Updates from this week...

It's always busy around here, and life is never dull. Monday we spent the day school shopping for Julie. In the evening Dave & I took Joel, and another couple from church to a Founder's Conference for the seminary Dave graduated from, in the Albany area. The girls were babysat by Dave's mom & grandma. The conference was held at our former church where Dave had been employed as an Associate Pastor of Youth and Young Adults. We had a really nice time, and it was fun to see people that we haven't seen in a long time. Joel screamed most of the ride home, but he just hates to be in his carseat.

I've been busy organizing my house this week. That's a never-ending project with three kids, but I love to sort through stuff, toss, re-organize, clean, etc. It makes me feel so much better. Dave might cringe, because when I start organizing everything is fair game, and I might toss it all.

Wednesday night we took the kids to the park for a picnic supper, and let them play for a while. They loved that, and I hope to do it again soon before the weather gets colder.

Alayna has been extra clingy and whiney lately. I'm sure it's a mix of turning two soon, and just wanting my attention.

Joel seems to be falling in to a nice day-time nap schedule for me. He's still getting up once at night. Before vacation he was sleeping all night, but between vacation and getting a cold, he's back to getting up. Once is really not bad, though.

Julie's so excited to start kindergarten on the 3rd. She can't wait to pack her lunch and ride a bus. I'm apprehensive about sending my baby in to the big scary world, but she can hardly contain her excitement.

Dave's busy catching up on church work this week, yard work, etc.

Here's some pictures from our week.

Miss Gail (family friend) sent Julie some purple nail polish in the mail. She was so excited, and we took a picture. Thanks Gail!


Pictures from the park.




Such a cutey-pie!!!

A Day of Fun

This past Thursday we spent an afternoon at Dave's brothers home. Dave's sister and her four boys were in town visiting, so we all got together. It was a very relaxed afternoon, and the weather was gorgeous. After a picnic lunch we spent the rest of the day at the creek that runs beside Nathan's home. The kids played and had a great time in the water finding crayfish claws, fishing with Julie's Barbie fishing pole (no hook on it), floating around in the blow up canoe, and throwing rocks. Dave's mom held Joel most of the afternoon on the swing, while he slept in her arms. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it. :) Alayna had no intention of going in the water, but at one point she got very daring and ended up face first in the creek. Dave was right beside her and scooped her up immediately. She never even cried. Julie also took a spill, and has a scrape and bruise on her bottom to prove it. She did cry, and I don't blame her. Some of those rocks are very slippery.

Playing in the creek for the afternoon reminded me of my own growing up years. We had a creek that ran beside our house and I spent many hours there in the summer catching cray fish, playing house, building dams, and so on. Misty & Emily, you will remember all the time spent in the creek very well. My cousin Emily reminded me of all the time we used to spend talking about how many kids we'd have some day, and now here we are, raising our families...and now I'm watching my own kids play in creeks. I love it!

The siblings. Dave's brother Nathan, his sister Shelly, & Dave.


Julie the bathing beauty!


Julie & cousin Christopher (Shelly's 3rd son) with the crayfish net & bucket...I think he may have had a minnow in there.


Julie & Aunt Shelly enjoying some quiet time to themselves.


Nathan in the blow up canoe that's really intended for the smaller children. I wonder why it kept tipping Nate???

Julie's Thoughts...

While on vacation Julie had an opportunity to spend a little one-on-one time with my Grandma Andrews. Grandma has a park down the road from her house, and decided to walk Julie down there to play. Grandma relayed the conversation they had, and I had to share it with all of you. Kids can be so truthful, and not very tactful, but they make us laugh.

Julie: "Grandma, you're going to die."
Grandma: "Yes Julie, you are right, I will die someday. Why do you say that?"
Julie: "Because you have lots of wrinkles"

:)

More Pictures...per Aunt Barbie's request

I heard through the grapevine (my mom) that more pictures have been requested by my Aunt Barbie (a.k.a. Barbie Schmarbie, Babs, Barbie Warbie Walla Ding Dong). So, here you go, some more vacation pictures. Also, per Barbie's request a picture of Grandma Andrews (front view). I love you Babs!!

