Reminiscing...

Back in August 2005, Andrew and I spent our savings and had the most wonderful trip together. A cruise around Europe. The only way to sum it up is...I want to go back. We saw so many different cities in our short few weeks, but each one of them we only got a sampling of and they already call for my return. I want the kids to taste Belgian chocolate from Brugges, climb the stairs of the Colosseum, peer up from the bottom of the Eiffel Tower in awe of it's enormity, walk the Champs Elysses, and see the architecture in Barcelona while tasting Tapas all the way. Someday. I hope to educate them through travel, to have them realize there is more to this world and to God's creation than their surroundings. We hope to do mission trips as well at some point with the kids, showing them the needs of others and our heart's desire to serve. We love traveling, we love serving. What awesome opportunity there could be for both at once! For now, I will just reminisce and scroll through pictures. Life at this point has our ministry at home raising the little ones, but I'm so thankful we took this trip when we did.

At a small cafe in Amserdam

What a sight.

The Louvre

Beautiful door in Lisbon, Portugal

In Rome at the Colosseum

Florence, Italy

Gaudi's most impressive work, Barcelona

Barcelona at night

Have you been to any of these places? 

Kids

Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.  

~Fran Lebowitz

Crayola Factory

For the weekend of March 12, we  decided to skip town and go do something fun. Thanks to Hotwire, we got a nice hotel for cheap and stayed the night out in Easton where the Crayola Factory is located. The drive was going great until we hit construction traffic, but luckily we had already made our pitstop at WAWA (which is where we were told we HAD to stop by many a doctor) to feed our faces and my chai addiction. It's not just any gas station. They have a smoothie bar, I got a hot sandwich, the kids ate a full meal and got their packs of gum. Ella picked pink of course. Never mind traffic, we had food and the DVD to the rescue. At the hotel the kids had a fun bath time and we all ended up with a good night sleep. Breakfast at the hotel and we were off for our adventure. The factory is right in downtown and is also attached to the Canal Museum. The kids had a great time there. Even John was entertained. It was Very Hungry Caterpillar Day so we got to hear a story and meet the bug himself. If you come to see us, we will happily enjoy another trip to Easton with you! 

(this photo courtesy of wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayola if you want to learn more about Crayola, I find it super interesting!

OH THE SNOW!

A lot of people like snow.  I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.  ~Carl Reiner

I think that is one funny quote. This has been a long winter. I feel like I've been cold since October. In November I took a trip to the EXTRA cold, then came back for more "regular" cold. We had one day last month where we were out with no coats, then it snowed again. I like snow, usually, but I like it at Christmas. Not in March. The redeeming factors are: it brings the kids outside, the family together (we built our snowman tower), and it makes for great pictures. I tried to be the "cool outdoor mom" and take the kids on a walk in the snow last month...it ended quickly because Peter got snow in his gloves and John shares the same sentiment about freezing as I do. He cried the whole time. So, maybe next winter when they can all walk in snow boots without falling over I can try again, but for now, I'm just your average "bundle up and take the kids to Target mom."

Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while.  ~Kin Hubbard

(that totally reminds me of my Grandpa, I love it.)

Cozby Visit

I can't imagine two guys who fit together better as college room mates and forever friends. Matt and Andrew have such a great time together. It was so great to spend time with his family. Rachel and Adalyn came on their visit for the weekend and we really enjoyed it. John especially took a liking to their little girl! Matt taught the kids a song about brushing their teeth (he's a dentist for the Army), and I began a new routine that includes flossing for once in my life. I hate flossing, but I'm not gonna lie, my teeth DO feel cleaner. We hope to go see them where they live before we leave the East Coast. Thanks for coming friends!

Ear Tubes and Rapunzel Dolls

"My ears don't need to be fixed, you just need to talk louder!" 

~ Ella about getting ear surgery.

It was a very strange day to have my daughter wheeled away all looped out on the medicine I had to administer because she freaked out when the nurse came close. She wouldn't change out of her clothes until the meds started working and she insisted that she wasn't tired even though I had to prop her on me so she wouldn't fall over. This girl has a strong will to be sure. She got her little gurney journey passport which was stamped and covered in stickers by the time she was done and even a few extra stickers to show how well she did in surgery. During recovery she wanted me to hold her, which I gladly did, but in the meantime while anesthesia was wearing off, she lost control of her bladder and I ended up with a very wet dry-clean only skirt. Luckily the pattern was such that I walked right out of there and you would  never know. She however, had to put on the "scrub a dubs" and wasn't so happy about it. We went right to Target to get her a special doll, she picked out Rapunzel because we had recently seen "Tangled." What a day. I will admit that after reading all the "what ifs" regarding what could happen to a child under anesthesia I was very anxious for them to page me to say she was done and fine. It's not a good feeling and I hope and pray that we don't have to endure any kind of major surgeries for our children. I feel for those who have and it was just ear tubes for us. She can hear great now and those scrubs went straight back to work with Daddy since she actually is really opposed to wearing them!