New Years Eve

Shortly after Christmas, Nate got a text from a generous friend at church that had a few free Football Hall of Fame tickets that needed to be used by the end of the year. After a short discussion, we decided that would be a great way to spend New Years Eve, since Nate was off work. We kept it a secret from the kids. They've been asking to go for some time now. As we pulled up, they were thrilled!

And to top it off, as we walked in, someone walked up to us and offered us another ticket!! All five of us got in for the price of one! What a Blessing!

So from the moment we walked in, Nate and Drew were in a trans like state! They were soaking it all in. Nate and I hadn't been there since we went once in high school (you can guess how long ago that may have been)! Let's just say it has changed a lot!

As we began to walk around, Nate quickly took control of the camera! And this little fact will explain why I have nearly 100 photos from our day... and the following are the ONLY ones that include our children! We have photos of shoes, helmets, jersey's, photos of other photos, and lots of photos of people's HEADS :)! Not sure what Nate plans to do with all those photos, but he has them!


Drew enjoyed every moment of every Steelers display!

And he quickly understood why we suggested he wear his Steelers Sweatshirt!
There was a great SuperBowl display, including a Movie which highlighted the Steelers great season! I watched most of the movie through the eyes of my son! I just kept looking over at the enormous smile on his face, and it made the day perfect!! The movie was on one of those gigantic screens with the full sound effects. Every hit could be felt by those of us in the theater. After the movie, I asked Drew "Are you sure you still want to play football next year?" to which he QUICKLY answered... "YES!!!!!" Just not sure mommy is ready :)

Here is a fun photo of Taylor and Drew!

This is a poor photo, but it is the ONLY one we have of all three kids! Toby was good, but not on his BEST behavior! Luckily, Nate talked me into taking the stroller. I'm not sure what we would have done if we hadn't taken it! This photo was taken for Aunt Katy!

Following are time at the Hall of Fame, we did some car shopping! UGH! I hate car shopping but not sure the van is going to make it much longer, and we have an amazing trip coming up this summer. Just need to keep praying!

God is good!

Thanksgiving Fun

Our first stop Thanksgiving day was my parents house! Not a huge meal, but my sister was in from Pittsburgh so the kids were excited to see Aunt Katy. I think Drew or Toby took this picture, so it's a little blurry, but I think it's a good photo of Katy!

Taylor and Toby enjoyed a few games of "Going Fishing" as they waited to eat!
Taylor was kind enough to set the table for us! She's such a helper now. Getting to be a Young Lady!
And my dad, showing off his amazing turkey! He did an awesome job with the meal!

After my parents house, we took off for Nate's family's get together. They had already eaten, so as soon as we walked in, they were ready to throw cards. We have a Euchre tournament each year. We threw cards for a few hours, ate lots of desserts and finger foods, and then wrapped it up and headed home!

It was a rather peaceful Thanksgiving this year! Much to be Thankful for, but Family is certainly high on the list!

God is Good!

Thankful For..

I have so much to be thankful for, and I try to live my life every day thanking God for all that we have. But on this Thanksgiving, I thought I would reflect on some of the things I am thankful for, and they are in no particular order...