Julie & Dave spent an evening at Chuck E. Cheese. Julie loves this place, and I would rather bang my head against a wall than go. Dave is a much better sport about these places than I am.


Grandma and the girls, at the zoo.


Alayna & me riding the merry-go-round at the zoo.


The girls enjoying the children's zoo.


Julie & Danika playing Mimi's piano.

Vacation Pictures

I took so many pictures on vacation & I wanted to share them with you. Below are several new posts.

The kids with my Grandma & Grandpa Bierer.


My parents bought Alayna this awesome early birthday present and the girls used it while at Mimi & Papa's.



My brother, Doug & his daughter Danika.


Mom & Alayna on the porch swing.

More Random Vacation Pictures

Here are some more pictures from our vacation...are you getting tired of our vacation pictures yet???

Dave & Joel...I just thought this was such a sweet picture.


Alayna in my parents yard.


Julie picking flowers for me out of my parents yard.


Julie & Alayna on Mimi's swing under the car port.


Julie & Alayna taking my uncle's Model A Ford for a test drive.

Day at the Zoo

Erie has a wonderful Zoo, and each summer we make a point to take the kids. My grandma gets a grandparents pass every year, so we drag her along with us so we can all get in for free. Thanks Grandma for being such a good sport! :) We love having her go with us, and we know she's entertained by the kids. Here are some pictures from our zoo trip.

The Monkey Exhibit...oh wait, that's us!


Can you believe they didn't have this tiger caged and I could get this close??? :)


Grandma & Julie


Dave in the Lions Den...I think I've heard this story before. hmmmm....


The zoo has a wonderful children's area. A petting zoo, playground, merry-go-round, and lots of other interactive things they can do. Mom & Grandma left the zoo after we had a picnic lunch, and Dave & I took the kids back in to the children's area to play.

First Week of Vacation...

We just got home from two weeks of vacation, visiting my family in PA. We spent our first four days at my uncle's hunting camp with my parents, brother Doug, his wife, Andrea & their daughter, Danika. Despite the rain, and cool temps, we had a really nice time. It's always a more relaxed atmosphere at camp, and there's usually no schedule. Except for "Girls Day Out." That was definitely scheduled, and carried out. Well, I should clarify, Girls Day Out & Joel. On this particular day my mom, sister-in-law, Joel & I visited Tidioute (Tid-e-ute), PA. This is the town I grew up in, but my parents no longer live there. I love going back and seeing familiar faces, and visiting familiar places that hold such a special place in my heart.

Below are some pictures from our time at camp.

Dave & Papa (a.k.a. my dad) took Julie fishing one morning on Lake Chautauqua, just over the state line in New York. Julie was excited to go with them, but when they got to the dock she changed her mind, and apparently Dave had to chase her down and drag her in the boat with them. She ended up having a good time, but informed Papa several times that it was too bumpy...ahhh, my wild outdoors girl...I'm so proud. They weren't overly successful in catching many fish, but they had a good time....I think. They didn't offer to take her again, I wonder why???


I was excited to find out that the Warren County Fair was going on while we were at camp. The fair is not far from camp, and I have many memories of going to this fair as a kid. We took all the kids to the fair & had a fun time. The girls loved the John Deere tractors, and would have spent all their time there if they could.
Alayna giving her big "cheese" face.


Do you think she has a future in modeling for John Deere??? :)


Julie & Papa washing dishes at the camp. Everyone has to take their turn with dishes, it's vacation afterall.


Aunt Andrea, Danika & Joel.
Poor Joel had to be watched very closely. With 3 little girls at camp, in a small area, he was always at risk of being stepped on. Needless to say, he didn't spend much time being put down while we were there. More for his own safety, than anything.

Vacation Schmacation!!!

We are presently on "vacation", until the 18th. We're visiting my family in Erie, PA. I use the term vacation very loosely. In many ways it is vacation. I haven't had to think about meals each night (thanks mom), I have extra helping hands with the kids, and I don't have to think much about housekeeping, other than toy clean-up & laundry. It's also really great to have Dave around a lot, and the kids enjoy playing with their daddy. He's enjoying some fishing time with my dad, brother & grandpa.

