Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow ...

Last Friday Dave's work was scheduled to be closed for their annual Christmas party in Owings, MD.  We had a babysitter lined up and everything.  I painted my toenails, fingernails and bought a new outfit.  I was excited!  And then ... snow was in the forcast, a lot of it.  Because Dave's employment sells snow plows and all the trimmings I guess it would kind of be important they would be open.  So ... he opened Friday morning with the intention of trying to get out by 12ish.  Hoping that would happen we still had our niece, Lauren, come out to stay with the kids.  Well we never did make it to the party.  Dave stayed at work until 7:30 that evening.  Lauren, bless her heart, stayed here all day and encouraged us to still go out when Dave got off work.  Dave and I finally met each other at 8pm in Upperville at a restaurant called Hunter's Head Tavern.  By the time we left, snow was falling heavily and already sticking to the roads.

This is Lauren and her boyfriend Nate playing Apples to Apples with the kids.

I'm sure my family in Utah is saying "Yeah, yeah, we've seen the white stuff before.  I have to post pictures to prove it actually snows .... sometimes.  This is what it looked like during the day on Saturday and no there is nothing wrong with my camera this is what it really looked like.

Dave and the kids building a fort.  Rachel is in there somewhere.

This is Sunday morning standing on the front porch.  We got a total of 14 inches. 

Dave standing on the porch, is contemplating what to do.

Thanks to my very good friend Michele for the snow outfit on Nicole. 

I think Dave has his work cut out for him.  Amazingly, our neighbor came over with his tractor and plowed our driveway. 

Thawing out!  And no Rachel does not drink out of a sippy cup.

All I can say is, "YUMMY!"  The smaller, the better.  Dave took this picture in the backyard. 

Don't ask me why Rachel chose to dress like this while playing Monopoly.

It's been a year

A year ago yesterday we moved into our house here on Browntown Road.  Let's recap a little. 

Dave bought the 3 bedroom townhouse in Gainesville in 1997.  Soon after we got married we had a baby and then another, and another and finally one more.  Eleven years and 4 children later our 1875 sq. ft. townhouse was becoming a little cramped.  Or should I say A LOT cramped.  By the time we moved, Rachel and Nicole were sharing a room with bunkbeds, Joseph, being the only boy had his own room and Elise was in a packnplay in our room.  We were utilizing every inch of wall space and closets that we had.  We needed space and we needed it bad.

During the spring of 2008 we knew that something had to be done.  Knowing that it was a bad time to put the house on the market we enlisted the help of our good friend and realtor Steve Bochan.   He was VERY patient, encouraging and put our worries at ease (at least mine anyways, Dave didn't have any).  Steve's philosophy was basically put the house on the market and see what happens, you never know.  Boy was he right.  The realtor sign went in the ground Thursday after Labor Day and surprisingly we got a call the NEXT morning that someone wanted to see it.  As to not bore you with a long story this man looked at it, loved it, and made an offer that day.  Full asking price.  I was shocked.  Oh you of little faith.  That was me, I had such little faith that it would sell in this market, but it did.  What God wants done, will get done!

This is the last picture that was taken of our cute little townhouse.  I loved it, the townhouse that is.  My favorite was the kitchen and for those of you who saw it, know what I'm talking about. We just simply outgrew it.  On another note, the giant bradford pear tree you see is now gone.  Neighbors said one day out of the blue it just split in half.  Glad I wasn't there.

Rachel is not too happy here.

Dave's parents, who live in Vienna, generously opened their home to us.  We moved in the end of September and then began looking for a house with the help of Steve. 

We had criteria for a house.  1. NO HOA  2. LAND   That definitely narrowed the search.  We looked everywhere.  We saw this house online and overlooked it because it was listed as a three bedroom.  Funny thing is, it kept coming up when we would do our search.  With Steve insisting, we decided to look at it anyways figuring Dave could "add on" if we needed. Well, it had four bedrooms upstairs, imagine that. 

So here we are in Boyce, VA.

Our property is exactly two acreas.  And it ALL needs to be mowed.  But hey, when you have this who needs to worry. 

"And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:19

We have been so blessed by this house. God has provided for us beyond measure.  We are completely unpacked and still have kitchen cabinets that are empty.  I'd like to keep it that way.

Birthday Craziness ... and coughing to go with it!!!