- I am thankful for my family, for my husband who has been my best friend for 18 years, and my three children that I adore!
- I am thankful for the health of my family, while we all have our aches and pains, and our minor concerns, we are all here, and none of us are battling a life changing illness.
- I am thankful for the roof over my head. Often times I grump and groan about problems around the house or how I wish our house looked like this or that. But when I lay my head down at night, I am thankful beyond words to have a warm bed and a dry place to sleep.
- I am thankful for a young woman in Korea, that 4 1/2 years ago found herself in a very desperate situation, and rather than think about only herself, she thought about the little baby she was carrying and the life that he could have. I'm thankful for Toby's birthmom!
- I am thankful for my job. As much as I may complain, and wish I could be doing other things (like being at home with my children), I have a job that is about as perfect as it can be for our family!
- I am thankful for my husbands job. That he has a stable, rather secure job, with a God Honoring company.
- I am thankful for our church family, for our Pastors and other members of our church that are always there when we need them, whether it be a simple smile and handshake, or prayer for a situation.
- I am thankful for our Small Group. We love the Cleveland's, Artrip's and Carter's. They have become a support system for us we didn't know we needed!
- I am thankful for our involvement in Senior High Ministries. What a blessing that has been to us and our family. To see God work through the lives of High School Students!
- I am thankful that I have 40 pounds to loose! Not that I'm happy about that, but I am thankful, because that means I don't have to worry about going without food, and neither do my husband or children.
- I am thankful for my parents, who often times I wondered why they were sticking it out together, but now, as a mom and a wife, I see the true love and commitment (through good times and bad) they had for each other, and I see the way God is blessing them during this time of "empty nest". What an example that has been for me.
- I am thankful for my Mother-in-Law, who even when her first marriage didn't work out, she made a wonderful life for her sons, and showed them what it means to be a family, no matter how the family is formed! What a blessing that has been for us!
- I am thankful for the many men and women who serve so sacrificially that I may have peace, comfort and freedom. I am thankful for the family members of our military that spend so much time away from their loved ones, for my benefit.
- I am thankful that I live in a country where I am free to worship my Creator!
- I am thankful that by the Grace of God, I am forgiven. I can live each day new, knowing that the mistakes I have made are washed away, as far as the East is from the West. That God loves me and he cherishes me, and of all the people that love me on earth, nothing can compare to His Love!

The list could go on and on, and I'm sure as the day goes on and we reflect, I will come up with many more. But it is time to go and be thankful for turkey and stuffing! God Bless you all. I pray you take the time to make a Thankful list this Thanksgiving day!

God is Good

Smithville Historical Society

Last week my mom called to let us know that the Smithville Historical Society was having an open house. Nate was going to be at church all day rehearsing for the Night of Worship, so the kids and I packed up and headed over. We spent about 2 hours there, and we had a great time. The kids really enjoyed the Black Smith shop. Drew got a hand made nail, which he thought was pretty cool. Here he's showing it off! (yeah, it's small :))

Taylor loves to take photos of Anvil's. Can you tell she has some Smithie Blood in her! She really wants to transfer to Smithville, but we'd rather have a roof over our head and know it's permanent first.

And here's a shot of the kids in the barn. Toby was being a little stubborn, so it's the only good shot I have of all of the kids.
Just another fun day in rural Ohio!

God is Good!

Wayne County Fair 2009!!

Another year, another Wayne County Fair! Again this year, Paps joined us for some of the day and had to share some Ice Cream and Bloomin' Onion with the kids! We rode rides, looked at tractors and enjoyed interacting with all the exciting farm animals.


Riding the bumper cars. Not sure Drew enjoyed it as much in the passenger seat. But it was about a 35 minute wait, so that was our only time on them.

The boys on the Ferris Wheel. May be Drew's last chance to ride with Toby! Kinda Sad!
Toby ran into several friends while at the fair. Here he is with a church buddy, Conner.
Taylor And Drew waited again about 35 minutes but got to take a ride on the BIG Ferris Wheel. They were adorable together!
I think Toby touched every single bunny in the barn. Then we went into the poultry barn and I thought for sure he was going to stick his hands into their pens, luckily, my warnings must have been stern enough and we saved all his fingers.
Taylor had a few favorites!
Toby was sure that this poor guy needed to eat.
I was surprised Toby wasn't scared to death. He's growing so much in so many ways! But he was sure to tell this clown exactly what kind of balloon he wanted.
And for some reason, the clown requested this photo... a little creepy !?!
This was one of Toby's favorite rides, the dragon roller coaster!
And all three kids on the Crazy Bus. I think I'm going to need a Crazy Bus when we get to the point where all the kids are too big to ride these rides. I look forward to this each year!
As usual, Toby enjoyed a lot of the evening on dad's shoulders, but he didn't want his photo taken!
It took a lot of coaxing on Taylor's part to get Drew on this ride, but I think he really enjoyed it!
And the annual photo at the church booth!
God is Good!

Labor Day!

This year for Labor Day, we decided to pack up and head to the Zoo! Here's our usual photo!! And all the kids are looking YEAH!!!
Toby was daddy's little buddy at the zoo this year, must have been the hats :) And the gorillas crack me up. I love how they sit there with their backs to everyone.


