother until only one or two are still able to drive. There are several heats, and a grand finale with the winners of the heats. Good stuff. And we got to watch the updates on our friend's blackberry as BYU beat Oklahoma in the season opener.

I heart CVS

2009-09-19T16:06:00.004-04:00

We have a birthday coming up next week...for Jacob and Katie, and I am trying to do their parties on a budget. But I want things to be nice too. Thanks to CVS, I have a fun goody to add to the girls' favor bags for cheap. We got all of this:

2 Glade Sense and Spray starter systems (a moneymaker)

3 Dry Idea deoderants (a moneymaker)

16 Sally Hansen nail polishes

Yes, that was 16 nail polishes plus the other stuff...all for a grand total of $3.59 out of pocket (mostly tax). And I left with as many CVS Extra Bucks as I started with. So we have enough nail polishes for all of the party guests, plus some for the girls to keep. And we found some really fun colors. I'm not sure how CVS stays in business, but I sure do love them. For any of you coupon shoppers out there, the Sally Hansen nail treatment coupons work for the nail polish, as well as the coupons that actually say they are for nail polish.

Diagnosis day

2009-08-28T16:48:00.006-04:00

Today is the day two years ago that our lives changed forever with Katie's diabetes diagnosis. It was one of the hardest days of our lives. We have come so far in these two years. I am continually amazed by the courage and maturity that Katie shows. Since that day, she has checked her blood sugar about 7,000 times, had about 2, 000 shots (just in the first six months), and has changed her pump sites about 150 times. Today is a day of strong emotions for me as I reflect on all of this. I am grateful for all my kids, but today is I am especially grateful that Katie's life was spared when she was so very sick two years ago, and for the joy she brings to our family. In honor of that, I would like to share a few old pictures we came across this week. Tonight we will celebrate by going out for ice cream.

Here is Katie as a 3 year old, playing dress up. She has loved fashion since she was a toddler.

When Katie was in kindergarden, the movie "The Incredibles" came out. Katie made this mask for herself, and put together this super hero costume also all by herself. Then she had one of the boys hold the cape in position while she posed for the picture so it would look like she was flying. She is so creative!

She received many stuffed animals when she was in the hospital two years ago.

Back to school

2009-08-28T16:42:00.004-04:00

School started for us on Tuesday. It was a much easier day for all the kids than last year, when they were the new kids. They had alot of fun catching back up with their friends. It's hard to believe this is Jacob and Katie's last year of elementary school. I watched them go sit in the back of the bus with the other 5th graders, and I remembered how when the kids were younger, the 5th graders seemed so old. And Joseph is in 7th grade! He is running cross country at school, and he loves it. Emma is in 2nd grade, and had made a great new friend, Chloe, who is new this year.

The end of the week

2009-08-27T15:10:00.010-04:00

We spent most of Friday swimming at the beach or in the pool at the house. The waves were the biggest they had been all week.

We had our last seafood dinner. Yum!

Katie got in style with Aunt Nancy.

We walked down to the beach at dusk.

Yep, the boys are now taller than Mimi.

Emma put on a show for which she had made a flyer and tickets. The older kids were thrilled to play along...just look how happy they are.

This was most of what the show consisted of.

We had one more day at the beach.

The sunset Friday finally was a good one.

This tiny post office was in use until 1992!

Go karts and a rainy day

2009-08-27T14:39:00.003-04:00

Tuesday evening, we went to the go kart track. Overall, it was fun. We did have a few injuries, though. First, on the family track, as the cars were stopped by the employees at the end of the run, Joseph's brakes broke. He slammed into the back of Jacob's car. It rattled Jacob and left him with a nice bruise on his back. Then, on the slick track, Katie, who was barely tall enough to reach the pedals, got pushed around quite a bit. She too got a nasty bruise and a knot on her back. We fixed everything with ice cream afterwards.

Wednesday was a rainy day. We needed a break from the beach anyway. We played Ticket to Ride, Laura's new favorite game, and we worked on a puzzle. Josh and Laura left in the afternoon to head home to work.

more beach and jet skiing

2009-08-26T14:29:00.002-04:00

We took advantage of the gorgeous weather on Tuesday, our last full day with Josh and Laura. We went to the beach in the morning and all 9 of us rode jet skis in the afternoon. It was a blast!

Sunset

2009-08-26T14:18:00.003-04:00

We went to the sound side of the island to try to watch the sunset on Monday evening. Unfortunately, the sun slipped behind some clouds before setting. But we still had fun and got a few good pictures.