I know, I know.  I haven't been posting much lately.  I always come up with interesting things to post about but then never find the time to actually do it.  Along with trying to finish Christmas shopping we've had birthdays to celebrate, and yes that's birthdays plural.  First, my little man turned 8 years old this past Tuesday.  He wanted sausage links and "dipping" eggs for breakfast and insisted on hotdogs and homemade mac and cheese for dinner.  So when he tells you he had hotdogs for his birthday dinner please give me a break.  Here's a picture from several years ago that sums up Joseph's life filled with creatures of all kind.  This was taken the summer of 2006.

Obviously, I was not too creative with the cake.  Later in the week we celebrated by going to ChuckECheese with a couple of his close friends.  The robe he is wearing was one of his gifts.

The next day we celebrated Rachel turning 11.  Yes, their birthdays are one day apart. Crazy! Before long she is going to be as tall as I am.  She wanted a "breakfast sandwich" which consists of scrapple and scrambled egg on a bagel.  For dinner she asked for venison tenderloin, baked potato and salad.  This year she had a spa party and invited all her friends.  They all painted each others fingernails and toenails.  This is probably one of my favorite pictures of her.  It also was take in 2006.  Of all my children she has probably changed the most.

Right before their birthdays all the kids manage to get some sort of the flu.  First one to get sick was Joseph, then they all got it within days of each other.  They all complained of the same thing which was headache, sore throat, stomachache, and fever.  The headache lasted for days.  Over all it wasn't too bad, although that is easy for me to say since I have escaped it so far.  Now they just have a lingering cough ... which is enough to drive anyone insane from listening to it. 

The day of Rachel's birthday party we also enjoyed our first snow of the winter.  Here they are playing out in the snow with their cousins.

School pictures are here!

I really tried to narrow it down to only 2 pictures per child but I just couldn't pick.  Nancy Morrison of Pretty Pix by Nancy has again produced beautiful work.  She provides her services every year to the homeschool community.  This is now our third year having our pictures done with her.  You can see her awesome work here.

 

Happy Anniversary!

Today, Dave and I will celebrate 12 years of marriage.  Dave proposed in the basement of his newly purchased townhouse in Gainesville with the song "Reminiscing" by Little River Band playing in the background ... hints the name of the blog.  We had a beautiful perfect wedding ceremony and a blast at our reception.  We even had more fun on our honeymoon ... wait a minute... we didn't go on one.  Oh yeah, that's right, you spent the next weekend in Cape Hatteras with your friends.   You still owe me a honeymoon!

Dave, you are a wonderful, awesome, and amazing husband.  You will never know how important you are to me and how much I love you.  Happy Anniversary!

This is our engagement picture. Doesn't he look good in a suit?

Take a good look. You'll never see him in one again.

What's your favorite candy? Or least favorite?

Our Friday before Halloween started off with attending Rachel's Essentials writing class in Winchester.  During recess, Joseph, while running to catch a football, was tackled into a wooden fence.  His forehead lost to the fence.  After recovering, he quickly went back to playing with a bunch of 9-12 year old boys, this should have been a red flag.  I then went inside the church and the next thing I know a mother is bringing my crying, bloody, swollen nosed Joseph to me.  Well ... this time he was running with the football and head-butted the back of another kids head.  Ouch!  Again, Joseph's nose lost, big time.  As all of you know he immediately has a headache and wants to throw-up.  This would worry most people but it is normal for him.  After much debate I determined it probably was not broken and he then spent the afternoon on the sofa in Rachel's class, learning about verb transitive, direct object, and subject pronouns.  Joseph comment, "This is boring!"

Then .... on the way home I notice something is not right with my car.  I look down and the light indicating low tire pressure is on.  I think, oh great, as we are supposed to leave for PA as soon as we get home.  I stop to put air in the tire and notice a drywall screw in the tread, lovely.  I can actually hear the air coming out.  To make a long story short our wonderful neighbor so graciously took the tire off and took in up "to the good ol' boys" in Boyce to have it plugged.  We are now on our way to PA to trick or treat and spend the weekend with cousins.  YEAH!  Everyone has stopped crying!

Halloween night: mummies and spiderwebs

Everyone dressed up.   

White Witch from Narnia

Storm Trooper

Aslan

Elise

A survey of favorite candies:

Dave: Kit Kat  Carrie: Twix   Rachel:  Gummy LifeSavers and Sour Patch Kids  Joseph: Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and Dark Chocolate Nicole: Reese Cup and Skittles  Elise: anything with sugar.  We all agreed that the most disgusting candies are Dots and Chocolate Skittles and in my personal opinion, anything with coconut.  It's wrong!