Half way through the Dinosaur exhibit, the skies opened up! Here we are waiting it out under a tent!

When it stopped raining, we were soaked, so we finished the Dinosaurs and then headed home. As you can see, Toby conquered his fears of Dinosaurs (because you know we see so many in these parts) and got this photo with his brother and sister. And then as we were walking away, he even put his head in the dinosaurs mouth like Drew did! Cracked us up!

God is Good!

Weekend in Pittsburgh

My sister Katy lives in Pittsburgh, and it really is a fun city with lots to do, so we planned a trip to spend the weekend with her before her trip to China, which she is on right now! We had it planned for a few months, which is necessary with busy summer calendars! So I woke up Friday morning, planning on putting in a day of work (babysitting). The plan was to take Nate to work in the morning, then just pick him up at four and head straight for PA! Well, because of this....

Our plans got changed! I woke up, and we've been having this problem more frequently than we'd like, so I checked the basement right away after an entire night of rain. I went downstairs and it was bone dry! Yeah! Maybe the problem isn't as bad as we'd thought! So I jumped in the shower. As I was finishing up, I could hear the rain pounding on the house, so I thought I should go check again, and this is some of what I found.
So I spent the morning running the shop vac and trying to figure out what in the world was going on. It had rained for 2 weeks straight and no water, then the downpour and this happens. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them... we got an outrageous estimate to check it out, only to be told "of course, we may not fix the problem at all, this is just a guess!" UGH!

So, Nate came home at lunch and we ran him back to work, then at 4 the kids and I picked him up and we hit the road. We arrived in Pittsburgh around 6:45, with game time being 7:05. We did not make it to the stadium in time for the 1st pitch, but we were inside by the end of the 1st inning. Not too bad! We had a great time, and great seats! God provided! We also got free hats!


While at the game, we saw Gene Simmons heading up the aisle right next to us. Of course Nate was out of his mind with excitement. He got a wave from Gene and was thrilled! I know this photo is blurry, but sadly it's all we've got!


After the game, Katy drove us back to our hotel so we could get a good nights rest for our fun filled day the following morning. At 10AM, we headed out the door and decided to walk around town to our destinations. Here is a shot of PNC Park as we walked to the Children's Museum
A shot of the Ft. Duquene Bridge, over the Allegheny River, we would cross later in the day, with Heinz field off to the right.
Crossing the Clemente bridge to the Children's Museum.
A shot of the kids and I in front of PNC Park with Roberto Clemente

After a nice walk (a little longer than it should have been but that was my fault :)) We ended up at the Children's Museum and met up with my dad, who drove in that morning to enjoy a day with us, and my sister Katy. We hit the Art Studio first. After our last trip, where we did that last and had to try and get wet paintings home, we learned to do that first, so they could dry while we visited the rest of the museum.

Nate enjoyed Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. I made him try on the sweater! So cute!

Here is Taylor in the gravity room in The Attic. It doesn't look like much, but MAN does it play with your head! I just about tumbled, and felt sick to my stomach. I had to get out of there. Of course Taylor is saying "What's the big Deal, Mom?"
This was cute, Toby was cranking on this transmission or whatever car part it is and he turned to me and said "Am I getting Stronger Mom?"
Here we are on the front Porch of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

And in the Water part. My dad just observed from a distance, most of the time...


Then we went to the Carnegie Science Center. We all hopped in my dad's truck for the short drive over so we wouldn't waste much time. The kids wanted to jump right away! Get some energy out, it's a good thing!

Toby was absolutely fascinated with the robot exhibit!
They had an amazing miniature train display!
Toby was starting to get tired at this point, but he was playing with magnets and building things!

After the science center, we chose to walk back to out hotel and enjoy the Rivers. Here is a shot that shows our hotel, the Hilton to the right of the bridge. It was very nice with a wonderful view. Great deal on Priceline!
Here is a shot of Heinz field from on the bridge above.
And this closed out our trip! We were walking back, under the above bridge to get back to our hotel and we saw this. Now, usually when you see graffiti, you are telling the kids to turn their heads, but this was proof to us that God was enjoying our trip right along with us, just a reminder of his Ever Presence! Joshua 24:15, it's hard to see in this photo, but it was a beautiful reminder!

God is Good!