To the beach

2009-08-26T11:35:00.002-04:00

Joe arrived a couple of days before we left for the beach. On Sunday, August 9, we headed down for our much-anticipated week at the beach. We made a few stops along the way, picking up some produce, some pamphlets at the visitor's center, and having lunch at Hurrican Mo's, where we had eaten a couple of years ago. They were just gearing up for a huge fishing competition there, and it was neat to check out the deep sea fishing boats.

After Josh and Laura arrived Sunday evening, we walked down to the beach at sunset.

Monday morning, we hit the beach bright and early. Josh fulfilled Tracy's obligation from March Madness, wearing the water wings, while Jacob went empty handed because he won the competition.

Monday night was our first seafood dinner. Crabs, shrimp, and scallops. Yum. We taught Aunt Laura how to pick crabs.

Williamsburg

2009-08-26T11:29:00.004-04:00

On Saturday, August 1, the kids and I left New Jersey and drove down the Eastern Shore to Williamsburg. It was definitely the right call to avoid all the vacation traffic on 95. After getting through the beach traffic in Delaware and the first part of Maryland, the rest of the drive was beautiful and relaxed. We spent a week in Williamsburg. I didn't do a great job taking pictures, but we got a few. We visited with a number of old friends of mine. I hadn't seen several of them in a few years, so it was really nice. We met Grammy's new dog Lacey. She was a big hit with all of the kids.

We visited Mimi, and were treated to a fashion show by Max as well as stories about Jenny the house wren and her babies.

Tobin came to hang out...Lacey is in the middle of this group shot.

Of course, we had a wrestling match...

...complete with "the helicopter."

South Jersey

2009-08-25T16:14:00.007-04:00

At the boardwalk in Ocean City

We went for a walk on the beach. The kids couldn't stay away from the water.

The kids did go carts with Grumpy Pop Pop and Pop Pop Semus. They had a blast!

We visited with Mom Mom Boyd. I didn't look closely enough at this picture when I took it, and didn't notice she was looking away. But it was good to see her. The kids played games, and Emma still likes to ride the tiny 4 wheel bike she keeps in the toy closet.

Kim took a day off, and we went to the water park at Wildwood. Grumpy Pop Pop was going to go too, but turns out the brakes on our van were bad, and he generously offered to stay behind and replace those for us. It was a full day of slides and swimming for the rest of us.

Brent spent a lazy morning on the trundle bed with the girls. Emma thought he would enjoy listening to some "Little House on the Prairie." Brent is on of the sweetest dogs we have ever known. He is recovering from his injury a month before our visit when he was run over and dragged by the mail truck. Both hips were broken in addition to multiple cuts and burns. He had fun lying around and letting the kids love on him. And the kids loved it too.

At Custard Corral , their orange soft serve machine was broken, so we couldn't get the orange and vanilla swirl. Bummer. But we enjoyed huge chocolate swirl cones instead.

Pop Pop Grumps finally got in the pool with the kids, which they loved.

The boys with Brent

New York City

2009-08-25T15:34:00.009-04:00

On July 25, the kids and I left bright and early to drive to Jersey City, NJ, to visit my brother Dan and his wife Tracy. The last time we had visited was 3 years ago, so it was great to go back when the kids were a little bit older and see some new things. The one thing that wasn't better was the weather. Last time, it had been unseasonable cool--jacket weather in August. It made for good sightseeing. This time, it was hot and humid, especially for us who weren't used to it. But we had a great time anyway. Dan and Tracy were wonderful hosts, and had planned lots of fun activities for us. Here are a few pictures.

After lunch, we went swimming in their pool. A good activity for a hot afternoon!

We went for a walk at Liberty State Park, where the ferries leave for Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, both of which are in New Jersey, not New York. Joe has trained the kids to be very familiar with that fact.

This is the view out of Dan and Tracy's dining room window. That is the Statue of Liberty in the background. It actually looks alot closer in person. It is fun to watch the yachts coming in and out of the marina.

Saturday night, we saw the movie "Up" in 3D at the Science Center. Way cool!

Sunday, we went into New York City for the day.

The kids in front of the Fox News building.

We divided up before lunch. Dan and the boys watched a movie being filmed, and visited Saint Patrick's Cathedral. I took Emma to the American Girl store. I wish I had the camera with me. She was over the moon. It was a little overwhelming. She did a great job choosing her purchase carefully. As for me, I was happy to spend as long as possible in the air conditioning. While we were there, Katie and Tracy were across the street at Saks Fifth Avenue, where the shoe department has its own zip code. Katie was in shopping heaven. They did a little photo shoot with some of the expensive clothes there.

The girls in front of the Egyptian temple at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

On the roof at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was hot, so we only stayed a minute.

