~* Just US, Bein' Us *~

Yes, more dinosaur chalk drawings.......Garrett and Ethan LOVE to draw on the driveway! Karen and Sly, good friends of ours, babysat the boys last night while we went to the funeral home and they got to see first-hand how much the boys love to use chalk on the driveway! Tonight Garrett put the finishing touches on the dinosaurs!!


Garrett and Mommy.....loving the SUMMER!
My favorite part of life...........being a mommy!

Kurt loving being silly with his 2 favorite boys!

We ARE Home!

Well, we made it home from our "mini" vacation! Fun was had by all, I hope! We did a lot of stuff in a short 3 days....so I think everyone was exhausted! I know I was ! Our last stop was the Dutch Wonderland! The kids and I went there while Kurt headed to the archery shop that he wanted to go to....I had no desire to spend hours in there with 4 kids! That left me fuel to go to the outlets that evening by myself! The outlets there were amazing!

Garrett spent most of his time watching everyone else riding rides! He is not much of a rider!

The highlight of the trip for Garrett was getting his face painted with a T-Rex! Imagine that!
All of a sudden Blogger is not flipping photos??? I will have to get that figured out! Wierd!

Ethan's highlight was riding the "horsies!!" He was all smiles! Grinning from ear to ear!

As I was just looking at this photo, I notice the boy in the background with a BINK! Glad we aren't the only ones :)

On another note, my aunt lost her 32 year battle with cancer on Tuesday. She will be missed greatly! They put together a very nice tribute to her life here :

http://www.loutzenhiser-jordanfuneralhome.com/videos/ditzenberger.html

My grandma was moved to the nursing home and had a good today! I am thankful for each good day she has.........................................

We made it to Easton yesterday! Our first stop this morning was The Crayola Factory! Fun was had by all! I think the twins are a bit old for it, by as usual, they didn't complain! I loved looking at all the different Crayola products that we don't have around home! We also visited the Canal Museum where the kids got to take a toy boat down a 90ft. canal......

After dinner we made an evening out of going to Build-A-Bear.....this is something that I have never done and really never understood the hype of! Well, let me tell you ~ it was FUN! I wanted to make a bear myself! I think we will be making a trip back for Ethan to stuff his binkie in an animal???!!!! Over to Lancaster tomorrow!

The end of the long, fun-filled day!

Off to bed for now.....as you turn in for the night, please remember my family in your prayers ~ especially George, Jason and Michael, as my aunt Mary is not going to make it through the night! Also, my Aunt Susan begins her treatment tomorrow! So much going on in my family :(

~* A SuPeR Busy Week! *~

Every week I start out with good intentions! One that I will post regularly to this blog and two that I will get "things" done, since afterall I am not WORKING! Ha Ha! That makes me laugh!

Last weekend was a busy one for me! As many of you know, I went to Pittsburgh for the Autism Walk with 2 other friends from work! What a moving experience it was! WOW! is all I can say! There were thousands of families there walking for such a great cause! Autism affects so many people ~ unbelievable to see them all first hand! The three of us raised a grand total of $1,624.00 altogher! Thank you so much to all of you who donated! We were very proud of the donation that we were able to give! We plan to make this a yearly event!

When I returned home on Saturday we had a festival to go to at Garrett's school! It was so much fun! We ate dinner there and the kids played games for $0.25 a piece! Geez where can you go and do that these days! While we were there, I bought tickets for many raffles, never dreaming that I would win anything! After all, I NEVER win a thing! Much to my surprise, I won 3 baskets from the chinese auction! A Vera Bradley purse, a kayaking trip and $50 worth of restaurant gift cards! I was so excited! and still am to be honest with you :)

This week was a good week for our family at home! Garrett went to Vacation Bible School all week and had a BLAST! It was everyday from 9-noon and he just could not get enough of it! He is so excited to be in the program at church on Sunday! He has paired up with some kids that I actually have in school and made some new friends! I am really hoping that he will be excited for Sunday School from this!

We are leaving Sunday for a "mini-vacation" to the Lancaster area! My nieces will be joining us, which Garrett is EXTREMELY excited about! We have lots in mind to do, just hope the weather is nice!

While we are away, they will be moving my grandma to the nursing home.....that is the word today anyways! Please pray that the transition goes well for her! She is not getting any better and the doctors are saying that this is probably going to be as good as it gets ~ Sending her to the nursing home isn't a choice that I would make, however her nursing needs are beyond what my family can give her I guess.....my family will need all the prayers they can get next week as my Aunt is starting her treatments on Tuesday also! Keep us in your prayers and have a great weekend!

~* A FUN Day! *~

Yesterday was a "day away" for me and it was a great time! I went kayaking for the first time in my life with all of my friends from work! I have to tell you that at first I was SCARED out of my mind......but it is nothing like I thought! It was easy, fun and RELAXING! We put the boats in at Franklin and kayaked down to Rockland! A former teacher from Oakland has a cottage on the river down there so that is where we stopped.....her wonderful husband had lunch and a fire ready for us :) We spent the afternoon catching up with Candy ....... it was a great day away~ exactly what I needed!

Kurt and the boys came down to get us and to haul a few kayaks back to Franklin! Garrett is sold on the idea that we need a kayak of our own ~ a green one, of course! I truly think the boys would LOVE it! Now it is just talking Kurt into it! I will definitely have my eyes peeled for a good deal on one! I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed the day! I work with a great group of people and for that I am thankful..............

Sarah looking for "fossils" with the boys!

Candy, Sly and Kurt eating dinner.......

This is Jane....she was our new second grade teacher this year.....her and I make a DANGEROUS pair! Ethan enjoyed a ride up the hill that she offered him!

~* Think PoSiTivE? *~

Oh where to begin?? It has been awhile since I last posted! I only like to post things that are on the positive side and not many positive things have been happening ~ On Wednesday I sat down to type about how well my grandma was doing and how I was just sure she would be going to transitional care soon......I decided against it as I felt it might "jinx" the whole thing! Well, I guess it didn't matter ...... 2 good days in a row and now back to square 1! She was able to eat jello and crackers, but they have put her back to nothing! So here is hoping for a better week for her!

I did survive the last week of school with the kids! Oh it seemed to take forever! It was a fun week, but am glad that it is over! I still have to go tomorrow, but that won't be too bad!

Last night while Kurt was shooting his bow, the kids and I decided to build a fire! Garrett wasn't real sure that I could make "as good as" a fire as his dad ~ but I seemed to prove him wrong! A whole bottle of lighter fluid never seems to hurt :)

Thanks for all the concerns and emails ~ I am still here ~ I guess I was just waiting for something "miraculous" to happen to post about! I hope this finds you all doing well!

Enjoying a hot dog for a bedtime snack!!

Come on Kurt.....look a little more thrilled with my fire-making ability!