Last week we spent 4 days with my parents, and my brother & his family, at my uncle's hunting camp, in the Allegheny National Forest area, of Northwest PA. It rained every day we were there, and the temps barely got above 70. I certainly didn't pack appropriately for this vacation. I packed one pair of pants and one sweatshirt for each family member, but I forgot to pack a sweatshirt for myself. The rest of our suitcases consist of summer clothes...it is August, after all...I was always led to believe that was still summer....silly me! The kids warm clothes were pretty dirty by Saturday, as they had to wear them over and over. Oh well, it's the camp, and who cares! I felt bad mostly about the rain. Aunt Andrea is the "Super Duper Fun Aunt"! She brought lots of toys for the kids, a sliding board, a giant bubble maker and a swimming pool. Needless to say, the pool was only filled up by the rain, and the kids could not go in it. We really did have a great time, though. It's just fun to be together. We left camp Saturday and are now at my parents house.

Sunday, my poor mom came down with a bad cold, and has been struggling with that this week. Her blood cell count is low, after having chemo, so she's very susceptible to virus'. She always rises to the occassion, and spent Monday at the Zoo with us. Last night Alayna awoke several times during the night, and today she is congested, with a low fever. My sister-in-law was supposed to take our family pictures tonight, at the beach, but we've cancelled those plans. I just hope & pray Alayna's cold is short-lived, and that no one else catches it, so we can enjoy the rest of our vacation. Either way, it's great to be home, and it will be hard to leave. I'm certainly not looking forward to another 9 1/2 hours of screaming kids in the van, for the trip home. The ride should take 7 1/2 hours, but with all the stops, feedings for Joel, etc...there were two extra joyful hours. No one was happier to get out of that van last Tuesday, than Dave & me. We love our kids, but we had had it. :)

VBS Pictures

I had promised a picture of Dave in his Indiana Bones "get up", so here it is!

Dave's sister, Shelly, painted this awesome banner for us. Thanks Shelly, it looked so great in the big tent!

Dinosaur skeleton. Dave purchased a small dinosaur puzzle and with the help of two other guys from church they built a much larger version, to scale. It turned out incredible. Each night the kids dug out pieces of this puzzle in the digging pit, and by Friday they had the whole thing put together.

The front of "The Cave." (I don't know who's rear-end is sticking out...sorry, whoever you are) There was a smoke machine inside, as well as black lights.

You may remember that we had a train last year for our western theme. Dave re-used his train this year and a family from our church re-painted it with a safari theme. The train goes over our rider lawn mower, and the caboose is on top of a lawn cart. Each night Dave gave rides around the yard. Does this look like a fun VBS, or what?

I am not aware of any children accepting Christ this past week, but one little girl wanted assurance of her salvation. We made some new contacts this year, and we are very excited about how the Lord used this ministry.

Stay Tuned...

VBS is now over. Today was our closing program, followed by an all-church picnic at our house. We averaged 28-30 kids a night, but I don't know what the final registration total was. We never had rain during VBS, but one night it started raining as soon as the program ended for the evening. We did have rain during the day a few times, which meant Dave was hard at work covering things with tarps that needed protected. The girls and I all ended up sick this week, which added some stress, but I'm thankful to say we're better now. Julie, Alayna and myself ran fevers of 102 for a couple days, along with sore throats. Julie did manage to throw up all over Dave & my bedspread one afternoon. Ugh! That was the one and only time she threw up, thank goodness! I felt sorry for her since she had to miss out one night on attending VBS. When the program is run in your front yard, it seems torturous for a kid to have to stay inside and watch all her friends having fun. I tried to do fun things with her to keep her mind off of it. However, after several rounds of "My father owns a grocery store...", and a rousing game of "Go Fish," she was still bummed.

Tuesday we are leaving for a much-needed vacation to Erie, to visit my family. We'll spend the first 4 days at my uncle's cabin (an hour from Erie), then we'll spend the rest of our vacation in Erie. I will try to post some more VBS pictures soon, and hopefully some vacation pictures. Stay Tuned...