the joy of new old things

we've gone "stir crazy" for our stir crazy popcorn popper that is. so much cheaper and healthier to pop your own, and the kids love to see how quickly it pops. what we took for granted as kids is fun to introduce to our kids now who think popcorn comes saturated in orange chemicals to pop in the microwave.






happy new year!

guest photographer...........olivia

books vs. movies

which do you think has more impact on a young person's life?

we've had this book for years:



and the boys enjoyed it, and had fun with it. it's been a couple of years since we used it, since it was in storage all last year, so i thought it would be a great way to jump start their imaginations for spring and get them away from screens (tv/computer/video games).

so i opened it and found this:



hm. inquiring minds want to know--what happened? who did it? what was the purpose behind it?

the two oldest brothers started laughing, in a reminiscent/ fond memory sort of way.
that was years ago, mom.
we wanted to hide some batteries.

did you read about that in the book? i ask.

no. we saw it in a movie.

:)

helping accountant dad brush up on his math skills

pennsylvania farm show

(has it been that long since i last posted? i went to do dishes and now january's over)

everyone needs to go to the farm show once.
the joke in college was that it always snowed farm show week.
that just added to the excitement of it.
i took the three oldest to the farm show when they were little.
none of them remembered it.

it's gotten a. lot. more crowded. since then.
it took us an hour and a half to go 1/2 mile to the parking lot and take the shuttle to the building.

but i was so. happy. to have all 7 of my kids together again.
it's such a rare occurrence.
too bad robin had to work.
i guess someone has to fund our fun.


this whole sculpture was made of butter.
1,000 pounds of it.
i wonder what happened to it once the show was over?

here's proof they were all there.
but nick was too cool to get in the canoe.

flashback friday

two questions:

do you recognize the friends?

do you know in what state we were living at the time the photos were taken?
(you can answer in the comments, you don't have to send an email)

dinner funny

after reading proverbs 9 after dinner:

mom: "what does rebuke mean?"

jack: "....throw up?"

olivia: "no, that's re-puke"

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

another guest post

made by jack, in honor of our divided household.

World Series 2009

View more presentations from rufam.

rainball

more friends-n-fun.
football.
in the rain.




ah, youth.

pete turns 4!

this year pete's birthday was on 9/9/09. i guess that's the only time in his lifetime that will happen! there's a special name for that, but i don't remember what it is. we had a problem this year figuring out when to have his party. robin leaves for work around 7:30am, but karis is working 3-10 at b2b and since it was wednesday this year, jack and mike had to be at church at 6:30 for kids in praise (choir) and everyone had to be at church from 7-8:30 for awana. by the time we get home it's around 9 and we're worn out.

so we decided to get everyone up early and open presents, and then have cake later.

(the boys, including our friend ian donaldson, were playing star wars, and those white "capes" are actually pinafores from old anne of green gables costumes that olivia found in the dress up box and convinced them they were the perfect star wars outfits).

the only problem with that was my mom was here and we tried to make a 3-d panda cake from a wilton cake pan from 1976 that i found at a yard sale. it was missing the clips that hold the 2 sides together and paper clips weren't strong enough. duct tape fixes everything, right? well, read the fine print on the inside of the roll. it is not heat proof past 200* f.

good thing olivia wanted to see how the cake was shaping up, because the duct tape had melted and the cake batter was spilling out all over the bottom of the oven. it's a gas oven, so it wasn't as messy as an electric one. in fact, my mother (always thinking, that one) suggested we flip the batter that had fallen on the bottom and cook it like a pancake. olivia ate it and said it was good. when life hands you lemons....

it's all good when it's your birthday and you're turning 4 and your mother bought your presents on clearance in florida before you moved (the playmobil circus set). but she forgot to take pictures before you opened them.

even if all you get for cake is a bunch of generic looking cupcakes.

we love you, pete!

multi-tasking

moms are famous for their unequaled ability to multi-task.
but don't you love it when you find a product that does the same?
enter cheez-it scrabble edition.

you can give the kids their snack/challenge their spelling/play a game all at the same time.

jack was hungry but displayed the family name

olivia did more playing than eating and came up with quite a spread

strasburg railroad

we've had lots of out of town company lately, and it's been fun taking them to different tourist destinations. when the 3 big kids were little, we would take them to the strasburg railroad (i'm sure ticket prices weren't as high back then, but we had a friend who worked there who kindly gave us tickets so i never noticed...). this day we took karis' friend ashley, but nick wasn't with us since he had spent the night at patrick's.

pete was quietly concerned about the whole thing before we got started.
then when we saw thomas the train engine being repaired, he continuously wondered how he got sick and what they were doing to him (and what happened to his face? it wasn't a painted smile)

karis had the camera and saw this kid. she thought the t-shirt was funny.
(and we'll be homeschooling 4 this year! yay!)

halfway through the train ride, there's a nice, quiet picnic grove that you can get off to have lunch or play on the playground. we always do this, and that's usually a way you can differentiate between locals and tourists. it's not an advertised thing, so tourists rarely know it's an option.

teenager big!

i brought these zucchini home the other morning and when pete saw them, he said,
"wow. those vegetables are big!"
and pointing to the biggest one, he says,
"this one is teenager big!"

