it's a zoo around here

and it's martha to the rescue. as in, martha stewart craft puppet kits sold at walmart. fitting all of our clothes and the dog stuff into our van/honda was enough of a challenge, we didn't get to bring extras like craft stuff or toys. olivia has had fun teaching pete how to make these puppets and he and mike have enjoyed playing with them (mike even took one for his "leader day" at school, which most of us know as "show-and-tell.")

jack is less than thrilled with his homework. cheer up, jack.

but when all is said and done, everyone is pretty tired by the end of the day.

haley and one of her favorite sweatshirts (thanks uncle billy and aunt barb)

choose wisely

good things over at the shepherd press blog concerning choosing friends and social networking sites like facebook. facebook and friends is a great, biblical treatise on what is a real friend. i refuse to do facebook (introvert that i am) for the very same reasons that my brother/others *do* facebook (we can look up kids from 3rd grade! every person we ever dated can catch up with our lives as middle aged people! all 400 of our closest friends can know our status at any given moment!). but i let my kids do it to alleviate the guilt i occasionally feel for making them move 5 times in 13 years. it's a great way for them to keep in touch with cousins as well as friends, and it sure is fun to log in on their accounts and see those pictures of my brother that his 3rd grade friends still have around and have scanned in.

however, i have many concerns. i can't possibly police every comment written on their walls, or that they write on their friends' walls. i don't know many of their contacts. and is it a good use of time? after all, it's "just facebook." i can hear my teenagers now. i want them to read these articles and sit and have an intelligent discussion with me about them but i'm not sure yet whether it would produce the result i desire. they already have enough attitudes to fight against right now.

one thing is for sure. post only what is helpful is what i strive to document here on the legacy i'm leaving for our kids. if i ever waver from these four basic principles:

1) Be faithful to God and you will be faithful to others.
2) Be brief.
3) Be truthful and factual.
4) Be pleasant and encouraging.

you have my permission to call (comment or email) me on the carpet about it.

(if you're new to blogging, click on the red words to go to the link that i've referred to and on every picture you can click to enlarge. if the picture is too big, right click and click on "view image" and it will calm down to a reasonable size).

house for sale

email for details!

dining room-realtorized (not at all how we had it decorated)

big boys' room

our "master" bedroom (rivals yours, heidi-mt hope for smallest, no?)

email for details if interested

little boys' room

girls' room (master to most people)

master bath (used by girls)

front living room (books already packed!)

laundry room (washer and dryer included in sale)

snow consequence

the snow is gone, but the dirt remains..... off to the car wash we go

psalm 33: 20-22

our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.

for our heart rejoices in Him, because we trust in His holy name.

let Thy lovingkindness, o Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in Thee.

also this week...

pete and olivia worked on crayon rubbings...different textures for different pictures..

robin turned 49...enjoy your last year in the 40s honey....

snow wars

jack-10 and nick-15 (being silly yet again with the hat) store their snowballs strategically behind this tree

check out all the snowballs mike-5 and pete-3 stored on the swing--

let the snow war begin!

pete was not impressed (with the snowball fight or the picture taking. he went inside).

family blog addition

you can catch up with olivia-12 here (photo taken this fall at shannon lakes park)

change: school edition

new school: 2800 students

lunches: 6 brown bags each day

seeing their smiling faces at the end of the day (albeit silly): priceless
(karis-17, haley-16, nick-15)

many of you know that this fall, my kids went to school for the first time after being homeschooled 10+ years. it's still a huge adjustment for pete-3 and me. although it was never our plan to homeschool so long, we really just tried to follow wherever/whatever God was leading us to that year. i enjoyed every minute, and miss that old life every day. the relaxed pace, the time spent with my kids, the lifestyle of learning that was just part of our lives rather than "schoolwork" and "play". but i'm reminded of that Bible verse, "better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere" and for me this year, that means that it will be better for me to humbly submit to my husband's school choice for our kids (one day of obedience to the Divine Order set by God) than a thousand homeschooling days that i insist on.

change: weather edition

although florida is getting record cold this week, it's still a jolt to our southern thin blood. no one is complaining. we love it. i imagine heaven to have lots of snow, but without the cold or consequences (frostbite, hypothermia, etc.) it's just too beautiful not to be there. as well as a reminder of what Christ has done for me, "wash me and i will be whiter than snow" (thank you, Lord).

karis and olivia had fun with the camera while i was out rescuing robin and the boys from being let down by his dad's van on the side of the road in a snow storm

they pretended it was narnia--always winter and never christmas....

it doesn't appear as if she's thinking of florida right now....

the boys couldn't be bothered with pictures and pretending..there was sledding to be done!

is this a couple of newlyweds imagining how their children will enjoy the snow while watching ours? or are they empty nesters (ha) reminiscing about the joy of raising children?

86

robin's dad is 86 today. so what do you give a man who has lived through wars, inventions and the kidnapping of the lindbergh baby? his favorite meal, of course. his happens to be pig stomach (also known as hog mal to the locals). somehow the pictures got reversed. it's not as gross as it sounds. you stuff a clean pig stomach with diced potatoes and sausage and bake it. it gives the stuffing a bacon-y flavor. no one else but john eats the actual skin (it gets crusty like bacon when baked). but i can't eat it if i'm the one making it (yes those are my hands, and yes, barb, they do look like my mom's. oh dear....). there are very good reasons why i was a vegetarian and still don't eat much meat....

ah...the things you do for love. happy 86th birthday, dad ruhl. i'm so glad we were here to celebrate this year.

change: blog edition

(another one of the girls latest creations--last one, i promise. karis-17 on left, olivia-12 in middle, haley-16 on right).

we started this blog a few years ago as a way to keep our family in touch with the day to day events of importance (first steps, lost teeth, thank yous for birthday presents, etc.) since we were 1000 miles from most of them. since moving closer (though not close enough to the ones who read the blog...) we've decided to make it public as a way for our now distant friends to keep in touch, but also as a way of documenting our lives in a semi-permanent way.

i remember the wonder my grandma showed at the possibility of typing a few keys and getting information in under a minute from half way around the world. technology beyond her imagination. makes you wonder what our kids will have access to when they're our age.

Change: locale edition

the susquehanna valley is a beautiful blend of farm, rolling hills and distant mountains.












obviously not in florida anymore.

















we've had fun checking out the different farm houses and seeing whether they're amish (no electric lines running to it, buggies or kids in black cotton clothing running around) or not.








stay tuned for more changes....

Face in Hole

the girls have been having loads of fun at this site...check it out and send us your pics.

we're back!

after more than 2 weeks without internet, we are back. stay tuned for some changes!