I need to point out that I am not in any of these pictures, because unlike Tracy I don't "hide my sweat really well." That was Katie's admiring comment to her-that she hides her sweat well. I was literally mopping myself off with paper towels pretty much the whole time we were outside, or in the subway stations (which are very, very hot in the summer), and for about 2 hours after entering an air conditioned building.

We walked down by the waterfront at dusk and enjoyed the view of Manhatten.

On Monday, while Tracy was at work, we swam in the morning, and then went to see the USS Intrepid in the afternoon. Seeing it with Dan was great because he has so much experience with all things military. He had some neat stories about his time on a ship about the same size, especially when they were in a huge storm.

We had so much fun with Dan and Tracy, but on Tuesday the 28th it was time to start driving again, this time to south Jersey to visit Joe's family.

Why I love Ohio

2009-08-23T17:30:00.002-04:00

We just got back from a long visit with family and a week at the beach. I need to upload those pictures and post on that, but today I just had to post about our beautiful weather. After several very hot weeks on the East Coast...at least it felt that way to me, not being used to it anymore, the high here yesterday was 71, and today is 69 and sunny. In August. I'll take it.

June 18

2009-07-24T10:52:00.003-04:00

Saturday the 18th, instead of raining, was sunny and rather on the cool side. We went to the Peter Whitmer farm, where the church was organized, and then to the Smith farm and Sacred Grove. Here are a few pictures.

At lunch, the girls decided to put some flowers in the "vase" in the portapotty. Yup, that's the urinal. We debated removing them, but decided to leave them as a fun surprise for the next visitor. So, after dousing the kids with sanitizer, we went on our way.

We made it home Saturday night. All in all, it was a great trip.

June 17

2009-07-24T10:15:00.005-04:00

So, Friday morning, we headed to Palmyra. We stopped for lunch at a busy service area, and the kids let out some of their energy by dancing on top of the rocks, much to the amusement of the people driving by.

Once we got to Palmyra, we visited the site where we would watch the pageant later in the evening, and staked out our seats, using towels and some of Becky's knitting yarn.

We visited the printing press, and then walked around the temple grounds.

Then we checked in at our motel and ate dinner there. The motel was rather interesting. I had booked it online, using tripadvisor.com. Here is a link to their site.

http://www.motelmiami.com/

This is what it looked like in person:

The rooms were clean, though, and it was a good laugh.

We bought ponchos for the downpour we were supposed to receive, and headed to the pageant. You have to cross the street from the parking to the pageant site. Here is my comment on this:

Mean People Suck.

These people show up with megaphones and line the public space in the medians, hold up signs, and shout taunts at us and our kids as we run the gauntlet between them to get across the street. The picture is not very good...we were trying to get through them as fast as possible. I had forgotten that there are haters like this out there. The kids did an admirable job of ignoring them. I can't think of less Christian behavior than these idiots show. Once you cross the street, and over the berm that blocks the haters from view, it was wonderful. The kids loved meeting the different cast members and getting their pictures taken with them.

Here are all the kids with Mormon.

We were watching the radar on Joe's blackberry, and the thunderstorms literally split in two and went around us on both sides. We did not have a drop of rain until we were in the car going home afterwards. The pageant was great.

visitors

2009-07-23T11:56:00.005-04:00

We have had the pleasure of a few visits from friends over the past several weeks. Rick, Cathy, and Cara Smith stayed with us one night over Fourth of July weekend on their way to Philadelphia. Then, last Monday to Wednesday, they stayed with us on their return trip to Michigan. We had a great time. Then, last Thursday, Jeff and Vicki Morrison and their kids arrived from Des Moines. We were friends with Jeff and Vicki way back in Mechanicsville, VA, when all the kids were little. They had one baby and then 13 months later had twins. Ours were 19 months apart, and between the two families, all six kids were born within less than two years of each other. Now we each have one more as well. When we get together, it's like we've never been apart.

We watched the play, "This is Kirtland" Thursday night before heading out to Palmyra, NY Friday morning. The weather forecast was terrible for both Friday and Saturday--strong thunderstorms Friday evening, and rain all day Saturday. Not good for watching an outdoor play Friday night and sightseeing Saturday. Oh well, I figured. Nothing we could do. More in the next post.