egner beach pics part 2

starlite

we had so much fun at starlite camping resort....

the boys went mini golfing (primitive according to today's standards, but fun nonetheless)
they got to play the first round free.
because cody willingly blew the leaves off each hole first.
what a deal!
nick could not hit the ball past that old sunken sink. very funny.
the game room was also a big hit. i think cody hit the all time high score on ms. pacman.



we did ceramics.
olivia did a ballerina.
haley did a dolphin (and deleted all the pics on my camera that had her in them).
keri did a lion (pete says that's his favorite).
zach did a lighthouse for us, and karis claims the credit of doing the water.
olivia won a drawing for $5 camp credit, and gave it to jack to do a car but i didn't have my camera with me then. mike kept him company by painting a dog.

happy 17th birthday, haley

i'm posting pics later than i wanted, but have a few days of the computer crashing every time i tried to upload pictures and people saying they want to buy your house and then not calling back or returning your phone calls, and 4 parties in 3 days, and that's what you get.

we celebrated by having friends meet us at long's park.......

for shaving cream/silly string/water balloon fights.

katie and haley (and just barely jack's shaving creamed head)



rachel, kirsten, haley and jack




nick, patrick, katie



nick, rachel, jack, patrick

rachel, kirsten, bekka and katie

the whole gang

haley (with help from ian) blowing out pretend lit candles (it was too windy to light them)

we attempted to make a tie dye cake, but the colors were kinda gross pre-baked

but once it was baked it turned out great. unfortunately, i didn't count the number of people attending, and there wasn't enough cake to go around. and haley didn't get any. i made a cookie cake for her the next day, but she didn't get any of that either...... i'll make it up to you, honey!

i'm such a dork

and since making fun of parents runs in our family (we don't laugh *at* you, mom and jerry, we laugh *with* you.....) i'll post this just so the kids remember what they can make fun of me for years down the road.

we're getting karis' graduation announcements ready to send, i'm making a collage of pictures of her whole life, plus planning haley's birthday party, a camping trip and returning home to florida the day after graduation. it's a busy month. lots on my mind. i love that you can order pictures from costco online and pick them up in an hour. robin's mom had requested a prom picture, so i ordered that too.

i decided to get 20 wallet size pictures of karis' senior picture (that i took at maclay gardens in the fall) and a few wallet size of her prom picture because it's such a great picture.

only, i didn't read the fine print and see that each wallet size order was actually 4 wallets per sheet.

so now i have 24 wallet size pictures of prom instead of 6.
and 80, yes EIGHTY wallet size of her senior picture.

i offered to use it as wallpaper, or stickers on the drinks at her party, but she thought that was a bit much. :)

chick-fil-a

we miss chick-fil-a so much that when we drove to york the other day to order karis' prom dress, we tracked down the closest chick-fil-a, on the west side of york, in a mall, in the rain and brought home a nugget tray, a whole lemon pie (for nick) and of course, a medium coke (which debbie will be happy to know rivals that of the one on capital circle). so you know i had to laugh my head off when i saw this--enjoy!

taste testing

speaking of chocolate...one thing my mom taught me well was the self-sacrificing mother-responsibility of testing my children's food before they eat it.

(growing up we called it the russian check--shows my age-- but we quit calling it that when we hosted katia, a russian orphan girl, for 3 weeks when we lived in ga.)

jack brought home this candy bar specifically to share with me. i tell ya, it's tough to be sugarless when you have such a sweet boy bringing treats just for you.

chocolate world!

last friday the kids had the day off from school (yippee!!)
so we took my niece's son landon (is that my 2nd nephew? great nephew? whatever, he's family)
and met my friend beth (our youth pastor's wife) with her 3.75 children (she's expecting #4 in may) at chocolate world. it's free, and they give you free chocolate at the end.
what's not to love?



the trickiest part is walking across the moving carousel to step into one of these cars.
haley gladly took 2.5 yo mikenna and karis helped with 4yo ian. 1.5 yo eliana stuck with mama.
nick helped with the diaper bag.



what's not to love about singing cows? cows singing about hershey's milk chocolate?
okay, when you're stuck with that little jingle in your head a week later, it's annoying.



i still can get kisses anytime i want from the 2 youngest boys, so i like to call myself their "kiss depositor". it's much more enticing to them to say, "come deposit a kiss on my cheek" than to beg them to come kiss their mom.



we've always been partial to hershey syrup (obviously not the real packaging, but similar).
one of my favorite memories of going to my grandma zwart's house was the little can of hershey's syrup with the yellow plastic lid she'd always have in the refrigerator waiting for us.



once you get off the ride, they give you a free sample of candy.
when i was in college, it was a full size hershey bar.
now it's just a tiny sample of their newest creation (this time it was reese's bliss, kind of like a whipped peanut butter cup). and of course, you have to exit through the gift shop/cafe area.



and what would downtown hershey be without kiss shaped street lights? and streets named cocoa ave? (click on picture to enlarge if necessary).
the tower in the background is the observation tower, aka "the kissing tower", at hershey park.
(this photo courtesy of nick. no, mom, i don't drive and take pictures at the same time.
read and drive, like you? yes. take pictures? no)