happy belated birthday, dad

robin turned 51 this year and while we did celebrate on the day, we're a little belated getting pics posted. love you dad!

christmas

our lifelong friends, the snyders, attended christmas eve service with our family and then came back to the house.. we love the snyders! mom and jerry were here too and they KNOW we love them!


and olivia and keri:

now i know...

why laura ingalls wilder called almanzo "manly".....



more pictures of our new home soon...

more boston

after the gardens, i caught the freedom walking trail around town. first stop-the state house, site of the boston massacre (and also where i got the kids mementos). then on to faneuile hall and quincy market. the market was so, SO packed with people, i couldn't get my camera out. the weather was beautiful, though, and so it was enjoyable inside and out.



next was the long walk to the north end, home of paul revere and the north church (one if by land, two if by sea)....

the original cobblestone streets outside the revere homestead:


view of the north church with paul revere statue in front:


up close of the statue:


at this point it was getting hot, so i headed for home (the hotel) and passed the garden (where the celtics play). they were in l.a. for game 6 of the finals (they lost the series in game 7 to the lakers)


that evening, we went on a river boat dinner cruise down the charles river:
from our dock looking west toward the esplanade and the shell they use for concerts

robin and 2 co-workers:

2 inside shots, one before dinner, one during (the water wheel is behind robin's head in the buffet line):


going through the locks on the charles river dam:

view of the city skyline as the sun started to set:

as it got darker....

pretty sunset looking towards the bunker hill monument:

my favorite view of the night (with the moon high in the sky):

other pictures of our hotel and the evidence that it was once, indeed, a jail:

they're back

very tired after being up for 40 hours (and airline problems from dallas to phila/baltimore).

7 things i haven't

for the past week, robin, haley (17) and nick (16) have been in vanderwagen, new mexico at broken arrow bible camp on a missions trip. they will be back in 2 days, so i thought i'd post a few things we haven't done/missed while they've been gone.

(picture of robin from the archives, playing family flag football at the park across the street from our house in tally. love that man.)

1.) i haven't grocery shopped. except for special treats for the 4 youngest. and milk.

2.) i haven't missed waking up to a sink of dirty dishes after i went to bed the night before with it clean :)

3.) i haven't put gas in either vehicle.

4.) i haven't competed for who gets to mow the lawn with the riding mower. karis and i are the only 2 here heavy enough, and she's busy working at her new job.

5.) i haven't done much wash. needless to say, we now know who makes the majority of our dirty laundry!

6.) i haven't gotten irritated with the volume of the television. because it hasn't been on :)

7.) i haven't enjoyed adult conversation (daily conversations with robin, sports talk with nick--haven't even watched sportscenter! and who's doing what with whom and why with haley).

i have missed them.
come home soon you three.
lots of love awaits you.

helping accountant dad brush up on his math skills

from the last snow....

robin is saying here, "this is starting to not be fun anymore." he got two days off from work, though!



mom, here's a picture of our snow "plow" just for you....



anyone wish they were the mailman?

half a century

robin turned 50 on the 18th, so we attempted to have a little surprise something for him. t.j. had given us a gift certificate to red lobster for christmas, so, since it's our friends darrell and sue's favorite place to eat, we went with them, and the plan was to have everyone be at the house when we got back. but there was a congregational meeting at church (we didn't go because we're not members yet. the members classes are during sunday school and since we *teach* sunday school, we haven't been able to do all the classes yet. we've met with pastors to finish 3 of the 4, now we just have to find time to meet with the last group of people) and people didn't get there before we got home. that was okay. all their kids were already at the house, and robin loves people, so i think he was surprised and happy. tj's dad shares a birthday with robin, but is a few years younger :)

got dirt?

robin power washes the front walk. (there is so. much. work to do on a house that's been vacant for 1.5 years, and not really taken care of before then....)

look who's cooking again!

we have a built in gas grill in our sunroom. robin's been dying to check out the strength of the vent fan. after one of many church softball games this week, he decided to grill some bubba burgers. here's the result!

robin in the kitchen

we were thrilled to get a call last friday night from my sister who was in ohio en route to my mom's in n.j. asking if they could spend the night. we were even more excited that it only took them 10 hours to get here, so it wasn't midnight or beyond when they arrived!

robin had some cooking to do....it hits him every 5-10 years and so he shared his specialty with our brother-in-law, mark (really, we should describe him as brave, courageous, or lacking a full deck for eating something so.... artery clogging. i did make sure his life insurance was paid up before partaking).

can you guess what's in it?




it's a fried lebanon bolgna, egg, mayo and cheese sandwhich on a bagel.
with steak sauce added.
ahem. enjoy, men.

employment

there's a stream that runs right through the building.
it's a re-done warehouse by some very old railroad tracks.
the boys love to look in the stream to see what's heading under the building, under the road, across the street.


i think it's a cool building.
hip, urban, modern looking.
starkly contrasting the quaint, old town where it sits.
founded by moravians many moons ago.
stay tuned for more pictures of this picturesque town, lititz.

flag football-spring 2009

the 2 middle boys have had fun in spring flag football.
jack's coach was our neighbor and local sports announcer, mike.
his assistant coach was his dad :)


mike's coach was jahn, and assistant coach, dad :)
they had so much fun playing their last game under the lights at the "quad"
the quad is 4 artificial turf soccer fields divided into 6 football fields.
it's usually off limits to just anyone, so it was a big deal to get to play there.




nick went around taking pictures,
haley stayed home for some alone time (can't blame her for that!)

church softball

years ago robin played on the softball team for our church, grace baptist.
never in all these years did we dream he'd one day be playing for the church again, only this time, joined by his 15 year old son.







he doesn't run as swift as a gazelle like in the old days, but he's still good.
these boys know it's all about where you place the ball, not how hard you hit it.
i think he pulls a different muscle every game he plays.
but it's still fun to take care of him after all these years.

yup. happy 20th anniversary, honey.
you still look good and are fun to watch.

7 things seen this weekend

1. 3yo helping with mountain of mulch


2. forgiven puppies post-baby-bunny-catching
(still upset by that scene)


3. game of wiffle ball with friends
(check out that dew cap!)


4. proud grandparents sending granddaughter off to prom


5. unihibited pre-teens singing "ymca" complete with motions


6. sister love


7. beautiful girls-almost women