Camp Jam

2009-07-22T10:58:00.002-04:00

The week following Fourth of July, Joseph had the great opportunity to attend Camp Jam. He had competed in a contest several months ago at our local music place where he takes guitar lessons. The kids each played a riff, and the winner got a free week at Camp Jam. The judges were so impressed that he had the guts to get up there and do it even though he had only been playing for 4 or 5 months, that he won! It was a day camp, which culminated with a concert Friday night. He and his band performed "Smoke on the Water." Here is a great picture...also attaching a few we got with our camera.

http://livelaughsmile.smugmug.com/gallery/8859322_XMgFj#591204531_uG5TQ

Jacob's scout camp

2009-07-22T10:52:00.004-04:00

The week after Katie had diabetes camp, Jacob attended cub scout camp. He had a great time. On the Tuesday of that week, Joseph, Emma and I helped out. I forgot my camera that that day...bummer. We all got to go up in a hot air balloon. Every day also was filled with BB guns, archery, fishing, sports, and arts and crafts. It was a pretty hot week, so the boys loved it when the fire department came out two different days and hosed the boys down with the fire hoses. I have just a couple pictures now. I need to get some other pictures another mom took...so I will update the post when I get more pictures.

Camp Ho Mita Koda

2009-07-22T10:42:00.005-04:00

On June 21, we dropped Katie off at diabetes camp. It is only about 20 minutes from our house, which is way more convenient than the 2 1/2 hour drive to the closest camp in Michigan. It is one of the oldest diabetes camps in the country, started in 1929, only 8 years after the invention of insulin. This was their 80th anniversary year. Here is a link to their site:

http://www.camphomitakoda.org/

She didn't keep a camera at camp, so we just have a few shots from the drop off and pick up.Actually, here is a link to the pictures from her session on the camp website. If the link doesn't work, click on photo gallery on the camp main page.

http://camphomitakoda.smugmug.com/gallery/8727838_iam8Z#577141105_EE2V3

She was session 1. There are some good ones in there. When we were dropping her off, Joseph said, "This place is so cool, it almost makes me wish I had diabetes." Almost. At the awards ceremony at the end of the week, she one the "Everyone's Best Friend" award for her cabin. Not surprising. She had a great week full of horseback riding, high ropes course, kayaking, and arts and crafts. It was great.

Joseph's post about Hershey

2009-06-22T18:10:00.006-04:00

Hi, it's Joseph here. Here is one picture of Mr. Beamer and a lot of pictures of Hershey Park. It was a blast. I rode Trailblazer, which was the only metal coaster I rode, and two wooden rides, Wildcat and Lightning Racer. There were a lot of rides, and some of them were crazy. One of them went fron 0 to 72 MPH in two seconds. Another lifted you up 200+ feet in the air at 90 degrees and then you dropped at 97 degrees. Those are only a few of the rides. Here are some pics from the whole trip.

Mr. Beamer talking

Military escort

Military escort again

Seven Springs Resort. We stopped there and were talked to by two family members of two of the hero's of Flight 93

Flight 93 Memorial

Plane crash site

Our Bus

Two of my roommates .... Mitch and Kyle

Hershey Park sign

"Comet" roller coaster

My Social Studies teacher, Mr.Bowens

"Great Bear" roller coaster

Candy vending machine

A lot of us with a giant "Hershey Kiss"

"Storm Runner" roller coaster (0 to 72 MPH in two seconds)

"Fahrenheit" roller coaster (straight up at 90 degrees, down at 97 degrees)"

"Wildcat" roller coaster

Hershey and stuff

2009-06-06T09:04:00.002-04:00

This weekend, Joseph is on a school trip with the 6th grade to visit Hershey Park in PA. They also stopped and visited the United flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, PA. The trip has been done for several years, stopping in Shanksville every year as well. This year, though, they had some neat opportunities. The school teamed up with a group called, "93 cents for Flight 93." It is a grassroots organization which is working to raise the funds for a permanent memorial at the site. They had some amazing speakers come...more on that in a second. Also, they got a full military escort from the school to the memorial, about 4 hours away. The group was filming footage of them, and will use it for their campaign. On Thursday, David Beamer, father of Todd "Let's Roll" Beamer, came and spoke to the middle schoolers. Then in the evening, he spoke at a community gathering. I took the older three kids to hear him speak. Emma and Joe were at soccer practice. It was very moving, to say the least. It brought back all the emotions of that day. Anyone who is old enough knows exactly what I mean. My kids were too young to remember, but I feel that it is so important for them to understand the things that went on that day.

Just a cute side note. Jacob and Katie were almost 3, and Joseph was 4 on 9/11/2001. "The Star Spangled Banner" was played everywhere, all the time for several months after that. Katie picked up the song--no small feat for a barely-3-year-old. We went to the dentist about that November, and she sat there in the chair, wearing the little sunglasses they give the kids to protect their eyes from the bright lights, and she belted out the national anthem. The ladies in the office thought it was amazing. Six months later, when we went back for our next check up, they remembered her as the little girl who could sing the national anthem.