This is what Dave was up to while we were away for the weekend.

We arrived home Sunday afternoon to a very sick Charlotte.  She could not get up. To watch her try it seemed as though she has back hip and arthritis problems.  This is not supposed to happen in a three month old puppy.  Monday afternoon we took her to the vet and currently are treating her for a bladder infection, which she's already had once before, and possible lyme disease.  If she is not dramatically better in 48 hours they will start to consider early hip dysplasia.

Pumpkin' Carvin' ... and other things

Every year we HAVE to carve pumpkins, it's a must, for the kids.  And of course you can't forget roasting the seeds, a little extra work but well worth it.  These have to be the biggest pumpkins we have carved so far.  Can you guess who picked them out?  A hint...  it wasn't the kids.

Yes, there was a big mess to clean up afterwards, but they had oh so much fun.

Here's the finished product.  Rachel insisted on sharing her pumpkin with Elise so that is why she has a two-faced pumpkin.  For whatever reason it didn't look right. 

Aren't they ooohhh sooo scary?.

Among other things, I have decided in order to save my sanity, I am temporarily confining Elise to the packnplay in the school room. A last resort.  For those of you who are gasping don't worry she is not in for long.  Every time I turn my back she is into everything, dry erase markers, Sharpie markers, crayons, colored pencils and did I mention markers.  I walk out of the room for a second and she is on top of the table destroying their school work.  I only put her in when I have to sit down with the kids one on one.  It's either that or I would chase her around all day.  See I told you she is like Joseph!

This picture is just too hilarious.  You really have to zoom in to get the full effect of the expression on Joseph's face.  He just finished his 6th season of soccer but his first with Clarke County.  Is it different out here or what, but that's for another post.  They actually play when it is raining.  He loves soccer but is thinking he might want to try baseball in the spring.  Thanks to Grandpa Robert, he took this picture when he was visiting.

So far everyone has been healthy, knock on wood.  Aside from minor sore throats we have not been hit with the flu.  Elise had her 2 year well check today and is a whopping 27 lbs. and 35 in.  She is in the 75th percentile for height and only 25th for weight.  Sounds like my child. 

My baby turns 2!

Elise Marie turns 2 today!  After going to the hospital on Saturday morning (yes, Dave stayed home from hunting) and then being sent home because I was not considered in active labor, she finally showed up at 1:41am on Sunday morning.  Yes, we did go back that evening.  I can't believe she is 2 years old.  Elise resembles Joseph in many ways, cried a lot when she was born, spit up a tremendous amount, has eczema like him, is into everything, is very, very busy and most of all she looks like him.... at least we think so. 

She is still not talking real well, but can say Dadden, Mommy, baby and puppy.  Some of her favorite foods are pancakes, cottage cheese, scrapple, steak, chicken nuggets and more cottage cheese, and she also loves chocolate milk. 

We love you sweetheart.  Happy Birthday!

Not ready for winter

Even though summer is technically over I couldn't help but post some pictures of our last week at the beach in August.  As always we had a wonderful time filled with pool time, crabbing, clamming, more pool time, shell shop, boardwalk, fishing at Uncle Ron's, and of course my favorite, Nicola's Pizza ...... and more pool time. 

Most of the time we do not go to the ocean. Those of you who know me, know that I hate sand.  It's everywhere, my clothes, my hair, my drink and food and then in my car.  We are perfectly content with staying on bay side.  Contrary to what my children think, I don't feel a need to see the ocean ... am I depriving them?

Isn't she a cutie!  Yes, I had to chase her around the pool the whole time... exhausting.  Unlike Nicole she would not sit in the stroller for long. 

Dave and Elise coming in from checking out the clamming conditions.  It needs to be low tide with little to no wind.

Dave's famous "Clams Casino".  And no I will not give out the recipe so don't even ask!

This is too funny not to include.  Don't you think Dave is a little too big to be riding the kiddie rides?!  Nicole screamed half the time and Rachel just look horrified.

I don't do merry-go-rounds or ferris wheels.  They make me sick.  So I leave that up to Dave.

Joseph and Grandad, spending time picking crabs.  One of Joseph's favorite things to do.