Anyway, Mr. Beamer spoke about the need to raise $2 million more by October. That is because that is the amount that is needed to be able to construct phase 1. They will not begin construction on a phase until they have all the money in place. Very fiscally responsible. In order to have phase 1 done by the 10th anniversary, they need to break ground by October. I can hardly believe that anniversary is coming up so soon. Flight 93 gets the least mention in the history books, but as Mr. Beamer pointed out, it was the one battle that ended in victory. The terrorists' plans were foiled. The current memorial is very makeshift--a chainlink fence basically, with port-a-potties, and accessed by a gravel road. I feel that this group is a very worthwhile one, and that the heroes of that flight deserve a more fitting tribute. Here is a link to their site:

http://www.honorflight93.org/

Even if you don't feel you can donate anything at all, please do visit their site which honors those people who took on the terrorists.

I will have some pictures after the weekend, assuming Joseph brings the camera back in one piece, of Mr. Beamer's visit, as well as Joseph's photos of the memorial. Today, he is enjoying beautiful weather at the amusement park. They are supposedly doing some sort of physics stuff with the roller coasters.

Wax Museum

2009-06-06T08:56:00.003-04:00

This week, Jacob and Katie participated in wax museum, which was the culmination of 2 months of work. Jacob was Tom Brady, and Katie was Mia Hamm. They both did great. I was a little surprised at Katie's choice of person--her main criteria was who she wanted to dress up as. But she has really enjoyed playing soccer this spring, and she made a great presentation. I am adding to this a picture of Joseph doing was museum last year in Michigan. They had much less freedom on who they could pick. He was John Pemberton, the inventor of Coca Cola.

gone camping

2009-05-30T22:23:00.008-04:00

We went camping at Pymatuning State Park over Memorial Day weekend. We had just planned it less than a month in advance, and we got a great campsite. Someone must have just cancelled their reservation before we booked ours. We were right on the lake! The weather was perfect--low 70's and sunny. The kids were able to fish right off the rocks at our site. We arrived Friday evening around dinner time, and I cooked up the steaks while Joe and the kids set up camp.

We enjoyed a beautiful evening.

Saturday, we started out with a hike on a nature trail in the park. Joe had the kids' rapt attention as he read them the info from the pamphlet relating to the marker we were at.

Then we went to the fish hatchery, and fed bread to the fish. I have never seen anything like it. In this one area, the fish are so thick that the ducks can stand on them. When you throw a piece of bread in, the fish come up out of the water to swarm all over it.

We had a great picnic in the shade near the hatchery.

I love this picture that Katie snapped of Emma. She never walks if she can help it. She runs.

I had bought this t-shirt for Katie at the thrift shop for a quarter. It makes us laugh.

Sunday afternoon, we went and checked out the dam and the Pennsylvania side of the lake.

Then I took a nap while Joe took the kids swimming. We followed that with a game of "Ticket to Ride." Joe spent alot of his time working on fishing poles. Emma pulled a worm out of the bait cup and named her Sally. She played with Sally for a good while, and then buried her in the dirt. We think Sally lived.

We never did catch any fish. It might have something to do with the fact that we don't really know much about how to do it. Emma had fun with the fish net anyway.

The idiots in the campsite next to ours started feeding bread to the Canadian geese for a photo op. The problem was that the geese came ashore and wouldn't leave. They're no dummies. So these people go back into their camper for a while. Eventually, the old man started shooing the geese towards us. Ummmm, it wasn't our idea, and we don't want them. Eventually the geese figured out no more bread was forthcoming, and they left.

Monday morning, we packed up camp and headed home. We enjoyed a picnic our branch from church, and then embarked on the task of unpacking from camping. I accidentally uploaded this picture twice, and the computer won't let me delete it. So, enjoy it for a second time.

'Fro Joe

2009-05-30T22:19:00.003-04:00

Joseph has amazingly thick and wavy hair. It comes from my side of the family. He has been wearing shaggy, as did most of his friends in Michigan. Here, it has earned him the nickname at school of "'Fro Joe." Well, a couple of weeks ago, he finally asked for a hair cut. I couldn't believe the amount of hair on the floor! He is a cute guy no matter what, but the new 'do is definitely lower maintainence. Check out some before and after pictures.

Mother's Day weekend

2009-05-30T21:47:00.003-04:00

This Mother's Day, I enjoyed a weekend-long visit from an old friend, Jessica Price Vaughan. We have been friends since we were 14. She helped host my baby shower for Joseph (where everything was pink, because he was supposed to be a girl), and she hosted my shower for Jacob and Katie as well. She has been a wonderful friend through the years. She drove up from Richmond on that Saturday, and stayed until Monday. Saturday night, we went to Mary Yoder's Amish Kitchen for Mother's Day dinner. The girls were having a great old time in the van on the way home...Jacob was not enjoying it.

Sunday after church, she and I went to Kirtland to see the bronze sculptures of Christ. After dinner, we watched "Twilight" on her computer. I had read all the books, but had never seen the movie. She is a bigger Twilight fan than I am, and was able to share all kinds of cool trivia about the shooting of the movie. It was fun to share the weekend with such a dear friend. I was going to say old and dear, but that makes me feel old.

Dance, Daddy, Dance!

2009-05-05T22:34:00.003-04:00

The girls' dance recital is coming up in June. There will be a dance done by just dads. Joe, being the ham he is, is all up for it. He will even change the timing of soccer practice so he can be at the three practices. Katie, thinking she would have to dance with him, said she didn't want him to do it. Then when we explained it would just be him, she said this:

"Fine, you can do it. Just so long as nobody knows you're my dad."

Oh, boy. Here we go. And she's only 10.

A Giant

2009-05-04T15:27:00.004-04:00

All four kids had soccer games on Saturday. Emma's team played against a team who had a kid who looked a good 3 years older than anyone on the field. Emma is tall for her age...but this kid...he wasn't just tall--he looked alot older than any other kid on the field. I can't figure why anyone would lie about a birthdate for rec league soccer in small town Ohio, so he has to be seven, but Holy Cow! Can you guess which kid I am talking about?

2009-05-04T14:27:00.002-04:00

For Emma's birthday, Mimi gave her caterpillars which we watched grow into butterflies. This is the third year Emma has done this, and she LOVES it. Thanks, Grammy for getting us started with this! She names them and everything. Well, this Friday was the day to let them go. We started out with 6. In years past, we have always had at least 3 or 4 make it all the way to healthy adulthood. This time, we were down to two. One of the two flew away immediately. The other one, although it looked fine, apparently had something wrong with its wings. It sat on the deck railing for a while, and then dropped onto the grass below. Emma stayed outside with it for some time, waiting for it to take flight. I suspect it became rabbit food. But it was still a fun time.

Big fun in a small town

2009-05-03T18:21:00.004-04:00

This weekend was the annual Geauga County Maple Festival, here in Chardon. It has been going on since 1926. It is a pretty big deal. Over the course of the week, we watched the quiet square get packed with carnival rides, tents, food vendors, and temporary log cabins for the maple producers. We went on Saturday afternoon. Joe and the boys worked Saturday evening at the parking lot at a bank right on the square, parking cars. It is the scouts' big fundraiser. People gladly pay $5 to park right there next to the action. The weather was beautiful when we went.

We watched the lumberjack competition for a few minutes.

We ran into several friends there, and Emma and I rode the ferris wheel with two of her friends from school.

We also got maple stirs, which are cups with maple syrup that has been heated to 234 degrees, and you stir and stir until it turns into maple sugar candy. Yum!

We enjoyed watching statue man.

Kindergarden musings

2009-04-30T20:11:00.002-04:00

I recently started substitute teaching. It is a good fit for our schedule, allowing me flexibility and also keeping me available when the kids are home. I have mostly worked in the library, where I help out every week, so things are pretty familiar. I have also worked as an aide in a special needs class, and taught first grade at another elementary school in the district. That teacher was very organized, and left me great instructions, which helped make the day alot of fun. This morning, I got a call to sub for kindergarden at my kids' elementary school. I have heard not-so-great things about the kindergarden teacher here. Well, I arrived in the classroom and looked for the notes that most teachers leave for substitute teachers, explaining the routines, etc. All I could find was the teacher's personal notes, abbreviated to the point of being indecipherable. Also, no instructions on what to do as the kids arrive--where they put all the papers, etc...nothing for getting ready for lunch...nothing for the end of the day...and almost nothing for anything in between. Nothing on where to find anything. Hmmm, keeping 25 kindergardeners contained all day with no instructions. I almost walked back out the door. I did find the principal, and he informed me that this is an ongoing problem with this teacher. Thankfully, we had a visit early in the day from the Officer Phil program--a policeman, who just stood there and smiled and nodded at the appropriate times, and a lady who did some cool magic and puppetry while teaching safety...stranger danger, crossing streets, internet safety, basic values. The kids loved it. They were sure getting the message--"Call 911" if you have a problem. I do think, though, that the emergency operators might be inundated with calls from Hambden kindergardeners though. When talking about honesty, the lady asked what they should do if they found a wallet on the ground at school with a bunch of money in it. Several kids, having paid attention, shouted out, "CALL 911!"

Eventually, I gave up trying to follow the cryptic lesson plans, and sat everyone on the rug to read Dr. Seuss. I should have done that all day long. They were so quiet and actually sat still. Well, except for the fact that certain kids kept raising their hands repeatedly and reporting that THEY couldn't see the picture. Keep in mind, I was slowly walking back and forth in front of all of them, so they each would have a chance to see the page before I turned it. I let them know that the next kid that said they couldn't see would be moved to the corner, where they certainly wouldn't see the picture. One kid, AJ, who seemed to be unable to keep still, had been crawling around the whole time, touching things, etc. After telling him to sit still and fold his arms yet again, he finally fell asleep sitting up. The other kids started yelling and freaking out that he was sleeping when he wasn't supposed to. Well, I said, "Shhh! Let him sleep!" At least he was sitting still and being quiet.

When I went to pick the kids up from music class, the teacher said AJ needed to walk with me in the hallway...apparently, he had been stuffing kleenex in the radiator. Kids are something else! I really enjoyed most of the kids today, but I think I might have to say, "No, thank you" if I ever get asked to sub for this teacher again. Whew!

Kazoo

2009-04-24T09:07:00.003-04:00

The weekend after Easter, at the end our spring break, we took a trip back to Kalamazoo. It was great to see so many friends again. It was a hectic weekend, but lots of fun. I didn't take nearly enough pictures, but here are a couple. Many thanks to the Andersons for their hospitality.

Easter

2009-04-24T08:56:00.004-04:00

This year for Easter, we continued our tradition which began when we moved to Michigan, of going to my cousin Marilyn's house near Detroit. It was a little longer drive this year, but it was great to see everyone. Here are a few pictures. Liz brought the game "Trouble," and once we worked out the sportsmanship issues related to knocking players out/having your own players knocked out, it was alot of fun. We colored our Easter eggs a day or two early. The kids still enjoy it.

Our Guitar Hero

2009-04-24T08:51:00.002-04:00

Several weeks ago, a group of people from Camp Jam came to the music store in town where the kids take music lessons. Guitar players had the chance to play a riff for them. The winner would receive a free week at Camp Jam this summer. Here is a link to their site:

http://www.campjam.com/

Well, guess what? Joseph won! He wasn't the best of the players, by his own admission. But the judges were really impressed with how good he was since he had only been playing for 5 months. We are still waiting for the materials to come in the mail...hopefully it all comes through as promised. We have one excited budding rock star here.

E is for...

2009-04-24T08:47:00.003-04:00

I have been really bad at sitting down to upload pictures and post lately...Emma was in her music program at school several weeks ago. It was Carnival of the Animals, and the kids got to pick their favorite animal to dress up as. Anyone know Emma's favorite? The elephant. E for Emma, E for elephant. At first, she was the only kid to pick the elephant (imagine that!), but several other kids joined her. The song they danced to was pretty funny. Not very PC--"When You Are Big, No One Ever Asks You To Dance." I'm not making that up. It was great.

Family pictures

2009-03-26T16:16:00.005-04:00

When we were in Williamsburg at the end of January for my brother's wedding reception, we had some family pictures taken with a wonderful photographer who is a friend of my mom's, Cathy Lachine. Check them out. For those of you who aren't familiar with my family, the pictures include my mom, grandma, and two brothers and their wives. She got some great individual shots of the girls as well.

Slumber party for one

2009-03-14T18:02:00.003-04:00

Emma wanted to have a slumber party with daddy for her birthday. So that Saturday night, they got all set up in the family room, along with Joseph. They read together, first Cam Jansen read out loud, and then silent reading side by side. Then, it was time for lights out. Our living room couches, unlike the couch in the basement, are not comfortable for sleeping, especially for Joe, being tall. He pulled the coffee table up against the couch to have extra room for his feet, and they settled in. Joe has this amazing ability to fall asleep as soon has his head hits the pillow. Well, within a few minutes, Emma came to me complaining about Daddy's snoring. I told her to wait it out for a few minutes and see if it got better. After a little longer, she came back. Joseph had given up and gone back to his room to sleep. She still tried a bit longer. Eventually, she announced, "Daddy can't control his snoring." Welcome to my world. So she ended up sleeping in my bed, and Joe spent the night on the not-so-comfy couch, all alone. He did complain about his back hurting the next day. Poor guy.

Birthday Celebration, part 2

2009-03-14T17:59:00.002-04:00

At Emma's request, we continued her birthday celebration the following day by going ice skating as a family and then eating dinner at Red Robin. I was the event photographer...ice skates don't agree with my feet, knees or back.

Emma's 7!

2009-03-14T17:38:00.003-04:00

On March 6, Emma celebrated her seventh birthday. The fun started with presents bright and early before Joseph left for school, and then sugar cookies with her class, followed by her party with seven of her friends at our house. They had pizza, watched about half of Milo and Otis, ate about 12 bags of popcorn (plus about another full bag that ended up in my carpet), ate cake, opened presents, and ended the evening by running through the house screeching until their parents came. Oh, to be seven again!

Good Friends, Good Times

2009-03-14T17:21:00.003-04:00

We had a great weekend when our friends, Cal and Christy Smith, and their gang (Elisabeth, Jeremiah, Rachel, McKay, and Abigail) came to visit. Their oldest daughter Elisabeth is BFF's with Katie, and the other kids have alot of fun too. We visited some Church sites with them, of course, and when we were home, we hardly knew we had kids around--they were all busy downstairs with the wii and other toys. The adults enjoyed a rousing game of "Ticket to Ride," which we, being good hosts, allowed Cal to obliterate us...twice.

Daddy's coat

2009-02-27T13:54:00.002-05:00

For some reason, the other day the girls were very interested in wearing Daddy's safety jacket from work outside to play in the snow. The thing is blinding flourescent yellow, but they looked really cute in it. And they even took turns without fighting. That was amomentous occasion.

My baby

2009-02-27T13:41:00.002-05:00

On February 13, Joseph turned 12. He still enjoys our little birthday traditions, but he is sure growing up. The 12th birthday is significant in our church, because the kids move from the Primary to the Youth, and also the boys receive the priesthood. Our church only has lay clergy, and the priesthood is simply the authority to act in God's name, and is only ever used in service to others. Right now, that consists of passing the sacrament (communion) in church). Joseph was ordained on Sunday in church, and takes his new responsibilities in a very serious fashion, typical of his personality. The weekend before, he celebrated by going to a Red Wings game in Pittsburgh with Joe, Jacob, and a friend from school. On his birthday, we went to Red Robin for dinner and then had some family friends over the following night for Dairy Queen strawberry cheesequake ice cream cake.

This is fun!

2009-02-09T13:43:00.003-05:00

Today, I had so much fun shopping. Guess how much I paid for all the items in this picture bought at CVS and Giant Eagle?

That includes:

3 bags valentine candy (for the kids to attach to their classroom valentines)

2-1o packs of batteries

Gilette fusion razor

5 speed stick deoderants

2 Gilette shampoos

4 tubes toothpaste

6 boxes wheat thins (small)

1 box nutter butters (small)

4 fruit roll up stickerz

6 bags chex mix

.....The grand total for all this stuff was exactly $4.00. I found a cool cashier at Giant Eagle who doesn't mind scanning all my coupons, and watches to make sure they all go through. This was my most fun shopping trip so far!

Suspicious Behavior

2009-01-29T13:23:00.002-05:00

Thanks to my friend Tiffany for inspiring me, I have been having a blast saving tons of money on my shopping lately. This week at CVS, I got 7 bags of Stacy's pita chips, paying $2.50 out of my pocket, and receiving $10 in CVS bucks to use on a future purchase. Score! And at Giant Eagle, I bought $120 worth of groceries for $50. I am in the process of organizing my coupons. I want them in the order they are in at Giant Eagle. So, the solution seemed simple enough to me. I took my camera with me, and snapped pictures of each of the signs over each aisle that says what is found in that aisle. Well, I turned around, and found a manager staring at me. Turns out he said some lady complained b/c she thought I was taking her picture. I explained what I was doing, and offered to show him my pictures. To my annoyance, he didn't believe me, and made me show him all my pictures. He said there was a map of the store available at Customer Service. I got that, but it wasn't complete enough. So today I went with my partial list of what each aisle contained, and filled the holes in by hand...no camera. And my order the other day got red flagged b/c I was saving too much money...apparently, if you save more than 30%, the system flags it. Another manager had to come over and finish entering in my coupons. I am waiting for them to change their rules or bar me from the store LOL.

Snow Ball

2009-01-29T13:15:00.002-05:00

We have been getting a ton of snow lately....we are very close to breaking the all time record for January (40 inches for Cleveland....must be at least 50 or 60 here in the snow belt). Yesterday we got about a foot, and had a snow day. The kids have continued to have a ball playing in it. The picture of the landscape shows how far they can go. When the conditions are right, they can go most of the way across the yard of the house you see in the background.

Happy Day

2009-01-29T13:08:00.002-05:00

Over the weekend of January 17, I had the opportunity to travel (alone) to Texas for my brother Josh's wedding. I left behind wind chills of 15 below zero and headed to balmy Midland, TX. It was a fun weekend. Josh and Laura are so happy together. Here are some pictures from the weekend. Our family will be driving to Williamsburg tomorrow for the reception there.